Through learning the five Dragon Styles they didn't learn to wield Celestial Power which was beyond them but could channel the power of the earth itself. Through this they regained the lost power of the Elemental Dragons. Hence the names. The Form Charms- becoming the Dragon is a way to gain it's powers. All the Charms are explicitly Terrestrial Charms rather than Terrestrial martial arts (which is merely a category of their potency.) They can only be learned by Terrestrials and others who can learn Terrestrial Charms. Elementals are excluded because they are mere fragments of the Dragons' power and grow on their own. Terrestrials still carry the blood of the Dragons and are the only ones who can resurrect their power as the Immaculate Dragons once did. The Philosophy of the Immaculate Order believes that the Dragon-Blooded can carry out the Creation ruling Mandate on their own by restoring the power of the Elemental Dragons. A power that was thought long lost and mythical for much of he First Age. But the Immaculate Dragons rediscovered it and started to study it's secrets. The Immaculate Dragons were themselves beings of incredible power that is beyond more worldly Terrestrials. Each one of them had devoted themselves to restoring the power of the Elemental Dragons long before the five Dragon Styles were created. Because of the absolute dedication to their purpose they were able to live long enough, living under changing fake identities to conceal their power, to raise their Essence to a height that could match the Solars. All Immaculate Monks aspire to their adherence to virtue and steadfast purpose. They don't seek power for the sake of being mighty as other Terrestrials do. However no one has mastered the five Dragon Styles since the Immaculate Dragons. Each one is written on a scroll kept at each of the five Immaculate Temples. Only their dedication to overthrowing the Solars kept them alive long enough to raise their Essence that high that they could achieve the supreme power of the Terrestrials, something that was thought impossible in the First Age and came as a great surprise to the jaded Solars. Immaculate Abbots stress the importance of Virtue as a way of attaining mastery of oneself. A practise that other Terrestrials would have a hard time mimicking. Everyone becomes an Immaculate Monk for a reason. Sometimes it's simply to find a purpose.
Obviously not my best work but it's still lays some ground work for future writing and storytelling like a pupil who might finally learn one of the Dragon Styles again.
Showing posts with label Immaculate Monks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Immaculate Monks. Show all posts
Monday, 8 August 2011
Saturday, 2 July 2011
Dragon-Blooded and the Immaculate Order
The Dragon-Blooded know that they cannot be greater than the Solars. Although by the time of their decline they were no longer recognisable as the Lawgivers the Unconquered Sun gave his blessing to. The 'Immaculate Dragons' were the first to discover the possibility that Terrestrial Exalted could practice Celestial martial arts and each created one of the Five Glorious Dragon styles based on their animas. A tradition that Immaculate Monks maintain to this day.
The Immaculate Philosophy is the greatest cultural and philosophical achievement of the Dragon-Blooded for it gives them a way to control Essence in the same fashion as Celestial Exalted albeit within the purview of martial arts alone. To learn it the student must internalise and understand the writings on the sacred scrolls of the Immaculate Order, written by the Immaculate Dragons themselves, after climbing to the Order's temple on the slopes of the Heavenly Mountain and while undergoing years of punishing training to help them comprehend their lessons. One of the monks' favourite exercises is making their pupils climb all the way down the slopes to the base of the mountain and collect water to bring all the way back up again.
The original purpose of the Solar Exalted had become long lost and their great war against the Primordials little more than myth by the time the Usurpation came. The age of the Lawgivers had long past. By then the Solars were all-powerful dictators, rulers of dark empires. The Immaculate personification of the Solars as evil spirits was to their best knowledge the truth. They could no longer be recognised as Solars but little more than evil demonic and omnipotent spirits. Generations of absolute power and obedience corrupted them so they thought nothing of making pacts with the most vile of demons. In fact by this time they found they had more in common with the hate-twisted Yozis than their distant patron.
The First Age can be divided into three broad sections. The Solars' victory over the Primordials and their consolidation of power over mankind, dubbed Lawgivers after receiving the Mandate from Heaven. The exploration of their true potential; this is when the Celestial Incarnae withdrew their attention from their Chosen and the Great Curse started to make itself known. The terrible zenith of their power and the nadir of the rule of mankind; the Solars had become twisted by their unspeakable, inhuman desire for glory. The Lunars were largely unable to stop them, tormented by their own inner natures. Some became willing allies of the Sun Children other had fallen in with the very people they were made to defend Creation against- the Fair Folk. Who cares what's happening in Creation when you can have everything you want in the Wyld. The Lunars' individualism had become narcissism, they cared nothing over what happened in Creation but abused their power to Shape the Wyld to satisfy every inhuman lust they could think of, often only venturing out to sate their whims with the bodies and souls of real people. Luna lost sight of her children being hardly able to distinguish them from the Fair Folk. Other more conscientious Lunars became throughly disillusioned with mankind and escaped the pervading corruption by living among kingdoms of animals, but still they had to wrestle with their own tainted desires.
Learning the ways of the Immaculate Order is to remove yourself from the constraints of your Terrestrial nature and try to attain godhood. Monks who have been initiated into the Order leave their old lives behind and take on a new name. Learning to use Celestial Essence is only the first step on the path.
The Immaculate Philosophy is the greatest cultural and philosophical achievement of the Dragon-Blooded for it gives them a way to control Essence in the same fashion as Celestial Exalted albeit within the purview of martial arts alone. To learn it the student must internalise and understand the writings on the sacred scrolls of the Immaculate Order, written by the Immaculate Dragons themselves, after climbing to the Order's temple on the slopes of the Heavenly Mountain and while undergoing years of punishing training to help them comprehend their lessons. One of the monks' favourite exercises is making their pupils climb all the way down the slopes to the base of the mountain and collect water to bring all the way back up again.
The original purpose of the Solar Exalted had become long lost and their great war against the Primordials little more than myth by the time the Usurpation came. The age of the Lawgivers had long past. By then the Solars were all-powerful dictators, rulers of dark empires. The Immaculate personification of the Solars as evil spirits was to their best knowledge the truth. They could no longer be recognised as Solars but little more than evil demonic and omnipotent spirits. Generations of absolute power and obedience corrupted them so they thought nothing of making pacts with the most vile of demons. In fact by this time they found they had more in common with the hate-twisted Yozis than their distant patron.
The First Age can be divided into three broad sections. The Solars' victory over the Primordials and their consolidation of power over mankind, dubbed Lawgivers after receiving the Mandate from Heaven. The exploration of their true potential; this is when the Celestial Incarnae withdrew their attention from their Chosen and the Great Curse started to make itself known. The terrible zenith of their power and the nadir of the rule of mankind; the Solars had become twisted by their unspeakable, inhuman desire for glory. The Lunars were largely unable to stop them, tormented by their own inner natures. Some became willing allies of the Sun Children other had fallen in with the very people they were made to defend Creation against- the Fair Folk. Who cares what's happening in Creation when you can have everything you want in the Wyld. The Lunars' individualism had become narcissism, they cared nothing over what happened in Creation but abused their power to Shape the Wyld to satisfy every inhuman lust they could think of, often only venturing out to sate their whims with the bodies and souls of real people. Luna lost sight of her children being hardly able to distinguish them from the Fair Folk. Other more conscientious Lunars became throughly disillusioned with mankind and escaped the pervading corruption by living among kingdoms of animals, but still they had to wrestle with their own tainted desires.
Learning the ways of the Immaculate Order is to remove yourself from the constraints of your Terrestrial nature and try to attain godhood. Monks who have been initiated into the Order leave their old lives behind and take on a new name. Learning to use Celestial Essence is only the first step on the path.
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