Tablet of Factions

The Tablet of Factions is a stone tablet, copper-inlaid, recovered from a sealed chamber high on the northern face of the Tortuga Monolith. It is the single most consequential artifact in The Forgelands, because of what it implies: the chamber predates every known structure in the world, and the Tablet carries four marks that correspond, unmistakably, to the four factions active today.

Description

The Tablet is a slab of dressed stone roughly one block square, faced with copper inlay that has oxidized to green except where the four marks are cut: a hammer, a rough ingot, a sheaf, and a spiral of mist. Beneath the marks runs a band of smaller inlay that resembles writing and has not been deciphered. The craftsmanship is exceptional. Drugal MacGruder examined the hammerwork and stated that the technique was older than any he knew, then asked the question the Archives have been unable to put down since: who had been worried enough to write laws in metal?

Interpretation

The conservative reading is that the Smithies, Copperlings, Agrarians, and Myst are older than The Forgelands' recorded history, and that something once required their relationship to be formalized in stone and copper. The less conservative readings are not yet fit for the permanent record.

Recovery and Custody

The chamber was reached by scaffolding the cliff face; it has been left exactly as found, minus the Tablet, and access is restricted. The Tablet rests in the vault at Savanna Villa, assigned to the first gallery of the Hall of the Ancients upon that building's completion.

Field Notes

All four factions have been shown the Tablet. The Smithies studied it. The Agrarians nodded. The Copperlings asked to polish it and were refused. The Myst were shown it at a distance, and the Archives record, without interpretation, that they stopped advancing for nine days.