PM/Book of Lights - Wiki of Yore

The Book of Lights is a collection of writings sacred to the Solar religion, the dominant form of monotheistic worship in Selt. The Book is an anthology, divided into three sections: The Poets, The Prophets, and the Scribes. Each of the collected writings in the Poets and the Prophets (called an 'opus', plural 'opera') are named after a particular religious or historical figure who is traditionally considered to be its author. The Scribes are mostly organized by subject, with rulings and pericopes attributed to particular sages.

Language and Translations

The Book of Lights is written in Merlaadic, which was once a common language among the coastal peoples of the West of the Northern Continent, in what would one day become the Aelian States. This language has only liturgical use in the present day, as it was replaced by the Purulinic languages of the Northern Continent throughout its historical area of use. Most Solar Templars read their scriptures in vernacular translation, but facility with the original language is usually considered a necessity for clergy. The Solar Religion has been amenable to vernacular translation essentially from the beginning of its missionary efforts.

Canon

The canon of the Book of Lights developed gradually over the centuries, but has generally been fixed since the 10th century AE. The Unsullied Temple rejects as sources of binding dogma some of the opera, specifically those agreed by higher critics to be late and pseudonymous.

The Poets

The poets are the earliest section of the Book, and contain the creation myth of the Solar Temple, as well as some epic poems relating the mythic history of the settled peoples of the Northern Continent in which the Prophet Ardamar flourished. There are sixteen opera in the Poets. In general, higher critics do not consider any of the poetic opera, apart from Opus Kinupared, to have been written by the historical figures for which they are named; these names are late and were assigned after the collection of the poetic writings into the Book of Lights during the First Illuminant. Scholars dispute over which of the poetic opera are the works of single authors and which are the work of larger groups; most are believed to originate in oral tradition rather than having been created de novo.

Opus Title	Description
Venbashad on Beginnings	Poem containing the creation story of the Solar religions, featuring the origin of the universe and humans. As such stories go, it is notably brief and vague.
Venbashad on the Spear	Describes the mythical war between humans and giants, and the destruction of the latter after God reveals metalworking to humans.
Kotened	Poetry about nature, with erotic undertones.
Soromar	Hymns of praise to the Sun.
Oopinidi	Supposedly the war songs of Queen Upinidi.
Aventamar	Hymns of praise to Aelia, probably originally a divine consort.
Korbished	Mythic history of the coastal peoples of the Northern Continent from their participation in the war of giants to their conquest of the hinterland.
Senked	A monotheistic reworking of an older pagan epic about a trickster god, recast as a canny mendicant prophet.
Qoramar the Elder	Instructional wisdom literature attributed to a quasi-mythical king Qoramar, who unified the coastal peoples. He gives advice for rulers.
Qoramar the Younger	Supposed war songs and rhyming prayers attributed to King Qoramar's son.
Jhorpashed	Poetry describing, maybe foretelling, the Illumination of Ardamar. Its date is uncertain.
The Small Mendar	Poems that are logical riddles, some of them touching on points of theology.
The Great Mendar	A lengthy hymn of praise and thanksgiving to God.
The Disciple of Mendar	A saga about a girl who avenges the murder of her master, the philosopher-poet Mendar.
Kinaapared	Poems mostly of a romantic character, praising marital fidelity. The author is believed to be a specific historical figure of the same name, even by higher critics.
Pordamar	Devotional poems and prayers likely originating with the uncle of the Prophet Ardamar, an early supporter.

The Prophets

The prophets are traditionally understood to be the writings of the religious figures for which they are named. For many of the prophetic opera, higher critics agree that this is actually the case, and they were written either by their eponymous prophet or under his or her supervision. However, a minority of the books are thought to be later pious forgeries, or the collected writings of a religious school taking inspiration from a named patron. The Prophet Ardamar's moral law is laid out in one of his three opera. Two more opera are attributed to the Solar Religion's preeminent prophet; one collects his eschatological visions and is explicitly dictated to a scribe, the other is a purported autobiography. This latter opus is thought by higher critics to be a relatively late pseudonymous work written to promote one side of a particular ancient theological dispute. There are nine opera in the Prophets.

