New Year's Foreshadow 2021

[Anonymoose]

Oh lawd it comin'

ENGLISH

Our progeny may never know
Wherefore we look unto the sky,
Nor why we dig for truths below;
We bear their scorn or watch them die.

From the journal of a resolute man

FRENCH

La bouche close, nous enfilons pierre sur pierre,
With mouths closed, we pile stone upon stone,
Pour formes un escalier menant aux terres de la connaisance,
To form a staircase leading to the lands of knowledge,
Ainsi qu'un autre pointant vers les cieux de l'existence.
And another pointing to the heavens of existence.
Nos enfants s'en souviendront, quelle que soit leur colère.
Our children will remember this, in spite of their anger.

Extrait du journal intime d'un inconnu
From the diary of a stranger

GERMAN

Verschrieben unsrem stummen Amt
Committed to our silent office
Suchen wir Weisheit in Tiefes Grabe.
we seek wisdom in the deep earth.
Legen das Morgen in Sterneshand,
Place tomorrow in starry hands,
besungen von Kinder Klage.
sung of in our children's lamentations.

Aus dem Tagebuch eines unbekannten Mannes
From the diary of an unknown man

JAPANESE

我ら黙して語らず、ただ石を積まん。
We are silent and do not speak, we build upon the stones
知、得るため、地へ続く階段を、
In order to gain knowledge, we climb into the earth
命、繋ぐため、天へ続く階段を。
In order to survive, we climb into the heavens
たとえ子に恨まれようとも、その子のために。
Even if our progeny resent us, we do this for their sake.

ある男の日誌より抜粋
Excerpt from the diary of a(n unknown) man.

COMBINED
We leave no explanation for what we've done.
Of our pursuit for truth, and its trespass into the earth.
Of our bid for life, and its trespass in to the sky.
And though we bear the ire of our descendants, we have no choice.

Guesses as to Meaning
- ...Moon's haunted? Idk, wait until I get more languages.

EDIT:
This time around, the WHAT feels very clear. It's the WHO we need to figure out. In terms of what we already know, Sharlayan is a good fit. They dig in pursuit of knowledge (Antitower). They look to the sky to determine the future (Astrology). They stay out of everyone's business and give no explanation for it. So perhaps it's Sharlayan and the reasons behind their choices. I also feel like the window for interest in Sharlayan peaked already, so it'd take some work to bring our focus and excitement back to it.

In a more fantastic vein, this could be the year all of our Allagan jokes come true. They tore up the world and built spaceships and pretty much everything they've done has cheesed us off. An earthquake sure as hells doesn't kill off the entirety of a civilization with spaceships, especially considering the interstellar downconverter. The question is why any of that exists when it would never have benefitted Emet-Selch to go off-world. But are The People ready yet to give Allag more screen time? Has their break been long enough?

If we don't go somewhere new, but continue with the story as we see it, the Ancients fit. Their downfall came from beneath the earth, their salvation ended up creating and/or trapped as the moon. We're certainly not happy about most of where that went. And we have yet to meet Venat or her twelve companions.

Then again, if they worked silently, they could always just be as of yet unknown to us.

[Torquil]

To survive, we climb to into the heavens.

We're all thinking it...

[Veloran]

So where was that posted?

[ObsidianFire]

On the JP Lodestone... we'll get the official ENG translations sometime today...

[Greaf]

A French translation (from a Friend working in Japan, he's fluent but he also says that some kanjis are difficult to understand due to the context)

Nous ne parlons pas, nous sommes juste comme un tas de pierre
Pour obtenir la connaissance, il faut prendre la voie (escalier) vers la Terre
Pour connecter les âmes (vies), il faut prendre la voie du Ciel
Même si la rancœur va habiter cet enfant, pour lui, je le ferai

We do not talk, we're just like a pile of stones
To obtain knowledge, one must take the path (staircase) to Earth
To connect souls (lives), we must take the path (stairway) to Heaven
Even if resentment will reside this child, for him, I will do it.

[nexscarecrow]

I wanna hold myself back from saying moon stuff until I see the English and German translations but...... idk it feels like moon stuff to me

[Chewy2nd]

Oh lawd it comin'

JAPANESE

我ら黙して語らず、ただ石を積まん。
By staying silent and saying naught, we will not accumulate the crystals(?)
知、得るため、地へ続く階段を、
To gain knowledge, we climb into the earth.
命、繋ぐため、天へ続く階段を。
To survive, we climb to into the heavens.
たとえ子に恨まれようとも、その子のために。
Even if our progeny resent us, it is all for their sake.

ある男の日誌より抜粋
Excerpt from the diary of a man.

Guesses as to Meaning
- ...Moon's haunted? Idk, wait until I get more languages.

Could be Sharlayan? They stay silent and don't interfere with the world
They dug into Hinterlands to reach the aetherial sea with the antitower
They then retreated to their island in the north
and... well, the last line speaks for itself

[Veloran]

I'd really like to see the specific English translation in regards to that, because if it's translated as "Even if our children resent us, it's all for their sake.", IE in the plural rather than the singular, that could indicate it was written by one guy in particular.
I'm not really sure how the "To survive, we climb into the heavens" fits though. Again the actual English would clarify here, but going to the heavens is a bit different than going North. Of course that could connect to the moon, and I guess there's everything with Sharlayan Astrology, but...

[Rosenstrauch]

I saw a different translation of the first line, which mentioned piling up stones. For some reason, my gut went to the Tower of Hanoi. From Wikipedia:

The puzzle was invented by the French mathematician Édouard Lucas in 1883. Numerous myths regarding the ancient and mystical nature of the puzzle popped up almost immediately.[2] There is a story about an Indian temple in Kashi Vishwanath which contains a large room with three time-worn posts in it, surrounded by 64 golden disks. Brahmin priests, acting out the command of an ancient prophecy, have been moving these disks in accordance with the immutable rules of Brahma since that time. The puzzle is therefore also known as the Tower of Brahma puzzle. According to the legend, when the last move of the puzzle is completed, the world will end.

I don't know why my gut went there, save for perhaps the "end of the world" bit and the resemblance between the completed tower and a staircase from the Earth to the Heavens.

I'm of like mind on the idea that it sounds like a brief account of Sharlayan's activity regarding the Antitower and their flight from the Hinterlands. But the last line in particular reminds me of Venat, Hydaelyn, and the Ascians. Venat believing that she and her followers will be hated by their brethren for creating Hydaelyn, Hydaelyn referring to the sundered souls of the world she shattered as Her children, and the Ascians' rejoinings being the opposite side of that coin. I guess "It's for their own good" is a pretty common argument from folks doing morally ambiguous things.

[RicaRuin]

First off... who the hell chooses those fonts. Hard to read.

German and attempted translation

Verschrieben unsrem stummen Amt
Suchen wir Weisheit in Tiefes Grabe
Legen das Morgen in Sternenhand
besungen von Kindes Klage

Devoted to our silent Office
We seek Wisdom in Depth's Grave
Place the morrow into Star's Hand / the star's hand?
Sung about by Child's Mourn

The words I capitalised are capitalised in german as well, meaning they are nouns. Curious that they all talk about depths. Sound from the depth of the planet, anyone?

Also, Stars could be either Azem or Convocation.