GODSTAR - a Science Fantasy Civilization Quest

[ScottishMongol]

The Observations of Ali al-Din of Sanctuary on His Travels Through the League of True People, Regarding Their Society, Culture, and Habits, as Well as Some of Their Practices​

A Few General Observations

The League of True People[1], or the Great League, or the New League, depending on who you ask, is an alliance of ten tribes located along the upper reaches of the Long River, extending into the hills, and south beyond those hills into the temperate oak savannah beyond.

A tribe, in this sense, is traditionally a collection of bands (bands being extended kin-groups, much like the extended families which make up households in Sanctuary). However, the tribe has also become synonymous with a city, which include many people who are not part of a larger family and thus operate as individual actors, agents, or workers. Thus, the League can be said to have ten cities.

The largest city is Whiteclay, also the capital of the League, and it is this city I am the most familiar with, although I am given to understand there are also regional cultures specific to different tribes, ranging from dialects spoken to specific spirits venerated to habits of food and clothing. However, all have certain things in common, and it is these I will focus on, although I may accidentally conflate Whiteclay's culture with that of the League as a whole. I pray you will excuse me in any errors I make.

Chief among these common customs is the white face paint you may have seen dignitaries from the League wear. Contrary to popular belief, the people of the League do not wear this at all times of the day, even within their homes. It is a ceremonial accessory, one their holy men wear during ceremonies, their governing officials while performing matters of government, and their common people wear while making business agreements or observing important rites of passage. You should understand it then as something they wear during events that demand gravity.

On Family Life

The people of the League are matrilocal and matrilineal, that is, descent is reckoned through the female line, property passes from mother to daughter, and men leave the home to live with their wives. They do not have marriage such as we understand it, at least not in ceremonial form. Rather, a man and a woman are considered married when they cohabitate, and divorce is as easy as moving out again. I am given to understand this is not even the sole type of family that exists, but such are the customs of other people[2].

Extended families live in large houses where they eat, sleep, and live in close proximity, the wealthier the family the more distant the relations which dwell there. Trades and businesses tend to stay within families.

Children are raised more or less in common although everyone is aware at least who the mother is. The people of the League are very permissive and tolerant of their children's behavior, perhaps too much so, but then again such are the customs of other people. By the age of ten children are able to either begin standardized schooling or are filtered into apprenticeship programs.

On Government

The League has a chaotic and many-tiered system of government. Foremost are the Tribal Assemblies. As mentioned, a tribe can be a collection of families or it can refer to a city as a whole, and in this regard the latter definition is used in the cities. Since all adult citizens or members are allowed to speak, these Assemblies can be very loud and can last days on end, so in the cities they are only called in times of great importance, or to select the governing Council which oversees much of the day-to-day work in running the city. I am given to understand that in smaller settlements and isolated villages the Assembly does most of the work, as there are fewer people to contend with.

The stated goal of the governing bodies of the League is to achieve consensus, which means debates and jockeying between factions can take hours or even days before everyone is in agreement. I have observed a few meetings and I can report that they sometimes devolve into shouting matches and occasionally shoving when tempers get especially heated. Even Council meetings, which work quicker, are habitually attended by audiences of hundreds as they are public affairs, and the audience will regularly make their voices heard and when called on will make speeches imploring the Council to do this or that.

Naturally not everyone will come to an agreement on every issue and there are mechanisms for forcing a majority vote when the issue proves unresolvable after several days of debate, although this is easier for the Councils, as Assemblies can fluctuate in size and intensity. For example, I know of one Assembly that had its decision regarding water rights overturned by a higher Council when it was shown that the Assembly had won a vote simply by being louder that the majority faction, leading to a flawed outcome. Such shameful events are not common, or so I am told.

Councils range from three to twelve, Whiteclay's is among the largest at twelve members selected by geographical districts, although I am given to understand that in other cities at-large elections or even elections by non-geographical tribal affiliation are present. Every tribe also elects Speakers to sit on the High Council, which oversees issues affecting all the League and has ten members.

The primary task of Councils is to collect taxes and decide the distribution of those taxes, and to command the volunteer forces that do construction. I was initially skeptical of such a system but when a major water main burst, hundreds of able bodies lined up to join the teams digging up the water main and replacing it, while others carted in fresh water from other parts of the city, and the Council efficiently requisitioned new pipes as well as tools and rations for the workers.

The League has courts much like those of Sanctuary in which judges consult precedent and render decisions, although their goals in addressing disputes is curious. They believe that the primary goal of justice should be to give reparations to the victim, and thus in instances of injury the perpetrator is often required to do no more than pay the healer's fees, while theft or damage to property is resolved by either paying the cost of repairs or doing the repairs themselves. Sometimes it is not even deemed necessary to lay down a punishment! On the other extreme end, there are instances where individuals prove themselves unsafe to live with due to violent or cruel tendencies, and these individuals are then consigned to isolation or expulsion.

On Economics

The bedrock of labor in the League is done by miners, foresters, and craftsmen, who they call Mechanicals. I have found the Mechanicals to be much like the craftsmen of Sanctuary in many respects.

The band is the basic economic unit. Economic ventures are kept within extended families, for the most part, with many working together on production and jointly contributing to family stores. Among some trades it is more common for younger members of the family to do most of the work. For example, among merchants, young and strong individuals do most of the carrying, loading, and transporting goods, while older members make deals and manage stores.

In another custom similar to Sanctuary, there are methods by which those with greater amounts of wealth are encouraged to give more in taxes, thereby contributing to the common welfare and reducing inequality. This should be proof that our ways are wise and sensible.

Still, I would deem merchants to be the richest and most influential trade in the League, and many Councilors come from merchant families, and indeed the whole League is very focused on trade. I have had conversations with common bricklayers and garbage collectors which quickly veered into mercantile [3].

Of course, it must be said, they do lack hard currency, conducting everything either through barter or the system of debt and mutual obligation common in more tribal societies. Thus, they have probably not even heard of such concepts as the investment bank or the joint-stock company. When I tried to explain, I was told they wanted no such part in it.

In contrast to the merchants, I would say the humblest trade are the foresters, who spend long periods of the year in the woods gathering food by hunting or cultivating. The staple food of the League is acorn bread, and the acorn-bearing trees are cultivated in groves that stretch across vast acres where many other types of edible plants and animals grow in the shade of their leaves. During harvesting season, foresters spend weeks at a time out in the wilderness collecting acorns, then more weeks processing them into acorn bread. Of course, acorns are not in season all times of the year[4], so foresters also have large amounts of time to spend idle, engaged in artistic pursuits, or performing other trades.

