On the Nature of Heresy

No aisling of more than a Deoch can deny that strange things occur in our world with alarming frequency. Aislings suddenly disappear in the middle of a conversation or a fight, sometimes not to return for days. Whole areas of land change disappear or appear spontaneously. Sometimes, we are unable to awake from nightmares of blackness, unable to interact with our world. While the best explanation for this phenomenon is the presence of another world I do not presume to argue the existence or lack thereof of other worlds beyond ours. Each aisling must make that decision alone. I wish to address the effects of this other world upon ours.

In order to clarify the information presented here, I will define heresy as any alteration in our lives caused by an interaction with another world. I present here three types of heresy: heresy by thought, heresy by word and heresy by action.

Heresy by Thought:

When an aisling in waking time indulges in active thought about other worlds to the extent that he or she stops interacting with our world it is heresy by thought. We see aislings in our streets, buildings and even in dangerous areas standing stock still, comatose ((When lagging, temporarily occupied or afk)). It is ironic that we even refer to them as being elsewhere. Many an aisling I have seen who has unfortunately died in this prone state.

Aislings are blessed with a supernatural knowledge about themselves and the world. We know things that we naturally should not.((We know our character statistics, and the statistics required for certain events like gaining new skills. Use of this knowledge in the world of DarkAges can be considered heretical. There is no way for me to know in "The Real World" if I can fix a car or lift 150 pounds until I try, but in the game we have a mechanical advantage. This situation also applies to anyone who starts a second character and immediately after making his eleventh insight, goes to Pravat caves, directly to the spot where he can get conix stones. I ask, "How did he know?"))

We cannot police the very thoughts of aislings if only for fear of crushing the spirit within that makes us special. Therefore, we must tolerate the invasion of other worlds and unfounded information into our own minds and attempt to comfort others who spontaneously enter a heretical state of mind.

Heresy by Word:

When an aisling, be it due to youth, necessity, or a temporary lack of control, utters heretical phrases it is referred to as heresy by word. Heresy by word can be references to objects or concepts that do not exist in our world, references to the supernatural knowledge mentioned in heresy by thought, or use of corrupted speech. ((modem, Christmas, "My dad says I have to get off the internet", afk, brb, k, LOL, plz, cool, 52k tnl)) Certain concepts cannot be related to others without the use of heresy by word. ((It is for this instance that we make use of double parentheses.))

((I must strongly stress at this point that verbal communication is a different language from written communication, and when we type we are talking. No writer would ever present standalone statements like, "Ok, I'll be right there," or "What are you doing tonight?" because these statements require the presence of a responding party. Verbal dialogue should not be restricted to the rules of written communication. I was unable to find the word "Yup" in any dictionary, but I hear it many times daily. Abbreviated communication should be restricted only for its potential to confuse other parties and not because if its grammatical impropriety. I may not understand what LMAO means and it could cause trouble, but when I hear the word "OK" spoken, it sounds like "k". Are we not "hearing" what is typed by others?))

No one is born knowing the laws of our world, and young aislings should certainly be given more lenience than the experienced. While far more avoidable than by thought, heresy by word still has its respectable place. In battle, speech is often a matter of life and death, and I would gladly excuse any aisling who has committed heresy by word in hasty request for my help.

((We have all existed in "The Real World" far longer than our characters have existed and our modes of speech have become very ingrained into us. For this reason I request that laws against heresy by speech be relaxed, and an aisling only punished if obviously deliberately using heretical speech when it is easily avoidable))

Heresy by Action:

The third and most severe type of heresy is heresy by action, which, to my knowledge, has barely been addressed at all. Heresy by action involves the use supernatural abilities in the preservation or growth of the self. ((In a group, when someone is skulled and logs off to avoid death, he or she is using game mechanics to manipulate a situation in a way that should be impossible. Also, exploitations of bugs in the game and hacking are similar manipulations.)) No Demagogue, Guard, Burgess or Judge has the influence to stop us from using any means possible to survive and grow. ((If they did, bugs wouldn't need to be fixed.)) And, if somehow an official were to enforce such restrictions, we would see the fiery glow that is aisling begin to sputter and die.

On the Enforcement of Anti-Heretical Laws:

None of the three types of heresy explained above can be stopped. For this reason, heresy will forever remain an issue of discussion, argument and, unfortunately, suffering. Avoidance of heretical acts must come from within, built out of respect for others and ourselves, and not from a threat of banishment or exile. I ask aislings in power to forgive those heretical acts that are unavoidable, excusable, or required for survival and growth. Intervention should be cautionary, for, whatever worlds you wish to expand your consciousness to, repression of freedoms of speech and action are the first step in revolution, hate and bloodshed.


Faithfully Recorded Deoch 12, by Perihelion