In the beginning, powerful spirits wandered in shapeless chaos. 2 particularly powerful spirits decided to bring shape to the void. These were Wisdom and the Demiurge. Other spirits joined with them to help out. These are the spirits of creation. Together they made the world. The demiurge focused on creating material things, fashioning shapes and colors, land and water, the sun, the wind, trees and griffins. Wisdom focused on creating meaning and purpose, making the sun rise and set, the wind blow across the sky, bringing rain and storms, and blow across the water, bringing waves. Wisdom made the fishes swim, and the griffins fly. The sprits of creation joined in, helping to make various stuff.
This (in one interpretation) is the month of Symmetry, Dec 22 - Jan 10.
Eventually, the Demiurge became bored with making the material world, and decided to create some beings to play with. This is humanity, and the demiurge (and many of the spirits of creation) created humanity in secret. Wisdom objected, and the Demiurge drove Wisdom from the created World, back into the Chaos. Wisdom remained in Chaos for a very long time, and the Demiurge played with humanity, lifting some humans to semi-divine sentience, while others were left to wallow in the mud. Humanity was giving a grand hierarchy, with the God Emperor serving as a direct embodiment of the Demiurge, with a set of Priest Kings in thrall to him. Each of the Priest Kings had a set of stewards, and below the stewards, there was the mass of semi-sentient humanity, lifted to awareness only when it amused the Demiurge. This society was called the Theocracy.
This (in one interpretation) is the month of Isolation, Jan 11 - Jan 30.
Out in the Chaos, Wisdom considered the Demiurge's creation (humanity), and constructed for them true guides to their purpose and meaning. These are Love and Reason.
This is the month of Justice, Jan 31 - Feb 19.
Wisdom broke open the egg of the world, and Reason and Love entered the world (Wisdom was still barred from entering directly).
This is the High Holy Day of Illumination, Feb 20. It is celebrated with candles, mirrors and eggs, and is especially sacred to children. Its colors are white and gold. Some schools of Lemmites take magehood on the day of Illumination.
Love and Reason went among the people, and the people were awoken. For each person, this was a different experience. Some people met a young man and a young woman who explained the nature of the universe to them. Others met the two youths, and suddenly noticed that they were alive and capable of thought. Others just looked up one morning, and wonder what they were doing there. Most people drifted into consciousness, and were never able to describe what happened. The stories of this awakening form the basis of the Holy Church.
The Priest King of Vestra (or maybe the God Emperor) sent soldiers to arrest Love and Reason, but when they entered the presence of Love and reason, they awoke, and rejected the Priest King. The Priest King sent soldiers again, and they too were converted. The soldiers returned to the Priest King to try to convert him as well, and were thrown into chains.
This is the month of Adversity, Feb 21 - Mar 13.
The Priest King sent a third set of soldiers, who also were awakened, but Love and Reason submited to be captured and brought before the Priest King.
This is the month of Sacrifice, Mar 13 - Apr 1.
Love and Reason were brought to the court of the Priest King. They had many strange encounters with the courtiers of the Priest King. Some of these were human, and they awoke to Love and Reason. Others were inhuman servants of the Demiurge, and they were deeply distrurbed by these strange and terrible powers. Some attempted to converse sweetly with them, while others mocked them. Love and Reason remained calm through out, and eventually they were brought before the Priest King himself.
This is the month of Anticipation, Apr 2 - Apr 21
In the moment that Love and Reason were brought before the Priest King, he awoke to Love and Reason.
This is the Day of Knowledge, Apr 22. It is celebrated with flower garlands and uncut cloth. It is especially sacred to students and government officials. The Aegidians come to magehood on this day, as do some Lemmites, and the students of Bethelion.
The Priest King, who had already had a Demiurgic form of sentience, was very confused to suddenly feel love and reason. He begged Love and Reason to stay with him and teach him the meaning of this new experience. They accepted his pleas, and stayed in his court, instructing the Priest King and his stewards in Wisdom's desire for humanity.
This is the month of Desire, Apr 23 - May 12.
The Priest King and many of his stewards took to the study of these new ways with great care and devotion, and began to free themselves of the Demiurgic control under which they had lived all their lives. Forsaking the powerful magic of domination and control that had made them into little gods, they began to live as human beings among their former chattel.
