Tome of Eternal Darkness

Created by the ancient Mantorok, the Tome of Eternal Darkness is bound in human skin and decorated in shrunken bones. The Mantorok Rune is carved into the Tome's clasp.

The entire game of Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem revolves around the story of the Tome itself. With the exception of Pious Augustus (who later becomes the main antagonist), each character will find the Tome early on in their level. Visually, the Tome acts as the menu system, with each page being a different part of the in-game menu (map, inventory, and so on). Narratively, the Tome fulfils two important functions:

Firstly, the Tome contains a number of chapters, which chart the story of the playable characters themselves. The primary character, Alex Roivas, must explore her ancestral home and find the lost chapter pages, uncovering the centuries-long battle against the Darkness as she does so. Upon reading each chapter page, the player is taken into the next part of the story, gaining control over the chapter's protagonist as a playable character. In each case, these characters also find the Tome, and discover the story of all those who have gone before them.

Secondly, possession of the Tome gives each character access to the Ancients' runic magick. Runes and spells are stored within the Tome, allowing each character to access the spells that previous characters have discovered, and also to add their own.

Trivia

• The Tome has a number of unusual properties:

1. The Tome and its separated pages are written in a maddening, indecipherable scrawl. Only a select few are able to read it: no amount of cryptography or magick can decode it. These few are able to read the Tome regardless of their native language. Ellia, as a slave, is almost certainly illiterate and can still read it.

2. Most characters find the Tome in a special extradimensional space. It seems the Tome is able to return to this place on its own, or possibly exist in multiple space/time locations simultaneously.

• Although the tome acts as a menu, players do not need to find the book to access the menu. They do however, if they are to cast spells.
• At the end of each chapter after Pious', Alex starts with lower amounts of sanity.