The Book of Sybil
In the real world, it is generally understood that even if the Vestal Virgins and the priests and priestesses of ancient Rome were psychic or gifted, if they wanted to keep their heads, they would give the emperor a good prognosis. In this world, though, disobeying the "book" (it was inscribed on stone tablets originally) lead to Tarpeia's meteor shower, a phenomenon that actually occurs at regular intervals but is considered a harbinger of doom to anyone who is oppressing people and needs to be overthrown. Therefore, from there on out it was known that you do not mess with the book. The book actually says both what "should" happen and what will happen if you don't follow the book's guidance, therefore actually revealing "our world" within its inscriptions.
History
Empyreans discovered the first version of the book inscribed in a variation of Thai script imprinted on the side of the Himalayas in green. They used it as a basis of creating their own script and religion, which involves viewing "God" and the fates as separate beings and there being a whole hierarchy of God's children and multiple genders for each entity. They used it to make contact with the Mesopotamians in the ancient Arabian corridor (Before Arabian was a thing, obviously) and then to make contact with the Kemetites, trying to manipulate the words of the book to their will and control the path of humankind, which they mostly succeeded in, though that might partly be because the humans had no concept of the Book of Sybil. By the Hellesian city-states period, little bits and pieces of the book were found and followed all over the central seas, and by the time of Rema, ten tablets of writing were discovered with prophecies inscribed on them in three languages - hieroglyphics, Linear B, and Hebrew - leading to speculations as to where they came from and how to follow them. Tarpeia followed one of the prophecies in order to free her people from captivity by the Remans, but her people turned on her and threw her off a cliff, leading to their capitulation under Rema. Tarpeia's comet and the Book of Sybil have been followed ever since.
Item type
Book / Document
Rarity
There is only one edition of each set of prophecies but there are multiple "sequels" throughout time, popping up in various places on Gi'ardi.
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Thank you for the fun read. I'm here for the Summer Camp Reading Challenge. Here is some feedback: I loved hearing that the Empyreans used the book to create their own script and religion as it got me excited to learn what they have written and what practices they now follow. The additional details of the Rarity of the book stood out and helped me visualize how important the initial texts are. Throughout the article, I found myself wanting more information about who was talking about the book. Adding a character behind the information would help ground me in the moment that this person is telling a story within the world that's been developed. Another section that made me wonder about the character telling the history behind the book, is when the character said "Before Arabian was a thing, obviously". This sparked my interest on who is retelling this history since this was not obvious to me as a reader. Hope this information is helpful and can't wait to read more someday!