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[Vgray]

You knew your mother had been moved by Ecclesiast Olynna's compassion. "We owe it to the families to comfort them," she said quietly to you, the first time you attended a sacrifice. "Their deaths keep us safe; we should keep their loved ones as best we can." Years later, after the Harrowing where Joana Orchard from your estate lost her children, your ashen-faced mother added her own gifts to Olynna's.

It maddened your father when he found out. "Owe it to them?" he repeated, growing shrill. "Whatever they're 'owed,' they'll get in Elysia. Reminding them of that is the bloody Ecclesiast's job! Not handing out sweetmeats and weeping at Harrowings!"

The tension between the aristocracy of Rim Square and their Ecclesiast finally came to a head when you were eleven years old. The whole town was dutifully assembled in the temple for the Barningday celebration. Drooped half-asleep in your family's bench, you were jolted back to attention when Olynna interrupted herself in mid-sentence. "The lectionary for today is…" After a pause, she closed the sacred Codex. "Let us reflect further on last week's reading."

A disapproving susurrus rose from all across the balcony. Your father hissed, "Too far, too far!" his expression somewhere between rage and glee. Afterward, noble after noble stalked out of the Naos without saying a word to the resigned-looking Ecclesiast.

The only one who stopped to address her was Lord Stilos Keriatou, your father's cousin and the aristarch of the district. Hovering just behind him and your father in the queue, you could hear every word. "We were intrigued that you chose not to read the Kapirine lectionary, hiera."

"It is an easily misunderstood text, kurios," Olynna replied evenly.

"Indeed." The flinty aristocrat appeared to be trying to pin the priest to the Naos wall with his eyes alone. "It has been misunderstood most gravely, by any number of heretics."

1) I piped up: "What does Ever-Blessed Kapirus say, hiera?" From my studies, I knew the sacred Codex included a psalm by that name.

2) "How has it been misunderstood, hiera?" The heresy was more interesting to me than the text.

3) I kept silent.

Spoiler: Current Stats (click to show/hide)

You are an aristocrat of the Shayard Rim.

Traits
Charisma: Not yet defined.
Combat: Not yet defined.
Intellect: Not yet defined.

  Ruthless: 49% Compassionate: 51%   
  Skeptical: 49% Devout: 51%   
  Homelander: 50%

((I am seriously considering requiring a 3/4 vote once chapter two starts. If not now.))

[NRDL]

2

[notquitethere]

2

[Vgray]

At your interruption, Lord Keriatou's spine went spear-straight and his lips disappeared into a barely visible line. Before either he or your appalled-looking father could do anything, however, Ecclesiast Olynna strode to your side. "For a child to seek instruction in such matters is a holy duty, kurios." A trace of a smile crossed her cheeks.

"To know one's place is a holy duty, hiera," the aristarch countered frostily, never turning his eyes to you. "One which lamentably eludes the youth in your charge."

"The Psalm of Kapirus is well known as a hymn to Compassion, child. The closing passage touches on its limits: how we might be led astray by our compassion for animals, criminals, enemies, and such." Olynna ruffled your hair and cast a weary gaze back to the aristarch. "It can also be misread to suggest that those who serve, and in particular helots, are not proper objects of compassion."

"That is, indeed, a dismayingly natural reading of the passage." Kurios Stilos' shrug was deceptively mild. "Some have felt that Kapirus simply reads better without its final stanza. Indeed, some have suggested that the stanza was a falsehood added to the original Revelation."

1) "But that would be heresy!" I exclaimed proudly. I knew that much.

2) "We should have compassion for helots, hiera?"

3) I didn't dare to interrupt again.

Spoiler: Current Stats (click to show/hide)

You are an aristocrat of the Shayard Rim.

Traits
Charisma: Not yet defined.
Combat: Not yet defined.
Intellect: Not yet defined.

  Ruthless: 49% Compassionate: 51%   
  Skeptical: 50% Devout: 50%   
  Homelander: 50% Cosmopolitan: 50%   

Anarchy: 0

[birdy51]

2.

[Paxiecrunchle]

3, lets not raise suspicions too far.

[NRDL]

2, it's always fun playing the idealist who ends up suffering for it

[notquitethere]

Agree, 2.

[Vgray]

"Of course, child," Olynna said firmly, speaking past you to the gallery of standing helots. "On page after page, we learn of our duty to show compassion to every human. And there is nothing in Codex or Canon which supports the exclusion of the helotry from humanity. Their vocation is a distinct and a difficult one…but one which calls for greater compassion, not lesser."

Lord Keriatou was staring directly at you now, face knitted into an imperious scowl. "Sweet Angels, will no one control this child?" he barked.

Your father, wilting under his cousin's glare, snatched you away from Olynna and out onto the street. "Xthonos' Eyes, child, what are you thinking?" His voice grew shriller with every word.

