SourceMaterial-The Burning Page

The Burning Page

The Burning Page is a growing organization of Saemilists and their supporting followers founded approximately two centuries after The Great War ended. Their main occupation is the recovery of the ancient art of Runic Magic and the research and discovery of its expansion.

History

The Great War Exploration

Though The Great War did not permeate the reaches of the Underdark as it did the surface, the Orcish evocation spell ripped through the continents and caused reverberations which penetrated the deep the crust of Avlis and loosened the rocks and caverns, some of which had been sealed off by tightly fitting portals for ages. Unknown to the surface dwellers, this set off a renewed age of exploration below them where Demon Lords sought out and conquered new territories sometimes filled with ancient races. It was within a newly reopened enclave that the Demon Lord Teralatax, daughter of Alifanitax, stumbled upon an ancient library with tomes that seemed to date back to the Age of Gods. As a practitioner of magic and a prominent member of the old Black Order, Teralatax was elated and immediately fortified the area and concentrated her efforts on combing this treasure trove for secrets to the power of the gods. Initially, she was taken by the idea of finding the all powerful Black Dagger, however her efforts soon proved futile on that account. Instead, Teralatax encountered a reference in an old book that referred to the Age of Spirits and the inhabitants that roamed the land before The Negerai Prime infested it with her ancestral kind. Thus began an adventure that would outlive her by over a thousand years.

The obscure reference that started Teralatax's journey told of spirits long ago that could use magic by drawing runes on their skin. As one of the few volumes detailing history before the arrival of the Negerai Prime, it told several accounts of spirits lost to history who were great warriors in their own right and used these magical runes on their skin to augment their abilities and those of their allies. Within the long-forgotten political web of that age, these warriors were held in great esteem and were seen to stand alongside of other types of magic users that existed among the spirit-kin. Intrigued, Teralatax had to know more about this great power and after exhausting the resources of the conquered library, she set out to find others that may have been uncovered by the great rumbling from above.

As she wandered through the tunnels and caverns of the newly revealed sections of the Underdark with her entourage, Teralatax kept journals of her exploits and findings. She set the goal of aggregating all knowledge of these runic casters in one place. Additionally, she began to do research and included these findings in her journals along with the rest. From her interpretation of the limited text, Teralatax believed that there must be some special kind of ink used in creating these runes and that by inscribing characters onto the skin in the language of Magya, she could produce magical effects. This became known in her writings as Teralatax's Theory.

Initial efforts focused on finding references to this mysterious ink, but to no avail. Teralatax began to devise inks on her own and experimenting with runes on the skin that could trap and use energy from the Mortal Magic Vortex. For over a century she relentlessly pursued this quest through library after library and tome after tome. Eventually, her obsession caught up with her when her paramour, another Spawn of Alifanitax named Elira, managed to stick a dagger between her shoulder blades while she was falling asleep at a table. By killing another Spawn of Alifanitax, Elira took on her Black Dagger energy and became as powerful as both of them combined. She also took on her lover's quest, but had different ideas on how to accomplish it.

The Conclave and The Death Runes

After securing all of the territory she inherited from Teralatax, Elira had a tower built in her capitol city of Turgestok. She then set out a summons to all the powerful mages in her lands to assemble at the tower and begin researching the power of runes. Their apprentices would be set to work combing the caverns for more tomes, while the masters would conduct experiments. Occasionally, apprentices would also be brought in for some of the more dangerous trials, for safety. The fruits of that research yielded some new capabilities after a couple of decades. The conclave figured out the composition of an ink that could be used to inscribe runes on the skin, and how to wield that effectively on themselves and others by drawing power from the Mortal Magic Vortex, and in Elira's case, the Divine Magic vortex once she began to amass enough followers and power to grant spells to her worshipers.

With her new-found magical system, Elira set to turning it against her enemies. Her conclave was ordered to inscribe runes on all of her soldiers to enhance their speed, agility, and resistances to damage of various kinds. Her best fighters were kept together in a single squad that earned a bloody reputation on the battlefield and came to be called Elira's Death Runes. Over a period of several more decades, Elira and her Death Runes managed to triple the size of her holdings and multiply the numbers of rune-bearing soldiers in her army. As often happens, the fame and success of Elira's Death Runes began to catch up with them, and as the victories mounted they gained the attention of several of the Orders of Magic and the Fold of Eight. The case with most magic users at the time, and all of the magic users in Elira's conclave was that they held dual memberships between their homeland liege and their order of magic. Several of the conclave members grew worried that what they were doing was hurting the art and if Elira's rune users became too numerous, it would make the original versions of magic obsolete. This threat was too much to bear so the conclave began secretly feeding information to the Fold of Eight on where Elira's attacks would fall and what her strategies would be. This information was then fed to the magic users in the armies of her enemies.

