Illumination!

From: Peter Metcalfe, CAPE Canty <CHEN190_at_cantva.canterbury.ac.nz>
Date: Sat, 21 Jan 1995 17:41:51 +0000


Sandy:

Colin wrote:

>>>Illumination is the cancer of the gods.

I replied:

>>hmm. Illumination has been practiced in Dara Happa throughout its
>>history and Yelm isn't dead yet.

And to which Sandy wrote:

> Actually, Illumination was almost completely absent
>throughout the Second Age and most of the First. Only in the Lunar
>Empire and during the 75-year-long Gbaji Wars was illumination
>available. And even during the Lunar Empire's time, there have been
>lengthy periods when illumination was rare (such as during Sheng
>Seleris's reign of terror).

Umm, generally correct. From Greg's notes, Nysalorian Cults did survive after the conquest of Dara Happa by the Theyalans and when the latter were booted out, they began to flourish to some extent. These cults were primarily commoners cults, even to some extent that some were mainly mobs. They were alternatively repressed and rewarded depending on governmental attitudes until the Red Goddess comes along. In Lunar Times, Illumination, IMO, is seen as a philosophy to be practiced by the government and the higher social orders. And Sheng wan't opposed to Illumination, he coopted one school into his government and ruthlessly suppressed all the rest. And besides what about Kralorela?

All in all, this hinges really on Illumination. Now I haven't read Lords of Terror and Loren's succinct statement sums up for me the basis of what we understand as Illumination from CoT or DLoD. However, it is my belief that the Illumination thus given is only a basic technique that managed to survive the Arkati repression.

The (authentic) cults/schools that I mentioned above all could show you the way to illumination, IMO. Their effectiveness varied widely and it would be fair to assume that easier paths to illumination were discovered in Dara Happa when the Red Goddess was born.

> In the Lunar Empire, Yelm is, in fact, dwindling fast,
>because of illumination. The old Dara Happan cults are enfeebled and
>waning. Their stern and uncompromising nature encourages few
>converts, while the open Lunar way promises both temporal power and
>personal pleasure. And of course, whenever a Yelm worshiper's son
>fails to be initiated into Yelm, then the line stops dead -- no more
>Yelm (since it's hereditary). There are large areas where no more
>Yelm worshipers are available to be the old-style benign nobility, so
>the ancient houses have been replaced with Lunar bureaucracies.

Spare us the Dara Happan Nobles laments. Yelm wasn't worshipped at the Dawn and nobody managed to speak to him until 350 _years_ later, so I'd hardly equate loss of worship with Death of God. Besides Kralorela has a perfectly adequate cult for worshipping Yelm without hereditary lines of succesion so I feel that the requirements of having a father as a Yelm initatiate to be initaiated is a Dara Happan Cultural artifact instead of an absolute requirement to know the god. All these old, enfeebled, waning, Dara Happan Cults really need is a good kick up the arse...

>>Only the Orlanthi and the Malkioni actually believe illumination is
>>evil and the latter has some nerve after giving the world Arkat.

> In the first place, it's not _just_ the Orlanthi and
>Malkioni. In the second place, the Orlanthi and the Malkioni are the
>only peoples to have dealt substantially with illumination -- they're
>both bitter foes to it, now. Think about it.

The Orlanthi hatred of Nysalor was induced by Urban and Solar (Palangio the Iron Vrok) bias of the Empire of Light, IMO. It was a lowlander thang. The Malkioni hate Nysalor because they competed with their own secrets. Both cultures tried to overthrow the Empire of Light. Since fight proved bloody, I find it unsurprising that both feel a hatred of things associated with Illumination.

> In the third place, you miss the entire point about Arkat.
>Whether Arkat was Gbaji, Nysalor, or just plain Arkat, he was the
>creature of Illumination. He could not have existed, been what he
>was, did what he did, saved what he saved, had illumination not
>created him.

My swipe was at the Malkioni, _not_ Arkat! To my mind the Malkioni are in a similar postion to an Argentine General who justifies his conduct during the 'dirty war' (y'know torture) by saying it was necessary to stop bolshevikism. They claim that Illumination is Evil but only make a big song and dance about the Terrible Plague of Tanisor when asked why.

All the other chaos enormities, Vampire Legions and so forth, are _after_ the Seshnegi and the Brithini were ganging up on Kingdom of Tanisor and the Panic set in. It is this disparity between the time of the plague and the other enormities which leads me to suspect that the story about the plague is somewhat more complex. Perhaps only Arkat knows...

>I know heaps about Arkat, and he's more
>than just a mindless killer. Let's just say that Arkat knew _just_
>what he was doing when he slew Nysalor. He was neither ignorant nor
>deluded. You've perhaps heard the biblical question: "What does it
>profit a man if he save the whole world and lose his own soul?" Arkat
>knows.

_save_? _gains_ is the correct word, I'd thought?. Yes, I do see the point you're trying to make. My current feeling on Arkat is that he was born with a terrible canker that would eventually have caused him to destroy the whole world and that only a confrontation with Nysalor would have at least saved the world.

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