D'Arricarrère Family/Torpius/Priest Pierre of Sanguis Astroism

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Letter from Pierre von Genf
Message sent to (Personal message to Torpius d'Arricarrère)
Earl Torpius,

I see you have done good for yourself. Congratulations on your new lands!

Have you been able to join the Dwilight University? It would be interesting to build a campus in the South someday. I would help fund this, if you are interested.

Also, I see a temple of the Manifest Path in the Purlieus; if you will allow me, I would like to ask if you share that faith, and if not, which?
Pierre von Genf (Marquis of Caiyun, Ambassador of Morek Empire)


Letter from Torpius d'Arricarrère
Message sent to (Personal message to Pierre von Genf)
Marquis Pierre,

Unfortunately, I have not yet been able to join the Dwilight University. Duties to the realm have not allowed me to, but I expect to be able to do it in the future.

Regarding the temple of the Manifest Path, it was built by Priest Balint, who now rules over Shinnen. I do not follow the misotheistic path, quite on the contrary, I follow the way of the gods.

To be fairly honest, I am not the only one, and only gold is refraining me from formalizing the church to the gods. In the near future you will be able to see us formally established.

Theology discussions greatly interest me, should you be interested in having them. It is a shame that I am not yet part of the Dwilight University to have them in the proper environment, but as soon as I take the robes I will have more time to seek one of its campi.

Bene orasse est bene studuisse,
Torpius d'Arricarrère (Earl of Shinnen Purlieus)


Letter from Pierre von Genf
Message sent to (Personal message to Torpius d'Arricarrère)
Earl Torpius,

Misotheistic? These are strong words. I have not yet heard of the specifics of this faith, other than that they hate demons, which seems natural to me.

Do I understand correctly that you intend to found a new church in the near future? This interests me also. I would like to hear what you have to say; in part by academic curiosity, but also because it is well known for people of Dwilight to feel the message of the Stars but, in their ignorance of the established church, tend to establish a new faith that is identical except for the names they give to things.
Pierre von Genf (Marquis of Caiyun, Ambassador of Morek Empire)


Letter from Torpius d'Arricarrère
Message sent to (Personal message to Pierre von Genf)
Marquis Pierre,

Perhaps misotheistic is a strong word, but I fail to see a more fitting one, since they do not hide their contempt for beings of higher power than humans, as the gods inherently are. I have shared correspondence with their prophet, who has shared the actually public notes on their religion. You will find their facts and assertions specially enlightening regarding this question.

Regarding the truth of the gods, and according to my admittedly yet frail understanding of the path of the stars, would I be wrong to assert that you have prayed and commuted with the stars uncountable nights in your honorably long life? Have you never felt that perhaps your contact with the stars was not one from the physical entities that are the sky candles, but from something superior, immaterial and transcendental? Have you not sensed the voice of the stars to be an intermediary, like the ink and paper are to the writer and reader? Do you believe that there are no superior beings than those that inhabits the stars?

Bene orasse est bene studuisse,
Torpius d'Arricarrère (Earl of Shinnen Purlieus)



Letter from Pierre von Genf
Message sent to (Personal message to Torpius d'Arricarrère)
Earl Torpius,

Of course! The Stars, for all their reality as lights in the Sky, are mere representations of the underlying principle.

What we call the organizing principles of the world are the Maddening, the Auspicious and the Austere. These aspects, in their pure form, are found in the Stars. They are also found in our bodies, especially through our blood, and they affect our daily life. They are also found in our mind, in our souls.

I would like to give you an extract from a discourse by our Holy Prophet, which treats the same subject:

Sanguis_Astroism/Writings#By_what_means_do_the_stars_of_blood_direct_the_course_of_we_mere_mortals.3F

You are wrong in your interpretation of our faith, however. We do not believe there are beings inside the Stars. In fact, to describe the Stars as beings is besides the point. They are a manifestation of a force, pure, unadulterated Wills.
Pierre von Genf (Marquis of Caiyun, Ambassador of Morek Empire)


Letter from Torpius d'Arricarrère
Message sent to (Personal message to Pierre von Genf)
Marquis Pierre,

The text you sent me was very interesting. Let me try to sum up the presented beliefs. Could I rightly say that there are essences, namely three, present diluted (or as essential fractional parts of it) in our blood, which affect our emotional estates depending on their concentrations, and that the three bloodstars are made of these very same essences, but in a more pure and concentrated amount? So far it is a very interesting theory that the healing artists could employ in the treatment of some 'soul diseases', should we think the soul possesses a physical synchronism with the blood. I suppose it is in the effect of the pure-essence stars on the blood flow, and consequently on the emotions, that the divinity shows up. So periodically the stars turn brighter and influence their domains in humanity, through a process named as 'resonance', which I infer means a synchronism between the blood flow and the star glow, or some other process inherent to it. This alone, though, would be an extremely materialistic explanation, so I would dare venture that you consider the 'resonance' process to be one to include a transcendental will, which ties the blood flow and the star manifestation into a causal relation, and to such entity would the praying be directed.

