The Path is the main religious document of the Church of the Supreme One, the official religion of Pyracan.
Contents
History
The Degradation
The Supreme One has spoken to the Pyracani since before the Pyracani learned to speak, and He has delighted in the hard-won development of his Creations and cried over their trips and falls. He has treated their handiwork as grandchildren, and has judged how well they emulate his example by their works and deeds.
For thousands of generations, the Pyracani were strong-backed and just, letting their intrinsic rights flow purely through their deeds and burning cleanly and clearly when they eventually rejoined him. But over time, the Pyracani began to defile themselves, and their flames guttered and fizzled. They ceased creating pure Creations in homage to the Supreme One, and instead lived off the work of the Supreme One’s other Creations.
One day, His people committed the ultimate hubris by enslaving the Supreme One’s own holy emissaries, the Spirits of the land, sea and air. They forced the Spirits to plow their fields, to tend their livestock, to make their clothes and houses, and to care for their children. With a lack of honest work to keep them occupied and having forgotten their fundamental rights, the Pyracani fell into mischief and committed graver and graver misdeeds.
The Four Calls
Holy Daughter Zoru Ruannaigh’s pack remained faithful to the Supreme One for many generations, and their handiwork always sought to emulate the glory of His creations. Zoru’s own flame burned brighter than any who came before, which is why she is often called ‘The Beacon.’ But in Zoru’s generation, the other Pyracani began to change the laws so that they no longer served to defend against those that would violate others’ rights. Holy Daughter Zoru cried out to the Supreme One over this injustice, but received no reply.
Next, they began to steal her lands, goods and handiwork, as they refused to make their own lands, goods and handiwork in the Supreme One’s example, and thus their Creations crumbled. Holy Daughter Zoru cried out to the Supreme One over this injustice, but received no reply.
Next, the other Pyracani began to murder her packmates and even her son, and threw their corpses on the ground unburned, jealous of their relationship with the Supreme One. Holy Daughter Zoru cried out to the Supreme One over this new injustice, but received no reply.
Next, the other Pyracani began to kidnap her remaining packmates to use and enslave them as they saw fit, heaping dishonor upon them worse than death. Holy Daughter Zoru cried out to the Supreme One for justice a fourth time, but this time asked for the means to solve this problem herself.
The Answer
It was only then that the Supreme One spoke to her in the holy city of Dirus in 694 CE, coming down to Pyracan in the form of a bright white meteorite. His heat and radiance scorched the ground and burned the fur off of her face, making it forevermore hairless. He spoke to her for eight days, each day teaching her one of the eight steps of the Path to lead the Pyracani back to the right ways. Each one of these days the sun shone blood red, causing much fear amongst the Pyracani. When He was finished, He left Pyracan, causing the sun to glow bright white once more. This is why the sun is called Cyon, which means, ‘The Supreme One’s seal.’ Zoru and her few remaining packmates built a tall white marble wall around the place where the Supreme One had scorched the ground so that none might desecrate it, and then she began moving from community to community on Pyracan, freeing the bound Spirits and teaching the Pyracani the Path as she had been taught. In 812 CE, at the age of 173, her flame burned so brightly that she spontaneously combusted, guided back to the Supreme One by each of the three Emissary kings.
The Path
Dogma
While the eight steps are dogmatically considered a linear journey in that mastery of the final step is the mastery of the Path, each follower advances in all eight steps at his or her own pace. They have been divided in many ways by theologians over the centuries, from Holy Mother Jeera’s Reductionist Coda of Rights and Facets, to High Bishop Uorr Haelkign’s Heart, Hands, Head and Soul. However they’re divided, the first four steps focus on all sapients’ four intrinsic rights and the implications of such on the way we interact with the world, and the second four steps deal with the four parts of ourselves, and how best to treat these parts within and without in order to perfect ourselves.
