"The bad news is, there were no secrets of immortality inside"
-Jade, after reading most of the contents in the Necra Itlin
The
Necra Itlin was an old tome, passed down between multiple generations of arcane casters. It described Necromancy magic in such a way that suggests it was around during its discovery and infancy of its library of associated spells. The tome was magical, in that no matter what page was opened, the reader would always find themselves in the middle of the pages. This essentially allowed it to store an infinite amount of written information. When the Smugglers of Magic party tried to cut out a piece of a page, the piece crumbled instantly. Because of this,
Jade theorized the book is so old that magic is the only thing keeping it intact.
It made its first appearance in the
Campaigns of Bersail. More specifically, the
Smugglers of Magic campaign.
Contents
The Necra Itlin was first written in a very old version of the Elvish script. It was so old that
Irial,
Rhiannon Amare and
Fièn could not decipher it upon first reading. As the writing went on, the language slowly started to modernize to the known Elvish script.
Jade had to cast a
Comprehend Languages spell in order to decipher its contents fully.
The start of the tome describes early ways that classic Necromancy spells are cast. This indicated to Jade that the writings must be old enough to have recorded Necromancy at its infancy. As the book went on, lesser known spells were recorded, and what followed afterwards could only be described to most people as war crimes. An example of this was an intricate ritual known as
'Death Blooms', which was capable of killing all known people in an area the size of a city and turning them into mindless, uncontrollable zombies. Other spells included those that turn people into ghouls or ghosts after death, seances and cursing someone to become a wraith.
Known Owners
- < 2000 BC - First created (implied)
- 654 AC
- 36th of Crawen - Erlath is smuggled into the city of Bersail with the Necra Itlin in his possession. He is forced to leave it behind at the Smugglers of Magic's base of operations after he fails to pay a fee, and is convinced by Rhiannon to spend a week gathering his funds.
- 38th of Crawen - The Red Revelers approached Fièn with an offer to trade for a certain artifact the Smugglers owned, which turned out to be the Necra Itlin.
- 39th of Crawen - Jade learns to cast Comprehend Languages in order to read the contents of the tome and discovers its most dangerous information.
Trivia
- The Necra Itlin can be seen as a paralel to Lovecraft's Necronomicon, or D&D's Book of Vile Darkness.
- It can be theorized that the Necra Itlin might have its origins in Dracha. This was pointed out in the Smugglers of Magic campaign by Jade.
- This can be further theorized by content found in a previous campaign; The Relic Hunters. As Dracha was aligned with The Devoted , who had access to ghouls, wraiths and zombies. All of which are in some way described how to create in the tome.
- Interestingly enough, Jade's own spellbook was discovered in the crypt beneath the temple in Lytrin. This is where the Relic Hunters party battled with a Wraith and Sulyvahn, who wielded the power to summon undead spirits. The spellbook itself also describes Necromancy and is how Jade got herself aligned with the category of arcane magic.
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