Papyrus 115 (P. Oxy. 4499 — Revelation, including 2:1–3)
Apostle John
Nine broken leaves out of Egyptian sand, and one of them still says “To the angel of the assembly in Ephesus.” Ephesus’ own copy did not last a century in that climate. This did, eight hundred miles away.
Every stat is a checkable fact about the actual book, not a designer's mood. Bars are drawn against the highest value any book reaches.
The game's own explanation, as a reader sees it in the backpack.
Twenty-six pieces from nine different leaves, the largest of them about six centimetres across. A scattered survival, and a small pool of Stamina.
High. Among these pieces is the letter to Ephesus, spoken by the risen Christ who walks among the lampstands.
The surviving text is early and good, and it is a witness the critical editions lean on.
Revelation is the book everybody has an opinion about, so its manuscripts get argued over in public. This one is recalled fast.
Early-to-mid 3rd century, found at Oxyrhynchus, now in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford (P. Oxy. 4499). Every other manuscript in this zone carries a letter written to somewhere else that happened to reach Ephesus. This one holds words written about the church at Ephesus, by name, in its own book — the only ancient scrap that does.
By levelling up. A book that develops keeps what it knew and learns the rest on its new schedule.
| Lv | Move | Type | Cat. | Pwr | Acc | PP |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | The Seven Lampstands | Eschatology | Argument | 70 | 100% | 10 |
| 1 | Random Verse | Bible | Argument | 10 | 100% | 30 |
| 28 | Chapter… | Bible | Scripture | — | — | 12 |
| 32 | Have Not Grown Weary | Faith | Argument | 60 | 100% | 15 |
| 36 | Tested Them and Found Them False | Ecclesiology | Argument | 72 | 100% | 10 |
How to read these. In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other. Each thing a book can do in a debate is a move, and most moves carry a real quotation — the words the book puts on the table when it uses that move.
Strong against lists the opposing books and arguments a move was written to answer. Used against one of them, it hits much harder than usual: ×2 means twice the normal force, ×4 four times. It is the game’s way of saying: this is the sentence that answers that argument. Open an entry to read why.
“To the angel of the assembly in Ephesus write: “He who holds the seven stars in his right hand, he who walks among the seven golden lamp stands says these things:”
Revelation 2:1 (WEB) — the passage 𝔓115 attests. Of the twenty-six surviving pieces, this is the one that holds Ephesus’ own letter.
In the gameBefore a word of praise or blame, the letter says who is speaking and where he is standing: among them, holding them.
“You have perseverance and have endured for my name’s sake, and have not grown weary.”
Revelation 2:3 (WEB) — the passage 𝔓115 attests.
In the gameEndurance is the thing being commended, so the move is worth most when there is least left. Strikes half again as hard when the book is nearly spent.
“I know your works, and your toil and perseverance, and that you can’t tolerate evil men, and have tested those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and found them false.”
Revelation 2:2 (WEB) — the passage 𝔓115 attests.
In the gameEphesus was commended for one habit above all others: it checked. Somebody arrived claiming to be an apostle, and the church asked, and the claim did not survive being asked. Often finds the telling stroke.
The church at Ephesus tested claims to speak for the apostles. This book mentions wooden wine casks and a hundred-year jubilee, details from medieval Europe, and it fails the test.
The church at Ephesus tested people who claimed to be apostles. A gospel written a century later that makes Judas the hero does not pass that test.
A bishop once allowed this book, then read it — and took it back.
The church at Ephesus tested people who called themselves apostles and found them false. The Gospel of Thomas borrows an apostle’s name and cannot pass that test.