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The Amaranthine Codex
Posted: 28 Mar 2006 10:34 PM |
(( *** OOC: Unless your character has actually learnt this IC, they will NOT know any of it and will NEVER have heard of it. *** ))
Preamble: Il Amaranthi Codex
This is the new belief of the exiled Midoran people. Wrongfully banished, unjustly persecuted, they have forged a new belief to replace the one that was broken.
There is one God, and one God only. One supreme being whose nature may never be known, one source of light and order within the world. He has never manifested himself. His name is unknown and his existence is a mystery that even the eldest immortal cannot comprehend.
And he is not Midoran.
For too long have the Midoran people equated power with divinity. It is not so. A Midoran will know—in way that only another Midoran can understand—that Midoran is undeniably the source of their power. But the power itself was not divine; what is divinity, after all? Something holy. Something sacred.
The loss of this power was no loss at all. If anything, it was a blessing. It has allowed the exiled Midorans to distinguish that which is truly divine.
God exists. The gifts he has granted are not the gifts of being able to heal with a touch or revive a soul before it passes into the final death. The gifts he has granted are life and virtue. And who are we to deny those gifts? Who are we to reject what the Unknown, Unnamed God has granted us?
Our lives and virtues are his gifts to us. What we make of them are our gifts to him.
Personal Virtues
These are the virtues to which we, as individuals, aspire. They may also be used to measure our behaviour and character.
* Clemency :: Mercy, mildness, gentleness
* Courage :: Spirit, bravery, confidence, resolution
* Courtesy :: Good manners
* Creativity :: Originality, personality, expressiveness
* Devotion :: Dedication, commitment, loyalty, care
* Dignity :: Self-respect, nobility
* Discipline :: Self-control, order
* Dutifulness :: Sense of duty and responsibility, especially in a religious sense
* Efficiency :: Effectiveness, competence, skill
* Faith :: Principles, belief, trust
* Gravity :: Earnestness, understanding of the importance of some matters, respect of serious situations
* Hope :: Trust, unwillingness to despair, desire and search for a greater good (especially in a religious sense) which is impossible to attain without grace and holiness
* Independence :: Self-sufficiency, ability to think for yourself
* Industriousness :: Hard work, productiveness, diligence, activity
* Initiative :: Self-reliance, good judgement, ability to finish what you start, ability to come up with solutions on your own and carry them out
* Integrity :: Honesty, justice, sincerity, morality
* Liveliness :: Energy, enthusiasm, ability to live life to the fullest
* Patience :: Serenity, endurance, stamina, maturity, uncomplaining nature
* Professionalism :: Expertise, skill, competence
* Propriety :: Proper and appropriate behaviour, manners, adherence to customs
* Responsibility :: Sense of obligation and duty, accountability, conscientiousness
* Sanctity :: holiness of life or disposition, reverence of the virtues, adherence to the virtues, revering what is sacred
* Tenacity :: Perseverence, strength of mind, willpower, ability to stick to one's purpose
* Versatility :: Adaptability, flexibility, resourcefulness
* Wisdom :: Foresight, perceptiveness
Public Virtues
In addition to Personal Virtues, which individuals aspire to, we also aspire to uphold the following virtues as a collective society.
* Concord :: Harmony with other cultures
* Destiny :: The ability as a society as a whole to strive towards a greater destiny together
* Esprit De Corps :: Sense of comradeship, good morale
* Humanity :: Benevolence, representation of the nobility of Humanity
* Identity :: Upholding the honour of the Midoran people by being virtuous, thereby creating a national identity and an example for all to see
* Justice :: As a society, upholding justice through sensible laws and governance
* Liberality :: Charity, giving freely, sharing
* Prosperity :: Good fortune, abundance, the ideal that there is enough prosperity to go around to everyone
* Security :: Concern for public health and welfare, looking after the welfare of the people through efficient governance |
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The Other Side
Posted: 06 May 2006 12:40 PM |
There is no rationality in belief.
