"A man was found dead in the Hive, not an unusual thing really.", the voice said with a gentle hiss, "But in his pocket, well, for a moment, before my dear child Carrion took it and brought it to me, were twenty-eight images. I believe them to be magical, Tallimon, what do you make of them?""
"Well...they aren't directly magical", the fiend caught the others eye and froze.
The first fiend sighed and licked his desert dry lips. "Continue."
"The symbols represent common truths throughout the planes. Putting them together in the correct order makes a story; rearrange them to tell other tales. They are, in short, the prop cards for a story teller."
"Tallimon, I am displeased. But, I enjoy knowledge; tell me what each one means."
"The first means World Serpent or... the Great Wheel? Yes. It shows that time, life, is a cycle, peasants become kings become peasants. The Wheel of Fortune...Luck and Fate together to make a hero and a villain.
The second is the Closed Maw...Jaw? Maw. It is secrets, ancient secrets, dark arts...it is about learning, gaining power through learning. It is also about how some secrets are best left alone.
Next, the...Stomach of the Abyss. It represents evils attempt to corrupt. How it can be overcome. The path to the Lower Planes...Our path I suppose." Tallimon wheezed and winced,
"The next is difficult...Slaadi...Modron? Law and Chaos! I see. It is about trying to define oneself, community and individuality. Whether to join many or walk alone...
This one is called the Terrible Cross! It is about choosing a path without knowing where you are going…” Tallimon seemed to gain a new health, a new voice,
“This one is called the Wood of Instinct! This one is called the Writhing Man, this Waiting Woman, and this Fair Traveled Sea!”
Tallimon vanished, just vanished, right there and then vanished. The symbols with him. The first fiend was left feeling rather confused.
Just a set of images for use as religious symbols or a strange language really, I just wrote that story to give the post some oomph