It is easy to see how these groups interact; foresters need tools, craftsmen need food, and merchants need both as well as having the labor to move them around.

A curious occupation unique to the League are the Historians. Historians are trained from a young age to develop awesome mental abilities, most notably vast memories but also skills in calculating and projecting figures. They serve as legal codes and judges, and help Councils to measure, move, and distribute goods and allocate labor.

On Spiritual Practices

The spiritual leaders of the League are their holy men, who are organized into Religious Lodges. Every city has its Lodge, where the holy men live and perform most of their work. The exception are the monuments where public ceremonies are performed, and these are often great festivals where rituals are attended by massive crowds, and are usually followed by feasting and other forms of celebration.

The foremost spiritual figure for the League is River-Woman. This being dwells in the Long River and governs its ebbs, flows, and floods, as well as those of all its vassal streams, which are the domains of her daughters. Her husband River-Man is the King of the River Dolphins.

Naturally propitiating River-Woman is important, for the river is not only the lifeblood of the League in providing food and water, but it is also their main artery of trade, the source of their great wealth and livelihood. In return for restraining the river, ensuring it floods in controlled and regular ways, and facilitating this trade, River-Woman takes tribute in the form of offerings given yearly, as well as more typical offerings and veneration by individuals seeking to make travels along the river. When I took a trade canoe upriver into the League, the driver made an offering to River-Woman, and to be sure, our vessel did not overturn, encounter rough waters, or become snagged by underwater tree-trunks.

As for River-Man, he does not feature much in the stories or rituals of the League and is a wholly mysterious figure, as are the river dolphins he rules. I can say that I encountered two of the animals on my journey and they seemed playful and intelligent as they swam alongside our boat.

Below River-Woman is a host of river-spirits, who occupy subservient but similar roles to their mother. There is also a variety of lesser spirits, venerated at the local level; for example, miners venerate cave-spirits to ward of cave-ins and collapses, and foresters venerate the tree spirits. However, I do not need to elaborate on these much, for they are similar to spirits which we in Sanctuary have learned to live with.

Ancestor veneration is a new innovation but one which has spread far. As mentioned, the basic unit of the League is the extended family, and households will have a family shrine venerating their ancestors, both specific individuals and the spirits of the family as a whole. The living ask for luck, prosperity, and guidance, all the usual things the living ask spirits for. This is quite different from our own practices in Sanctuary, but as with all their rituals I have found them wholesome and sensible; they have no notion of reincarnation and preserving and respecting the spirits of the dead may be a necessary step on their path to adopting our ways.

Final Observations

Overall, it can be rightly said that the people of the League are industrious, peaceful, oriented towards the betterment of their family and community, and possessed of good relations with their spirits. They are to be respected in this regard. I will say they are also argumentative and stubborn, but these are no worse than some vices and are better than most.

In many ways their customs differ from ours but in other ways we value the same things, and I believe with time we will become more alike, to the betterment of us both.

[1] Obviously this is a literal translation from your language into Sanctuary's dialect of Arabic, but I'm not a conlanger.
[2] Ali is using this phrase to mean "I don't like this but cultural tolerance means I shouldn't talk shit".
[3] Bricks need clay and charcoal to fire them, and bricklayers never lack for work. Meanwhile, you'd be surprised at how much people will pay for the right kind of garbage.
[4] A good harvest can produce enough acorn bread to sustain a tribe through the winter, usually supplemented by pickled and preserved vegetables and smoked meat. There are other seasonal staples as well, usually wild vegetables that are harvested in spring or summer.

 

[Etranger]

Cosmic Energy: Thoughts on Stellar Rays, Leylines, and Their Implications
by Juri Night-Wanderer, Order of the Star-Gazers
transcribed by Nelo Ink-Fingers

Introduction
There is much wisdom in the celestial bodies. This is well-known to my Order. However, as with all wisdom, there is apparent wisdom and there is hidden wisdom. Apparent wisdom is straightforward to discover with the application of cleverness and thought: there are celestial bodies, these bodies have influence over events and circumstances, that influence is observable and even somewhat quantifiable. These are profound pieces of knowledge. However, despite their magnitude, much remains hidden about the nature of the celestial bodies and the forces they exert. To begin to uncover that hidden knowledge, we must step back from that which is straightforward and enter into a different realm: that of speculation. By speculating on that which is not straightforward, which is not immediately observable, we lay the path for future discovery. Such informed speculation is a valuable undertaking. Therefore, this work is my speculation on the ways by which the celestial bodies exert their influence.

To engage in this speculation, I have endeavored to step outside my Order's traditional focus and immerse myself in the esoterica of leylines and the networks they form by their interactions. Some speculation has already been done on the influence of the constellations on the leyline networks and it is useful speculation indeed. I wish to expand upon that.

My speculation follows.

On the Nature of Paradisea
The Daystar is an emitter of prodigious magical energy. Like a great river, its power rushes toward us and engulfs us. Unlike a rock in the river, we do not simply divert the flow of the river, but rather absorb it, at least in part. It flows both around and through us. We also receive energy from other celestial bodies, the Moon foremost among them, as the Daystar's energy is deflected off of them and onto us. These lesser streams influence the character of the energy flowing across Paradisea; that is how the Moon encourages acquisition of knowledge and the Warstar creates conflict. We are therefore directly influenced by the character of the magical energy that surrounds us.

Focused as we were on the stars, we did not stop to consider the implications in our own home. If the other celestial bodies alter the properties of the Daystar's energy, then it naturally follows that the celestial body on which we reside does likewise. Energy may descend from the Daystar, but it flows through the ground beneath our feet, and there it changes. Something must be doing the changing.

What if that something is a spirit? Not a spirit of the land or the water, but a world-spirit, Paradisea Herself, located somewhere deep within the earth? If not a spirit, then perhaps some kind of force or object, acting as a lens and gate through which the energy flows? It is impossible to say for certain, but I believe that some of the answers to the stars lay not out in the cosmos, but beneath our very feet.

On the Possibility of a Cosmic Network
It is known among those who study leylines that energy flows are diverted, attracted, and altered by the presence of natural landmarks and that they can be consciously altered by the creation of artificial landmarks through the use of sacred architecture. If the Daystar emits energy in the same manner as energy flows through the leylines, then it follows that the Daystar, a great sphere, does not merely pour its energy haphazardly or uniformly into the cosmos.

