I'd like to Put them in a Appleworks text file so I can use them in my Planescape campaign wich is going to start as soon as my curent campaign ends
The First Circle
Know that we are the First People.
Once all was chaos. The First People were thought drawn from chaos. When the First People came to know themselves, they were chaos no longer, and became flesh.
With their thoughts and knowing of matter, the People shaped the First World and dwelled there with their knowing to sustain them.
Yet the flesh was new to the People and with it, the People came not to know themselves. The flesh gave rise to new thoughts. Greed and hates, pains and joys, jealousies and doubts. All of these fed on each other and the minds of the People were divided. In their division, the People were punished.
The emotions of the flesh were strong. The greed and hates, the pains and joys, the jealousies and doubts, all of these served as a guiding stone to enemies. In becoming flesh, the First People became enslaved to those who knew flesh only as tools for their will. Know these beasts were the illithids.
The illithids were a race that had come not to know themselves. They had learned how to make other races not know themselves.
They were the tentacled ones. They lived in flesh and saw flesh as tools for their will. Their blood was as water and they shaped minds with their thoughts. When the illithids came upon the People, the People were a people no more. The People became slaves.
The illithids took the People from the First World and brought them to the False Worlds. As the People labored upon the False Worlds, the illithids taught them the Way of the Flesh. Through them, the People came to know loss. They came to know suffering. They came to know death, both of the body and mind. They came to know what it is to be the herd of another and have their flesh consumed. They came to know the horror of being made to feel joy in such things.
The Unbroken Circle is the knowing of how the People lost themselves. And how they came to know themselves again.
The Second Circle
Know that flesh cannot mark steel. Know that steel may mark flesh. In knowing this, Zerthimon became free.
Know that the tentacled ones were of flesh. They relied on the flesh and used it as tools for their will. One of the places where flesh served their will was the Fields of Husks on the False Worlds of the illithids.
The Fields were where the bodies of the People were cast after the illithids had consumed their brains. When the brain had been devoured, the husks came to be fertilizer to grow the poison-stemmed grasses of the illithids. Zerthimon worked the Fields with no knowing of himself or what he had become. He was a tool of flesh, and the flesh was content.
It was upon these Fields that Zerthimon came to know the scripture of steel. During one of the turnings, as Zerthimon tilled the Fields with his hands, he came across a husk whose brain remained within it. It had not been used as food. Yet it was dead.
The thought that one of the husks had died a death without serving as food for the illithids was a thought Zerthimon had difficulty understanding. From that thought, came a desire to know what had happened to the husk.
Embedded in the skull of the husk was a steel blade. It had pierced the bone. Zerthimon realized that was what had killed the husk. The steel had marked the flesh, but the flesh had not marked the steel.
Zerthimon took the blade and studied its surface. In it, he saw his reflection. It was in the reflection of the steel that Zerthimon first knew himself. Its edge was sharp, its will the wearer's. It was the blade that would come to be raised against Gith when Zerthimon made the Pronouncement of Two Skies.
Zerthimon kept the blade for many turnings, and many were the thoughts he had about it. He used it in the fields to aid his work. In using it, he thought about how it was not used.
The illithids were powerful. Zerthimon had believed that there was nothing that they did not know. Yet the illithids never carried tools of steel. They only used flesh as tools. Everything was done through flesh, for the tentacled ones were made of flesh and they knew flesh. Yet steel was superior to flesh. When the blade had killed the husk, it was the flesh that had been weaker than the steel.
It was then that Zerthimon came to know that flesh yielded to steel. In knowing that, he came to know that steel was stronger than the illithids.
Steel became the scripture of the People. Know that steel is the scripture by which the People came to know freedom.
The Third Circle
Zerthimon labored many turnings for the illithid Arlathii Twice-Deceased and his partnership in the cavernous heavens of the False Worlds. His duties would have broken the backs of many others, but Zerthimon labored on, suffering torment and exhaustion.
