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Health Restoration | |
The Kudurrus are architectural elements that we come across in various parts of the Tower. They appear as large orthostats whose primary function is to guide travellers on their way through the Tower:
Carved into them are the rune symbols of the Realms and upon touching them, the traveller hears Raphael's voice giving him advice on where to find a specific Realm, such as "Raquia lies to the north, traveller."
Secondly, when the symbols are glowing in an orange light, touching them will restore a certain amount of our health.
As identified by Rebecca, these standing stones are called Kudurrus which is a Sumerian name meaning path marker.
The ancient Sumer culture was the first urban civilization in the historical region of Southern Mesopotamia, modern-day Southern Iraq. Doing some more research into the the etymology and use of these Kudurrus, I've found that the word appears to be of Akkadian origin (Akkadian being the earliest Semitic language and writing system that the ancient Sumerians also employed), meaning "frontier" or "boundary". In ancient Babylonia, Kudurrus were stone documents used to mark boundaries or to record land which was granted to vassals by the king as a form of attest. Visually, these stones would contain symbolic images of the gods who were protecting the contract, the contract itself and the divine curse that would be placed on a person who broke the contract. Some kudurrus also contained an image of the king who granted the land. As they contained a great deal of images as well as a contract, kudurrus were engraved on large slabs of stone.
To get an impression of some exemplary Kudurru stones, please refer to this list on the English wikipedia.
Script[]
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Adam: What's this? A Waystone? |
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Adam: Kudurru. Map and marker for the Tower. |
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