The Inspired Path

"It is through me that the spirits speak. You do not hear them, for you have not the eyes to see. Do not fear, child, I shall open the eyes you have forgotten, and allow the spirits to guide you... Only then shall you know peace."

--Hera El-Torio the Peacebringer, Archdeacon of Yel-Tor, before becoming Minister of Tharsis with a unanimous vote. 182 AB.

In Tharsis, there is a small following that is not quite a faith, but rather an philosophy. Touted by extremely charismatic leaders in underground societies, criminal organizations, and even wealthy class gatherings, there seems to be only positive aspects of the Path. Those who share it openly can always draw a crowd, and paint it as a cleansing experience.
While it is empirically true that those that disappear return Tales later, with a sudden joy, confidence, charisma, and glow, there is a darker side to this organization. To embark upon the Inspired Path and 'find your true inspiration,' it will require many tales abroad, and trips to the Iridescent Isles to relax and clear the mind of mortal desires, to be free and allow the spirits in. Once finished, the spirits may speak through the walker of this Path, and they can commune with ancient ancestors as well as the unconscious spirits in the space within the physical world.
However, those upon this Path are very rarely encountered. It is said that those walking the Path are always stoic to the point of having expressionless stone faces. The Inspired have it that these people beginning on the Path are simply clearing their mind and have undergone training to wash out all mortal cravings and the old scars of their past life, so that they might first hear the ancestors speaking to them. These walkers seem to be incapable of any resemblance of humanity, however, and it often leads to fearful interactions with those loved ones they seem to barely recognize anymore. When the Path is finished and the walker becomes an Inspired, their personality returns, proof that the stoicism was simply a step upon the Path, and not truly their personality, humanity, and memory being scrubbed away like a stain in the washbasin.
Because that would be impossible.

Erian Al-Kah, Scribe of The Grotto's Caller, an information and messenger organization in Tharsis, two Tales before embarking on The Inspired Path.