The Righteous Cleric (essay)

This is a creative work set in the world of Elanthia, attributed to its original author(s). It does not necessarily represent the official lore of GemStone IV.

Title: The Righteous Cleric

Author: Lord Silvean Rashere

In previous essays I explain my personal disdain for the worship of the Arkati and expound on some distinctive themes in Faendryl religious philosophy. I have also taken opportunity to heap scorn upon the institutional expression of the Koarite faith in Tamzyrr for its transparent power mongering. I can hear you now, "Ay Me! This Silvean is an atheist; he is the arch-apostate of the spiritual order!" Woe unto me, I assure you. I feast on impiety and quench my thirst with damnation. I can appeal only to your keenly sharpened consciences, that you might pray for me to your chosen Arkati and beg heartily for my eventual conversion.

Lest you think me hopelessly biased, I do not find the Arkati to be entirely useless. Each of them is a sort of thought experiment taken to the furthest possible ends. What if fear took form and rampaged across the lands? What if the cycle of death and rebirth could somehow speak for itself? There is no lack of fascination in the presence of the Arkati. Indeed, there is much to learn from their example but I learn from many things without kneeling down in worship. I am no Arkati. I cannot be concerned only with death and rebirth. I cannot be concerned only with fear. All the cosmos is present in me! Any hope of transcendence must spring forth from an authentic assessment of our own mortal condition and the dazzling myopia of the Arkati is naught but folly.

You ought to embrace me as brother since I too am a great cleric of words and ideas. I cannot manage to raise one subject without inadvertently raising five others! If only those handlers of corpses in all the great squares of all the great cities could be so efficient. This said, you will excuse me for a brief aside while I note my equal disdain for those who worship otherworldly powers apart from the Arkati. To worship a demon rather than control it? Madness. And I hear that some fool zealots are now worshipping shadows? There's a lovely thing. I hope they soon crawl inside Marlu's bowels and find something innovative to worship there. Oh you great clerics of the Arkati, perhaps at least we have something to agree upon there. And perhaps if we can agree on one thing, then we can also agree on two -- lend me your attention now.

Today in the rift I did come upon a shattered corpse. And with my usual politeness I did animate this corpse so that it might shamble its way down the odd ladders and doorways of that place. We came, this corpse and I, to the Cavern of Ages where I found a healer and a cleric who I expected to take this burden from me. Ah, but I had not accounted for the storehouse of scruples held by Annorax. He is the High Priest of Lorminstra. Indeed, he is the righteous cleric. And surely he testified his own truth when he refused to render aid upon any corpse tainted with the unnatural powers of sorcery.

I cannot make sense of this reasoning. Perhaps Annorax, by the power of his pure white boots, can enlighten me on the unique logic of Lorminstra in this matter. It seems she is entitled to her own and no man or woman can bend their mind around it. You see, I know of no sorcerer who animates corpses in such a way that they are removed permanently from the cycle of death and rebirth. Such an act would be the domain of Luukosian soulcraft and is not accessible to the general population of sorcerers. When I draw upon the energy of death and dying, I am merely tugging temporary puppet strings to move a corpse closer to you tender-hearted clerics. And even if this were not so, is there not something of hypocrisy in refusing to aid an innocent corpse because of the nefarious actions of one sorcerer? Surely the corpse cannot be held responsible for its enforced mode of travel? Surely Lorminstra wishes the blessings of rebirth to fall upon my innocent cadavers?

The myopia of the Arkati encourages devotees to divide the world arbitrarily between the sacred and the profane. If only I had more power, I would open the greatest of voids and rend the universe end to end just to blot out this regressive way of thinking. But I have no such power; all I can do is already done. With plain words and honest reason I ask you to reflect upon the logic of refusing aid to the formerly animated corpse as if sorcery could somehow transform helpless subject into profane object.

I am your faithful friend,

Silvean Rashere

A Reply from Annorax

Annorax pulls out a chair, its legs dragging across the worn oaken floor. He sits, lights a small oil lamp suspended above a desk, and dips a quill in some ink. He writes:

Having read what appears to be a manifesto against the Gods, I feel it necessary to write back. It is not unusual for me to come across a true non-believer. While in my youth I may have fervently tried to convert such a person, my years have taught me that it's not a very fruitful effort.

Having spent my life in prayer and communing with the spirits I have learned a great number of things. These things I believe no sorcerer can know for their pursuits lie outside the spiritual realm. I do not mean this as arrogance, we simply walk separate paths. In my journey I have found few forces as corrupting to the soul as that of sorcery. To some degree this is found in all who practice sorcery and fall victim to its powerful allure. Even more destructive is when that magic is forced upon another for the sorcerer is, in many regards, merely a vessel of the power. We take for example the process of animating the body of the recently deceased. A sorcerer will claim that their magic affects but the body. I believe it to extend further than that and that the act of animating a body taints the soul. I have become aware of this only through much prayer and reflection including the time I spent in seclusion in a Monestary far to the south. As a result of this awareness I have become quite sensitive to its effects.

The sorcerer Silvean then rightly asks why Lorminstra would forsake such an individual. While I cannot speak for Her, I can state that this is not what is happening. Lorminstra is compassionate and caring and in my experience will welcome even those who's souls have been temporarily tainted. However for a priest to be exposed to such impurity of the soul is a different matter entirely. We are in this world as vessels of the Gods, not as masters of the power they themselves wield. While I do endeavor to help those who have fallen, I have yet to discover a way to deal with the deleterious effects that sorcery has on the soul.

Regards and Gods bless, Annorax

A Reply from Silvean

You believe that sorcery corrupts, that it is somehow profane. Where does this end? The corpse I briefly animated was made profane by sorcery. The sorcerer himself is profane through the use of sorcery. All of the corpses who have ever benefited from brief animation are now living bodies transformed into profanities by the use of sorcery. All who wield weapons and armor enhanced by sorcery are now profane through the use of sorcery. All civilization in all the world was saved by the Faendryl at the Battle of Maelshyve; all the world is thus rendered profane by the use of sorcery. The righteous cleric should take up his staff and draw a circle around his body on the ground, for this is the only sacred thing left in all the cosmos.

Superstition and prejudice are easily abandoned if you will only apply reason. My instructors once told me that my interest in a particular courtesan would ruin my potential. For years I believed this to be true but when I finally gave in to those beautiful pale limbs, there was no deleterious effect. I am quite brilliant still.

And so, I admire your nerve in discussing this issue. You defend false ideas, of this I am certain, but at least you have ideas and this is more than I can say for most.

Silvean Rashere