Light and Dark (Illuminatus Temple) -Chyril 23rd NT

[Ssinith DIllil]

"Perhaps the older ones would find spite in such things... but many years have passed. We are a very prideful people and see our ways as superior to the surface. This I say as a good thing. We are here for respect, not destruction. Though if we are shoved too hard by a surface threat, as we have proven in the war, we will not hesitate to destroy."

Ssinith sighed, folding his hands.

"Destruction in moderation is not a sin in our people... which is why the assassins are considered a normal, but secretive, job. They keep keen our senses to work at our finest at all times. They also keep the guards at their finest. We believe in a sort of organized chaos. Hence why we have three noble houses, three merchant houses, and three faiths. Competition and aggression builds us as a strong people. I do not believe Gulanadur wishes to impose that belief on the surface... rather than expand it by dealing with the trials of the surface. Why do you think I risk my health in entering your temple in order to have this conversation? I knew there would be the potential that someone would try to smite me with the power of your god. But because I faced that trial along with my actions on the surface, we are sitting here... and learning the secrets of both of our societies. Conflict is a blessed thing, so long as there lies a resolution to learn from. For without resolution, the conflict destroys us. That is why the temple of the Lady of Death fell to your heroes; the consequences of their conflict for nothing but the joy of having it."

He was wondering how the surface scribe would react to that revelation. Ssinith also looked over to Talanwei to better get a feel for his two cents of the conversation.

[Tristam]

"If it is challenges that your people seek, then they shall find blessings in abundance on the surface." Quillan commented dryly. "I do not think I should like your restrained chaos. I much prefer the order of my Order. So much less wasted when the strong help the weak become the strong instead of culling them."

Quillan sniffed. "Have you brought examples of your holy writings to the surface?" He inquired. "I think an exchange of tomes is in order."

[Ssinith DIllil]

S'sinith finally saw some distaste in the scribe and nodded with a smile. Still getting along even with a disagreement. Things were running smoothly.

"You and the Church of the Moonlady would get along much better than the Moltenites. It is upon your ideals of Order to which the Church of Molten has conflict. We prefer to give the beggars jobs and strengthen them through the heat of work than to merely give hand outs. I do have representatives from that faith with me. Though the Moltenites are in power, the Moonlady actually has the majority in their faith with the peasantry. Being born from the merchant class, I can honestly say I am more spoiled than most. I have them not with me at the moment, but I am sure I can bring you texts from both faiths as I have representatives from both at the Embassy."

Ssinith paused a moment, thinking that he needed to clarify a few things about the chaos.

"I believe not all of us believe in actually 'culling' as you put it. The ones of Anasati, yes... it would be culling to them. To the Moltenites, it would be smithing it... through heat and pounding you lose impurities in order to become refined and empowered. To the Moonlady... they work hard for one another to raise everyone up. If you seek to see the kinder side of our people, you must meet with the representatives of Ach-Lunari and the Temple of the Moonlady. If a thug attacks a peasant woman unable to fend for herself, then one protects the potential of the peasant by taking out the thug who wishes to waste it. If a thug faces a warrior woman who can swing a weapon, then the conflict will make her stronger once she teaches him a lesson. Of course, there are those of each faith who interpret the edicts of their god differently."

Ssinith smiled for a moment and looked away as he caught himself rambling again. This was a step, but in the right direction.

"I ramble. I pray this has been enlightening for you as it has for me. There will be some philosophical problems, but nothing to go to war about. This gives me some peace. Perhaps what disagreements you might have could be better explained with the other side of our culture. What time would be best for you to meet my people? I know your Church must be preparing for the coronation as well as I am."

[Tristam]

"An invitation to your Embassy?" Quillan paused and put down his quill. "Very well. I will match your courage and descend into darkness." He nodded. It would be a difficult sell to more militant members of the order but in truth Quillan did not need their permission to seek knowledge. He would go with or without their consent.

