AN: While there is some laying the scene in this chapter, the bulk of the material details the contents of his religious text, if you don't care for that aspect of the story, you can probably skip that chapter, the 'holy book' as I've put it together is just worldbuilding to create a functional religion that can actually work. Honestly it's an indulgence that is more for me than anyone else because I just like detailed culture crafting. If you read it, fine, if you don't, you won't be lost in the next chapter.
When Ainz walked through Arwintar that morning, he did not walk alone, Leinas Rockbruise had long since returned to her status as one of his bodyguards, despite being far, far weaker than he, it was a position of honor and it was a symbol of human trust in the Sorcerer King. She walked in front of him with her hand placed firmly on her sword. This was not, for her, a symbol. She could wear her hair back because he had kept his word, he had saved her from her self-disgust and given back the face she had lost. If it came to it, she would put his life before her own. Her long golden hair hung freely behind her bouncing gently as she marched formally and at a constant military pace.
Most of the time the Sorcerer King was happy to linger and speak with the populace, and when it came to Arwintar, where he was especially popular, he proved…a little frustrating to guard because he enjoyed his small diversions into the lives of his subjects.
Not this time. This time it was clear he was moving with purpose, while he was not rushing, he walked like a man who had to be somewhere, and he did. This didn't surprise most of those who saw him, everybody knew the Synod was taking place, and though he hadn't been seen until now… well speculation had been rampant about when he would appear.
Today was that day, he got to the door of the massive building, but before he could enter, Leinas caught his eye when she turned to him and met his gaze.
"Yes, Leinas?" He asked curiously.
"Sire, whatever they decide in there, you are a god…here." She said, and rendered her salute, placing her fist firmly over her heart, and looking up into his expressionless face.
"Thank you." He said sincerely as he touched her shoulder.
She stepped aside and took the handle of the door for him and walked through, first, looking for any sign of hostility, before he followed her within.
The rows and rows of seats were filled, a few were empty of priests, but had been filled by scribes who would take notes for those who stood absent for whatever reason. Where the priests wore formal robes of white, the scribes wore a faded blue colored like ink, with silver caps on their heads, they reminded Ainz somewhat of walking pens at first glance, like the cheap multipack ones you could buy at a convenience store. He let himself smirk internally at the comparison and then he began when the noise settled.
"I know some of you are wondering today where the pope is, why is Neia Baraja not here, and why do I stand in her place?" He said, his voice carrying from the lowest ear on the lowest tier, to the highest ear on the highest tier. There were many nods around the room.
"She is not here with us today because she is in need of recovery, the poison of an assassin has left her deeply wounded, so I have had her transferred to a facility intended to treat her hidden wounds. Too, she has done much, and is deserving of a good rest. Therefore, I will speak instead." He said.
"So, a god will speak to us?" A somewhat sarcastic voice let slip.
"A god that cannot speak for itself, is hardly much of a god now, is it?" He asked rhetorically, his witty retort created a stirring of discomfort among those who have served gods that haven't said a word for themselves in centuries.
"As conflict is the order of the day, and it is conflict that led us to this hour, after a year of war and destruction, I will tell you of the Book of Battle.
B.B. 1-1 War is that which settles questions in a contest of child killing, therefore consider your questions significance with care.
B.B. 1-2 A war of words costs less than a war of swords, therefore wage the former for as long as you can before accepting that the latter cannot be avoided.
B.B. 1-3 Wage no war on those who will not march against you.
B.B. 1-4 War is waste, what wealth there is from it comes from theft and predation.
B.B. 1-5 Who advocates for war, should fight it themselves.
B.B. 1-6 To slaughter for victory is to surrender to vice, to win without slaughter is to win a brighter future.
B.B. 1-7 It is the brevity of mortal life, with its great scarcity in the span of eternity, which gives it value, do not spend it foolishly.
B.B. 1-8 The fires of war are the crucible of necessity in which either all virtue or all vice will be burned away to lay bare the true nature of those with whom you fight, both for, and against. B.B. 1-9 If you find yourself surrounded by those whose virtue is burned away to nothing, you are on the wrong side.
The Sorcerer King's Virtuous General
B.B. 1-10 It happened during the war that a certain city was besieged by the armies of his majesty, the city was well defended with thick high walls, ample siege engines, many soldiers with abundant supplies. 1-11 Within that city, there was a man whose name is damned from memory, who was responsible for the education of the children of the city's leaders. 1-12 The man, seeing before him the chance to win favor with his majesty, and perhaps some great reward, lead the small ones placed in his care out of the city and all the way to the ranks of the Sorcerer King's army. 1-13 There he offered the children as hostages to compel the city to yield to save those they cherished from a terrible fate. 1-14 The virtuous general however, stood appalled at such a tactic, and immediately sent a messenger under truce to the city informing them of what happened, assuring them that she had no part in this, and offering a hundred yard truce and the immediate safe return of both their children and the traitor, whom they could do with as they pleased. 1-15 The city's rulers were given back their children, and so moved were they by the justice of the general, that the city surrendered without a fight, yet who truly won and who truly lost? 1-16 The city preserved itself, its children, and its future, the virtuous general preserved her justice and accomplished her end, the only ones who lost, were those who preferred the path of the betrayer. 1-17 Therefore be wary of those whose ends are better served by your own demise, instead seek victory without loss.
