On this day, the fifth day of New Spring, I have made a truly amazing discovery. I have found the Book of Remembrances in the royal library. When I first pulled it off the dusty shelves of a long forgotten wing of the archives and opened it, I felt a sense of dread fill me. But now I know this book for its true power. It is a wellspring of knowledge directly from the mouths of great rulers and scholars of the past—upon study of the book, these men and women come to life in front of my very eyes. They are insubstantial to the touch, and yet I see them, and they tell me whatever I desire to know. I plan to study this book thoroughly yet cautiously.
T’Arkia, Imperial High Mage

Full Item Description
The Book of Remembrances is a large, plain looking leatherbound book. There is no writing on the outside of the book save an inscription on the spine of the book-"Remembrances". The book appears to be a rather average book of history written by a series of emperors, nobles, scholars and sorcerors, but when one begins to read one of the entries aloud, the ghostly form of the writer appears and will tell the reader anything that he or she knew in their lifetime. The magic behind this book is difficult to ascertain, but when one first touches the book, a feeling of great dread falls over them for an instant, and then disappears.

History
The Book of Remembrances was crafted by the ancient wizard Hadromir in an long forgotten age. Hadromir craved a way to perfectly preserve his knowledge for future generations, and in his later years, finally perfected a way to copy his soul into a book, so that a reader would be able to interact with a shadow of him and learn of the great knowledge he possessed. Unfortunately, his theory was flawed, and on the moment of his death the book captured his soul in its now cursed pages. The book has since been lost and rediscovered numerous times, each time denying a new victim access to the afterlife and adding them to its collection of knowledge.

I have given myself over completely to the book. The people within it beckon to me like a siren’s call, and I answer willingly. Time itself has slipped away from my reckoning—I do not know how long it has been since I have eaten or slept, and I do not care. My only wish is that I might discover a way to add my own knowledge to this work. So far, that secret still eludes me, and it is the one thing none in the book can tell me. Either the book will not part with that knowledge, so that only the most clever can discover it, or they honestly do not know. I will record my teachings in the book, and perhaps someday I will discover the book’s secret.
T’Arkia, Imperial High Mage

Magic/Cursed Properties
The Book of Remembrances is an extraordinarily powerful magic item. Due to the magical experiments done on it by Hadromir, it possesses multiple layers of powerful enchantments. When one opens the book, it steadily causes the reader to develop an obsession with studying the book. The book then works its primary magic—over the course of several days, it binds the reader’s soul to its pages. After the soul is bound, the magical obsession wears off and it is merely an interesting and highly useful item. The book has no immediate detrimental effects, but at the moment of the users death, it tears their soul from their body locks it in its pages forever.

I have lived a long and fruitful life… I feel a pulling deep within my soul… it seems the Lighted One will wait no longer for me… Pray my souls journey is a short one… I will see you all again on the other side…
Last words of T’Arkia, Imperial High Mage