Celaeno Fragments

unknown hieroglyphics, untranslatable, may antedate human existance

Perhaps more of an artefact than a book, the Orne Library possesses seventeen fragments of iron hard, slate grey clay, excavated from several sites by Dr. Laban Shrewsbury between 1887 and 1893. The fragments, seven of which can be reassembled into half of a tablet, feature strange bas-relief designs on one side that defy artistic interpretation. The reverse of each fragment is covered with a dense inscription of clusters of dots. Shrewbury named the fragments for the star Celaeno in the Pleiades cluster, and spent the latter part of his career trying to effect a translation of the mysterious inscription on the fragments. In 1908, Dr. Shrewbury left the fragments in the care of the Orne Library. When it was suggested that the Exhibit Museum might provide a better home for the fragments, Shrewsbury insisted, citing his long standing disdain for the Tetlows and saying he'd feel better if the stones were in Dr. Armitage's care. These stones will later form the nucleus of Miskatonic's "Stone Library." Shrewsbury is rumored to have made a translation of the tablets' inscription, but the whereabouts of any such manuscript or book are unknown. (Johnson, Sam, and Sandy Antunes. "Miskatonic University: A Handbook to the Pride of Arkham." Chaosium, Oct. 2005. )