Elder Scrolls
The Elder Scrolls, known also as the Aedric Prophecies, are scrolls of unknown origin and number which simultaneously archive both past and future events. The number of the Scrolls is unknown not because of their immense quantity, but because the number itself is unknowable, as the Scrolls “do not exist in countable form”. They are fragments of creation from outside time itself, and their use in divining prophecies is but a small part of their power. They simultaneously do not exist, yet always have existed.
Divining the Elder Scrolls
Through training and practice, a person gifted with prescient powers can interpret the contents of the Elder Scrolls. Though the information revealed about the future is never absolute, however, once an event foretold within the Scrolls is carried out in the world it becomes fixed within them. Such insight into the inner fabric of reality comes at a price, however, as each new foretelling and interpretation strikes the reader with blindness for a greater period of time, while simultaneously granting them a broader view of the Scroll’s contents. Ultimately, the reader, having engaged in frequent acts of prophecy, is left bereft of their vision, forever after removed of their right to read the Scrolls. By time-honored tradition only those of the Cult of the Ancestor Moth may read from the Scrolls, the younger members caring for the elder as they gradually and irreparably lose their sight.
Rules
Few people are capable of reading and interpreting Elder Scrolls successfully while escaping unscathed. Characters who attempt to do so must make a -30 Willpower test. On success, they gain the Blinded condition for 1d8 days. On failure, they gain the Blind trait permanently.
It is possible that characters without proper training are still capable of reading and understanding a portion of a Scroll on their own, even if they lack the training to protect themselves from its effects. Whenever a PC reads an Elder Scroll, roll an Intelligence test in addition to the Willpower test described above. On success, the character retains some small fragment of the Scroll’s hidden knowledge.
In the event that players wish to play a monk of the Ancestor Moths, we have provided the following elite advance (purchased during character creation) and talents to enable this:
Elite Advance: Moth Initiate
The character was, at one point, trained as an initiate in the Cult of the Ancestor Moth.
Cost: Burn 10 Luck. Effect: The character gains the Mediated Understanding talent.
Mediated Understanding
Mediated Understanding (Talent)
The character has been trained to shield themselves from the most dangerous effects of reading Elder Scrolls, though this also tempers the knowledge they gain from doing so.
When reading an Elder Scroll the character may choose to utilize their training to protect themselves from its worst effects. They still make the usual Willpower test, but with no penalty. On success nothing happens and on failure they gain the Blinded condition for 1d8 days. As usual they make an Intelligence test to interpret and retain knowledge from the Scroll, but the techniques used to protect the character mean that this step can take days of meditation to complete (the specifics of which are left to the GM).
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Illuminated Understanding
Illuminated Understanding (Talent)
The character is an expert at reading and interpreting Elder Scrolls, having honed their skills over time. As Mediated Understanding, but the character is only blinded for 1d8 hours on failing the Willpower test. The interpretation step takes twice as long as it would normally, but the degree of knowledge gained is much greater (again, the specifics are left to the GM).
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Blindness & The Penultimate Reading
Note
While training can stave off the acute effects of reading the Elder Scrolls, frequent readings take a slow toll on the mind. With time, all monks of the Ancestor Moth develop blindness. With this blindness comes the day of Penultimate Reading: the day where the monk performs their last successful reading of an Elder Scroll before their gift is lost to them altogether.