Armaxis on Luukos

 

Armaxis says, "Good evening."

Armaxis says, "The purpose of my speech this night is to enlighten those on the tenets of the Luukosian Order -- more commonly known as the Order among adherents to its mandates."

Armaxis says, "The Order is the oldest organization dedicated to Lord Luukos, and its methods have stood the test of time over the many centuries of its existence."

Armaxis says, "It is also the most visible influence beyond Lord Luukos Himself -- the High Priest, Lord Morvule, is among those who lead the Order to further glory for the Great Serpent."

Armaxis leans forward.

Armaxis says, "I am certain many of you have felt the influence of the High Priest in some, ah, small way in these recent times."

Armaxis smiles thinly.

Armaxis says, "Regardless of more current events, however, the Order is organized under the three aspects of Lord Luukos."

Armaxis says, "The Triad is held as sacred, as in actuality, it is the path to which mortals shall achieve perfection. The teachings of Lord Luukos are many and intricate, but the Triad is the basis for the faith."

Armaxis says, "Before I delve into the Triad, however, I must explain the premise by which the Order views the world."

Armaxis says, "And that would be that... Life, for all its intricacies and so-called 'pleasures', is a wasteful, rotting playground of foolish immortals and their kin."

Armaxis says, "It is a dead end, a spiraling trap of temptations and distractions that leads to relatively short spats of delusory havens that we, in our ignorance, find respite in."

Armaxis says, "For some, these delusions of comfort, of emotion and pleasure are adequate. It may, perhaps, be adequate as they've no knowledge of alternatives. As they say, there is blissfulness in ignorance."

Armaxis says, "The Arkati of Liabo, so comfortable in their roles in this post-Drake world, encourage such behaviors, attempting to appear as benevolent harbingers of these pleasant little fruits of life."

Armaxis says, "When they are, in actuality, simply contributing to the degradation of our beings as a whole."

Armaxis says, "Our potential is wasted when it is squandered on such wasteful habits as one commonly encounters -- emotional investments and attachments are but the scum atop the surface of a wholly polluted and corrupted world."

Armaxis says, "We pray to beings who encourage us to descend in an eternal spiral of wastefulness that ends in nothingness, and we are told that this is normal, and more importantly, we are told this is right."

Armaxis steeples his fingers together, quietly observing his surroundings.

Armaxis says, "The Order does not believe so, nor do I."

Armaxis says, "It is often hard for others to hear such truths, as most have waxed fat and satisfied upon these poisoned fruits which life has so abundantly offered them and they are loathe to abandon them. The notion of bettering themselves, of taking a road fraught with peril and difficulty is unappealing or outright appalling and blasphemous to them, and those who believe so are villified and shunned."

Armaxis says, "Life is the essence of imperfection and ineffectiveness -- it is a machine that is beyond broken, a fool's experiment long since failed. But it is still useful, in some aspects..."

Armaxis holds up his hand and tilts it side to side in a so-so gesture.

Armaxis says, "The role of a follower of the Great Serpent who walks upon this mortal coil is to prove themselves upon this disastrous playground, this plane of suffering, and, perhaps, affect some small manner of change in the tangled tapestry called life."

Armaxis asks, "Perhaps the question is -- Why would one would wish to prove themselves?"

Armaxis says, "So that they might escape it, so that they might move on to something far better than this...pitiful and weak existence. To transcend into the embrace of Death, and to emerge as something greater."

Armaxis says, "Something... Perfect."

Armaxis says, "This brings us to one of the Aspects of Lord Luukos -- Death. It is the Second Aspect, the bridge between the first and third, thus, it is a catalyst and most highly revered of all other Aspects."

Armaxis asks, "Is not the Great Serpent the harbinger of death, after all?"

Armaxis says, "As life is reviled once the core of truth is revealed to us, death is embraced as the shroud of lies surrounding it is torn away from us -- not only for the fact it is a way which the Serpent Lord gains his power. It is also a means for extreme change -- a dangerous thing to the rotting stagnant essence of life -- and it is not, as some believe, a means to an ending, but to a beginning."

Armaxis says, "One must understand, as the Order holds life itself as a wasteful vortex of gluttony and degradation, it also holds the soul, the immortal essence found in living beings, as something pure and full of potential in an otherwise bleak world -- flesh is but another trap woven around an otherwise useful and productive being, full of a wide spectrum of senses to distract it from any higher purpose."

Armaxis says, "Our bodies are merely shells -- skin to be shed. They should not be regarded as more than vessels for a specific purpose -- this is something we shall touch upon eventually. On to death, however..."

Armaxis says, "The death of the living is held as sacred... the taking of a life, the sundering of a soul, these are powerful things."

Armaxis says, "To release the immortal potential in a living being once trapped in entropy and offer it up to something greater -- to the Serpent Lord Himself -- is a pinnacle of achievement and a highly sacred ritual among followers of the Lord Luukos."

