The first chapter here describes a complete collapse of a civilization and can apply to several scenarios including the 'fall from Eden' itself. So we will not try to pin it down, but recall just how often collapses have happened to antique empires and that they all led to a massive loss of life.
We also get several additional versions of the comet passage of the Pleistocene nonconformity.
Obviously this event was as expects a dominant meme for the survivors. More importantly it shows us that there was ample survival of even some form of organized society.
Add in the excellent description of the organization of irrigation in perhaps Sumeria where they do have a famous reed swamp.
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THE BOOK OF MANUSCRIPTS
incorporating
THE TREASURY OF LIFE
Compiled from writings preserved by Amos, an
Egyptian; Claudius Linus, a Roman; and Vitico, a Gaul.
Chapter 1 - THE SCROLL OF EMOD
Chapter 2 - THE SCROLL OF KAMUSHAHRE
Chapter 3 - THE DESTROYER - PART 1 - FROM THE
GREAT SCROLL
Chapter 4 - THE DESTROYER - PART 2 - FROM THE
GREAT SCROLL
Chapter 5 - THE DESTROYER - PART 3 - FROM THE
SCROLL OF ADEPHA
Chapter 6 - THE DARK DAYS
Chapter 7 - THE THIRD OF THE EGYPTIAN SCROLLS
Chapter 8 - THE FOURTH OF THE EGYPTIAN SCROLLS
Chapter 9 - THE HALF SCROLL OF JASOP
Chapter 10 - THE SCROLL OF KULOK - FOURTH
SECTION
Chapter 11 - THE SIXTY-FOURTH EGYPTIAN SCROLL
Chapter 12 - THE EIGHTY-SEVENTH SCROLL
Chapter 13 - THE NINETY-THIRD SCROLL
Chapter 14 - THE NINETY-SIXTH SCROLL
Chapter 15 - THE SCROLL OF KULOK - SECOND AND
THIRD SECTION Chapter 16 -
THE THE ONE HUNDRED AND ONE SCROLL (SCROLL OF
HOREMAKET) Chapter 17 - THE SCROLL
OF NETERTAT Chapter 1 8 - THE PRAYER OF HAFU
Chapter 19 - THE ONE HUNDRED AND THIRTEENTH
SCROLL Chapter 20 -
THE COMMENTARY OF PRATER ASTORUS Chapter 2 1 - A
SCROLL
MARKED 'THE NIGHTFIGHT' Chapter 22 - THE LADY'S
SCROLL
(SCROLL OF NEFERMAKET) Chapter 23 - THE ONE
HUNDRED AND TWENTY
SECOND SCROLL Chapter 24 - AN EARLY EGYPTIAN
SCROLL
Chapter 25 - THE SONG OF SACRIFICE - FROM THE
BOOK OF SONGS (part only and confused with other
writings) Chapter 26 - THE
SCROLL OF KABEL - FIRST SECTION
Chapter 27 - AN UNNAMED AND UNNUMBERED SCROLL
Chapter 28 - TWO COMBINED PORTIONS OF AN UNNAMED
SCROLL
Chapter 29 - THE SECOND SCROLL OF KISON
Chapter 30 - THE SCROLL OF PANUBIS
Chapter 31 - THE SCROLL OF THOTIS
Chapter 32 - THE SCROLL OF HARMOTIF
Chapter 33 - THE ANNEXED SCROLL 1
Chapter 34 - THE ANNEXED SCROLL 2
CHAPTER 1
THE SCROLL OF EMOD
The writings from olden days tell of strange
things and of great happenings in the times of our fathers who lived in the
beginning. All men can know of such times is declared in the Book of Ages, but
the gods had their birth in events and things which were in the beginning.
It is told, in the courtyards, that there was a
time when Heaven and Earth were not apart. Truth echoes even there, for Heaven
and Earth are yet joined in men. It is written that God once walked the earth
with man and dwelt within a cave above a garden where man laboured. God
encompasses all that is and cannot be contained in a cave. Look to the Sacred
Writings for Truth. It is told that woman made God angry and He took Himself
into the sky, removing Heaven from man because of his disgust for woman. It is
also told that man offended God by imitating Him. These are tales made by man.
This is not wisdom, for the Sacred Writings reveal the Plans of God and these
things cannot be as told. It is the talk of the courtyard, it is the knowledge
of the outerplace.
