Texts from The Brotherhood of Ascension

[Sternhund]

These texts have been surfaced from the underdark by Adelia Tyrell. They were written by The Brotherhood of Ascension, who are people prisoned within the underdark, desperately trying to escape. May these texts serve as a reminder of our blessings, and to pray for those less fortunate.

Annals of the Ascended One, Abridged
Watchpriest Sepris of the Silver Azimuth
Year 102 A. I. A.

It was in the Year Twelve before the Illustrious Ascension that our Visionary Founder, the Glorious Frederick Bresley, the Ascended One, escaped from the bondage of the accursed Drow and made swift passage to the realm Sanctuary and on these lands pitched camp.

  Dreadful were the early days, and
   beasts besieged the broken walls,
   and clambered up the gates.

The Ascended One founded the town of Sanctuary and gave safe haven to his companions. The town was intended as a temporary shelter while they prepared for the upcoming journey upward to the surface.

  Haven habor, ships do weary dock
   Sails anew to billow in the wind, with
   silver prow to cut a sterling wake.

Some of the men of the town did not want to continue the journey. Others felt that the journey should be continued, but later, once they had learned more of the surrounding region.

  Sweet words did bind us
   to these chains of Hell,
   and quick prudence made us
   slaves beneath the rock.
   I'd hate to be an Archibald.

The Ascended One founded the Seekers in Year Five before the Illustrious Ascension to ensure that his vision of a continued journey would not flicker out. Assisted by Ivlysar and Ubel, he led nonstop searches for a passage upward to the surface.

  Avatars of the Ascension,
   Ivlysar, Alexander.
   Seekers of the greatest Freedom,
   sun-kissed land that are our home.

The Ascended One, Frederick Bresley, left the town of Sanctuary in the Year of the Illustrious Ascension and reached the Surface World. It is in the name of the Ascended One that this work is dedicated, and toward his vision all our efforts proceed.

The Gleaming of the Risen Brotherhood
Watchpriest Aeran of the Silver Azimuth
Year 137 A. I. A.

We are the Free People of the Sanctuary Below. Our forefathers fled the ruins of the city above in search of freedom from the diseased corruption of flesh and mind. They saw that material comforts bred false contentment, and that false contentment bred complacency toward our captivity in these depths. Every law, every building, every guardsman, by their very nature, undermine our sole purpose -- to escape. Each must be held accountable to the greater good of that Ascension which is our birthright and promised end.

We will never forget.
We will never give up.

We are the Brotherhood, heirs in spirit to Frederick Bresley. Since these lands were settled we have made our home here, and through peace and discord we have taught the virtues of the Ascenion and preached the promise of the sun-kissed surface world that is our home. We are the heart and soul of the people here, the shining vision on behalf of which all men labor, the guides toward that bright birthright which all seek to claim. While those in the old ruin worry themselves over laws and silver, jurisdiction and security, we have turned our eyes outward and devoted ourselves to the one true purpose which the Ascended One laid out for our town: to find the safe hidden Way to the Surface World. We are those who want to go home.

We persisted and grew through peace and concord, through uprising and rebellion. Foes we had, who were many, who sought to amass power here for themselves, trading our freedom for gold, our liberty for silver, our faith for steel and spell. Each came from the ruins above, into our realm, into the vast and open and libertine caverns of the free people, and sought to blacken our name. They came with books and shields and bickering balding barristers; they came with spells and robes and sly deceptive lies. We, who had seen such foes before, who had seen their corruption, who had seen the disease, who had seen the plague of body and mind that their ideology had bred, we turned them one and all. They did not fool us, and though they harried us with decree and proclaimation, our people lived on in peace. We continued to seek the Way.

We will never forget.
We will never give up.

We overcame foes blundering and bold, cunning and crude, craven and cruel, until that night of fire and blood when the soldiers marched upon our homes, slew our brothers and burned our wives and children alive. One can scarce recall a more horrific sight, than to see the faithful burned alive for imagined crimes and treasons. The dark fortress, that had lain nigh abandoned for thirty years since the uprising of the angry men, was taken by the foreigners; inside they sheathed their swords still red with our brethren's blood. All who opposed their arrival met the flame; all who spoke out disappeared into the darkness of the night. The few who surrendered were shackled in golden chains, rewarded like dogs with coins that could never buy them what they treasured most. The wages of treachery are despair. The promise of faith is Ascension.

So it was less than five years ago that the Brotherhood was faltered, and the hopes and dreams of the Sanctuary Below, the birthright of all people in these depths, were shackled with golden chains to slavers' boots. The grey-robed rulers of the old ruins let these cruel masters run free, so long as they keep us from rising up; their countless crimes are overlooked, so long as our hopes are dashed and our quiet roar silenced; their hatred of the golden sun raises nary a brow so long as their brute strength breeds our consent to our oppression.

We will never forget.
We will never give up.

Our faith does not fade, we who worship in silence. Our determination does not break, we who once were slaves and once more are brought low by oppressors. When the time comes, and with each dawn above us, as the silver stars pass into the golden sun, the time draws near, we who have been silent will reap the rewards of our virtue. We shall rise up, we who follow the path of the Ascended One. We shall rise up, and break free of the chains of gold and blood and fire. We shall rise up, and end our oppression for one last and final time. We shall rise up and Ascend.