《龙之纪元起源》部分Codex翻译之四（文化与历史篇）

Codex Entry 101: On the Avvar peoples


Driven across the Frostbacks in ancient times, the Alamarri tribesmen split into three groups: One settled the Ferelden Valley, one was pushed into the Korcari Wilds, and the last returned to the mountains. Modern Fereldans bear little resemblance to their Alamarri ancestors, and the Chasind remember few of their traditions, but the Avvars have changed little throughout the ages.

Like the Chasind, the Avvars are not a united people. Each tribe fends for itself and is beholden only to its thane. They still follow their own gods: Korth the Mountain-Father, Hakkon Wintersbreath, The Lady of the Skies, as well as dozens of animal gods never named to outsiders.

Nothing lasts in the mountains. Wind and rain eventually eat away the strongest holds. Valleys that were arable one generation are locked in year-round ice the next. Game is constantly on the move. Even among themselves, the Avvar make no absolute promises: They wed by a tradition in which the groom struggles to untie a tightly knotted rope while the bride sings a hymn to one of the gods. However many knots he has undone by the time her song ends is the number of years she will spend with him. Lowlanders often forget that there is no such thing as a permanent alliance in the Frostbacks. --From Ferelden: Folklore and History, by Sister Petrine, Chantry scholar

第一百零一卷：Avvar的人民

在远古时代被赶着穿越Frostbacks山脉的Alamarri部落分成了三个不同的人群：一群定居在了Ferelden的溪谷中，一群被逼进了Korcari荒野，而最后的一群则回到了大山之中。现代的Ferelden人们很少继承他们那Alamarri祖先的特点了，Chasind人只记得很少他们的传统，但是Awars人却未被岁月对他们产生什么影响。

就像Chasind人们那样，Awars人并不是统一的。每一个部落只考虑自己的利益并且只听命于他们的领主。他们仍然只信仰自己的神灵：山岭之神Korth，冬息之神Hakkon，天空女神，以及数不胜数的不为外界所知的动物之神。

在山谷中任何东西都无法恒久永存。风和雨水最终会腐蚀掉最坚硬的事物。溪谷之民的这一代人能以耕种为生，下一代人则被终年不化的冰雪封了起来。游戏规则始终在变。即使是在他们自己的人群中间，Awar也从不做出绝对的承诺：他们结婚的时候，新郎忙着解开一个又一个打成死结的绳扣，而新娘则在另一边唱神的赞美歌。当歌声结束的时候，新郎解开了多少个扣子，新娘就会跟他定下为期多少年的婚约。而平原的人们就常常忘记了在Frostback的人民中并没有永恒的联姻。

---“来自Ferelden：乡间传奇和历史”，作者教会学者Petrine修女。

Codex Entry 102: The Bannorns role in Fereldan politics

The central Ferelden Valley has always been a paradox: No single bann holds more than a few dozen leagues of farmland, yet together they govern a greater territory than all the teyrns and arls combined. This collection of independent banns is known as the Bannorn, and it is the heart of Fereldan politics.

No person has ever sat upon the throne of Ferelden without first winning the approval of the Bannorn. Queen Fionne, who had the misfortune to take the throne in the eighteenth year of the Steel Age, wrote of the Bannorn, "There have been three wars this year fought over elopements. Five fought over wool. And one started by an apple tree. It isnt even winter yet. Who would believe that these same banns, now trying so hard to kill one another, just last year united to give me the crown?"


--From Ferelden: Folklore and History, by Sister Petrine, Chantry scholar

第一百零二卷：Fereldan政治中男爵会的角色

Ferelden的中心地带总是矛盾重重：没有一个男爵能够拥有超过十二处以上的农田。然而他们的土地如果加起来则超过了所有伯爵和公爵的总和。这些独立的男爵们联合在一起便叫做男爵会，同时它也是Fereldan政治的核心。

没有一个人能够登上宝座除非他已经得到了来自男爵会的支持和认可。钢铁纪元时的Fionne皇后，那个不幸在十八岁就接任了国王宝座的人，在给男爵会写的一封信中说道：“在过去的一年中发生的战争，三次是因为私奔引起的，五次是因为羊毛引起的。甚至还有一次是为了一棵苹果树引起的。这还没有到冬天呢。谁会相信这些如此卖力互相残杀的男爵们，刚刚在去年联合了起来并赐予了我王冠呢？”

---源自“Ferelden：乡间传奇与历史，作者教会学者，Petrine修女”

Codex Entry 103: A story of the Brecilian Forest

There are places in the Brecilian Forest where the Veil is so thin the difference between awake and dreaming is next to nothing. In one such place, a wood-shaper was born under such unfortunate stars that his mother named him Abelas, which means "sorrow." And he lived up to his name. He could keep no apprentices, and lost his stock of bows in mishap after mishap, until finally he had nothing. The rest of the clan began to fear that his ill luck would harm them, too, and whispered among themselves of casting him out.