Men talk of the land of Oben, from whence they
came. Not from Oben towards the South came men, for the great land of Ramakui
first felt his step. Out by the encircling waters, over at the rim it lay.
There were mighty men in those days, and of
their land the First Book speaks thus: Their dwelling places were set in the
swamplands from whence no mountains rose, in the land of many waters
slow-flowing to the sea. In the shallow lakelands, among the mud, out beyond
the Great Plain of Reeds. At the place of many flowers bedecking plant and
tree. Where trees grew beards and had branches like ropes, which bound them
together, for the ground would not support them. There were butterflies like
birds and spiders as large as the outstretched arms of a man. The birds of the
air and fishes of the waters had hues which dazzled the eyes, they lured men to
destruction. Even insects fed on the flesh of men. There were elephants in
great numbers, with mighty curved tusks. The pillars of the Netherworld we
unstable. In a great night of destruction the land fell into an abyss and was
lost forever. When the Earth became light, next day, man saw man driven to
madness.
All was gone. Men clothed themselves with the
skins of beasts and were eaten by wild beasts, things with clashing teeth used
them for food. A great horde of rats devoured everything, so that man died of
hunger. The Braineaters hunted men down and slew them.
Children wandered the plainland like wild
beasts, for men and women became stricken with a sickness the passed over the
children. An issue covered their bodies which swelled up and burst, while flame
consumed their bellies. Every man who had an issue of seed within him and every
woman who had a flow of blood died.
The children grew up without instruction, and
having no knowledge turned to strange ways and beliefs. They became divided
according to their tongues. This was the land from whence man came, the Great
One came from Ramakui and wisdom came from Zaidor.
The people who came with Nadhi were wise in the
ways of the seasons and in the wisdom of the stars. They read the Book of
Heaven with understanding. They covered their dead with potter's clay and
hardened it, for it was not their custom to place their dead in boxes.
Those who came with the Great One were cunning
craftsmen in stone, they were carvers of wood and ivory. The High God was
worshipped with strange light in places of great silences. They paid homage to
the huge sleeping beast in the depths of the sea, believing it to bear the
Earth on its back; they believed its stirrings plunged lands to destruction.
Some said it burrowed beneath them. In Ramakui there was a great city with
roads and waterways, and the fields were bounded with walls of stone and
channels. In the centre of the land was the great flat-topped Mountain of God.
The city had walls of stone and was decorated
with stones of red and black, white shells and feathers. There were heavy green
stones in the land and stones patterned in green, black and brown. There were
stones of saka, which men cut for ornaments, stones which became molten for
cunning work. They built walls of black glass and bound them with glass by
fire. They used strange fire from the Netherworld which was but slightly
separated from them, and foul air from the breath of the damned rose in their
midst. They made eye reflectors of glass stone, which cured the ills of men.
They purified men with strange metal and purged them of evil spirits in flowing
fire. We dwell in a land of three peoples, but those who came from Ramakui and
Zaidor were fewer in numbers. It was the men of Zaidor who built the Great
Guardian which ever watches, looking towards the awakening place of God. The
day He comes not its voice will be heard.
In olden times, when men lived in the ground,
there came the Great One whose name is hidden. Son of Hem, Son of the Sun,
Chief of the Guardians of Mysteries, Master of Rites and Spoken Word. Judge of
Disputes, Advocate of the Dead, Interpreter of the Gods and Father of
Fishermen. From the West, from beyond Mandi, came the Great One arrayed in
robes of black linen and wearing a head-dress of red.
Who taught men the secret of writing and
numbers, and measurement of the years? Who taught the ways of the days and
months, who read the meaning of clouds and writing of the nightlights?
Who taught the preservation of the body? That
the soul might commune with the living, and that it might be a doorway to the
Earth?
Who taught that light is Life?
Who taught the words of God, which spoke to men
and hid things from them, which stood in the place of Truth for those with
understanding? Which spoke to the priests, the scribes and the people differently
according to their enlightenment.
Who taught that beyond the visible is the
invisible, beyond the small the smaller and beyond the great the greater, and
all things are linked together in one?
Who taught the song of the stars, which now no
man knows, and the words of the waters, which are lost?
Who taught men to grow com and to spin, to make
bricks and fashion stone after a cunning manner?
