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The Three Ancient Tomes are 3 obscure magic books containing very powerful ceremonies, mystical spells and extremely forbidden sorcery, able to even warp the very fabric of reality itself. They were carefully kept by the Vatican to protect their secrets from the world. The 3 books are the Codex of R'lyeh, the Émigré Manuscript and the Pulse Tract. These 3 accursed spellbooks play a central role in the dark fantasy videogame series Shadow Hearts.

History

10 years ago, three ancient tomes were stole from the Vatican... Because each one has the power to warp the very fabric of existence, the books have been widely sought after over the years, and many tragedies resulted from that search...
~ Yuri about the Three Ancient Tomes.

The Three Ancient Tomes are mystical books full of dangerous spells and life-threatening rituals that can send the world to oblivion if successful. The three books were held in the Vatican library under lock-and-key by order of the Pope himself. But one night all 3 books were stolen. The Vatican panicked, so they sent their best 2 exorcists to retrieve them; Father Morris Elliot and Father James O' Flaherty.

At first the two traveled side-by-side to find the three books but once Morris Elliot had a daughter they worked separately, but they still remained in contact with each other.

The last letter James sent to Morris said he was fresh on the trail in finding the Emigre Manuscript in Wales, though by unlikely fate, the man in possession of the document was James' old friend Patrick Heyworth.

No other letters came. But even without James, Morris eventually found the name of the man who stole the three tomes: Roger Bacon. But Morris realized that he was never powerful enough to take-on on the warlock himself, So arranged for a contact with a man called Sir Albert Simon]], a former cardinal who was said to be equal in power to the sage Roger Bacon.

In reality, Albert Simon, was under the guise of his former teacher, "Roger Bacon" and was in-fact the man who stole the Three Ancient Tomes from the Vatican. Meeting with Father Elliot, under his disguised name Roger Bacon, he killed the man to prevent him from causing any more interference.

Firstly making a visit to his old residence in London, which had been brought by a man named Jack for him to live with his infirmed mother, who had since died. Albert sold him the Emigre Manuscript so that he could bring back his mother, and left for Asia to pursue his own plans.

Giving the warlock Dehuai, the Pulse Tract, it was his intention that Dehuai would complete the Demon's Gate Invocation, to finish what he started over 15 years ago.

Once both books were sufficiently tested Albert Simon then used the Codex of Lurie to raise the Neameto Float and summon the Other-God to destroy the world and create it anew, as a new Eden, untainted by the wickedness of man, but his plans however were thwarted by Yuri and company.

Fearful that others would try to use the Three Ancient Tomes, Yuri and the real Roger Bacon, then hid the Émigré Manuscript deep within the Neam Ruins, and the Pulse Tract, and the R'lyeh Text at undisclosed locations.

Revelation

Of all the applications of the books over the course of the series only Roger Bacon, Albert Simon and Koudelka Iasant have been able to comprehend their insights into the nature of reality without being distracted by the base spells and formulas and consequently were granted true power through their revelations. Though Albert, Roger and Koudelka were each able to gain reality cracking powers from their Revelations, all three have suffered both borderline insanity and a bout of extreme misanthropy. It is left ambiguous as to whether Roger is delusional or actually is speaking directly to the audience, Albert wants to restart all life on the planet and Koudelka had to hypnotize herself to repress her memories of the Émigré from rendering her a vegetable; On top of this all three consider humanity to be a profound disappointment worth little to no concern. So it appears the books not only affect the mind but the spirit of even those insightful enough to comprehend them.

Gallery

Trivia

  • The Codex of R'lyeh is named after the the city of R'lyeh of H.P. Lovercraft's Cthulhu Mythos.
  • The word Émigré means "to depart" or "migrate out" in Greek, However the lettering on the cover "Εμιγρσ" is Latin. This is either a technical error or an intentional joke made by Bacon when translating.
  • The Pulse Tract makes specific reference to the totems held sacred in the Chinese philosophical tradition Taoism, even though it was conceived in Europe.
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