[✗] Kian, the Holy Temple of the Absolute - Lair Application

[Holyland 3650]

 

Lair Leader MC Name: holy_land

 

Lair Leader Character Name: The Nameless Son

 

Lair Name: Kian, the Holy Temple of the Absolute

Primary Lair Color: White

 

Lair Members: holy_land, Swgrclan, Jentos, swandiver, Barbarus, Aldukhan, wardyn, canontransixris, n1ru_o, Dymase, _Security, Ardory, __Hergh, Songwitch, Gnomeh, Elahicol, PolarLoLs, Moumins, SomeVentilators, PrimnyaQuorum, King_Kunuk, yssalg, Karim__, KBR

 

Proposed Lair Locations (Highlight/draw at least three on the map): A location already exists. It currently exists as an unofficial vassal for Cauróst, with very little RP relation.

 

 

 

Lair Lore (supply link to an existing creature or other lore if being used as basis for this lair) (1000 words minimum):

https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/248185-faith-absolutism-the-penitent-faith-of-the-solitary-god/ 

https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/261680-the-proto-mandaton/ 

.. along with a variety of other lores written for the religion, some yet to be released, such as:

• https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/263407-the-pne%C3%BBma-the-doctrine-of-the-breath-divine/ 
• https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/249354-the-auric-mandate/ 
• The Hierai - WIP, total philosophical and theological exegesis of the entirety of the religion so as to expand beyond the base esotericisms within the original scripture, known as “The Adage”.
   

 

Absolutism is a player-made philosophical religion that may be considered grimdark, albeit not related to any one particular magic or ordering, but encompassing and attempting to encompass all forms of approach, whether they be alchemical, sorcerous or through various other means, encapsulated within the goal of the enlightenment of all soulful beings and the return of all beings, through enlightenment, to God. The Kianene who occupy the halls of Kian are a severe monastic order that have repudiated animal appetite as well as all forms and boundaries that bind them in Ignorance, that is, to shed this Ignorance and recognise the inner self as an “Emanation of the One”, a soulful being that originated from the cleft Solitary God. Absolutism is a deterministic perennial religion, seeking to be the bridge that would unify the many tribes of Man, split and divided through the shackles and bindings of custom and their worldly differences, both in the theological and in all other senses, in the pursuit of their overarching goal, known therein as the “Thousandfold Thought”. This constitutes the unification and consequential enlightenment of all soulful beings, as well as the destruction of Iblees and the wicked anti-Truth primordial energy that rests behind him, known therein as the “Inverse Flame”, a process that their scripture has said to have prophesied in the very times of the First Men, as brought unto their Ur-Prophet, an anonymous prophet known as the “Schoolman”.

 

The faithful of Kian are split in accordance with their passage to enlightenment - as described within the Proto-Mandaton, those outside of the faith are known as “Agnon”, the uninitiated and unknowing. Those who are beginning their path to enlightenment, known as “The Shortest Way”, who are to undergo the rigorous and person-transforming trials and lessons known as the process of their “Whelming”, are known as the Mystai. Those who have undergone this process and are now fully officiated as students of the faith, effectively equivalent to their base faith-members, are known as the Mathetai. However, beyond the Mathetai, the Absolutist Faith is cleft across Six Schools, each holding a different belief as laid forth in the scripture as to how one may approach enlightenment, based upon six key principles, otherwise known as the Six Wounds - Oblation, Obmutescence, Evanescence, Beatitude, Surrender and Abnegation. Each of these schools, known therein individually as the Schools of Thysia, Myesis, Metron, Asioth, Xanthous and Apophasis are led individually by six “Escharoi”, also known more commonly as the Latter-Prophets, who are the six leaders of the Absolutist faith. These are, respectively, the Bleeding Palm, the Stilled Tongue, the Fading Light, the Genuflect, the Twice-Blessed and the Nameless Son. 

 

Each of the members of these Six Schools are known as “Schoolmen”, far closer to enlightenment than those preceding them. They are the ultimate servants of the Thousandfold Thought, always acting in the name of the faith and in the pursuit of the destruction of the Inverse Flame and the enlightenment of all soulful beings. They are divided into four individual collective bodies, each representing an individual and unique purpose, known as the Zetemai (the scholars and researchers), the Synthetai (the alchemists), the Exetastai (the judges and purifiers / primary leaders of orthodox militia)  and the Apodexai (the eyes and ears of the Faith). Beyond this, roles within the faith exist such as the “Phylaxi,” the primary armed militia that acts as both the Temple Guard and as the primary force-arm that enacts forward the goal of the faith through blade and bloodletting. The Pragma, teachers and leaders above all aside the Escharoi / Latter-Prophets are considered to be the closest to the pinnacle, leading their individual Schools in absence of their prophets. 