Who taught men the rituals of sea shells, and
the reading of their mysteries and the manner of their speech?
Who taught men the nature and knowledge of God,
but in the years left to him could not bring them to understanding?
Who, then, veiled the great secrets in simple
tales which they could remember and in signs which would not be lost to their children's
children?
Who brought the Sacred Eye from the distant land
and the Stone of Light made of water, by which men see God, and the firestone
which gathers the light of the sun before the Great Shrine?
He died in the manner of men, though his likeness
is that of god. Then they cut him apart, that his body might make fertile the
fields, and took away his head, that it might bring them wisdom. His bones they
did no paint red, for they were not as those of others.
These are the words of the Scared Writings,
recorded after the old custom. As they are, so let them be; for that which is
recorded remains with you. The stone of Light and the firestone were stolen in
the days of disaster and none now knows their resting place, therefore the land
is empty.
CHAPTER 2
THE SCROLL OF KAMUSHAHRE
In this fertile black land there are those who
worship the sun and they call it the greatest and the most bountiful among all
gods, the Seer of Heaven, the of the squalid manner in which men dwelt before
the Golden One led his people hence.
He came to this fertile land. Now it is a
pleasant place with many great cities and contented villages; there is the
great broad river of fresh water which rises and falls in its due seasons.
Channels there are and waterways which lead the fertilising waters unto the
growing things, the herbage and the trees. There are flocks of sheep and herds
of cattle on the green pastures.
It was not ever thus. In the days before Harekta
came all was barren and desolate. Nought divided the wilderness from the
swamplands filled with reeds. Then there were no cattle or sheep and the land
knew not the hand of man, it lay untilled and unwatered.
No land was sown, for they who dwelt in it knew
not the making of waterways, nor did they know how to command the water and
make it flow at their behest. There were no cities and men dwelt in holes in
the ground or in places where the rock was cleft. They walked in their
nakedness or clothed themselves with leaves or bark, while at night they covered
themselves with the skin of wild beasts. They fought with the jackal for food
and snatched dead things from the lion. They pulled roots from out of the
groimd and sought for sustenance among things that grew in the mud. They had
none to rule over them, nor had they leaders to guide. They knew not obligation
or duty. None spoke to them about their maimer of life and none knew the way of
Truth. They were truly unenlightened in those days.
Then came the servant of the Sun and he it was
who brought the people together and put rulers over them. He set Ramur up as
king over the whole land. He showed them, man and woman, how to dwell together
in contentment as husband and wife, and he divided their tasks between them.
He instructed men in the sowing of com and the
growing of herbs. He instructed them in the tilling of the ground and the
manner of cutting the waterways and channels. He it was who showed men the ways
of the beasts of the field. He instructed men in the working of gold and silver
and the making of vessels from clay. He instructed men in the hewing and
cutting of stone and the building of temples and cities. The making of linen
and the dying of cloth that forms garments ever pleasing to the eyes, he did
not teach. Neither did he instruct them in the making of bricks or the working
of copper.
Then, when he departed he bade the people not to
weep, for though he went to his father, the sun would adopt them as his
children and all could become sons of the sun. Thus many became sons and
servants of the sun and they believed what they had heard, that the sun was
their father and the light of goodness overlooking the whole land. It is this
light that sustains all living things, but within it is the greater light which
sustains the spirit. It is the light that enUghtens the hearts of men. There
are lesser lights that guide men about their daily tasks and shield them from
harm, there are unseen lights that influence men for good or ill, but it is the
Great Light that banishes coldness and makes all men warm. The warmth it
bestows ripens the harvests of man and makes his herds jdeld their increase.
It oversees the whole activity of men on Earth
as it journeys the skies from one end to the other, thus it knows the needs of
all men. Therefore, be like the sun, be far-seeing and foresighted, be regular
in your comings and goings while about your daily tasks.
When their guide and leader left, the people
knew themselves as children of the sun. They were warlike and subdued other
people in its name, and brought them under its rule. Then great temples were
raised up to it and for a time it displaced the greater gods which the people
of this land had set up in their ignorance. The One True God it never
displaced, for the True God was ever hidden from the eyes of the profane and
ignorant.
Then some priests among those who followed the
rule of the sun stole its spirit and brought it down, so that it enlivened the
statues and images of their gods. Thus the spirit which enlivens all the lesser
gods is but the one spirit held in captivity, and not many as the people think.
