The Di Santa Manuscript
The world as it's known today is essentially polytheistic, in that the existence of other gods is generally accepted, but functionally monotheistic, in that only one of the many is seen as worthy of worship and reverence; Lady Minerva, The Goddess Of Knowledge, The Lightbringer. As the old proverb goes; "cherished children have a plethora of names". The House Of Minerva does not however necessarily operate via religious or holy texts, although some gospels exist depicting Her acts of heroism leading to the salvation of mankind, rather their day to day worship revolves around following the code and doctrine as put forth by the Lady Herself. The short form of the Precepts of Minerva is as follows;
- Praise Minerva
- Cast Aside the Old Gods
- Heed Her Heralds
- Comprehend the Burden of Knowledge
- Discover a Purpose
- Spread the Faith
- Seek Understanding
It is then no surprise that when the published work of Bartholi di Santa was released, titled Concerning The Origin Of Gods, The House moved swiftly and decisively to pull such documents from the public domain, branding the sharing of the information contained within as heresy. Most people aligned themselves with The House and thought nothing much of it, but completely unscathed The House didn't survive the publication. At minimum where earlier the other gods simply remained an unnamed and unidentified group simply referred to as "The Old Gods", they all now had names, identities and domains they used to rule over. The religious leaders tried attacking the publication with counter-information campaigns of their own, but the thirst for lore and myth proved so strong, even if considered fictional, and the spread of information by word of mouth so fast, that it was soon too far-spread to contain. Initially The House feared this might drive people away from The Lightbringer, lead people astray to worship false and failed gods, but in fact the effect was the opposite. Songs, poems and plays alike started featuring the other gods but almost without fail they were portrayed as the villains or at the very least subservient to Minerva, which only enforced Minerva's stature in the eyes of the people. Because the original publication, which received an alternative name of "The Di Santa Manuscript", was all but eradicated from the public domain and only a handful of well-hidden and/or lost copies exist today, the tales of the other gods quickly started living a life of their own, morphing and twisting to suit the stories they were used in.
Purpose
The purpose of the original document is unclear, with two different competing claims.
- Some people claim it was simply an academic document listing and detailing the existing gods; where they came from, their relationships to one another and other personal details. Bartholi di Santa himself insisted this is the intended purpose of the original book as well as his translation and editorial commentary of it.
- Others state it was a heretical book instructing in the worship of the many gods, the sacrifices they required and the atrocities they demanded from their followers.
What is generally accepted, however, is that the book contained the names of 40 individual deities, their domains and their family members. According to Bartholi the people of Panthos, the lost city from which he discovered the original tome, were among the most astute and meticulous scholars of their time, and although living in a deeply polytheistic society they managed to keep their research separate from their faith and related practices. The last exclamation of Bartholi, shortly before the noose tightened around his neck, was that the gods were in fact not supernatural all-knowing, all-powerful beings but simply test dummies for those who came before and as such, in fact, deeply flawed beings. This message is widely known, and just as widely mocked, as the deranged delusions of a desperate delinquent.
Type
Manuscript, Religious
Medium
Paper
Myth
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