Arkati and Secrecy

From: Peter Metcalfe <metcalph_at_voyager.co.nz>
Date: Fri, 05 Mar 1999 13:37:39 +1300


David Cake:

Me>>Arkati 'illumination' is not the Nysaloran Illumination. It's doubtful
>>whether they have the ability to join multiple cults or hold multiple
>>worldviews.

> I imagine that they have these abilities as much as Arkat did.

Arkat never was a member of more than one cult at a time. Likewise most Arkati cults are exclusive of one another.

>>If it is not illegal and/or immoral, why is the
>>society concealing its existance or its membership?

> Many such secret societies may be secret in the same sense as the
>Masons - its not the societies existence or membership that is a secret,
>its what they do and know that is a secret.

This still doesn't answer the bloody question. As I said before, merely positing secrecy for secrecy's sake misses the point. What philosophical or magical reason do they have for this secrecy?

I'm looking for something like:

	Ancient Beasts Society:  This society aims to reach the
	long dead hsunchen ancestors.  To do this, the cultists
	must forget their human identity.  The society cultivates
	this by forbidding the mention or discussion of their 
	human identities within the meeting house, cultists must
	instead refer to each other by their animal names.  Outside
	the cult, mention of the animal names or cultic matters is 
	strongly discouraged as this can lead to subsumation of one's 
	animal identity into the human self.  This gives it a
	quasi-secret character but the cultists are quite open about
	their practices if a prospective initiate walks through the
	door of their temple and asks what's going on...

	Hence you may know your next door neighbour as Fred Bloggs
	and inside the Loon temple, he's Sinster Hummingbird.

This is far more productive and interesting approach IMHO than simplistic sociological sprouting off about why people join societies in general.

We know why the Borists, the Chaos Monks and the Galvosti are secretive. Why do the Old Arkat Cult Alliance or the Argan Argar Chain conceal their identity?

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