Scrolls of the Westwind
Codex of the Undersong
The following verses were transcribed by Kiptoo of the Tir’uun — commonly, and historically, referred to as Kiptoo the Archivist.
In its entirety, the manuscript is titled Codex of the Undersong. All verses have been influenced by the oral traditions of the Tir’uun people from the Red Valley region of Kanja.
The original text, written in Tir’uun script, is highly fragmented and damaged by the elements over the course of centuries. What you are about to read are remnants recovered by Vellashamite archaeologists and housed at the High Museum of Dominion Anthropology (Dominion Hall) during the later years of Vellasham Dominion expansion (¹).
Carbon dating conducted at the Wrexford Institute for Archaeological Preservation reveals that the vellum upon which the text was encoded dates back approximately 732 years before present day, making it one of the oldest Tir'uun records known to have survived (²).
Whether Kiptoo intended these transcriptions for dissemination beyond the borders of the Tir’uun remains unclear. Some scholars argue it was an act of cultural preservation against imminent dissolution; others speculate it was a work of private devotion, not meant for the outsider (³).
It must be emphasized: Kiptoo the Archivist is also believed to have been, himself, not originally of the Tir’uun, but kidnapped as a child and raised among them. How this affects the authenticity of his transcriptions remains a matter of scholarly debate.
Readers are urged to remember: this is not a complete memory. We are yet to unearth the pieces to complete and/or compliment what we now know regarding Tir’uun culture.
Tir’uun culture and language have undergone significant drift since the time of the original transcriptions. In the place of the Tir’uun now stands the culture and language of the Kelari.
Anthropological evidence hints at substantial linguistic and cultural similarities between the Tir’uun and the Kelari, and as a result, scholars have relied heavily on Kelari oral traditions to reconstruct vast portions of the text.
What follows is a Queen’s Language rendering of the original work. This translation is primarily the result of the efforts of Professor Edwyn Calder Vale and his team of linguists at the Wrexford Institute for Archaeological Preservation (Linguistic and Cultural Preservation Department), who led the Tir’uun Codex Restoration Project (⁴).
This publication marks the conclusion of a decade-long effort to translate, annotate, and contextualize the Codex of the Undersong.
Please note: parts of the text are marked by lacunae that invite conjecture, elaboration, and interpretive caution.
Certain deity names — such as Nalei — are speculated to have been borrowed from neighboring tribes. The Tir’uun, being a nomadic people, were prone to absorbing cultural vestiges from the peoples they encountered, if only as a strategy to eschew conflict.
Dominion Hall archaeologists, anthropologists, and researchers have spent decades unearthing artifacts that bring the text to life: these include woodcarvings, ornamental jewelry, adjacent codices, and ceremonial attire of the Tir’uun people.
As previously stated, most of what was Tir’uun is now considered to be Kelari. Cultural and linguistic drift blurs the edges of what was purely Tir’uun and what has been influenced by alternative forces.
We advocate that all readers to peruse this historical text with a curious and scholarly frame of mind. Ideological, philosophical, and religious questions are posited in these works. Questions that states, nations, institutions, and even peoples must consider in order for our species to evolve.
Finally, we would like to offer appreciation to the Government of Kelari, Wrexford Institute for Archaeological Preservation, The Ministry of External Stewardship and Dominion Relations, and the Kelari people for making this project a shining success.
Acknowledgements and Citations
¹ Kiptoo the Archivist, Codex of the Undersong, trans. Edwyn Calder Vale et al., High Museum of Dominion Anthropology Archives, Vellasham Dominion, 732 BPD Edition.
² Wrexford Institute for Archaeological Preservation, Carbon Dating Report on Manuscript V-1142 (Codex of the Undersong vellum), 1091 Post-Founding.
³ Vale, Edwyn Calder, et al. "Reconstructing the Tir’uun Memoryscape: A Translation and Commentary on the Codex of the Undersong." Journal of Dominion Anthropological Studies, vol. 48, no. 2, 3rd Cycle of the Pale Moon, 1093 PF, pp. 112–157.
⁴ Tir’uun Codex Restoration Project, Wrexford Institute for Archaeological Preservation (Linguistic and Cultural Preservation Department), Final Project Report, 1093 PF.
