We represent a group of astronomers who have taken great lengths to understand the universe that we live in. In no way do we intend to usurp or promote heresy. However, our findings have uncovered part of a fundamental truth of our world, and we are set to uncover more. For the safety of our members, we choose to remain anonymous for now. We present our findings to the scholarly community as their own evidence, and leave our conclusions for a separate time.
Our current model of our world is frustratingly shallow. We are aware and can accurately track the cycles of the moon, and the arc of the sun as it changes through the sky. There are guesses as to the methods and mechanisms of their travel, but no hard investigation or inquiry. As we intend to disseminate this document to the public, we have included a basic explanation of the current celestial patterns.
The moon rises and falls, traveling in an arc in the southern sky. It rises and falls over the course of a month; In fact, the term 'month' is derived from the moon, even though our modern calendar has diverged from this definition. When it finishes its cycle and sets in the west, the next night it appears in the eastern sky. Additionally, the moon changes in brightness through the night. It begins with a sliver of a crescent, grows to its full brightness, and then wanes back to a crescent on the other side. Time can be accurately and reliably measured by careful study of the tide of the moon.
The sun, on the other hand, rises and falls daily, traveling as the moon does, east to west. Over the course of a year, it slowly oscillates between the northern sky and the center of the sky, with winter and summer months coinciding respectively. As with the moon, our year is based off of the travel of the sun, with minor additional days to keep the seasons relatively in place. It is commonly believed that the summer months occur because the warmth of the sun heats the land, and the waning light of the winter allows it to cool. At no times does its arc have interference with the arc of the moon. The stars follow the oscillations with the arc of the sun, and any individual star is always the same distance away from the path of the sun.
The members of our community were dissatisfied with the lack of knowledge about our astronomy. It is true that the moon has its own, highly influential cult. They promulgate their belief that the moon is a sentient force, and that its shifting face is the process of it living, dying, and being reborn. The sun also has its own cultists, although they are far smaller in members. They believe that the sun is the originator of life, among other things. Those cult beliefs are the furthest that any investigation has gone, with other attempts to explore and discover more being blocked and rebuffed.
Our community labored in secret, in order to not tip our hand to these cults. We worked with the most skilled of craftsmen to create enormous glass lenses of the highest quality. Those craftsmen will forever remain secret, as to expose them could mean their persecution. We created a telescope, similar in fasion to those that are already in use by sailors and scouts. Ours, however, was taller than two men, instead of hand-sized. Over the course of months, we scanned the night sky, observing all we could. What we found was the following.
The first thing that we examined were the stars. Tiny pinpricks of light that seemed so far away, became far bigger and far more detailed than any man had ever seen. We observed what appeared to be reflective material, like the eye of a cat when it catches the light. We believe that the stars themselves do not create light, but rather reflect it from some other point. Furthermore, we found that the stars were set in place. They appear to be attached to a great tree.
The great tree we see stretches out across the entire sky. Its branches are too dark to be picked out against the blackness of the night sky, but very discerning eyes can clearly see a difference in darkness when looking through the telescope. The branches are absolutely massive. To illustrate, a relatively thin branch appears as thick as the moon. Other branches are far thicker. We were unable to discern any leaves or any other structures indicative of a tree.
We were unable to focus our telescope on the sun directly, as looking at it even unaided is enough to cause blindness. However, we were able to observe some part of the arc that the sun normally follows, through careful mathematics and a system of locks on the telescope. The sun appears to travel 'through' a tube or root of some sort. During the day, it shines in brightness through the section of tube that it currently occupies.
As for the moon, we believe that it is made of a similar material that the stars are made of. The bright parts of the moon exhibit a similar reflective property, and we observed that the growing of the moon is really a light dawning on its face. We were unable to see any track or tube that it follows. The part of space that it travels through appears free of any particular branch. It is noted that the moon seems far closer to us than the sun is. We are unable to even begin calculating where in space it may be relative to the sun, just that it is definitely closer.
We have included our conclusions separately. We believe that our observations are accurate and should be verified independently. However, our conclusions may be incorrect, and we do not wish to muddy the waters with them. We publish these at the risk of wider persecution, for we believe that the truth does not fear investigation.
First, it appears that our oldest myths have been confirmed. Although we have only scraps of fragments of legends, the oldest we do have speak of an emigration from a destroyed world via an enormous tree. This later evolved into wider tales about that emigration, before finally being lost. It seems that those old myths were more literal than most would have given them credit for. More research in this area is necessary. Perhaps the Ethalin from the north that came with Mordred have more complete accounts.We are forced to reconsider other accounts, however. To begin, the account that King Oren set new stars in the heavens. How could that have happened at all? In fact, much of King Oren's legend must have been exaggeration, or outright fabrication to legitimize his rule. This is troubling, and spells danger for our current ruler. However, the truth does not fear investigation, and giving credit to a lie in order to keep the peace is against our moral code. Let the cards fall as they may.
We must touch lastly on the moon. It cannot be a spirit or a being, or anything with a consciousness. We have observed it to be physical matter. At present time, we do not have an explanation for its light cycle, or why it does not take the same time to travel 'below' the land, for lack of a better terminology. We are confident that further investigation will yield results.
It is not our intent to usurp or delegitimize the authorities we submit to. All of our investigation has been done honestly and earnestly in the pursuit of knowledge. We are fearful for our safety. In the event that discourse about these findings become widespread, we may come forward.
We publish this in 792KE, in the reign of King Mordred.