"Let us say tradetide on the day following the coronation." Quillan suggested. "Between the ceremony itself and the archiving that will follow, I think that is the earliest I could break away."

[Ssinith DIllil]

Ssinith nodded... that would be a busy day for certain. He tapped his quill to his page for a moment, trying to figure out the best way to figure this out.

"I also have professor from the University of Magic arriving around that time. He is quite facinated by the concept of shaping and is the head of the Alchemy department. You will be speaking to the ones who worship the Moonlady, and not myself, so I should be able to share Gulanadur with both of you. It will be interesting to see the thoughts of one of the arcane and divine on the surface... I wonder if it is as rivaled up here as it is in my homeland."

[Tristam]

"We stay largely to each others haunts and rarely encounter one another." Quillan explained. "Occasionally we would clash over advice given to the Caesar but Lady Rioja always had a way of sifting through it all and bring the best to him." Quillan sighed. "Citadel is a poorer place with her gone and Anochrim dead."

[Ssinith DIllil]

So more than just Anochrim of the Party of Light were gone one way or another... Sosa had lost the Purple Guard, Anochrim had passed, and now it appeared Rioja had vanished. His gaze gave him sympathy, but his voice was empowering and lifting.

"Then perhaps it is time for not just the Dark and the Light to know one another. If we can speak with civil nature, perhaps so can the priests and the wizards. Your Empire has lost much, but it is time for all to adapt to the situation. We have a new Caesar about to be crowned, and it would lighten his load in order to speak without tearing one another apart. Gulanadur is now a part of the Empire for all intents and purposes... I knew from the start that the general attitude of the surface to us would cause pointless conflict. That is why I am here."

He didn't really want to see the surface get better than Gulanadur, but they were allies. His frustrations with the surface were about to be revealed, and it took a bit to keep his temper in check.

"We of Gulanadur have had problems with our surface allies thinking they can just take over our society. The ones of Dort also gave nothing to the Dwarves of Nazarenne after I had heard they were all but ruined in the war, and their merchants walked our streets as if they had taken our land. Furthermore, the merchants in general have enslaved Panites in Aveas who had acted as our allies during the war... suffice to say our people have not been happy with how the surface believes. I have every reason to loathe your kind. I learned something from the War, however. Hate without true reason is one of the most senseless conflicts of them all. I had to know why you..."

He was about to call the surface primates again, but he closed his eyes and held his frustrations back.

"... People... believed the way you did. If I can bring myself to come to that decision to learn first and attack second from what I experienced first hand, then I do believe there to be hope for your Citadel, even with your Party of Light being strewn. You lost your guard, Sosa is no longer in power, and now I hear other members of the Party are gone. Yes... this is conflict. Will you continue to squabble in anger and make it pointless, or are you no longer going to act like the majority and make greater steps to unify your precious land?"

He was frustrated, but not hateful. No, hate was a decision he was not going to make. That spark in his eyes which brought people to action because he didn't like what was going on was there. That same spark which ignited so many to join the Army of the Ascent.

[Tristam]

Quillan's face became more and more fixed as Ssinith spoke. After all of the quiet talk they had just had, this energetic speech was unexpected. Quillan dipped his pen into the inkwell with deliberate calm. "It sounds like you have much to discuss with the new Caesar." He said at last. "For my part, I can tell you that the Church of Illuminatus condemns slavery wherever it is practiced." Quillan raised his head to look Ssinith more fully in the face. He knew full well Gulanadur allowed slavery If Ssinith wanted to fight that evil, he could do it much closer to home.

"The people you speak of joined the Empire at about the same time your people did." Qullian pointed out. "No doubt it will take time for the necessary adjustments to be made to bring things in line with the current laws of the Empire. Without a Caesar, such matters have had to rest."

[Ssinith DIllil]

"We are not frustrated with the slavery. We are frustrated that people of the light say that they are more moralistic than we and they make their allies their slaves. On the other side, we take humor that the law here forbids drugs except for the Panites because of their 'worship' practices. You and I have more philosophical dispute on issues, but saying one thing and doing another is wrong no matter what stance you take."

