Sha’duk

Report by: Warrant Officer Victor Markov

Position: Field Scientist

Assigned Objective: Investigate the ruins of the Kelrath city of Gethamol

Purpose of Mission: Examine the ruins of a city destroyed by a Chezbah attack.

Progress Report: Of the few buildings that withstood the destruction are two temples. One of the Oracle Dari and one of the Oracle Sha’duk. It is simply luck that both these temples survived. Without both of them we would not have been able to determine how they are connected. For some time it was thought that Sha’duk was some kind of a death cult. On first look it appears that way but our findings significantly change that understanding.

The Oracles are less of a religion than a philosophy and as such, most Kelrath follow the philosophy of Dari for their every day life. Dari espouses a lifestyle of peace, staying calm and dispassionate. However the literature we have examined shows that when a person becomes agitated, angry or distressed and Dari’s tenants cannot help them, the monks of the temple send the student to Sha’duk. It is here that they learn how to use their negative feelings to try and resolve problems. It is apparent that from the writings we deciphered that the Kelrath believe that every agitation must be forced out of their lives. If a person stays in an agitated state for one thing for too long they will die from it. In fact the Kelrath word for death is very similar to complain or protest. It is said that what kills a person is an agitation that they secretly held onto for many years. It is the custom for a Kelrath to name that agitation on their deathbed and the family is obligated to try and remove it to prevent the family member’s death. If the family member dies anyway it is assumed that they did not do enough soul searching and did not find the right agitation that was killing them.