Books

This is a list of fictional books in the City of... universe.

Many of these book descriptions contain major spoilers. Read at your own risk.

Abyssal Tome

Forging the Blackwand
This is an ancient book containing various dark rituals in various tongues. You acquired this from one of the Legacy Chain hideouts on behalf of Tarixus.

As If By an Occult Hand:Secrets Behind the News

Indigo: Stop the Assassination of Dan Irish
A book about the Knives of Artemis.

Blood Tome

The Secret of the Circle
Allison King: Save the Wyatt Mediums from the Circle of Thorns
Also known as the Codex of Bloodlines.

This strange book appears to be blank, but if a single drop of a person's blood is placed on a page, that drop will flow and shift, drawing itself out to form a complete family history from the present all the way back, as far as the ancient civilization of Mu.

This magical tome can trace a person's ancestry back to the time of the powerful pre-historic magic users. Any name written in its owner's blood blossoms out a crimson family tree on the book's black pages, in the arcane language of the Circle of Thorns.

Book of Ancient Magic

The Envoy of Shadows
Diviner Maros: Get Book from Legacy
This handwritten book contains descriptions, chants, and eldritch formulae for a number of dark magic rituals. It has no listed author, but is dated 1592. An aura of malevolence clings to each page.

Book of K'Gar

Police Radio: Object Retrieval Missions
This is supposed to the holy text of an alien religion from the future, but no one's been able to decipher it. Legends say no one will be able to interpret it properly until the year 2260. Probably a reference to the The Book of G'Kar from Babylon 5, which is set in 2260.

Book of Runes

Skipper LeGrange: Retrieve the Book
A spellbook owned by the village of Salamanca. It contains the Rune of Warding.

Book of Stheno

Matthew Burke: Learn More About Stheno
This ancient tome refers to Stheno, the sister of the Gorgon, Medusa. It seems she is the goddess worshipped by Mercy's Snakes. It speaks of a time when Stheno will return to spawn new and powerful progeny.

Book of T'Jer'imikanu

The Rule of Three
This ancient text is written in a language you don't understand. This book, the last of its kind, was presumed lost in the Chicago fire of 1871.

The text describes a ritual for gaining great power that can only performed during a storm. Or, as the book has it, at 'a conflux of lightning and rain.' The larger the conflux, the more effective the ritual.

Chaos Cook Book

Rogue Isle Protector: Library Robbed, Rare Books Missing
Possibly a reference to the Anarchist's Cookbook, an infamous hacking instruction manual.

How to Serve Man

Rogue Isle Protector: Library Robbed, Rare Books Missing
A reference to a short story by Damon Knight and a Twilight Zone episode.

Journal of Padre Gerard Henri

The Book and the Burning
The Beast Beneath the Mountain
Also known as Padre Henri's Journal.

This old handwritten book is the personal journal of Padre Henri, a jesuit priest who came to the Rogue Isles hundreds of years ago. There are lots of notes about the land and people he met there, and then the entries start to become strange, talking about a great battle on the mountain and sealing a demon away. One thing that sticks out to you is that the first few entries start right after Padre Henri left Egypt after getting some clue about the island from a mysterious source there.

This book is a translation of the Journal of Father Gerard Henri, a French monk and reputed master of mystic powers who worked for the French government in the 17th century. According to entries in the Journal, Henri came to the Rogue Isles in response to tales of a demon-worshipping cult called the Children of Enos. He arrived to find both the Cultists and the Garrison sent to fight them wiped out. There are pages missing, but what's left talks at great lengths about the preparations Henri and his cohorts went through to face something the Cultists had summoned from the depths of the netherworld in their desperation. Something Henri felt was too powerful for him to destroy, but could be contained within the mountain. Something called Bat'Zul.

Lost Holy Text

Phillipa Meraux: Inveestigate the Cave Where the Lost May Be Storing the Stolen Technology
You found this book in the Rikti base. Written by hand, it describes a utopian society in which physical labor is unnecessary, in which each member's needs are provided for in full. You can imagine the downtrodden Lost pouring over this manuscript in wonder, longing to belong to such a world.

Lost Tongues of the Tower Makers

Miriam Bloechl's story arc, The Scroll of Tielekku
Compiled by Greek scholars, this book is a guide to the ancient languages of a lost civilization that built a tower to the stars.

Malleus Mundi

Main Article: Malleus Mundi

The Hammer of the World
Malleus Mundi (Hammer of the World) is an Akkadian text. The tome was rumored to belong to various occult teachers and mystics throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, but the last owner of the Malleus Mundi was thought to have been none other than Baron Zoria's one-time mentor, Grigori Yefimovich Rasputin. Though there is some doubt as to whether they had ever actually met. Some resources indicate that the Circle of Thorns tracked down the text in early 2004 in the Lubyanka Museum’s special archive in Moscow. It was the capture of this same archive that was said to have been one of the objectives of Germany’s Operation Barbarossa during World War II. In fact, a secret unit of the German army, the Spezialwaffen Kommandotruppen, comprised of members of the occult-based Thule Society, was created specifically for this purpose. The archive, however, had been temporarily shipped to Siberia for safekeeping in the first weeks of the invasion.

