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The Free Road

By Malaclypse

Adventurers, free yourself of your chains!

The Binding of the Elements

Slavery, debatably, is one of the worst evils possible. Through slavery, one takes a free spirit and uses it to serve another will. It devalues the spirit and subjugates it to a tool, an extension of the master’s actions. Much worse is the slavery of indoctrination, in which the slave agrees with and supports his master. The slave is not even aware of his shackles. Such is the nature of elemental transforms.

Consider a man (who I will call S.) that I met in the Kingdom of Neridia. He was collecting components to transform himself into a “greater being”. “What kind of greater being?” I asked. He replied that it didn’t matter, as it would give him the ability to continue his fight against the Sessuar even in death. A worthy cause for the free living man! However, let’s say, for the purpose of argument, the scroll he finds would change him, upon his final death, into a Light Elemental. Would a Light Elemental fight the Sessuar with the same manner, vengeance and conviction that S. did in life? And even if that Light Elemental won the fight, S. himself would be long dead, the motivation behind his justice sent cold to the grave.

S.’s name would be tacked on to the actions and motivation of some foreign being. Some might argue that S.’s true spirit would be buried under layers and layers of elemental matter and intelligence, but it would be the same quality of action as someone who was charmed and could not realize that they were under another’s spell.

One cannot assume that you will really be yourself after your transform. I was told a tale about a foreign land where the townspeople worked hard to stop a malicious being from becoming the Icon of Death, and in order to thwart him, a commoner fought his way up the elemental ranks and became the Icon of Death. However, the commoner’s intelligence and personality were left in ashes behind his ascent. He was no longer himself, but had become The Icon of Death, embodying all which that entails and little else. All his being died with his mortal body as his spirit rose into a new form. No longer the same man, he still sits, one face of the Icon of Death, and not the friend they all knew and loved.

Elementals envy us and our potential. We Tyrrans are whole composites of the Elements, at the center of the planes. We have Death, Life, Reason, Dream, Order, Chaos, Light, Darkness, and Time within all of us. They both loathe and are jealous of our duality.

Elementals, as a rule, hate their opposite. Light cuts the darkness as death culls the living. They accept no compromise - they are locked in immortal duel, a battle for dominance that will never cease. Some even know they will never win - but that does not stop the sun from rising or setting- these are natural forces that we cannot hope to aid or hinder. The balance is natural.

For a mortal to serve an Elemental, that mortal is denying one eighth of his nature. How can you mother a child when you serve death? How can one lead an inquisition for truth when one is dedicated to deception? Oftentimes a mortal will take some aspect of his or her personality and hold it up above the rest, using it as an excuse for elemental servitude -- “I believe in Freedom, so naturally I should be marked by Chaos and eventually become a Chaos Elemental!” - this is not indicative of personal elemental nature-Would you similarly say “I enjoy casting necromancy, perhaps I am really from Jhivantaine!”?

An Elemental Mark is a mark of ownership. Once you have received your mark, you are for all time declaring yourself as an enemy of your opposite. You cannot hope to think in the same polar way an elemental does - we Tyrrans are not meant to think like that.

Furthermore, participation in the eternal dance of the elements may indeed tip the scales. Each plane is working with (arguably) finite resources. If a hundred thousand Tyrrans allied themselves with the plane of Death, and dedicated themselves to fighting Life Elementals, it is vaguely possible that the balance would be tipped, and that elemental Life itself might temporarily be defeated. This is a futile goal, for the planes shall re-manifest their matter regardless of how much energy is dispersed and returned to its plane of origin. An elemental cannot be killed by its opposite, because to finally destroy an elemental, it must be slain on its plane of origin - a place where no hostile elemental can tread. This destruction of energy can severely and permanently damage the plane, and the possible effects of this are too horrible to pen. The balance of the universe itself could be shifted. Once the elements begin falling, the rest will tumble like a house of cards. To ally with them is to ally against Tyrra.

They want to manipulate us for their purposes. They want us to die for their cause, and we Tyrrans shouldn’t let ourselves be fooled - there is no victory in a battle of elementals. Because you are a peaceful, compassionate person does not mean you should willingly serve a Life elemental. Because you are a chaotic person does not mean Elemental Chaos is your calling. Truly, you are a Tyrran, plain and simple.

Cast off your willing chains, Tyrrans, this is not our fight.

The Masters and Their Servants

Consider your anger and frustration at realizing that while charmed, you betrayed the trust of a friend.

“It’s not your fault,” consoles someone, and maybe you believe that in fact, you are not responsible for your actions- somehow the mind control makes it alright that you did something that you wouldn’t have done while in a clear and sober consciousness. You have done something evil, but you’re not the one that’s evil.

