//------------------------------// // Book 6: The Nine Pillars // Story: The Holy Covenant of the Triumvirate // by rathgood //------------------------------// Book 6: The Nine Pillars The five virtues of the All-Seeing; Honesty, Generosity, Laughter, Kindness, and Loyalty. The three aspects of the All-seeing; The Sun, The Moon, and The Twilight. The one force of the All-Seeing; Magic. These are the three tenements of the All-Seeing. The nine pillars, which support all. These nine are not, however infallible. Submitting to honeyed words whispered in the dark can break these pillars. Under the sweetened glare of temptation: The honest will lie; The generous will covet; The Laughing will cry; The kind will hate; and the loyal will betray. Faced with sugared views: The Sun will set; The Moon will be eclipsed; and the balance will tip. When all eight fall, magic will break. All contain the nine pillars, whether they know or not and all must endeavor to uphold them as the All Seeing upholds them. For as the All-seeing touched the three sisters, so has she touched each of us. Be as honest, generous, and fierce as the Sun. At the same time, be as jovial, kind, and tranquil as the Moon. Be as loyal as the Twilight and likewise balance all sides into harmony. Lastly embrace the innate magic all were born with; be they of Earth, Magic, or weather. When one has been made whole of all nine pillars they will be unshakeable and become a pillar for the future to be built upon. But beware of a future built upon false pillars, such a future leads to collapse as surely as a house built on a cracked foundation will crumble. The five virtues compose the outer pillars of everyone; supporting the mind and framing it to the world. The three aspects are the inner pillars; supporting the spirit and framing it to the mind. The one power is the central pillar; giving birth to spirit and the powers that make everyone unique. The central pillar is the greatest gift and greatest burden placed upon everyone by the All-Seeing. All three layers of pillars combine to bring forth harmony, not just among the people, but also harmony within us all. Honesty is the first pillar upon which harmony is built, for without an honest heart trust among the people will not form. Without trust harmony can not fully blossom as lies will poison the seed, weakening it from within. An honest heart is not only critical without, but also within. To embrace honesty is to be able to look within at ones own failings, to embrace them, and learn from them. This is the first key to becoming unshakeable, to be honest with oneself. The little lies we all tell ourselves may seem harmless, but they are weaknesses which undermine internal harmony and color our perception of the world. A truly honest heart does not lie to others or themselves. The second pillar, generosity allows oneself to support others, which in turn strengthens themself. A generous heart will give to others not just material things, but also physical, emotional, and spiritual support. Giving your time to others is often more generous than sharing objects with them. More can be done to facilitate trust and harmony by lending an ear, shoulder, or back when needed. Be careful of being to generous though. To give of oneself is a virtue, but to give so much that you suffer is a vice, One must use the pillar of honesty to support their generosity. Use this to be honest with oneself, to know when giving would be to much. To seek a harmony between helping others and helping yourself. A truly generous heart will give to others as well as to themself. Generosity both begets and requires the third pillar, kindness. For without kindness a gift, whether material or time is meaningless. Time given without kindness results in only misunderstandings and hatred. Giving, though it requires a seed of kindness, will nurture that seed and cause it to bloom. Kindness is the keystone of the outer pillars: Honesty without kindess begets rudeness; Generosity without kindness begets arrogance; Laughter without kindness begets torment; and Loyalty without kindness begets dependency. A kind heart understands not only others but also themself. As with honesty, kindness requires to look within to temper our own internal voices, for if we are not kind with our self, we plant the seed of self loathing and can not be truly kind to others. For a heart to be truly kind, they must be kind to all, including themself. Laughter is a directional gateway, leading either to harmony or to discord. Thus this pillar, while strong is also very fragile and needs to be supported by the other pillars in order to lead to harmony. Sharing laughter and by relation, happiness is the greatest gift one can give, but also walks a tightrope. If the happiness is not shared with kindness and generosity it spreads discord among the people. A laugh with can easily become a laugh at, if not tempered by kindness. This line can be easily warped and broken unless balance is maintained. Not only with others is this a razor's