The Tellings

The mostly historical stories about the Au'Kael past from their ancient origins up until the time just before the begining of the Diaspora period. The present form, told in more or less as a single chronicle, but with many branching and crossing narrative threads. The version as it exists today was compiled and arranged over a very long process, in several phases.

COMPILATION

1. Travel Stories - The sundry stories told by the numerous traveling bands concerning the history of their people. These came in various forms, told as stories, sung as songs, recited as parables, and even a scant few as written documents. Many of these were heavily skewed to the history of individual bands, and altered depending on styles of bards and tellers. Yet despite this, in regards to the greater, overarching history, most of these versions could agree on the course of events.

2. The Verdosa Chronicle - The first compilation of Au'Kael history was done by the scholar Verdosa of Tyre, who while not an Au'Kael himself, is greatly venerated by them for compiling and preserving much of their history. Verdosa was tasked by the city patricians to write a history of the Au'Kael, and spent years compiling sources; mostly recording the songs and stories of as many Au'Kael bards and leaders as he could find, sending apprentices to travel with many bands to collect even more, and also utilizing written sources from Tyre, Afyon, greater Kael, and beyond. The resulting chronicle remains the primary source of history of the Au'Kael up until Verdosa's own time, a few decades before the beginings of the Diaspora Period.

3. The Latter Tellings - These are the collections of histories, songs, and stories made after Verdosa's great work, though it does not include much material from the Diaspora populations, and focusses mostly on the Veldt and surrounding regions. These were compiled in the wake of the Veldt Wars, as a way to create another cultural touchstone.

4. The Cantos - Partially begun by Verdosa himself, this was a project greatly expanded in the years leading up to the Veldt War, and revived again following the conflict. It is taking the compiled histories and stories, and casting them into assorted lyrical meters and styles, so that they can be adapted into all sorts of musical and recitatoin styles. The idea was that they could be used to further expand knowledge, especially for communities and bands which might not have Bards, or bards that are adequately trained. As such, the Cantos are seen as almost a form of "TRANSLITERATION" or "TRANSLATION" of stories into different forms. And as such, it tends to be the most common book or written file owned by Au'Kael bands and communities.