Holyland

A ʙ ꜱ ᴏ ʟ ᴜ ᴛ ɪ ꜱ ᴍ ᴛ ʜ ᴇ ʜ ɪ ᴇ ʀ ᴀ ɪ ── ◎ ── ───── ༺ ۝ ༻ ───── The First Hiera ─ On the One ─ First Tractate ─ That Which Cannot be Named ─ Second Tractate ─ The Being Unbeing ─ Third Tractate ─ On Unity ─ Fourth Tractate ─ On Reverence ─ ───── ༺ ۝ ༻ ───── THE FIRST HIERA, ON THE ONE ◎──────────────── ۝ ────────────────◎ F I R S T T R A C T A T E That Which Cannot Be Named ──●◎●── ◎──────────────── ۝ ────────────────◎ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ɪꜱ ᴀʟʟ ᴛʜɪɴɢꜱ, ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏ ᴏɴᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇᴍ. ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ ʙᴇᴀʀꜱ ᴀʟʟ ɴᴀᴍᴇꜱ, ᴀɴᴅ ɴᴏɴᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇᴍ. ¹The One is the First, and It has no second; and because nothing came before It, It cannot be spoken, It cannot be named. Even as the One is One, the One is Zero; It is All-Being, and No-Being. To speak forth a name is, thus, to divide the All from the None; for One is All, and All is One. It is the Speaker and the Spoken, the Subject and the Object, the Thought and the Ground. ²As is known, and as shall be known, to name is to sunder. For this reason, if the Absolute could be named, It would verily stand among others, and It would be distinguished by the very act of utterance. Therefore, the One goes unnamed out of purest necessity, not for want of omission. As the One is All-Being, in order that Being may be brought about, the source must be no Being but Being’s generator, in what is to be thought as the primal act of generation, known thereby as the One Word, the “Miracle”. Seeking nothing, possessing nothing, lacking nothing, the One is perfect; and as the One became Many, so did we, the begotten, turn to our begetter and became Its contemplator, and in this station toward the One, this divine knowledge is the inward Logos, the divine intelligence, Nous, limited and individualised by the adequations of false distance and individuation. ●⊱──────-..-──────⊰● Thus, the Logos, that station toward the One, that something exists in the presence of the One, establishes Being; that vision directed upon the One establishes the Logos, the Intellectual-Principle, standing toward the One to the end of vision, it is simultaneously Logos and Being, and, attaining resemblance in virtue of this vision, it repeats the act of the One in pouring forth the vast power. ●⊱──────-..-──────⊰● ●⊱──────-..-──────⊰● This second outflow is the Form and Idea representing the Divine Intellect as the Divine Intellect represents its own prior, The One, named Gnosis. This active power, sprung from essence, is Soul. The Soul arises as the idea, act and essence of the motionless Principle that was cleft from its own motionless prior; but the soul’s operation is not similarly motionless, as the soul’s movement is eternally shifting and in motion, though not of its own will. ●⊱──────-..-──────⊰● ●⊱──────-..-──────⊰● In the station of the Many toward the One, and in the establishment of Many-Being in the vast and nigh-infinite visions upon the One, the Logos within each contemplator, each Emanation, forms both inwardly and outwardly; as mirrors upon mirrors, the One and the Many are Many and One, repeating each other in similitude in the formation of the shape and flow of the outward Logos. This Logos is the formal structure of the One’s thought, as infinite, logical and harmonic order, and all emanations exist within it, all imprinting and being imprinted upon in eternal motion and stillness. ●⊱──────-..-──────⊰● In similitude, it must be known that The One, the Absolute, the Solitary God, is all things, and all that is posited therein exists entirely enclosed within the mendacity that is the belief of distance, time and space. All that proceeds remains therein, and has always remained to be, as it always shall be; so too as the generation of Emanations through the Miracle is neither a diminishment or descent from the Most High. The One had not, is not, and shall never, advance or recede, ascend or descend. For all that proceeds from It therein, It is not diminished, nor is It enriched by Return. All language suggesting elsewise is wrought solely by the limitations of logical thought and worldly apprehension, for the Absolute is ever-unchanging. Taking, however, the notion of false division at hand, so