Instead, what this suggests is that the energy emitted by the Daystar is attracted to the other celestial bodies, that such energy forms currents through the cosmos. The light of the Daystar is attracted to the Moon; thereafter, the energy is transmuted by the Moon and sent in streams to other celestial bodies, perhaps even back to the Daystar itself. If indeed constellations are made up of other Daystar-like bodies, then this cosmic network need not be restricted to our surroundings alone. It could be impossibly vast, flowing out through as many celestial bodies as there are lights in the sky. More study of this possibility may lead to answers regarding the quantifiable nature of cosmic energy.

On Changing the Nature of Energy
Our illusionists are capable of warping light. This is a noble profession, allowing as it does for communication and night-banishing radiance, though perhaps a little less of the latter might be helpful for my Order. However, we have not yet fully explored the implications of our ability to bend light. If indeed the Daystar emits its cosmic energy in the form of light and heat, and that light is in turn altered by its interaction with celestial bodies, then it naturally follows that we should also be able to alter its properties with sufficient energy or, perhaps, a kind of monument. Indeed, magic itself must be the small-scale personal alteration of cosmic energy into different forms, and rituals a medium-scale version of the same.

Therefore, we should be able to alter not just the flow of energy but its nature on a much larger scale, using monuments and other sacred architecture, or shifting the location of existing natural landmarks. I cannot know the full implications of such a profound act of mystical engineering, however, so my speculation is limited and tempered with caution. It should only be explored with proper reverence and patience.

Conclusion
Thank you for reading my speculation. Effusive thanks to my colleagues who helped with this speculation. Their desire to remain anonymous, lest my speculation turn out to be catastrophically incorrect, does not diminish my gratitude for their efforts.

 

[Etranger]

The Tale of Jaen Light-Bearer and Siad Wild-Walker​

The Holy Order of the Justice-Seekers is one with an unusual provenance in the society of the True People. A relatively recent innovation following their adoption of a public justice system, the Justice-Seekers are a small, close-knit group of spirit-shamans brought in to investigate the circumstances surrounding the creation of a restless spirit. Restless spirits are notably quite difficult to placate once they've spent any amount of time free from their corporeal bodies, usually requiring the participation of the individual responsible or an explanation of the circumstances in question in order to send them on their way.

This means that, in addition to flawed rituals and tragic accidents, the Justice-Seekers often find themselves investigating a culturally and socially fraught subject: murder. While True People justice often revolves around compensation for the victim or their families, the dead need only closure and generally cannot be laid to rest otherwise. Therefore, given that the spirit is generally unable to identify the source of its own demise, the Assembly tasks one of the Justice-Seekers with investigating the circumstances surrounding the death, uncovering the truth, and laying the facts before the public.

As relatively rare encounters who are often surrounded by a certain mystique and drama, the Justice-Seekers make excellent sources of instructive and entertaining tales for the True People to share amongst themselves. The most popular of these often include a stirring denouement in front of the local Assembly or even the Great Assembly itself, where the Justice-Seeker reveals their findings and confronts the culprit. Of those who enjoy these justice-stories, there is a schism between those who prefer the highly dramatized versions that take liberties with historical events, and those who prefer a straight no-detail-spared retelling of what happened.

A justice-story with one of the most variations in True People society, represented as both dark comedy and uplifting tragedy, is the Tale of Jaen Light-Bearer and Siad Wild-Walker. Jaen is a middle-aged, grizzled figure, still hale but worn by life experience, while Siad is a younger, more energetic person full of exuberance and naivete. The unlikely working relationship between the two has made them recurring characters in a number of derivative spin-off tales, but the original tale remains the bedrock on which those stories rest.

In brief, the retired Justice-Seeker Jaen is sitting down to dinner one night with a fine venison stew prepared for them by a comely young widow when their finely-tuned spiritual senses pick up a presence nearby. When they focus their sight, they discover a deer, staring at them disapprovingly. More specifically, staring at their stew disapprovingly. Jaen quickly realizes that the deer was unjustly slain without the proper rituals, and is demanding justice in the human fashion.

Here, the tale diverges based on the intent of those telling it. The comedic version plays heavily into the twisted humor of the spectral deer looming over Jaen, chivvying the reluctant shaman along through the story, while the more tragic versions play into the heartbreaking loneliness of a deer-spirit left to wander the living world, stuck between its past and its future.

While Siad is a much happier figure than Jaen, their portrayal varies substantially between pure comic relief and the untamed avatar of the wild world contrasted with the more balanced Jaen, who maintains a straight face throughout. Some radical retellings even include a kind of summer-autumn romance between them, though this is not substantiated by the strict histories of the event itself.

Following a harrowing and twisty path, the two eventually uncover the source of the murder. In the original history, the responsible individual is a hunter who has grown sloppy and unconcerned with their placatory rituals, and is more interested in achieving productivity at the cost of harmony with nature. Later versions involve scheming Merchants, uncaring Mechanicals, and/or other more esoteric villains, including a 'modern' version depicting League of Strength slavers as the ultimate cause.

Regardless of its interpretation or how it's retold, the Tale of Jaen and Siad remains a notable favorite among all ages, both for its educational message on the importance of the spirit world and for its enjoyable partner dynamic.

 

[Anchises]

A Brief History of the Southern Marches

To understand the regional identity of the Northern Tribes its important to understand their history. Until the arrival of the Machine Army of the Broken Wheel a wider regional identity of the Northern Tribes* was virtually non-existent. Traditional rivalries and skirmishes divided the tribes of the region and neither their warriors nor their merchants were able or willing to unify the region. Like most True People the Northern tribes were divided along class lines on the question of who to emulate, the League of Strength or the New Great League. Mechanicals and merchants tended to favor the mercantile ways of the New Great League while the Warrior Societies coveted the prestige and power their brothers and sisters in the League of Strength enjoyed.

Foreign invasion decisively settled that conflict in favor of the Warrior Societies. Existential military threat allowed them to seize unparalleled power to combat the strange foreigners and their infernal machines. A great assembly of the tribes was called to raise a mighty host to expell the invaders in a great battle. Mechanicals, merchants and holy men that tried to argue for a more cautious strategy were overruled by proud warriors. No one in living memory had been able to unite the Northern Tribes, defeat simply didn't register as a possibility.