"I just wanted to understand," you protested.

"You don't need to understand! Damn it all, what does it matter?" When you arrived home, he hurled you to the floor and slammed the massive door behind you. "We just lost your mother. I won't l…won't let you get us killed by your foolishness!"

Three weeks later, in a willow grove near the river, Ecclesiast Olynna gave her last lesson to you and the other noble children of Rim Square. Under your kyrtle, the last ghostly bruises from your father's thrashing were finally beginning to fade. The priest had regained her usual good cheer after her clash with kurios Keriatou; but that day her smile as she catechized you only made you feel worse.

"What is our highest duty and calling?"

"Compassion," chorused twenty voices around the clearing.

Olynna nodded warmly. "By this, we serve both our fellows and the Angels."

The question burst from you, incongruous even in your own ears: "What about Xthonos?"

"Almighty-Xthonos-is-the-Source-of-All." A four-year-old restarted her catechism in confusion, then glanced at the other children and burst into tears.

"You know it so well, Calyse!" Olynna deftly calmed the youngster, then turned thoughtful eyes on you. "But I don't think that was the intent of the question."

"It doesn't matter to Xthonos, does it, hiera?" Other than your cheeks growing hot, you managed to ignore the gasps and laughter around you. "It knows no compassion. It doesn't care about what we do."

"The Angels do," Olynna said gently, hushing the other children with a gesture. "The blessed emanations of Xthonos. And we are under Their care."

"But…" You searched for the right words. "Everything emanates from Xthonos. It doesn't know the Angels, any more than It knows us. It's perfect. And It doesn't have compassion. So why should compassion matter so much for the Angels, or for us?"

One of the things you loved most about the Ecclesiast was the way she always took your questions with full seriousness. She paused now, forehead creased as she contemplated the sun-dappled river beyond the shelter of the willow.

1) Despite my inner turmoil, I waited silently for her to speak.

2) Aware of all the dubious eyes on me, I blurted, "I don't…I'm not a heretic."

3) I muttered rebelliously, "And why do we think the Angels are so compassionate, anyway?"

Spoiler: Current Stats (click to show/hide)

You are an aristocrat of the Shayard Rim.

Traits
Charisma: Not yet defined.
Combat: Not yet defined.
Intellect: Not yet defined.

  Ruthless: 49% Compassionate: 51%   
  Skeptical: 50% Devout: 50%   
  Homelander: 50% Cosmopolitan: 50%   

Anarchy: 0

[NRDL]

3

[Digital Hellhound]

1

[EuchreJack]

1

[birdy51]

1

[A Thing]

1

[Vgray]

When she began her answer, the Ecclesiast sounded sad and worn down. "Many would say that the world proves your point, my dear. We only see compassion among humans—and not always among them. So perhaps compassion is just an incidental part of Xthonos's Order, applicable only in a handful of cases. An exception, frequently dispensed with by both nature and humanity."

She paused, then broke into a warm, confiding smile. "But others say that it is not mere chance that humans, nature's apex, are called to compassion as our highest virtue. Though the Angels are but one emanation of Xthonos, They are perhaps the truest reflection of Its perfection. Whatever the Ineffable One may be, It is more than compassionate, not less."

"Heresy," a voice barked from the far side of the willows.

You all spun around to see a small, bearded man wearing an Ecclesiast's surplice stalk triumphantly into the clearing. His clipped speech and lighter skin marked him as a northerner from the Shayard Reach. "Teaching false doctrines to impressionable children…compounding your contempt for the lectionary."

Ecclesiast Olynna's face darkened with shock, then something else, as ten Alastors also emerged from the woods. "Brother, you misunderstand…." Her eyes danced inadvertently to the Hegemonic law enforcers' iron-shod clubs.

"You'd do well to keep your mouth shut, woman." The unfamiliar priest was also trembling slightly, but not with fear. "Utter a third sacrilege, and death comes without appeal."

Olynna's mouth opened, then closed as her throat worked convulsively. "Who are you?"

"My name is Zebed," the northerner replied curtly. "His Glory the Archimandrite sent me to replace you and root out the heresy that has found purchase in the faithful of the Outer Rim."

"Wait!" The protest came unbidden to your lips. "Hiera Olynna's talking about compassion. What's wrong with that?"

At your challenge, Ecclesiast Zebed whirled to face you. His protruding eyes turned bleakly speculative. "Who are you…

1) …boy?"

2) …girl?"

Spoiler: Current Stats (click to show/hide)

You are an aristocrat of the Shayard Rim.

Traits
Charisma: Not yet defined.
Combat: Not yet defined.
Intellect: Not yet defined.

  Ruthless: 49% Compassionate: 51%   
  Skeptical: 50% Devout: 50%   
  Homelander: 50% Cosmopolitan: 50%

Anarchy: 0