The holy chronicles (book)

The holy chronicles is the holiest of all the holy books included in the holy chronological faith and it is from this book that the faith takes it's name. When the book was created remains a question that so far have not been answered and the exact date have been lost to time but it is suspected that it was written down just after the Erathian invasion of Erathia which spelled the doom of the Wharen species. While all sects of the holy chronological faith uses the book so do various versions of the book exists and the one used by the mainstream chronological sect is not the same used by the rest. The most extreme take on this is seen in Andedyrkare that lives in the northern parts of Scandera where the book is hardly used at all and mostly is read from during special holy days when the gods are worshipped. Otherwise so do they mostly continue their own oral traditions and rituals to the spirits around them and bother the gods only when they need to.

The holy chronicles is suspected to be the most read book of all books created by Scanderan cultures or their colonials and it was the first book that was mass produced by printing when the art of book printing first was discovered by Scanderans. As a matter of fact so was the Imerian father of book printing a chronological priest that wished to make education and faith more open to the lower classes and that is why he created his own book printing workshop outside of his own temple.

Development

The chronicles were officially created some time after the Erathian invasion but the exact date is unknown. It is however known that there was a large council that gathered all known folklore told by tales and most runestones known at the time. What is however known is that the old runestones were generally preferred over oral traditions.

Since those days so have other stories and tales been added to celebrate holy events and the birth of great divine persons.

Gudarföljare chronicles

The gudarföljare sect's version of the holy chronicles is the longest version of the book and it puts much impotence on the legends of the gods and how they travels the world but there are also large sections depicting the lives of great heroes like Ingen and the men that fought in the great migration, even the migration of the Karmanjakans is mentioned but it is much shorter than the version included in the draktra version.

Even here is the laws of the holy chronicles detailed and well written out but it is not as long nor as strict as the laws used by the followers of the Draktra sect nor is it as universal. Even magic is included in the book even if the spells listed here are more of prayers and protective signs that the commonry might use on a daily basis.

Jarntra chronicles

Jarntra is the chronicles used on Jarnarna, sundet and Asterarna where the water god Arv is worshipped as the king of the gods. It mentions the migrations but not in as much details like those of Gudarföljarna but it focuses mostly on the adventures of Arv. It is also known for it's great empathise put on spells that help to predict the weather and where to find fish. There are also several spells mentioned in the book that would help shipmakers to create more sturdy and faster ships. The holy laws that are so heavily favoured in draktra is not much written off in this version of the book but it is known to have some rather odd laws compared to the rest of the faiths. One example of this is how it demands that the fallen are to be lowered into the ocean rather than burned like they are in Draktra and Gudaföljare, another more extreme example of this is how the books demands that wood should not be burnt on the islands and to do so is a crime. This is however not something that was too rigidly enforced but it is suspected that it arose over the scarcity of trees growing in the regions where Jarntra was strong and wasting them was not an option.

Draktra chronicles

The draktra sect have the second longest version of the holy chronicles of all the sects and only the gudarföljar book is longer, this is however because the stories included in the draktra chronicles are much shorter and fewer and it mostly concentrates in great detail about the Karmanjakan migration and how they drove off the people in the Karmanjakan pass and how the great dragon god gave them laws and taught them how to tame the great dragons that lives in the mountains. Later sections also mentions how he taught them to worship the other gods, his vassals which have made some historians argue that Draktra has it's history outside of the holy chronological faith and that the Karmanjakans simply absorbed the other gods from the chronological faith to supplement their older monotheistic religion (even if it is still debated if the religion was a monotheistic one to begin with). If this is true did the holy chronological faith also adopt the dragon god like one of their own even if the faith is still debating his place in the divine hierarchy.

Where the draktra sect however have a longer section than all other faiths is amongst it's holy laws and the list and restrictions made here are extensive even compared to those the men in the more civilised parts of Scandera followed. This list of laws include foods that are forbidden like the flesh of reptiles and scaleless fish, it have massive sections about tattoos all men and women are supposed to mark their skin with. It has long sections about how to dress and similar rules, even sections demanding circumcision amongst the men when they reach the age of 16, something that is unheard off amongst the other sects.

Andedyrkare chronicles

The Andedyrkare chronicles is the version of the book used by the Andedyrkar sect and it is one of the shortest version of the book that contains the tales of the migrations but often keep a rather short focus on all three major ones. It does however spend much more time on describing the various spells used to summon spirits and how to commune with the spirit world. Even the divine laws are much shorter in this version of the book and generally so is it more direct in it's language. This version of the chronological books is also known to have a rather odd way of disposing of the dead, rather than burning them or lowering them into the ocean like the rest of the faiths so do Andedyrkare ceremonially leave their dead on hills for the animals of the world to devour. While the practice of lowering bodies into the waters is acceptable in all faiths and burning bodies are acceptable for those that follow Jarntra if there is no water nearby so is this a practice that is loathed by all other faiths and Andedyrkare were historically very pressed by all religious authorities to change this practice as it was seen as unholy and more than once was it debated if the sect should be declared Útblót or not.

Archaeological and historical research

The holy chronicles has for ages often served as a very good, even if a somewhat biased, source of Scanderan history as it covers most of it from a religious viewpoint. It has however also been rather hard to study Scanderan history without taking the holy chronicles into account as most of the known oral traditions and the most ancient runestones, both of which are by now entirely forgotten or have faded into nothingness during the ages, are now kept only in the pages of the holy chronicles.

This have given the rise of a somewhat dubious practice amongst Scanderan historians to consult the holy chronicles and to cross reference finds with it. However despite all this so is the book itself also massively important as the oldest accounts of Scanderan life as it's ancient laws tells what the old nomadic Scanderan tribes considered important as well as what life was after the migration, the old and even to this day often repeated curses against people that poisons herds and against shieldmakers that uses the skin of a sheep rather than rawhide for shields are two example of laws that tells how important the herds used to be for the nomadic life and how early beliefs tried to regulate how the herds were targeted during combat and raids. The parts about the shieldmakers are often cited as a more martially minded society where unity and the shieldwall was put above all else and how the religious authorities at the time tried to ensure that people did not trick warriors and kings by selling them cheap and downright dangerous equipment.