This moment of emerging regional identity ended in disaster. Overconfidence caused the Norhern Tribal Army to engage the Machine Army of the Broken Wheel in open battle. Most warriors of the Northern Tribes died on that fateful day when War Machines smashed through their ranks and massacred them. The survivors were mostly members of the tribal levies. They had been organized as a reserve but broke and fled when their elite warriors died. Continued resistance to the Machine Army of the Broken Wheel was organized by the scattered tribal levies.

Both the League of Strength and the New Great League used those surving tribal levies as auxilliaries in their joint campaign to expell the Machine Army of the Broken Wheel. A majority naturally decided to throw in their lot with the New Great League. Mechanicals and merchants had always favored them after all. They became known as the White Masks because they painted their faces white in the style of the New Great League. The martial prowess of the League of Strength was attractive however, defeat had been deeply traumatic and a message of unconpromising strength was attractive for some. They became known as the Guardians.

It is well known how the Machine Army of the Broken Wheel was defeated and what interests us is what came next. Many White Masks were bitterly disappointed by what they called a foul compromise. They saw it as a betrayal when the New Great League decided to abandon them to the League of Strength in exchange for exclusive access to Broken Wheel's technology.

Most historians agree that the League of Strength could have used this disappointment to peacefully integrate the new territories that became quickly known as the Southern Marches*. Instead they behaved like heavy handed conquerors. When the White Masks reached out to the High Council to negotiate integration into the League that secured their ancient political rights they were told to demobilize and comply. Non-warriors had no place in the leadership of the League of Strength and only the Guardians had proven themselves worthy of being called warriors. Decisive victory had made the League overly confident, causing them to dismiss the White Masks as a mere annoyance at best.

Increasing thirst for new slaves lead the League to embrace draconian new policies. Each local tribe had to "pay" an "indemnity" in slaves for the privilege of being saved by the mighty warriors of the League. Guardians, as the new collaborator elite, were able to exempt their families from those "payments".

Unsurprisingly this triggered mass resistance and strenghtened the White Masks in ways the League of Strength wasn't ready for. The Guardians were less numerous than the typical collaborator elite the League installed to secure their conquests and overexpansion had become a serious problem. Slave camps had exploded in size and effective surveillance had basically become impossible, even with magic. Especially because radicalized mechanicals and merchants started to undermine and resist the political system that excluded them. Many warriors had to be immediately withdrawn back to core League territory after the victory over Broken Wheel to guarantee domestic security and oversee the integration of the new slaves leaving the new territories undergarrisoned.

The White Masks on the other hand approached insurgency in new ways that differed greatly from the traditional wisdom of the warrior lodges. Former merchants and mechanicals approached warfare without the bravado and pride of the warrior lodges. A slow, methodical insurgency that relied on overwhelming isolated outposts with superior numbers and hitting exposed supply lines was a novel problem for the League of Strength that was only worsened by sympathetic merchants and mechanicals that sabotaged the war effort. The High Council quickly grew frustrated because the White Masks simply refused to engage in the skirmishes and battles the League of Strength excelled in. The result was more terror and naked oppression.

Guardians began rounding up families they suspected of having ties to the White Masks forcing them into slavery. League war priests unleashed feral spirits to hunt rebels in the forests. This sacrilege angered the local tree spirits and caused most holy men of the region to join the White Masks.

Recent White Mask successes seemed to be threatened when a diplomatic delegation from the New Great League arrived. Many White Masks, still bitterly disappointed by the percieved betrayal, feared that the New Great League would use its economic might to stabilize the League of Strength to achieve a military alliance against the looming threat of the Great Machine Army. Instead they were pleasantly surprised when the Great League delegation reached out and promised decisive support in the struggle for freedom.

A trade embargo destabilized the fragile economy of the League of Strength, radicalizing merchants and mechanicals from the League proper into joining the White Masks. Freely delievered modern alchemical gunpowder weapons gave the White Masks a decisive edge on the battlefield. White Mask agitators that hid among enslaved members of the Northern Tribes were crucial in inciting the slave rebellions that quickly grasped most urban centers of the League.

Desperate to prevent the complete disintegration of the League the High Council made the decision to withdraw even more troops from the Southern Marches. This allowed the now well equipped White Masks to overrun the few remaining and isolated garrisons in a lightning campaign.

Independece seems secure for now but the future is uncertain. The victorious White Masks are the leading voices inside restored tribal councils but they are divided on how to proceed. How to treat captured Guardians is merely one of the polarizing questions. Many want to push deeper into the League to free their enslaved relatives while others want to dig in for the inevitable backlash once the League has dealt with its other problems. Some even dare to hope that the New Great League is going to invade to end slavery now that the Great Machine Army is stuck in the Southern jungles...

*New Great League historians call them Northern Tribes, League of Strength historians call them Southern Tribes

 

[Potato Anarchy]

Underground: The People's First Spies
part one​

This is a piece of history that takes place somewhere during the middle parts of Turn 5, as the League first begins its efforts to support the rebels inside the League of Strength.

The League of Strength calls them the White Mechanical League. The League of Five Shields calls them the Long River Cities. The Machine Army's intelligence agency calls them the Whiteclay Federation. They call themselves the Great League, or the New Great League, or the League of Free Assemblies, depending on who they're arguing with at the moment.

Few call them subtle or opaque.

Clever though they may be, the people strung out along the river valleys between Sanctuary and Whiteclay (and spread onto the southern savannahs beyond) live in a world of forthright, open discussion. Clandestine trickery occasionally has its place in the exploits of warriors or far-travelers, but it's seen as distasteful, even regrettable, and its potential use by influential speakers is a source of unease. Consensus demands transparency.

So it is with more than a little difficulty that the assemblies, shocked by reports from the League of Strength, begin to contemplate the need for specialists in doing the People's work in secret.

—

Wenbo the Historian is the very model of a modern historian, with a plain and close-shorn appearance and a beautiful voice that can deliver the oldest myths and the newest metrics with equally infectious enthusiasm. He started out as a courier, and was one of the first historians to visit Sanctuary. He dabbled in university classes throughout the League, darting from new thing to new thing - here assisting an alchemist's lodge with their experiments, there at the center of the debate over new writing standards, then one of the League's first military logisticians. Now, as he finishes his third decade, he's spent six years as one of the historians dedicated to Whiteclay's high council.

He's still one of the youngest and least important of that group, and the one least devoted to any one field or councilor, but he's the one who talks the most with each of the others, and he has a marvelous skill with speaking and presentation. This means he's often the one who presents their work to the Council during public meetings, and so he's a familiar voice to the public when he makes his proposal during the riotous open session following the return of diplomats from the League of Strength.

