From Sol Invictus

Book02: Garden Conversation

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Summary: Rannath and Birds talk about subverting the faiths of the world with their own, new faith.

XP:P1, R1

• Birds-of-Trinity cuts down another low-hanging branch; from months of intermittent care, the garden has become unacceptably overgrown. "Rannath! You've been so busy lately. It's good to see you taking a break." She takes the luxury of speaking in her native language.
• Rannath is lounging in the grass, reading from a book written in Old Realm. "It's pleasant, I'll admit." Rannath speaks in Firetongue as well, his own native language.

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "Have I mentioned my holy war to you?" She cuts another flowering branch and sticks it into her hair, as she has done to several others. They are beginning to form an impressive headdress. "Relovia and I were discussing her crisis of faith, and I thought..."

• Rannath looks up over his book, raising an eyebrow.

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "The Immaculates, the Illuminated, and the Hundred Gods Heretics all teach part of the truth of the world."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "But their doctrines are all built upon lies of omission and outright falsehoods."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "So, it would be in the service of universal goodness to assemble a complete truth of the world, and sweep all the competing dogmas beneath it, ending the problems of interfaith warfare and cosmological doubt."

<Rannath?> "That is quite possibly the most intelligent idea ever to come out of this Circle."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "Anyway," snip snip, "I thought you might be interested in this, since you seem to be concerned with matters of practical salvation."

• Rannath sits up, book forgotten. "It would be an excellent way to rot away the Immaculate Order's corrupt innards further. By starting a counter-faith relying on the truth and backing it up with social and martial might, we can rally people to our cause."
• Birds-of-Trinity nods, putting down her shears. "I agree. My concern is that, unless done with great care and consideration, we would be doing more harm than good; the Immaculates may rely on lies, but they do provide valuable services to their adherents, and I would rather that we convert them instead of collapsing them entirely."

<Rannath?> "A good point. I have practiced a smaller, more concentrated version of this within my troops to enlighten them and keep them devoted to the right cause, but I hadn't thought of converting the common people."

• Birds-of-Trinity sits and thinks.

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "I'm not sure how to accomplish this on a larger scale."

• Rannath sets the book aside, sitting cross-legged with a hand on his chin. "Hm. First, it must be consistent and clear to prevent any kind of schism or heresy."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "And it must be easy to reproduce without introducing error.'

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "I have heard tell of an ancient book... when placed in a library, it would change all the other books there so as to contain its message."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "The books so transformed gained the same power."

<Rannath?> "We do not want to turn all of our followers' books into our book of teachings, though."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "I am thinking of a more...delicate operation."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "Perhaps a book could be enchanted so that anyone who has read it is able to reproduce the teachings perfectly."

<Rannath?> "Etching it into the person's mind would eliminate the chance of alternate beliefs, but then we would simply be brainwashing people."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "I don't mean precisely that...only to make misunderstanding impossible. Alternate beliefs are what they are, but the believer must -know- that they are alternate."

<Rannath?> "Perhaps something that is just inherent in the book, then? Making the text immune to change?"

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "Exactly."

<Rannath?> "But the enchantments on the book should be secondary to the actual content. It should be easy enough, since we're writing the literal truth and not crafting falsehoods."

• Birds-of-Trinity nods.

<Rannath?> "No, the goal is to present the information in a concise way that is acceptible to all."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "A recounting of truth does not a doctrine make, however."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "There is also the problem of the more difficult matters...setting down guidelines for righteous action."

<Rannath?> "For that, I think, we can rely on common sense and pre-existing doctrines to provide rough ideas on those."

• Birds-of-Trinity nods.

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "I'm not sure how closely I want to uphold -Immaculate- ideals in that respect, but the Illuminated are well-versed in their own interpretation of right thought and action."

<Rannath?> "The Immaculates, for all their deceit and treachery, have a fair understanding of human nature and good ideals. If we keep our teachings just far enough away to be distinctive and righteous, but close enough to keep with current themes, conversion will be simple."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "Hm."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "I think that I will need to consult the writings."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "Which means that I'll be making a trip to the city. Is there anything that you need?"

<Rannath?> "I have some research of my own on a different topic, so I will join you."

• Birds-of-Trinity nods. "Shall we depart tomorrow morning, then? There are some things I need to do around the Manse."

<BirdsOfTrinity?> "Also, maybe I'll pay Ssithumi a visit this afternoon."

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