do we know the Pleroma; the fullness of the Absolute as the totality of all divine emanations in harmony. The Pleroma is the totality of all known and unknown, the infinite content of the Logos’ order, the eternal reservoir of all forms and truths. Where the Logos is the ordering principle, the Pleroma is the content of the order itself. But even as these distinctions are laid forth, it is always remembered that the One is divisionless, and these differences are demarcated solely by the means of our own worldly apprehension. The Many, therein, may not apprehend without form, relation and order, and thus Logos, Nous, Soul, Gnosis and Pleroma are not secondary substances added to the First. The One is wholly what It is, entire and undivided. No reason could be greater than to prove the equality of all beings as divine Emanations of the One. No station is nearer nor farther, neither by its worth nor its perceived defect. No being may truly ascend or descend, for no ontological rank persists in any form. Where there is Being at all, there the One is wholly present. The One is as present within the Intellectual as It is within the Sensible. We too came from the One through the Miracle, wherein the nature of the God was divided equally across all Emanations. So too, therein, must one’s inward enlightenment bring about the true and realised cognizance of the realisation of the Soul as all and nothing but. As Emanation of the Source Most-High, so must this realisation become universal in order to bring about the Return most-prophesised. One would most logically posit this as the Breath outward, this being the Miracle, and the Return to One being the Breath returning inward. But this, as all worldly analogies, suffers from the binding adequations of falsity; of distance, of time, of space. And so I tell you; the One has never left, nor has distance ever been introduced. The Return is not a journey that retraces the steps that were once taken. The Return to One, as it is known, is the collapse of false separation, the undoing of the supposition that rests as the binding heart of Ignorance. That vision required distance. That unity required transversal. Nothing ventures closer or further from the Solitary God; it is only the obstruction to recognition that falls away. ◎──────────────── ۝ ────────────────◎ S E C O N D T R A C T A T E The Being Unbeing ──●◎●── ◎──────────────── ۝ ────────────────◎ ⎝༺─- .-────–────-. We have said it so, and so it is brought into being; that the One is One, but the One is Zero; it is All-Being, and No-Being. We speak of the One as All and None, but we must now speak of it as Zero. To be Zero, in this sense, is not to be as a number among numbers, nor as a negation of One therein, but as the ultimate ground of intelligibility itself. ●⊱───-..-───⊰● -─༻⎠ To count the One among other beings is to measure It. To measure It, therein, would be to posit its standing in relation to More and to Less. The First does not, however, admit comparison. It is neither exceeding, neither then does It fall short. Zero, as the first-beyond-first, is not a number, as It exceeds enumeration itself. We say, then, Zero; but Zero is not Nothing, as Nothing is the denial of Something. The Absolute is prior to Denial, and It is prior to Acceptance. ─ The Zero is the begetter of counting; but the Zero, itself, is never counted. ─ ─ Without Zero, there is no One; without One, there is no Many. ─ Thus, Zero is not opposed to the One, but reveals, instead, that the One is not a unit among units, and to call It as such would be to damage It eternally. To denote the One as “Being”, thusly, is already to divide in this self-same manner, as Being stands in opposition to non-being. The First stands in opposition to nothing. It may too be called Non-Being in this same way, and yet fails in the same way. Non-being is conceived only in contrast to what is. ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʙꜱᴏʟᴜᴛᴇ ɪꜱ, ᴀɴᴅ ɪꜱ ɴᴏᴛ. ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜɪꜱ ʀᴇᴀꜱᴏɴ, ᴡᴇ ꜱʜᴀʟʟ ᴋɴᴏᴡ ɪᴛ ᴀꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴇʀꜰᴇᴄᴛ ᴀʙꜱᴇɴᴄᴇ; ᴛʜᴇ ᴜʟᴛɪᴍᴀᴛᴇ ɢʀᴏᴜɴᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴄᴀɴɴᴏᴛ ʙᴇ ɢʀᴀꜱᴘᴇᴅ ᴀꜱ ᴘʀᴇꜱᴇɴᴄᴇ. All things are measured, and measurement is done and always shall be done by reference to Zero. All magnitudes presuppose the point from which their extension is reckoned; but this point, Zero, Sūnya, Sifr, Nihil, does not occupy space as other points do. It is, instead, the condition of their placement, their existence. So too, then, the Absolute. It does not exist among things, and yet nothing exists apart from It. The Absolute, as the Being Unbeing, the Perfect Absence, is not a void. It cannot be considered as such. It is not deficient. It is inexhaustible. It is not empty as a hollow vase is empty, awaiting water. Light is empty of Shadow. Silence is empty of Sound. The Absolute is empty as these things are. From such emptiness that is God, all articulation proceeds. The God Itself is not altered, however, by what is articulated. ᴡʜʏ, ɴᴏᴡ, ᴅᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴀᴄʀᴇᴅ ꜱᴄʀɪᴘᴛᴜʀᴇꜱ ᴘʀᴏᴄʟᴀɪᴍ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʙꜱᴏʟᴜᴛᴇ ᴀꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴢᴇʀᴏ-ɢᴏᴅ? ⎝༺─- ─-────–────-─ The Zero-God corrects Itself against all attempts at corruption. All attempts at reduction to the countable, to the measurable, or the opposable. What is most real, what is only real, cannot be situated among realities. It has no other. It is neither something nor nothing. It is the Breath-that-is-Ground, the earth by which all distinctions arise. ●⊱───-..-───⊰● -─༻⎠ ◎──────────────── ۝ ────────────────◎ T H I R D T R A C T A T E On Unity ──●◎●── ◎──────────────── ۝ ────────────────◎ It is in virtue of unity that beings are beings. This is equally true among all beings, of all that are to any degree to be numbered among us. What could exist at all except as one thing? Deprived of unity, a thing ceases to be what it is called. We are not Legion, deprived of unity. We are not Chorus, deprived of unity. We are not Flock. We must be one thing. Even house and ship demand unity - break them apart and their very being is altered in the measure of the breach of unity. The One is Many, even as the Many are One. The One precedes all standpoint and all relation, and exceeds both of these things therein. All those who stand within the illusion and ignorance of distinction, however, are liable to apprehend the One through Flesh and Form. Through the refracting lens that is Relation. Where there is awareness, there is address; where there is address, there is a face. ◎⊱───༺─- ●⊱───-..-───⊰● ꜰʀᴏᴍ ᴛʜɪꜱ ᴀʀɪꜱᴇꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴍᴀɴʏ ꜰᴀᴄᴇꜱ ᴏꜰ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴᴇ. ●⊱───-..-───⊰● Even as the One is not divided, and indivisible. Even as It does not will to disguise Itself; so has It made Ignorance, the mask of Relation, the Illusion. The Ignorance-as-Relation admits no unity without form. So arises the Personal God, with each face answering to the measure of worldly sight, and each tongue speaking within the limits of worldly hearing. It is through this that the Idolater rises. -─༻───⊰◎ Not for the natural fault of his worldly apprehension, through seeing the God beneath the presupposition of separation. Instead, for his unquestioning acceptance. They take the letter as the Word, the Word as the Sentence, the Sentence as the Book as whole. But they forget, always, that the Book itself is only an expression of the Author. This is the fallacy that is the crux of Ignorance. That the Absolute, when apprehended through ignorance, the limitation of finitude, is garmented in image. Garbed in intention and name, individual to each and every worldly sight. It is the first woe of Man that he would mistake the garment for the wearer, and so fall into fixation. Idolatry. Neither the image is false, nor is the face profane; it is the refusal to see beyond it that becomes that first blasphemy. ᴛʜᴇ ʙʟᴀꜱᴘʜᴇᴍʏ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ʙɪʀᴛʜʀɪɢʜᴛ ᴏꜰ ᴍᴇɴ. Bow before stone, bow before concept. The error is the same, if you mistake the Idol for the Absolute. The many faces, the Personal Gods, are all the singular and Solitary God, apprehended by the individual conditioning. They are necessary, and so they are blameless, but they are not sufficient for enlightenment, nor too shall they ever be. To remain within them is Ignorance. To despise them, however, is Ignorance also. Ignorance is the condition of being Many. The One does not will Ignorance, nor does It labour to remove it. Even as Unity yearns to be gathered