No logic. No reasonable explanation. By its very nature, its solidity is in its mystery. We believe for no reason other than that we believe.
How do you explain that which language is completely inadequate for? How do you explain that for which no word exists—or could ever exist—which would be adequate to describe? There is no definition: definition implies boundaries. The infinite has no bounds. No words can contain it. Nothing can.
It’s only through faith that it can be known.
Faith: the ultimate of virtues. A secure belief you cannot explain, even though it does not and cannot rest on logical proof or material evidence. An uncompromising and unconditional trust, the serenity and grace that is not possible to achieve without the absolute belief in something that you know exists and will always exist beyond your understanding, beyond your grasp.
How do you explain to one who has never known it? How do you explain to one who’s lost it? Truly you cannot. Can the three-dimensional pyramid explain itself to the two-dimensional triangle? No explanations are sufficient to compensate for that which is beyond comprehension.
No, there are no answers, no cold and logical facts—we must transcend these jejune concepts. We must let go of all that is familiar, we must let go of all material preconceptions, and simply believe.
The method of doing so is not alien to us. If anything, the method is universal, instinctively known to all. No one is incapable of seeing, only incapable of choosing to see. It is not coincidence that those who sneer at what they deem to be blind faith are themselves the ones who are blind. There is nothing blind about faith; it presents a vision that transcends ordinary vision. It is they who are incapable of seeing the whole picture, of seeing that there is something greater than ourselves and greater than this existence.
We are not alone.
There is someone on the other side of the darkness.
We have only to dare to believe that there is more to existence than this material life; we have only to dare one last little blaze of magic to pass through to the other side. |
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History of the Future
Posted: 18 May 2006 07:36 AM |
There has been much debate over the authorship of Il Amaranthi Codex, which remains—to this day—the largest and most comprehensive didactic manuscript from Vivesundran, The World That Was. Few records of The World That Was have survived into the New World, and certainly none so comprehensive.
The codex provides us with some insight into a history that would otherwise have been lost to time, presenting a historical worldview which remains very much relevant to this day. The primitive Old World, for instance, only believed in one pantheon of gods—but the "Novus Midorum" (as they are often erroneously called in the vulgar language) brought about a radical paradigm shift which spawned many diverse philosophies concerning the nature of existence and reality.
It's important, when considering Il Amaranthi Codex, to remember the context in which it was written. History records that age as The Crimson Age, and it is almost unanimously accepted that it was this age which brought about The Dying, and the worldwide failure of magic. There are, of course, sceptics who scoff at the idea of magic ever failing, pointing out that such a radical change in the environment would have wiped out the entirety of existence and skewed the laws of the universe as we know it.
During this age, while all the world fell apart, the "Novus Midorum" held together, adhering to a tenet and a sensible way of life which would later set the example for many cultures in those countless eons of mundanity.
Tales are still told to this day of the extravagance of The World That Was—a lush and breathing world seething with magical energies, of which the New World can barely begin to conceive. Imagine such a world, where the most mundane of crafts required magical enhancements, where mundane items were rarer than magical ones, where fantastical creatures such as "dragons" and "manticores" roamed freely.
In other words, a wanton and wasteful world with little to no regard for environmental consequences.
It is amazing that such a world could have existed for so long, wallowing in magical pollution like a pig rolling around in mud and feces. In those primitive and barbaric times, one did not think twice about quaffing a potion or casting a spell to aid in something as trivial as a minor bit of carpentry or the brewing of some alchemical concoction. Such decadent excess! Is it any wonder that Vivesundran is lost to us now? No traumatic event, no loss of magic, killed such a world, and one so worthy of death! It died of its own sloth and intemperance.
They say it still lies over the boundless sea. They say it is still writhing in its death throes to this day—still there, still dying, still abandoned. Still vomiting forth hateful magical energies as it sinks beneath Hell's dark waters.
I hope by now that it is dead.
