Book of the Chosen

While called a book, this object looks more like a wooden box at first glance. Every side of the box is carved with curling shapes and what might be runes, though none have ever deciphered them. Heavy gold hinges are rivited to the lid which is held closed by some sort of puzzle lock.

Mechanics & Inner Workings

According to the few documented cases of this book being read the puzzle lock is laughably simple to some and fiendishly complex for others. The lock seems to change over time and even those who have opened the box once have found it impossible to open a second time.
Those who have opened it have reported that the box contains a pile of loose parchment pages. The pages are covered in writing and diagrams that are easily understood by the reader, even those with no prior experience of reading. The pages contain information on what the reader needs to know, but not always what they want to learn.
Each page crumbles to dust after it has been read, and all efforts to copy a page have failed. In some cases the one opening the box has lost their chance of gaining the knowledge it contains through these attempts.

History

Only the chosen one can open this book and gain the wisdom it contains.

Across the world there are stories told about a book that grants great power to those who read it. The book can grant magic or knowledge. It can teach the wielder new skills or new ways of fighting, or reveal secrets long concealed. Many have quested for this book, but few are those who have found it.
Stories of the book cross with those from different faiths, with each claiming the book as the creation of their deities, or in some case the creation of a fiend. All seem to agree though that the book can only be found or opened by one who is chosen.

Only a champion of the highest ideals can uncover this book's location.

It is claimed that it was this book which guided Imber in learning to use healing magic. That Tristrum Morningstar learned his most potent abilities from it's pages, and that reading it was key to Debrae's success in ending the Days of the One. In more recent times stories have circulated about it being the source of Kovias Junlinson's immortality, and that Dass Argentiss read it before defeating Andaxius.
The book rarely stays in one place for long as it is either stolen, demanded as tribute, and in some cases has been the trigger for a war.

Dimensions

2ft x 1ft x 1/2ft

Truth or Myth?

As fantastical as the book sounds there are several documented cases of it being found and read. In each case the reader did gain new insight or abilities. However, the book has featured in stories about far more people than are likely to have read the book. It has became a convenient device to explain a champion's new skills, rather than focusing on the hard work that was really put in.
It is this supposed ease of gaining the ability to cast spells, or a new method of fighting, that has captured the imagination of many. Bards are innundated with requests for stories about those who were ordinary before reading the book as the masses long to believe that it could have been them if they'd been the lucky one to find the book.

Lesser Copies

Attempts have been made to duplicate the book's powers, but even though none of these haven been successful, even the failures are valuable enough to be considered national treasures.