Then came the Wise Ones from the East and they
caused the people to have other thoughts. They were men who knew the ways of
Heaven and asked of the people, "Is the sun spirit indeed supreme, is this
not a thing requiring much thought? Consider its movements, are they not more
like those of one who is directed in his comings and goings? Does it move about
freely as it wills, or is it restricted and held to its appointed path, like a
yoked ox, or as the ass treading out com? Does it rise up from the Netherworld
as it wills or go down into the cavem of darkness by its own decree? Is its
path not more like that of a stone hurled forth by the hand of man? Is it not
like a boat controlled by the will of a man, rather than a free-ranging god? Is
it not more like a slave under the direction of a master?" These things
disturbed the hearts of people, some pondered upon them, but others, in the
manner of men, cried death to those who deny the trath of these things.
However, because of the things said the worship
of the older gods grew in strength, for the people had never tumed from Usira
who was with them before the flrst water chaimel was cut. He was not the god of
the high bom but of the lowly people.
Thisis a land of two peoples, of two nations,
two priesthoods, two streams of wisdom and two hierarchies of gods. It is a
land where the Kght of Tmth bums brightly, thought hidden away from the eyes of
all but a few. It is the Land of Dawning on Earth.
CHAPTER 3
THE DESTROYER - PART 1
FROM THE GREAT SCROLL
Men forget the days of the Destroyer. Only the
wise know where it went and that it will return in its appointed hour.
It raged across the Heavens in the days of
wrath, and this was its likeness: It was as a billowing cloud of smoke
enwrapped in a ruddy glow, not distinguishable in joint or limb. Its mouth was
an abyss from which came flame, smoke and hot cinders.
When ages pass, certain laws operate upon the
stars in the Heavens. Their ways change, there is movement and restlessness,
they are no longer constant and a great light appears redly in the skies.
When blood drops upon the Earth, the Destroyer
will appear and mountains will open up and belch forth fire and ashes. Trees will be destroyed and all
living things engulfed. Waters will be swallowed up by the land and seas will
boil. The Heavens will bum brightly and redly, there will be a copper hue over
the face of the land, followed by a day of darkness. A new moon will appear and
break up and fall.
The people will scatter in madness. They will
hear the trumpet and battle cry of the Destroyer and will seek refuge in the
den in the Earth. Terror will eat away their hearts and their courage will flow
from them like water from a broken pitcher. They will be eaten up in the flames
of wrath and consumed by the breath of the Destroyer.
Thus in the Days of Heavenly Wrath, which have
gone, and thus it will be in the Days of Doom when it comes again. The times of
its coming and going are known unto the wise. These are the signs and times
which shall precede the Destroyer's return: A hundred and ten generations shall
pass into the West and nations will rise and fall. Men will fly in the air as
birds and swim in the seas as fishes. Men will talk peace one with another,
hypocrisy and deceit shall have their day.
Women will be as men and men as women, passion
will be a plaything of man. A nation of soothsayers shall rise and fall and
their tongue shall be the speech learned. A nation of law givers shall rule the
Earth and pass away into nothingness. One worship will pass into the four
quarters of the Earth, talking peace and bringing war.
A nation of the seas will be greater than any
other, but will be as an apple rotten at the core and will not endure. A nation
of traders will destroy men with wonders and it shall have its day. Then shall
the high strive with the low, the North with the South, the East with the West,
and the light with the darkness. Men shall be divided by their races and the
children will be bom as strangers among them. Brother shall strive with brother
and husband with wife. Fathers will no longer instmct their sons and their sons
will be wayward. Women will become the common property of men and will no
longer be held in regard and respect.
Then men will be ill at ease in their hearts,
they will seek they know not what, and uncertainty and doubt will trouble them.
They will possess great riches but be poor in spirit. Then will the Heavens
tremble and the Earth move, men will quake in fear and while terror walks with
them the Heralds of Doom will appear. They will come softly, as thieves to the
tombs, men will no know them for what they are, men will be deceived, the hour
of the Destroyer is at hand. In those days men will have the Great Book before
them, wisdom will be revealed, the few will be gathered for the stand, it is
the hour of trial. The dauntless ones will survive, the stout-hearted will not
go down to destmction. Great God of All Ages, alike to all, who sets the trials
of man, be merciful to our children in the Days of Doom. Man must suffer to be
great, but hasten not his progress unduly. In the great winnowing, be not too
harsh on the lesser ones among men. Even the son of a thief has become Your
scribe.
