Cenj Sultralu

Imported in from the distant East, the Cenj Sultralu (or “Book of Twistings,” as the Karthacks call it) is an ancient treatise on mathematics, geometry and the occult, particularly divination. The principle is that there is an underlying order to random events that can be harnessed to gain insight. The most basic form of this is the breaking of sticks and dropping them into a surface, and converting this pattern into one of sixty-four symbols, which hold various meanings. The work may seem ridiculous—and perhaps the actual act of breaking sticks to try and tell the future is—and for this reason the work is ignored or treated condescendingly by many who never look past that. What they miss is that the divination is much less interesting and important than the symbols themselves, upon which numerous treatises are included that contain alarmingly complex mathematic and geometric concepts that are, in and of themselves, of dire occult significance, and when applied not as a tool for interpreting broken sticks, but instead other, less arbitrary events, suddenly the work appears much less silly.
This is especially true when you combine it with the Mekulla, which also uses mathematical principles. It is through the Cenj Sultralu that the Mekulla is often "filled in." The Mekulla relies on the Mikanni language, of which there are no living speakers and of which the lexicon is sparse. However, the Mikanni system of numerology is understood sufficiently that through a very arduous process, an existing concept whose number you already know can be used to discover the spelling in Mikanni (i.e., I know that 85063 is the number for Bird, so now I'm going to figure out the Mikanni word for Bird from that.) and the Cenj Sultralu provides one venue of discovering said numbers.
Category:Science & Culture