Mu Codex

Matthew Burke: Steal Book from Ghost Widow
Mako hired Burke to steal this book from Ghost Widow's faction. He's hoping to keep it for herself, though, which is a dangerous proposition.

Nectanebo's Book

Enhancement Names: ToHit Buff
A relic that increases the power of ToHit buffs.

Obsidian Libram

The Scroll of Tielekku
Long whispered of in magical circles, the Obsidian Libram is connected with many wild rumors. Some say it is the written soul of a demon. Others insist it is a testament engraved by intelligent saurians during the age of reptiles. Some even whisper that it is a gateway to another plane of being. No one knows the truth, for this book of black stone plates seems to present different faces to different readers.

Of the Great Tower

Technician Naylor: Get the Items Naylor Needs From the Circle and the Nemesis Army
Despite the book's title, it seems to be all about how the Circle makes their portals. It's written in their own language, but copiously illustrated. On further perusal, it looks like the book isn't so much about portals in general, but that it's summing up how certain aspects of portal creation pertain to a much larger project.

On Sacrifyces: Their Uses and Their Various Consequences

Mage-Killer Zuhkara: Get the Books
A Circle of Thorns book about summoning demons.

One Book of Rularuu, The

Items of Power
This book is said to contain the essence of the timelines that have been, are and could be. Each letter is beyond the comprehension of all but Rularuu. Nonetheless, the tiniest fragment bestows power to those who possess it. The One Book gives a 20% reduction to debt incurred by all Supergroup members at all times.

Real Faultline, The

The Real Faultline - by Dr. D. Stein
This book was written by Doctor Delilah Stein, the Heroine Historian, and published recently to much talk in the media. The book tells the true and sad story of a Hero who was destroyed in the cruelest way possible, and of how his real history finally came to light. It's the story of a Hero named Faultline and what really happened to him.

Red Dust Tome

The Scroll of Tielekku
These swirling crimson sands are enchanted to form themselves into a book at their owner's will. The Red Dust Tome contains such bizarre knowledge that it can unhinge the thoughts of anyone without extraordinary willpower.

Rikti Factions, Vol 1

Dreams of Peace and Acts of War
This book is an explanation of how the Rikti have become divided since their time on Earth. While there's a great deal of information covered in the book, a series of bookmarks and highlightings help you pick out the important information:

Ever since the end of the First Rikti War, the Rikti on Earth appear to have suffered through disagreements about how best to proceed. These disagreements grew until the Rikti on Earth began to factionalize into two groups: the Traditionalists and the Restructurists.

The Traditionalists believed that wherever they were, they should maintain the norms of Rikti society, with its slow decisions reached through psychic debate and group consensus. The majority of the Traditionalists were from the minority of scientists and engineers who had accompanied the invasion force and had been trapped when the portals were sealed.

The Restructurists felt that the old paradigms wouldn't work in their current situation and were open to creating new ones, centered around the military majority of the invading force. They quickly became focused on advancement through military accomplishment and swelled their ranks with converted humans.

The Traditionalists were terrified of these changes as they saw their society turned upside-down and becoming a military dictatorship. In an attempt to blunt the power of the Restructurists, they've even begun talking to humanity about ending the war. The Restructurists need the continued war to justify their changes, and are unlikely to accept any peace.

It is conjectured that on the Rikti Homeworld, the military is a small minority of Rikti population, and that the Rikti civilian government could have far more power. But, in the war on Earth, the Rikti military and the Restructurists are all anyone knows.

Rites of the Dark

A Path Into Darkness
You found copies of this book on several of the Council soldiers you defeated before they left the country. Each slender volume contains rituals, pledges, and ceremonies used in initiation to something called 'The Path of the Dark.'

Scroll of Bokol

Police Scanner Mission

This scroll was penned by those who believe that life here began 'out there', in the depths of space. It talks about the lost colonies of humanity that are supposed to live among the stars.

This is an ingame reference to Battlestar Galactica; Bokol is referring to the planet/lords/colonies of Kobol.

Spells of the First Order

The Scroll of Tielekku
This tattered vellum folio from 1602 is rumored to be an original translation of the first spells ever taught to mankind by the gods.

Tolshak Mysteries

Sold For a Song
This ancient and musty-smelling tome is filled with occult ciphers that would take years for the uninitiated to interpret. According to Karvost the Mystic, it unlocks key secrets of demonology.

Tome of Hequat

Rogue Isle Protector: Tome of Hequat Stolen!
The old leatherbound book contains numerous spells and incarnations, but none that seem to serve your nefarious purpose.

Tome of Tormvodel

Life and Death
This ancient tome, stolen from Oranbega, should provide the clues Ghost Widow needs to restore her mortal form.

Truth, The

The Horror of War
Many people died over the contents of this book. The well-written volume lays out in comprehensive detail the terrible truth of the Rikti War and its origins as the merciless machinations of none other than Nemesis, the so-called 'Prussian Prince of Automatons'. The author chose not to use her name with good reason. Of the many people named in the book who were instrumental in uncovering the truth, you're one of the few who are still alive.