The Necronomicon and Enchiridion

Summary

In ages past, the sum of all necromantic knowledge was condensed into a single book. Its pages made from human skin, its bindings from the ichor of demons, threaded with the hair from a Grandmother Night Hag, and covered with the hide of a red dragon, and sealed with the blood of an archdevil. Contained within are said to be the life draining spell that caused the desert of Anauroch, the ritual to become a lich, the means to destroy the Wand of Orcus, and the only record of Ioulaum's Longevity. Seeing the devastation that this tome would cause, the Temple of Ptah created the Enchiridion. It was said to be the culmination of all philosophy throughout all the multiverses and could redeem the vilest of persons if they read it. The War of the Book ensued with battles over the very soul of mortal kind at stake. In the final battle, the books came in contact and were shattered, sending fragments of themselves all over the multiverse. Several sages, evil and good alike, have made copies of pages or copies of pages they found, purporting to be the real tomes. Yet, legends say that the books were reformed. The Necronomicon was said to have been held by the lich Larloch in his underground fortress Larloch's Crypt on Faerun. The Enchridion was said to have been reformed in the stars, at the Great Temple of Ptah in the Skyward Realm, but none have found this great temple. Moreover, the legends of the Necronomicon continue. Long ago, a group of adventurers sought the dreaded Necronomicon. They gave no names and are remembered by the names they adopted. They were led by the Man of Long Shadows and included the Man of Dry Bones, the Man of Cold Horror, the Man of Sharp Steel, and the Man of Old Rags. Shortened, they were known as Shadow, Bones, Horror, Steel and Rag. In a forgotten cavern of Larloch's Crypt, there laid the book. The Necronomicon rested in the chapel of death appointed for it. Each of the party members sought the book and they fought for it, clawing at the pages. Rag alone did not seek to keep the book, only keep it from others. For that, he was almost spared. As pages were torn, they disappeared into the ether to another place altogether. The curse of the book was this: until all the pieces could be returned, those who defiled it would be forced to live forever in a half-life. Shadow became imbued with the shadows of death. Bones became imbued the remains of death. Horror became imbued with the horror of death. Steel became imbued with the instrument of death. Rag became imbued with the avoidance of death. Only those touched by death or seen a piece or copy of the Necronomicon can see them, hear them, or touch them. They gained the power to control those who give them their true names. Only one thing can undo the magic of the Necronomicon: the Enchiridion. Legends say that it was hidden so that those who sought to end the evil of the Necronomicon with the purity of intention, that is for the sake of others and for goodness, the path would reveal itself. The Church of Ptah was rumored to have created it long ago, but it was lost with the destruction of their original temple planet. If the Enchiridion is found, it contains the magic to destroy the Necronomicon. Yet, if the Necronomicon is to be made whole, the original Five Dead Men must die and the piece of the Necronomicon returned to the whole.

Historical Basis

The earliest recorded texts on the Necronomicon and the Enchiridion are copied histories from the Netherese Empire, dating around -638 DR. Though integral to the creation of the Enchiridion, the Temple of Ptah have little to no records of their own and none survive among the kingdoms of the Mulan people. The War of the Book seems to be conflated with wars already occurring among the Mulan kingdoms with different sources selecting different conflicts to be the true War of the Book. Generally, later scholars consider the War of the Book to be a revisionism of Netherese scholars who lost earlier records dating to the creation of the books. Sources disagree over whether the Necronomicon is distinct from the Book of Vile Darkness created by the demigod of liches Vecna. Some scholars theorize that the book is a copy of the Book of Vile Darkness while others suppose that the Necronomicon is an original work. What is certain is that the Temple of Ptah created the Enchiridion to counter the power of the Necronomicon. There is some reference to an event called the Shadow War, which might be the true War of the Book. It potentially could have been a schism in the Temple of Ptah, but any record of such an event was lost. Many records of the Temple of Ptah were lost in a disaster they call the Great Passing Away. The Great Temple of Ptah in Realmspace was said to have encompassed an entire planet, but no one is certain which planet it is or if it still exists. Some theorize that the planet was Anadia and that the deserts of that planet were the result of the cataclysm. Others believe that the Tears of Selune and even the Rock of Bral itself are remnants of that planet.

Spread

The myth is fairly well known in magical circles, especially scholarly mages. It is a story that is sometimes told among adherents of Ptah as a lesson in the necessity to guard against evil.

Variations & Mutation

One variation is that the Church of Ptah split in ages past, with one part forming the Cult of the Way. This cult believed that Ptah was not a true god and that the actual Ptah was a god of death that desired the termination of life into undeath. Another, less serious variation, tells the story of Dune Khan, the demigod of doorways, who used the Enchiridion to open the path to Ptah's domain for the righteous who fell in service of the temple.

In Art

In the temples to Ptah, the Enchiridion is depicted as a golden scroll burnished to reflect the face of the viewer. There is a large depiction of it in the Temple of Ptah on Bral in the Library of Wayfairing Knowledge.

Date of First Recording

Circa -365 DR

Date of Setting

The Founding Time

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