Hand Brotherhood book catalogue

 

This short list of esoteric texts was compiled by a Keeper agent, Medronius, who  infiltrated the Mage Towers some time after the Dark Project  to gather more information on the Mages, and  assess their plans after the catastrophic events.

He found his way into the library, perused its 3 levels, and noted down the titles of a very small fraction of the thousands of books in it, examining a few, but was discovered before he could make a more complete list, and had to flee. The report was nonetheless very useful to the Keeper Order. 

Copies of these and other tomes later fell into the Keepers' hands, after they explored the necromancer Azaran's spire in Dayport, a while after his death, retrieving much of his library. No books on actual necromancy remained, as these - including the Book of Ash - had been taken by Azaran's associates, former Hand Mages who went on to found a necromantic group in the mountains north of the City.

-Viridarium Umbris: Constantine’s herbal magic compendium. This copy was acquired by the Handmages from him for the sum of 750 gems, according to a note found in the endpapers. Green cloth cover, with a leafy skull engraved in gold 

-The Dragon Book of Essex: a large and rare manual of dark magic, from its contents most likely written by Constantine under a pseudonym. It is presumed the Mages bought it from him as well, but no more is known about how it came into their hands. It surfaces in the City's underground from time to time, always at a prohibitively high price. The Baron is said to own a copy. Thick black leather, quarto size

- The Red Dragon 

- The Black Dragon

- The Grimoire of Honorius 
- The Book of the Mysteries 

- The Book of Azrael. A necromantic tome. The copy seems to be missing half its pages, and the remainder is heavily censored, whole sections blotted out

- The Lemegeton 

-Clavis Inferni

- Rakel's Tome of Magic

-The Necronomicon Large folio codex, about 700 pages, bound in a thick, light leather, possibly pig skin or similar. Treats of opening portals and evocation of demonic beings. Parts are written in an unknown language, possibly a cipher, similar to our glyphs

- The Book of Oberon  3 copies of this on a shelf, each with a differently coloured leather binding. Various spells and spirit workings

- The Book of Paths 

- The Book of Coral and Scale At least 5 or 6 copies, some on the tables. Seems to be used as an official instructional manual for the mages. It revolves around the element of water, with exercises and rituals to control it. Privately printed in Blackbrook some decades back, according to the frontispices

-The Old Man of the Pyramids. A book of talismans, magical rings and their uses. Bought from a certain Adrian Friehalt according to a note on the back cover. Papyrus with thick goat skin covers

- Heptarchia Mystica

-The Black Raven 

- Grimorium Verum

-The Shadow of the Golden Fire

-The Heptameron
- The Sworn Book of Honorius Red leather bound codex, studded with gold, imperial size. Silver clasps. A fine example of Cyric craftsmanship. Various magical prayers and rituals

- Praxis Magica Faustis

- The Seven Books of Mystery 

-Steganographia

- Liber Lunae 

-The Galdrabok Wood covers carved with runic symbols. Contains the bookplate of  Logan Shemenov,  founder of the City's  weaponsmithing consortium

-Liber Logaeth

- Turba Philosophorum

-Liber Hermetis

-Compendium Rarissimum

- The Book of Deadly Names 

-The Psalter of Cain Bound in red snakeskin, with silver engraving. A magical prayerbook with some Pagan influence
- Picatrix 

- Rosarium Philosophorum
-The Book of Soyga 

-The Book of the Nail. Hammerite holy scripture. The copy I found in the Mages' possession is an extremely old, crudely bound vellum codex, and contains significant portions in ancient Brillian

- The Orphica of Erotylus

- Azoetia. Found 2 copies side by side, one Red and black cloth cover gold engraved, the other green cloth. A Pagan ritual tome, rumoured to have been pseudonymously written by the priestess Dyan. Extant copies are rare and regularly sell for upwards of 3000 gold in the City's underground markets. Our brothers retrieved a  copy from Constantine's mansion after the Trickster's defeat. Keeper Orland often takes it into his quarters for study. 

- Kyranides 

-The Book of Eibon

- The Book of the Black Serpent The inner cover contains the ex-libris of a certain Brother Karras, most likely a Hammerite. The book treats of various demonic hierarchies and rituals to control them

- Archidoxes of Magic

- The Black Books of Elverum

-3 Books of Occult Philosophy

- Splendor Solis A compendium of alchemical plates, exquisitely drawn in full colour. A note in the inner cover states it was bought from a Lucius Grimmad for 800 gold

- The Book of Alze

- The Auraeon

From my short visit, I estimate that 2/3 of the books in the Brotherhood's library consist of esoteric and religious works (magic, Pagan witchcraft, alchemy, astrology, religions, divination, &c). The remainder are on various sciences and arts: geography, cartography, mathematics, history, astronomy, mechanics, medicine, architecture, and biology among others. I considered bringing back some of the rarer books with me, but  I was spotted before I could hide even one in my bag. Further it would violate our rules of minimal interference and possibly upset the balance in the long run if the Mages found anything missing.