This is the month of Fidelity, May 13 - June 1. For most Holy Church followers, this period of the story represents the height of their religious desire, to live as loving and reasonable human beings, among other loving and reasonable human beings, working to live out their lives as Wisdom desired.
While the Preist King and some of his followers had begun to experiment with living as human beings, other stewards doubted that they should surrender to this new power so easily. They began to beset the Preist King with questions and doubts: asking how stewards should great each other, now that they were all brothers in reason; asking how they should address the Priest King himself; asking if it was proper to keep livestock, or to eat animals. Some wondered if they should kill fleas, others wondered if it wouldn't be better to use their theocratic magic to make the fleas not wish to bite them, if it would spare the fleas' lives. With each new question and contraversy, the Preist King would consult with Love and Reason. With each new question, Love and Reason would counsel the Priest King to look to the love within his breast, and the reason within his head. The Priest King would carefully contemplate the question, and return with his answer for the stewards. Quickly, his answers grew into a great pile of edicts and laws and pronouncements.
This is the month of Constancy, June 2 - June 21, when rules arise to constrain the human weakness that comes from our Demiurgic origins. This period serves as a guide to the Aegidians and the Christopherians, who seek to constrain the reckless power of magic with rules and laws.
Finally, the stewards had had enough of this nonsense, living like cattle in the mud and the straw, eating vegetables, forbidden from flying or turning invisible, or using the other humans as puppets and play-things. Most of the Stewards rose up, marched back to Vestra, and turned their backs on Love and Reason.
The first half of the year ends on Transformation Day, June 22. This day is a strangely tense celebration of reckless human desire, of lust and greed and a desire for change that arises out of boredom rather than reason or love. For the less religious, it is often one big party, but for the religious, it is a day to accept that humanity was created by the Demiurge alone, and that while Wisdom sent Love and Reason to guide us and to make us whole, it will always be a struggle for us to keep Love and reason close at hand.
With most of the Stewards decamped to Vestra, the Priest King became progressively more forceful and strident, demanding their return and placing tighter and tighter restrictions on his own folloers, rules that became less and less loving and reasonable, and ever more the preparation for war. Love and Reason cautioned the Priest King repeatedly that he was back sliding and turning away from them, but he turned a deaf ear to their protests.
This is the month of Tension, June 22 - July 11. This month marks the beginning of the falling arc of the year, the darker and more mystical side of the Holy Calendar. For Aegideans and other religious folk oriented towards harmony and moderation, this half of the year is a cautionary tale, and a reminder that those who seek power are those who most serve the Demiurge. To the Lemmites and others of a mystical religious bent, this is the important part of the cycle, building on the bear minimum of the rising arc. In this half of the year, the spirit becomes wild, rises to great heights, and is obliterated in union with transcendent Wisdom. For Lemmites and Savacions, Tension is a particularly auspiciuous month for taking on apprentices.
Finally, the Priest King could take no more rebellion from his former followers, and so he raised up a great army of peasants and loyal Stewards, and marched upon Vestra. All around Vestra a great Battle raged for days. Love and Reason saw no good in this war, and stood aside, their counsel of peace and restraint ignored.
This is the month of Strife, July 12 - July 31. The traditional month of war within the Holy Church, it is much loved by Savacions, who reject the teaching that Love and reason stood aside. Instead, Savacion taught that Love and Reason counselled Just War, and Aided the Priest King and his peasant army in their war against the Theocratic Stewards. Lemmites find in this month the struggle of the mystics with their own desires and fears.
Finally, the Priest King defeated his rebel stewards in battle, and seized the Citadel of Vestra from their false Priest King. Seating himself upon his ancient throne (abandoned in the Month of Desire), he called for his enemies to be brought before him for judgement. Love and Reason returned to his side, and counselled that he look to his inner flames of reason and love for guidance.
This is the month of Dominion, August 1 - August 20. High summer, a month of early harvest and hot sunny days. Another traditional month of War for the Choleic people, this month is highly regarded by the Savacions as proof that Love and Reason guide the virtuous warrior. For the Lemmites, Dominion represents the first mastery of mystical training, when Lemmites gain steady control over their inner nature.
