Temple, The: The Articles of Faith

Cleansing Flame: The Articles of Faith

Meridian: Hey gang!

As is evident from Mr. Ransom's thread, the release of the Articles of Faith seem to have caused some discussion, or at least some controversy.

This can only be a good thing.

Ransom implies that we at WP will draw some "line in the sand" to define what good RP and bad are. He also wonders about the existence of some document that will rigidly set down what each and every FCs attitudes will be.

I hate to disappoint you, but we won't. As regards the FCs, in the end, they'll have opinions. Like everybody else.

It's a mistake to think of the Articles of Faith as hard coded rules. They're not. They're a set of words, written by a Human who started a Church. Some have been jazzed by his message, and have taken the granted powers of Templars and Confessors as evidence that he was "right" or "correct." Others, less jazzed, have come up with other interpretations. (I would refer you to Furr's thread nearby).

In the end, the Articles of Faith are just that: Articles. And in the end, only Faith can tell you how to live or not live by them. How many ways are there to interpret the Ten Commandments? How many of them does our Governmment bend or break on a regular basis? How many wars have been fought between opposing societies who BOTH believed that God told Moses "Thou Shalt Not Kill?"

So, Ransom. Yes. If an Elf were able to convince a group of Confessors of his "righteousness," they could easily follow him. We just want to say that not every Confessor will think so. Gurgler - whther or not your guild and national policies follow the trends dictated by the fiction, the Guilds and Nations WILL exist in the World. It's not hard to think of reasons why enemies might work together. It's also not hard to believe that even clergy can be hypocrites. Even if the Guilds or Nations don't bother to, everyone else will interact with them, and come up with their own interpretations of their behavior.

Your characters aren't machines: they're people. They'll have opinions, agendas. Disagreements. That's what they're for. Make your own interpretations of the Articles. Go tell them from the Mountain. Find evidence in the histories to support your arguments. And then duke it out, rhetorically or militarily.

We want dogmatic arguments. We want discussion. Read the backstory. Think about it. Decide what YOUR CHARACTER thinks, what they believe and don't believe.

That's roleplaying.

But if you're looking for absolutes, for what the "ultimate right answer" is, don't ask me, because I'm not going to give you one.

If we do our job right, an absolute answer will never exist.

It's all up to you.