This treatise seeks to explain some of the mysteries and confusion regarding time and prophesy and hopes to lay open these secrets for the common man that he might take heart in his own power and comfort in the power of the Lords of the Land.
However a sage realizes that time is not simply a marker endings, but rather is intimately related with beginnings as well. More important still than any single ending or beginning is the relationship between them, the structure defined by time giving order to the various and unrelated events of our age. Thus it can bee seen that at the very least, time is not only a province of the Lord of Time, but is also within the realms of the Milaar [1] the Creator, Anz and Geskekulud.
It is from this larger view of time that prophesy and foretelling are usually drawn. In fact, the most common form of divination and foretelling, the Thresh Scry, seeks to relate an understand of the relationships of all six of the Lords in piecing together a picture of the future that a man can perceive.
Thus in this light can we really say that there is indeed a single Lord of Time? Granted that Time did not exist until the Dark One caused it to be, and that even in our own history we see powerful workings with the fabric of time are always related to the Dark One [2], we are still drawn to a more general view of time if choose to examine its nature closely.
To explain, it is said that the Lord Below created time by giving things their endings and as the Final Lord only he can decide when something will meet its end. But what of the beginnings mentioned earlier. Only Ae the Creator of All could have chosen when the world would take form, and thus only Milaar the Creator can say when something will begin.
There is a subtle difference here that few people comprehend. We see that the future is open to both the Gods Above and Below for while Milaar can tell us What Will Be, it is up to the Ender to tell us What Will Have Been. It is this subtle interplay between What Will Be and What Will Have Been that leads to the phenomena of order and chaos [3] that we describe as free will and choice.
Thresh Scrying: As we have seen each of the Gods has the ability to say what will happen in the future. From the "Lucky Guesses" and divinations of Geskekulud to he carefully calculated results of interactions derived by Anz, from the knowledge of the hearts of man by both Nirian and Shagras that lead them to the telling of the results of loves and ambitions that drive us, to the utter knowledge of what will be and will have been of Milaar and the Other, each of the gods possesses to some degree the ability to peer through the mists of time and tell the future.
This is in fact the basis for the thresh scry. Many believe that the thresh deck is solely the province of Geskekulud, but the influences of the other gods can be seen as well. In the ritualistic placement of the cards and the careful assignation of positions to meanings can be seen the work of Anz. In the careful crafting of each deck, the drawing of each individual portrait can be seen the influence of Milaar. In the passions of those who wiled them and seek answers influencing the interpretations of each card on each occasion can be seen the works of the Ladies. And in the finality of each card overturned, the unalterable movement from one card to the next is the work of the Last One.
It is this careful interplay of the six Forces that makes the thresh scry so reliable in the hands of an adept. If the knowledge sought does not lie within the realm of one God, another's influence could still lead to an answer.
Oracles: Unlike the thresh scry, an oracle can obtain information form only one god, the god of its binding. In the binding that creates the oracle, a bridge is formed between the oracle and the god somewhat larger than that of a priest, but smaller than that of the fabled talismans.
Though this bridge the oracle is granted access not to the god's power, but to specific parts of the god's knowledge as limited at the time of binding. Thus consulting a true oracle when properly understood is one of the most accurate means of foretelling known.
One drawback is that many oracles require some sort of payment for their services. The higher the payment, generally the greater the clarity of the telling. But even the most seemingly clear foretelling can contain hidden information mischievously hidden, or simply unnoticed that will cause the querent's downfall if ignored, thus such high payments are not recommended except in the most dire circumstances.
As stated earlier, the greatest drawback of an oracle is it's binding to a particular god. If event are being directly influenced by another god, or if the question lies entirely outside the realm of the god, an answer may not be known. [4] Is is often said that one does not go to the oracle of Nirian at Hearth for knowledge of the Damaini Deathstrike.
The Gods: Perhaps the most accurate and useful method of foretelling for those brave and worthy enough to undertake it is to ask God directly. The perils are obvious, the path to any of the thrones is not easy, and the gods do not often give their favor and knowledge to mortals not very strongly tied to their realm.
Those who do return are heralded as hero's and must often pay a great price in service to the god for their knowledge, but when properly given, the word of a god is law and the Land itself will support it. Thus the quality of such information is above question even though few can pay the price.
Minor Divinations: There are many methods of foretelling used by folk throughout the land that is not easily classified. Some toss bones, some feathers, others write on paper blindfolded, while some read the faces of stones. All of these methods and many others do have a certain form of validity.
On one level they may indeed represent knowledge given by a god to one of his favored. The veracity of such knowledge varies greatly with the ritual used, and the favor of the participant and the mood of the caster, but in essence, the querent is seeking to establish a kind of mini-oracle in himself through which a gods knowledge may be invoked.
This method is also highly dependent upon the god invoked as Geskekulud is said to be highly generous with information of this form, though it is not always accurate or quite what it is perceived to be, while Anz almost never allows the use of such tricks to reveal his knowledge.
On another level, these means may just be a way of letting out the inherent magical ability of the querent without his knowledge or any formal training. (See next.)
True Magic: As noted in the earlier parts of this work, the powers of foretelling are most strongly associated with Milaar and the Dark One and to a lesser degree with Anz and Geskekulud. As any mage of note can say, the combination of these four forces on the plane of magic results in the technique of the Intellego mage. Magic strictly directed to foretelling.
This form of magic has two very large drawbacks. First, is can not pierce very deeply into the veils of time and thus is most accurate when carefully focused on the present. Second, like all magic, it has a very limited range and can only see things and events that are in a close proximity to the casting.
However when these conditions are met, Intellego magic can indeed be a very accurate and worthwhile means of foretelling.
It is most common to divide time into the past the present and the future. But what precisely do these mean. When did the past end? A year ago, a minute, a second? When does the future begin? Tomorrow, later today?
To answer these questions one must first conceive of time not as three separate entities but a one continual flow of events. In this light we see that the past, present and future all meet in the now and the now moves through time like a stick flowing on a river. Thus foretelling, the prophesying of the future, is the same as scrying the present which is the same as divining the past. To all of these things do the previous discussions pertain.
It is this common place thinking about the arts of foretelling that I wish the reader to grasp that he may take heart in the accessibility of such knowledge and learn to find his own sources of inspiration.
--Lorall