Personally, I believe that will is a sine qua non in any of the material 'normality-disturbing', for lack of a better term, phenomena. I also believe that it is through prayer and correct communion with such wills at the right times that we can influence our reality and prepare ourselves to meet a more elevated one.

On another note, I just now realized you were visiting my region. It was extremely rude of me not inviting you to my humble manor. Please, do feel free to join me at a meal or for a drink. Your presence and conversation would be an incommensurable pleasure to me.

Bene orasse est bene studuisse,
Torpius d'Arricarrère (Earl of Shinnen Purlieus)


Roleplay from Pierre von Genf
Message sent to (Personal message to Torpius d'Arricarrère)
I present myself at the manor. After the inevitable formalities, we continue our previously epistolary conversation.

"I a now more than convinced that you are a true scholar. With only a quick reading of our corpus, you have reached a better grasp of our faith than many who proclaim themselves faithful have after years of membership in our church.

You call our faith materialistic, while in fact it is more pantheistic. It is not that we explain the world through natural phenomena; rather our position derives from the impossibility to imagine a natural world at all if it were not for the presence of the initial divine spark.

After all, what is the moral foundation of a faith that places the Gods outside of the world? It can submitt to the Gods by fearing their strenght, or it can decide to ignore or fight against the Gods if they think them weak enough. I feel this may be the fundamental error of the Manifest Path. Would you agree?"
Pierre von Genf (Marquis of Caiyun, Ambassador of Morek Empire)


Roleplay from Torpius d'Arricarrère
Message sent to (Personal message to Pierre von Genf)
Arriving at the manor you are greeted by a middle aged servant. He guides you to a large room filled with disorganized boxes and shelves in the corners, filled with books and manuscripts. After a quick glance you can see they are separated by origin or subject, noticing different marks for each: a wolf, a rising sun, a full sun, a cross in a circle, arrows pointing in a different direction per section, and others. Next to a wall you see an unlit fireplace, two large chairs and a low empty table. In the opposite wall, facing with its back to you, you see the local lord discussing with three scribes. As you approach you can hear:

"...we would have nitpick the reported differences between these Northerners and the traditional Saritans, and compare it with the ones of the Islanders in Sallowtown and their own locals..."

Before the scribe can finish the sentence, he is interrupted by the servant that welcomed you. The Earl Torpius turns facing you and with a wave of the hand dismisses the scribes and the servant.

"Welcome to my residence, Marquis Caiyun, I hope you do not mind the state you currently find it in. I have not been appointed long ago, and the region rebuilding did not allow me to give it the proper attention. Nor I would allow my ignorant servants to mess or damage my collection, of course." Torpius says as he rises from his chair, opens his arms showing the palm of his hands and makes a small nod greeting. Then he proceeds to the two chairs and offers you a seat in one of them.

After hearing the Priest, he answers:

"Thank you for your compliments, but I am still largely ignorant of the intricacies of your faith.

The fact that you say I call your faith a materialistic one shows me I was wrong in the interpretation given to the 'resonance' phenomena. I must stress, though, that I considered such explanation to merit the 'materialistic' label, not your entire faith.

Considering impossible a natural world not sustained by the divine is naught but a signal of your wisdom, sir. It was the form of the divine manifestation I was trying to inquire through my logic exercise, I ask forgiveness if it sounded like I was accusing you of radical materialism or other similar heresy. I assure you it was nothing of the likes.

Regarding your theological question on the Gods, I feel that restricting their influence to outside the boundaries of the mortal realm is to deny the very concept of Godhood. Any being that is powerless to intervene in the affairs of men clearly cannot enforce his worship, or retribute it, making his worship a meaningless behavior.

While acknowledging, on the other hand, the power of the Gods, one would be a madman by trying to confront them. Can the gravel willfully confront a man? No, because it lacks the potential, the sole concept would be a logical impossibility. A man successfully fighting the Gods would be a similar non sequitur.

