Hazlen Codex
The Hazlen Codex (or Hazlan Codex) is one of the precious few surviving examples of pre-dynastic spellbooks. It belonged to a young mage whose name has been lost to time, and was painstakingly copied into into a larger historical volume which survived into modern times.
History
The original spellbook was composed over several years by a young mage as he learned his craft. At some point, it was likely discarded, likely when the owner obtained a better spellbook. It contains mostly spell-forms, but also includes notes on his efforts to create new spells. The book most most likely recorded around 2500 B.G.A., the tail-end of the Second Chaotic Period
The exact fate of the original copy is unknown, though some time around 2350 B.G.A. it was copied into Hngrath's Book of History which contained a number of personal diaries and journals amongst its other contents. Hngrath initially composed as many as 20 volumes, mostly of history, first-hand accounts of historical events, and personal writings of peoples long dead. Only volumes 2 and 6 survived, with 2 containing the Hazlen Codex. Based on the arrangement of Hngrath's book, historians suspect that his third volume likely began with a journal recorded by the author of the Hazlen Codex.
Hngrath's books were copied down through the ages. They were not regarded as books of magic, merely historical accounts, and so were often given little priority. Exactly how many volumes were lost by 1500 B.G.A. is not known, but at this time, a large library of ancient books was moved from Weagal to the Library of Arindell, with at least volumes 2 and 6 among them(at this time having been copied into a single bound book of their own).
The collection of books from Weagal spent the next thousand years in storage at the library, until it was finally broken apart and sorted into the collection. The book containing Hngrath's volumes was unceremoniously sliced in half for reasons that are lost to the depths of library sciences.
After another two hundred years, a librarian named Carlos Belgrade found volume 2 of Hgrath's work. Volume 6 was listed in the Library's card catalog, but would not be found until the Third Age. Carlos was the first to recognize the contents of the volume as containing part of an ancient spellbook. Dabbling in magic himself, he spent a considerable time studying it, and successfully learned several of the spells contained within. This in itself was considered an impressive feat, as particularly old spellbooks typically required decadeds of study by powerful mages to unlock their powers. Moreover, unless a spellbook had been specifically laid down as a grimoire (which the Hazlen Codex was not), it was usually completely impossible for a later mage to decipher.
Carlos used the information in the Hazlen Codex to create a teaching grimoire of his own, that was then widely reproduced as a sort of magical primer, used to teach magic to countless others. Included in it's contents was an unaltered copy of the original Hazlan, with notes imploring students to attempt to decipher it on their own. Since the codex contained primarily very simple spells, this was often successful, and many of the greatest wizards of the Year of Fire owed the beginning of their education to Carlos's efforts.
Because of it's widespread use, copies of the Carlos Grimoire survived the Second Chaotic Period and into modern times, where they were reproduced and studied by histories. Though the Carlos Grimoire was suplanted by other, more successful teaching tools, it remained a standard addition to any library of magic.
Ironically, Hgrath's second volume did not survive the Mage Wars, and was lost some time after Carlos's work. His sixth volume was eventually found.
Importance
To History
The Hazlen Codex is an extremely rare primary source, which has survived, presumably in it's complete, original, and unaltered form, since a period about which very little is known. Few other such sources exist. Most other accounts from that period were edited and altered as they were copied, but the Hazlen codex is thought to be perfectly preserved. This provides vast information on language and writing styles, as well as the few first-hand accounts of the life and times.
To Magic
In modern schools of magic, particularly old spells are considered highly revered. The Hazlen Codex contains some of the oldest known "simple" spells recorded anywhere, so some magic from it was still used during the time of the Alliance. Every established teaching institution typically had a reprinted copy of Carlos' grimoire. with spells from it used in many later teaching books.
Extant Copies
No copy of the Hgrath volume is known to exist. No original copy of the Codex has ever been found. Secondary sources mendion it as far back as B.G.A. 2000.
63 copies of the Carlos Grimoire printed during Carlos' lifetime survived the Second Chaotic Period and into the Golden Age. The oldest known copy, signed by Carlos himself, is kept in archive by the Gudersnipe Foundation. Fourteen copies remain at the Library of Arindell.
