15 réponses à ce sujet

[Dragonzzilla]

Share 'em if you got 'em.

Spoiler

Codex Entry: Hurlock Alpha
We brought it into Lord Varron's chamber, strong men on both sides holding the shackles. It had been stripped of weapons and beaten until we judged it barely capable of walking.

"I am told you were the lone survivor of the darkspawn from the mines," Lord Varron said to it. "A hurlock, as I understand it. I am told you spoke to my men when we captured you."

The thing spoke. "Told them they would die." Its voice was guttural and savage, like a beast trained to mimic the language of men, but we made out its words clearly enough.

"Yes," said Lord Varron. "You are smarter than your fellow beasts."

"Yes," said the beast.

"I would know more of this," said Lord Varron, "that we might understand your people and negotiate."

"You will," said the beast. "Your men beat me until their knuckles bled. My blood mixed with theirs. Soon they will hear the song. Soon their blood will burn, and I will lead them."

The men all looked to their hands, for the blood-sickness of the darkspawn was known to us. When they did, the beast wrenched their shackles from their grip. Then it was upon Lord Varron, holding him by the throat.

"There is no talk," it said. "No negotiation. You will die. Your world will die. Now you understand."

It snapped Lord Varron's neck and killed four men before we finally killed it.

-An excerpt from The Blighted Codex, a classified collection of studies on the darkspawn, held safely in the Imperial Library in Minrathous, available only to members of the Magisterium

[GT409]

Codex Entry: The Pyramids of Par Vollen

Spoiler

 

The island called Par Vollen was the first land in Thedas to be taken by the Qunari, and has been held by them ever since. But while the Qunari have raised their own marvels on the island—the famed city of Qunandar comes to mind—Par Vollen had a rich history before the Qun ever came to its shores. Tear your eyes from Qunandar's wonders and look instead to the jungle. There you'll see the ruins of vast cities that proclaim in silence: "We were here."

Par Vollen's distinctive pyramids, looming from the overgrowth, have remained largely intact, even if their intended purpose has been lost. They do not seem to be tombs, though some chambers contain bodies that have been carefully preserved. Amazingly, the pyramids' proportions are mathematically perfect. Since their alignment is so precise, one suspects they served some scientific purpose. Observatories, perhaps? Andvan Therastes has observed that the shape of the Par Vollen pyramids seems perfectly to match the constellation Solium.

We know more of the pyramids than we do of the humans who built them. The Qunari came to Par Vollen as conquerors, but there is no history and little sign of battles fought on the island's shores. A civilization that could build such vast cities would surely have defenses, armies, perhaps weapons alien even to the Qunari. So why is there so little proof of resistance?

One answer may lie in what remains of their temples. Beneath the leaves and vines covering the walls, you can still make out the stylized carvings that adorn them. The paint has long since flaked away, but the silhouettes are clear: intricate sea creatures, shipwrights, musicians, archers, and kings. Here and there, odd figures are depicted, tall, horned, always in a position of authority and respect.

What were these horned figures to the ancients of Par Vollen? Priests, ritualistically crowned? Heroes? Gods, perhaps? We may never know the truth. But when the Qunari arrived from the sea, horned and carrying the word of the Qun, perhaps instead of conquerors, the people of Par Vollen saw an old legend returning to them.

This is all supposition. The humans of Par Vollen are Qunari now, their ancient civilization discarded like a child's toy. Yet the pyramids remain, along with the old cities, the island itself. One day, greater scholars may hear what they have to say.

—From A Compiled History of the Occupied North, by Renatus of Ayesleigh

 

When I first read this, I visualised the pyramids as this:

Spoiler

 

Pyramids in a jungle that were built by a people who were conquered by a technologically superior foe? I certainly wasn't expecting a counterpart of the Aztecs in Dragon Age.

 

 

[kukumburr]

These aren't specifically codex entries, but notes that you can read. Some of them are also pretty interesting though.

