Ironsides Family/Hades/Sermon Four

This sermon was delivered by Archon Minor Hades Ironsides in the temple of Rotherthorpe. It was addressed to the nobles of Minas Ithil who were not yet believers in the Warriors Saints. It was his first major sermon to the nobles in his Mission to Minas Ithil.

“Nobles, let me first express my gratitude that you have come to listen to me preach this afternoon. I am a relatively recent arrival in your realm but have already found it welcoming, comfortable and it has become my home. I began my family here in Minas Ithil, and for the well being of their future, I want them to grow up in a realm that is well Ordered, imbued with Valour, diligence, prudence, loyalty and above all a realm that is following the path set for us by the Warrior Saints.

To do this I must make every effort to educate this mighty community on the necessity of my faith, the validity of its message, and the importance of adhering its tenets.

I have learned the obvious that Minas Ithil is a heavily Magna Serpaensist realm. In what manner, I thought, could I convince these nobles to realize the danger in ignoring the teachings of the Warrior Saints.

Let me, then, introduce my religion, so that you would not presume it to be foreign but very much in accord with your own values and customs. The Way of the Warrior Saints was founded on the battlefield. Experienced soldiers, male and female nobles, not sea creatures, fought victory after victory, or met glorious defeat, and gained such wisdom in their actions that they ascended to become sacred followers of the Great Father, also known as the Father of Earth and Stone, and more commonly known as the Sleeping Father.

The Great Father is the creator of all that is, including the snakes and the squids, and set in his creation an Order. In all his creations, the Great Father tried to make a creature that could reign over this Order with the best effectiveness, and the closest strengths to his own. He may have created your Great Serpaent Magnus for this purpose, and the wicked Calamar could have been another failed attempt. In the end, though, it was humanity who was best suited for his task. The Great Father witnessed the superiority of Man over the animals, and Man over the earth, and Man over other Men, and knew that they were destined to become his followers. It was on this realization that Humankind was anointed with the Holy Order of Kings. Our King of Minas Ithil is a descendant of this tradition, this sacred blessing.

After this commanding effort by the Great Father was complete, he took his rest in the mountains and fell into a deep slumber. Generations passed, lifetimes came and gone, and the Great Father slept. His Order was maintained and continued by the followers. After a great stretch of time, things began to slip. The Monarchs of Earth became more devious, more self serving, more treacherous. Their power struggles and bloodlusts separated the peace of their lands and caused turmoil only reminiscent of recent history. The Earth and Stones witnessed it all, and reported it to the Sleeping Father. After a long time, the noise of disorder became so unbearable that the Great Father awoke and annihilated everything. This is known as the Holy Cataclysm. A Great Quake erupted and collapsed the horrors and the villainy of the Kings, and reset the creation.

All that was alive before the Holy Cataclysm was undone by this moment of immense importance and the terror of disorder was ended. Though much was destroyed, there were survivors. The Great Father, in all his farseeing wisdom, allowed few to remain alive, few who were able to remember what existed before the Great Father removed it all. These selected nobles were the warriors on the battlefield who witnessed the Great Father’s awakening and the destruction that followed. These were the first Warrior Saints. The Great Father then returned to sleep.

The Warrior Saints taught others the true way to live. They taught others the necessity to maintain the Order emplaced in us at the moment of our very creation. Furthermore, each one teaches more than this. Each one uses their lives to educate us in some aspect of living, whether it is on the battlefield against the Vikings, or how to insult animals, all the way up to statecraft. Their wisdom is recorded in our collection of discovered Prognostocese.

Having witnessed the calamity that was delivered by the wrath of the Sleeping Father, the Warrior Saints passed us a warning: do not release our rein on Order. If Order dissolves, the Earth and Stones will once again awake the Sleeping Father and a Second Awakening will befall us, this one fatal. The next time the Sleeping Father awakens will be the end of us all! The next time the Sleeping Father awakens those who were disobedient, unholy, violent beyond moderation, vile, will be obliterated. Those who rule with vigourous madness, wickedness and treachery will be the downfall of us all! In the End of Days, the Sleeping Father will awaken and undo all his creation. Those who did not follow the Way of the Warrior Saints will be rubbed out. Those who did follow Order, Valour, diligence, prudence, loyalty and were followers of the Warrior Saints will be at rest forever, safely, in harmony with the Great Father.

This brings me to the most important lesson of my whole sermon. The point that made me take up the cloth in the first place and the point that has me so worried for the sake of this realm. If we ignore the teachings of the Saints, what consequences there will be! How is it that those in Falasan are able to follow, those in Eston are able to maintain it, but here in Minas Ithil we know little of the path already prepared for us? The consequences will be eternal and powerful. The consequences will be worse than eradication. It will be total reduction to zero. Do not ignore a lesson that has already been painfully learned.

Nobles, how reminiscent is this plea to the times we live in? Coalitions march across the continent destroying and victimizing any who oppose it. Falasan is a victim of this disorder, Minas ithil is a victim of this disorder. What is important is that we rally around the Warrior Saints, we oppose the invaders, and insure our future by maintaining the Order we are responsible for. Please, visit the temple in Rotherthorpe, join a faith that will save rather than destroy. Leave your animals in their respective habitats, and follow the right of the Holy Order of Kings, follow the teachings of the Warrior Saints, and beware the Second Awakening!”