B.B. 1-18 The greatest battle is against the self. 1-19 In the battle against the self, it is a struggle against vices, sloth, avarice, selfishness unbounded by restraint, self-deception, cowardice. 1-20 Win this battle and you will have won the world.
B.B. 1-21 There is no sin but that which harms another, therefore weakness is a sin, for it weakens the ability of the individual to protect and provide for their community.
B.B. 1-22 If your lust brings pleasure between you and another who desires you, who is able to offer up their lust in turn, then there is no sin. 1-23 If however, your lust can only bring ruin and harm, and/or it is turned to one who may not freely offer up themselves, then the lust within the self must be fought off and restrained.
B.B. 1-23 Knowledge is half of every conflict, how it may be avoided and how it may be won, seek first to know how to bring peace without war, seek second the knowledge of how to win a war without bloodshed.
B.B. 1-24 Honor the sacrifice of those who lay down their lives for you and your own, they place their bodies between you and war's desolation, in this there is no greater love, and no greater virtue. 1-25 In their sacrifice, and in the honoring of it, is the spirit of god.
B.B. 1-26 If you send the healthy to fight in times of war, know that you will owe a debt to repair their injuries in times of peace.
B.B. 1-27 Ask not of others in times of want or danger, what you will not do yourself.
B.B. 1-28 Forget not that the goal of war is peace, and the goal of peace is to avoid war.
B.B. 1-29 Preserve what can be preserved, but know that sacrifice, however tragic, may be unavoidable. 1-30 The dictates of war is a study in necessity, therefore take care in knowing what must be done.
B.B. 1-31 When you go to attack a town, first offer terms of surrender, if they refuse, and you capture the town, accept all surrenders, harm none who do not strive to harm you. 1-32 Should you come to children, mothers to be, the elderly, or any others who are unable to fight back, secure them with dignity, and let no excess of bloodlust fall on their innocent heads, even if you must remind your comrades at sword point. 1-33 Know that protecting the weak is common sense, and who does this, bears my justice in their heart.
B.B. 1-34 No captive of war, soldier, citizen, foreigner, or fellow, may be owned as property, while prisoners must be held secure, they may not be degraded, nor sold, nor robbed, nor made to endure abuse of any kind.
B.B. 1-35 While prisoners of war may be applied to labor, this labor must be used for sustaining themselves, they may not be compelled to serve against their own.
B.B. 1-36 No woman of your enemy who has fallen into your power should be approached under arms or with their knowledge that you are one who holds power over them, lest fear part their legs instead of want.
B.B. 1-37 If you see among the captives you have taken, one who you desire, court in innocence until the war shall end and all captives are released, for only the free may freely offer themselves, all else is detestable in the eyes of the justice of your god.
B.B. 1-38 Who murders in war is not less a murderer, who rapes in war is not less a rapist, who steals in war is not less a thief. 1-39 Even if they be your own, justice came before them, and the justice of your god would not be justice, nor would his followers be his followers, if injustice reigned.
B.B. 1-40 Who wins his enemies to friendship is the greatest servant of god.
An Encounter with the Virtuous Commander
B.B. 1-41 In the course of war it happened that a famous commander came across a river within the Roble Holy Kingdom's southern region, at this river there were a great many refugees fleeing the certainty of revenge for the death of a great hero of the armies of the Sorcerer King. 1-42 This commander rode on undead horses, and with her flying column, she quickly caught up to what she had expected to be the army of her enemy. 1-43 She found instead that the army of her enemy had abandoned the civilians for the sake of speed and broken the bridge behind them so that the King's forces could not easily cross, stranding the people between the death by water and death by steel. 1-44 When this commander found the wailing lamentations of women clutching children to breast, old men and old women wielding mattocks and desperate to buy their young ones one more moment of life, the virtuous general halted the charge and approached from horseback. 1-45 This threw off their expectations and when they revealed what had happened, she told the citizens that they could ride on the backs of their horses with her soldiers, and thus cross safely, if slowly, to the other side, and from there they could scatter to what villages they could settle in without fear until the conflict came to a close. 1-46 Though the army fled for one more day as the virtuous commander ferried the people across, this virtue won them a hundred villages as the reputation of the virtuous commander spread far and wide.
