[A-IC:] An Open Letter to the Citizens of the Alliance

Across the major settlements of the Alliance, this letter is posted on every major notice board.

My Fellow Concerned Citizens,

The Church of the Light seeks to stamp out free thought. By their own definitions, any who reject them and their doctrines are labeled as apostates and heretics to be hunted down and erased from existence.

This dangerous ideology does not only affect those who practice darker magics or arts that some would deem fringe, but this affects the everyday citizen. This affects the mother walking down the street to fetch water for her children at home. This affects the elderly man waiting to meet his granddaughter at the Deeprun Tram.

Normal, hard-working citizens of the Alliance just like you and me are being forced to give up their freedoms of thought and bend to the will of an unrelenting and tyrannical regime of zealots who seek to eradicate what makes us great: our expression of different ideas and opinions.

This cannot stand. I urge you, my fellow citizens of the Alliance, stand up to these measures being enacted and say no to the zealotry of the Light and, instead, embrace your own paths, ideas, and beliefs.

Say yes to freedom.

Yours in Free Thought,

-The Advocate

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Well, hell, bud, I could have told you that years ago.

There are many sects to the Church that have branched off over the years. My child, I can guarantee to you that there are many of us who would only wish good health and happy life on any who do not seek to do evil but to instead live a good and moral life. You do not have to worship the Light to be a good person. Just as playing at piety to the Light does not absolve you of evil if it is in your heart. That said, all are welcome to speak with a member of the clergy if they have concerns, be you a member of the faithful or of another set of beliefs. Respect and Compassion are virtues that we swear to uphold in our dealings with those we meet.

That said, there are certain forces that are direct anathema to the Light, and to worship these forces and to venerate them as above all else is, by definition, heresy. However, you are only a blasphemer if you enter holy grounds and proclaim this. And you are only apostate if you were previously a member of the Church that committed acts of heresy or preached blasphemy.

For example, a Kaldorei that worships Elune and never proclaimed membership to the Church is not a heretic nor an apostate. Nor are they a blasphemer unless they speak against the Light within the grounds of the Church. But a human who was a member of the faithful delving into the Void or Fel would be guilty of heresy by the laws of the Church and subject to being labeled as apostate. And should they speak against the Light in a Church space, then it would be blasphemy.

Remember that these terms only apply to those claiming membership or those who enter church grounds. Everyone is free to practice as they see fit so long as it is within the bounds of the laws of the land in which they reside or are visiting. If you are respectful of those around you, then there is no reason to receive disrespect in return.

-Mother Caoghlan Astley

(( I mean, lore-wise, I’d argue that warlocks and other darkcasters are pretty heavily oppressed in Stormwind.

I know the Church Community has their rules about who is and isn’t an apostate, but outside of that I don’t see this as that much of a stretch. ))

((I mean…the one resource I’ve seen on this sort of thing says:

On Defining Heresy

Heresy can be defined as the formal or informal declaration of doubt of the faith, or the core beliefs of the Church of the Holy Light. This may range from the denial of any of the Virtues or Wisdoms to the belief that the Church itself and its servants are equal or greater than the Light.

On Defining Apostasy

Apostasy can be defined as the total and utter rejection of the faith. Apostasy may also be inherently connected with the open use or worship of the Void or Shadow, Fel magic, or Necromantic magic, due to their antithetical relationship with the Light. While the worship of divine beings such as Elune and An’she are not strictly apostasy, rejecting the faith in the Light in favor of a divine being is considered apostasy. Additionally, the embracement of any of the defined sins in the Codex of Sacred Doctrine may be considered apostasy.

From something called ‘The Sacred Statutes’. ))

((That is one project’s take on it, yes. The one I participate in is much softer in its definitions. Progressive, even. I believe it will be interesting to see the various IC responses to this.))

In counter to the public notice, one was sent - emblazoned with the crest of the Holy Synod.

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I believe in the Light, but those d#$% paladins at the cathedral cast a curse on me and one of my yaks gave birth to a two-headed calf with a club foot AND spoiled all my milk.

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/e ignites the letter in shadowflame.

“How did this get to me?! I’m gonna ring that postmaster’s neck!”

/e Reads the letter and sighs before placing it in his pouch.

"Light another one, I will admit, they are not perfect, far from it in fact.

“Granted I would question a few people who are there that would provoke such a thing but but this seems a bit extreme even for them.”

The Gryphon just looks at the Paladin while he talks like he’s crazy.

“I might have to look more in depth into this.”

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What we dwarves have learned through our archeological digs implies tha’ “Light” yer human kin are so fond of was first shown to ye by the titan “Tyr”.

An’ recent events have shown us jest how fallible them titans are, aye? Them and theirs accidentally made a feckin’ Old God down in thar basement in Uldir!

Not sayin’ we gotta stop usin’ light ta heal a bruised noggin, but I dinnae if we should be puttin’ all our faith that what it tells us ta’ do is always the right thing!

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(( The Church acting as moral arbiters?! It’s almost as if that’s their schtick! ))

Apostates! Unite!

Looks at the poster blinks shrugs and walks away “Silly church. A little scared of people branching away? Oh what a pity that must be.” snickers to herself.

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An essay would be posted next to some of these letters, unsigned.

