This information is common knowledge in all of Khorvare.
Parable
Long ago, in an age now lost to time, there lived Pandora, the brightest of mortals. Some say she was the first scholar of her people, others that she was a shaman blessed by the gods. Whether she was born among the elves, the orcs, or the goblins, none can say—only that she was a seeker of truths, her heart burning with a hunger to know all things.
Her wisdom caught the eye of Aureon, the Sovereign of Lore, who was pleased by her thirst for learning. He gave her his blessing and watched her knowledge grow. Eventually when she had learned all the mortal world could offer, he came to her in the form of a great blue dragon.
“Pandora, you have sought wisdom in the rivers, in the stars, and in the very bones of Eberron Herself. But some knowledge must remain hidden, for the mind of a mortal is not yet strong enough to bear them.”
He led her to a great vault, sealed with silver runes, hidden beyond time itself.
“Within this vault,” he said, “lies the knowledge of all such things—the secrets of life, the nature of gods, the truths of death. But also, within, are calamities too great for the world to bear. The vault must never be opened.”
Pandora swore to keep it shut, but that night, as she sat beside it, she felt a moment of doubt. Another voice whispered to her from the darkness.
It was The Shadow, the Echo of Aureon, the Keeper of Forbidden Lore.
“Why do you hesitate?” the Shadow asked. “Did you not wish to know all things? Did Aureon not set this vault before you, knowing you could not resist? If you do not open it, someone else will. If you do not claim its wisdom, you will forever be a child, blind to the truths that shape the world.”
Pandora, her heart full of longing, broke the seals and opened the vault.
Pandora gained the knowledge she desired, but Aureon was correct, her mortal mind was not strong enough to contain their meaning. Spilling from her, suffering poured forth— it brought war and plague, madness and ruin, despair and fear. They spread like wildfire across the world, taking root in every heart and every land.
Pandora fell to her knees, watching the horrors she had unleashed. She reached into the vault to shut it again, but all had escaped—all but one thing.
At the bottom of the vault, trembling in the darkness, was a final light: Hope.
Though all the evils had been set free, Hope had not abandoned the world. It would endure in every heart, a light against the Shadow’s whispers, a fire that neither war nor plague could ever fully extinguish.
Thus did Pandora weep, for she had undone the world—but she had also ensured that no suffering would be without end.
The Meaning of the Parable
- To the faithful of Aureon, this is a warning: knowledge is sacred, but there are limits. Some things must remain unknown for the good of all.
- To those who follow The Shadow, this is a challenge: wisdom should not be caged. Pandora proved that even in ruin, knowledge brings transformation.
- To the followers of the Silver Flame, the lesson is responsibility: the evils loosed upon the world must be fought, but hope will always remain.
- To some of those who study the Draconic Prophesy, it represents the source of the Prophesy itself. The evil it predicts and the hope of preventing it.