Page 6 - Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations

o single common characteristic easily distinguishes the depths of space and reality with the aid of the Ebon Illus. by C. Lukacs
an aberration from any other sort of creature, or Mirror, a powerful artifact that allowed him to see into
signals a kinship to creatures of this type. Some strange and terrible places indeed. The Codex Anathema
are intelligent, some are not; some are humanoid in records the frightful visions he observed in the Ebon
shape, some are not; some possess innate magical powers, Mirror, along with rambling essays in which Iphegor

and some do not. This book is chiefly concerned with those describes his own findings and conclusions about mat-

aberrations that pose a pervasive and significant threat to ters no sane being should dwell on for long.
humankind. While a creature such as a carrion crawler is The Codex includes accounts of astral voyages into
certainly a dangerous monster, it lacks the intelligence to the dim antediluvian eons when aboleths ruled over
entertain dark schemes against the creatures of the world the world, frenetic narratives about passages into the
above. It is simply an unreasoning beast, albeit an unusually depths of the Far Realm, and dialogues with illithid
bizarre and alien one. sages and tsochari imposters. Studies and observations

Creatures such as aboleths, beholders, and mind flayers are about creatures such as beholders, chuuls, psurlons,

far more significant because they represent entire societies of and beings clearly originating outside of nature
unhuman and amoral intelligences that regard humans and comprise a large part of the Codex. Overall, the book
humanoids as potential slaves at best, or, more likely, bleating is poorly organized, consisting of a haphazard col-
cattle awaiting slaughter. These intelligent, evil aberrations lection of essays, narratives, notes, and odd arcane
do share some common characteristics, even if they are not formulae jotted down in whatever order Iphegor
remotely related to one another. happened to think of them.
No one knows Iphegor’s final fate, but it is said

THE CODEX ANATHEMA that the Ebon Mirror still exists, buried in some
Over a thousand years ago, the wizard known as Iphegor of the dreadful dungeon. To stare into its depths is to risk
Ebon Mirror composed a terrible book, the Codex Anathema. A life and sanity—yet secrets of untold power might lie
student of distant places, times, and planes, Iphegor plumbed within its starry void.

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