"Send me," he asks the council over the tides of grumbling discontent from the crowd. "I am already bound by ritual to speak truth to you and the assembly. I can hold the whole of this operation in my mind, and speak for you to the parts that must remain hidden."

"Ah, Wenbo!" says Speaker Gerwen from her seat, grinning so widely they can see it from the other side of the meeting ground. "An intriguing idea, but we're speaking of a war in treacherous territory. Are we to believe that your life in the classroom has prepared you for this?" There's a ripple of laughter through the crowd before it quiets down, calmer than it was before. Gerwen owes much of her political longevity to her mastery of the humor of the public square - light and simple, given its power by her keen ear for the rise and fall of tension.

Wenbo grins and takes it in stride. Gerwen is not his real opponent here. She is close with the universities and born to a mechanical family, rising to prominence when she argued for the expansion of Sanctuary's electrical grid. She's just prodding his argument politely.

"No, it hasn't," he says, throwing up his hands several conceding inches. "But none of us are truly prepared for this. There's no society or family in the League who know this job. We can argue all you want about if it's closer to a merchant's expedition or a warrior's foray or a holy man's vigil. What I know is doing new things. Visiting new places, learning new languages, new stories, figuring out new ways of working. I've done it before, and I can do it again. I am not going to be the operation we're looking for. I'm going to build it. And since none of us know how to do that, I say you give it to the oath-bound man who loves figuring out weird new things."

His hands go up again, this time offering his suggestion up to the crowd. A low murmur of agreement rumbles through it, and then cries of opposition. The debate takes another two hours before his critics concede.

—

Most bitter after the debate are the Warrior Societies, ever jealous of opportunities for glory and proud of their skill at navigating darkness, war, and the wilds. Wenbo's friends pushed him to turn them into allies or avoid them entirely. He didn't want to do either. People kept talking about the job in the terms the League adored - large scale, long term, big picture. Who's going to provide the people? What's the strategy?

He has no idea. His strategy is figuring out his strategy later. What Wenbo needs to get started is a team. He doesn't need a society to start his team. He just needs one warrior.

Sobin Morning-Raven, specifically, if Wenbo gets his way. Sobin didn't have a great deal of field experience - no one in his and Wenbo's generation did - for all he'd chased raiders in the west and made more than the usual name for himself in the sparring grounds. It's his personal history that the historian is interested in.

Sobin is a third-mark blood brother of the Black Feather Undertakers Society, most conservative and culturally independent of the Raven Tribe's warrior societies, and three years ago he took it famously badly when two childhood friends both converted to Sanctuary's "foreign doctrines" and it led to their marriage. He embarked upon an acid and impassioned stream of duels not just with the bride and with the older warrior who introduced her to Islam, and not just with their closest allies, but with entirely unrelated syncretist warriors who sought to end his very public crusade. Rumors ran rampant through eight months of drama. Sobin had been in love with one of his friends and thought the Sufis stole them away! Sanctuary was going to lodge a direct complaint with the Ravenflight Council! Sobin was setting up for becoming a Speaker and fighting to turn back the tide of syncretism!

Wenbo had no idea what parts of that were true. He expected most of it was just gossip and society's anxieties over integration attaching themselves to a wild story. What he was counting on was that Ravenflight was the city-tribe closest to the League of Strength, and any informants they had in the area must have heard some of the same rumors he did.

But Wenbo didn't get to go north to Ravenflight to retrieve him. He was going south and then straight up the side of a mountain. Up from the road to a relay station carrying the might of the electrical grid towards the southern oak savannahs. Around the technical infrastructure and beautiful latticed spires holding up the power lines sprawled a complex of small buildings made beautiful with elegant design more than expense.

Order lodges for both the builders and the astrologers, small shrines of the road and the earth and the dead, a courier's lodging-house that doubled as a school for local foresters, the light-filled and musical home of the mechanical family who hold the contract for maintaining this stretch of the grid. At the top of the mountain, a calendrical monument and observatory studying the flow of power from the stars down into the leylines below. At the bottom of the settlement, where it touches the road through the pass, a caravansary for passing travelers. At the center of it all are the great bold lines of Lightning-Speaker's temple. Altogether fewer than a hundred people, and most of those travelers, the settlement is about as small as the League's infrastructure gets without being the domain of a single family.

Somewhere inside this place was Sobin Morning-Raven, officially sent here to review and maintain the security of the crucial relay, and unofficially sent to remain out of the public eye until his notoriety fades.

Wenbo goes first to the caravansary, but Sobin's not staying there (or drinking there) and they haven't seen him for a while. He doesn't have better luck at the courier's school. On a better instinct he goes to the mechanicals' house and an excitable preteen tells him that the warrior spends a lot of time with his family out along the power lines but they're all at home for an ancestor feast, and so Morning-Raven is probably at the top of the mountain.

Of course he is. Wenbo should have known the moment he arrived that the dissident warrior would find the most arduous-to-reach part of town and climb up to it regularly.

The climb isn't dangerous, but it's exhausting. Wenbo's remaining composure is not enough to keep from openly boggling at the sight of the lanky man with warrior tattoos across his bare back reading a book. Not doing some unnecessarily complicated feat of endurance, not practicing forms, not venerating the spirits, but reading - an unusual enough luxury for an intellectual, much less a conservative warrior.

"I do not wish to be disturbed," the warrior says without looking up. "My duties are not required until sunrise."

"That seems likely," Wenbo agrees, long practice forcing friendly cheer into his voice rather than a more accurate tired confusion. "Yet I am not here about your duties, Morning-Raven."

The warrior gives Wenbo's clothes a single sidelong glance. "Then I am even less interested in company, stranger," he says, tone still flat, and then the two are talking over one another. "I do not imagine anything you would seek me for is still -"

"Well, my good warrior, I'm actually here because -"

"I am not the man your chattering classes think I -"​

"Have you heard the news from the League of -"​

"And I am not interested in your politics of -"​

"I'm not talking about debate, Sobin, I'm talking about -"

"I have accepted the truth of God's word."​

"- slavery."​

"About what?"​

"You what?"

There is a long pause, and Sobin is the first to break it. "Ashadu an la ilaha illa illa-ilah, wa ashadu anna muhammadan rasul ullah."
(I bear witness that there is no god but God, and I bear witness that Mohammed is the messenger of God.)

Wenbo the Historian is rendered speechless for the first time in decades. "......hal tatakalam alearabiatu?"
(......you speak Arabic?)

