The Black Book
This legendary book is of Denorian origin. Its very existence is a hotly debated fact and the Denorians of today (The Great Astral Empire) neither deny nor confirm its existence.
Its proper title is supposed to be "The 7th Book of Librarium Astralis" but it became widely known as The Black Book. Only high ranking members of the Librarium were supposed to own a copy or even have access to it.
It was one of the rare physical books, still printed. Rumors insist that the ink used to print it contained blood and gold. It was bound in black leather thus its name. Some pictures allegedly of the book indeed show a black leather-bound tome of medium size with silver coloured decorations. No title however is apparent in any picture.
The book is supposed to have some kind of magical power and reading aloud its text releases that power. All sources agree that this power is of negative nature, causing pain and suffering to the unfortunate souls that are the intended victims of its reader. On whether only members of the Librarium could release that power there is no agreement between scholars.
There is supposedly a prophecy in the Prophecies of the Southern Oracle related to the book that mentions:
until the last copy of the horrible book is destroyed the heiress of the Stars shall not find peaceHowever, given the uncertainty surrounding the Prophecies of the Southern Oracle themselves, most scholars tend to dismiss it as proof of the book's existence. Just a handful of copies of the Black Book are supposed to exist today. From time to time certain individuals have put forth for sale copies of the book but all have proved forgeries. There were two instances of the book's appearance that gained considerable publicity and drew the attention of scholars. The first one was a certain antique dealer that offered a copy of the Black Book to The Imperial Council themselves resulting in his imprisonment "for lack of respect to their excellencies and distribution of forged lies". However The Imperial Council has refused to release the copy of the forged books (if there ever was one) to scholars thus adding to the rumors. The second case was of a more mysterious nature as a book closely resembling the ones in the existing pictures appeared and was exhibited to the public by a well known researcher. Both the researcher and the book disappeared mysteriously despite heavy protection while the book was on its way to be formally opened and thoroughly examined. We can only be certain that legend or not, the Black Book of the Librarium is indeed a very dangerous one!
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