As the Priest Kings vanquished foes are brought before him, they offer up a variety of responses. Some rebuke him again for turning against the Demiurge. Others are shamefaced and offer promises of eternal loyalty to Love and Reason. Others are impressed and frightened, and offer promises of perpetual loyalty to the Priest King himself. No matter their manner, the Priest King has only one sentence for all of the rebel stewards: Death, by horrible and torturous means. When some of his loyal stewards and peasantry plead for the lives of the rebel stewards, the Priest King sentences them to death as well. Finally, as the corpses pile higher, Love and Reason come forward and rebuke the Priest King, telling him that the voices he has listened to are not those of the inner flame of Love and Reason, but the remnants of the Demiurgic Will which he still carries.
This is the High Holy Day of Passion, August 21. It is celebrated with wild festivals and parades. For the extremely religious (particularly for mages, who tend to identify queasily with the Priest King), it may be a day of abstinence and penance. For most though, it is a celebration of wildness, and of the overthrow of power (they celebrate the rebuke of the excessive King by Love and Reason, and the final end of Theocratic Rule, not the slaughter and teh last throws of Theocracy). For Savacions, this is a very important and very confusing holiday: simultaneously celebrating the overthrow of the Priest King, and identifying with his failure to resist brutal excess. For Aegideans, it is a day that begins in sorrow and ends in rejoicing. For Lemmites, it is the celebration of the overthrowing of the controlling self, and the beginning of the quest for greater and hidden knowledge.
The priest King realized his error and his fundamental flaw. He had served the Theocratic power for too long, and was not capable of participating freely in the new world of Love and Reason. He looked in horror upon what he had done, and knew not where to turn. Casting himself from Vestra, he wandered mad and alone through his gardens.
This is the Month of Shame August 22 - September 10. This is a month for travel, and a bad month for continuing battle. Many agriculturally associated saints have their holy days during this month, as the great religious calendar cycle lines up badly with the needs of an agricultural people. This is the month of retreat and self deprivation for all of the religious orders, whether Aegidean religion of moderation, or Lemmite religion of mysticism.
As the Priest King wandered mad through his gardens, he had many encounters, told in many different stories. In some, he is shown mercy by the peasantry (whom he had terrorized when he was the Theocratic Ruler, and the price for peasants of being seen in the gardens of Vestra was death). In others, he shows mercy to the last rebel Stewards. In a few, he shows mercy to an ant or a flea.
This is the month of Mercy, September 11 - September 30 (bracketing the Autumnal Equinox, which is celebrated independently of the religious calendar). Regarded fondly by all religious people, this is the month for showing mercy and compassion to others, and is an excellent month for begging and for trading. For the Lemmites, this is the month of accepting that the road to mystical power is not easy or straight, and that failure can be a greater guide than power.
Finally, the Priest King, having regained his senses in his encounters in the Gardens, settles down with a simple community of peasants, or rebel stewards, or ants. Paying no mind to the questions of land rule, and the establishment of law, he and his companions live a simple life of farmers (peasant, rebel stewards, or ants), guided quietly and peaceful by the inner flames of love and reason.
This is the month of Communion, October 1 - October 20. As the year turns towards darkness and rain, it is good to be at home with your fellows. For the Lemmites, this is the month of the quiet work of service under the gentle guidance of a wise master.
Living his peaceful life, hiding out as a farmer, the Priest King wanders one day, perhaps following a lost sheep, to a deep lake in between two rocky mountains (the twin Mountains of Helicone and Ilex). There he meets Love and Reason once again, and they tell him that it is time for him to come with them, and to learn fully and at last his place in Wisdom's grand plan.
This is the Day of Ascension, October 21.
What follows is that the Priest King decides to go and meet with Wisdom directly, to better understand what purpose it is that Love and Reason guide humanity to, his ascension to the edge of the Universe, his union with the Universe itself, his total comprehension of the meaning of everything, and his realization that it is beyond his power to ever truly escape his Demiurgic roots. Finally, he vanishes into thin air on the further point of Chalycidice.
More to come.
union
wisdom
despair
Day of Dissipation