It came to pass that the illithid Arlathii Twice-Deceased ordered Zerthimon before him in his many-veined galleria. He claimed that Zerthimon had committed slights of obstinance and cowardice against his partnership. The claim had no weight of truth, for Arlathii only wished to know if flames raged within Zerthimon’s heart. He wished to know if Zerthimon’s heart was one of a slave or of a rebel.
Zerthimon surrendered to the illithid punishment rather than reveal his new-found strength. He knew that were he to show the hatred in his heart, it would serve nothing, and it would harm others that felt as he. He chose to endure the punishment and was placed within the Pillars of Silence so he might suffer for a turning.
Lashed upon the Pillars, Zerthimon moved his mind to a place where pain could not reach, leaving his body behind. He lasted a turning, and when he was brought before Arlathii Twice-Deceased, he gave gratitude for his punishment to the illithid as was custom. In so doing, he proved himself a slave in the illithid eyes while his heart remained free.
By enduring and quenching the fires of his hatred, he allowed Arlathii Twice-Deceased to think him weak. When the time of the Rising came, Arlathii was the first of the illithid to know death by Zerthimon’s hand and die a third death.
The Fourth Circle
Know that the Rising of the People against the illithid was a thing built upon many ten-turnings of labor. Many of the People were gathered and taught in secret the ways of defeating their illithid masters. They were taught to shield their minds, and use them as weapons. They were taught the scripture of steel, and most importantly, they were given the knowing of freedom.
Some of the People learned the nature of freedom and took it into their hearts. The knowing gave them strength. Others feared freedom and kept silent. But there were those that knew freedom and knew slavery, and it was their choice that the People remain chained. One of these was Vilquar.
Vilquar saw no freedom in the Rising, but opportunity. He saw that the illithid had spawned across many of the False Worlds. Their Worlds numbered so many that their vision was turned only outwards, to all they did not already touch. Vilquar’s eye saw that much took place that the illithid did not see. To the Rising, the illithid were blinded.
Vilquar came before his master, the illithid Zhijitaris, with the knowing of the Rising. Vilquar added to his chains and offered to be their eyes against the Rising. In exchange, Vilquar asked that he be rewarded for his service. The illithid agreed to his contract.
At the bonding of the contract, a dark time occurred. Many were betrayals Vilquar committed and many were the People that the illithids fed upon to stem the Rising. It seemed that the Rising would die before it could occur, and the illithid were pleased with Vilquar’s eye.
It was near the end of this dark time when Zerthimon came to know Vilquar’s treacheries. In knowing Vilquar’s eye, Zerthimon forced the Rising to silence itself, so that Vilquar might think at last his treacheries had succeeded, and the Rising had fallen. He knew that Vilquar eye was filled only with the reward he had been promised. He would see what he wished to see.
With greed beating in his heart, Vilquar came upon the illithid Zhijitaris and spoke to his master of his success. He said that the Rising had fallen, and the illithids were safe to turn their eyes outwards once more. He praised their wisdom in using Vilquar’s eye, and he asked them for his reward.
In his greed-blindness, Vilquar had forgotten the knowing of why the People had sought freedom. He had lost the knowing of what slavery meant. He had forgotten what his illithid masters saw when they looked upon him. And so Vilquar’s betrayal of the People was ended with another betrayal. Vilquar came to know that when Vilquar’s eye has nothing left to see, Vilquar’s eye is useless.
The illithid gave to Vilquar his reward, opening the cavity of his skull and devouring his brain. Vilquar’s corpse was cast upon the Fields of Husks so its blood might water the poison-stemmed grasses.
The Fifth Circle
Zerthimon was the first to know the way of freedom. Yet it was not he that first came to know the way of rebellion.
The knowing of rebellion came to the warrior-queen Gith, one of the People. She had served the illithids upon many of the False Worlds as a soldier, and she had come to know war and carried it in her heart. She had come to know how others might be organized to subjugate others. She knew the paths of power, and she knew the art of taking from the conquerors the weapons by which they could be defeated. Her mind was focused, and both her will and her blade were as one.
