Faded piece of parchment

The official GemStone IV encyclopedia.
Revision as of 16:31, 27 November 2019 by ECHEAUX (talk | contribs) (Added template)
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to navigation Jump to search

This item was a prize from the Hunt for History.

Item

a faded piece of parchment

Show

This small corner of parchment, from what appears to have been an important document, still bears the strong black inked writing, although it is largely unintelligible due to the lack of consecutive words. The paper is pale and crumbling along the edges, the ink fading to a grey outline around each letterform. A watermark of the Turamzzyrian Empire can still be seen, when the paper is held up to the light.

Details

Item is said to have something to do with Chaston's Edict.

Loresong

Try as you might, the first part of your song reveals very little. A scrap of parchment made in a large vat, the thin pieces of straw and vegetable matter mixed with threads of fiber squeezed and screened by the hands of peasants. Wires fashioned to create a watermark press against the sheet as it dries, creating the image of an imperial seal.

Another attempting reveals only a room filled with rows of long tables, each set with several work places stacked with the parchment sheets, a bottle of black ink, and feather quills. More peasants work under the toil of flickering candles that barely illuminate the space.

Singing once more, you mind's eye watches as the finished documents are dried and stacked, all similar in appearance, done in the same style and manner. Bundled and moved off to another room, others busily affix a scarlet wax seal that adheres a short tail of golden ribbon to the document, signifying the official importance of the document.

Your last verse earns the smallest clue, but the most significant. Words begin to focus and phrases jump out, addressing prohibition of those of elven descent from owning land or businesses. The title at the top reads simply, "Regarding Elves and Those of Elven Descent."

A blur as the vision shifts, and then you see the images of elves and half-elven alike filling the roads that head eastward into a large, distant forest, while others move northward. A great elven mage stands on the bow ofship, as hundreds or perhaps thousands of elves and half-elves are boarding over a dozen ships waiting in a vast harbor.