Sapphire Stele

Description

The Sapphire Stele is at once a religious text and a monument. Physically, it stands as a four-sided stele carved of a single giant Sapphire, stretching up to a height of ten feet. Its top surface is smooth, and completely empty, but its four sides are covered in intricate carved calligraphy. The text, in the form of a series of verses each of five lines, is an account of the Immaculate Dragon Mela's time in Creation.

The Northern Face speaks of Her emergence into Creation and the spread of hope that the Anathema can be overthrown.

The Western Face speaks of personal struggles against the Anathema as their rule begins to crumble.

The Southern Face speaks of military struggles when great armies take to the field and sorceries are unleashed.

The Eastern Face speaks of the rebuilding of Creation and Mela's departure.

While the verses are not a complete account, only small tales within a story better understood through other Immaculate texts, the Stele is known for the beauty of its carvings. In copying the text, the finest copies are made by monks taking ink rubbings of the faces to form long scrolls, and calligraphers brushing copies must take pains to replicate the shape of the characters, to convey their carved nature on paper. The Stele is considered a canon part of the Immaculate Texts.

The Sapphire Stele is located in the far Northern Threshold, amongst the ice and glaciers of that inhospitable land. An Immaculate monastery, the Dome of the Sapphire Stele, houses the stele itself, and serves as a (difficult) pilgrimage site for adherents of the Order.

Selected Excerpts

"Then the Immaculate Incarnation of the Air Dragon did come amongst them

And cold mist did descend from the clouds to embrace Her

And the people did shiver and declare themselves chilled

But the Avatar of Air admonished their complaint

'No, you are calmed, and in this mist embraced together.' "

- Second Verse of the Northern Face, Sapphire Stele