B.B. 1-47 If you trade away your virtues for speed, you will run only to your grave, clasp this firmly to your heart, and you will be called a true servant of god.
B.B. 1-48 After the war is won, peace must be won as well, therefore forgive rivalries that may damage the prize of victory.
B.B. 1-49 Neither victory in battle nor victory in war, dissolve the bonds of family or spouse, the man you have captured has not lost his role as husband by being captured, nor has the woman lost her place as wife with the same. 1-50 Who sullies their bond is no servant of mine.
B.B. 1-51 Your prayers for victory are made by preparing for it.
B.B. 1-52 When you seek victory, do not forget the misery it brings, and balm the wounds of war when the sword is sheathed.
B.B. 1-53 None should be considered weak, for seeking aid when war's bitter fruits are swallowed for too long. 1-54 For just as the strongest may ingest great quantities of poison, but eventually find their limit, so too will war's harvest drain those who bear its burdens.
B.B. 1-55 Those who tend the wounded, you are absolutely forbidden from harming, though too, no soldier may disguise themselves as such in hopes of wreaking havoc by surprise.
B.B. 1-56 Those whose task is to care for the injured, must do so not by tribe or nation, rather they must do so in order of risk to life, if however between two the chances are equal, them that provide care may seek after their own heart.
B.B. 1-57 Do not ruin the many tomorrows, seeking one victory today, if your action will grant you victory but destroy your nation, what have you gained?
B.B. 1-58 Do not lose sight of why you are fighting, many a grand plan has been ruined by going a bridge to far.
B.B. 1-59 The battle for justice is often waged against lies, let him that lies to the court out of greed, share in the penalty of the guilty, let he who lies to the court out of fear, be punished by labor for the common good for not less than one year, not more than five, in accordance with the severity of the crime being concealed.
B.B. 1-60 If anyone lays claim to having been violated sexually by another, the worth of their word will not be counted less by dint of their wealth, their sex, their age, their faith, or their place of origin. 1-61 Witnesses where feasible should be gathered and questioned, accused and accuser may call witnesses, and each shall be allotted one to speak for them. 1-62 If guilt is determined, let the judge set sentence in accordance with the law, with the greater severity being laid against those who have greater power.
B.B. 1-63 Those who have the greater wealth and the greater power, have the greater obligation to set the example of divine justice as revealed by your god, therefore their breach sets a poor example for those over whom they rule, who will emulate them in kind. 1-64 If they offer to surrender up their wealth to their victim and their status revoked by the judge, they may receive instead the penalty offered to the common citizen of average wealth and station, if the victim accepts.
B.B. 1-65 The laws given of your god know no borders, if you travel to a foreign land where thinking being may own other thinking beings, and buy for yourself a slave of any race or species, that slave is automatically free, you may claim recompense from your homeland for the expense incurred by carrying out the will of your god.
B.B. 1-66 You may not withhold the truth of their liberation, though they may choose to follow you, they may not be compelled.
B.B. 1-67 Promises of freedom may not be extorted from slaves in exchange for service. 1-68 Their life is their right, if you are a true servant of your god, you will protect that right, not extort them for what is in truth, already theirs.
B.B. 1-69 Who seeks your terror in life while promising you paradise after death in trade for your submission, is your enemy.
B.B. 1-70 Guilt begins and ends with the guilty, it shall not be visited on those whose guilt is bearing the blood of the one who has done wrong, punish the weak who have done nothing but live, and the wrath of your lord will fall upon you in like manner.
B.B. 1-71 If your enemy does not use places of learning, healing, artifacts of old, cultural landmarks, museums, the homes of their people, or places of worship for purposes of war, then these should be spared your wrath.
B.B. 1-72 In every town you move to openly attack, designate a safe zone that is to be kept free of military use by either side for the sake of the safety of the noncombatants, for know that they too will be your countrymen when you triumph.
B.B. 1-73 If your enemy should break their agreement, and misuse that safety zone for military and military command purposes, those responsible are to be considered criminals of war.
B.B. 1-74 While deception and war were born as twins, ever at one another's side, know that some deceptions, those which prey upon the sense of justice your lord has given unto you, may never be perpetrated. 1-74 These deceptions are to disguise yourself or your soldiers as aid workers, or to hide them or their goods in aid stations meant to preserve life. 1-75 Also forbidden to you is the use of false surrenders for the sake of surprise, for this teaches your enemies to spare none. 1-76 They who accept surrender when it is offered bear the justice of your god within, they who abuse that justice, have embraced weakness, the gravest of sins, the destroyer of all virtues.
B.B. 1-77 When a war is to be waged, convey the will of your lord with respect, even to the vile, for if you are to slay another, or to be slain in turn, courtesy costs nothing.
B.B. 1-78 When conveying the will of your lord before the war begins, there are two things you must do; the first is to offer them one last chance for peace, the second is to convey your rules of war and caution them that if they violate those terms, the god of justice will bring them to judgment.