Opus Title	Description
The Mirror of Ardamar	Contains the law set out by the prophet Ardamar, mostly of a moral nature. Longest opus in the Prophets.
The Apocalypse of Ardamar	Rather abstruse account of the prophet's mystical vision of the end of the world, though it covers many other matters.
The Life of Ardamar	Written as an autobiography of the prophet, it is almost certainly a later forgery, but probably preserves some authentic oral traditions and earlier written sources.
Senked the Prophet	Acts and prophecies of Senked, Ardamar's apostle to the Southern Continent. Notable for describing the hierarchy of the archons, a possible assimilation of native traditions.
Marbeni	Prophecies and moral proscriptions of Marbeni, a wealthy noblewoman who was an early supporter of the Illuminant.
Methed	Teachings of Methed, an early jurist of the Illuminant. Probably actually written by a legal school he founded. Contains little if any actual prophecy.
Qordamar	Prophecies of Qordamar, who flourished before Ardamar. Early pre-Book-of-Lights versions espouse monolatrous henotheism rather than monotheism. Notoriously open to interpretation.
The Judgements of Asoti	Legal rulings of Ardamar's daughter Asoti.
The Apocalypse of Asoti	Mystical vision attributed to Asoti. Probably a late pseudonymous work. Contains prophecies relating to the conflict with the Iron Horde.

The Scribes

The Scribes were the copyists and sagely commentators who preserved the primitive version of the Book of Lights (containing only the Poets and Prophets) from its writing through the fall of the First Illuminant. In addition to (mostly) very faithfully preserving the Poets and Prophets, they appended their own learned commentaries to them. Their writings included elaborations of the Poets and Prophets, further material from oral tradition (especially biographical information about the Prophets), and explanations of apparent inconsistencies and conflicts in the earlier material. The Scribes also wrote about the institutional history of the Solar Temple and its spread. There are nineteen opera in the Scribes.

Opus Title	Description
Jurisprudence on Property and Business	Collected rulings by early-Illuminant judges, interpreting and elaborating on the law of Ardamar.
Jurisprudence on Family	Collected rulings by early-Illuminant judges, interpreting and elaborating on the law of Ardamar.
Jurisprudence on War and Public Life	Collected rulings by early-Illuminant judges, interpreting and elaborating on the law of Ardamar.
Jurisprudence on Crime	Collected rulings by early-Illuminant judges, interpreting and elaborating on the law of Ardamar.
Jurisprudence on Sacred Things	Collected rulings by early-Illuminant judges, interpreting and elaborating on the law of Ardamar.
The History of the World	Writings of scribes containing mostly-speculative elaborations on the mythic and historical context of the Poets.
The Wars of the Illuminant	A history of the wars in which the Illuminant was established and defended, from a morally didactic perspective.
Sayings of the Prophets	A compilation of anecdotes about the prophets, mostly sayings attributed to them, written down from oral tradition. One of the last opera added to the Book, when the Illuminant was already in decline.
Sayings of the Sages	Wisdom attributed to various learned scribes and judges, preserving the oral traditions of the late First Illuminant.
Wisdom of Amna the Scribe	Sayings of Ardamar's scribe, St. Amna. Probably actually written by her, but there is some academic dispute.
The Great Lens	Writings of the scribes on the orthodox techniques of exegesis and commentary, as set forth by sages known as the Great Commentators.
The Small Lens	Writings of the scribes on the proper way in which the Book of Lights is to be copied and preserved.
The Hierarchy	A manual of organization describing the structure of the temple hierarchy.
The Opal Tractate	A manual for female monastics.
The Adamant Tractate	A manual for male monastics.
The Pentacle of Morseqimar	A mystical commentary on the meaning of Ardamar's law.
The Golden Onion	An abstract and philosophical mystical interpretation of the Poets. Controversially has a theurgical interpretation.
Lantern of the Perplexed	A commentary aiming to resolve apparent difficulties and contradictions elsewhere in the Book of Lights.
Crown of Lights	A theological commentary.

Sometimes, the Book of Lights is broken into two volumes for ease of handling, the first containing the Poets and Prophets, and the second containing the Scribes.

Authorship

Traditionally, the opera were considered to be written by the historical figures whose names they bear. The development and acceptance of textual and higher criticism in the past few centuries has made this view untenable for most of the educated clergy of the Solar Temple, who now take a broader view of the authorship of the opera. Many, especially in the Old Temple, reject claims of radical critics that some of the opera are outright forgeries, however. The Unsullied Temple has been the most accepting of the conclusions of higher criticism, and indeed many of the critics are affiliated with it. This has been a source of friction, and claims that the Unsullied Temple is "attacking" the Book of Lights, or revising it to suit the aims of liberal theology.

Religious Views

All major denominations of the Solar Temple consider the Book of Lights to be their holy scriptures, and view the Book as having special spiritual and moral value to humanity. The Old Temple and Presently Guided Temple further consider its writing and development to have been directed providentially by God, such that the traditional canon is free from any substantive defect that would lead believers to err. The Unsullied Temple takes the view that their holy book is inspired by human encounters with the divine, but must be understood in a historical and metaphorical-mythological context rather than interpreted literally.