Arete Family/Aeryn

The Book of Abbyism

Translated by Aeryn Arete

Introduction

The Book of Abbyism is called The Meter and contains within it all the teachings of Abbyism, which is the official religion of Abington. Abbyism is concerned with the affairs of Abington, not of other religions. For this reason Abington is not a theocracy and will therefore tolerate the practice of other religions within its borders.

The Meter is broken up into five books

• The Book of Genesis - records the creation of the world.
• The Book of Exodus - records the greatness of Abington.
• The Gospel of Pragma - teaches the virtues of utility, especially justice.
• The Gospel of Kalos - teaches the virtue of beauty, especially harmony.
• The Metacallisto - explains the prophecy of The Good Queen.

The following Priests of Abbyism have written commentaries and interpretations of The Meter

• No one yet...

Note on the Translation

The Meter was written in an ancient language and therefore must be translated into modern Abingtonian. The art of translation is very difficult, and therefore future editions of this text may be slightly different as more accurate translations become avaliable. There is only one copy of The Meter in the original language, and you don't have it, so please do not attempt to translate The Meter.

The Meter

The Book of Genesis

In the beginning, there was Nothing. And we call that-thing-which-is-not-something the Aestin. Since the Aestin is not something, it could not be evil, and therefore Aestin is good. The Aestin also did not have any parts, since it was not something, and being without parts, the Aestin could not be disordered. And so from Aestin we are given order. Thus, order is good.

But order is. And so in the beginning, there was only order, and it was good. But since there was a beginning, there must have been that-which-is-after-the-beginning, which we call the Agenoi. The Agenoi could not have been ordered because if it were order then it would have been the beginning, which it was not. And so Agenoi was disordered, and so it must have had parts.

But parts are not the whole, or else they would not be parts, and so the parts do not have to be disordered like the whole. And parts are, and things that are are things, so parts are things. And so after the beginning there were things. And since there was also order and disorder, some of these things were ordered and some of these things were disordered.

And those-things-that-are-ordered are called the Pragma because they are useful. And those-things-that-are-disordered are called the Kalos because they are beautiful. Therefore, after the beginning, there was only utility and beauty, which are good. And one day Pragma and Kalos decided to make something else, and we call this something The World of BattleMaster.

Let us give thanks to Beauty and Utility!

The Book of Exodus

There came to be many things which were not before. And some of these things were beautiful, and some of these things were useful. But some of these things were neither beautiful nor useful, and since only the beautiful and the useful are good, these things were not good. The World of BattleMaster was full of those-things-which-are-not-good, especially on the continent we call Atamara. Therefore, Pragma and Kalos decided to bring together into one realm all the beautiful and useful things of Atamara so that the people of Atamara would see what beauty and utility is. Thus, Pragma and Kalos justly said in harmony "Let there be Abington", and so it was.

But the rest of the Atamara became jealous of the beauty and utility of Abington, and so they called Abington evil. But they did not understand what they were saying, because only beauty and utility, as well as those things that come from beauty and utility, are good, and therefore Abington is good and not evil. And so Pragma and Kalos smiled upon Abington and made Abington powerful among the realms of Atamara.

But it came to pass that many of the other realms of Atamara saw the goodness of Abington, and they decided to be good. And so they wanted to do beautiful and useful things like the people of Abington. But they did not know how, since all the beauty and utility of Atamara was in Abington. But the Abingtonians, being useful, taught the other realms how to be beautiful. And the Abingtonians, being beautiful, taught the other realms how to be useful. And so in this way, many realms came to be good like Abington.

Praise be to Abby!

The Gospel of Pragma

And Pragma made himself seen to the original Abingtonians through all things useful, and most especially through geometry, for geometry is the most useful thing of all. Through geometry, the Abingtonians learned to measure the land of Atamara, and so were able to divide the realm into duchies, and the duchies into regions. And they measured the distance from each region to another so that they would know how much time it would take to travel from the former to the latter. And many other things came to be measured, such as the amount of gold and food each region would produce, the quality of the weapons and armour of their units, the populations of their duchies, and the combat strength of their armies.