In such a world and in such an age was Il Amaranthi Codex written, a document unlike any other, challenging the accepted worldview, presenting new theories and philosophies that were not secular in nature, advocating a mundane lifestyle over a magical one, espousing temperance in a world that knew only excess, presenting mystery to a world greedy for instant answers and solutions and miracles but unwilling to earn them. A philosophy ahead of its time, which would spawn many more philosophies but no definite answers—our own being one such philosophy, which we adopted when we chose to outgrow the outmoded worship of venal and imperfect "gods".
Who wrote this document? It is generally accepted that the sole founder of the "Novus Midorum" —Sacren Iereco Duphados—is its author and artist. Of the latter, we are absolutely certain. But the former? What little we know of him, and what few writings survive from him, are inconsistent with this proposition.
It is one more of their mysteries. It is one more of their questions with no answer that we shall ever discover.
Zsavheen,
Scholar of Quinlann |
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History of the Future
Posted: 18 May 2006 11:37 AM |
The origin of the foreigners whom we know as the "Novus Midorum" has been a cause of much bemusement and debate. For a sensible people, their claims of coming from a far-off magical land called Vives—or Vivesundran in our language—are uncharacteristically whimsical and irrational.
It's only in recent years that confirmation of the existence of this fantastical land has been established, although many are still sceptical about the perceived level of magic that the land apparently possesses, or possessed.
We must assume, then, that the hysterical reports of catastrophe are of a metaphorical nature or imagined by overly superstitious minds—for, indeed, if a calamity of the scale reported had occurred, it would surely have caused an unprecedented Daskall/Chilorean Shift that our mages could not have failed to observe. Yet no such phenomena has occurred.
In light of recent evidence, it has been proposed that there has possibly been an irradiation of unreality from The Dreaming in the wild Chaotic Realms. It is, in fact, even entirely possible that this Vivesundran Realm exists entirely within The Dreaming, which would certainly account for its reported magic levels. It would also account for the reported incidences of Zarathustran Manifestation which are reported so frequently by the Novus Midorum.
Needless to say, this is an exciting and groundbreaking development in our philosophy, as it implies that entire realms exist within The Dreaming which are capable of crossing the unreality zone and making the transformation from figment to reality. Furthermore, these realms house sentient life—born of the dream, living the dream, and capable of escaping the dream through any of its doors.
This Vivesundran Realm, then, is surely the fabled crossroads of fate, where all worlds and possibilities intersect. Somewhere in The Dreaming, it exists still.
See, the Novus Midorum have opened the door and left it ajar, and we may yet enter the imaginary realm—which is no longer imaginary.
Javikh,
Scholar of Quinlann |
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The Cross
Posted: 18 May 2006 12:36 PM |
Historical reports of the cross being a symbol adopted from the Aristi are technically incorrect, as the cross is recorded to have been a symbol of the original Midorans long before the Salvation from Darkness. In fact, many cultures have lain claim to this simple symbol, each with its own interpretation of it.
It's likely that the resemblance between the Aristi and the Midoran national symbols was pivotal in the conversion of the old city to the new faith. The symbol would have been instantly familiar and reassuring, even if the symbol meant one thing to the Midorans and another to the Aristi.
The cross was almost abandoned as a national symbol in the years following the Patrician Civil War because of its bloody association with the Crisandamonde. As with anything tied with Midoran history, the symbolism of it has become confused; they teach six different interpretations of its significance at the Academy, none of them truly correct. It is not as a symbol of infamy and death that it is used, however the Cruciande—and now the New Order—may have tried to corrupt its original connotation.
The original meaning, the one devised by Brakus before he ever encountered Midoran, remains true and relevant: it is, quite simply, a diagrammatical representation of our duty. The topmost point representing duty to one's superiors; its bottommost point representing duty to one's subordinates; the arms being the duty to one's peers; and the intersection of these planes being the oft-neglected duty to oneself.
