An Excerpt from The Life and Teachings of Damon Erlich, Mount Borealis Historical Archives, Section C, Codex 257

The following piece is taken from the archives of the Westfort Central Library (Secton AF, Scroll 112). I have included it in this work because it, I believe, shows a side of the Sage’s philosophy which previous works have only alluded to. I have refrained from extensive commentary on this work at this point, preferring to let the scribe and the members of this discussion speak for themselves. However, this discussion is cross referenced with commentary a great deal later in this work, as it seems to elucidate the reasoning behind many actions and opinions of The Sage that would otherwise have appeared contradictory. In spite of considerable effort, I have been unable to determine the identity of the scribe, and therefore cannot rule out bias. However, I have compared this record with the only other known documentation on the debate which it details, namely a correspondence sent to The Sage himself by a Saffaradegglyn1 who was apparently in attendance for the debate (Purple Cloth New Altberg Archives, section XX, codex 23, Document 71), and there is enough of a correlation between the two to suggest a reasonable level of accuracy. I have not reproduced that other document here, but it is available for public viewing at the Westfort Public Chapterhouse.

Date: 14th Day of Luna’s Harvest Phase in the 1327th Year of The Tree.
Event: Special Advisory Council Convened by the Mayor of West Fort
Subject: Discourse on morality, originally intended as a discussion of the altered role of various social institutions in the aftermatch of the Cataclysm of 1326.
Participants: Damon Erlich, Sage of the Purple Cloth, Hero of Westfort, Destroyer of “Old Lords”
Ariann Helfarch, Preist of Angeladfwyndus (known to humans as Gaianna), Official Diplomatic Emissary of Fae City Caerchrydda, founder of Arlaigorwellyncaerfa temple.
Alexis Unfreiden, Patrician of Westfort Reform Church
Father Dorius Bollero, Emissary of Holy Orthodox Church, Twice Honored Prelate of the Order of the Poor Servants of the Avatar, Abbot of Devon Monastery
Ulrich Dorn, Mayor of Westfort
Notes: This conversation was well underway at the point at which this record commences. Only comments made by a speaker who properly possessed the floor at the time of his remarks have been granted the dignity of being recorded

Ulrich: You confuse me, Damon. It was by and large because of you that The Church suffered its loss of face in the city of Westfort. Now it sounds as if you defend them.

Damon: Not exactly. It is not my place to either condemn or to defend them. I simply relay the truth as I see it. I disagree with the Church’s claim of inherent infallibility. Organizations are neither inherently correct or incorrect nor good or evil. Such ethical claims are based purely on individual characteristics. My previous actions were not against the church, they were against individuals. I do not act against organizations. It would be futile. You, sir mayor, are, I am afraid, forced to deal in such futilities by nature of your position. Therefore, I offer this advice. The worth of an organization depends not on the worth of it’s members but on the worth of the services it provides. In the case of The Church, while some services are, in my opinion, quite questionable, such as the wholesale slaughter of innocents by the office of the inquisition… (Dorius begins shouting at this point, and must be quieted before Damon is allowed to continue), others, such as their valiant work in keeping the bane pockets beneath the city from infecting the citizenry, are certainly commendable. It is the duty of the of the city officials to aid the church in services which it deems commendable and to hamper or perhaps forbid services which are counter to the common good or to the ethics of those officials. The institution must be dealt with separate from its members, and the members separate from the organization. If the members of the organization engage in immoral acts, the organization as a whole should not be held accountable for those actions. Nor should the organization, for good or ill, be considered when justice is applied to its members.

(Both Alexis and Dorius begin shouting at this point, first at Damon, then at one another. When Ulrich manages to restore order to the conclave, he gives the floor to Alexis)

Alexis: Those are pretty words, but they are spoken by a man who lives in an ivory tower, a man that knows nothing of the pain of the common man. You cannot oppose the tyranny that the denizens of the Heirophant have subjected the people of the Realm to without opposing his church. Your cynical words preach of the pragmatism of supporting an organization which is responsible for torturing and burning thousands of innocents every year, for turning a blind eye on the injustices of nobility in an attempt to fill its own coffers, for repressing and degrading the common man in every way possible. They are the core of the sickness which has infected this land, one and the same with the corrupt nobility which has crushed the ancient cultures on this land for no reason other than to spread its own power. Man’s nature is a peaceful nature, but that nature cannot hope to be realized until our corrupt culture with its corrupt institutions and corrupt religion has been utterly toppled. It pains me that it must be that way, but I have witnessed the suffering of my fellow man, and I cannot ignore my anger. If we do not take action against our oppressors now, we may not have another chance.

