THE PHILA-VERI
Veri’s Phila-Veri — the journal of the Wandering Word, Syd’s holy text.
Related: Backstory · Sayings · Veri Wordplay · Inspiration - Moira Rose · Inspiration - Wildfire and Bombast
WHAT IT IS
The journal passed down through 12 Prophets over 200 years is not a theological text, a prayerbook, or a con artist’s playbook. It’s a philavery — a collection of words and sayings chosen for their aesthetic appeal, their power to move people, their ability to sound like truth whether or not they are.
The name is a triple pun: “philavery” (a collection of beloved words, from Greek philos), “Veri” (the god Veridicor), and “verify” (to confirm as true). The holy text of a fake religion, named with a wordplay on its fake god, containing words that may or may not be real. Layers all the way down.
WHAT’S IN IT
- Mangled proverbs passed down from the 1st Prophet — see Sayings and New Sayings Workshopped
- Obscure vocabulary collected from scholars, travelers, taverns, and foreign ports
- Invented words coined by various Prophets — see Inspiration - Wildfire and Bombast
- Observations about which words make people listen, cry, or obey
- Margin notes in multiple hands across centuries
- Words that are technically real but so archaic nobody recognizes them
- Words that are pure invention but sound so real scholars second-guess themselves
WHY IT MATTERS
Syd doesn’t distinguish between proverbs, vocabulary, and invented words. In the Phila-Veri, they’re all “words of power.” He reads “confabulate” on the same page as “we’ll burn that bridge when we come to it” and treats them with equal reverence. When he drops “kakistocracy” in conversation, he’s quoting scripture.
His bailiwick — his area of special interest — IS the Phila-Veri. Language, words, sayings, the power of speech to move people. He’s not a theologian. He’s a collector of words of power.
The comedy of selective competence isn’t random. It’s the natural result of learning vocabulary from a philavery instead of from context. He knows the words but not their register. He knows “crapulous” means relating to excessive drinking but doesn’t know it sounds obscene.
THE DEEPER QUESTION
The 1st Prophet made it all up. But after 12 sets of hands, 200 years of beautiful language, and use across continents to save lives… is it still fake?
The words in it have comforted the dying, freed the imprisoned, protected children, and toppled corrupt officials. The words have done things. Does it matter that the original author was a con artist escaping a theft charge?
This is Syd’s central question from the Backstory — “if the lie helps people, is it still wrong?” — wearing a different coat. The Phila-Veri sitting in his pack, battered and annotated and beloved, is the physical embodiment of that question.