Ink Blot's Unassorted Encyclopedia of Absolutely Everything

by Nevlamas

Night Guard: Equitism

Despite extensive research and the opportunity to question numerous historical figures personally, little to nothing is known about the higher mysteries of the night. We are aware that in the old days, a moon cultist’s rank was derived directly from their knowledge of these mysteries and that the Night Guard practice them zealously still today, but what they entail is unknown to anyone but the moon’s faithful themselves.

The author has interviewed dozens of experts on the subject, but has only managed to extract the knowledge of one single mystery known as the school of Equitism. It combines elements of a creation myth and a metaphysical world view with the practical aspects of an oracle system and is popular among the waning Night Guard castes: Black Priests, Moonlight Shadows and Dream Reapers. Numerous members of all three believe in both its practices and doctrines. Lady Shimmer Swirl, convinced that clinging to esoteric baggage is only slowing her order down, shared this information for the sake of historiography – and has, as I’ve come to hear, been harshly reprimanded because of it.

The creation myth of Equitism correspondents with the Dawn Theory of the ancient Celestian Solari, which states that the night is just the symptom of a massive, singular process that is slowly turning the world from Chaos to Harmony – daylight. A common origin as propaganda from the Twilight War has been suspected but thus far lacks scientific proof.

Equitism in contrast declares that in the beginning there were Harmony and Chaos, one of them eternally creating, the other one ever destructive. These two powers were trapped in an eternal circle: Harmony forms a reality in the endless expanses of the void, Chaos tears it down again.

The catalyst that would eventually break that cycle had to be an original part of the two forces, for there was yet nothing else. Chaos on the one hand was a single, formless thing that was everything and nothing. It possessed every attribute at once and yet none – thus, the eternal change could never change itself. Harmony however was a web, a system of perfect order in between all attributes that are, categorized in relation, opposition and so on. The fact that it was a construct made from countless little modules allowed the eternal order to change. “For that which is one must always be many – only that which is many can make them one” is how the Night Guard’s own scriptures phrase it.

At the same time, the powers of Harmony could not create a stable world on their own any more than Chaos could, and the Spirits knew that: “For even the golden one [in this case probably referring to the sun or even day as a whole, not Princess Celestia] will turn to unrest if it will not change.” From its own matter, Harmony created a compromise. It broke itself into two parts: pure Harmony on one side and another kind on the other, one that combined the uncertain and unrestful of Chaos with Harmony’s stability and benevolent being: day and night had been born.

The unstable nature of this compromise would allow it to survive only in a constant state of change. Day and night couldn’t exist alongside, but also not without each other and thus were forced to tirelessly replace each other in a circular, delicate balance. Thus a new cycle was created, but this one was a peaceful exchange and no longer a conflict, it occurred dictated by and within the framework of Harmony as a whole now re-enacting that cosmic conflict within itself. The world so constructed passes through change without ever fully dissolving. The laws of Chaos gained a stabilizing outlet, change was canalized into a perfect circle and pure Chaos thus banished forever.

This concludes the creation of the world’s most basic elements: day and night, pure Harmony and the hybrid entity needed to balance it out. In the Equitist mysticism, both have a symbol associated with them: a long line for the day and a broken one for the night . Together, they form the two laws of reality: time, which would later manifest itself as the endless sky, and space that would become the earth beneath, a circle within a circle within a circle. Due to this, the natural world can be depicted as two lines on top of each other: sky and earth, time and space. By the nature of the forces that formed them, both will always have to be absolute (diurnal) or relative (nocturnal), which results in four possible conditions:

These conditions form the framework, the four corners between which all of reality takes hold. They are traditionally equated with the natural elements of the Elemental Theory in the following order:

Sky absolute, earth absolute: water.

Sky relative, earth relative: fire.

Sky relative, earth absolute: earth.

Sky absolute, earth relative: air.

However, these are not sufficient to describe reality as a whole. Soon after the creation, a third power takes its place in the circle: life (represented by the five vital elements in the Elemental Theory). Only together do time, space and life encircle the world in its entirety and since the world is Harmony incarnate, their sum thus equals Harmony itself. Adding life to time and space, a third line must be drawn beneath the other two, resulting in eight individual symbols. The ideas associated with these true elements vary from the ones of the scientific perspective presented in their corresponding article, hence a brief summarization:

Day. Time, space and life are certain. This symbol represents pure Harmony.

Night. Time, space and life are relative. This symbol represents chaotic Harmony.

Magic. Time and space are relative, but life is not, for it has transcended them both by understanding the
true nature of the world. This sign represents enlightenment.

Kindness. Time and life are relative, space is not. Time flows onwards, space remains stable, life is
untouched by either and does not interfere. This symbol represents effortlessness.

