Introduction
No single volume to date has yet collected all the ages of Arbor's history. Indeed, many would argue that it is impossible to approach such a gargantuan subject within the covers of a single compendium`
To delve deeply into Arbor's history is an exciting adventure. The sudden, and constantly changing fashionable take on Arbor demonstrates the depth of the subject. While it has been acknowledged that this compendium has an important part to play in the development of our society, it is impossible to overestimate its impact on modern thought. Since it was first compared by those who favor the arcane as 'wrong'. Much has been said concerning Arbor and its technological advances by the easily lead, who just don't like that sort of thing.
Salinger once remarked ‘the power struggle will continue while the great tale of humanity remains untold’ he was clearly referring to the lost history of our land and its impact on today's society. Spanning divides such as class, race and ugliness, Arbor's history is crunchy on the outside but soft in the middle. Nothing represents every day life better than Arbor compendium, and I mean nothing. Just as a dog will return to its own sick, society will return to Arbor compendium, again and again for clues of our past.
I now believe that compiling the entire history of Arbor in any great detail is a task well beyond the reach of any one man—and what is more, it is a task which will become more difficult with every passing year. In my travels, I have had occasion to sift through many of the world's great libraries and scriptoriums, searching always for the most ancient books, scrolls, and tablets which were still legible. Arbor history revealed itself to me slowly, showing first one face and then another as I spent weeks, months, and even years in transcription and translation. But for every precious source document which had been recorded on a sturdy clay tablet, a sheaf of hammered gold, or a roll of soft vellum, there were a hundred papyri which were as dry and fragile as old leaves, and a hundred more which had half-crumbled into illegible fragments. The millennia of knowledge contained therein were in imminent danger of being lost forever—and in some cases, they were lost before I ever arrived.
Complex though it is, I shall now attempt to provide an exhaustive report on Arbor, its history, and its numerous 'industries'.
- Anastasius Braddock