A thought occurred to S'sinith on how to portray his point of view as he clapped his hands together in realization of this analogy to better explain how he saw things. He gestured to the flickering candle as he put a stopper in his ink well.

"I think you will agree that there will always be light. It is not everywhere, but there is only one reason for this."

Picking up his ink well he placed it in front of him, but behind the candle which left a shadow behind the ink well.

"Because there is an object. There is a cave, the sun sets behind the horizon, the tree leaves give shade... however you see it, the darkness can not exist without an object. We... are objects. No matter what we choose, every man has a shadow cast on his soul. I am sure you sometimes have not thought on the light all of your days. I know I have been lazy sometimes. Now... here is light and darkness for a man."

S'sinith gestured back to the ink well and continued his metaphor.

"A man who looks into the light keeps his shadow behind him. He seeks enlightenment and tries to forsake his dark side in order to better himself and those around him. On the down side, the light is very bright and he can often blind him to tending to his shadow lest it consume him. Sometimes he forgets that he, himself, makes mistakes and can fall prey to it because of his forgetfulness."

He then placed the ink well between the scribe and himself, making the shadow cast in front of the ink well.

"A man who looks into his own shadow instead of the light is not blinded and is fully aware of his own shortcomings. He takes in the entire reality of the situation and realizes there is consequence to every action. Mistakes are a given and strengths are based off of what actions will bring the least consequences to the man and all around him. The downside to this is, that they get comfortable in their shortcomings and forget the light is there. Now... here is the difference between good and evil..."

He placed the inkwell to the side with the inkwell casking a shadow to the side between S'sinith and the scribe with the candle shedding light on the other side.

"A man who sees not light or shadow ahead of him has nothing interesting to look at but himself. He does as he pleases with disregard to what the light shows or his own shortcomings because all he cares about is what he sees before him... and that is nothing. We all arrive at this point many times in our life. We are always rotating around the light as an object, sometimes stepping away from what we believe... but actions which keep us stationary in this position... that is, only seeing the self, is evil. Because you make the choice not to make you or yourself stronger, you merely stay put in order to cater to yourself. Let us take the concept of slavery between us..."

He placed the inkwell back behind the candle to make the inkwell face the light.

"Slavery is wrong because it strips people of freedom. They are forsaken of the ability to choose as their masters do which disallows their full potential to be reached and are treated less than other people. For all people to be happy, they should remain free as human beings."

He then placed the inkwell in the position of it facing the shadow and continues his explanation.

"Slavery may strip people from freedom, but there are worse things that can happen to a human being. If they are slaves, even if the conditions are not the best, they have a roof over their head and food to eat in exchange for work unlike the beggars roaming the streets. A man who goes into debt, instead of being killed or tortured as a penalty, are placed to serve someone else. Those slaves who are not content with their quality of life can opt to better serve their master by raising them above their own level, and thus getting more favor from them. There are even some people who prefer not to have freedom to choose as they desire... otherwise beggars would not exist and we would have more people looking for jobs."

S'sinith then placed the inkwell stationary in the center with the shadow being cast to the side.

"They know that their people consider slavery wrong, but the island is theirs now and they can do as they please to these people who used to own it, and even helped them defeat the invaders. They need someone to cut down the trees The Panites once held sacred in order to build more stores and make more crown, and it's cheaper just to put people in camps than to hire more labor... even with our differences in philosophy, I think we can agree on the evil there. It may be the Panite's problem and not mine, but perhaps that will put our opinion of the surface into perspective."

[Tristam]

Quillan scratched away at his parchment as Ssinith explained his theories of light and shadow. Ssinith could even see little sketches of inkwells and candles in the priest's book.