Damon (After a tense pause - the speaker appears to be near to losing his temper from some comment of Alexis’): In truth, Unfreiden, I know a great deal about the pain and suffering of which you speak. Still, I do not feel you, any more than any other revolutionary I have met, offer a real alternative. The problem with revolutionary jargon is that its roots are sustained by the same lies as sustain that which it opposes. All of the injustices of which you speak exist because of the lines which have been drawn between people - Noble and Common, Avatarian and Pagan, Clergy and Congregation, Orthodox and Heretical, the list goes on and on. It is the sickness of a weak and lazy mind which thinks everything in the world must be thought of in such simple either-or terms. By naming as concrete enemies those that appear to be benefiting from the current situation, you draw the very same lines. It matters not that you draw them in different places. You reinforce the same delusions which give rise to the horrors which you think you oppose. Nor have you any choice in the matter, for the kind of upheaval you wish to cause demands that you instill hatred in your followers, and this cannot be done without the use of the lines of which I speak.

You do not see it yet, but you have doomed yourself. Perhaps your revolution will succeed, perhaps it will fail. If it fails, of course, you will be put to death by the church, but at least you will be allowed to die with the illusion of righteousness. If, however, you succeed, then one of two things will happen. When your organization replaces the displaced as the tool of tyranny, you will either trade your soul for the potential power offered you, or else you will retain the sense of fairness which perhaps led you on the fools errand at the outset and recoil in horror at the work of your hands. And if you dare act on that horror in any way shape or form, it will destroy you without a second’s hesitation.

I do not, however, regard you as an enemy any more than I do the Orthodox Church. A true sage has no enemies. By Sage, I do not refer to men of the purple cloth, for to do so would be to repeat the same error which I am trying to repudiate. Certainly, the training that the purple cloth offers is an aid to the attainment of the wisdom of which I speak, but no group has ever held a monopoly on it, nor has any group ever attained it in full amongst all of their members. Many, in fact, find it on their own. It is the birthright of all men, and can be claimed by simply learning from the world with a fully open mind, and yet accept nothing without questioning. And yet there can be said to be a brotherhood, of sorts, of such like minded men. They are not held together by social ties or dogma. Their ties are invisible, free from the constraints of space and time. Their progress proceeds in a direction which the ordinary mind cannot perceive.

To explain our relationship to such upheaval as we are currently seeing is not a simple thing. We do not attempt to aid it, nor do we stand against it. It often appears that we oppose revolution, but this is an illusion. In all phases of history, we associate mostly with those who seem to be of a conservative temperament. This is not because we are ourselves conservative in nature. Our ideas are often very progressive. However, we recognize that the impulse for revolutionary movements is completely instinctual. It is an organizational response to man’s desire, born of natural law, to attempt ever to displace the powerful and grasp that power for themselves. Those who have surrendered themselves so fully to their instincts, and have strengthened it with the lies necessary to fulfill its desires, lie in the bonds of very heavy chains. They are, to us, infertile ground. In addition, in spite of the fact that it is a natural recurring product of man’s nature, the human suffering created by such upheaval weighs so heavily on the soul of the wise man.

But do not think that we do not strive for change. The revolutionary strives for change of form. We strive for change of substance. This change of substance cannot be achieved through a collective movement such as the type used by revolutionaries who strive for social change. Rather, it can only be achieved through social efforts. If we succeed in affecting social change, it is because we have touched upon enough individual lives that our efforts have become visible; but, however beneficial this social change may be, if we allow it to become our primary objective, we court failure.

When I say that the revolutionary is not our enemy, I mean only that we view him as a force of nature. When man acts from his will, which transcends nature and is the weapon of the wise, he is fully human. When, however, he acts from instinct alone, he is a force of nature. Nothing more, nothing less. And while, when it is in its infancy, the will feels it must struggle against nature to survive, when it reaches maturity, it has learned that nature is its ally. It has tamed and learned to ride the beast, so to speak. In the case of revolution, the wise learn to feel the rumblings of change, to anticipate movement, and to use the chaotic gap between tyrannies to plant the seeds of the sort of real change we wish to create.

How this bears on the question of governance is very nearly as complicated as the issue itself. If one of the wise aspires to be a leader, or if a leader aspires towards wisdom, his responsibility will be a difficult one, and he will be faced with numerous moral dilemmas. It is the goal of the wise to spread wisdom, but this cannot be done through the function of governance. Governance, by it’s nature, relies on natural will, not on human will. He has risen to the top of the herd, not to the top of himself, and while the two are not mutually exclusive, using the benefits of one to the ends of the other is a difficult thing. If one tried to use his temporal power to force the awakening of his subjects, he would be like a gaffer who tried to force a sapling to grow into a tree by pulling on it, accidentally uprooting it. Enlightenment must come from within, not from without. However, a wise leader has two options open to him. He may, because of his visibility, encourage people in the correct direction through his words and actions. And he may directly wield his powers to try and create an environment which is less restrictive to the growth of wisdom he wishes to engender, to create, so to speak, a more fertile soil for the sapling.

Ariann: You make some interesting points, sage. Would it be possible to try and distill your argument into this: That you believe it incorrect to lump people into simple groups and to label them as good and evil based on that grouping?

Damon: Well, I supposed that forms a critical portion of my argument if not the whole of it, yes.

Ariann: Interesting viewpoint, and it would seem to contain at least a portion of truth in it. Yet would not the Bane serve as a potent counterexample?