Abelas heard them and resolved to change his luck, and so went into the forest alone to seek a suitable tree from which to make bows.

At last he spied a young rowan growing beside a stream. He drew his axe, and the tree cried out in fear, begging to be spared. But Abelas said, "If I do not take your life, mine will surely end." With two strokes he felled the tree. From the tree, he made the finest three bows he had ever crafted. Pleased, Abelas returned to camp and gave his bows to the hunters at once.

By nightfall, however, the camp was in an uproar. The hunters had returned with braces of hares which, when cut open, revealed only worms and sawdust. The elder said it was a sign that the hunters had robbed some spirit of its host, for it is well known that spirits do not go about the waking world on their own, but inhabit another creatures body. The elder worked a charm to banish the spirit back to the Fade, and the clan went to sleep hungry.

The next day, the hunters brought back a doe, and again the beast bled sawdust. Now the clan began to fear the spirit would starve them, and wondered what they had done to deserve it. Abelas came forward then and told of the rowan tree. The Elder considered for a long time before declaring that they must replace what Abelas had taken from the spirit. So he sent the hunters to dig up a rowan sapling, and bring it, living, to the camp.

There the elder ordered the sapling planted, and appealed to the spirit for forgiveness.

There was a terrible sound then, as if the whole forest were crying out in protest. Darkness fell upon the camp, though it was just past midday. And when the darkness passed, a rowan grove, every tree bearing the frozen face of a terrified elf, stood where the camp had been. From then on, it was forbidden in every clan to cut living trees in the Brecilian Forest. The spirits know nothing of forgiveness.
--"The Rowan Grove: A Dalish Tale," from Ferelden: Folklore and History, by Sister Petrine, Chantry scholar

第一百零三卷：关于Brecilian森林的故事

在Brecilian森林中有些地带的中间结界十分薄弱，在那里     清醒和梦境的世界之间几乎没有分别。就在一个这样的地方，一位不幸的雕木匠在灾星下出生了。他的妈妈便给他取名为Abelas，代表“悲哀”的意思。而他也人如其名。从来无法成功地指导任何学徒，且总是因一些小意外而损失他所雕刻的木弓，直至最后他一无所有。部落里的其他人开始担心他那倒霉的运气会影响带他们，于是纷纷议论要驱逐他出去。

Abelas听到后便下定决心要改变他的运气，于是一个人走进了森林中去寻找一棵能够让他雕刻为弓的树木。

最终，他看到了一颗生长在小溪边的花楸木。而当他抽出了斧头，那颗树却突然在恐惧中哭了出来，并乞求他予以怜悯。但Abelas说“如果我不取你的生命的话，我的生命就终结了。”于是他两下就砍倒了那颗树。并用这颗树的木头，制作了他从未做过的三把最好的弓。Abelas高兴地回到了营地并把这些弓赠与了猎人们。

当夜幕降临的时候，营地里面突然一片哗然。猎人们带着狩猎回来的野兔刚刚回到营地，然而当刨开这些野兔的时候，却发现里面长满了蠕虫与木屑。长老们说这说明猎人们夺取了某些生灵的宿主，否则众所周知灵魂们绝不会主动离开自己的世界而来到活人世界侵占另一个生物的躯体。长老施放了一个魔咒将这个灵魂驱赶回了暗物质界中，部落的人也只得在饥饿中纷纷睡去。

第二天，猎人们又带回了一只雌鹿，而再一次地它身体里面充满了木屑。于是部落的人开始恐惧，认为灵魂要让他们饿死在饥荒之中，且开始纳闷他们究竟做了什么冒犯神灵的事。于是Abelas只得走上前并讲述了关于那个花楸木的事情。长老思考了很长的时间后并最终决定，必须归还Abelas从那个树木处夺走的东西。于是他派出了猎人去挖一棵花楸木的树苗，并将它活着带回营地。

长老命令把树苗种在那里，并祈求灵魂的宽恕。

继而突然发生了一声可怕的声音，好像整个森林都在抗议。黑暗笼罩了这片营地，而此时却是刚刚中午。当黑暗过去后，一片花楸木长了出来，而营地原本的地方变成了一片树林，且每颗花楸木上都带着一张面带恐惧的精灵的脸。于是从那以后，各个部落都禁止人们在Brecilian森林中砍伐活着的树木。因为灵魂们从不知宽恕。

--“花楸木的树林：一段Dalish精灵的故事”来自“Ferelden：乡间故事与历史”，作者是教会学者Petrine修女。

Codex Entry 104: A discussion of the Chantry calendar

For most good folk, the details of our calendar have little purpose. It is useful only for telling them when the Summerday festival will be held, when the snows are expected to begin, and when the harvest must be complete. The naming of the years are a matter for historians and taxmen, and few if pressed could even tell you the reason that our current Age is named after dragons.

