The Journal of Master Gray

Entry 3:

The 12th of Firstflower, in the year 663, the Year of the Broken Sword.

I write this entry in my spare time, taking a break from my work of translation. My compatriots have gone out scouting to the south, and I elected not to join them, too overwhelmed by our discoveries at Er Asule, and the task of translating the writings found there. I had a tense moment or two with our new dragonborn friend Gilgamesh, and I also displayed too much emotion in the face of the fear that they would take the object for themselves. In the end, we elected to leave it in the ruins, and though I worry that either one of my companions, seeking it for their own purposes, or perhaps some stranger, will disturb it, I must be patient for now. I plan on returning there soon. Hopefully Emris at least will accompany me.

Now, on to the business at hand: I have spent hours translating the writing I transcribed from the walls of the ruins of Er Asule. Before discussing the content of the writings, let me spend a moment on its appearance. The walls of the room were covered in writings and art work, and the two doors (one draconic, one elvish) were a mixture of murals and words. The writing was beautiful, artistic, and more transmitted a feeling than a distinct message. I felt, as though in my bones, the intent of the artists. I have never seen the like, not even in the most beautiful of the ruins of Palagos. Truly, no race has ever understood art like the elves.

As for what the writings told me... The implications of this discovery are too great for me to completely comprehend. I have learned much from them concerning the role of the elves and the dragonborn in the great Empire of Velia, but this discovery only raises further questions in my mind.

It seems as though both the elves and the dragonborn were guardians of the empire, stalwart protectors. The writings indicate that the dragonborn served as the elite warriors of the realm, and the armory our friend Gilgamesh discovered in Er Asule (by the unconventional (to me, at any rate) means of breathing fire upon the draconic door) certainly, in my mind at least, confirms this indication. Judging by the quality of the one weapon Gilgamesh liberated from the rusting racks of age-old weaponry, the quality of these weapons were far beyond what any but a master craftsman in our own age could hope to equal.

But the role of the elves is the most puzzling question on my mind. The writings in Er Asule claimed that the elves were sentinels, and magical guardians of the realm. This much makes sense (though I am dying to learn what was hidden behind the elvish door in that magnificent ruin! O for a mind well suited to the solving of riddles and opening of doors!), yet questions remain. The elves lived for ages upon ages, and are said to have been the wisest of all creatures under the sun. Yet why is it that most of the emperors of Velia, as far as our records show, were human? Only a few are said to have been elvish. (For that matter, why were there never dragonborn emperors?)

And yet... For all the importance that humans seemed to have had in the Empire of Velia, why were there relatively few mentions of humans in the writings in Er Asule? I am entirely at a loss. This question, and one other (which I will mention in moments), crowd my mind so that I can barely think of other things. No kingdom would be so foolish as to refuse the perpetual rulership of their lands to the nigh-immortal creatures who were far wiser and nobler than any other... So I ask, with no hint or clue leading me to an answer:

Why did the elves not rule?

I must delve deeper. What mysteries shroud the history of Velia? How did they fall? What was the cataclysm that shook this place?

One further question haunts me, and perhaps this question is more urgent. The Sentinels were established to guard the realm. The dragonborn were the Vanguard, and the elves the Sentinels. They were guardians.

From what did these powerful warriors and mages guard their Empire? What threatened their peace?

Although the Empire is gone, long since vanished, do its enemies still live?'

(One additional note: I discovered a few vague but unsettling references to a single elf, a "Gray Warden" (fallen? corrupted? Or merely dead? The murals do not aid in translation here), who is portrayed as leaving the others and heading towards... what? A blank space? I cannot but believe the absence of carving is intentional. Is he lost to memory? Was he consigned to oblivion, or was this entering the void a willing choice? I'm not sure. But as with the unanswered riddle of the Empire's decline, this subtle hint of division puzzles me. How frustrating, to seek to glean the Truth from vague poetry and emotions! Surely there are more written accounts extant in the world. I must find them.)

The specifics of my experiences involving the object in the ruin, and the further things I discovered, I write in cipher here below, so that no eyes but mine may read it.

[The text below this point is written in a coded cipher]