On a fateful night when Elira sought to conquer the capitol city of Sharis from its Lord Sharistracterus, the information provided ahead of time sealed her fate. Elira was ambushed by Sharistracterus and defeated in single combat while her armies were torn to shreds. Sharistracterus then confiscated all of her lands and put the resistant ones to the sword, wiping out the tower and Elira's conclave in the process.

History records only a single survivor of that routed army, a tiefling Lieutenant in the Death Runes named Jorko Binder. Immediately upon seeing the fate of his liege and the deaths of his comrades, Jorko threw down his weapons and hid in the shadows of Sharis, melting away into the populace. He set himself up as a baker in the city and gradually put a life together for himself. Along the way he had many children, but he selected his favorite son to teach the ways of runic magic according to the Death Runes. For the next two centuries, this method was quietly passed from father to son and temporarily forgotten by everyone.

The Binders

A scion of Jorko Binder named Damar Binder was the latest inheritor of the secrets of runic magic around the year 500 A.O.D. During his lifetime he successfully led armies and amassed followers to become a Demon Lord in his own right, and knowing full well his direction, he gradually conquered his way back to Teratalax's land and managed to find the library referenced in her now lost journals, which Damar heard about from a lonely sage he had killed. Unlike many of his ancestors, who merely passed down information, Damar turned if over and analyzed it. He theorized about it. When the means became available, he secretly researched it. In those musings, Damar came up with a novel idea: that runes could be created from objects placed on the ground, not just from ink, but there would have to be some method to link this arrangement of objects to a Vortex. After years of study and trials, Damar was ready to try out his theories, and he selected the original library location where it all started.

He did not know for sure if his theory would work, but if it did, he imagined he would become not only famous, but powerful enough to take on the original Demon Lord, Kimonictinus. As he set his layout of objects within the library and stood where he believed the power would be concentrated, everything exploded in a flash of white light. He found himself in the same library with a wounded blue humanoid that he could not identify. The ground and ceiling shook as smoke and dust poured into the space. The wounded humanoid was no more than four feet tall but heavily muscled and his skin was covered with black scars in shapes and patterns he had never seen. They were definitely not Magya characters. Catching his bearings, he rushed over to the humanoid and cradled his head in his lap asking what happened.

The humanoid told him, through gasps and wheezes, that the battle between the Negerai Prime and the Nine Warriors had damaged the fabric of reality itself. What was once a powerful singular Vortex that gave magic and life to all things has been split asunder. His group, of which he was the last one left, was made up of a wizard, a psionicist, a pathomancer, and himself, a saemilist. The explosion that ripped apart Magic made them all lose their powers for days, and through their research they figured out how to get them back by tapping into their own sources. For the saemilist, it was something he called a Prime Nature, the part of the old Vortex that went into the rocks and trees. For several years, the four traveled around teaching the other spirits how to gain their abilities once more, and eventually they found themselves chased by some of the Negerai Prime's demons. Just as the blue spirit hunkered down into the library where he was cornered by a hoard of glabrezou, he saw the stranger appear. He figured none of them had long.

Damar Binder took in the creature's words and memorized as many of the symbols on the creature's body as he could. He asked more questions about this strange writing and the rune magics it contained, and for a couple more hours the dying creature was able to tell him while he frantically wrote it all down on a scroll. As the blue creature drew his last break, another explosion rocked the library loosening a large beam that fell onto Damar mortally wounding him too. The very next second, his runic spell of time travel wore off and he was back in the present with his scroll, but his wounds were all too real.

Before dying, Damar Binder bade one of his guards to carry the scroll immediately to his son and heir back in Sharis. He realized that all he had known and all his ancestors had researched were nothing but lies.

The son of Damar Binder and new ruler of his lands was Atracio Binder III. Upon receiving his father's scroll and hearing the news, he put all of his resources into finding out how to create real Runic Magic. He also decided it was time to unleash his secret and began enhancing his own army according to the ways he knew how, with inked runes that drew on the Mortal Magic Vortex. According to the Scroll of Damar Binder, Atracio needed to find a rare stone called Red Obsidian, and thus began his search using all of his resources.

Unfortunately, when the Fold of Eight caught wind of his quest, they once again sprang into action and ended the reign of Atracio Binder III. However, the Fold did not realize that these runic secrets were passed from father to son and that Atracio Binder III had already begun to train Atracio Binder IV, who upon hearing of the assassination of his father at the hands of the Fold of Eight became so enraged, he abdicated his kingdom and vowed to use all of his power and influence to destroy the Fold. Thus began Atracio's mercenary band, The Burning Page.

Over time, the Scroll of Damar Binder was lost. However, the Binder family prospered and multiplied into its own subunit of the Burning Page, known as The Binders. In every age, there has been a Binder at the leadership of The Burning Page, and they have continuously been the elite warriors of the group. To keep up the finances, the organization needed to diversify from its main quest and it began to take on mercenary jobs, for which it soon became famous. Over the next several centuries, The Burning Page was instrumental in thousands of decisive Underdark battles, accruing wealth in addition to fame.