 

Ancient Warden Logbook (found at an abandoned mine in Western Approach)

Spoiler

So close. We nearly reached him. Made it down to what looked like a dwarven thaig where the song was actually audible, real and thrumming through the air, not just in our heads. It rattled through the lyrium pillars and shook the earth beneath our feet to its dreadful tempo. We lost thirty men in the last cave-in, and the Warden-Commander is abandoning the mission. I tried to argue for one last push, but the rock is too unstable down there. We'll have to find another Archdemon somewhere more solid.

 

The Claws of Dumat (found in the Fade)

Spoiler

Master unveiled a new altar. It stands higher than a man, like a great statue, and great spikes jut out from its length, hungry for blood. Master calls it "the Claw of Dumat" and says that the altar will help bring Tevinter to glory. I praised it, as was expected, and Master smiled. It was good to see him smile again. He has been fearful of late, vexed by the loss of followers. He has met with the other priests, and in secret, I have heard them discussing ways to return the people of Tevinter to the ways of the Old Gods, as is only just.

 

He spoke to me later in the day, and asked that I call him Corypheus, as it was the name he would take for himself after a ritual. Master - now Corypheus - told me that my people, the elves of old, were tied to the Fade, and that in order to carry out the will of Dumat, he would need to call upon the magic that lives in our blood.

 

Corypheus told me to gather all of the elven servants and bring them to the western hall of our home at midnight. That is the hall where the Claw of Dumat is now kept. There are shackles across the top of the great altar, and pools lined with runes beneath the claws.

 

I have sent my wife and children away, but have not warned the others. A few I may save. If I tried to save us all, we would only be killed in some other way, and others would die in our place.

 

Master once laughed and joked. He could be stern, but he was not a cruel man. The weakening of the temples brought fear into his heart, and that fear has changed him. The cuts upon his arms are deeper and longer where he used his blood magic more often. He speaks to his wife little. He listens only to the voices in his dreams.

 

It is almost midnight. The Claw of Dumat, great and spiked and merciless, is all my mind can see. I must gather the others. My family is safe. Corypheus will take me, but not those I love.

 

- Words somehow preserved in blood at the statue's base

 

Whispers Written in Red Lyrium (found in the Fade)

Spoiler

We are here

We have waited

We have slept

We are sundered

We are crippled

We are polluted

We endure

We wait

We have found the dreams again

We will awaken

 

Memories Etched in Stone and Blood (found in the Fade)

Spoiler

I made the expected offerings this morning, but the gods remained silent. The priests are frightened. All of Tevinter is frightened. Our gods have led our people for centuries. Now, they have gone still. Are we alone here in this world, no better than the savages to the south who beg for guidance from spirits? And what of the strange creatures who come from underground, like our friends the dwarves? These spawn of the darkness and the plague they carry... why do our gods not protect us from this?

 

Now the ground shakes. The statue cuts my hand as I fall against it. A great roar sounds. It is massive, shaking the temple market, and I see the silhouette cut the sky. It is a dragon. No, it is Dumat! I have made the offerings so many times - his form is as familiar as my own hand. He has returned in glory to destroy these darkspawn that threaten us, to lead Tevinter back to an age of glory and wonder!

 

But no, his scales are sickly and mottled, his form twisted and corrupt, like the darkspawn themselves. He opens his great maw, and fire billows forth, igniting the market.

 

The flames rush toward me.

 

What did we do wrong?

 

- Memories somehow caught in the blood on an ancient Tevinter statue

[Dragonzzilla]

Finally, customers.

 

*Puts on reading glasses*

[Red of Rivia]

It has a codex I think, the Grey Wardens codex who disappeared of my saves, says something about '' this is the story of all wardens, while any'' does anyone know what it is?

[Dragonzzilla]

The Claws of Dumat (found in the Fade)

Spoiler

Master unveiled a new altar. It stands higher than a man, like a great statue, and great spikes jut out from its length, hungry for blood. Master calls it "the Claw of Dumat" and says that the altar will help bring Tevinter to glory. I praised it, as was expected, and Master smiled. It was good to see him smile again. He has been fearful of late, vexed by the loss of followers. He has met with the other priests, and in secret, I have heard them discussing ways to return the people of Tevinter to the ways of the Old Gods, as is only just.