Dorius: You echo my sentiments exactly, fae. Our friend Damon is great in worldly wisdom, but we must never forget that worldly wisdom pales in the face of the wisdom of the world which is to come. Surely, in th face of the Bane threat, we must all see how vital is the role of the one true church. We have a mandate from the Avatar, from Supernus himself, to do all in our power to halt the advancement of this sickness of the soul. It is only because of the guidance and protection of the Mother Church that this plague of horrors has not fully taken mankind, has not dragged him down into this abyss which yawns at his feet. Surely you can see that, even now, the Realm threatens its own existence by refusing to fully accept the church. The advancement of the bane is halted, not reversed. Were mankind to fully and unquestioningly accept the teachings of the avatar as revealed by the Holy Heirophant, his servant and representative on this mortal plane, why then mankind would be impervious to this evil. He could roll back the tides of darkness and live in a world free of corruption and evil.

Alexis: How dare you speak of evil, dog! Your church is the personification of evil! For every inch you knock back the bane, the evil spread by your tyrannous grip and your treacherous lies allows it to creep forward two. You are the bane’s ally!

(Discussion is once again interrupted by a shouting match between Alexis and Dorius)

Ariann: I believe some of Mr. Unfreidden’s accusations of injustice are probably not without merit. In Father Bollero’s defense, however, I feel that the dedication and valor with which his church has fought the Bane is beyond doubt. In spite of the fact that they often seem to not limit their weening to the truly bane infested…

Dolorius: It is preferable, fae, to remove that which may grow to become bane infested before it has a chance to do so. If we error, and I remind you that our hands are guided by the Avatar himself, then we error on the side of caution. It is better, when in doubt, to lay the soul to rest and let Supernus judge it. Should the party be in fact innocent, he will be taken home. He is in a better world than us.

Ariann: Yes… in spite of this fact, I feel that the bravery of those men who stand up to one who is genuinely bane infested cannot be ignored. But, to return to my original point, I think that Mr. Erlich’s argument only holds true to a point. Certainly, when considering the bane, one must be forced to deal with them as a group, to oppose them as a group.

Damon: Sometimes people are forced into that situation. It is called warfare. As my earlier remarks would suggest, the wise do not participate in warfare. Sometimes life or duty places them in a war, no doubt, but even then they are not its advocates. They are ever the advocates of peace. However, the bane presents us with a somewhat unique situation. It still holds true that all must be judged as individuals and not as a group, but somehow we find ourselves in a situation where it seems that every member of a particular group is subject to the same negative judgment. This is never the case in struggles of a religious or political nature.

And, in fact, we are in danger of oversimplifying even in the case of the Bane. There is reasonable evidence to suggest that the bane itself is nothing more than a type of spiritual energy - similar in nature to primium, but alien to our plane. It appears to originate from beyond the veil. I believe it is the same as what is referred to in your tongue, sir Helfarch, as Dduadanio.

Nothing can be truly considered evil unless it has the property of sentience. Evil is a choice, not a condition. It would seem that the reason the bane acts as an agent of evil in this world, or to be more precise, the reason that the Dduadanio has manifested itself in this world as the Bane, is that it only enters into this world through the action, directly or indirectly, of those known as the Bane Gods. They wield it as if it were a weapons, and they do the same with those who become corrupted by that force. In fact, it could be said that when we act against the bane, we are not acting unfairly against a group of individuals simply because they have been stripped of their individuality and made into mindless extensions of the Bane Gods. And those we can judge individually as entities which must be battled at all costs.

I can perhaps add, as testament that there is some truth in this, that some in my former organization have attempted to find other means of bringing the Dduadanio into this world, free of the will of the Bane Gods. They met with some success, as well, and I can say without hesitation that it did not corrupt them or make them into evil people. However, it none yet have been able to channel the Dduadanio long enough to learn how to use it without going mad. Those that have recovered are in many ways improved as people, both in power and morally, but they have all steadfastly refused to attempt the use of this strange energy again.

Ulrich: This research, Damon… has it uncovered any evidence to support the accusations that the reported use, by some, of Banium in place of Elementium as an energy source is a dangerous practice?

Damon: Nothing conclusive, Sir. There are two schools of thought on this. One says that the practice exerts a corrupting influence on those in the area of the reaction, and even on the device itself which the banium is used to power. The other school however, says that this practice is, in fact helpful in the war against the bane. They believe that the reaction destroys the bane, transferring it into useful energy, thereby taking power from our enemies and giving it to us. We have not yet compiled sufficient energy to rule out either of these theories.

Ariann: Damon’s intellectual rigor is, I suppose, admirable in a way. However, my heart tells me that this is a bad practice and should be stopped, whether or not your sages have determined for certain that it is destructive.

Damon: I must admit that I share a certain sense of foreboding.

Dorian (Gesturing somewhat flamboyantly towards Alexis): I agree. In fact, I believe this is something that even the little heretic would agree with me on.

Alexis: (Scowls but nods)

Transcript Ends