We ought never to adopt the pentagram and hexagram for a symbol as the Cassadari, Serilde and Myriade did. Down that route lies devilish folly. |
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History of the Future
Posted: 23 May 2006 06:20 AM |
Tales of the so-called "Novus Midorum" and the fabled "Vives" are clearly nothing more than myth. Our philosophies arose logically, and certainly did not stem from the ancient philosophy of a people whose very existence is in question.
They did not exist.
They never existed.
They certainly do not exist today.
We ought not to believe in such groundless superstition, but focus on fact. Fantasy is a nice vacation, but reality is where we must spend our lives.
Cassell,
Scholar of Quinlann
The phrase "Novus Midorum" is a misnomer, just as we erroneously call the devastating veeliaves "tidal waves". However, for want of a better name, it is what we must call them.
The name was attributed to the group by the vulgar public, who cared not a whit for them and could not be bothered learning who and what they truly were. We shall never know by what name they secretly called themselves, and what profound mysteries this secretive people kept to themselves.
It is for the best. Some things were never meant to be known, and break with the knowing.
Tivukh,
Scholar of Quinlann |
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History of the Future
Posted: 02 Jun 2006 10:53 AM |
The famous, or perhaps infamous, Operation: Nightshade has been the subject of many a military case study, touted as one of the earliest and most successful forms of "bloodless warfare". The term itself is ironic, not to mention inaccurate, considering the lives that Nightshade claimed.
Still, it was certainly unconventional for its day and age, utilising psychological warfare in a way and on a scale that had never been attempted before.
In particular, the Atropos Gambit—sometimes called the Death's Head Gambit—is acclaimed for its pivotal role in the execution of Nightshade. Brilliant and innovative, the move is praised as much as criticised, with some philosophers complaining that it was unnecessarily ruthless and more than a little unscrupulous.
It should be noted that those philosophers have never been soldiers.
Those of us who are soldiers—and more importantly, warriors—know that it was absolutely necessary. The preservation of lives and ideals comes at a cost. Those who are prepared to pay the cost, those who serve in order to be the ones to pay the price, understand this more fully than those who enjoy the results without ever giving a thought to those who had to be sacrificed.
Lucani Candesco,
Paladin of the Order of Twilight |
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History of the Future
Posted: 15 Jun 2006 11:22 PM |
Ah, yes, the Crimson Age.
No other age in the history of the world has brought about so many tales. Tales of the darkest and most depraved sort, atrocities never to be repeated again. Yet also tales of the greatest champions such as the world has never and will never see again, their actions—both open and clandestine—serving as examples of hope and heroism to all.
We are absolutely certain that the Novus Aristi existed at the time, and still continue to exist now.
Whether a hidden group—or more than one hidden group—acted from within Midor to oppose the Righteous Swords and the heinous Supremists... we do not know. Was there a Red Bishop to counter the White Bishop? A secret war so discreet, so well-executed, that Midor did not even know that its corruption was being fought against from within by hidden forces?
We shall never know. We have only the tales, and the vague allusions made in Il Amaranthi Codex, to go by.
Zsavheen,
Scholar of Quinlann |
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History of the Future
Posted: 14 Sep 2006 05:39 AM |
Their strict adherence to anonymity can only be understood in the context of their history. What they went through, what they suffered, what they fought—all these things and more ingrained themselves so deeply into their day-to-day lives that it became a part of their cultural identity, not only during the Crimson Age but in the ages to come.
For this reason we do not know if they still exist. For this reason we do not know who wrote the codex, although the popular theory is that there were three authors; an alternate theory goes that it was the work of one survivor, an individual writing from the perspective of three.
Perhaps there is in this a lesson to be learned, the fact that the names do not matter: we can infer enough about the lives of the author, or authors, from what is written.
They have an almost allergic aversion to attention and glory. It is strange, then, that they left such an impression—not only on our culture, but on so many others—in so many subtle yet significant ways.
Therefore, traveller, take note: if you should happen to encounter a stranger who does you a kindness and vanishes with no trace and no demand of reward or recognition, you may well have met one of the angeltouched.
Qualeela,
Wandering Minstrel |
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