 

He spoke to me later in the day, and asked that I call him Corypheus, as it was the name he would take for himself after a ritual. Master - now Corypheus - told me that my people, the elves of old, were tied to the Fade, and that in order to carry out the will of Dumat, he would need to call upon the magic that lives in our blood.

 

Corypheus told me to gather all of the elven servants and bring them to the western hall of our home at midnight. That is the hall where the Claw of Dumat is now kept. There are shackles across the top of the great altar, and pools lined with runes beneath the claws.

 

I have sent my wife and children away, but have not warned the others. A few I may save. If I tried to save us all, we would only be killed in some other way, and others would die in our place.

 

Master once laughed and joked. He could be stern, but he was not a cruel man. The weakening of the temples brought fear into his heart, and that fear has changed him. The cuts upon his arms are deeper and longer where he used his blood magic more often. He speaks to his wife little. He listens only to the voices in his dreams.

 

It is almost midnight. The Claw of Dumat, great and spiked and merciless, is all my mind can see. I must gather the others. My family is safe. Corypheus will take me, but not those I love.

 

- Words somehow preserved in blood at the statue's base

Is that who I think it is... seeming sympathetic?

[ev76]

Is that who I think it is... seeming sympathetic?

I think it is, at least I thought it was.

[Rekkampum]

Ben-Hassrath Reeducators (they make Shin Bet look like amateurs)

 

Spoiler

Detainee has already confessed to resisting arrest when Ben-Hassrath came for his coworker; circumstantial evidence suggests he was part of group planning to become Tal-Vashoth. Coworker died attempting to escape. Detainee requires evaluation for possible reintroduction into society instead of Qamek treatment. He is being denied sleep and given restricted portions of food and water, as noted below.

 

Day 1: Detainee restrained, given water but no food. Detainee requested to use latrine. Was told cleanliness part of The Qun, and he had decided to attack the Qun. Detainee asked why he murdered Ben-Hassrath, responded that he had only defended himself. Detainee eventually urinated on floor.

 

Day 2: Detainee given light food and water, told he could use the latrine if he could demonstrate ability to follow the Qun. Detainee asked why he murdered Ben-Hassrath, answered that he fought them to protect coworker, did not murder them. Detainee told that lying is unacceptable under the Qun. Detainee observed reeducators eating and drinking and engaging in conversation about daily activities while detainee stood.

 

Day 3: Detainee refused food and water. Was taken outside and shown qalaba rooting through garbage for food. Detainee told he is similar to qalaba, as neither he nor it follows the Qun. Also told qalaba is better than detainee, as qalaba is too stupid to follow the Qun, while detainee could follow it, but made conscious choice to refuse. Detainee asked why he murdered Ben-Hassrath. Detainee answered that he was angry and trying to protect his friend.

 

Day 4: Detainee shown drawings of dead Tamassrans and children, told these were drawings of people in Seheron killed by Tal-Vashoth. Detainee told all Tal-Vashoth do this, and if detainee wishes to be Tal-Vashoth, he must go to education center and kill tamassrans now. Detainee became visibly upset. Detainee asked why he murdered Ben-Hassrath, answered that he was wrong and lied to by his coworker.

 

Day 5: Detainee continues to show remorse. Is visibly happy when reminded that Qun offers place for all people. Detainee washed, given new clothes and food, allowed to sleep. Upon waking, detainee asked whther he would prefer to be Tal-Vashoth or Qunari. Detainee answered that he will remain Qunari. Detainee released to road crew for simple labor and will be watched by observers on team.

 

-Excerpt from a Ben-Hassrath reeducation report smuggled out of Par-Vollen.

 

I freaking love the Qunari!

[Master Warder Z_]

Bah the Qunari need to talk to proper torture experts.

Vympel or special decoratorate B can rip you apart inside forty eight hours supposedly.

Their the mean drunk uncle of GRU's Spetnaz.

