From nv91-asa@nada.kth.se Fri Feb 27 16:13:46 1996 Status: RO X-Status: Path: news.kth.se!eru.mt.luth.se!bloom-beacon.mit.edu!newsfeed.internetmci.com!swrinde!tank.news.pipex.net!pipex!uunet!in1.uu.net!news3.digex.net!digex.net!not-for-mail From: mfterman@access5.digex.net (Martin Terman) Newsgroups: rec.games.frp.storyteller Subject: A View of the Euthanatos Date: 27 Feb 1996 16:13:46 -0500 Organization: Express Access Online Communications USA: 800-969-9090 Lines: 178 Message-ID: <4gvs6a$juc@access5.digex.net> NNTP-Posting-Host: access5.digex.net Having revised the Celestial Chorus, I thought I'd take on a group that's equally misunderstood, the Euthanatos. The Euthanatos are popularly regarded as a death-cult, obsessed with killing people. This view, while somewhat justified, is narrow. It is narrow in that most Mages view death as something of an end, something to be avoided. The Euthanatos take a much wider view of death. The Euthanatos believe in the cycle of life and death and look at the great Wheel for their inspiration. The Euthanatos came to realization early on that if you want to build a grand structure, you need to clear out what was there before for a good foundation. When building something, you destroy something else for the raw materials. Thus, before creation there must be destruction of what was there before. Most Euthanatos are strong proponents of mundane recycling efforts, reusing what was there before in order to provide raw materials for new things. Garbage should be turned into compost to grow new plants, which are then used and the remains turned back into compost again. And as the Euthanatos are fond of saying, when you deal with compost, you have to be willing to get your hands dirty. Nature is cruel. There is only so much room in any ecosystem, and so those parts of nature that can't fit in or survive must die and have their remains turned into compost for the plants who are stronger to feed on, and the stronger animals to feed on the plants. The Euthanatos can't understand why the Verbena, who are strong believers in the claw-and-fang aspect of nature, object when the Euthanatos take this concept to the logical conclusion. There are beings and objects and places that are corrupt, weak or otherwise not as they should be. The Quintessence being bound up in these things is wasted. Far better to destroy these things, free up the raw energy to the vast pool of Quintessence of the world, to be used in more positive and constructive things. For example, people on life support equipment are draining resources without returning anything. Far better to release them on to the next life and let the relatives use their resources for the purpose of living. The Euthanatos often think of themselves as gardeners, pulling out the weeds that choke the world. The other Traditions look towards building up mankind. The Euthanatos work on destroying the forces that would drag mankind back down. While all the Traditions are at war, the Euthanatos have been on the front lines for millenia, and will not shirk their duties now or ever. The Euthanatos are a trifle obsessed with death. They tend to work on the destruction side of things, and leave the creation side to the Verbena and to the more constructive of the Traditions. They believe strongly in things dying at their proper times, and living at their proper times. They like to make sure that people die at their proper times, hence their reputation. The Euthanatos believe that everyone should die. As people get older, their minds become more closed and the certainty of their thoughts gets in the way of learning anything new. When they die and are reborn, the world is made anew. But the wisdom of previous lives is kept, deep down, in the Avatar, and the knowledge is there as well. By dying, the old stagnant mind is dissolved. A new mind is born that can tap into the knowledge and wisdom of previous lives, but look at it with a fresh perspective and lack of preconceptions. Some also feel that the very process of death and rebirth reties the mortal to the great scheme of existance and grants wisdom there. Hence some Euthanatos working on constantly being born and rekilled. The Euthanatos also believe in the purification of rebirth. If a mortal has been wicked and cruel, killing them gives them a chance to start off with a clean slate. That some Nephandi are so corrupt even being reborn isn't enough to cleanse them is worrying. There is a group of Euthanatos working to see if multiple deaths and rebirths can cleanse such souls, or whether grimmer methods are needed. Some Euthanatos find vampires fascinating, but the wiser Euthanatos find them ultimately stagnant. Cut off from the natural cycles of life and death, they are stuck as what they are for all times. The Euthanatos pity Wraiths and seek to find out how to send them on from the place where they are stuck. The Shroud and the Shadowlands are part of the Wheel, but no one should stay on any part of the Wheel forever, vampire or wraith. The Euthanatos are still debating on Mummies. The consensus slowly forming is that the death and rebirth cycle that mummies undergo is not a true reply of the cycle of life and death. Mummies are themselves somewhat stagnant beings, cut off by a curse from the