The fundamental error of the Manifest Path, as you have clearly put it, is precisely the wrong judgment of the Gods. They try to analyze them from a position of impartiality and superiority, like we observe a painting to determine the materials composing it, and the meanings given by the artist. We, unfortunately, cannot deal with the Gods in such a way, the same as a pig cannot hope to understand and control a King as it does its piglets or its ration.

Ah, but all this talk must have made you thirsty. Could I offer you something to drink? An infusion, or a liquor perhaps?"
Torpius d'Arricarrère (Earl of Shinnen Purlieus)


Roleplay from Pierre von Genf
Message sent to (Personal message to Torpius d'Arricarrère)
A liquor would be fine, as long as it's not Madinan liquor. I have developed a strong distaste for it. I think they make it with seawater.....

I may be wrong about the chronology, but here is how I imagine the Manifest Path got founded. One day, a noble must have been travelling the world, or cataloguing known species, or some similar activity that led him to think about Daimons. Studying their physical appearance and abilities, he must have come to the conclusions "These must be Gods". By inference, they figured all Gods must be like such creatures. Since they did not recognize themselves, they think themselves outside of Godhood, and get back on their "Fight or submit" false dichotomy.

Of course the daimons seem to have otherworldly powers. There may be others such creatures, such as poltergeists and forest fairies and the scourge that is the Undeads. That these creatures draw power form a world to which we do not have access does make them superior to us in the same way as the stronger muscles makes a bear superior to us.

The right way to think about things is the inverse. The first step is to accept godliness, the divine spark, the encompassing Will which is the source of things.

The second step is to feel the connection between your own self and this divinity. Once that connection is established, you have reached an understanding of the world, and a yearning to extraversically explore this faith. This is the moment where you should be looking for signs of Gods that you can grasp with your senses.

Grandmaster Deverka Crydwr, Founder of Morek, was the first to recognize the Stars as such signs. He led a group of colonists to the shores of Donghaiwei and established a realm. Soon, a church was established in Caiyun, the region I am currently the steward of, and Sanguis Astroism was born.
Pierre von Genf (Marquis of Caiyun, Ambassador of Morek Empire)


Roleplay from Pierre von Genf
Message sent to (Personal message to Torpius d'Arricarrère)
Behind closed doors, servants hear the priests' discourse. Some are immediately swayed and convert, along with their families.

You preach to the masses for 12 hours, reaching a total audience of 736 listeners. 3 pagans and believers in local folklore appear to be convinced and you formally convert them to Sanguis Astroism in a small ceremony. There are 207 followers of other faiths that swayed and converted to Sanguis Astroism.

There are now about 210 believers in your faith Sanguis Astroism in this region. That is about 8% of the population.
Pierre von Genf (Marquis of Caiyun, Ambassador of Morek Empire)


Roleplay from Torpius d'Arricarrère
Message sent to (Personal message to Pierre von Genf)
Torpius ponders, and after a short pause smiles and answers:

"Indeed, even if I did not agree, I would be forced to acknowledge the wisdom and truth of your words. But the fact is that I agree with every single one so far.

Recent correspondence with the King and Prophet of the Manifest Path, Koli Bedwyr, has cast further light in the difference of our ideas. You see, when I asked about the supposedly evil Gods he distrusts, he made quite a curious list: undead, daimons, mosters, the light. Exactly as you diagnosed, he fails to see the divinity beyond the immediate manifestations of strength, and falsely attributes Godhood to those abominations.

Your eminence, I believe that divinity is all around us, in subtle ways a man can learn to detect, and attune himself with. The rivers, the forest, even the quill we use to write has a spark of divinity. If we are in communion with it, our travels will be safer, our health stronger, and even our calligraphy can be improved. These sparks I call 'lower spirits', as a general category of the souls in the mortal realm. They range from the one present in a lump of coal, to a mighty beast, but they share the same soul essence. That essence I call flamma.

The 'flame' is something of divine origin that makes the world move, life blossom, and objects act and react. I like to draw the separation of two 'flames', the inner and outer. The outer flames is what we see in outwordly beings some confuse for Gods: entities of almost pure divine energy, less attached to the mortal realm than to the divine one. That, though, is not the only existing 'flame', for there is a spark of divinity in all of us. This hidden potentiality, this secure connection with the highest, is what I call the imus flamma.

It is through the meditation, praying in the right times, and seeking a life according to our own flamma that we progress, evolve, and ultimately transcend. So I believe."

When the servant arrives with a bottle and two glasses, Torpius adds: "I hope you will find our wine suitable. We have yet to produce a good local one, so this had to be imported from Outer Giask."
Torpius d'Arricarrère (Earl of Shinnen Purlieus)