The turning in which Zerthimon came to know Gith, Zerthimon ceased to know himself. Her words were as fires lit in the hearts of all who heard her. In hearing her words, he wished to know war. He knew not what afflicted him, but he knew he wished to join his blade to Gith. He wished to give his hate expression and share his pain with the illithid.
Gith was one of the People, but her knowing of herself was greater than any Zerthimon had ever encountered. She knew the ways of flesh, she knew the illithids and in knowing herself, she was to know how to defeat them in battle. The strength of her knowing was so great, that all those that walked her path came to know themselves.
Gith was but one. Her strength was such that it caused others to know their strength. And Zerthimon laid his steel at her feet.
The Sixth Circle
Upon the Blasted Plains, Zerthimon told Gith there cannot be two skies. In the wake of his words, came war.
Upon the Blasted Plains, the People had achieved victory over their illithid masters. They knew freedom.
Yet before the green fires had died from the battlefield, Gith spoke of continuing the war. Many, still filled with the bloodlust in their hearts, agreed with her. She spoke of not merely defeating the illithids, but destroying all illithids across the Planes. After the illithids had been exterminated, they would bring war to all other races they encountered.
In Gith’s heart, fires raged. She lived in war, and in war, she knew herself. All that her eyes saw, she wanted to conquer.
Zerthimon spoke the beginnings of that which was against Gith’s will. He spoke that the People already knew freedom. Now they should know themselves again and mend the damage that had been done to the People. Behind his words were many other hearts of the People who were weary of the war against the illithid.
Know that Gith’s heart was not Zerthimon’s heart on this matter. She said that the war would continue. The illithid would be destroyed. Their flesh would be no more. Then the People would claim the False Worlds as their own.
Gith told Zerthimon that they would be under the same sky in this matter. The words were like bared steel.
From Zerthimon came the Pronouncement of Two Skies. In the wake of his words came war.
The Seventh Circle
Know that the Rising of the People against the illithid was a thing built upon many turnings. Many were the People who lived and died under time’s blade while the Rising was shaped.
The Rising was shaped upon a slow foundation. Steel was gathered so that it might mark illithid flesh. A means of knowing the movements of the illithids was established, at first weak and confused, then stronger, like a child finding its voice. When the movements were known, then the illithids were observed. In observing them, their ways of the mind were known.
When the ways of the illithid were known, many of the People were gathered and taught in secret the means to shield their minds, and the way to harness their will as weapons. They were taught the scripture of steel, and most importantly, they were given the knowing of freedom.
These things were not learned quickly. The knowing of much of the ways was slow, and in all these things, time’s weight fell upon all. From the knowing of one’s reflection in a steel blade, to the knowing of submerging the will, to the knowing of seeing itself. All of these things and more the People built upon. In time, they came to know the whole.
The Eighth Circle
Know that a mind divided divides the man. The will and the hand must be as one. In knowing the self, one becomes strong.
Know that if you know a course of action to be true in your heart, do not betray it because the path leads to hardship. Know that without suffering, the Rising would have never been, and the People would never have come to know themselves.
Know that there is nothing in all the Worlds that can stand against unity. When all know a single purpose, when all hands are guided by one will, and all act with the same intent, the Planes themselves may be moved.
A divided mind is one that does not know itself. When it is divided, it cleaves the body in two. When one has a single purpose, the body is strengthened. In knowing the self, grow strong.
* You can find a complete account of this in the transcript of the Planescape: Torment game.
Oh well, here's a bonus:
Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon (wondrous item)
This item, usually crafted by a githzerai Zerth, is a small round stone made of a series of interlocking circles that fold out from one another; it contains teachings of Zerthimon, the founder of the githzerai people. The reader must be very skillfull to reach the writings within the Circle (Disable Device or Knowledge (arcana) check DC 17, for the first circle, DC increases by +1 for each subsequent circle), and even more skillful to comprehend the teachings (Int or Wis check DC 18 for the first circle, DC increases by +1 for each subsequent circle, can retry next day, can’t take 20). If the reader manages to unveil the mysteries of the device, he gains +2 ranks in a Knowledge skill (either arcana, gith history, illithid lore, religion, or the planes) as well as a +2 competence bonus on all Charisma checks and Charisma-based skill checks when they relate to dealing with githzerai. Every subsequent circle revealed gains another +2 bonus to the same factors (the character can choose another Knowledge skill from the list above). Unlocking the final, seventh circle of Zerthimon also grants the reader a +1 inherent bonus to either Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma (randomly determined).
