Codex Entry 133: On the Deep Roads
There isnt a dwarf alive who remembers the Deep Roads as they once were. They were the network of tunnels that joined the thaigs together. To be honest, it isnt even right to give them such a simple term as "tunnels": They are works of art, with centuries of planning demonstrated in the geometry of their walls, with the statues of the Paragons that watch over travelers, with the flow of lava that keeps the Deep Roads lit and warm. The cloudgazers up on the surface talk of the Imperial Highway built by the magisters of old, a raised walkway that crossed thousands of miles, something that could only have been built by magic. Perhaps it is comparable to the Deep Roads, although we dwarves didnt need magic.
I suppose it doesnt matter any more. The darkspawn rule the Deep Roads now. When Orzammar sealed off the entrances to the Deep Roads, abandoning everything that lay out there, we handed over the kingdom-that-was to those black bastards forever. To think that there are genlocks crawling over Bownammar now, tearing down our statues and defiling our greatest works! Corruption covers everything we built out there. Every dwarf who goes out and comes back says that it gets worse with each passing year, the foulness spread a little further.
And the cloudgazers think the darkspawn are gone just because they arent spilling out onto the surface? Huh. One day, when Orzammar is gone for good, theyll find out differently. Those darkspawn wont have anywhere else to go but up, and theyll do it. The surface folk will have themselves a Blight that will never end.
--Transcript of a conversation with a member of the dwarven Mining Caste, 8:90 Blessed
第一百三十三卷:无底之路
那些对无底之路曾经的模样有印象的矮人都已经不在人世了。它曾经其实是联接众多殖民地的隧道网络。实际上,简单地称呼其为“隧道”并不确切:他们是充满艺术的作品,花费了数个世纪才设计出了它们墙壁的几何形状,那里有注视着旅行者的矮人贤者雕像,有为了保持无底之路温暖且明亮的岩浆流。地表上的那些看过云彩的人们夸夸其谈他们的帝国大道是由古老的魔法领主们所建造的,是一条穿越了数千公里的升起的道路,一条只能由魔法所建造的道路。也许它可以拿来跟无底之路相提并论,但只是我们并没有用魔法去进行建造。
我想那些都并不重要了。黑暗生物们现在统治着无底之路。当Orzammar关闭了通向无底之路的入口,放弃了遗留在那里的一切,我们永远地将我们曾经的王国拱手让给了那些混帐东西。想想看,那些半兽人现在正爬满了Bownammar,拆毁我们的雕像,亵渎我们那最伟大的作品!堕落笼罩了我们曾经在那里建造的一切。每一个去过那里并回来的矮人说那里的情况一年年地变糟,那些肮脏生物的范围也扩展得越来越大。
那些看过云彩的人类认为黑暗生物已经逃走,仅仅是因为它们并没有扩散到地面吗? 哼。总有一天,当Orzammar为了正义而毁灭的时候,他们就会发现不同了。那些黑暗生物除了地面将无处可去,它们一定会那么做的。地表的人们那时将会面临一场无止尽的天灾。
---摘录自一段与矮人矿工阶级成员的对话,8:90祝福纪元.
Codex Entry 134: On the gangue
The Stone has a will that surrounds and directs; she guides even when we are willfully blind to her influence. But she is not pure. The Stone bears a corruption as old as balance. For the dwarves to prosper, the gangue--the waste and unstable rock--must be cut away. But like the Stone, the gangue also has an influence. Each of us must face this, must carve the worst of ourselves away, but the Legion of the Dead bears a unique responsibility. Only the fully adorned of the Legion can face the gangue, can cut into the darkness that afflicts the raw Stone. She encircles us, and we must protect her, here where darkness meets light.
