September 8th 1886

In all the centuries that the Holy Orthodoxy has been established in Lockwood, not a single cleric scribe has written or in anyway documented the secret hiding under the Grand Cathedral. Now of all times I, scribe Roderick feel this chapter in the church’s history is beginning to wane and so I feel a need to document this as best as I can.

The church’s history goes back to the mid 11th century, but little is known as to how or why the Holy Orthodoxy was conceived. As far as the fragmented ancient scriptures tell, I have been able to discern that long before the cathedral was constructed, the massive subterranean cavern was discovered which quickly led to the discovery of the main central chamber. The chamber, although appearing to be carved out by means beyond human capabilities, was home to an entity beyond any logical explanation. A massive creature like no other on Earth, pale and tentacled, the thing was clearly from some ancient and/or lost race of beings.
During the turn of the 12th century, the creature became known as a member of what the church now call, The Ancient Ones. As far as my research can tell, it is after this point that an explosion of discoveries were made surrounding the Ancient One and how it was connected to the strange forces acting upon Lockwood itself. It was during this point that the individuals studying the Ancient One were somehow communicated by the being by, as far as I can tell, a kind of telepathy. Statements from numerous researchers clearly claim to have heard the name Silbûr spoken to them. From that point on, worship of this Ancient One, Silbûr, began and the Holy Orthodoxy was established. The Grand Cathedral was constructed directly above the cavern of Silbûr, but it was also in this time that mentions of the nobles of Dalhurst Castle are first mentioned. Notes surrounding Dalhursts involvement are understandably disparate and fragmented, but it seems, as far as I can tell, the noble lady of the castle, Lady Dalia showed a particular interest in attempting communication with Silbûr. Joining efforts with the newly founded church, these attempts inevitably failed as no reaction could be roused from the slumbering Silbûr.

My research shows that it was during this period that suggestions that The Ancient One Silbûr may have been afflicted with some illness or disease. For the creature rested in a seemingly eternal slumber and its massive alien body distorted by unusual growth patterns akin to that of malignant tumours. Any research into Silbûr’s origin or race of species was doomed to failure due to a lack of information outside of common conjecture. Lady Dalia had at this point insisted they continue their efforts to commune with The Ancient One, but in the midst of these events, a strange miracle is recorded in the scriptures. Not only Lady Dalia, but many witnesses made personal writings of the next turn of events that elude any school of biology or rational sense.
It had been on the night of the Bloodmoon, 4th of April, year 1136. Various women have written of similar experiences, but I will tell of Lady Dalia’s story as it bares a higher relevance. The noble lady had been walking the castle gardens during the scarlet night, all women that wrote of this tell of how unusually large the moon appeared that night. But while Lady Dalia concerned herself with how to continue research into Silbûr, she saw a figure in the sky obscuring the red moon. She’d written of how a tall slender figure, inhuman and multi armed had floated high in the sky. Completely captivated by this mysterious entity, she’d watched as it slowly descended from the sky toward her to hover merely feet from the garden below. In the same manor, all that wrote of similar events mention hearing a voice, akin to that of which the researchers heard from Silbûr in the cavern. The wording is very clear as all who experienced it seemed to hear the same thing.
“Canst thou not see, thee hast wasted thy time. The worded Silbûr is merely a misguided child, tis’ only waiting an untimely demise. Behold, for thou is lorded with the presence of I, Dun-Thendyr.”
These are the same words told by every subject, and every experience appears identical from this point onward. This figure claiming to be Dun-Thendyr then embraced Lady Dalia. She had written many times afterwards of this experience and of how certain knowledge of this entity and its nature were revealed to her in explicit detail during the event. Many confused and mixed up images had been burned into her mind and it had taken her years to even begin to decipher said things. In future writings, she implied that Dun-Thendyr was a being of some cosmic origin, that Silbûr was a member of a race of beings known as the Ishara, and that they had indeed been afflicted with some illness. As to how or why Silbûr was residing under Lockwood has since remained a mystery. But the most curious thing among all tellings of this, is that after the multi armed form of Dun-Thendyr left and returned to the night sky, all involved women became pregnant with a week after the event. Yet none of them ever experienced being physically interfered with during the event, it was indeed an immaculate conception, and human blood had been gifted with the power of The Ancient Ones. During her term of pregnancy, Lady Dalia came to the knowledge of Void Energy, which is indeed how she attained the name “The Lady Of The Void”. Just like all women in said experience, Lady Dalia’s pregnancy carried to term and she gave birth to a human child, but inside, the Dalhurst bloodline had then been fused with that of The Ancient Ones.

Upon the birth of Dalia’s child, the Holy Orthodoxy began worship of Dun-Thendyr and the Dalhurst bloodline had been eternally tied to that of both the church, and The Ancient Ones.
And to this day, Silbûr still sits, secreted away from the public under the Grand Cathedral. Its eternal slumber unending, its pace slowly drawing to an end, for how much longer this entity will endure, nor I or any member of the church knows, for only time will tell.

Scribe Roderick
The Holy Orthodoxy
1886