Caster Level: 17th; prerequisites: Craft Wondrous Item, wish, vision, and either 15 ranks in any two of the above Knowledge skills or creator must be a githzerai.
Note: it takes a Craft check against a DC 20 to create the stone ring mechanism itself.
...And as Zerthimon, First and King of the Githzerai, created his ring, his students began to understand. Such as Limbo was the origin of the Outer Planes; his hand was the origin of the ring he held. And such as Limbo was the place where all dreams gathered, so to spread within the Outer Planes, his hand was the potential realization of all of Zerthimon's dreams, and the ring was the manifestation of these. No single part of this flat ring of stone held the truth of Zerthimon's individuality, yet the First and King did not touch the entire Ring. It was his to choose, and his only duty was to choose.
'That I will tell you', did Zerthimon, First and King of the Githzerai, tell to his students. 'Within this ring lies the power of existence and devastation, of divinity and death. But my hand is the instrument to choose, and my hand is the instrument to let my dreams return to me, but with greater power, with greater reality. Such is the nature of Rings: Things always return, but not always as they have been before.'
And his students, though the wisest and most intelligent of Zerthimon's people, did understand only few of his words, for they had not even created their own Rings. But they realized, and so they promised to strive for creating Rings leading them to Greater Existence and True Dreams, so that one day they would lead even Limbo itself to a greater state of being.
When he heard their promise, Zerthimon, First and King of the Githzerai, smiled, and said: 'I have hope, for I know your dreams. You will embrace Limbo as Limbo embraces you, and both will grow. And after the Seventh Time of Suffering, you, Students of Zerthimon, will understand the Journey of Origins, and you will find the place where I have gone. And as it is the nature of rings, we all will return, Zerths and Zerthimon, but we will not be as we have been before.' And while speaking these words, Zerthimon's Ring realized one of the dreams, and Zerthimon disappeared, beginning the Journey of Origins.
What I'm still looking for is the text of Dakons conversations with the Nameless One.
Especially Dakon's true and final origin story, and Dakon's ending.
Wisefool
Mercuriel
“Know that this one owed you a service. In owing this to you, it became as slavery.”
“How did this come to be?”
“Know the tale is long. The matter is between me and the other that was once you. Know that if you hear it, know it shall be a long tale.”
“Upon the rolling Plane of Limbo, the People shape cities from the chaos with their thoughts. Know that there is no place for a divided mind.” Dak'kon raised the blade from his shoulder and held it before him. As he stared at it, it sharpened until it was almost as thin as a piece of paper.
“A divided mind is an unfocused mind. A divided mind fractures walls and weakens stone.” As Dak'kon spoke, the edges of the blade corroded slightly, the metal misting and melting along the edges. “Many divided minds may destroy a city.”
“Long have I known the words of Zerthimon. Through my voice, many have come to know the words of Zerthimon. The zerth protect the community from all threats, whether to the body or the mind. They are the guiding stones in the chaos. So it came to pass that I spoke the words of Zerthimon without knowing the words of Zerthimon. It came to pass that I no longer knew myself.”
“So… you doubted the words?”
“No.” Dak'kon’s voice was edged, and his blade sharpened in response. “I knew the words. Yet it came into my heart that perhaps others did not know the words as Zerthimon knew them. And so division formed. As my mind became as two, as my mind became divided, those that looked to me as a guiding stone became divided. Many scores of githzerai, many hundreds of scores of githzerai… doubted. Shra'kt'lor died that day.”
