Paladins (Labyrinth)

"The Architect's Children wait, beyond the great expanse, for the day the ones who perished return in their glory and splendour. They wage a righteous war against the Dark Ones; eternal, without end. A seventh son of a seventh son shall take the Morhekan throne, and in his days THEY shall return; fire and slaughter shall follow in their wake, though not of their doing. And in these final days, the Labyrinth shall be revealed."

- The Prophecies of Satsunar, Thirteenth Scroll

The Prophecies of 'Satsnuar, written shortly before the ancient Kaaranese seer/scholar's death, make extensive reference to the Labyrinth array, and though they go into little precise detail, they are the most important reference source on the subject. The thirteenth scroll in particular details the "Children of the Architect," though besides the above quote, it has few precise details, partly because it has been translated several times into different languages - originally, this scroll alone was written in Old High Keteshan, which was already an extinct language in 'Satsunar's day. From there, it has been successively translated into East Kaaranese, West Kaaranese, and Modern Keteshan. Tana asked his next of kin to burn the thirteenth scroll alone of all his works, and they complied - though not before making a copy of it, which was later translated by Mopadan scholars. Exactly why he tried to excise this work from his collective treatises - he may have considered it inaccurate, or that it shouldn't be studies.

Over the subsequent centuries, various theories have been proposed. Legate Urd-Othnan of the Ministry of Etiology proposed that it referred to a massive Forerunner factory able to create warships, and led an expedition in 2402 to find it - the entire two hundred-strong fleet never returned. The "heretic" scholar Othna 'Quronomee suggested that it described a lost colony of Forerunners, though the idea that the Covenant's "gods" had escaped the Great Journey eaned him torture and execution. Current Autocrat of Morheka, Qur'a 'Morhek III, himself a Kaaranese historian, has suggested that it refers to a Reliquary world that the Labyrinth leads to - it is a popular notion, even among the New Covenant, but there is little basis for it among the literature.

&lt; 07/306 : The Labyrinth Awakens &gt;