It is 9:30 Dragon Age, the thirtieth year of the ninth Age since the crowning of the Chantry’s first Divine.

Each Age is exactly 100 years, with the next Ages name chosen in the 99th year. The scholars in Val Royeaux advise the Chantry of portents seen in that 99th year, and Chantry authorities pore over the research for months before the Divine announces the name of the imminent Age. The name is said to be an omen of what is to come, of what the people of Thedas will face for the next hundred years.

The current Age was not meant to be the Dragon Age. Throughout the last months of the Blessed Age, the Chantry was preparing to Declare the Sun Age, named for the symbol of the Orlesian Empire, which at that time sprawled over much of the south of Thedas and controlled both Ferelden and what is now Nevarra. It was to be a celebration of Orlesian imperial glory.

But as the rebellion in Ferelden reached a head and the Battle of River Dane was about to begin, a peculiar event occurred: a rampage, the rising of a dreaded high dragon. Dragons had been thought practically extinct since the days of the Nevarran dragon hunts, and they say that to see this great beast rise form the Frostbacks was both majestic and terrifying. As the rampage began and the high dragon decimated the countryside in its search for food, the elderly Divine Faustine II abruptly Declared the Dragon Age.

Some say the Divine was declaring support for Orlais in the battle against Ferelden, since the dragon is an element of the Dufayel family heraldry of King Meghren, the so-called Usurper King of Ferelden. Be that as it may, the high dragon’s rampage turned towards the Orlesian side of the Frostback Mountains, killing hundreds and sending thousands more fleeing to the northern coast. The Fereldan rebels won the Battle of River Dane, ultimately securing their independence.

Many thus think that the Dragon Age will come to represent a time of violent and dramatic change for all of Thedas. It remains to be seen.

--From The Studious Theologian, by Brother Genitivi, Chantry scholar, 9:25 Dragon

第一百零四卷：关于教会纪年方法的讨论

都与绝大多数老百姓来说，我们所用纪年方法的细节对他们没什么影响。最多只在告诉他们夏季节日什么时候举行，以及第一场雪会在什么时候来临，以及收割必须在什么日子之前完成的时候有点用途。关于年份的命名则是历史学家和督税官的事情，且很少有人告诉你为什么我们如今的纪元是以巨龙的名字命名。

现在是9：30巨龙纪元，教会首任教皇诞生以来的第九纪元的第三十年。

每一个纪元持续100年，而在每个纪元的第九十九年的时候则会为下一个纪元命名。在这一年，Val
Royeaux的学者们会告诉教会他们所见到的不祥之兆，而教会的有关当局则会在教皇最终宣布下一个纪元的名称之前，花费数月的时间进行研究。这个名称则被认为是即将到来的征兆，也就是Thedas在接下来的一百年中所要面对的食物。

现在的纪元实际上原本并不是巨龙纪元。在祝福纪元的最后几个月中，教会们一直准备宣布下一个纪元为太阳纪元，命名为Orlesian帝国的象征，因为那时该帝国已经扩展到了整个Thedas南方绝大多数的地区，并控制了Ferelden和现在成为Nevarra的地区。它将作为一种庆祝Orlesian帝国荣誉的纪念。

但当在Ferelden的起义发生之后，且Dane之河的战斗马上就要发生的时候，一件异常的事情突然发生：一只狂暴，可怕的高等巨龙忽然苏醒现世。巨龙自从Nevarran的猎龙潮过去后就很少被人见到了，并且据说看着这只巨兽从Frostbacks山脉中升起是十分可怕与震撼的。随着狂暴的巨龙席卷整个乡间并寻找食物的年代过去后，年长的教皇Faustine二世临时突然宣布下一个纪元为巨龙纪元。

有些人说教皇支持Orlais对抗Ferelden的战争，且由于Meghren国王---那位所谓的Ferelden篡位的国王所属的Dufayel家族的纹章是一只巨龙。无论怎样，狂暴的巨龙飞到了Frostback山脉属于Orlesian的那边，杀死了数以百计的人且迫使上千的人们逃亡了北部的海岸。Fereldan的反叛军最终赢得了Dane河流的战斗，并最终确立了他们的独立。

因此多数人认为巨龙纪元的到来象征着Thedas新时代暴力与戏剧的转变。我们拭目以待。

---来自“好学的神学家”，由教会学者，Genitivi修士所撰，9：25巨龙纪元