“The enemies of Zerthimon came. Know that their hatred of his words and the People lent their blades strength. Know that they sensed the weakened city, and they brought war with them. Many githzerai drowned in the chaos and beneath the blades of our enemies.” Small beads of metal appeared on the surface of the blade, as if it was blistering. “Know this happened long ago.”
“As I fell from the walls of Shra'kt'lor, know that my self was broken. My blade was mist, my mind divided. I was adrift upon Limbo’s seas, and I wished to drown. I died for days, my mind awash in division, when death finally came to me. It wore your skin, and it had your voice.”
“Me?” I asked, wondering how I had been there.
Dak'kon replied, “You asked that I hear you.”
As Dak'kon said the words, my vision bled outwards, and a crawling sensation began to worm its way up through the back of my skull… I felt nauseous for a moment, and my vision was suddenly as chaos, smeared, twisted, and I was someplace else, someplace in the past… I surrendered to the memory.
Everything around me was in turmoil — my vision was hazy, swirling, dizzying, all at ONCE… there was mist, pockets of fire, islands of mud, stone, and ice-covered rocks swimming through the Plane like fish, impacting and dissolving, droplets of water arcing through the howling air, and lashing my skin like teeth — I choked back my nausea, and I steadied myself; this was the Plane of Limbo, all was chaos, nothing was stable… I focused on the dying man that lay before me. It was why I had come to this place.
I examined the zerth, saw if he still lived. The ‘man’ was a githzerai, his body embedded in an earthen pocket that swirled around him — unconsciously, he had formed a grave from the elements, and though bits of fire and water licked at his face, he did not respond. His hands were ashen, his coal-black eyes focusing on nothing — his emaciated frame spoke of starvation, but I knew it was the least of his wounds. It was faith that dealt him the mortal blow.
I looked for the blade he carried. In his limp left hand was a twisted mass of metal, its surface having melted around his hand like a gauntlet. As I watched, it steamed and hissed, like a diseased snake. The githzerai did not seem to be aware of it… but it was that weapon that had brought me here.
“Dak'kon, zerth of Shra'kt'lor-Drowning, last wielder of the karach blade, know that I have come to you with the words of Zerthimon, carved not in chaos, but in stone, carved by the will in an Unbroken Circle.”
At the word ‘Zerthimon,’ Dak'kon’s eyes rolled in their sockets, and they attempted to focus upon me. With effort, he cracked his mouth to speak, but only a dry hiss emerged. I brought forth the stone from my pack and held it before him so he could see.
“Know that the words of Zerthimon inscribed upon this stone are true, and know that your divided mind need be divided no longer. All you must do is take the stone and you shall know yourself again.”
Dak'kon’s eyes flickered over the Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon, and for a moment, I thought he might be too close to death to recognize it. Then the right hand twitched, and he pulled it slowly from its earthen prison, the clumps of earth streaming off it becoming water in Limbo’s chaotic winds. His skeletal hands clutched the stone, like a drowning man, and his eyes flashed.
“Know that I have saved your life, Dak'kon, zerth of Shra'kt'lor.”
Dak'kon’s eyes turned from the stone and flickered over me, and he hissed again, too dry for a moment to muster the words. He blinked, slowly, then spoke, his voice barely above a whisper, but the words were what I wanted to hear.
“My… life is yours… until yours is no more…” I closed my eyes, and returned to the present.
“So you got the Circle from me?”
“Yes. In knowing its words, I knew myself.”
“Tell me about that other ‘me'… the incarnation you knew. What was he like?”
Dak'kon’s gaze travelled through me, and he fell silent.
“Dak'kon? “ I prompted.
“Know that he was different. Know that the differences were not marked on the skin, nor in the Way of the weapon, nor in the attire that cloaked him. Know that he was different in the way of thought and the means he acted upon his thoughts. His WILL became substance. Know that he saw others and did NOT see them. He knew only how they could serve him. His heart was treacherous, and it was cold, and never did its coldness burn him.”
“Did it ever touch you, Dak'kon? Did he betray you?” Dak'kon’s blade began bleeding into a dull, flat black, and I watched as edges, like teeth, began sprouting from the edge of the blade. His face clenched, and he spoke through his teeth.
