Fragments of Sion

Description

The Fragments of Sion are a selection of religious texts, lessons from the Dragons on the nature of the Anathema. The Fragments contain a large number of stories, warnings, descriptions, and proscriptions so that readers can identify and overcome those terrible monsters, and folio copies of the text are commonly carried by members of the Wyld Hunt to assist in their work.

Contents

The text is said to have been penned in the early days of the conflict which saw the Anathema overthrown by the Immaculate Dragons. It was once a much larger text, but, it is said that, in an attempt to hide the truth, the Anathema sent a bubbling construct of brass and acid to seek out and destroy it. It was able to reach the text, but the Immaculate Pasiap struck it with his tetsubo, slaying it before it could complete its work and saving the text to teach the future inhabitants of Creation.

The current set consists of eight major fragments, which speak of several types of Anathema: the Forsaken, Blasphemous, Unclean, Wretched, Deceivers, Frenzied, Tricksters, and Ogres. Other texts in the Immaculate canon expand on the lessons in the fragments, and mention other types of Anathema (such as the Moon-Mad), though with less detail... it is thought that, if the current texts of the Fragments is incomplete, the remaining sections must still exist in Creation, for Pasiap's defense of the original text would not have allowed any vital knowledge to be truly destroyed by the Anathema.

History

The Fragments take their name not because they were unearthed in the city of Sion, but because that is where they were accumulated. Through the years of the Shogunate, the eight original texts were held by several distant daimyo and warlords, with copies used by those dedicated to the Wyld Hunt and to several of Creation's competing faiths including the early Immaculate Order.

To prove their righteousness, a group of Immaculate monks formed a brotherhood swearing that they would assemble all eight fragments together in one place, as the text they were meant to be. The brothers each went their seperate ways, undertaking a quest that spanned many centuries, great battles against both misguided souls gripped with greed and Anathema eager to stop such a noble achievement. Yet, as they journeyed they acted in emulation of the Immaculate Dragons and inspired others to take up the Immaculate philosophy by their virtue. Amongst those inspired was the daimyo of the ancient Gens Kurigasu, who took up Immaculate practice and had a temple constructed in Sion where they could house the fragments they gathered, until they could be carried together up the slopes of Mount Meru.

The first brothers who had undertaken the quest were long dead by the time it neared its end, their mantle taken up by those they had inspired, many texts donated by the pios as the influence of the Immaculate Order had grown. Yet, on the cusp of success, their greatest trial emerged... when the Great Contagion and the Fair Folk Invasion swept across Creation, even the sworn Immaculate brothers were not spared. The armies of the Fae swept across Creation, and the armies of the Shogunate could not repel them. One by one the brothers perished in the struggle, until only one remained, doing battle far in the deep Eastern jungles... the final Fragment had been the banner under which a daimyo had mustered his armies there, but it had been thought lost when the Fae overwhelmed its position.

It is said that when the monk fought his way through the endless Fair Folk, a lone Exalted officer still stood beneath the banner, bleeding from ten thousand wounds, but refusing to die and leave the holy text to the Raksha. The monk took the text from the banner and offered thanks, allowing the officer to at last pass into his next incarnation, and then began the fight to return to the borders of Creation. As the hobgoblins crushed him with their numbers and his blood stained the sacred relic, the Scarlet Empress rose into the sky and swept the Fair Folk from Creation.

Dying of his greivous wounds, the final monk bore the last Fragment across the Inner Sea and staggered to the Temple of Fragments, which stood as one amongst the growing monastic complex outside of Sion. The monk perished as he placed the eighth fragment with the others, and to honour his devotion the completed text's rightful place was declared to be that very spot. It has remained there, within the Palace Sublime, ever since, though printed copies of the Fragments are readily available across Creation.

Excerpts

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“And as he looked at the Incarnation of Air standing atop the monster’s corpse, great Hesiesh spoke.

‘It wore my face and breathed my heat, it spoke my voice and cast my flames. How did you know it was not me you struck down?’

And enlightened Mela spoke with calm.

‘That voice spoke words of hesitation in our purpose. That it was the Incarnate of Fire, or foul Anathema wrapped in your skin, did not matter.’

All of the Dragons bowed to this wisdom.”

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