Generosity. Space and life are relative, time is not. Though everything changes, one moment in time has
been made eternal. This symbol represents grace.

Laughter. Space and time are certain, life is not. Even as time and space are stern and stable, life surpasses
them easily. This symbol represents transcendence.

Loyalty. Time and life are certain, space is not. Life pushes onwards through time, changing space by
force. This symbol represents restlessness.

Honesty. Time is relative, space and life are not. Life maintains space against the flow of time. This
symbol represents stubbornness.

Yet even these eight symbols do not suffice to fully describe reality: since the world is eternally changing it can never be expressed as one of the eight, but only as a process from one to another – after all, Harmony is not within any element, but in between them all. As a final result, each of the eight symbols is connected with every other in pairs of two, forming the 64 processes, the essence of the changing world.

Since the world passes through the strictly ordered pathways of Harmony, Equitism states that the initiated adept is capable of comprehending and predicting the future. In order to do so, priests use a set of three silver coins painted black on one side – but any coins will do. In order to consult the oracle, the inquirer must first speak their question aloud, then toss all three coins at once: their silver side stands for the day, their black side for the night (when using regular Equestrian Bits, the side not labelled with a number is usually considered to represent the night). The adept adds the results together, counting one point for each ‘night’ and two for each ‘day’. Subsequently, the following results are possible:

3: Midnight. Absolute darkness has been achieved. However, since no extreme can persist in the great
circle of things, it will soon change to dawn and day.

4: Night.

5: Day.

6: Noon. As the opposite of midnight, this symbol represents the brightest light, that by nature tells of the
coming dusk.

The result is written down and the procedure repeated another five times. The adept dedicates each toss to a specific element in their systematic order: Magic, Kindness, Generosity, Laughter, Loyalty and Honesty. After the sixth toss, a full symbol will have come together that is supposed to stand for the present. The unstable numbers – midnight and noon – will not stay still for long, however, and quickly revert to their opposite, thus creating a second symbol that stands for the future. From the relation of these two symbols, the adept will then attempt to read the best course of action.

Before proceeding to the 64 symbols in detail, the author feels the need to remind the reader of three important details: firstly, every symbol consists of two parts, its image and its judgement. The former describes the situation the symbol indicates, the second suggests a way to react to it. Secondly, since the oracle is a Harmonious kind of magic, it requires at least two persons – an inquirer and an adept – to work. And as a final note: even the Night Guard themselves consider Equitism to be nothing but archaic superstition, and no enlightened reader should at any given time expect the oracle to work at all.

Image: The shadows waver. The sun dictates. Creation triumphant.
Judgement: Great blessings. The sage embraces renewal. Woe to the fool who seeks the shade.

Image: The darkness takes its leave. Stones rise from mud. The waters clear.
Judgement: Opportunity. The sage finds certainty. The mists retreat.

Image: The absolute surpasses the enlightened. The balance is threatened. The forests grow without measure.
Great Opportunity. Great danger.
Judgement: Purity turns against itself. Light blinds. Light burns. The sage seeks the shadows.

Image: Effort to the absolute. The sun burns, however tempered. The eye tears the world in two.
Judgement: The sage follows the heart. Who is guilty, who is not? Blades fall. Choices must be made.

Image: Daylight surpasses grace. The mirror speaks true.
Judgement: Great blessings brings the open eye. The sage does not choose comfort. Pain to knowledge.
Knowledge to pain.

Image: The chains weigh down the wanderer. Life grows weak. The old laws bind.
Judgement: Great danger. Crushing purpose. The sake breaks free.

Image: The sunray pushes onwards. Its light is power. Its way is certain.
Judgement: The sage follows. The path is clear. Great blessings. Great opportunity.

Image: The stubborn to the absolute. The world rests within knowledge past. Harmony lingers. Little
opportunity.
Judgement: The sage accepts. Great blessings brings the leaf that floats.

Image: The outlines fade. The moon rises high. Nothing is. Everything could.
Judgement: Hesitation. Wonder. Doubt. The sage will remain. Little opportunity.

Image: Change. Opportunity. What is lies dormant. What could awakens.
Judgement: Triumph of the meek. Doom to the brash. The sage will look to every path at once.

Image: Darkness conquers knowledge. Thoughts all veiled. Void of reason.
Judgement: Danger. Shaking ground. The sage finds a way. The fool finds too many.

Image: Change without changing. Minds unburdened. All things flowing gently.
Judgement: The sage hears the silence. Thousand voices without a word. Great blessings brings the heart joining
space and time.

Image: The uncertain surpasses the fair. The gentle powers reign.
Judgement: The humble will be highest. The sage hides the light, for the circle will make it shine all the brighter.
To contradict is to foresee.

