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<quote-right>The Paragons have shown us the way, but they will not carry  
 
<quote-right>The Paragons have shown us the way, but they will not carry  
 
us up the mountain on their backs.</quote-right>
 
us up the mountain on their backs.</quote-right>
  
The teachings of the Imperial Faith found fertile ground in Urizen, partly due to their understanding of the Net of the Heavens. The Highguard priests argued early on that Virtue is “contagious” and this idea proved influential among the Urizen. The idea runs that an individual who puruses Virtue encourages other people to be “better.” Virtuous individuals easily become pivotal individuals, inspiring and influencing everyone round them.
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With the emphasis on philosophy and an ordered and rational life, it is no surprise that virtue and religion are important in Urizen. Most Urizen try to live virtuous lives and many believe that virtue is essential for [[arete]], that people can only be truly effective when they act in a virtuous manner, or that Poise cannot be achieved while giving in to base urges to act in a vile fashion. In particular, a philosophical understand of the Way of Virtue is regarded by most Urizen as a matter of concern and interest to all, rather than the prerogative and business of priests.
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The Path of Virtue promotes behaviours that allow civilisation to prosper. Individuals who are virtuous encourage others around them to be more virtuous, and discourage self-serving or slothful attitudes.  
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Some Urizen regard the Path of Virtue as an unfinished work, as incomplete revelation. These individuals, often called Questors, seek to challenge themselves and others by questioning the dogma of other priests. They use doubt and logic as tools to explore the meaning of faith and the purpose of virtue. They are often at odds with the priests of Highguard, and are known to question what the exact role of priests should be in religion – they regularly propose that priests have a responsibility to guide and offer advice, but that they should not attempt to make individuals undertake or avoid certain types of behaviour because by doing so they are damaging the soul’s progression towards enlightenment.
  
The illuminates of Orsion are priests who believe that each person has the potential to advance to a higher state of being – to equal and eventually surpass the Paragons in their enlightenment and understanding of the divine. They encourage people to pursue a personal connection with the divine, to unlock their own potential through both study and righteous action.
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The Path of Virtue promotes behaviours that allow civilisation to prosper. Individuals who are virtuous encourage others around them to be more virtuous, and discourage self-serving or slothful attitudes. Highguard priests argue that virtue and vice are “contagious”, that virtuous individuals promote virtuous behaviour in those around them, and vice versa. The priests of the Urizen do not deny this idea, but from their understanding of the [[Net of the Heavens]] the priests of Urizen perceive a deeper truth.
  
Many illuminates seek to challenge themselves and others by questioning the dogma of other priests. They use doubt and logic as tools to explore the meaning of faith and the purpose of virtue. They are often at odds with the priests of Highguard, and are known to question what the exact role of priests should be in religion. They regularly propose that priests have a responsibility to guide and offer advice, but that they should not attempt to force individuals to undertake or avoid certain types of behaviour because by doing so they are damaging the soul’s progression towards enlightenment.
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The illuminates of Urizen are priests who combine a unique appreciation of the Net of the Heavens with a dedication to the Path of Virtue. Where other Urizen seek to understand the world around then in terms of pivotal nodes, individuals and events which dominate and control those around them – the Illuminates seek instead to identify virtuous individuals and work to make them into pivotal nodes, to put them in positions or bring them to events that will prove pivotal.
  
They reason that while there are unlikely to be any more Paragons, if they do appear they will benefit from being shepherded they are perfect examples of incredibly influential individuals with the power to change the destinies of thousands of people. If no more Paragons appear, they believe that there will be more and more Exemplars – individuals who through their virtue inspire others and achieve great things. By encouraging these Exemplars to explore their divine nature, they reason that eventually all humans will be born with an innate understanding of virtue and that the human species  will be irrevocably changed.
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The idea is compellingly simple, by making a virtuous individual into a pivotal node, that node then influences all those nodes that are connected to it. The more pivotal the node, the greater the influence – the more virtue takes root and spreads across the Empire. The obvious way to make an individual into a pivotal node is to put them in a position of command within the Empire; a courageous general will inspire his troops to greater loyalty and courage, a prosperous senator will enable prosperity and ambition throughout his nation. Ultimately though any thing that serves to make a virtuous person become a pivotal individual achieves the Illuminate’s objectives.
  
The ultimate goal of the illuminates is nothing less than a transcendent understanding of creation and their place in it, and to use that understanding to inspire others to transcend their understanding. They want, effectively, to make themselves into Paragons through reason and Virtue, and catalyse a change that will see everyone in the Empire achieve a higher state of being.  
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Vice is just as contagious as virtue, so Illuminates also seek to identify vile individuals, those who lack the virtues and eliminate them. There is nothing anything underhand about this, most Illuminates are priests who actively serve in the Synod which has the power to remove anyone from Imperial office if their behaviour is deemed sufficiently unvirtuous. By bringing evidence of vile behaviour before the Synod, the Illuminates can remove those whose behaviour is influencing the Empire in the wrong way.
  
It is quite an ambitious aim.  
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On the face of it, the Illuminates appear little different to most Highguard Inquisitors or any other priest concerned with vile behaviour. The difference is that the Illuminates are not concerned with the behaviour itself, but rather with the influence that the behaviour has on others, by way of the connections between them. A high ranking Imperial general whose selfish behaviour undermines his job is of little concern to an Illuminate – if that general is not a pivotal node – if they are effective in influencing others.
  