 

Categorically, Absolutism is heavily inspired by many fictional and non-fictional theologies, philosophies and fictional books and inspirations. The most prominent influences are Neoplatonism, Mahayana and Vajrayana Buddhism, Advaita Vedanta, Sufi Islam, as well as R. Scott Bakker’s The Second Apocalypse and Frank Herbert’s Dune. It is an inherently deterministic religion, believing in the lack of free will, the total dominance of the law of Cause-and-Effect, known as the “Logos”, and the unique belief in reincarnation - that the soul, irregardless of body, persists eternally in reincarnation, passing to the various afterlives but not remaining within them eternally, meaning that the afterlives exist in part so that the accumulation of all that has occurred to a Soul within a singular lifetime may be wiped away entirely, leaving them as a tabula rasa, a blank slate, in their next reincarnation. This means that the process toward enlightenment, just as in Buddhism, is not one that must persist solely within a singular lifetime, but is amounted to over many lifetimes, living as many races, as many people, each the same, singular soul. The sole exception to this is when one is totally and utterly corrupted by the unholy Anti-Truth and Ignorance that is the Inverse Flame, and becomes trapped within the realm of Iblees until he is eventually slain, and the Inverse Flame with him. Within the religion itself, reliant upon its total consideration for all forms of way of life within it (aside from the Dark, considered totally anathematous), such as the various forms of alchemy, sorcery and other forms of miracle, what can be seen is very varied in terms of the players who currently are members of the religion as well as the approaches that are intended to be unified within it. There is everything ranging from monks utilising Kani, known otherwise as “Pneûma” within the ontological and theological doctrine written upon it in the relevant forum post, to Heralds and Azdrazi, to Templars, users of Void Magic, and those who are entirely mundane. 

 

Originating initially as an ecstatic and secretive sect when the scriptures were initially discovered in Braevos, the religion has seen long and continuous growth since it was first begun, with the Temple of Kian, located within the eastern segment of the continent of Azuras, now a testament to this. Being that it is a religion that seeks to cater to all tribes of Men, entirely without racial preference and bearing a distinctly unique quality due to its lack therein of “priests”, as all members of the Faith, acting toward the overarching goal, are considered clergy within it. With the continual growth of the religion, and its spreading across the many Tribes of Men, the future actions of the Penitent-Faith await. 

 

Lair Build and Infrastructure (photos required, give dimensions): 75x75 - everything that already exists beyond that exists solely for aesthetics. The build requires a paste to reach total completion, consisting mostly of a good amount of the internals that have a lot of elements that aren’t possible to place in LC. 

 

Spoiler

 

https://imgur.com/a/lEoRJyZ 

 

(if pictures of the interiors are required, let me know - I can post screenshots of the interiors that have yet to be pasted, also)

 

Why can this group not fulfill their roleplay niche in an existing settlement or nation? (Give a detailed answer and examples of how this has not worked in the past.): Whilst the Temple of Kian has, until this point, existed as an unofficial vassal under Cauróst, it bears very little roleplay relation to the nation itself, and for its continuing existence, it would make no sense for a religion that seeks to unify the tribes of Men to persist in relation to an elven nation. When the vassal was initially created, myself and the NL of Cauróst, Unwillingly, agreed from the beginning that Kian would apply for Lair the moment that Lair apps opened. As well as this, due to the presence of increasingly controversial Schools and members amongst the ranks of the faith, such as the Azdrazi within the School of Asioth, future actions of the faith in the pursuit of their goals will mean that any association with any nation, whether political or cultural in any sense, will only serve as a detriment to the order of the religion. The Faith may commit toward actions in the future that may be seen as extremist, fanatical or insane, and will cause conflict with many groups, both those who are wicked and those who are not. Whilst remaining something of a veil of secrecy until this moment, in the process of evangelising and proselytising across the Continent of Azuras, as well as in any acts of conflict that will soon come about between the religion and its enemies, any kind of link to nations or alliances politically and geographically will lead to consequences for both the religion and any nation it would be associated with as anything but a Lair. 

 

How does this lair add to the greater world around it? How will its existence benefit its roleplay group and the server at-large?: Absolutism offers a unique and new religion and group amongst the varying religions that exist on LotC. Many other religions on this server are comparatively involved very little in the affairs of the greater world, may rely on historical significance to continue to propel them forward, and do not always attempt to truly interact with what LotC has to offer, or being associated more particularly with one predominant magic or magical group. Going against the flow here, we have decided entirely against this. The religion offers RP of all forms, and generally seeks to inspire greater thinking both IRPly for the characters about the world of LotC, as well as inspiring greater critical and intellectual thought philosophically between the players, with the primary goal being the enjoyment of everyone we interact with both inside and outside of the religion. Unlike most lairs, it is pretty much entirely open to anyone to come to it, and when the remainder of the interior is completed, we hope to fill it with a vast number of relics, shrines, books, statues, and various other artifacts and structures that relate to the religion as well as to greater knowledge in the pursuit of enlightenment. Beyond this, with all of the various interactions that are bound to soon come out of its unique and ambitious overarching goals, in combination with its inherently fatalistic philosophy and its desire to interact with the greater world and events, myself and the other leaders and members of the faith hope to lead the religion forward into much opportunity to interact with the greater LotC. 

 

 

all credits go to the beloved @nirufor the build !!

 

[PolarLoLs 983]

I AM ABSOLUTE.

[PrimnyaQuorum 3999]

Erm, what does truth do?

[Holyland 3650]

Just now, PrimnyaQuorum said:

Erm, what does truth do?

 

TRVTH SHINES !!!!!!

[niru 69]

epic +1

[Wand 1220]

7 minutes ago, niru said:

epic +1

 Almost as epic as you for building it! It's been a treasure to see the progress overtime, incredible build

[wardyn 159]

whos ready to return to one!!! 

[Dymase 270]

she absolute on my truth til it shines

[Security_ 2287]

[marikandaperc 1817]

fire

[Ardory 2978]

MEAT?

[squakhawk 14038]

Application denied.

 

Voters did not feel this lair was unique enough compared to existing lairs in both players and purpose, and seems to function well under a nation as an unofficial vassal as its functioning now. Voters did not feel it needs additional protections for what its trying to go for.