Image: Mind stumbles. The transcendent lost in darkness. Frightened children, far away.
Judgement: Danger. The fool has strayed too far. The sage seeks earth and sky.

Image: The darkness chokes the restless heart. The sky tires. The earth slumbers.
Judgement: Energy fading. Power fleeting. The sage knows that which must not be lost.

Image: Persistence wavers. The night consumes the stubborn. The sky feeds off the earth.
Judgement: Great danger. Mind fades, eye fades, heart fades. The sage prepares, but does not hope.

Image: Mind over all. The sage has conquered. Life triumphant.
Judgement: Great blessings brings the open mind. Great opportunity. The sage is first among the stars.

Image: The spirit watches the absolute. The enlightened sits by the fire. The sun is tamed.
Judgement: The sage questions carefully. To advance is to step lightly. To run is to turn the circle.

Image: Life pierces through the veil. The circle at its brightest. New shadows rise.
Judgement: The moment is truth, truth just a moment. The sage grasps the flashing light, the fool lets it slip. Both
will fall again to night.

Image: The enlightened leaves all ease behind. The open eye forgets to see.
Judgement: A price for clarity. Too high? Too much? The sage knows that which must not be given.

Image: The enlightened goes beyond the graceful. The body suffers, the mind roams free.
Judgement: The circle moves. No extreme may stand. Through the hungering flesh, the sage appeases the mind.
Opportunity.

Image: The grasping goes beyond the grasped. The enlightened seeks to surpass.
Judgement: Danger. Wisdom blowing in the wind. The seeds of vanity are spread. The fool looks to the world
and calls it wise. The sage looks well beyond.

Image: Feet carry the body. Mind guides the body.
Judgement: Blessings brings the restless spirit. The sage moves forward, guided by the light.

Image: Truth is close. The way is barred. The paths are many. The ways are barred.
Judgement: Questions. Answers. The sage looks back to move forwards. The circle turns.

Image: Sky and life fleeting over solid earth. Change without force. Force without effort.
Judgement: Rivers flows. Wind blows. The sage delights. The fool laments. Both drift.

Image: The effortless tames the absolute. The stern bows to the gentle.
Judgement: The universe rejoices. Great blessings brings the hesitating hand. The judge’s sword falls silently.

Image: Doubts dispelled without effort. The circle turns to day.
Judgement: Two before one. One before all. Two is the circle. Two is Harmony. The sage seeks the second.

Image: Ease through isolation. The gentle turns to sloth.
Judgement: Danger. Opportunity. The sage will walk. The sage will be wary. The paths wait. The circle turns
both ways.

Image: To surpass the form without effort. Faces change. Hearts remain.
Judgement: Danger. What seems conceals. What is close may break. The circle turns.

Image: Beyond and back. Wind in the trees. River flows to nowhere. River flows to everywhere. Peace
awaits it all the same.
Judgement: Great blessings. Beyond the obvious the sage will step with ease. What was may be gone without
effort. The world in Harmony. Sun and moon shine brightly.

Image: Water retreats from the rocky shore. Stones on the roads drive the wanderer away. The bird rides the
gentle wind.
Judgement: Danger. The world seeks the effortless. The circle spins easily. The sage questions. The sage may
follow. The sage may fight.

Image: Beauty on the shores. Fish in the waves. Still waters are deep.
Judgement: The sage rests on the shore. The sage is not a fish. Peace may be given or the waters will drown.

Image: Beauty in the circle. The graceful triumphant for the moment. Forms flee. Time persists.
Judgement: The sage looks to the future. In all hearts, the sage shines. The circle will turn.

Image: Beauty may be questioned. Beauty remains pure. The graceful surpasses the absolute. Truth in
hearts.
Judgement: Confidence. The sage will let the storms go by, unmoved. Mirrors break, the eye stays true.

Image: To know is to believe. To speak is to presume. To do is to inflict.
Judgement: Danger brings the confident heart. The sage does not seek for the reflection, but takes the image
inside.

Image: Without transcendence, the ways are few. The world seeks relief from enlightenment. The artists
speaks without speaking. Teaches without telling.
Judgement: Opportunity. Guidance must be given. Helpless stand the trees threatened by fire. The sage shows
without showing. The sage leads without leading.

Image: Guidance through Harmony. Onwards through the circle. The gentle hand leads.
Judgement: Love leads to necessity. Necessity leads not to force. The sage sees what is and what isn’t.

Image: The graceful acts through the transcendent. The world fades to black. The moment liberating.
Judgement: Triumph of the evanescent. Grace for a heartbeat. The circle moves quickly. The sage knows.

Image: The graceful is driven. The restless is graceful. The circle. A target. The endless in motion.
Judgement: Great blessings bring the storm and sea. The sage drinks the foam. The sage rides the wind.

