The Tome relates to the Falin-Shar – an ancient race who once inhabited Cular, a small planet in the Dajoor system. Cular has a relatively hospital environment and its timeline shows evidence of a number of successive civilisations over the last 10s of 1000s of years.
The Falin-Shar were a nomadic people. Much of their culture is lost to history because of their tradition of passing their myth and lore orally through the generations. The Tome is therefore a very valuable anomaly, and only exists because one of the Falin-Shar’s most highly regarded spiritual leaders pronounced the need to keep accurate records of his people’s lives in order to better focus his entreaties to their Gods for good fortune.
The Tome is protected by an ancient magic – apparently a variant on Force magic. Any who study the rituals described therein without the ‘blessing of the Gods’ will be cursed to die an inhumane death. When properly interpreted, this means that the reader must embrace the Force whilst reading the rituals, or risk losing their connection to the Force and all living things - being driven slowly mad, and to the brink of suicide. Merely glancing at the text won’t trigger the curse – one must be reading and understanding the rituals for the effect to take place.
The rituals themselves are largely myth and superstition, but towards the end of the Tome, the reader will find a section on ‘Death magic’, which the Falin-Shar considered a suitable punishment for those transgressing their law. Interestingly, it is the one section which seems to have some potential for actual use.
The reader will find a number of novel poisons, although some ingredients will have to be replaced with more commonly available plants and, perhaps more importantly, a number of rituals to decrease a Force-user’s abilities (aka ‘Force Inhibition’). There are also hints that the Falin-Shar may have successfully resurrected a number of their great leaders, by a vast injection of Force power soon after the moment of death. However, the references are vague and unsubstantiated.
How the DB came to acquire the Tome
A small group of Jedi on a reconnaissance mission to a planet in the Dajoor system had been asked to retrieve some literature from the planet in the hope that this would give some background about their political situation. Unfortunately, the inhabitants’ written language was indecipherable and the Jedi were forced to simply select a number of random books, including the Tome. Over the next few months, internal disputes refocused the Dark Brotherhood’s attention and no further action was taken with regards to the planet.
After an initial inspection showed that much work would be required to decipher the language used, the book sat in the Krath achives. It was part of the library that Krath High Priestess Alanna managed to extract and take with her when the rebel Brotherhood broke away from Ronin.
DB background to the object
A series of murders ravaged the Krath order. Krath High Priestess Alanna decided to intervene to track down the killer, and called on the assistance of the Brotherhood’s phyles. Through a series of interviews and investigations, the Keepers of the Night phyle gave Alanna the greatest aid in locating the murderer and, in reward, Alanna presented their Tetrarch, Krath Epis Telona with a book from the Krath Archives.