The Four Lodges (artifact)
Written in the late 1100s IS by a Damotan scholar known solely as Mekha, The Four Lodges is a history of the major social organizations that define Damotan life. The bulk of the book is focused on a detailed exploration of the events that gradually shifted the Rayakuux Orders into the specialized social groupings they are today. From their foundation in 572 IS under Boqqar Datesh of the Olani Dynasty, to their subsequent role in the Second Tetenik, Mekha explores their initial functions and procedures, and how exactly they first became embroiled in politics on both the local and regional scale. Then, the writing focuses on the local scale, with the gradual divergence of individual chapters from the original mission, their official split in 682 IS being described as a mere confirmation. It then traces their roles as the Boqqarut declined, with their powers growing at the expense of the state, and explains how by the time of the Third Tetenik, several large Lodges had effectively ceased following all but the most direct orders. According to Mekha, the Zalreb Dynasty was practically irrelevant, and the Etami Tetenik was largely the result of their erosion of centralized power, an interpretation which is seen as controversial at best, though the work is well-respected in general.