Image: Beneath the soil, a young thing awakens. That which remains is the seed in the ground.
Judgement: Opportunity. The circle slows. The sage looks to the roots.

Image: Laughter. That which is Harmony surpasses itself. The stars dance. The sun and moon dance.
Judgement: Joy. The simple mind triumphant. The beyond must be sought. The sage surpasses.

Image: The narrow eye is conquered. The small heart is vanquished. That which bound the mind is gone.
Judgement: The circle moves towards the sage. The sage moves not, for there is no need. The old shackles are
forgotten. A new night comes.

Image: The relative strengthens the transcendent. The eye goes beyond the beyond.
Judgement: The sage must know what cannot be known. The sage must move past that which is in motion. The
sage must turn the circle.

Image: Feeling without seeing. Space and time without life. The heart goes beyond. The spirits knows not
how.
Judgement: Great blessings brings the heart that lets go of the mind. The sage knows before knowing. The sage
thinks without thinking.

Image: Time surrenders. Space surrenders. A dream arises. The circle turns.
Judgement: Some purposes are out of reach. Some purposes are not. The sage seeks not the beyond, but the
beyond seeks him.

Image: All that is is one. Sun and moon are all the same. The mind walks in between the lines. The circle
turns.
Judgement: Danger. That which is is not what will be. The graceful heart turns greedy. The joyous heart turns
mad. The sage knows not to rise too far.

Image: Force pushes down. Destruction from creation. The beyond at war. The circle turns.
Judgement: Great danger. The sage assembles an army. New threats forming. The waters rise.

Image: What is trust? What is naivety? It lies beyond the eye. Space without life. Space without time.
Judgement: Great blessings brings to root out the seeds of Chaos. The sage remains. The world will not move the
peace.

Image: Change to change. Day to night. The circle to Chaos. Chaos to Harmony.
Judgement: Great blessings. The sage turns the circle. The circle turns the sage. Even change must change.

Image: Driven. The restless surpasses even the absolute. The eye seeks where there is nothing.
Judgement: Danger. The blind know not that they are blinded. The sage knows that he knows not. The sage
hesitates. The fool is proud.

Image: The shadows do not fade by themselves. Space and time linger. Life may energize.
Judgement: Opportunity. The sage pushes forwards. Greatness brings the great deed. Pursue the further.

Image: That which must be known left behind. That which would be known ahead. Before life, Harmony
wavers.
Judgement: Temperance. The sage leaves not the pillars that hold him. The earth carries the sky. Harmony the
circle.

Image: Through ways long set the river runs. The present walks alongside the past. Time is fleeting. Space
is still.
Judgement: The circle moves in place. Forwards but silent. With force, but without effort. Wild, but still. So does
the sage.

Image: The dragon hoards. He craves the earth. He stems himself against the sky. His hunger is his creed.
His creed is his hunger.
Judgement: Danger. The fool loses Generosity to Chaos. The sage turns away from the hungering world. For the
circle turns, and the richest will be poor.

Image: Through means beyond the visible, the strong acts. Through the sky, the trickster plays with life.
Judgement: Opportunity. Triumph of wit. The sage knows when to play and when to hide.

Image: The restless surpasses the stubborn. Sky changes earth. The circle turns.
Judgement: Form renewed. Earth in motion. The sage looks to the worldly.

Image: Rock. Soil. The earth awakens life. Life holds the earth.
Judgement: The circle slows. Little opportunity. The sage seeks to preserve that which is, as does the world
around it.

Image: The absolute strengthens the stubborn. That which would withstand withstands.
Judgement: The sage rages. The mountain holds. The world will push. The sage resists.

Image: Through stubbornness, live overcomes the relative. Sky fades. Earth persists.
Judgement: Forgotten. Returning. The sage regards the backwards.

Image: The circle turns from Magic. Sky is fleeting. Life will hold.
Judgement: Danger. The path closes. The sage acts swiftly.

Image: Above the gentle waters stands a sturdy bridge. The wanderer crosses with ease.
Judgement: Triumph of unity. Harmony strengthens. The sage does not walk alone.

Image: Deep in the earth lies a gleaming gem. The stubborn guards the graceful.
Judgement: Tenacity. Triumph of the tireless. The sage breaks the earth to find the stone. The fool reaches for the
soft fruit hanging from the tree.

Image: The stubborn suppresses the transcendent. For now the circle moves in place.
Judgement: The sage seeks not the great beyond. Triumph of the small things. Seek the ancient.

Image: With energy, the stubborn forges onward. What is aimed for must be reached.
Judgement: Great blessings brings the sage who holds such power well. Woe brings the fool who leaves Loyalty
behind.