Order of the Seventh Question
Contents
Beliefs[edit]
It is said by some that the entire world can be mastered by answering seven questions. Through the ages, the Sages have asked six of these questions and recorded the answers; when the Seventh Question is asked and answered, Humanity (and perhaps other sentients) can be truly free and take its rightful place as the sacred fire, the enlightened soul of the universe. The Order of the Seventh Question is seeking this final enigma and its key.
When Humanity was first born, it dwelled in the dark; with each question asked and answered, it has come a little closer to the Divine Principle that animates the universe. The Order also believes that the Vaylen crave human bodies, because Humanity has come closest to full enlightenment.
The Questions[edit]
The Six Known Questions, as they are taught by the order, are:
- Where does life, in all its myriad forms, take birth from?
- What forces act on the body and soul, and which of those derive from the Divine Principle?
- Where and when does the soul begin to exist?
- Is the waking mind, and the forces that inhabit it, more real than the sleeping mind and its own forces?
- What can be attained through full mastery of Psychology?
- What are the elements of a Divine Principle who is omnipresent and omniscient? Where is he and what is his form?
Fate[edit]
The Order of the Seventh Question also teaches that everyone must not merely accept Fate and submit to it (as the Mundus Humanitas preaches), but seek Fate and embrace it with fiery joy. According to the Order, it is the failure to find and seize this True Fate that cause one to be reborn on the Wheel of Fire, to be reforged and tempered until the flaws are eliminated, fate is accomplished, and the soul is as a perfect blade or instrument.
Psychology[edit]
Psychologists are highly regarded in the Order; it is believed that they have more potential — and therefore more responsibility — than anyone to find and fulfill their True Fate, perhaps even find the Seventh Question.
Avatars[edit]
The Order belives that the cosmic forces can become embodied into avatars. They reserve particular respect and reverence for the avatar they call Ardanar, the Prophet of Flame. He should not be confused with Ahmilahk, prophet of the Mundus Humanitas; although there are similarities, they do not appear to be the same individual. In sacred texts, Ardanar is sometimes referred to as male, and sometimes as female.
Status and Relations[edit]
The Order of the Seventh Question is detested by the Mundus Humanitas as a litter of foul heretics. Its members have been hunted down and destroyed throughout the old Empires, and Nova Sparta is one of the Order's rare havens — perhaps the only one left now. If — or when — the planet falls to the Worms, the Order will be destroyed and all hope may be lost to find the Seventh Questions.
Like most of the other cults that have sought refuge on Nova Sparta and are used by the Merchant League as cheap mercenary forces, the Order has grown fiercely defensive from a long habit of fighting off violent attacks.
Assets[edit]
The main temple of the Order is the Temple of Triyuginarayan, where an eternal flame is kept ablaze. It has a small, well-trained anvil force of sodales that act as highly mobile troops deployed from the Order's main military asset, its small but powerful Hammer fleet.
Important Figures[edit]
- Archcotare Servius Quinctius Mahavir, spiritual leader
- Hammer Captain Inquisitor Minerva Yordanova, commander of the Order's Hammer forces
- Sodalis-Captain Edra Launtro, second in command to Inquisitor Yordanova
- Cotar Fomas Venan Kesling, commander of the Order's sodalis forces
Return to Burning Empires: Nova Sparta
