While reading the Hell Unleashed campaign setting book, I came across the "Concordance of Rivals" while reading about the Book of the Damned. What is the Concordance of Rivals?
All you need to know is a Google search awayIt just mentions the title of the book, nothing about what is specifically inside the books contents. Is it about all the other outsiders (like LN, TN, and CN), does it contain a history of the war between the higher and lower planes, is it a guide for polishing Asmodeus' horns? What is in it that Tabris would present it alongside the Chronicle of the Righteous and the Book of the Damned?
I'll even provide the text. Pg. 16 of the "Hell Unleashed" campign settings book, first paragraph under the "Legend" section:
"The legend of the angel Tabris, who accepted Heaven’s charge to create a complete accounting of all knowledge in existence, is a familiar tragedy among the Outer Planes. Tabris wandered through all existence, but vanished into evil realms. For eons he was presumed lost, but finally staggered, bare and bleeding, back to the shores of Heaven. Before the celestial choirs he presented three ragged, hand-penned tomes: the Chronicle of the Righteous, the Concordance of Rivals, and the Book of the Damned. These, he claimed, fulfilled his charge."
It's an Artifact. That's really all you need to know about it.
It's not described in Occult Mysteries, but it might be in Lost Treasures.
It may very well be the Lost Gospels of Tabris, as described in the Occult Mysteries, is the "Concordance of Rivals". Both the Chronicles of the Righteous and the Book of the Damned are named and described, while the Concordance is named but not detailed while The Lost Gospels is detailed and ascribed to Tabris but not properly named. It's logical to assume, then, that the Concordance is, in fact, the Lost Gospels.
Or it could just be a book that's mentioned that hasn't been detailed yet.
So, unless you make it a point of trying to FIND a copy of it, which your DM may or may not allow as it's an Artifact, after all, you should probably just go with "it's a book and it's an Artifact."
Short answer: we don't know much at all about the Concordance of Rivals -- all that's confirmed is that it's a powerful artifact on par with the Book of the Damned or Chronicle of the Righteous, written by the same author.
(Moreland's inclusion of the Concordance alongside other artifacts in that tumblr post -- which predates the release of Hell Unleashed -- may actually have been a minor slip of the tongue, as the book had never even been mentioned by name in official material prior to that Campaign Setting book.)
It's within the bounds of possibility that the Concordance and the Lost Gospels are one and the same, but unlikely given the nature of the Lost Gospels -- they weren't actually delivered by Tabris at all, but rather by Aldus Canter, founder of the Esoteric Order of the Palatine Eye. (The Lost Gospels are more or less analogous to the irl Book of Mormon; Aldus claims to have received knowledge of its rites and mysticisms through direct communion with Tabris, but these gospels were only ever relayed through Aldus himself, and the true author is unconfirmed.)
In my opinion, it's more likely that the Concordance of Rivals is Tabris' account of the neutral outsiders, and of the tenuous multiversal balance between law and chaos. If the Book of the Damned is
One thing is for sure -- we could really use more information about this tome! Anyone know a good way to bring the developers' attention to this issue?
I suspect Concordance of Rivals is something we'll be getting next year.
Hopefully. The good and evil outsiders are rather easy to understand, but the neutral ones need more defineing.
I also speculate it will discuss the elemental planes, including details of the fall and replacement of the four elemental lords.