Post:Perfect Action and Perfect Body - 06/10/2015 - 15:47
| Perfect Action and Perfect Body · on 06/10/2015 03:47 PM CDT | 844 |
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| Let's talk a little bit about the Sophisters.
The mainstream stance of the Monks of the Crystal Hand is that its members pursue group and individual paths toward greater perfection of the individual. This perfect form is considered impossible to achieve, but to pursue it greatly improves the individual along every possible dimension. In particular to the Sophisters is the notion of right and wrong action. Sophisters debate the basis of morality endlessly, but it has a constant center on the idea that an action can be right or wrong objectively. The Plane of Probability provides them with infutable proof that one course of action may be better (insofar as they're defining their moral basis this week) than another. The wise Sophister understands that all this is, really, not very achievable. The perfect individual is an ideal, a goal to reach for, and its impossibility does in no way hamper or diminish the value of the pursuit. The Sophisters, despite reputation, are not filled completely by wise individuals. A significant minority of the sect considers this notion of the impossibility of the pursuit to be well-worn fatalism. They diverge on two points: Perfect Action and Perfect Body. They argue first that right action, while well and good, can be advanced to perfect action. Prophecy and foresight can be honed deeper and deeper, leaving the possibility that all circumstances behind their actions can be known in their entirety and actions chosen with omniscient surety. Certain Moon Mages, particularly those that have meddled with the Astral Plane, raise an eyebrow in their direction. Then, more troublesome, is the pursuit of the Perfect Body. All but the most bullheaded Sophisters understand there's an absolute limit to how much debate and martial arts can perfect the individual. They would argue, though, that this is a limit and flaw of the Sophisters' methods and not an ontological limit of the individual. Certain scholars will raise an eyebrow when "ontological perfection" is brought up. Indeed, these Sophisters often come to bad ends. It's a well buried embarrassment that the Sophisters are more likely than any other sect to fall to Necromancy, hearing the clarion call of the Perfect Body. Those who resist the most obvious evil dabble on the fringes of Lunar magic. Their attempts have included (but are not limited to): Shaping the universe with Teleologic Sorcery to allow for "easy" immortality. So far the Perfect Body Sophisters have failed in their individual goals, or in the case of the planar travelers have never been heard from again, but meddling with the fringes of Lunar magic is not guaranteed to remain a quiet endeavor. | |
| This message was originally posted in The Moon Mages \ The Moon Mage Sects, by DR-ARMIFER on the play.net forums. | |