"You are a historian who speaks Arabic," Sobin replies. "Surely you know the story of Umar going to slay the prophet, or of Adelaide on her factory floor before the exile." He still doesn't look Wenbo in the eye, or change his tone, but he has closed the book (which must be of Sanctuary make) into his left hand and risen to his feet. "What did you say about slavery?"

"In the League of Strength. Have you heard of what our envoys saw?"

"Briefly." Sobin marshals his first clear emotional response as a sneer of contempt crosses his face.

"I want you to work with me to destroy it." The warrior's attention seizes on him more sharply and Wenbo takes the unspoken cue to continue. "I am charged by the Council to set up direct and clandestine aid to the rebels."

"In the Marches?"

"The Marches, the slaves, the dissidents - any and all of them. All who stand opposed to what their broken League has become and seek their own freedom."

A suspicious squint crosses the warrior's face. "You think that they would believe me an informant," he says bitterly. It is not a question.

"Eventually, if you are willing," Wenbo concedes. "Even if you aren't, you are also a powerful warrior who has already disappeared from the public eye and can remain out of sight without new questions being asked." He pauses for a beat, then adds with crisp amusement, "And one already experienced in cross-cultural dialogue."

"I will consider your words," Morning-Raven says with a precise bow of his head and a slight hint of a grin that's gone before Wenbo can be sure. "What would the work be?"

"Lots of journeys through the hills. Starting with this one: I need to obtain a criminal mastermind."

"...ah. The exiled magician."

"The one and only."

 

[ThatGazzer]

Fuck it, long winded Historian Does a Ted Talk.


To Cultivate Memory: A Lecture by Historian Xethua Long-Spoken, Transcribed By Apprentice Hapzu For The Public Good On The Basic Methods Of Mnemosynology


"...Mnemosynology, also known by other names and other tribes as The Method Of Retention, The Memory-Tongue, The Thinking Way, The Sharpening, The Mind-Song, The Great Line, and many others besides.
Myself however, prefer the term Mnemosynology. It is a name chosen by my Instructor and Predecessor—may his memory be a blessing— after experiencing a Vision during a period of ritual meditation and fasting in which he entreated with a Spirit of Forgotten Stories (whose name goes unremarked at Its request, such spirits prefer it thus) who then gave to them the name of a long forgotten Spirit, belonging to a long forgotten people, who is called Mnemosyne, and also Mother Memory. I mention this so that you might understand why I call our greatest art thus— In any case, the most basic methods of Mnemosynology are a kind of mother, an origin point from which all other methods are nurtured and refined...

We begin then— with The House Of Memory, also called the Architectural Remembrance Method, or Foundational Remembrance Method a skill cultivated most usefully and quickly in those with a strong internal understanding of Place and Space.
To begin, one must allow oneself to enter a meditative state —which, I might note, can be achieved in ways beyond my counting at the moment, so please, use whichever method works best for yourself, we are all taught one or two as children to help with prayer and ritual— once one has entered the needed state, start with a place that is intimately familiar to oneself, as beginners do. Perhaps it is your family home, or a street you frequent, or even just a room that is often visited. Size matters not, only that it is a place that you could close your eyes in and navigate largely without trouble. A Master such as myself and other Historians might instead craft an entirely new place, which exists only in the mind, but this is after much meditation, fortifying rituals and practice —I should hope that you would not set yourselves to such a standard so soon, as such rumination does one no good.

Now! When you have selected your House Of Memory, whatever its shape, the next step is just as simple as the last, imagine this place empty, of people and things. Then, one should slowly fill it— a beginner might use simple associative images, such as remembering the many names of ones fellows using a food placed upon a table for each to create such a connection. As ones skill progresses one might move on to more complex mnemonic devices— my own includes the use of a vast cultivated forest, where in each fruit on each tree and each leaf of every bush holds a single memory related to plantlife.

Again, one should not expect to reach such prodigious skill when one is beginning, I offer it only as an example to strive toward, not to discourage. I once, after all, started much as you are now! Heed me, if you listen carefully and follow my instructions to the best of your ability, I believe that anyone can gain my own level of skill, impressive as it is! Moving on to the Next Method, The Tracing Of The Root, which builds upon the House and is most useful to those whose internal understanding of the sense of Touch and Kinaesthesia is strong..."

 

[Etranger]

A Potential Method for Mitigating Alchemical Waste
by Etan Ten-Beakers

The advent of industrial alchemy has been a fantastic boon to the people of the Great League, and promises to reap a far greater harvest in the future. However, this technological advancement is not without its unfortunate consequences. Foremost among them is the issue of waste. Alchemical reactions are not perfectly self-contained; they are inefficient and sometimes messy, leading to the emission of noxious byproducts, including gases, liquids, and solids. Many of these byproducts are harmful to the living world, or would be if we had not developed appropriate safeguards alongside the products themselves. Despite the efficacy of these safeguards, however, the storage of these byproducts remains time-consuming, energy-intensive, and occupies substantial underground space. I believe that we can improve on this method.

My speculation is as follows: alchemical byproducts are not without their own dormant utility. Whether a result of a wasteful reaction or simply rendered inert by the conversion process, these byproducts contain within them useful elements and reagents, buried or otherwise in a form not of immediate value. If we were to develop a method of cycling these byproducts through another process, a kind of re-cycling, perhaps they or at least a notable percentage of them could be transmuted back into a useful form.

As an example, the Internal-Realization Elixir used to correct an improperly assigned birth gender is a vital part of our healthcare system, but its production consumes a substantial amount of valuable quicksilver, which is crucial in many transformative reagents. More to the point, much of that quicksilver does not end up in the elixir itself (thus saving the recipient from heavy-metal toxicity). Instead, it is rendered inert and the waste product is stored away underground. If we could reactivate that inert quicksilver, we could re-cycle it back into additional elixirs, thus reducing the wait times for the gender-affirmation process, which all agree are highly undesirable.

I believe this can be done through a simple two-stage process of separation and reactivation. Separation would require the development of specialized filters and tuned attraction devices that draw the specific inert elements of the byproduct apart into separate containers. For example, an attraction device that could pull the inert quicksilver out of the suspension of multi-hue carnation extract, or a filter dividing the dense quicksilver from the much lighter extract, would separate the rarest element of the I-R elixir out, rendering it susceptible to further treatment.

Following that, I believe that the inert reagents, such as the quicksilver in question, can be reactivated through immersion in an active leyline. The inert quality of the byproduct is a consequence of its magical energy being rendered out of it, like a bottle of water being emptied. By dipping the quicksilver — the "empty bottle" — back into the stream, we can refill it, or at least some portion of it, reclaiming its utility for future use.