CHAPTER 4
THE DESTROYER - PART 2
FROM THE GREAT SCROLL
O Sentinels of the Universe who watch for the
Destroyer, how long will your coming vigil last? O mortal men who wait without
understanding, where will you hide yourselves in the Dread Days of Doom, when
the Heavens shall be torn apart and the skies rent in twain, in the days when
children will tum grey-headed? This is the thing which will be seen, this is
the terror your eyes will behold, this is the form of destmction that will msh
upon you: There will be the great body of fire, the glowing head with many
mouths and eyes ever changing. Terrible teeth will be seen in formless mouths
and a fearful dark belly will glow redly from fires inside. Even the most stout-hearted man will tremble and his bowels be
loosened, for this is not a thing understandable to men. It will be a vast
sky-spanning form envwapping Earth, burning with many hues within wide open
mouths. These will descend to sweep across the face of the land,
engulfing all in the yawning jaws. The greatest warriors will charge against it in vain. The fangs will fall
out, and lo, they are terror-inspiring things of cold hardened water.
Great boulders will be hurled down upon men, crushing them into red powder.
As the great salt waters rise up in its train
and roaring torrents pour towards the land, even the heroes among mortal men will be overcome with madness. As
moths fly swiftly to their doom in the burning flame, so will these men rush to their own destruction. The
flames going before will devour all the works of men, the waters following will sweep away whatever remains. The
dew of death will fall softly, as grey carpet over the cleared land. Men will cry out in their madness, "O
whatever Being there is, save us from this tall form of terror, save us from the grey dew of death."
CHAPTER 5
THE DESTROYER - PART 3
FROM THE SCROLL OF ADEPHA
The Doomshape, called the Destroyer, in Egypt,
was seen in all the lands whereabouts. In colour it was bright and fiery, in appearance changing and unstable.
It twisted about itself like a coil, like water bubbling into a pool from an underground supply, and all men agree it
was a most fearsome sight. It was not a great comet or a loosened star, being more like a fiery body of
flame.
Its movements on high were slow, below it
swirled in the manner of smoke and it remained close to the sun whose face it hid. There was a bloody redness
about it, which changed as it passed along its course. It caused death and destruction in its rising and setting.
It swept the Earth with grey cinder rain and caused many plagues, hunger and other evils. It bit the skin of men
and beast until they became mottled with sores.
The Earth was troubled and shook, the hills and mountains moved and rocked. The dark smoke-filled Heavens bowed over Earth and a great howl came to the ears of men, borne to them upon the wings of the wind. It was the cry of the Dark Lord, the Master of Dread. Thick clouds of fiery smoke passed before him and there was an awful hail of hot stones and coals of fire. The Doomshape thundered sharply in the Heavens and shot out bright lightings. The channels of water were turned back unto themselves when the land tilted, and great trees were tossed about and snapped like twigs. Then a voice like ten thousand trumpets was heard over the wilderness, and before its burning breath the flames parted. The whole of the land moved and mountains melted. The sky itself roared like ten thousand lions in agony, and bright arrows of blood sped back and forth across its face. Earth swelled up like bread upon the hearth.
This was the aspect of the Doomshape called the
Destroyer, when it appeared in days long gone by, in olden times. It is thus
described in the old records, few of which remain. It is said that when it appears
in the Heavens above. Earth splits open from the heat, like a nut roasted
before the fire. Then flames shoot up through the surface and leap about like
fiery fiends upon black blood. The moisture inside the land is all dried up,
the pastures and cultivated places are consumed in flames and they and all
trees become white ashes. The Doomshape is like a circling ball of flame which
scatters small fiery offspring in its train. It covers about a fifth part of
the sky and sends writhing snakelike fingers down to Earth. Before it the sky
appears fiightened, and it breaks up and scatters away. Midday is no
brighter than night. It spawns a host of terrible things. These are things said
of the Destroyer in the old records, read them with a solemn heart, knowing
that the Doomshape has its appointed time and will return. It would be foolish
to let them go unheeded. Now men say, "Such things are not destined for
our days". May the Great God above grant that this be so. But come, the
day surely will, and in accordance with his nature man will be unprepared.
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