Vale, Edwyn Calder. The Tir’uun Codex Restoration Project: A Decade of Reconstruction and Translation. Wrexford Institute for Archaeological Preservation, 2025.
Wrexford Institute for Archaeological Preservation (WIAP), Department of Linguistic and Cultural Preservation. Carbon Dating and Textual Analysis Reports on the Codex of the Undersong. Internal Publications, Series IV, 2023–2025.
High Museum of Dominion Anthropology (Dominion Hall). Artifacts of the Tir’uun: A Catalog of Field Recoveries from the Red Valley and Adjacent Regions. Vellasham Dominion Press, 2024.
Ministry of External Stewardship and Dominion Relations (MESDR). Memorandum on Cultural Restoration Protocols and Cooperative Agreements with the Government of Kanja. Official Record, 2023.
Government of Kanja, Ministry of Heritage and Antiquities. Cooperative Fieldwork Projects: Red Valley Sites Report. National Archives of Kanja, 2024.
Arino, Felice. Cultural Drift and Nomadic Memory: A Linguistic Anthropology of the Kelari. Dominion University Press, 2021.
Loma, Henrich. The Concept of Lacunae in Ancient Textual Traditions. Wrexford University Academic Press, 2020.
There was no beginning.
Only breath; like the […] on dunes, it slithers out, then returns.
Out and in, out and in —
Breath.
And from it life is [illegible],
and to it, all life must return.
But before life could be, a memory came.
A remembering of the breath from which life came to be.
Remembering was there. Remembering has been there.
Present at the birth of his sister,
Semai […] was entrusted with bringing blood and name
to breath and remembering.
With her power, Semai called her brother, Remembering
Obo
and her Father, Breath
Ng’ane
[A portion of text missing here], Obo and Semai walked by Ng’ane’s side
as His firstborn children.
Twins that gave a name, a face to the statues
their Father […] from volcanic rock.
And with the breath of Ng’ane, they walked.
And with the remembering of Obo, they knew.
And with the blood of Semai, they became.
But alas, the creatures grew hungry, […].
Wanderers on a faceless plain.
Lacking the words to create, the twins turned to their Father.
Ng’ane breathed another —
Nalei, with ample breasts. Nourishment for the […].
As they fed on chego from Nalei’s full breast,
they were given eternity by the gods.
Ng’ane, having realized what had happened,
[eroded verse]
and even more so with the volcanic creatures.
Obo, clinging onto Semai, whispered into her ear,
“the creatures see more than us. They will soon be loved more than us.”
Semai, […] this said,
“we shall give them a name so they will love themselves more than Father.”
It was then, from the braids upon her head,
that Semai twisted the name Tir’uun
and asked that her brother forever remind the creatures that they are
Tir’uun.
And it was as Semai had said.
Tir’uun no longer revered Ng’ane
but built altars and [fragment missing] for themselves
and made gods of other Tir’uun.
Men became heroes
and heroes became idols
and idols became gods.
From the heavens, Ng’ane looked down on man.
His joy was whisked away as man chanted
“Tir’uun! Tir’uun!”
Ng’ane bellowed, “Obo! Semai! My children. Who does this?”
And Obo vanished leaving Semai to [illegible].
“Father,” Semai implored,
“You loved them more than us.”
With a single exhale,
Ng’ane banished Semai to the barren darkness
leaving the Tir’uun, once again, nameless and faceless.
Ng’ane wept.
A tempest came over all the land.
Furious. Unforgiving. Ravenous.
Man was returned from whence he came.
Back to Ng’ane.
With Obo in retreat, and man swallowed by Ng’ane
the Father was alone.
In His solitude, Ng’ane breathed another.
One to be loyal only to Him —
and Toruk came to be.
Toruk did not speak.
Toruk […] by his Father in silence
for Toruk had no […].
And when Ng’ane spoke, Toruk did not answer.
This saddened the Father.
Toruk could see,
[…] Toruk wept
in silence.
Toruk scoured the heavens and the earth
for a way to please his Father.
Lacking a mouth to create life,
he molded a horn
so when his Father spoke
he blew into the horn.
Ng’ane was pleased
and as a gift,
Ng’ane breathed life into the horn
calling it Beren.
In ecstatic jubilation, Toruk blew and blew.
From his cave, Obo [illegible],
“what is this beautiful cry?”
Obo followed the cry and found
the […] Toruk blowing into Beren.