Armaxis says, "This is why death forged in the rituals and sacraments of the priesthood is so highly regarded among the Order -- it is the antithesis of what we despise most, and a manner in which to celebrate and praise our Lord while adding to his vast source of power."

Armaxis says, "It is also an effective tool to which we might achieve our aims in certain times of violent struggle. But then again, this is a basic fact that generals have used in wars time and time again, I have no need to go into the logic of that specific aspect of death."

Armaxis says, "As I mentioned earlier, death is not an end, but a beginning."

Armaxis says, "It is the means by which we achieve perfection, it is the means by which we might transcend this flawed existence and be born once more beyond death -- to the state of undeath."

Armaxis says, "Undeath is the Third Aspect, and it is the final aspect of the Triad. It has, as all things, been corrupted by life to an extent -- in the fact that mortals attempt to fashion crude mimicries of true undeath with their meager power."

Armaxis says, "Zombies, ghouls and the like are all such representations of these lesser puppets, hollow corpses filled only with the will of their creators. Useful, of course, but only to an extent, and their would-be artificers' skills pale in comparison to the skill of the Great Lord Luukos."

Armaxis says, "A prime example of such advanced undead is that of Dharthiir -- rumoured to even have the ability to sire children. And his creator was a mere mortal, Despana."

Armaxis cocks his head.

Armaxis asks, "Imagine, then, what the Lord of Undeath is able to create, who in his countless centuries before Despana, had mastered and made this art an extension of his will before the world ever knew her name?"

Armaxis says, "I mentioned before the body was but a shell, a vessel for the purpose of the soul."

Armaxis says, "In life, it is a sensory coccoon of wastefulness. In True Undeath, all these needless distractions are ripped away, and other senses are awakened to the soul, it becomes a state of absolute Perfection for its recipient, and it is only then that one may serve their purpose to the Serpent Lord to the fullest extent."

Armaxis says, "Lesser forms of undeath serve their purpose as well -- for those who fight against our cause, for those who vehemently oppose the will of the Serpent Lord and seek to stop Him, their blasphemy is transmuted into servitude, into punishment for such crimes. As we are imprisoned in this mortal coil, we must use the tools available to us to further our goals within it."

Armaxis says, "Some think it cruel -- but we are in a constant state of war, so long as the current entropic state of life remains."

Armaxis asks, "Would our enemies not condemn us to a death that ends in a void, in nothingness, were they victorious?"

Armaxis says, "Such is war."

Armaxis says, "And as we are in a war, imprisoned on a plane where life is overabundant and destructive, we must cull this great field of life in the name of a greater glory -- that of the Serpent Lord. This brings us to the First Aspect, Lies."

Armaxis says, "Life is the greatest deception, it is corrupt and decaying at its heart, and many of its inhabitants would rather continue to deceive themselves than to hear the truth of the matter. They wax fat and affluent upon its rotting gifts, and are weak in both mind and spirit."

Armaxis says, "To acknowledge they would rather be lied to is an inevitability, and thus the Lord Luukos plants the seeds of his power in mortals who would turn their eye away from the truth and who would embrace deception as their way of life."

Armaxis says, "Since the majority of those who deny the truth are, as I mentioned, fairly useless, those who, in their hearts, embrace the lies of life and believe them wholeheartedly become even weaker than their merely innocently ignorant brethren."

Armaxis says, "This allows them to be culled by the Great Serpent, to be used as He sees fit. Their punishment for such a wasted potential is often the same as those who resist the Serpent Lord so strongly."

Armaxis says, "It is in the First Aspect that Lord Luukos cleverly uses the essence of life's deception against itself, transmuting something useless into something efficient that may be used to further His goals."

Armaxis says, "It is a way for others to serve some use in the greater purpose of freeing of their brethren -- the way to victory is often built upon the backs of many. It is ruthless, but so are our enemies, and victory -- Perfection -- must be achieved if this world is to last."

Armaxis leans back.

Armaxis says, "And thus, the Three Aspects of Lord Luukos."

Armaxis says, "The Triad is part of a great cycle, and due to its threat to Lord Luukos' greatest enemies -- namely, Lorminstra, she who rules over the corrupted cycle of imprisonment and rebirth, she who views Lord Luukos' domain as a threat to her ill-gotten power -- it is villified by the masses, taught as something to be feared and resisted."

Armaxis says, "But it is explained to you here this evening as what it truly is."

Armaxis says, "It is, for lack of a better word, 'natural', for many to believe it false. After all, we are born in life, and to make a concious, irrevocable decision to go against what has been ingrained against us since birth and further reinforced by societal norms takes tremendous strength of will."

Armaxis says, "But there are some who will brave this path, some who will hear these words for the truth they are, and they shall be graced by the Emerald Light, wrapped in Eternity in his Sacred Coils."

The head of Armaxis's serpent staff opens its slitted eyes, flicks its tongue lazily, and hisses.