[TEWR]

 

Spoiler

So close. We nearly reached him. Made it down to what looked like a dwarven thaig where the song was actually audible, real and thrumming through the air, not just in our heads. It rattled through the lyrium pillars and shook the earth beneath our feet to its dreadful tempo. We lost thirty men in the last cave-in, and the Warden-Commander is abandoning the mission. I tried to argue for one last push, but the rock is too unstable down there. We'll have to find another Archdemon somewhere more solid.

 

Spoiler

Interesting. So the Wardens at one point tried to find one of the sleeping Old Gods and kill it on their own. Or so I imagine. Hard to say how how recent that note is, all things considered.

 

Nice to see they at least tried to act on that information they got. Would be equally nice to know how in the hell they got it in the first place.

[MisterJB]

The Fade level could just be called "interesting codexes, the quest."

 

From the mage's and templar' letters illustrating how both sides have understandable fears to the son of a Grey Warden whom I can't stop picturing as Kieran, it is a veritable treasure trove of fascinating information.

 

BTW, has anyone managed to read all of the diferent codexes on Hawke. Since there is a difference between a non-mage who sided with the Templars, a mage who did, a mage who sided with the mages, etc I'm really curious just how many variations of it there are.

[kukumburr]

Spoiler

Interesting. So the Wardens at one point tried to find one of the sleeping Old Gods and kill it on their own. Or so I imagine. Hard to say how how recent that note is, all things considered.

 

Nice to see they at least tried to act on that information they got. Would be equally nice to know how in the hell they got it in the first place.

 

Yeah I'm not sure how they know where the Old Gods are. Maybe they were able to do some sort of magic-ritual-scrying-thing to learn their locations.

 

I'm curious if the Archdemon mentioned in that note is one that has actually risen yet or not. There is a landmark that's also in the Western Approach called "Lost Idol" that mentions relief carvings on a slab that depicts worshipers of Razikale being engaged in a religious ceremony, and he's one of the ones that hasn't woken up yet. Maybe he's down there?

 

Anyways, here's another interesting codex:

A Different Darkspawn?

Spoiler

The journal, penned by an unknown writer, appears to be quite old, with many of its pages damaged by water and dust. The entries that can be read all appear to be about twenty years old:

 

We finally found Amuk alive in that passage. Still can't believe it. The only reason I didn't stop digging is because he had the key to the cache - but, after two weeks, I was expecting to find it on his corpse. What story does he come up with? That he was found by a darkspawn, polite as you please, who fed him and gave him water and evidently chatted with him about surfacers. I don't know what Amuk is thinking, coming up with a story like that, but he swore by the Stone it was all the truth. Crazy as it sounds, I know Amuk, and he's got the imagination of a dull hammer. Why would he make something like that up?

 

Reminds me of a story my grandsire used to tell, about something his grandsire did. Said he once came upon a group of three darkspawn in the Deeper Roads, each twice the size of any Dwarf - bigger than Humans, even - and dressed up like kings. He watched from the shadows and said they talked, like people, about things he couldn't understand. A city gone black, and they blamed each other for things but could barely remember for what. My Mam was like that: never remembered the slight, just that she was angry. Story goes they attacked each other, and one ran off while the second choked the third to death and then ate him.

 

Don't know about Darkspawn having talking kings, never mind polite ones that give you food and tea, but maybe Amuk met one of them. There's strange things in the Deeper Roads, after all, things the Shapers can't even recall. As if smuggling wasn't dangerous enough.

 

The polite one sounds like the Architect, and the other ones sound like other ancient magisters.

[MisterJB]

"The Calling" revealed long algo that all Warden-Commanders know where the Old Gods lie slumbering.
The book deals with The Architect capturing the Warden-Commander of Orlais and learning that secret, hence how he knew where to find Urthemiel.

[Dragonzzilla]

Spoiler

. . . Made it down to what looked like a dwarven thaig where the song was actually audible, real and thrumming through the air, not just in our heads. It rattled through the lyrium pillars and shook the earth beneath our feet to its dreadful tempo . . .

I wonder what it sounds like. Something like this perhaps? What do you think?

[Lulupab]

BTW, has anyone managed to read all of the diferent codexes on Hawke. Since there is a difference between a non-mage who sided with the Templars, a mage who did, a mage who sided with the mages, etc I'm really curious just how many variations of it there are.