"Consider the function of the church in this modern day. Can you easily bring its purpose to mind, or do you struggle? If you are like me, then you do the latter. What was once an institute meant to bring purpose to lives and spread the faith of the Light has turned into a politicking mess influenced by the petty hierarchical structure that it so stubbornly holds onto. In this past decade, one could argue that the church has done far more social harm than good.

Consider its many archbishops that came and went over the years, with the last one a tyrant who went out kicking and screaming from his petty position. A more democratic process was meant to replace the decaying position, but the title merely changed names. We saw a rapid exclusion of any and all who saw themselves freed of the rigid oversight and wished for independence, and the politics resumed as normal. When wounded from its own moral corruption, the church decided to double down on its mistakes instead of properly learning.

We saw this in its liberal use of condemnations for those guilty of petty offenses who may have had more independent thoughts deemed to be harmful to the church’s power, and those whom committed great crimes and showed no remorse but supported the church had their sins washed away like as if they were nothing. Such is the church, for its concern is primarily influence and less for the moral good it so declares itself to readily uphold. Nobles hold positions, wielding social power over their flock that they claim to serve. Paladins are far more eager to purge and slay than to withhold their bloodlust and practice humility. Priests hand out condemnations readily whilst ignoring the very concepts of redemption and forgiveness.

One does not need the Church to hold the Light close to their soul. Knighthood is but a title, one that is easily lost and hardly ever missed. One can still uphold moral good, practice vigilance, and redeem themselves through gradual change of the soul without the influence of the church. The Light came to us with the intention to empower us all with the ability to believe in the capacity for good, and not as a tyrannical tool to purge away those its wielders deemed unworthy of knowing its grace. Love and compassion should be the answer to the flawed man on his knees, not hatred and damnation."

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/e reads the letter, raising an eyebrow.

“Dangerous ideology?”

“An interesting claim considering the Light has given hope to the helpless, waged war against the wicked, and filled purpose in the hearts of the lost.”

Mazhar crumples up the paper and tosses it in the campfire before him

As the author of the Sacred Statutes, I can say that they apply to those within the project. We’re not out here trying to tell every night elf who worships Elune that they’re an apostate, but if you’re a member of the Church and say, “oh yeah, I believe in Elune, not the Light,” you’ll get a one way ticket to the nameless void uwu ))

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((Hey! OP here. I posted on an alt character earlier and couldn’t change it. ^_^;;

This isn’t an OOC issue at all. I posted this merely as an IC prompt to stoke up some roleplay. I know I am very interested in the Statutes and those who RP as part of the project.

I had hoped to stoke up a bit of conflict RP between the different IC belief systems. This was meant to be the first post of many in a campaign by a mysterious figure known as The Advocate to stir up rebellion against the church. If anything I said in the original post came off as me having any problem with it whatsoever on an OOC level, I apologize, for that was not my intention at all.

TL-DR: I love the Statutes and Inquisitorial type of roleplay OOC. I just want to stoke some conflict IC between characters of different beliefs. ))

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“It is true, the church now has a guard that feels they have the auspices of the the light on their side to harass and interrupt conversations in the church. I had members of my order witness a quite witless temple guard recite words I doubt he understood. The man did not even consider that there is a modicum of privacy to be allowed people to feel safe engaging in a temple of any religion save those of a ‘special’ nature. Yes, they admitted to thought police, others admitted to their own arrogance in an epiphany of their monstrous hubris, their lack of forgiveness. Their judgement of peoples soul when that is the light’s office alone. They admitted this by action and words not knowing the false doctrine they cling to. Yes, the temple is not needed to follow the light as any light user can attest. The light speaks and guides directly often. The Cathedral is merely a place to help reinforce the process. If it fails in its duty it is invalid. Other options can and will avail themselves for those of the true faith. Yet I worry for the innocents of the cathedral who are being led to ruin and destruction of the Cathedral as a source of comfort. They speak the virtues with their mouth yet do not follow. They are tiresome, meddling; ants pretending to gods. They have no legitimacy until the greater community accepts them as a vehicle for comfort and hope. At present they do not fulfill this office. Too much vanity, to many claiming to be light-forged with none of the enlightenment it entails. Lightforged are not bullies by nature, having observed the process such people are stripped of vanity and while they fight righteously they are stripped of vanity and know when to laugh at themselves. Know not to judge in place of the light as proxy for such a task is beyond mortal hands and they know it. The clergy should also consider this example and the fact that they need to let go of their making judgements for the light. They should follow their tenants and offer aid to those who are lost or struggling, not offer accusations, assumptions, presumptions, and the gift of the brand of apostasy. My order and I declare them to be the true apostates by their own actions till such time as the light shows otherwise.”

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“Bold to declare the Church apostates when the one who caused a schism is, in truth and by all definition, an apostate, De La Croix. How dare you accuse those who have gone through the trials of Lightforging of fabricating such? How dare you, who have caused nothing but strife for all who you come in contact with, treat us as villains? How dare you ignore every virtue and wisdom in favor of blatantly lying about your experiences? You, who now wear the Crimson Flame as if you understand the horrors brought by the Scarlet Crusade. If anyone wishes to see the very definition of an apostate, look no further than this man who separated from the Church because of his own vanity and now dares to call them apostate. The man so blinded by hubris that he spits upon the one who risked her own life and that of her unborn child to pull his soul from the hungering maw of the Void. One by one, he makes enemies of all until he alone is left standing in his righteousness. I pray that the Light will remove the veil of pride from your eyes before it is too late.”

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