“My brothers,” he said,
“I am Obo. He who remembers.
Take me now to Father
for I am penitent and will serve my sentence.”
Toruk and Beren took Obo to Ng’ane
who was joyous at the return of His first son.
“My son! My son!
Do not depart from me again.
Here. Take your place by my side.”
Obo was loved by his Father
for Obo remembered
the time before being
and this angered Toruk
who [fragment missing] to be at the right-hand side of Ng’ane.
He blew into Beren.
Blew and blew until
from the darkness Semai arose.
In her rage, she broke free from [fragment missing]
and sought vengeance against the Father.
In her blood, a rage was formed
that she thrust into the Tir’uun […] by Ng’ane.
“Rise my children, rise,” she commanded.
The Tir’uun returned.
And the Tir’uun no longer knew Ng’ane
for the Tir’uun no longer held the full breath of Ng’ane.
Obo saw this and Obo did not want to be alone with Ng’ane.
He fled.
Fled to his sister whom he loved more than all others.
Together they […] blood and memory of the Tir’uun.
All memory except one —
that of Ng’ane.
And without Ng’ane, the Tir’uun knew death
and called him Saruun.
Saruun was loved and feared by Obo and Semai
for he was without empathy and saw only one end:
that all that Ng’ane breathes come to him.
Tir’uun now walked the plains
with Saruun hiding in their shadows.
For Saruun was patience
and stillness.
Patience and stillness feared not
the first child of Obo and Semai
Kemae —
who brought forth time
and promised the Tir’uun
hope.
Saruun was […]
for Saruun knew
hope was a trap
that he [illegible] had set.
Kemae loved the Tir’uun
for they were loved by her parents.
And as they walked,
she watched Saruun
stalking their movement.
Kemae spoke to Semai.
“Mother,
we must destroy Saruun.”
Semai did not answer
for she knew
that which Kemae did not.
Saruun was born
from the forgetting of Ng’ane
and to destroy Saruun
would be to ask the Tir’uun
to remember Ng’ane.
Semai was afraid
as was Obo.
For the siblings had committed sacrilege
in birthing Kemae.
Obo demanded
that Kemae live with Saruun.
One to live in the shadows
another to walk in the light.
Eternally intertwined
like Obo and Semai.
Forced to live by Saruun
Kemae knew Saruun
and she too
came to love him.
It was from the hills of Kabartai
that the Tir’uun began to pray.
And their […] prayers
were not to Ng’ane
whom they had forgotten
but to Semai —
who gave them a name
and to Obo —
who gave them remembering.
In the spirit of Obo,
they could [fragment missing],
but not Ng’ane.
This tugged at their […] souls
for in the depths of knowing
they […] something was amiss.
Semai and Obo approached
Nalei who had a solution.
“Give them their fill of chego
and they shall remember to forget.”
It was so.
From the highlands of Kabartai to Kabargoge
came enough nourishment to satiate the Tir’uun.
Thus, they remembered to forget.
Temples were erected,
shrines built
to honor the fortune
brought forth by Nalei.
And so, their second prayers
were to Nalei.
And that is why, to this day
Tir’uun imbibe their milk with coal
to fill the darkness
with chego —
which becomes
mursik.
The Tir’uun drank mursik
and were happy.
In their bliss,
they forgot.
and all was well.
But from the heavens
Toruk blew on Beren
bringing forth a torrent of fear
amongst the Tir’uun.
Never had they heard such […].
They prayed to Obo
and prayed to Semai
and prayed to Nalei.
The three turned to Kemae
who was in an embrace
with Saruun.
“Kemae! Kemae!” spoke Semai,
“Toruk brings fear.
Take the people away from this place.”
Kemae, with the help of Saruun
took all the Tir’uun to the Desert Beyond —
all but two.
Arap Toroitich and Chelimo
were […] to bring offspring
to a new world
where Obo and Semai ruled
[eroded verse]
and the time of Ng’ane, Toruk, and Beren
was completely forgotten.
Arap Toroitich knew Chelimo
and from their union
came the children
[tear in vellum here] be the Tir’uun who walk today.
Nomads, drinkers of mursik, worshipers of Obo and Semai,
respectfully, fearfully honor Saruun and Kemae
and dependant wholly
on the nourishment of Nalei.
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