by Carteeg Struve
The Prophet (? PD – ? PD) was the man who authored the Volumes of the Prophet. Extremely little is known about him. Whether intentionally or through the effects of time, even his name had been lost. What is commonly agreed upon by historians is that he was an eccentric human priest who lived approximately 4200 years before the Drowning. In current day he is only known as ‘The Prophet’ (not to be confused with the Fallen Avanesti who had been aiding Lord Montegron’s aims in the Midlands).
According to legend, the Prophet was gifted in an instant a look at all future-history Adlatum and possibly Krynn had in store for itself. After receiving this gift, he spent the rest of his life writing down what he had saw. Unfortunately–or maybe fortunately–all of his notes were written in highly encrypted codes, poems, diagrams, mathematical equations, images, riddles, and many other complex methods. Also his work was never sorted into any particular order during his lifetime.
After decades of secluded work, the Prophet passed away while in the midst of his lifelong task. It is believed he never completed writing everything he saw, but the final clear passage he wrote seemed to be about the destruction of the world at the hands of a being more powerful than the gods.
Soon after his death, a newly found order known as the Brotherhood of the Prophet collected his works and tried to collate them into some cohesive and sensible manner. The prophecies and road maps for the future were eventually grouped by which of the major races of Adlatum each prophecy referred to, or at least as near as the Brotherhood to guess.
The Brotherhood also found encrypted notes from the Prophet they believed were written for them. Now believing that the Prophet foresaw the formation of the Brotherhood, they took these messages to be instructions on what to do. After much study and attempts to interpret these instructions, the Brotherhood came to believe that the Prophet wished each of the racial groupings to be sent to the leaders of their respective race. These groupings were each completed and bound into separate Volumes and over the next 900 years, these seven mystical tomes were delivered to each of the seven major races.
With these Volumes of the Prophet now lost, any information either about or from the Prophet is considered highly valuable. Being able to share in the knowledge he gained from his visions could have highly beneficial or highly destructive consequences on Adlatum’s future.
It should also be noted that some members of the Brotherhood now believe the order may had misinterpreted many of the Prophet’s instructions to them, assuming those notes were truly instructions at all.