N 1:1 The highest necessity is truth, as true beliefs will yield favorable results with great reliability, while false beliefs will not. -2 Can you determine what is true by merely a throwing of the dice? -3 Shall we call true only that which we wish were so? -4 No. To claim to know the truth, one must demonstrate that it is so. -5 Who calls an unproven belief true shall be called a liar. -6 Who tells you not to ask, does not wish their lie exposed. -7 Shall you call a lie right because you draw comfort from it? -8 Then will you draw warmth from pretending to have a camp fire? -9 False comfort is as bad as false safety, it does not remove danger, only hides it. It does not offer true strength, only disguises personal weakness. -10 How then will you know true from false?
An Encounter With Deception
N 1:11 In the time of the last war, a great fool named Philip was bribed and given the means to rebel by the Slane Theocracy. -12 The man was widely regarded as an incompetent of the highest order, arrogant and vain, grasping and faithless, weak in body and in mind, yet he seemed to succeed without effort. -13 This proved to be a grand deception by the Sorcerer King, who lured him to a trap, destroyed him in one blow with his servants, and captured shortly thereafter, the whole of the loyalty, land, soldiers, faith, and wealth of Re-Estize through his vassal, good King Zanac. -14 Had the Slane Theocracy been wise, they would have questioned this success from an incompetent, they would have observed that no real effort was made to stop the fool, yet such was their eagerness to believe in their own success, that they gave in to false belief, and aided in their own destruction. -15 Therefore it must be said that observation and comparison of belief to knowledge, desire to evidence, must be rigorously applied at all times in order to avoid deception.
N 1:16 Anyone may find themselves led to err, the wise are they which, when finding themselves deceived, abandon the deception in order to avoid further ruin to themselves or that which they value. -17 The fool however, finding evidence that they are deceived, cannot accept that they were made the fool, and they redouble the folly by further embracing the deception. -18 The wise will learn from the mistakes of all, the intelligent will learn from their own mistakes, and the fool will never admit mistakes, let alone learn from them.
N 1:19 No truth will require lies to protect or promote it, therefore when finding one who claims the truth, but speaks lies to advance it, mistrust their claim to truth.
N 1:20 Question all things, it is wise as well as pragmatic. Though it may sting, it stings less than the harm brought on by falsehood.
N 1:21 Of necessity much can be said, but what must be known first is that it must be followed. -22 Who denies the need, suffers for the deed. -23 Make your necessities just, and you will prosper, make your necessities according to your vices, and you will become a bane.
N 1:24 In all things necessity rules, and may require great sacrifice, even of the innocent.
An Encounter with the Sorcerer King
N 1:25 A great general, now known to us as the Great Matriarch, Hard-Eyed General Enri Emmott-Bareare, went before the Sorcerer King in great distress, for he had saved her people many times and made of her a great woman by the investment of his labor in education and opportunity, as well as the guidance and mentorship of his subordinates and himself. -26 She was sorely troubled, for she knew his power, she knew that in the ensuing struggle, many would perish, that the Slane Theocracy and its ruthless allies would slay as many as they could as often as they had to in order to gain a victory. -27 She also knew that because of his power he could end the war with the merest wave of his hand, therefore she knelt before him with eyes wet with tears fearing the loss of so many in conventional war. -28 "Why, why my lord, when you have such divine power, must we mere mortals fight this war as if you were one of us, and not the god you are?" She had asked him. -29 To which he replied, "Because I am not fighting to win a war, but to build a nation, a united one, where vampire and human, quagoa and dwarf, frost giant and dragon, naga and elf, call one another, brother, sister, and neighbor. -30 In the shedding of common blood, standing together as one, they will unite in a way no force can compel them. -31 Necessity demands that they fight together to recognize one another's worth, for this is the nature of the living, to contest against one another like rams, or fight as one. -32 I am not willing that they should die, yet death is inevitable, and if it is to be, then I would have it be so that such a conflict is never fought again. -33 They will bleed, but they will bleed for one another, and from that mingling of blood, they will become one." -34 Such was the wisdom of the Sorcerer King, who recognized the needs of the people and the means to achieve it, that General Enri would go on to win accolades for her service, and sacrifice even her desire for children, to aid in the birth of a new world. -35 If even a god and his generals know necessity, how much more must a common powerless mortal? -36 Can you deny it where he cannot?