 

I haven't but there is also another codex, romancing Anders and not killing him in which case Hawke and Anders actually help a few circles rebel and as such has its own codex.

[Dragonzzilla]

An Anatomie of Various Terrible Beasts by Baron Havard-Pierre d'Amortisan (which roughly translates to "love of craft") is a hoot. He writes some of the codices about a new animal, and those codex entries are so dark they're hilariously in the style of a Cosmic Horror Story. The Baron's florid descriptions and enveloping gloom are made only funnier by the occasional footnote of his scribe, Dunwich. (Of the quillback, he says "Master means that it's pointy.")
 
Bogfisher

Spoiler

I accompanied Marquis d'Archambon upon this expedition reluctantly, although d'Archambon insisted that an exploration to show me the truth and beauty of the world might assuage the consternation with which I observed it.

As we entered the caves, the cold and brackish water dripping incessantly, we came upon a hulking beast whose great flapping paws slapped the stone. In countenance it was broad, its flaps of hide hanging loose across its bristled back. D'Archambon drove it away, laughing at its clumsiness, heedless of the declinate fangs protruding at unknowable angles from its distended maw. He said the beast, or "bogfisher" as the locals called it, was a failing vestige in the land of men, fit to be tamed or slain.

That night, we camped beside an underground lake, its rippling waves a susurrus of inhuman whispers. The sepulchral emptiness of the starless night was vast, our own fire pitiful in its sullen rebellion against the unending dark.

The bogfisher slipped from the lake, its flapping paws perfectly equipped to propel it through the water; its spiny maw closed upon d'Archambon. Then the marquis was gone, his frantic thrashing all we could see in the frenzied white water as the bogfisher pulled him under.

That night, I knew that this is not the land of men. The lightless torpid waters are not tamed; men are but ants crawling witlessly across a lily pad in a pond. Most think the emerald land bound to their tiny will. Those few who peer over the edge and see the leviathans, pale bellied, scales shimmering in colors with no name, swimming beneath them, can only scurry away, trying in vain to articulate the vast and uncaring terrors that awaits. What my eyes have seen, my limited mind may never comprehend, but I shall never draw near dark water again. The bogfisher has taught me well.

──From "An Anatomie of Various Terrible Beasts", by Baron Havard-Pierre d'Amortisan

Gurgut

Spoiler

The Chant of Light claims that the Maker made us, and in our folly, we think ourselves blessed by such fact. If fact it is, for in my seeking, I find only base illusions, the better for being torn down and mocked as inadequate in the harsh light of reason. But as an exercise, let us say that it is true, that the Maker made us.

I have seen the gurgut basking in a slanted shaft of sunlight in the penumbral canyon, its putrescent tongue scenting the rancid air of the nameless and unnamable swamp, swishing the uncaring grass of the plains with its passage. It is some cousin of the wyvern, but bereft of the savage ferocity for which the latter is praised and hunted by Orlesian nobles. Its thick-lidded eyes stare witlessly, and its jaw hangs agape; it is not befuddled or frustrated by its want of reason, but perfectly content, a drooling idiot.

Its pallid belly stretches and distends, disdaining all reason, when it gorges itself upon its prey. I have seen such a lowly beast swallow a chevalier whole, the great and shining warrior taken by surprise in the tall grass, his silverite armor gleaming as the gurgut unhinged its jaw to draw the chevalier in. Across its belly, I saw the kicks and struggles grow frenzied and then still, and the idiot beast settled into a happy torpor. The ruined armor of the noble chevalier lay among the gurgut's spoor several days later.

Say that it is true, that the Maker made us. What if He made us for food? What if the grand purpose of our searching existence is to stretch the belly of a beast that slinks through the tall grass? What if there is a single unbending purpose and, in it, we are cattle to feed the witless leviathans that slumber unseen beneath us?

—From "An Anatomie of Various Terrible Beasts", by Baron Havard-Pierre d'Amortisan

Master makes us check behind him for gurguts at all times. He also carries a very sharp stick.

—Footnote in the margins of the manuscript by the baron's scribe, Dunwich