The Olus

The Myth

In the year 1725, the man who would come to be known as The Ace of Hearts received a vision from the heavens, directing him to the ancient city of knowledge. The library city, hidden deep within the wilds of the Maw, was said to contain massive stores of lost information inside it's deepest catacombs. None had ever reached its deepest depths, and many an adventurer was lost to the darkness beneath the city. Knowing this, the great prophet still braved the depths, accompanied by a number of powerful allies, with the goal of reaching the bottom.
The city was more dangerous than expected. The prophet and his allies spent months beneath the city, delving further into it's darkness, and facing hidden dangers. As the party dwindled down one by one, each falling to madness, beast, or starvation, eventually only the Ace of Hearts was left. It was then that he found it. In a secluded chamber deep beneath the surface, lied a single tome on a pedestal. The prophet knew immediately that this was what he was sent to find. Despite being written in an ancient language, the prophet could understand the text intimately. Reading it's pages the Ace of Hearts knew he had to return to the surface immediately, to spread the words of ancient lore he had discovered. This was the founding of the Church of the Eight.
But alas, the discovered text was not complete, many pages have been torn or smudged, and some sections defy attempts at translation, seemingly written in a different language from the rest. As well, some sections of the text suggest that it is only one of a number of holy texts, and indeed the events described in the book seem to take place after a number of important events. The Olus is likely a middle book. As such discovering the other great texts is seen as the highest possible calling for those of the faith, and the one who does shall be celebrated as the return of the old great prophet.
At least, that's what the church of Eight tells.

The Text

The Olus is the primary religious document of the Church of Eight, and it is where many of their beliefs come from. The text describes what is known as the eight true races, Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, Spades, Wands, Pentacles, Swords, and Cups, although the section on cups is torn from the original save a single line. The text also spends time describing the eight gods who created these races, and this is the section which the religion primarily focuses on. finally there are a number of passages throughout the book which seem to be some form of history describing a strange series of events. The nature of these histories is widely debated, some speculating them to be parables, while others think they might be prophecies.
As the Olus seems to be originally designed as a utilitarian document, many of the church's beliefs aren't necessarily found inside it's text. For instance the book never explicitly calls for the worship of these creator deities, nor details any rituals to be taken in pursuit of this worship. Nevertheless doctrine has been extrapolated from the text, most commonly from the mysterious histories.

The Eight Races

The first section of the Olus details what are to be known as the Eight True Races. The races are divided first into two categories, the upper beings and the lower beings. The most common interpretation is that this refers to the "good" and "evil" races of the world, although it should be noted that descriptions of "height" on this scale is the only adjectives used. The upper races are Diamonds, Hearts, Clubs, and Spades in that order. On the lower end are Wands, Pentacles, Swords, and cups. This is described as a spectrum more so than explicit categories with Diamonds and Wands considered the most "upper" and "lower" respectively, and spades and cups being the least. After that they are split into thinking and non-thinking races, with Diamonds, Hearts, Wands, and Pentacles being the thinking races, and the others being non-thinking. Finally the races are each given a "masculine" and "feminine" connotation, which seems to be derived from the gender of their creator deity. Feminine races are Diamonds, Spades, Wands, and Cups, with the rest being masculine.

Type

Text, Religious

Medium

Paper

Myth

The Eight

Location

The City of Knowledge