N 1:37 Never stand in the way of need, instead strive to meet needs, and the result will be greater peace, prosperity and happiness for the generations that will follow you.
N 1:38 In times of struggle, necessity demands a common response, if your neighbor has no food as he has no money, do you think him content to starve? -39 Always recognize the common necessity of your fellows and aid one another in meeting them.
N 1:39 In times of war, know that necessity is unkind, yet where it is not needful, work no harm. -40 All wars end, but what is needed will not, therefore if a home does not need to be destroyed, leave it be. -41 If a life need not be ended, spare it. -42 If a wounded life can be saved, save it. -43 If mercy can be granted, grant it. -44 If a battle must be fought, fight it to win it. War requires victory, yet not all victories are equal. -45 Is it a great victory to destroy a great army to the last man? -46 Or is it a greater victory to capture, whole and intact, all that was brought to bear against you? -47 Or is it an even greater victory to capture all, without it ever being brought to bear successfully, so that the whole of a nation is handed over? -48 Or is it not the greatest victory of all, to destroy your enemies, by making them your friends? -49 Therefore fight last, but when you must fight, fight to win in such a way that you need not fight the same enemy twice. -50 And while the Truth is preferable, in war, it may be necessary to deceive your enemies in order to save many more lives.
N 1:51 Is there a forest with a single tree? -52 Is there a river with but one drop of water for all fish to swim in? -53 Though a farm may begin with but a single seed, will the farmer thrive if that wheat stands alone? -54 No. Therefore, as all things in nature need one another, the highest necessity of the individual is that many individuals come together for the common good. -55 Do you think you stand alone, farmer, noble, merchant? -56 No, for the merchant needs the man who builds the roads, does the merchant not need food? -57 Can he eat his wealth? -58 Coin contains little taste and no nourishment; therefore, he needs the farmer. Does this need not create obligation to care for the poor farmer, without whom he could not eat? -59 Necessity demands a common obligation, and the more who make your greatness possible, the more you must do for those who lift you up. -60 If you do nothing for those below you, they are right to ensure that you fall very far and are replaced by those who will not forget their needs.
N 1:61 Necessities must be pursued on balance, where the needs of one do not take too much from another. -62 If you need the land to produce, then you must also know that the soil needs to be tended. -63 If you wish wood for your fire, you must know that the trees you take must be replaced and replenished with new plantings. -64 If you require many cattle for meat, you must know that your cattle must have space for themselves. -65 If a need is neglected too greatly, then the balance of nature will be disrupted and the world itself will turn against you. -66 As the Sorcerer King sacrifices of himself to meet the needs of his followers, so must you sometimes sacrifice of yourself to meet the needs of the world. Do this, and you are a true follower of God, and a truly loving father to the children of many generations hence, for from you they will inherit a world worth living in.
An Encounter With the Sorcerer King
N 1:67 There came a time when the Sorcerer King made to sojourn into the lands of the Draconic Kingdom to drive out a terrible invasion by the Beastman Kingdom. -68 As his work within the Draconic Kingdom ended, he made his way in to the heart of the invader's nation. -69 Now neither man nor woman had ventured into that land before, not in many years, and it was said to be a great paradise. -70 However what he found was hell. -71 He found ruin and destruction, chaos, sickness, desperation, want, many beastmen were starving to death, and the capital city of their once mighty civilization sustained itself at all only by preying on smaller communities, while those beastmen who were fit and able, conducted the devastating invasion of their neighbors. -72 Further study revealed that they had grown so numerous and the need for food had grown so great, that their attempt at raising the food they need, destroyed the soil and the livestock; harvesting from the waters was so excessive that soon little was left and the waters became poisonous. -73 The people of the Beastman Kingdom had destroyed themselves even more than they had their human neighbor to the west. -74 The wrath of the divine was great, and he destroyed the wicked city of the capital, striking it down beneath the earth. -75 Thereafter they who yet survived learned to balance the needs of their population against the ability of their nation to sustain itself. -76 Today they are growing again, the spiral of life goes up, but slowly in accordance with their ability to make for themselves a good land to live on.
