The Canons of the Four Winds

A religious order of the air fae, the Canon of the Four Winds is the collective name for the monastic priests (or canons) who devote their lives in service to listening to the sacred winds of the land: the North Wind, the West Wind, the East Wind, and the South Wind. The primary wind forces are each considered both a naturally existing element and an elemental deity, and each wind represents a distinct voice that provides instruction, warning, blessing, and aid in fae affairs.

Where They Live

Monks reside typically in mountains or upon hills, where it is easiest to find and take the air. Rarely, a hermetic monk (one who has followed a personal path without the comfort of community) will live an ascetic lifestyle atop a very large tree, spending their day in deep meditation and exhaltation, coming to ground only once a day for food and supplies. These single canons often do not or can not speak.

How They Live

Canons spend their lives in service to the Winds through the following vows:

• Silence - A monk cannot hear if he does not listen. To listen to air is to accept this maxim doubly so.
• Purity of Purpose - canons abstain from family-making and from political affairs in order to preserve their mental clarity. They do this to avoid adopting a personal agenda that may be an obstacle in their pursuit of hearing and translating into words the language of the air.
• Nonjudgmental Service - Canons will serve any fae seeking guidance. The pilgrim need not be air fae to receive the wisdom of the winds. Although it is air fae who most frequently seek the counsel of the winds, there is (for example) a minority percent of visitors every year who pilgrim from dryadic villages to interpret the wind's movement between their leaves, and even fire fae have been known to seek the blessing of the winds to keep their flames burning brightly.

About the Winds

The primary winds observed by the canons are:

• The North - Cold and imposing, the few written canon testaments of wind verse describe the voice of the North as cold and imposing. The North tells hard truths, providing less in the way of guidance and more in the unveiling of secrets. Words from The North can often feel harsh, but to find one's path requires a clear view of one's situation.
• The West - The West is the voice of change, for good or bad. When something is around the corner, when there is potential for great good or great evil to sweep across the land or affect a large group of people, then the West Wind moves in. The canons often describe this wind as the hardest to understand, and the hardest to translate. Its movements are complex, often blowing a warm wind and a cold wind simultaneously, at different pace and direction to each other. Less experienced canons do not yet have the patience, open mind, and training to listen to the entire message of a West wind warning, and can err by hearing only one part of the message. In history, conflicts often arose through misinterpretation of this wind.
• The South - The South wind is the hardest to describe. Elementally chaotic, the South wind rarely reaches the land of the canons, but can be better heard over ocean and sea. Its words are misleading by virtue of their poetic style, and to the great Canon Collmer, a rare seawater fae priest, sounds like it is a different language itself, being translated into windish verse. There is academic disagreement as to its purpose and usefulness, but it is nonetheless respected by all. To ignore the words of the South wind is to invite its often fatal wrath.
• The East - The East wind is the voice of commonality, tradition, and history. It is the weakest wind in terms of speed, but its messages have the potential to beak great peace and comfort to those who need it. The East wind is often consulted during political negotiations, the words provided to both parties present to receive them together, unified by the ritual of listening. Families consult the East wind when there is strife, or during rites of passage when a child moves out of the home.

Type

Religious, Monastic Order