A Chronicle of the Silver Vale: 160 Years in the Light of the Flame is a history of Argentum and the Silver Vale by Oldstone Archivist Rurik Hulduro. Luma read a copy in Wellby Emberthumb’s collection in Crick's Bend.1
Description
Emberthumb put its writing at about forty years ago, and it reaches back about two hundred years. It covers the political climate of Argentum and the Vale over that span, which few books do, including the lead-up to the Elder Exodus.1 It suggests that those who left in the Exodus did so because they were stubborn and self-centered.2 The Silver Archives hold a copy.2
Excerpt
The worst of it festered not only in the city but in the outlying settlements. There, certain elders had so thoroughly woven their authority into the fabric of daily life that they could not distinguish between service to a community and ownership of it. Confusing this service for sovereignty, many community members, who were undeniably indispensable to their communities, developed outsized opinions of the scope of their own wisdom. They spoke openly against the Synod’s authority, not on grounds of doctrine or philosophy, but on the simpler and more dangerous ground that they bled for the Vale and therefore owed it nothing further. That others bled also, and bled quietly, and asked for no garland in return, did not seem to trouble these ageing upstarts.
I do not write this to condemn them. Many were fine scholars, skilled artisans, and devoted parents who left behind children and grandchildren in the hope that the young might adapt where the old could not. Some, I am told, wept as they passed beyond the Vale for the last time. But sentiment does not alter the shape of what occurred. They were offered a place in the light, and they refused it. The Vale grieved, and then, as it must, the Vale carried on.
History
Session 8
Emberthumb found the book for Luma at the church in Crick’s Bend on the evening of 28 Coldrise, 1714 PSF, and let her read it and copy out the sections other books do not cover. Luma was most curious about the author, since his research might lead her further.1
Session 9
Luma took issue with the book’s account of the Exodus, since her grandfather had been one of those who left, and she did not believe he was self-centered. She resolved to find the author.2 Kessa Tumblebrim knew the book but not the man.2