Discourse: The two false Prophets

To defuse the myths around the religiously faithful one must carefully analyse the environment that extremist faith often springs up. Carefully, one looks at the socio-economic atmosphere that allows for extreme or elitist strands of religion to take root in our societies. In this brief response I shall outline both the environment and the religious that may take place within our societies.

In our societies the Holy Light and the Forgotten Shadow dominate the spiritual minds of our citizenry, soldiery and hierarchy. But, it is incredibly important to outline that each religion has only found membership among the spiritually lost and confused, more specifically, among those who have been convinced to place faith in a greater power. I personally do not lay blame on those who turn to a greater power in order to find guidance, it is not a crime. To take a historical look at the growth of the Holy Light I shall take some steps back into the time of Uther the Lightbringer, a shining pedestal of justice for those who worship the Light.

Yet, the Holy Light as a faithful religion only took root through misery and strife, through war and pain. When the Orcish Horde had devasted the lands of the Grand Alliance, the people flocked to the heavily centralized and elite clergy whom gladly spread the glorious virtues of the Holy Light. Yet, they spread these virtues for naught as war and hatred only spread against the Orcish Horde. When was compassion shown to the destruction of Alterac, a massacre of children and women that was authorized by the very highest echelons that are glorified by the Church of Light?

Clergies of all faiths through historical examples can be classified as an opportunistic and malevolent force, constantly seeking to undermine secular authority and implement radical ideals into the minds of the desperate and lost. Carefully arranging certain events and circumstances to fall into line with their religious ideals, the clergy of the Holy Light have in an organized and disciplined manner brought their twisted views upon the denizens of various Kingdoms’ throughout Azeroth.

Let us take the Prophet Anethion, who apparently saved the souls of the citizenry in Stratholme by accepting the slaughter brought upon them by the traitor Prince Menethil. Twisting the minds of the confused, the lost and the broken – Prophet Anethion expertly interwove common sense with a doctrine no different to the vile Scarlet Crusade which has pursued our contemporary civilizations and brought much trouble. The Scarlet Crusade associated their order to the perfection of the pure, the chosen of the Light, yet, this is the same ideology brought forward by Anethion of Stratholme except in such a devious manner that the misguided found their way to.

The historical example of Stratholme is one that will forever stand out as a shining pedestal of the destruction of a great city and the two great evils that were born from it, Arthas and the perverted religion of Anethion. All blame cannot be laid upon the shoulders of Anethion alone however, but it his teachings and his supposed zeal in some of the fabricated stories that continues to inspire the common man or woman to unjustly take up arms and incriminate themselves. Twisted virtues that not only force an inherent racist atmosphere upon the worshipper but also a radical theocratic mind set closely along the lines of the Scarlet Crusade.
In my experiences throughout life and undeath I stumble across this faith as a disgusting and vile perversion of spiritual worship, much akin to the Forgotten Shadow as preached by the Prophetess Antistia. Ascending to the leadership of the Cult of Shadow by using her secret inquisition known as the Lightslayers, a Forsaken self-proclaimed Prophetess employed the precise tactics that can now be found in those who worship Anethion.

The difference lies in the attitude portrayed by the worshippers and their ability to point a finger at each other and declare themselves enemies – But we see that the twisting of the mind and the enforcing of different faiths is done in the same way. Those who worship the false Prophets employ the same tactics against each other while writing and screaming that their faiths are the only true ones.

The denunciation is what I have been saving much of my efforts to write for and I shall outline it carefully. Religious organizations, such as the Chapter of Holy Anethion and the Church of Light, alongside the Cult of the Forgotten Shadow have many goals, in the cases of the worshippers of Anethion we see that these goals are not hidden, the radical objectives are portrayed for all to see, yet in the Church of Light and the Cult of the Forgotten Shadow the scenario can be described differently.

Azeroth has been touched by many terrible rulers and dictators in the past decade, the two most known and felt can be brought down to the Burning Legion and their creation, the Scourge. Moulded by tyrants who feast on power, defined by brutal force and the extermination of their enemies, these two great evils that have greatly changed our world have inherent values that have been constantly used by the two objects of our focus, this being the two cults circulating the false prophets.

Inherently in the approaches undertaken by enforcers of both faiths we see a common pattern, force equals victory. Those who do not agree with the common faith are to be terminated, flexibility does not exist, questions do not exist, and criticism does not exist. To any learned man these are self-evident truths but for the misguided who seek guidance, these self-evident truths are cleverly concealed under a shroud of supposed benevolent compassion.

