Generally known in the Merkas as “The White Lake” or “The White Lake Book,” the published journals of the Lover Dömötör were first informally then officially titled Demeteru no Hanashi, or Dömötör’s Tale.
Most Lovers read either the current Japanese translation, always human-directed, or a native-language translation of the Magyar original (which in the Lovers’ word-canon has been assigned the translated title Dömötör Mese). The work itself has no title, and has been verified numerous times as the direct handiwork of the Lover Dömötör, written contemporaneously with the events it records in the last three months of 2526.
To have a Lover play a prominent role at a pivotal moment in geopolitics was shocking and titillating to the many Lovers, trainees, and subscribers, and created great upheaval in the community. But it was the only instance, or at least the only public one, and the world is a busy place. It had been thought resolved or resigned to, but the discovery of Dömötör’s journals after his untimely death—and, the difficult but correct decision to endorse their publication for the benefit of history—forced the Lovers to revisit how their founding ideals had proved either difficult or incompatible with the world as it had changed. The process is still ongoing.
Still, the adventure has encouraged both sides to find inspiration, making Demeteru no Hanashi more of a unifier than it once seemed. Most Lovers live lives of glamour and service, but they rarely achieve more than quiet and limited influence. Dömötör’s life had risk to a degree few Lovers had experienced. It makes for a thrilling read—even as it asks and suggests ways the individual Lover must accommodate the culture around them.
DÖMÖTÖR’S TALE
DÖMÖTÖR MESE
DEMETERU NO HANASHI
デメテルの話