"I believe your analogies require more careful thought before I address them." Quillan said evenly. "But I would urge you not to make the same mistake that many on the surface have. For you see, the only experience most on the surface have had of the dark adhiel are the dark rituals and bloody hands of the followers of Anasati. I presume you would not want every crime of theirs laid at your feet simply because you share the same race and location. So do not claim to hate all of the surface because of the actions of the people of World's Mouth and the blind eyes of some of our leaders." Quillan requested. "It will open more doors in your search for understanding."

[Ssinith DIllil]

"That is something I am learning..." he admitted with humility. "I am still young with much to learn of my own anger. Hence why I came here to face my hate and my anger... to understand it. To show you why I am angry brings understanding to both of us."

The surface was just as annoyed with them as they were with the surface. This was nothing new, and yet the teenage Adhiel realized much in that simple fact. He sighed at himself and ran his fingers through his hair as he chuckled at his short comings. Something in him trusted this man in front of him, as he had been calm through the speaking... he let his political mask go and relaxed as he confessed his fears as a teenage boy who had been through a lot.

"I turned but seventeen yahren a few months ago, good scribe. Young for even a human. Age has nothing to do with allowing frustration to take over... but I am still a youth. I am from a merchant class, and a wizard who was given this position. I cared for books, not people. I will never question the faith our Queen placed into me, but knowing people is my greatest weakness. Granted that this conflict will forge it, though I feel as if I have not even been smelted to my purest and I have been beaten by the hammer. I have much to learn to represent even my own people, let alone work with a people I do not even know... and even fear sometimes, after the War. That is my fear, though... not Gulanadur's. Yet all that I do now represents my entire people. I have none to weep to as a child in a foreign land. My people need me strong. Men have died to keep me alive, including my own brother."

Why? That was the look in his eyes, but he spoke of it not. Why did even the Queen look to him to represent Gulanadur? A social fop and bookworm? It was not the whining of a teenager who detested doing what he was told, rather something deep in him that he didn't understand.

Perhaps this place was, indeed, a place where truth was revealed as he reflected his very heart instead of Philosophy or Theology. That very heart so treasured by his people that they had joined the Army of the Ascension at his plea. Strange was this glow of lava... the peeking heat and glow heating up under the black spots of magma showed that strange dark light in his spirit.

Soft, burning, but not easily broken. This was S'sinith D'Illil-Devir.

[Tristam]

"So, your God of lava and industry has led you down paths to temper your will and make you stronger." Quillan summarized. "You feel you are a tool for a task other than the ones before you yet you set forth to tackle them trusting that others will not have steered you wrong."

Quillan smiled at the young dark adhiel. "Our gods may be different, S'sinith D'Illil-Devir, but that is a journey of faith that I know well. I can at least show by example that when the times of duty are past, there can be a return to the books you care for."

[Ssinith DIllil]

S'sinith sighed and smiled. It was a truly kind offer for this scribe from another faith. He had not been met with this patience before. This was truly a good first step for the surface as he relaxed for the first time he was in here.

"Thank you, good Scribe. It will be a much needed escape to just sit down and practice my quill. I have not done it for so long. This truly has been a welcomed experience."

It was then that he realized how much time he must have spent talking the tide away when he just wanted to check on Talanwei and the sailor. He also wondered how many on the outside were curiously wondering what in the Nether the two of them were speaking of.

"Uhm... how long have we been? I do not wish to worry the others, considering the... shock of my entrance. They may be getting worried, or at least very curious."

[Tristam]

Quillan looked over at his candle. "Close to half a mark it would seem." He answered. "Time does fly when a topic of interest is found. I have duties I should be attending to as well." Quillan admitted. "This conversation however was far more satisfying." He smiled slightly and rose to see Ssinith to the door.

[Ssinith DIllil]

"Glad to have satisfied you, sir. I am certain you will find our next meeting that much more satisfying. I am glad to have understood you better myself."

With that, he departed with a respectful nod and paid no mind to the stares he would get as he left. Nodding to Talanwei in his silent contemplation, he hoped to see his old friend again sometime.

(Fin )

[Tristam]

Thread skilled!