Evolution
Before the Purple Dawn, the Pyracani saw the Path as a means to material success like Zora enjoyed, that a oneness with the Pyracani nature would allow one to rule the Supreme One’s creations as the pinnacle of Creation, or even that the Supreme One would alter reality to make it more favorable to the Pyracani. After the Purple Dawn, self improvement became a goal in and of itself, with the end goal of making one’s self a worthy sacrifice on the pyre. The Path is now thought of as a guidebook for a fulfilling life for any species, and focused more on the intrinsic value of the steps rather than simply valuing them as elements that make the Supreme One happy.
The Steps
- 1. True Freedom. All that exists, exists due to the Freedom to do so, born from the hand of the Supreme One. This right to Freedom is an intrinsic part of us crafted indelibly on our selves by our Creator. It fills the space between sapients, but importantly, does not go beyond. Freedom is the largest and greatest Step towards the Path, and without the flame of Freedom, one cannot see his way to take any other Steps.
- 2. True Living. From the comprehension of all that it means to have an intrinsic right to Freedom, this intrinsic right inexorably leads to the understanding of an intrinsic right to Living. Your life is forever your own, and can never belong to anyone else. While it can be given or forfeited, it can never be received. When one understands his right to Freedom and Living, he understands his right to proper treatment after death, including the release of his spirit from the dead body in order to rejoin with the Supreme One. Without the breath of Living, you cannot continue down the Path.
- 3. True Holding. That which we fairly own is ours, and can belong to no one else without our consent, save for compensation for infringing on others’ rights. The fruit of our hands is as much ours as our hands are, as they are each made with a drop of our vitality, our spirit. Even when we put this creation out into the world, we always will have some tie with it, as it is a part of ourselves. Without the staff of property, one cannot Create the torch that will lead them and others to the Path.
- 4. True Warding. The world is not a just place, but paradoxically, all have an intrinsic right to Justice. This is the guarantor of the first three Steps, and is a part of each of them at the same time that it is its own Step. The natural extension of the rights to Freedom, Living and Holding, Justice combines the spark, the breath and the staff into the Torch, filling all corners of the world with its light. It protects the other rights, and Wards them against infringement.
- 5. True Weakness. All possess Weakness. It exists all through the world, and within each corner of one’s being. It is being unable or untrained to hold the Torch high and both lead others to the Path and defend them from the Destructive who would lead them astray. There is no dishonor in Weakness, either in being unable to traverse the Path, or in falling to sin and straying from the Path. The dishonor is in failing to see that one has left the Path and seek to find it again. One’s Weakness and the Weakness of others helps to illustrate the fragility of Living and Freedom.
- 6. True Ignorance. All possess Ignorance. Rather than deny that part of one’s self, one must understand that part in order to understand it in others. There are many in the world that have the ability to travel the Path, but do not. It does not matter if this is a choice; the truly Ignorant must be left to their own devices so long as they do not infringe on the rights of others. To carry another onto the Path is to deny them the opportunity to walk the Path. Understanding Ignorance helps illuminate this thin line between protecting others who travel the Path and carrying others to the Path.
- 7. True Destruction. All possess Destructive capability. This is the part of one’s self that sees others on the Path, or struggling towards the Path, and seeks to tear them away, whether just in thought, or by infringing on another’s rights. Again, rather than deny or suppress this part of one’s self, one must embrace and understand the power of Destructive anger, greed and other base emotions to truly understand the role of Destruction on the Path. Understanding Destruction helps to illuminate the line between personal Freedom and the Freedom of others, and the responsibility of enforcing that boundary.
- 8. True Creation. All possess Creative capability. As a Creator, one has the understanding to use and wield the Torch to follow the Path, and serve as an example to others as to inspire them to seek the Path on their own. A true Creator restores and defends the rights of the Weak and Ignorant when he can, and seeks the help of other Creators when he cannot. A true Creator does not break an oath sworn on the Path, but can be released from it. A true Creator treats every stranger as a friend until he has understanding of the stranger’s true nature. A true Creator craves the challenges these issues create, as each allows him to take another Step down the Path.