The Brotherhood Lesson in Review
[144] Reklah: The Brotherhood Lesson in Review
Tue Oct 4 16:02:51 2011
To: Beydalar Shadow ( Cahlizna Kyri Imm RP )
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During the early Age, Humanity was composed of indigenous barbaric tribes
and we were once a barbarian horde without principle until Ser Pahn united
the clans.
The unity of Ser Pahn begets culture. We become the vast empire Serpantol.
During this time a council of nobles is established. One such noble is
Tesalon Gareth, the man who would go on to become the Founding Father of
Gareth.
It was Gareth's belief -- and we agree -- that in order to maintain its
structural integrity there must be a knighthood of men who adhere to higher
principles than those of our progenitors.
The men instate a "means justify the ends" policy. Gareth Keep is founded
and Serpantol endures prosperous reign. But as with all things war daeTok
looms as an impending threat to the golden city.
Ere dae'Tok's fall it was a venerable empire. The yaenni were not to be
trifled with and indeed their hostilities against Serpantol represented a
valid threat despite the prodigious power of Serpantol in this era.
Serpantol was once the epitome of human evolution. Imagine Althainia during
Serak S'a Vinitta's reign and then quadruple its military power and
resources and number of men therein. We owe much of what are today to its
early establishment and subsequent reign.
Despite the valiant aspirations of men like Gareth and perhaps even Ser'Pahn
-- who endorsed Gareth -- Serpantol as an empire was victim to vice. They
grew arrogant in their absolute hubris and accompanying that hubris was
laxity. Serpantol's judgments were dictated by a council, who history
dictates never could seem to agree on anything.
Enter Gohdam.
Around all the world Gohdam was known as a warrior of legend living in that
age and by all accounts a harbinger of justice. The principal difference is
that Gohdam did perceive daeTok as a threat and petitioned the Council to
permit him to defend them. The original intent is to provide Serpantol
sanctuary regardless of Council judgment. Gohdam was successor to Gareth
and when the old man died through nonviolent illness -- ancient in age and
reputation -- Gohdam succeeded him and took up the coveted Crown General
office. Gohdam was not a politican and represented the archetype of a
soldier. He was more like Abram MacNeil than any ambassadorial paradigm.
Repeatedly the Council refused his petitions until such time as Gohdam grew
angry with them and at this time Gohdam forms the splinter faction Eclipse
from frustrations with the council. Several knights went with him and to
the original intent is to provide Serpantol sanctuary regardless of the
Council dictation.
This is the critical point in history where the "ends justify the means"
theory would be founded. Gohdam believed that Serpantol had not only been
infected by hubris but also that their code prohibited them dangerously.
He felt that in order to accomplish anything a man would have to be willing
to set aside the regulations that bound him. Especially if that man were
presented with the possibility of his own destruction.
It was often argued by Gaar Volen that if the ends justify the means why
practice the virtue of honor? Why not just pillage and rape and kill?
All things can be misinterpreted. What we do know is that Gohdam's
knighthood was tremendously successful and it became a brotherhood in
and of itself.
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[117] Reklah: The Brotherhood Lesson in Review
Tue Oct 18 03:59:35 2011
To: Beydalar Shadow ( Cahlizna Kyri Imm RP )
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There are many tales which attest to history that cannot be substantiated
one way or another. The most famous of these works is called the Sunset
Dawn. It recites the tale of San Gohdam and Targetter and the Eclipsian
rise.
The Sunset Dawn must be considered a fictional work because of our inability
to confirm or deny the claims within it. Nonetheless the story does serve
us a valuable moral -- that is to say, the imperative of Brotherhood.
What we're going to go over tonight is what can be substantiated not only
due to the Sunset Dawn but excavated documents from the cities of Althainia
and Arkane and Verminasia.
San Gohdam successfully left the Serpantol Empire with units of knights who
aspired to his same dream and with Targetter, or so it would seem. His name
is given as Dar Getter in the Kayen texts. The knights of Eclipse traversed
across the continent and similar to Storm's own action they built a stone
foundation southeast of the Verminasian city and fortified.
There is an absence of historical text but San Gohdam did not immediately
declare war on Serpantol or Gareth and in all likelihood he had to reserve
time to prepare. His revolution was in its early productivity and needed
time to manifest.
During this time Serpantol already had their hands full with the yaenni
empire of dae'Tok and might not have pursued because of this. It is also a
fact that at some point in the early Eclipsian history Gohdam endured a
religious conversion and his knights followed him into Necrucifer's service.
This might appear initially surprising to some, like Azheri converting to
Necrucifer in modernity -- but on thorough inspection it would have been
sensible. Gohdam was a young revolutionary, brilliantly gifted in military
strategy, but he found Austinian and Serpantol's methods too passive.
An example of this was Serpantol's inability to defend themselves from the
dae'Tok empire. The yaenni were fierce fighters and Serpantol had time to
establish a prodigious empire that might have gotten lax in its hubris.
As it turns out, Gohdam and Necrucifer were a perfect fit. Tailored even.
Necrucifer was a god who by historical action confirms the "ends justify the
means" theory that Gohdam developed while Austinian was viewed as "weak and
ineffectual." Those were the words of Shay's "What is Shadow?" But the
similarities are there. Shay planted the idealistic seed that Gohdam
created and now here we are.
During his time living Gohdam did one incredibly important thing. He
borrowed Gareth's concepts of honor and respect and the prime virtue of
Brotherhood. For Gareth that is all it is: honor is their god either
directly or indirectly through Nadrik.
Brotherhood is one of Storm's prime virtues even today. We will not bring
the Prophecy to fruition without Brotherhood. But what Gareth and Serpantol
was missing is that Brotherhood will not suffice as the only thing. In
order to merge the world into One united land under One united deity, the
ends must justify the means. They must. What else is it all for? And for
us the end is Finality. The Prophecy fulfilled and the unity of worlds
under one god.
I believe it was fate that Gohdam found Necrucifer. Like threads woven and
predestined it was the alpha seed of the Prophecy. Some beginnings take
centuries to get to the middle and this is one such incident.
Gohdam would have succeeded and likely become a profound general but it was
not to be. The same innovation he made was wrought with his doom and by
recruiting the Malicians who misinterpreted the "ends justify the means" as
anarchy, he was murdered in his tent by his perfidious brothers.
Had he time he might have seen the flaw, but his brotherhood was in its
early stages and he did not have the advantage of time that Shay did. Our
principles are complex and some would even say contradictions, but it is the
only way to divine providence.
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[118] Reklah: The Brotherhood Lesson in Review
Tue Oct 18 04:00:38 2011
To: Beydalar Shadow ( Cahlizna Kyri Imm RP )
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In the end and despite Gohdam's assassination, he was able to found the
Eclipse and fortify the keep prior to his death and the knighthood endured
for centuries until the Cataclysm even after its concepts had been
bastardized.
After the Malicians formed yet another splinter faction, and after Gohdam's
assassination, it set loose the proverbial hounds of war. These were
barbaric men who saw no value in knighthood and saw every value in the
material loot they could procure.
Gaar Volen, or Malice, staged its war against Serpantol and against Gareth
and were able to weaken Serpantol considerably. All the while the impending
threat of dae'Tok loomed overhead until it finally culminated in dae'Tok
sacking the Thalosian capital and Old Gareth under Croyden Vesuvias's reign.
RK