full glory of life and death. Euthanatos Masters are currently working on ways of breaking the enchantment on mummies and to send them on to a true death and rebirth. Ironically their focus on death gives them a deeper appreciation of life. The Euthanatos try to instill in their apprentices an appreciation of what they are taking away, so that they may only take away those lives as is proper. That everything must die in its due time means that everyone must live in their due time. To die before one is ready for death is as much a tragedy as living on past one's due time. More than one serial killer has found a Euthanatos hunting them, preventing more premature deaths from sullying the world. The Euthanatos are aware that they live on the edge of death, and that death can come for them at any time. Most Euthanatos make sure that they themselves are ready for death even as they deal it out to others. Euthanatos do not like making long term committments to anyone or anything, given that they may die and leave threads behind them. Those that they do make, they often take steps to ensure that if they do not fufill them in this life, they will in another. Euthanatos often find themselves taking strange actions to make up for debts incurred in previous lives. They also tend to live for the now, while making sure their actions fit in with the past and the future. They end the threads of the past, so that new threads may be spun out into the future. Since death may take them at any time, they live their lives to the fullest. The Euthanatos are encouraged to learn from their past lives, to see the flow of history, so that their actions in the present won't repeat the mistakes of the past. Young Euthanatos often lose track of their higher purpose, confusing the ends with the means, and become casualties themselves. The Euthanatos police their own Tradition far more ruthlessly than they police the world. They are quite aware that it is easy to get caught in the trap of being a casual killer, or totally obsessed with death to the point that they forget about life. More than one Euthanatos has been given a suicide mission, that they might move on to the next incarnation and have better luck next time around. Many believe that the Euthanatos are in league with the Wyrm or the Nephandi beyond the Horizon or their spiritual kin. Nothing could be further from the case. To the Euthanatos, a toxic waste dump is a foul corruption, and needs to be destroyed so that something more worthy may be placed on top of it. The Nephandi, who seek to annihilate everything, want to corrupt the natural cycle of destruction and creation. To the Euthanatos, this is heresy of the highest order. The Euthanatos are aware that they walk closer to being Nephandi than any other Tradition. They police themselves on that point even more brutally than the other Traditions monitor them. Since the taint of becoming Nephandi can pass from one incarnation to the next, they take extra care in ensuring that as few Avatars as possible are poisoned. Better to slay someone as they fall under temptation and be purified in their next life than to do it after they become full Nephandi and poison their Avatars for eternity. They perform this duty for the other Traditions as well, and this has led to misunderstandings and more than a few tragedies, especially when innocence was proven after death. But the Euthanatos feel that the Avatar will return in another life, and drive that life on to be a Mage. Even so, Euthanatos who kill and are later proven wrong are under a great debt to discharge to the reincarnated soul. More than one fledgling Mage has been saved by a senior Euthanatos who was discharging such a debt. The Euthanatos believe in personal Ascention, of enlightenment. They talk to Wraiths about Transcendance, and believe that Transcendance is for the dead what Ascention is for the living. They believe that one must go through the cycles of life and death, slowly accumilating wisdom and knowledge, until one is ready to Ascend (or Transcend). If they don't Ascend while alive, they may achieve Transcendance when the illusions of the world are stripped away on death. They have seen Mages who have failed to Ascend but were too powerful to die, stagnating and rotting away, ultimately being a hinderance to the Ascention of others. Many of these Mages are killed by the Euthanatos, who wish them the best of luck in Ascending the next time around. Unfortunately, the other Traditions don't seem to have the welcoming attitude towards death the Euthanatos have and often misunderstand the nobility of the Euthanatos actions. But the Euthanatos don't have any real conception of Utopia, other than the eventual Ascention/Transcendance of every human being. They actually have a lot in common with the Akashic Brotherhood, which may be why the two factions fight so bitterly. The Akashics focus on proper living, while the Euthanatos focus proper death and how to -- Martin Terman, Therapy and Behavioral Counseling for Troubled Computers. Disclaimer: Sticks and stones may break my bones, but flames are just ignored email: mfterman@access.digex.com home page: http://access.digex.net/~mfterman/ "Sig quotes are like bumper stickers, only without the same sense of relevance"