Limuhs lo sa Ranaf

The Book of the Enemy ("Limuhs lo sa Ranaf" in Valespeak) is a Forgist religious text dealing with the non-Creator spirits which may inhabit the spaces beyond the world-artifice. Though not accurately referred to as 'demons,' as their origins, motivations, and relation to the Creator's work are diverse, these spirits are considered dangerous to the spiritual seeker who encounters them and, thus, are the 'enemy' spoken of in the text. The Ranaf is of contested canonicity among Forgemasters but occupies a space in the religious culture because it provides much of the 'worldbuilding' for the Forgist cosmology that inspires Forgism-adjacent literature and other forms of popular entertainment media (i.e. radio plays).

Historical Details

Background

The Ranaf is equal parts extrapolation from canonical works like the Universal Artifice and Hymns of the World-Forger, a gathering of myths from the era of the The Ordaureum that don't conflict with established religious cosmology, and the esoteric speculations of Forgemasters contemporary with its publishing which may or may not conflict with Forgist cosmology depending on the reader's interpretation. The last of these influences is notable because the associated entries in the Ranaf often lack depictions of the spirits in question themselves but include glyphs and formulae related to protection from, or calling of, these spirits. Older entries are more likely to include illustrations or a series of related myths which, when taken as a whole, suggest variations in tregional interpretation of the same concepts.

Type

Manuscript, Religious