B.B. 1-79 If they who know not your lord, abide by these terms of war, show leniency even in bringing death by ending it swiftly, for death is a mercy compared to what tortures life may inflict. 1-80 Draw out no suffering beyond necessity and alleviate the suffering of those who do not deserve to suffer.
B.B. 1-80 Burn no farm but those worked by slaves, destroy no wealth but that which is obtained by corruption, the god of justice will not see the honest and the just brought to ruin, yet his wrath and judgment will fall upon the corrupt, the cruel, and the vile, at home in peace and abroad in war, this is a timeless truth.
B.B. 1-81 These are the virtues the god of justice calls you to embrace..and the vices he commands you to avoid:
B.B. 1-82 Pursue Strength… of character, conviction, body, mind, and will. Through strength and the pursuit of it, you grow. Yet do not forget that none are infinite in all things, therefore seek after those who will support you, and aid you in time of need, to strive to be strong alone forever, is to break yourself, and to forget that you too, are part of a family, community, and nation. 1-83 One needs all, and all need one.
B.B. 1-84 Avoid Weakness… Of the same, weakness, the opposite of strength, pulls down the spirit back to its most base state. Against weakness all must battle throughout their lives. To subordinate yourself to weakness is to cast away the justice of your true lord.
B.B. 1-85 Pursue Control… first and foremost over yourself, without control, all other virtues become weaker, and all vices become stronger, who has not conquered himself, is not fit to rule over any other in any way.
B.B. 1-86 Avoid Abandon, wantonness… This selfish sin puts first and foremost lone desire against all things, momentary pleasures in lust, revenge, greed, in this, you lose sight of the justice your god has taught to you, and from this, any wrong may flow like a river in flood, laying waste to all within its reach, including the bearer of this sin.
B.B. 1-87 Pursue Self Respect… This virtue is the foundation for all virtues, for it drives noble ambition, and tells its bearer "I must be worthy…in whatever I choose to do" he who respects himself will not degrade or debase himself by abandoning the justice of the lord, nor will they need to degrade others in the elevation of themselves. This permits the humility of self awareness and drives the desire to improve.
B.B. 1-88 Avoid vanity and false pride… This vice is the supreme abundance of ego, it will degrade the neighbor to make the sin's bearer appear higher, it will find fault with others and not control the self, it will preen and primp to present a facade, but avoid the grime or risks involved in labor that truly brings benefit.
B.B. 1-89 Pursue Courage… To stand when the weak will run, to face recrimination when acting justly as others tell you it is easier not to, to know when you too should withdraw, that victory may be found elsewhere even when those who know not true courage will call you a coward for not dying pointlessly.
B.B. 1-90 Avoid cowardice, and worse, false courage… Cowardice abandons those who could be saved, leaves the innocent to suffer when their suffering can be ended, and does not allow the bearer of this sin to even reflect upon their failings to improve. 1-91 Too, it may lead to false courage, a desire for futile martyrdom, exaggerated self-sacrifice to make what is simple, hard, for the sake of self-glorification, the true servant of the god of justice knows that to live humbly in dignity and labor for just cause, is far more valuable than a blooded martyr dying for their vainglorious ego.
B.B. 1-92 The god of justice calls for moderation in temperament in war and in peace, level heads make good decisions, hot heads make rash decisions, virtuous leaders make just decisions, viceful leaders make poor or selfish decisions.
B.B. 1-93 The warrior is the servant of the people, the people servants of one another, for each one is the keeper of the other, and each is brother or sister to their neighbor. 1-94 Therefore a fight between neighboring nations is a tragic battle between brothers. 1-94 Therefore it should be fought, if it is to be fought at all, with an eye towards ending embittered conditions forever, that the harmony and peace the god of justice values, may be quickly restored.
B.B. 1-95 In the end of war, offer just terms of peace, that you do not sow the seeds of future conflict.
B.B. 1-96 If in the fields of war, you sow the seeds of peace, you will harvest prosperity.
B.B. 1-97 If in the fields of war, you sow the seeds of future war, you will harvest poverty and privation.
B.B. 1-98 Acknowledge the virtues of your enemies, where they have them, for even those who must fight, may become brothers and sisters in peace, if mutual honor and respect is accorded between the two.
B.B. 1-99 Never learn to love war, always despise it, yet never be unwilling to do what must be done, to preserve the world you value and protect those who share it with you.
B.B. 1-100 Never forget that all are called to account for their deeds, to their consciences and their communities and to their god, none may stand before a judge and say 'I did as I was commanded' as if the command makes the unjust order into a just one; you are an agent of justice, never accept that you are not responsible, never think you have no choice, always remember that there are consequences… and none are saved from the consequences of their freely made choices.