A noble asks you to do something immoral, and you do it. You do it willingly because even though you don’t agree with the actions, you assume your liege knows best, and that in the end, you are serving chivalry. Does this make you immoral?

Are you responsible for the betrayal you committed while charmed? Or the immorality you displayed while serving a noble? There are many dualities inherent in the noble system. Consider the difference between murder, execution, and war, all being the same things, but two of them are acceptable because of a noble's permission. You can displace responsibility as far as you’d like, but in that you are committing an act of self deception. Even when serving a noble in an innocuous way, you are functioning as an extension of that noble’s will.

We are forced to assume that the nobles are just, and in many cases, they are, but it is impossible for us to know their true motivations and limitations. Consider the ruler who is so driven by a love for his domain and his people that he acts with prejudice towards foreigners, subjecting them to the harsh side of the law, convicting them for crimes that the locals would be passed over on. Consider the king who has all along been enslaved, and commanded to act as if he is loyal to chivalry. Consider the careful game of chess that the nobles play, the juggling act of fulfilling their personal motivations while appearing to be chivalrous.

Chivalry is held aloft, a point in the distance that we must always face and walk towards. We assume that the nobles have already reached that horizon and are trying to lead us there. Consider the Neridian tenet of Duty, the first of the code - “Thou Shalt Honor and Follow The Dictates of The Crown Voice.” It presupposes the righteousness of the Crown Voice, and dictates that a chivalrous person, a good person, will always obey the nobles. Consider the fifth tenet: “Thou Shalt Shield Those in Need and Be Their Sword of Justice.” A chivalrous person will defend those who need help and seek justice against their aggressors.

What could be said of chivalry itself if the crown should order an injustice?

Is the noble who gives this order not chivalrous? No, for any noble echoes the crown voice by nature of his station. The first tenet, of Duty, is given further weight through the law - now if someone dares to disobey a noble they are not only being a bad citizen by not being chivalrous, but also being unlawful. We are made to believe that it is best to follow the crown even if it dictates injustice.

Through this dictate, which is enforced through the moral concept of chivalry and the legal power of the nobility, we slowly lose our personal responsibility.

If a noble orders an action, you are not personally responsible for the action if it is evil. The commoners are held in check by the notion that they are protected if they commit lawful evil but may take credit if the action is lawful and good.

I do not see the distinction - the decision was made by a liege, so how can a commoner be credited for it except as a tool? If you are killed, you do not blame the sword, but the wielder. If your wounds are mended, you thank the healer, not the healing magics. If you do a noble’s bidding, how can you take heart in the validity of your actions? In the grand scale, we are acting as functions of the noble’s will. Until we free ourselves of that, we have no responsibility for our actions. I’d like my tombstone to list my accomplishments, not my compliances. I want people to remember my strengths and not my tools.

Do not be fooled into thinking that life without nobles would be a life of terror and rule of only the strong - observe the many cultures which are not dominated by those with the loudest voice; the barbarians and half-ogres respect both strength and wisdom. The scavenger peoples even live without money, living in a community of generosity and compassion.

I have known many city-bred races who visit the “wild” lands and return with a sense of wonder - “How much more civilized it is!” And I have met even more of the “savage” races that come to the cities of man and are disgusted by the impurity of it all. A man who I will refer to as O. once said of the city life, “It just makes you sicker and sicker every day until you just can’t take it anymore.” People do not acknowledge their potential and thereby entire lifetimes filled with obedience and endless questing for greater power to serve higher forces, never once standing on their own feet and claiming true, clean, pure responsibility for themselves.

To Stand on One’s Own

The Free Road is about living without reliance or dependence. Of course, the fighter will always need her healer, and the team, no matter how agreeable they are, will always need a leader. To accept full responsibility for your actions, however, you must live without allegiance to those who will control you.

You must also live without tools which people will remember you by. If you find an artifact of great power, people will remember you by it and your name will only be a footnote in a list of servants to it. How can you take credit for your actions when it was a legendary sword that enabled you to kill your enemies, or a noble that ordered you to do justice? These things are armor for the weak.

Those who travel the Free Road do so in a pure way, free of the trappings of subtle slavery. We do not hold ourselves above anyone or below anyone. Even if we aren't remembered for our actions, we will die with the satisfaction that we lived a free life, and that our actions were our own.

There is something to be said for the people who will make any sacrifice for their goals. In my opinion, there is something more to be said for the people who can accomplish their goals, or die in their pursuit, and in the end know that they were responsible, that they acted of their own will, with their own strength, not bolstered with elemental matter, artifactual empowerment, or sent by noble writ.

Whose name will be on your tombstone? Yours or your lords? Whose path are you walking? Yours or your lords?

People of Tyrra, your spirit implores you - leave your trappings behind. You have everything to gain.

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