--A Legion of the Dead inscription, undated
第一百三十四卷:矸石
石头的意念无处不在,且无时无刻都在指引;甚至在我们自满地忽视了她的存在时仍在指引我们。但是她并不是纯洁的。石头像万物一样平衡,她也带有腐坏的一面。为了矮人们的繁荣,那些废弃与动摇的石头必须被切除掉。但就像石头一样,矸石也同样有它的影响。我们中的每个人都要面对类似地情况,必须抛弃我们身心中最不好的一面,但亡者军团带着一种特殊的责任感。只有军团中最荣耀的人才能去面对矸石,才能够切入到那折磨着粗犷石头的黑暗之中。她笼罩着我们,我们必须保护她,在这黑暗遭遇到光明的地方。
---一段亡者军团的献词,没有日期。
Codex Entry 135: On the layout of the city of Orzammar
The dwarves are lauded for their craftsmanship, and the city of Orzammar is one of their finest works. Orzammar lies at the heart of the Frostback Mountains, deep underground. The city arcs outward from the royal palace, which is built around a natural lava vent, continually fountaining liquid rock, which both lights and heats the entire cavern.
The topmost tier of Orzammar is home to the noble caste, with their palaces fanning out in both directions from the court of the king, as well as the Shaperate, which serves as a repository for all dwarven knowledge.
The lower tier is the Commons, where the merchant caste holds sway and where the finest works of Orzammars craftsman are for sale. In the center of the river of lava, connected to the Commons by a causeway, are the Proving Grounds, a sacred arena where the dwarves, by ancient tradition, settle their disputes.
On one side of the fiery river are the ruins of old dwarven palaces, fallen into disrepair, which the locals call Dust Town, now home to the citys casteless. On the other side of the river are the Deep Roads, which once joined the sprawling dwarven empire together, but now, after centuries of darkspawn incursions, are largely sealed off. Nearly all knowledge of this network of underground passages has been lost, even to its builders.
--From In Pursuit of Knowledge: The Travels of A Chantry Scholar, by Brother Genitivi
第一百三十五卷:Orzammar城市的格局
矮人们因其精妙的工艺而受人称赞,而Orzammar城则是他们最好的作品之一。Orzammar坐落在Frostback山脉的中心深深的地底。城市从皇家宫殿作半圆形状展开,建立在一个天然的岩浆口周围,不断喷出的液态石头照亮且温暖了整个洞穴。
在Orzammar最上层的是贵族阶级的住所,他们的宫殿从国王的庭院出发向两边展开,那里还有作为记录所有矮人知识的Saperate馆。
较低的层是平民区,那里是由商人阶级所掌控,在那里可以买到Orzammar里工匠们的最好作品。在岩浆流的中央,由一个垫高的堤道连接到平民区的是Proving Grounds,一个自古以外就作为矮人解决争端场地的神圣竞技场。
在燃烧河流的一侧是古老矮人宫殿的遗迹,已经年久失修,当地人们叫它Dust Town,现在则成为了城市中无阶级人们的家园。在河流的另外一侧是曾经连接了整个矮人帝国的无底之路,但是现在由于黑暗生物们长达数个世纪的占据,已经被大部分封锁住了。几乎所有关于那些坑道的知识现在都已经遗失了,甚至对它的建造者来说也是一样。
--源自“追寻知识:一位教会学者的旅行”,作者Genitivi教士。
Codex Entry 136: On the loss of Kal Sharok from the dwarven empire
1155 of the Tevinter Imperium will be known as a year of painful decisions, but we cannot waver. The threat we face is the greatest we have known. If we are overrun, all trace of the ancestors glory will be undone. Orzammar must stand, and it must stand alone. Hormak, Kal Sharok, Gundaar: We have lost contact, and must assume they are lost to the horde. We must seal the weakest link in our defense, the Deep Roads that lead to our fallen brethren. I have ordered our finest demolitionists to place the charges. I ask that each of you think of those we have lost. They served as the warning that spurred us to action, and I know the Stone will embrace them. They are the foundation of our survival, and they will not be forgotten."
--From a proclamation by High King Threestone
200 years! Kal Sharok lives, you Stone-forsaken deep lords. There is no greater hatred than a brother at your throat!