N 1:77 Necessity makes for innovation, those who dare to create and to invent, to imagine and to dream, and act to bring those thoughts into reality, are a blessing to your neighbors. -78 Invention requires education; how can a problem be solved if it is not understood? How can things be understood without learning? -79 As the body requires food, shelter, water, clothing…so too does survival require the pursuit of knowledge and understanding.
N 1:80 As some things provide for the needs to continue to exist, others provide for the need to truly live. -81 Do all things in moderation, including moderation. -82 Indulge…but not too much. -83 Work…but not so much you forget to play. -84 Play…but not so much that you forget that you need to work. -85 Enjoy a passionate hour with a willing mate, or two, or three…or more…but do not violate sacred trusts or wound hearts to do so, nor lie to those who entrust the safety and warmth of their bodies to you. -86 Never turn away from the consequences of your actions. -87 All who live desire that their actions have favorable ends, all who are just desire that favorable ends come to all. -88 But know that you who command, may not always have that happen. -89 You may have to make choices that end lives which you wish to save, or that lead to some living whose lives deserve to end. -90 Whatever choice this is, whatever end this is, you who give the order, must bear witness to the results, and must live with them for the rest of your days. -91 If you cannot bear the burden of the consequences, then you cannot bear the burden of responsibility, and you cannot call yourself fit to command. -92 All actions which are carried out, are acts of service and worship to the Sorcerer King's justice and his will. -93 To do what needs to be done, even though it may cause you or another to suffer, is an act of sacrifice.
N 1:94 Therefore you must know what is truly necessary, and whether you act for righteous reasons, or whether you act for wrongful ones. -95 To understand these things is to be wise. -96 To fail to understand them is to be a fool. -97 To attempt to go against the necessities many dictates is to be utterly mad. -98 Therefore we must come back our beginning of this book. -99 That to know what is necessary, you must know that what you believe, is actually true. -100 For unless you know what is true, you will never truly know…what you need to do, for your god, for your lover, your children, your community, or even yourself. And knowing where you are wrong, you may avoid bringing ruin upon them all. -Therefore reflect, reason, study, and take action…and you will be His true servant.
Neia spoke with vigor and passion as she recited the hundred and one passages from memory while her book was held close to her breast as if for comfort. Her face betrayed none of the fear she felt for Skana, her voice revealed none of the anxiety she felt at her towering mission or the threats she now feared that were being laid against it; she had a job to do, it needed to be done, and so she would do her best. Yet despite all this, few believed she was truly unaffected by the poisoning of her wife, which made her conviction and her very presence all the more impressive.
"I know I have said much to you today, but there is more to go, so I must express my gratitude to those who have sat and listened with open hearts and open ears and open minds. Even if you do not yet find yourself agreeing that divine wisdom has come to us from the one true god, you have the wisdom to at least consider it. For that I thank you, and as this day comes to a close, I promise that tomorrow I will hear your questions and we will speak to the matter of the meaning of divinity." She said as she looked around at the many levels above her. Lakyus's seat was empty, this did not bode ill as she saw things, rather it meant she was laboring beside her friends to find the cause of the danger that Neia was put through.
As the leaders of the faiths stood up and began to file out, Neia thought about Skana. Dying had clearly taken its toll on her, she had faked it well enough—she was strong, but it would require weeks or months to bring her former strength back. She had tried to hide it, (Neia smirked a little) it was a sweet gesture. And so, she made no issue over it. However, their desperate love making the night before had revealed that it was only her urgent relief at being alive, and that her wife was safe, that had given Skana the strength she needed to reciprocate the pleasure that Neia had sought to give her. The grip they'd held one another in as darkness closed in around them both revealed very clearly that Skana had not the strength she did the day before, and her weakness terrified Neia…that moment of finality in her stillness…it still made her shudder.
Her heart raced, and when the last priestess had filed out, Neia followed, mounted her undead horse, and rode back to the hotel. All she really wanted right then was to feel her wife's embrace again and revel in the certain knowledge that Skana was still alive, alive and with her, the way she wanted them to be, always.
AN: I know, short chapter, they can't all be long, and this is where it needs to be to set up for the next one soooo...hey, you got a double release today, enjoy it. :) A guy got his sister vampired (she donated blood to a blood bank) to get two chapters in a day after all. :)