“It is not my will you know of this.”
“Tell me, Dak'kon. Did he ever betray you?”
“I surrendered my WORD to him. I surrendered my SELF.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The People do not allow themselves to be enslaved to another in deed or chains. If we find ourselves in such a cage, we ACT to free ourselves, even if it means we must endure another cage for a time. You performed a great service for me. In so doing, you enslaved me. I acted to free myself. Know that I surrendered my word and my self to act in your name until your death.” I felt a sense of horror.
“But… I can’t die.”
“That was not known to this one. I surrendered my word to him. I surrendered my self. Know that there is now nothing left that I may surrender except my life. Know now that I follow you only so I might die.” Now I knew why he had been so reluctant to speak of this. I felt compassion for the tormented one in front of me, searched for some way to ease his pain.
“Dak'kon, it doesn’t have to be that way… I can release you. I no longer wish you to be a slave — consider the debt paid.”
“No…” Dak'kon’s forehead creased in pain, and his eyes stared through me. “It is not your word that carries the weight, and your word will not free me. The word that chains me is mine. The torment is mine. I know in my heart that the chains remain. Words will not free them.”
“Is there any way you can be freed?”
“You must die a final death. Yet your path is not death’s path. There is no resolution to this matter.” I couldn’t accept that.
“I swear I will find one, Dak'kon. I will find one that sets you free.” Dak'kon’s voice became ragged, as if he had suddenly become sick.
“Know you have added other words to my words.” His expression was pained, and his gaze met mine. “Now you have chained us both.”
Originally posted by Zearoth
If memory serves me right, there is a program called "Infinity Engine" (do a search for it) that allows you to open the data (text included) of any games using the Infinity Engine (Baldur's Gate 1 & 2, Fallout 1 & 2, Torment)... so that would be useful if you're after the whole dark of the game.
The program you are thinking of is called Infinity Explorer;
http://infexp.sourceforge.net/
The Fallouts do not use the Infinity Engine. Baldur's Gate was the first game to use the Infinity Engine, which came out after Fallout 1.
Originally posted by Mercuriel
What I'm still looking for is the text of Dakons conversations with the Nameless One.
http://torment.db-forge.com/unovel/html/
http://www.wischik.com/lu/senses/pst-book.html
The 1st Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon:
“Strength lies in knowing oneself. I learned that once someone does not *know* themselves, they are lost. They become tool for others.”
The 2nd Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon:
“I learned that not *knowing* something can be a tool, just like flesh and steel, if upon encountering it, you attempt to *know* its nature and how it came to be.”
The 3rd Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon:
“Endure. In enduring, grow strong.”
The 4th Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon:
“When one chooses to see only what is before them, they see only a part of the whole. They are blind. And just as Vilquar was blinded by his promised reward, so were the *illithids* blinded to the true Rising. For when they heard Vilquar's words, they turned their sight outwards again, didn't they? And the Rising was free to strike?”
The 5th Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon:
“There is great strength in numbers, but there is great power in one, for the strength of the will of one may gather numbers to it. There is strength not only in *knowing* the self, but *knowing* how to bring it forth in others.”
The 6th Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon:
“I know that Zerthimon's devotion to the People was such that he was willing to protect them from themselves. He knew the *illithids* had come not to *know* themselves in their obsession with control and domination. So he chose to stop Gith before she carried the People to their deaths. There must be balance in all things, or else the self will not hold.”
The 7th Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon:
“It speaks of time as an ally, not as an enemy. It says that patience can sharpen even the smallest of efforts into a weapon that can strike the heart of an empire. Your victories may be small, but over time, a greater victory may be achieved.”
The 8th Unbroken Circle of Zerthimon:
“It speaks of focus and discipline... about how not *knowing* oneself can physically divide the man. It also speaks of the weaknesses that division causes. It seems to me that it tells one to not only *know* themselves and take strength from that, but that your focus can reveal weaknesses in your enemy.”
