Sixteen Tablets of Arathrax

The Sixteen Tablets of Arathrax are a no longer extant set of golden tablets which according to Arathracian scripture were inscribed by the god Arathrax with his laws for the early Arathraciot people of Erechóreb. The number sixteen in the Arathracian Religion corresponds with the sixteen months of the sacred Arathracian Calendar. Various accounts of their creation at the hand of the god Arathrax are thought to be apocryphal and the Arathracian Church insists that their exact fabrication is unknown but was "surely under the direct supervision of the god himself."

The tablets were kept in the Supreme Temple of Arathrax in Yophénthë during the time of the Yophenthean Empire. Ancient Ithatian scholars who were permitted onto the island and into the temple give several corroborating accounts of the tablets. They are also mentioned in Thracian oral accounts for the short time of their tenure in the temple of Thwar in Thrace.

The sun priests of Yophenthea often consulted the tablets which became the core of a body of ecclesiastical laws. Although the tablets are no longer extant, their words are preserved nearly verbatim in various sources and are the heart of Arathracian Church Law. The text of the tablets dealt with the roles of Erithragean I and his seven brothers, the expected behavior of the children of Arathrax, how to deal with disagreements, the manner of sacrifice and worship, marriage, and other matters of religious observation.

Fate of the Tablets

The tablets were stolen by invading Thracian sky warriors in the First Sack of Yophénthë in 840 AI and taken to Thrace where they were placed in the Great Temple of Thwar. Unfortunately, this did not diminish the fate of the thieves. All died within eight years of the theft. Worse still, the land of Thrace suffered a severe drought where virtually no snow or rain fell. In the third year of the drought, a group of desperate Thracians took the tablets by stealth from the temple and returned them to the Yophenthean governor of Trevirs (ca. 843) under cover of darkness with a small tribute. Within a week, the drought ended in Thrace and the Yophenthean governor returned the tablets in person to Bercha, the high priest of the sun at Yophénthë. Of the several relics stolen in the First Sack of Yophénthë, historic records strongly suggest that only the tablets were restored.

The tablets were left untouched in the Second Sack of Yophénthë. However, in the Third Sack of Yophénthë, the tablets were melted down on site in Yophénthë and shaped into "victory ingots" which were rewarded to the occupying chieftains of the sky coalition. Despite many apocryphal accounts, there is no corroborated record of any drought or plague to have befallen Thrace or the warriors of the sky coalition after their destruction. The sky tribes attributed their protection to the alleged account of direct combat between the god Arathrax and the god Thwar in the sky above Yophénthë during the invasion of the sky tribes in which the god Thwar was victorious according to the sky tribes.

Later calls for the reforging of the tablets were rejected by ecclesiastics of the church on the basis that only Arathrax could restore them in person and that any mortal facsimile would be an affront to their memory.

See Also

• Arathracian Scripture
• Arathracianism
• First Sack of Yophénthë
• Yophenthean Empire