Though I have discussed only one medical elixir in this text, I believe that the principle can be more broadly applied, and will reduce the amount of unusable alchemical waste produced by our industrial processes. This will, I hope, be of some utility to the people of the League.

 

[Etranger]

On the Rights of the Reincarnated Person
by Jeret Ghost-Talker

Having recently returned from Sanctuary following an extensive period of consultation and study with their leading and most learned scholars, I have prepared some thoughts regarding the legal and ethical implications of the spiritual practice known as 'reincarnation' as practiced by our fellow League members, and how it could be best implemented within the society of the True People. This represents a brief precis of my proposal; please consult the full 734-word text for a full explication of all concepts, theories, and citations.

In short, I believe that expanding the practice of reincarnation to our own people can be accomplished, and will provide a net benefit in terms of spiritual care, so long as certain precautions are taken. For these precautions, we can learn from the wealth of first-hand knowledge provided by Sanctuary and in particular its Sheik, who is the most personally experienced with the process. I was privileged to speak with him on several occasions, and his insights form a valuable part of my own theories.

The foremost concern regarding the reincarnated person is that we must emphasize the primacy of the new life they represent. Even if they are host to the soul of one who has experienced life prior to their current incarnation, they nevertheless represent a wholly new personality, with new thoughts, beliefs, and desires. Even the Sheik, whose identity hinges upon his continual rebirth, is permitted to blossom into a wholly separate individual rather than merely become a conduit for his predecessor.

We must not allow reincarnated persons to be dominated by their past lives or attachments. There must be a legal and ethical 'blank slate' ascribed to all newborn persons, whether reincarnated or new-souled. This ensures that the decision of whether to pursue their past life rests upon the present incarnation, being wholly their choice as a matter of self-actualization, rather than merely a vessel for the dead.

This blank slate must also extend to all legal and familial ties, including those of inheritance and property. Our society provides for all regardless of station or means, and so there is no need for any property save minor items of personal or emotional significance to be passed down from incarnation to incarnation. Any such emotional items should be kept in trust by a neutral party, to be accessed only upon the desire of the reincarnated person, or otherwise returned to the family. Likewise, any position of power within a family or social group should not automatically or otherwise more easily pass down to the incarnated person unless as a matter of religious importance, without secular or legal authority.

In order to shield the present person from undue past influence, all reincarnated persons should be allowed the full and uninterrupted scope of their minority to develop their personality and desires separate from any past self or memories. Only upon achieving adulthood, or a lesser but still defined age limit, should a person be brought into contact with their soul's former identity. Even if this comes to pass, there should be an immutable legal barrier between the two incarnations, with neither party's deeds seen to influence the deeds of the other, or to recontextualize them, or to be appropriated by a subsequent incarnation.

However, there should also be rights associated with being a reincarnated person. Specifically, the present incarnation should, upon reaching the appropriate age and being informed of their status, possess the right to identify as or align with their prior selves, to explore the full scope of their past memories, and to be fully informed of all their prior selves' deeds. Should the prior self's family mutually consent, they should have the right to make contact and develop appropriate ties. Compensation should be awarded to any party who is the victim of undue influence or inappropriate approaches, and the afflicted party should be protected from any further negative behavior on the offender's part.

Additionally, I believe that every person should have the right to be reincarnated or to not be reincarnated, and their wishes respected with the force of our law and society behind them. Should a person wish to persist, their whole community should join in ensuring that the rituals are properly performed and the transmigration of the soul proceeds appropriately. Likewise, should they decline reincarnation, then their soul should be free to progress on to its next stage, whatever that may be, without interference.

Ultimately, these are just a few thoughts and do not encompass the whole of my analysis, which I am having transcribed into multiple copies over the next several months. I invite you to read my full thoughts and develop your own opinions on this complex and nuanced subject, which will have substantial impact on our society going forward.

 

[10ebbor10]

On the Rights of the Reincarnated Person
by Jeret Ghost-Talker

Having recently returned from Sanctuary following an extensive period of consultation and study with their leading and most learned scholars, I have prepared some thoughts regarding the legal and ethical implications of the spiritual practice known as 'reincarnation' as practiced by our fellow League members, and how it could be best implemented within the society of the True People. This represents a brief precis of my proposal; please consult the full 734-word text for a full explication of all concepts, theories, and citations.

In short, I believe that expanding the practice of reincarnation to our own people can be accomplished, and will provide a net benefit in terms of spiritual care, so long as certain precautions are taken. For these precautions, we can learn from the wealth of first-hand knowledge provided by Sanctuary and in particular its Sheik, who is the most personally experienced with the process. I was privileged to speak with him on several occasions, and his insights form a valuable part of my own theories.

The foremost concern regarding the reincarnated person is that we must emphasize the primacy of the new life they represent. Even if they are host to the soul of one who has experienced life prior to their current incarnation, they nevertheless represent a wholly new personality, with new thoughts, beliefs, and desires. Even the Sheik, whose identity hinges upon his continual rebirth, is permitted to blossom into a wholly separate individual rather than merely become a conduit for his predecessor.

We must not allow reincarnated persons to be dominated by their past lives or attachments. There must be a legal and ethical 'blank slate' ascribed to all newborn persons, whether reincarnated or new-souled. This ensures that the decision of whether to pursue their past life rests upon the present incarnation, being wholly their choice as a matter of self-actualization, rather than merely a vessel for the dead.

This blank slate must also extend to all legal and familial ties, including those of inheritance and property. Our society provides for all regardless of station or means, and so there is no need for any property save minor items of personal or emotional significance to be passed down from incarnation to incarnation. Any such emotional items should be kept in trust by a neutral party, to be accessed only upon the desire of the reincarnated person, or otherwise returned to the family. Likewise, any position of power within a family or social group should not automatically or otherwise more easily pass down to the incarnated person unless as a matter of religious importance, without secular or legal authority.

In order to shield the present person from undue past influence, all reincarnated persons should be allowed the full and uninterrupted scope of their minority to develop their personality and desires separate from any past self or memories. Only upon achieving adulthood, or a lesser but still defined age limit, should a person be brought into contact with their soul's former identity. Even if this comes to pass, there should be an immutable legal barrier between the two incarnations, with neither party's deeds seen to influence the deeds of the other, or to recontextualize them, or to be appropriated by a subsequent incarnation.