The Glyph Bringers

For much of the next 1,000 years, The Binders coalesced into an organization of mercenaries using Vortex-based runic magic with ink tattoos. The mercenaries that were hired by the family eventually organized themselves into shrewd fighting merchants that could be used to further explore the Underdark, combing it for clues that could enhance their power. Their group took on the old name of the Binder's unit, The Death Runes. It was one such Death Rune named Dazheel, Spawn of Alifanitax and demon commander of the Horde of Tru’av’kazh who had a breakthrough discovery in 2202. Through certain rumors heard in the city of Sharis, he ordered his army to advance on a Benteak-Kune gathering in Tyedu where they were rumored to have an item called a Hammer of Creation, which was capable of making something called a stylus that could be used to carve runes magically into the skin. A mage in the city named Laramith sold him some information (at a great price) regarding the Hammer and its usage. Dhazeel suspected that Laramith possessed the authentic Scroll of Damar Binder, but could not be certain, so he wanted to check out the story by advancing on the Tyeduan tribe.

It turned out that Laramith was willing to sell this information to others besides Dhazeel, and several armies began to converge on the Benteak-Kune all at once. Caught unaware, Dhazeel was captured by a small band of adventurers led by a Tyeduan human named Lolobe of Clan Fighting Eagle of the Benteak-Kune. To his surprise, the adventurers let Dhazeel live and took him straight to Laramith, where they acquired the Scroll of Damar Binder. After several adventures along the way, they followed the directions on the scroll and with the help of Theramin the Mikonator, who remembered the days when Runic Magic was still in use, helped them unlock the secrets.

Dubbed as The Runic Awakening, this event saw the return of true Runic Magic to Avlis, derived from the Prime Nature and separate from all Vortex-based magics. Dhazeel, Lolobe, and Laramith became the first Saemilists in the true sense seen on the planet in thousands of years, and the three of them were given assurances, protections, and riches beyond their dreams in exchange for developing and teaching their craft to the rank and file of The Burning Page. The mikonator Theramin was never seen again.

Organization

The Burning Page is an organization dedicated to the discovery and dissemination of Runic Magic. Over time, it has expanded to include all manner of classes and races, both on the surface and in the Underdark. The original purpose of its members was to seek vengeance on The Fold of Eight for the death of Atracio Binder III, but with the passing of eons, the group has splintered into several related entities that consider themselves part of the same overall brotherhood of Saemilists.

The Binders

The Binders are the elite fighting arm and leaders of The Burning Page. They number in the thousands and engage in all manners of professions, but most are avid Saemilists mercenaries seeking fame and glory for The Burning Page organization. All members of The Binders are direct descendants from Atracio Binder III, and most still carry the same last name. They continue the passing of Rune Magic secrets to their offspring, and they encourage the exploration and acquisition of forgotten runic artifacts. As a family, they require all members to share their knowledge and they are rumored to keep this knowledge base in a secret location.

The Binders who are not actively involved in seeking out treasure or battle are in charge of coordinating the rest of the organization.

The Death Runes

This part of the organization takes the old name once used for Jorko Binder's elite unit and exists mostly throughout the Underdark. They are something of a hybrid between merchants and mercenaries, using their fighting prowess to position themselves for great financial windfalls for which they swoop in and shrewdly negotiate themselves a nice share. This makes them powerful allies (or hated enemies) to all the noble houses of the Underdark, and in some areas they control a large portion of trade between clans and Demon Lord holdings. Aside from earning money as sellswords, they supplement their income with racketeering, assassinations, ransom, and petty thievery. It is thought that few rogue's guilds in the major Underdark cities exist without paying some form of tribute to or allying with The Death Runes.

As such, this positioning lets them hunt for artifacts both on the ground and in the markets. They are directed by The Binders to scour the merchants and the cubby holes of the Underdark for anything that might give them more information on their craft.

The Glyph Bringers

Founded in 2202, the Glyph Bringers are the newest part of the organization charged with spreading true Runic Magic first to The Burning Page and next to the world. Their founding marks the final realization of Teralatax's dream, Demon Lord Elira's orders, Jorko Binder's sacrifice, and Damar Binder's obsession. As such, the outlook and membership of this sect has expanded and within only several years it has become the largest branch of The Burning Page, both above and below ground. They now see themselves as the regulating organization of Runic Magic that is to shape how the art reveals itself on Avlis. However, this similarity to traditional magical regulation is where the group parts ways with The Fold of Nine. The Glyph Bringers value their roots as a mercenary trade organization and press for the evolution of that image into more of a magical warrior archetype. Recent philosophical musings by Lolobe hold that an individual's connection to The Prime Nature is sacred, and though the Prime Nature is not a sentient deity, it can imbue those who are in tune with it with great strength and power.

At this time, it is too early to tell if philosophical differences among practitioners who embody law, chaos, good, and evil will further split The Glyph Bringers. Nevertheless, even at this early stage, the disseminating masters of the craft understand that diverse students are needed in order to preserve it so it does not once more fade from existence.