Some Books

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The Analects were the great work of the scholar Issipus, who planned to detail every aspect of thte Lord's creation so as to glorify his work in the last days. He never finished his work, and some of the volumes were lost before their value was known, but those which remain are greatly valued. The books were in order:

An ancient volume of Sendalite theology supposed to contain prayers to the One True Atur that have not been copied elsewhere. The one known copy of the Analects lies in the library of the West Bank Church.

The Apocrypha of St. Etra is a mass of tales about the life of the Holy St. Etra, homilies and commentaries on her Cannons, and records of the visions of those who have been said to be touched by Etra's holy spirit and given revelations of past or future. To many the Apocrypha is as holy a work as the Cannons itself, though it is not part of that volume. There is a long running religeous debate about the status of the Apocrypha which has often led to great conflict within the ranks of the Church.

It is thought that the Bestiary is the last volume of the Analects of Issiupus that the great sage wrote before his death. He travelled widely around the lands of Tanaloth, even venturing south towards the wastelands of the exodus, in search of strange creatures and tales of stranger. One one of these trips the sage is said to have met his end, though some Priests dispute this, certainly it is the case that no original volumes of the Bestiary exist, with only copies available, which many suppose to have been made not long after Issipus' death.

The Cannons are the most sacred writings of the Church, the words of the Martyr Etra, and contain the prayers of Atur, the 28 most important of which are known as the Catechism. It is from the Cannons and their extensive commentarties that most illuminated manuscripts are drawn from. The Cannons are often written down in books, bound in leather, or often covered with wood and metal (and sometimes crystal gems). These books are very expensive. See also the Scriptures of Apat.

One of the Analects of Issipus, the Geology was his first volume, and describes the rocks and geography of Tanaloth and the isles. Many people use the Geology as a guide to the isles, for its maps are considored to be amongst the finest available. Some navigators of Yesuva will privately claim that the Geology is far from accurate, but nevertheless it remains in use.

In the last years of Sendali when Maloch ruled the armies of darkness the scholar Andred was compelled to become his chronicler. This rare valume is thus one of the few histories of the time. Often forged some scholars insist that no true account of the Histories now remain and many priests would say that it is for the best, since much of what the book is said to contain conflicts with doctrine and is clearly heretical.

This book of prayers and verses was written by the nun Gunnhild, who tended for the sick and needy. The verses contained within are said to give great powers of healing and restoration when read by a true believer who is also skilled in the arts of healing. The prayers apparently only have power when scribed in the most expensive pigments and with the greatest of skill, thus there are few copies of the Healing Words.

The Herbal of Issipus is one of the most valued of the Herbals in use in Tanaloth, since it is widely held to be the most accurate when it comes to the preparation of healing medicines and the identification of plants. Father Issipus lived in the first century after the exodus, but his work is yet to be equalled. The Herbal was the second volume in the so called Analects of Issipus.

These famous homilies are the work of St. Akur the lawmaker, who brought justice and order to the people of Tanaloth and established the legal codes by which its people have always lived. The most prominant copies of this work are in the libraries of the Archons Timothy and Inshaku. The books themselves are consulted by Priests who must conduct complex cases of law, and so are held in small reading rooms on their own ornate lecterns.

A Knight's Rest (also called Sir Alfred's Rest) is much more notorious amongst the common people, for it has a reputation as being a wicked book full of faithless humour and detailed sexual incedents. It tells the tale of the Knight Alfred, and the antics he gets up to while trying to avoid his duty, which involve many many women. Poorly written copies are very popular amongst the commoners, and more than one young novice has been beaten for trying to steal a look at the copies the Churches hold.

This volume is the official refference for the liturgy of most of the Church of Atur. It was created at the command of Archpriest Leo III as an adaptation of the Holy Scriptures of Apat, which by the time of the Liturgy's creation had become hopelessly abridged and altered by successive re-scribing. Not all churches base their services on the strictures of the Liturgy, though there is an Archpriestal bull commanding that this be so, but it is a rare church without a copy.

The Philosophy of Odoric II is a venerable work of commontary upon the cannons and other writings of scripture, as well as an in depth Theological discussion by Archpriest Odoric II. The Philosophy is taken as many as being a guide to life and a companion on the path of religeous stufy. Thus it is very commonly scribed in small volumes that Priests carry with them on journeys or keep to study before retiring for the night. Many prominent Clerics have spoken of how the Philosophy led them to greater spiritual understanding.

The Scriptures of Apat contain the details of the services and liturgy corresponding to the teachings of the Cannons. This voulme, which originates from the church of Apat, is the basis for the services and liturgy of the Church of Tanaloth. Though there are now no complete copies of the original Scriptures, many versions and copies exist, most significantly Archpriest Leo III's official version. Compare the Scriptures of Taerum.

A little used liturgical volume, the Scriptures detail the prayers and rites used in the church of Taerum, one of the original centers of Atur's worship before the exodus. Though of great antiquity the rituals of the current church are based on the liturgy of the church of Apat, so there is little call for the Taerum version. Nevertheless it is sometimes used as a practice work for illumination.

The revered Saint Dumas fought the war against Maloch and the barbarian hordes. Before each battle he would gather his followers on the Rock of Hettara and inspire them with his sermons, cautioning them also on the battle ahead. The sermons thus combine military tactics and theology, and are popular reading amongst the knights. The original versions of the Sermons are now all thought to be lost, but they were rescribed from the last copy by Hierarch Kendal in 133, and again from his copies by Eirik of Jarrow in 313.

Of the various commontaries upon the sermons of the rock the most notable is that by Archon Iva. Iva was a famous military theorist, who helped defend the outer isles against the warlord of the heathens Attuhaten. The commontaries on the Sermons are thought by many to be the finest of his military insight, especially as it is couched in the finest theology as well.

Unlike Iva's commontary, Efni's, said to have been produced in immitation of Iva's more famous work, is seldom used. Rejected by the knightly orders as having little military value it is never copied and seldom consulted.

The Tales of the Isles are a set of stories, each with its moral implication, written by the famous Archon Dormoric. In the Tales the Archon claims to go on a pilgrimage to each of the outer isles, relating as he does so the strange tales that he encounters on each. Some tales are pious, some baudy, still others fantastic, but they all can be interpreted in religeous ways. The Tales of the Isles, compromising 23 stories, are most popular amongst both the Clergy and the common man.

This little used volume was the work of fanatics from the True Light faction, duing its short heyday in the Church. The faction's members believed in the most extreme spiritual purity, as well as punishing themselves for the faults that they perceived as being inherant in every man from birth. Although their cult was popular with the guilty it eventually collapsed and faded away. The Three Paths is perhaps the most notable of its survivung works.