edge. Internally, laughter can be a far worse enemy. To honestly laugh at oneself and one's own failings is integral to maintaining self-harmony, but to do so without kindness to oneself, turns bitter and poisons the soul. A truly jovial heart whether all with a smile, sharing it with everyone they meet and with themselves. The final outer pillar is the most physical. Loyalty to others builds and maintains strong bonds of trust, the bonds formed by the other four pillars. False loyalty likewise will erode the bonds and shatter any semblance of harmony. Blind loyalty however, is also as destructive as false loyalty. Blindly following others without being honest with oneself and one's needs, will lead to fractures. One must also be loyal with themself, just as one must be honest and kind with themself. Begin loyal to others and to oneself may seem counter intuitive, but they are integral to balance. Being loyal to friends will maintaining loyalty to one's own dreams and happiness is a fine balance, one that many fight with. A truly loyal heart balances the needs of the many with the needs of the one. With the foundation poured we delve deeper into everyone, to the core of their spirit. The Sun is power incarnate; fierce, devoted, fiery, and untamable. We too must be the same at our core. We must be devoted to our ideals and goals. We must be untamable, unstoppable in our pursuits. However, such raw, untamed emotion and power can and will burnt he wielder. If we are not careful our spirit will burn white hot and then burn itself out. We must learn from the lessons of the past. The lesson's taught to us by the Sun itself and by the conflict with the Wryms. Blind fervor and untempered rage will only lead down a dark path. We must temper ourselves to maintain internal harmony and avert a cataclysmic self-immolation. Tranquility tempers fervor. Coolness quenches the flames of devotion. We must learn from the Moon and embrace its serenity. To be serene within and without allows clarity of mind and the ability to see more than what can be seen. We must also bath ourselves in the light of the moon and allow ourselves to dream. In dreams we see out truest self. In dreams we face our fears. In dreams we discover truths of the world. However, we must not let the serene calmness of the moon lead us to inaction. Dreams without the will to pursue them are wasted gifts and will make one sick in spirit. We must utilize both aspects of the Sun and Moon to make us whole. This wholeness is granted through balance, which is the third inner pillar and the keystone of the spirit. The Twilight is what both the Sun and Moon are, but also what each is not. It seeks to balance both and in doing so, balances itself. This synthesis of two extremes generates a harmonic wave which resonates throughout the nine pillars and into the world. Perfect balance can never be attained though. Every action and reaction causes the scales to shift, be it internal or external actions. The key lies in correcting for these variations and maintaining the harmony within and without. The Twilight is the fulcrum of change and adaptation. Ones who don't embrace this are likely to over correct and fall to extremes. With out balance, all systems will fall into entropy and chaos. The central support of all is the base gift from the All-Seeing. Magic permeates each and everyone. It has marked us for time immemorial with special gifts and talents. It flows through us and the land as surely as blood through our veins and water flows to rivers. We must all embrace our talents; be it physical like farming or abstract like music. All gifts are equal in the eyes of the All-Seeing. Those born of the earth have the deep magic of the land flowing through them; allowing astounding feats of strength and a natural attunement to nature. Those born of the sky have the magic of the weather flowing within; allowing them to shepherd the clouds and fly among them. Those born of magic itself have magic itself flowing within; granting them an innate knowledge of elixers and the ability to directly manipulate the ambient magic found within themselves. We are all gifted and must not let these gifts define us. We must use the other eight pillars to harmonize our gifts with each other and with ourselves lest we repeat the events that lead to the sundering of the tribes those many ages ago. A storm is coming, one that will try us all in ways yet unseen or thought of. We must all strive to become as unmovable as the mountains to not be blown asunder by the winds of this storm. We must all become as supple as the grass; to adapt to whatever is thrown at us. We must all unite as many reeds together will not sunder, as a single reed would in the same situation. All must embrace their nine pillars and find their own harmony. This harmony will link us all in an unbreakable bond. One that will be needed in the coming cataclysm. One that is feared to be of our own doing. One we have only seen preludes to in the past. The seeds of the future lie buried in the past.