Original texts by an unknown druid, recovered and translated by Varona Vedralu, Senior Lecturer, University of Gwylim
The Mount Firesong eruption of 1E 2484 saw all notable settlements on Amenos, High Isle, and Galen either completely destroyed or damaged to the point that they were uninhabitable. Just as today, many of the scholars and historians of the Systres Archipelago were preoccupied with knightly or noble deeds, and so our understanding of the "Green Years" that followed is based primarily on secondary historical sources.
What follows is my best reconstruction and translation of several druidic texts found in an excavation at a First Era Stonelore site. All credit to the University students who accompanied myself and Dean Heladren to the archipelago for their great assistance in the recovery of these rare fragments.
This first entry appears to have been written directly after the eruptions started:
"Ash fell from the sky again today and the heat of (their) bones flowed to where the stone met the sea. We gathered those we could and huddled in the (safe place) where (unintelligible). Some among us wished to turn away those who wore the silks of the city or the leathers of the ships, but the archdruid was firm. And so we sheltered those we could while Mount Firesong's hymn shook the ground beneath us."
The second entry appears to have been written a few months after the eruptions slowed:
"The berries are plentiful. Our (magic of the True Way) has allowed the leaves to return and the bushes to bear fruit. And so those who shelter beneath our branches remain safe despite the turmoil across the islands. We have taught what we could to the Tamsfolk and they in turn have taught us things as well. Druid (name unintelligible) has taken a man from Wayrest as his husband, and our bond is strong with our newfound kin. We lost so much in the turmoil, we were afraid it portended the coming of the Sower. But today it seems new life will bud from beneath the ash. Thank the Green."
The third is from a year or two later. Time has not been kind to this text, and much of its meaning is my supposition based on contemporaneous work. Please keep this in mind when referencing it for scholarly papers:
"It was all (a waste of time/a lie.) The (outsiders?) do not (respect the islands/Y'ffre). They have taken our gifts and spit in the eye of (the druid circles). Someday the dream will (bear fruit?) and we will claim our place in the world. We have seen it in the stones and in our hearts and in our souls."
For reference, all included texts were originally recorded on a combination of pumice stone and darkwood tablets. The stone had sigils carved upon them, and the wood was painted with a local variant of berryblood ink. These relics can be reviewed in University repository upon request.