--Graffiti, author unknown
第一百三十六卷:矮人帝国中Kal Sharok的逝去
Tevinter帝国1155年被记做为充满了痛苦决定的一年,但是我们不能够哭泣和动摇。我们面对的威胁是未知的。如果我们被吞没,那所有祖先荣耀的痕迹都将会消失。Orzammar必须屹立住,且必须在独立无援的情况下屹立住。Hormak,Kal Sharok,Gundaar:我们失去了与他们的联系,我们必须假设他们已经被黑暗大军吞没了。他们为我们提供了警报,鞭笞着我们必须进行行动,而我知道石头将会拥抱他们的灵魂。他们为我们的生存奠基,他们的努力将不会被遗忘。
---源自高等国王Threestone的一篇宣讲
两百年了!Kal Sharok不会死去,你们这些受石头诅咒的深渊领主。我们的兄弟将会怀着最深的愤怒割断你们的喉咙!
---涂鸦,作者未知
Codex Entry 137: An explanation of the Legion of the Dead
"Yes, Stones greetings friend
You will fight ceaselessly in
The Legion of the Dead."
--Motto of the Legion of the Dead.
The Legion accepts all.
So I was told by one of the Legionnaires himself, a dwarf who waited quietly at the entrance to the Deep Roads for the rest of his unit to assemble. They gathered slowly, each equipped with heavy armor and fine weapons, each painted with grim tattoos applied at their funerals the night previous.
For that is the nature of the Legion. They are all dead. Any dwarf may join the Legion, so long as he is willing to give up everything he has. The funeral rites are somber: a final goodbye is said to family and loved ones, any material goods are dispersed to heirs and last words are said, and then it is done. The new Legionnaire marches out into the Deep Roads, never to return. The Legion fights against the darkspawn to the last, striking one final blow against the monsters that have claimed so much of their homeland.
Many join the Legion to clear the slate. Criminals join to avoid punishment. The dishonored join so that their houses and families need not suffer on their behalf. The bankrupted join so their debts might be forgiven. A very few join for a last chance at glory, but the Legion takes them too.
This group hopes to reach the fabled fortress of Bownammar, once the Legions home, associated with the greatest of their Paragons. Bownammar is a holy place, its loss the last great blow against the dwarven kingdoms, and its recapture would be a glorious signal to all of Orzammar. But capture it or no, all of these warriors will die in the Deep Roads. It is a sobering thought, and I now know why the dwarves say the Legions charge is the battlefields most frightening sight. They have nothing left to lose.
--From Stone Halls of the Dwarves, by Brother Genitivi, Chantry scholar
第一百三十七卷:关于亡者军团的一种解释
“是的,被石头祝福的朋友
你们将会在亡者军团中
作为无阶级的一员所战斗。”
---亡者军团座右铭
军团将会接受一切。
我曾经从一位军团成员亲口讲述,一位矮人在通往无底之路的入口处静静地等待着他的部队进行集结。他们集合的很慢,每一位士兵都装备了重型的盔甲和良好的武器,每一位都带着昨晚他们葬礼上涂抹的肃然刺青。
因为那就是军团成员的本质。他们都是已死之人,任何矮人都可以加入军团,只要他们愿意舍弃他们所拥有的一切。葬礼的仪式是阴沉的:对他们的家人和爱人进行最后的永别,他们的财产被分给后裔们,他们的遗言也被嘱咐完毕,一切便准备就绪。新生的军团成员向着无底之路里进军,并且永不归来。军团会终其一生与黑暗生物们战斗,用尽他们最后的力量去攻击那些侵占了他们大片家园的怪物们。
许多人加入军团是为了洗刷他们自己的过去。罪犯们为了避免惩罚而加入。那些有罪之人为了让他们的家族和家人不再因他们的行所羞耻而加入。还有少数人为了最后的荣耀加入了军团,但是军团全部吸纳了他们。
这个军团的目标是希望能够到达传说中的Bownammar堡垒,这里是曾经属于军团的家园,并隶属于他们最伟大的矮人贤者。Bownammar是一个神圣的地方,它的逝去是对矮人王国最沉重的打击,如果它能够被重新夺回,那对Orzammar而言将会是一个最大的荣耀。但无论能否占领它,这些战士们都将会在无底之路中死去。这是一个十分冷静的想法,并且我现在终于明白为什么矮人们会说军团们的冲锋是战场上最令人恐惧的事情了。因为他们没有任何东西可以失去。
--源自“矮人们的石头大厅”,作者教会学者,Genitivi教士