However, there should also be rights associated with being a reincarnated person. Specifically, the present incarnation should, upon reaching the appropriate age and being informed of their status, possess the right to identify as or align with their prior selves, to explore the full scope of their past memories, and to be fully informed of all their prior selves' deeds. Should the prior self's family mutually consent, they should have the right to make contact and develop appropriate ties. Compensation should be awarded to any party who is the victim of undue influence or inappropriate approaches, and the afflicted party should be protected from any further negative behavior on the offender's part.

Additionally, I believe that every person should have the right to be reincarnated or to not be reincarnated, and their wishes respected with the force of our law and society behind them. Should a person wish to persist, their whole community should join in ensuring that the rituals are properly performed and the transmigration of the soul proceeds appropriately. Likewise, should they decline reincarnation, then their soul should be free to progress on to its next stage, whatever that may be, without interference.

Ultimately, these are just a few thoughts and do not encompass the whole of my analysis, which I am having transcribed into multiple copies over the next several months. I invite you to read my full thoughts and develop your own opinions on this complex and nuanced subject, which will have substantial impact on our society going forward.

Click to shrink...

On the Rights of the Deceased
circulated anonymously

Much has been said recently about the matter of reincarnation, and this paper is not inclined to disagree with most of it. In providing dissenting voice here, it does not aim to remove other perspectives, but rather aims to provide a perspective that has so far been sorely lacking from the discussion. As the perspective of which I speak can not speak for itself, it falls to me and others to speak for it, lest their silence be used against them. I aim to speak then, for the restful dead, those who lie silent, whose memories lie undisturbed.

First however, let me reiterate some of the ideas that have been explained before, by others involved in this debate, and with which we agree. We believe, like many of those in favor of the practice of reincarnation, that new life should be seen as it's own independent entity. That a reincarnated person is not a subject of it's previous lives, beholden to it's obligations. It's future is it's to decide, not something to be determined by the past. A newborn person, regardless of origin, should be seen as an entity entirely separate, both legally and morally, from any previous lives.

However, while others are content to stop their reasoning there, we must encourage people to think further. Does the old life, not deserve the same rights and liberties as the new. When we say that the new life should not be beholden to the old, we must also agree that the old life is not beholden to the new. A reincarnated soul is it's own entity, and it can make no claim of ownership over that which was achieved by it's previous lives. Those materials attained in previous lives should be distributed as the old soul decided, but a more important matter is that of memory.

Imagine, if you will, that someone invented a magical art by which the memory of a person could be extracted, their very essence captured as a plaything and curiosity for some all-powerful sorcerer. Such spell craft would rightly be condemned as vile sorcery, and it's practitioners shunned. If they refused to reform, they might even be exiled. When we see the action performed by one person upon another living person, the evil of it is plain to see.

Why then, do we not recognize this very same evil, when it is practiced upon the death? When people pursue access the lost memories of previous reincarnations, they do not know the nature of their previous live, and their previous live does not know them. It is impossible, in this situation, to state that either side can consent to the sharing of memories. Nonetheless, alternatives exist. The Sheik is routinely identified prior to recontact, a practice which we believe should be mandatory to all reincarnation attempts.

This will allow for the creation of a collection of written testimonies , detailing the conditions and requirements under which reconnection is allowed, to ensure that both rights of living and death are respected. We also support the development of a series of sealing rituals both to separate away past lives that were unjustly accessed, and to permanently seal away the souls of those who do not wish to reincarnate, to prevent accidental reincarnation in the event of a bodies destruction.



-------------------------
Dissent is always fun, if not always accurate or correct.

 

[Graf Tzarogy]

On the Nature of the Divine

It seems to me now appropriate to address the primary topic of this sermon: monotheism. I have heard much of late, from individuals both learned and unlearned, on the topic of God. Our siblings in Sanctuary, blessed with wisdom as they are, have long adopted the principle of a supreme universal power. Such an idea is, however, foreign to the traditions of our great League. Understandably, much concern has been therefore raised about the promulgation of this most excellent doctrine. Some rabblerousers declare that since our League does not accept a single ruler in flesh, we should not tolerate an absolutism in spirit. This criticism, though well-meaning, is premised on a fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of the supreme deity. This error is what I hope to rectify today.

All things have a cause. Your presence here today was induced by some phenomenon – the invitation of a friend, or your reading of a pamphlet. That invitation or pamphlet itself had a cause, and so on, and so on. Everything has a thing that predicates it – you, I, and the world itself. But this poses an issue – once, there must have been something without predicate, something not caused, but eternal, from which all else sprung. This, the ultimate cause, is God. The divine is no at being, not an object, but the eternal and infinite originator of all. From this supreme beginning is rendered all else; all good, all evil, all light, all dark, all beauty, all ugliness – everything is a result of the One Over All.

I see some of you wide-eyed with shock! This preacher has not only claimed the existence of the divine but declared it the originator of all evil! Surely, we should gather our torches and pitchforks and march on this God, wherever it may be, to free the world from suffering? You misunderstand this subtle doctrine. Yes, all things are the result of the One, as the origin of the world. But just as the Old League lead into both good and bad – consider ourselves, compared to the League of Strength – God renders itself into a multiplicity. But this is not the only function of the divine, to break itself into pieces. Unlike those who declare God an unjust tyrant over all, the One exists in all things. As it is the cause of all, everything, no matter how wretched, has within it, the spark of the divine. And because of this flame, no matter how weak, all things have the possibility to ascend towards the to become ever more perfect.

Still, many of you gawk at me, uncomprehending. Do you not understand the sweet truth, the glorious gift the divine has rendered all of us? Evil, suffering, ugliness: these are the result of differentiation from the One, divergence as cause leads unto cause, further from the divine. But since the One remains in all, since we all are children of that eternal God, we have the ability to return, to ascend, to become beautiful, happy, and good: to learn the truth. The multiplicity of the world retracts; the Divine seeks itself, and unity is achieved. See it happening in the world! Are not the peoples uniting under our Great League? Do strangers not know become brothers, is knowledge not shared, do we not march ever closer towards that ultimate truth? This is the One acting on the world, the so-called "tyranny" of God the natural impulse of universal divinity towards unity and perfection.

We must praise Sanctuary for helping us understanding the true nature of the world. Monotheism does not enslave us to some sacralised commander. Instead, it empowers each and everyone to kindle that spark of divinity within. Come, let us pray, and begin the salvation of the world!

--- excerpt of a sermon given in a public square by Abdullah Thunder-Speaker