I with pleasure denounce the cults of the two prophets and put forward a theory that you, the reader may take time to read and interpret. Definitively flawed and corrupt structures have no place among our societies, in any race and in any nation. Worship of a faith does not require clerical elite to guide or interpret anything for any of us, after-all, in the original writings of the both Light and Shadow, where is it written that a clergy must exist? Where is it written that Prophet’s shall come? Simply put, it is not.

The clerical brotherhoods and sisterhoods that have some sort of supreme religious pontiff are cleverly structured in order to deliver power to a select few, a select learned few that have the capability to manipulate and maintain a privileged position above the rest of those whom they preach to. Exceptional rights, exceptional allowances and powerful abilities to supposedly punish those who sin against either faith. Inquisitions that hunt out supposed heretics instead of missionaries who offer religious council free of theocratic persecution.

Organized structures do not need to exist to bring the ideals of the Holy Light and the Forgotten Shadow to our lives, we as sentient beings are born free to choose what faith we shall worship. We, as intellectual and developed races and societies may choose any path we wish to walk without a robed creature leering at you in the distance or whispering in your ear – I implore you, I implore you all, re-evaluate these two great cancers that have taken root in our societies and drive them out!

Erasmus of Brill

(( You bastard! Is this a public notice at all? ))

I forgot to add that part in. It has been distributed throughout every single major city of both factions using panda's. In multi-page leaflets it was randomly left in stacks outside shops, taverns and various other places.

((Let's see if this works. Antistia, Antistia, Antistia. *summons*))

((*Chants*Antistia, Antistia..))

*picks up this hefty leaflet and after reading it gives a little giggle* is he not discribing the ideal religion being one without preachures and ranks? welcome to the Draenei's view on light? *ponders for some more time and shakes her head looking a little confused only to use the leaflet to protect the stone bench in the cathedral as she resprays her armour with a fresh coat of bright red paint.. tshhhhhhhhh*

So easily are the minds of men corrupted. In the dark recesses of their mind they twist and turn their perception of the world until nothing remains but falsities. Their eyes do not deceive them, nor do their ears, but their minds do. It is a sickness unlike any other. It leads people to deny the Prophetess, but we know one cannot deny the Prophetess without denying the Forgotten Shadow, and we know that when one denies the Forgotten Shadow, one denies the Dark Lady for it is our Dark Lady who

They deny the Lady, and thus also the Shadow. He who denies the Shadow, denies our Prophetess. You cannot deny one without the others, for it is through the two who walked Azeroth and who are worthiest among us that the Shadow blesses us. Who dares deny that the Dark Lady has blessed us with strong leadership, and continued freedom? Who does denies not only her but the Prophetess and Shadow too. Only the sick of mind would deny the Dark Lady. Putress was afflicted with this illness; he denied the Dark Lady and thus the Shadow, and the Prophetess and we all know who he served. Does it not seem that this sickness is spreading once again?

IN SHORT THIS IS BLASPHEMY.

Considering the recent notices we've had posted, I really think this should be added..
*Sponsored by the Stormwind Times*
*cough*

Antistia wrote:So easily are the minds of men corrupted. In the dark recesses of their mind they twist and turn their perception of the world until nothing remains but falsities. Their eyes do not deceive them, nor do their ears, but their minds do. It is a sickness unlike any other. It leads people to deny the Prophetess, but we know one cannot deny the Prophetess without denying the Forgotten Shadow, and we know that when one denies the Forgotten Shadow, one denies the Dark Lady for it is our Dark Lady who

They deny the Lady, and thus also the Shadow. He who denies the Shadow, denies our Prophetess. You cannot deny one without the others, for it is through the two who walked Azeroth and who are worthiest among us that the Shadow blesses us. Who dares deny that the Dark Lady has blessed us with strong leadership, and continued freedom? Who does denies not only her but the Prophetess and Shadow too. Only the sick of mind would deny the Dark Lady. Putress was afflicted with this illness; he denied the Dark Lady and thus the Shadow, and the Prophetess and we all know who he served. Does it not seem that this sickness is spreading once again?

IN SHORT THIS IS BLASPHEMY.

Makes a short prayer to the Shadow.

((Entirely unrelated but... I have a terrible migraine, and yet it went away just a bit due to a laugh of pure joy upon seeing the -awesome- name "Dunderholm of Ambermill." I don't know why. I'm not making fun of it. I just love your name. >.> ))