<quote>Better to doubt and find the truth than to be given it as a gift</quote>
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The other approach for Illuminates is to identify pivotal individuals and encourage them to become more virtuous. All the nodes in the Net of the Heavens influence each other, as well as the space between them, so a powerful node can still be affected by bringing another node into contact with it. A powerful senator prone to graft and corruption may be made more prosperous and loyal simply by the presence of a secretary in his entourage who is known for his honesty.
  
Most Urizen wholeheartedly embrace the idea that this flesh is just a vessel through which the soul happens to be passing on its road to enlightenment. After an individual is dead, the body should be treated with respect but it is fundamentally an empty husk. Bodies are interred with minimal ceremony in quiet mausoleums built on the lower slopes beneath a Spire. They are rarely entombed with grave goods or marked with great ornamentation. Influential and inspiring figures are recalled in bas-reliefs and statuary that decorates an Orsiond Spire, but it is a rare Urizen whose biography, journals and collected letters cannot be found in the library at the heart of a Spire.
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The goal of the Illuminates is to work to make the entire Empire more virtuous. But rather than deliver sermons to a congregation of dozens they seek to transform pivotal individuals; the ultimate goals is that all the nodes of the Net of the Heavens should be occupied by virtuous individuals. By such a method the Illuminates believe they can transform the entire Empire. It is quite an ambitious aim.
  
 
[[Category:Nations]]
 
[[Category:Nations]]
 
[[Category:Urizen]]
 
[[Category:Urizen]]

Revision as of 19:00, 27 July 2012

The Paragons have shown us the way, but they will not carry us up the mountain on their backs.

With the emphasis on philosophy and an ordered and rational life, it is no surprise that virtue and religion are important in Urizen. Most Urizen try to live virtuous lives and many believe that virtue is essential for arete, that people can only be truly effective when they act in a virtuous manner, or that Poise cannot be achieved while giving in to base urges to act in a vile fashion. In particular, a philosophical understand of the Way of Virtue is regarded by most Urizen as a matter of concern and interest to all, rather than the prerogative and business of priests.

Some Urizen regard the Path of Virtue as an unfinished work, as incomplete revelation. These individuals, often called Questors, seek to challenge themselves and others by questioning the dogma of other priests. They use doubt and logic as tools to explore the meaning of faith and the purpose of virtue. They are often at odds with the priests of Highguard, and are known to question what the exact role of priests should be in religion – they regularly propose that priests have a responsibility to guide and offer advice, but that they should not attempt to make individuals undertake or avoid certain types of behaviour because by doing so they are damaging the soul’s progression towards enlightenment.

The Path of Virtue promotes behaviours that allow civilisation to prosper. Individuals who are virtuous encourage others around them to be more virtuous, and discourage self-serving or slothful attitudes. Highguard priests argue that virtue and vice are “contagious”, that virtuous individuals promote virtuous behaviour in those around them, and vice versa. The priests of the Urizen do not deny this idea, but from their understanding of the Net of the Heavens the priests of Urizen perceive a deeper truth.

The illuminates of Urizen are priests who combine a unique appreciation of the Net of the Heavens with a dedication to the Path of Virtue. Where other Urizen seek to understand the world around then in terms of pivotal nodes, individuals and events which dominate and control those around them – the Illuminates seek instead to identify virtuous individuals and work to make them into pivotal nodes, to put them in positions or bring them to events that will prove pivotal.

The idea is compellingly simple, by making a virtuous individual into a pivotal node, that node then influences all those nodes that are connected to it. The more pivotal the node, the greater the influence – the more virtue takes root and spreads across the Empire. The obvious way to make an individual into a pivotal node is to put them in a position of command within the Empire; a courageous general will inspire his troops to greater loyalty and courage, a prosperous senator will enable prosperity and ambition throughout his nation. Ultimately though any thing that serves to make a virtuous person become a pivotal individual achieves the Illuminate’s objectives.

Vice is just as contagious as virtue, so Illuminates also seek to identify vile individuals, those who lack the virtues and eliminate them. There is nothing anything underhand about this, most Illuminates are priests who actively serve in the Synod which has the power to remove anyone from Imperial office if their behaviour is deemed sufficiently unvirtuous. By bringing evidence of vile behaviour before the Synod, the Illuminates can remove those whose behaviour is influencing the Empire in the wrong way.

On the face of it, the Illuminates appear little different to most Highguard Inquisitors or any other priest concerned with vile behaviour. The difference is that the Illuminates are not concerned with the behaviour itself, but rather with the influence that the behaviour has on others, by way of the connections between them. A high ranking Imperial general whose selfish behaviour undermines his job is of little concern to an Illuminate – if that general is not a pivotal node – if they are effective in influencing others.

The other approach for Illuminates is to identify pivotal individuals and encourage them to become more virtuous. All the nodes in the Net of the Heavens influence each other, as well as the space between them, so a powerful node can still be affected by bringing another node into contact with it. A powerful senator prone to graft and corruption may be made more prosperous and loyal simply by the presence of a secretary in his entourage who is known for his honesty.

The goal of the Illuminates is to work to make the entire Empire more virtuous. But rather than deliver sermons to a congregation of dozens they seek to transform pivotal individuals; the ultimate goals is that all the nodes of the Net of the Heavens should be occupied by virtuous individuals. By such a method the Illuminates believe they can transform the entire Empire. It is quite an ambitious aim.