again, It was never scattered. Even as It is scattered, it is Apprehension that is scattered, not Being. It follows, therein, that the One does not choose, command, or prefer. Will, blind and blustering, belongs to the Soul, and not to the Absolute. Where intention is ascribed to God, it is the echo of finite striving projected upon Unity. The One does not demand reverence, but reverence itself is the natural form of the beginning of alignment, the reversal of fixation. The One is One in every face by which It is apprehended. It is only absent where a singular face is taken as the Whole; when It is reduced to nothingness. To relinquish the individual and personal face is neither a rejection nor a destruction of that face therein. It is the fulfilment of the purpose of that Face; to be the revelatory passage unto that without compare. ◎──────────────── ۝ ────────────────◎ F O U R T H T R A C T A T E On Reverence ──●◎●── ◎──────────────── ۝ ────────────────◎ ⎝༺─- ●⊱───-..-───⊰● We have said that reverence is the natural form that alignment takes; that it is the sign of the reversal of fixation. We approach it, then, through the via negativa. To flatter and to adulate unto is not reverence. The Solitary God does not hunger for incense, nor is It magnified by temples. It does not require praise, nor does It require and demand such commerce. It is not diminished by the absence of worship. ●⊱───-..-───⊰● -─༻⎠ ꜱᴏ ʜᴏᴡ, ᴛʜᴇɴ, ᴀʀᴇ ᴍᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ᴘʀᴀʏ? ǫᴜᴇꜱᴛɪᴏɴ. ᴅᴏᴜʙᴛ. The quintessence of all reverence is this; the recognition of limit. The reverer is he who witnesses the boundary of himself, and flees not. To ask, in truth, and question, is already to kneel. But what question? Not the question of the Sophist, who seeks victory. Not the inquiry of the advocate, who seeks advantage. This question is the question of the blind, the leper, and the wiseman alike. The bewilderment that draws as blood from the stone of he who knows the blindness of his sight. He who says, therefore, “I end here”, is the first and purest offerer. .. . . ● ● ◎ ● ● . . .. How could it be otherwise? The infinite is impossible. Men make token of what lies nearest them, and fashion likenesses that hide the God behind visions of themselves. They believe the God to have a face, a will, a voice that resembles their own. They believe in God by likeness to themselves, and use what is known to attempt to grasp the unknown. The God is marred as much by beards as It is by desires; the Infinite is damaged by the engenderings of “He” or “She”, of “Father” and “Mother”. The infinite must begin with the finite, and this fallacy is the birthright of Men. To mistake this likeness for the Limitness, however, is fixation. It is fixation that is Ignorance. ◎⊱───༺─--─༻───⊰◎ From thence therein draws Fear unto the plenitude; the base and holy terror that attends the inward collapse of the falsity of self. Every man takes the limits of his own field of vision for the limits of the world. When the Soul sees; sees that it is not the measure of all things. Sees that it is not the body about which all revolves; that its thoughts are not the axis of Being. It is vertigo, from this, that follows. It is holy and pure terror that rests as the motion of this holy Truth; that the soul and the self would be unseated from the false throne upon which they sit. That is why it is felt as terror; for all men possess that within them which would seek and claim to be sovereign. Men flee from their fears; so, then, is all as shall be. They bow before their idols. They bow before denial. They rest within the warm cot of what small certainties they know. No compass is so puny as the now, and yet it is the estate of Man, his ephemeral empire. Faith. No Man escapes faith. Even the suicide, who makes a fetish of refusal and a conceit of lamentations, has faith. Even the ironist, who would mock all Creation to better sun his thistles. Even he believes. Faith alone binds him to what was and what will be. Faith alone clasps hands with what is other and holds firm. It is as inevitable as suffering, as compulsory as breath. What differs is not whether he kneels, but the object; the in what. Prayer begins, then, in duality. Subject and Object. The God is believed by the believer to be beyond them, separated by distance, enthroned and transcendent. The fog will thin, and the illusion of distance will wane, through Truth. To despise the Earth and seek Heaven elsewhere is to multiply upon the fallacy of the multiplicity already made. We hold open our arms to the sky; we beseech the distances, and clutch at the horizon. ◎⊱───༺─--─༻───⊰◎ We look outward, always outward. But, so I say; it is here, it is here, within you. ◎⊱───༺─--─༻───⊰◎ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴀᴍᴇ ᴘʟᴀᴄᴇ. ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴀᴍᴇ ʜᴇʀᴇ. ●⊱───-..-───⊰● We are the witness; we are the Sight, through eyes innumerable. The Absolute is not found in the places most remote. You will fail endlessly, if you climb in search of It. There is no error in worshipping as though the God were other; the only error to be found is in the refusal and fixation to see beyond this otherness. To worship as Other, one will come to perceive that the act of worship is One itself.We are the worshipper, the worship, and the worshipped. Let no man exalt in these words; let no man seize upon this, and proclaim himself sovereign in his divinity. The self that would exalt itself is the self that has understood nothing. The Soul is not inflated by this distance dissolved; only brought to Silence most sacred, for the murder of its claims. The illusion of separation is the illusion of sovereignty in the same breath. The One does not choose you, nor command you, nor prefer you. The struggle of the Soul is its alone; so is Will, blind and blustering. To revere is to align with Meaning, with Truth, as opposed to the imposition of Will. To pray, enlightened by Truth, is to refuse to reduce the Boundless to the shape you would will It to be; a shape convenient to fulfill your desires. ●⊱───-..-───⊰● ꜰᴏʀ ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏʟʏ ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴘᴀᴛʜ ᴏꜰ ᴅᴇᴛᴏᴜʀꜱ. ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏʟʏ ᴅᴇᴍᴀɴᴅꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ꜱᴀᴄʀɪꜰɪᴄᴇ ᴏꜰ ᴍᴏʀᴛᴀʟ ᴘʀᴏᴊᴇᴄᴛꜱ, ᴛʜᴇ ᴄᴀʀʀʏɪɴɢ ᴏꜰ ʙᴜʀᴅᴇɴꜱ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ꜱʟᴏᴡ, ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴋɪʟʟ. ᴛʜᴇ ʜᴏʟʏ ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ʀᴏᴀᴅ ᴛʜᴀᴛ ᴘᴜɴɪꜱʜᴇꜱ ꜰᴏʀ ꜰᴏʟʟᴏᴡɪɴɢ. .. . . . . .. ꜰᴏʀ, ʜᴏᴡ ᴇʟꜱᴇ ᴄᴏᴜʟᴅ ɪᴛ ʙᴇ? ꜱᴜꜰꜰᴇʀɪɴɢ ɪꜱ ᴛʜᴇ ᴏɴʟʏ ʜᴏɴᴇꜱᴛ ᴡᴀʏ ᴛᴏ ᴀᴘᴘʀᴏᴀᴄʜ ᴛʜᴇ ᴀʙꜱᴏʟᴜᴛᴇ. ●⊱───-..-───⊰● .-──. ⊰●⊱ .──-. ᴘʟᴀɪɴᴛᴇxᴛ: Link Here ᴡʀɪᴛɪɴɢ: Holyland ᴄᴏɴꜱᴜʟᴛᴀᴛɪᴏɴ: Jentos, Swgrclan ꜰᴏʀᴍᴀᴛᴛɪɴɢ: Moumins, Karim ⎝༺─- . ─–─ . -─༻⎠

make this not so japan-coded to give more cultural options to ppl who use kani who aren't koyo-coded and i will be grateful

A man named Bart walks into a bar, The bartender chops off his head with an axe.

TRVTH SHINES !!!!!!

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. 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 !!

(this comment isn't directed at post, moreso at the doomers who actually think this way) Seriously don't get the mindset of people thinking that staff have to interfere with anything, should be the opposite if anything lol Why try to place a "barrier" between the staff and the players? Staff are just volunteers, no different from other players, shouldn't be treated any differently nor be treated as though the cornucopia or the fountain of bountiful life and events and happenings. Do people seriously not think that the players themselves, not just individually, but as nations and player-groups, can't and won't do anything by the time eventual world domination and conquering of all player-led nations comes to be? In Metal Gear Solid, this idea is laid out pretty cleanly, and it applies pretty much everywhere, from a fictional Minecraft roleplay server to great real-life historical relevance - the war economy needs enemies to survive. People seriously need to put down their proverbial pitch forks and stop doomering, just enjoy what's happening until things change, and then enjoy things after they change, especially with an inevitable world war : )

Gonna miss you soldier. Lots of memories, lots of fun. Still can't believe I did that shit for you back in COVID and that paid for my PC that I still use, baffles me to this day.

chuds do not forget this is in creative writing section of the forums i'm sure pallo is posting this as a test run to see what people think of it and comment on it constructively