And so too were academies built in the cities to measure the skills of its nobles and to make those skills more useful by increasing their measures. These skills, such as leadership and swordfighting, were much more difficult to measure than the land of Atamara, but through careful study even these things came to be known to the Abingtonians, and they even learned, through the lessons of geometry, how to measure justice, which is to give to each what is directly proportional to their utility. And so the Abingtonians invented taxes to measure and distribute what is directly proportional to the utility of each. And so it was through geometry that Pragma bestowed upon the Abingtonians the Commandment of Justice.

Praise be to Abby!

The Commandment of Justice

• Thou shalt obey the laws of Abington, for obedience is useful, and the laws are just.

The Gospel of Kalos

And Kalos made herself heard by the original Abingtonians through all things beautiful, and most especially through music, for music is the most beautiful thing of all. And music is most beautiful because it is most harmonious and harmony is beautiful. The Abingtonians than came to know many others things that are harmonious, most especially cooperation and organization, which are only possible through communication and organization. And so the Abingtonians began to collect information, such as lists and bulletins and maps, and they used scribes to deliver messages and record events, and they began to vote for their rulers and judges and set unit formations so that the armies of Abington would work together in harmony and therefore be beautiful.

And so too was the heirarchy invented by the Abingtonians so that they could cooperate most harmoniously. And it came to pass through the heirarchy the use of orders, which was the most beautiful communication of all for above all else these orders brought cooperation and harmony to the people of Abington. And through great battles did the Abingtonians come to be the most beautiful people in Atamara for they obeyed the orders and thus cooperated with each other. And so it was through music that Kalos bestowed upon the Abingtonians the Commandment of Harmony.

Praise be to Abby!

The Commandment of Harmony

• Thou shalt obey the orders of the Abingtonians, for it is cooperative to do so, and harmony is beautiful.

The Metacallisto

And there came to be a prophet in Abington by the name of Aeryn Arete. And to her came Pragma and Kalos who spoke to her and said "You will build a temple." But Aeryn did not want to build a temple, and so she said "I do not want to build a temple. I want to be useful and beautiful." But Kalos said to Aeryn "If you wish to be beautiful, you will be harmonious," and Pragma said to Aeryn "If you wish to be useful, you will be just." And so Aeryn built a temple.

And than Kalos and Pragma returned to Aeryn and said "You will preach harmony and justice to the peasants of Atamara so that they can be beautiful and useful too." But Aeryn did not want to preach harmony and justice, and so she said "I do not want to preach to the peasants of Atamara for I do not know what harmony and justice is." And so Kalos and Pragma told Aeryn how the world was created, how Abington was good, how music teaches us that harmony is beautiful, and how geometry teaches us that justice is useful.

And so Aeryn shared the teachings of Kalos and Pragma with the people, who than shared it with others, and in this way knowledge of justice and harmony began to spread across the land of Abington, which was already useful and beautiful, already just and harmonious, but did not yet know it, and thus these teachings came to be known as Abbyism. And so the people of Abington continued to be useful and beautiful.

And this made Aeryn happy, and so she asked "Will Abington always be this useful?" But Pragma said "No." And so Aeryn than asked "Will Abington always be this beautiful?" But Kalos said "No." And this made Aeryn sad, and so she asked "Is it not beautiful for Abington to be useful? Is it not useful for Abington to be beautiful?" But Pragma and Kalos justly replied in harmony "Those who are ugly and useless are jealous of Abington and will accuse Abington of being unjust and disharmonious. The ugly and useless are wicked and they are ignorant; they will attempt to destroy Abington, and all that is useful and beautiful in Abington will forever be made to be less so by the wicked and ignorant. In this way will Abington die, and therefore will no longer be useful or beautiful." And so Aeryn asked "When will this come to pass?"

"There will be a queen of great beauty and utility, and she will reign over Abington most justly and harmoniously, and all will be good for the people of Abington for many years. She will be known as The Good Queen and Lady Virtue. But if she comes to ruin, all that is ugly and useless will rule over Atamara, and the people of Abington will be scattered and forgotten. Justice and harmony will give way to the wicked, and there will be only despair for your people." Upon hearing this, Aeryn wept, and pledged her loyalty to the common good of Abington and its people, for any one of them might be The Good Queen.