Third Wesmodian Invective

The Third Wesmodian Invective is one of a series of open letters to the governments and thinkers of the Eleven Cities penned by the influential Tyrosian intellectual reformer Wesmod. Considered by some rhetoricians the best-written and most effective of the invectives, it concerns Wesmod's objections to the worship of Krezzan, the god of time and death. It is noteworthy for being one of only two of the invectives to provide any personal information about its otherwise enigmatic author.

Content

The Third Invective is subdivided into three sections, the first dealing with Wesmod's intellectual objections to the worship of Krezzan, the second discussing elements of his personal approach to the matter, and the third presenting his conclusions from the combined content of the first two.

Intellectual objections

Wesmod's intellectual objections to Krezzen relate to the god's supposed power over time. He observes that the one great constant in human existence is the passage of time. From this starting point he enters a substantial discussion of the fundamental attributes of time. Time cannot be slowed down or sped up, only used with greater or lesser effectiveness by a given individual. It is also inherently finite, at least with regard to the individual; all people eventually die, and it is up to them to use the time they have as they see fit. What constitutes an effective use of time is, furthermore, a complicated combination of objective and subjective decisions that vary for any individual. He gives the example of a farmer who, having planted a crop, need only sit back and watch it grow to use his time effectively, and contrasts this with a sailor who must be able to read and predict the weather and make careful preparations, and adapt to changing circumstances, in order to maximise the performance of his ship. The possible permutations of these sorts of decisions are endless, Wesmod claimed, and always subject to change. Time, Wesmod argues, is an absolutely finite but absolutely reliable resource subject to individual decisions as to its use.
There is, he therefore argues, no reason to personalise time and suggest it is under any sort of superhuman control. The stories that exist of Krezzan altering the flow of time are remarkable precisely because this never happens in reality. Time will come at a steady and predictable rate, and it is up to individuals to make what use of it they will. This is an intellectual decision, not a moral one, and philosophical principles drawn from it are not fit for purpose. There is in short no need for a god of time.

Emotional objections

In the second section of this invective Wesmod tells the touching personal story of the loss of his sister when he was ten years old. The age of the sister is not given. She fell ill, Wesmod states, and neither the priests of Hayan nor those of Krezzan could do anything for her; she ebbed and died in the space of two moons. After her death his family was visited by one of the clerics of Krezzan, who spoke to them, and to Wesmod directly, about the inevitability of death and how little control humanity has over the time available to them; only Krezzan knew the time allotted to any individual, and his divine mind was wholly inscrutable. The conversation, Wesmod said, had the opposite effect to that the priest presumably intended. Rather than comforting him with an appreciation of the inscrutability of death, it left him angry with Krezzan for taking his sister and with the god's earthly representatives, reputed physicians and healers, for failing to prevent this.
The tone of the remainder of this section of the invective is reserved but also quite vehement. To attribute a human agency - in the form of a mind constructed by worshipers on human lines - to a matter beyond human control does nothing to assuage the suffering of the dying or the distress of those they leave behind. Rather it sows confusion in the minds of the young and discord within society by creating the impression that this process can be controlled, specifically by means of pious support of the clerics of Krezzan, and then asking those supporters to uncomplainingly accept when the priests can do nothing to forestall the process of death. The worship of Krezzan, he concludes, is a well-intentioned but ultimately cruel and counterproductive folly.

Conclusions

In a pithy but respectful final section Wesmod concludes that the worship of Krezzan makes neither intellectual nor emotional sense. There is no point in worshiping an entity that offers neither intellectual solutions nor emotional comfort.
Throughout the invective Wesmod's tone is reserved and respectful. He carefully observes that he does not blame the priest of Krezzan that spoke to him after his sister's death and that he is not suggesting that an agitated ten-year-old boy knew any better than a learned man. He simply observes that the worship of Krezzan as a god of death is a false emotional economy, having precisely the opposite of the apparently intended effect. This tone of respect stands in strong contrast to some of the subsequent invectives, particularly the seventh, in which he directly attacks the priesthood of Dahan.

Response

In broad terms the response to the dissemination of the Wesmodian Invectives was a withdrawal of public and practical support for the cults of the various gods. Everywhere the invectives went, temples were abandoned and clerisies withered. The Invectives, measured collectively, are probably the most influential documents ever published in the Eleven Cities.
The withdrawal of society from the worship of the gods did not mean that all these institutions disappeared altogether. In the specific case of the clerics of Krezzan, the clerisy reorganised itself as The Brotherhood of Rooks, a learned and philosophical but ultimately secular order of physicians, morticians and social commentators who still operate to this day, mostly out of its former temples. Not all temples of Krezzan were repurposed in this way, at least not successfully. Those in Dypholyos and Chogyos were demolished in the wake of the Reformation. The other temples, however abide as the chapter houses of one of the oldest and most respected, albeit often secretive and frustrating, institutions of learning in the Eleven Cities. The loss of the Chogyan temple, similarly, did not result in the extinction of the uniquely Chogyan religious order dedicated to Krezzan, The Bruised Ones. Like the Brotherhood of Rooks this all-female order refoussed itself as a secular social order rather than a religious one and remains influential in certain circles.
Interestingly the Brotherhood of Rooks claim that Wesmod was directly complicit in their survival as an institution (in comparison to other clerisies such as those of Ajqyod and Dahan, which died out completely). Their official institutional line that in the immediate aftermath of the publication of the invectives members of the Tyrosian clerisy of Krezzan privately met with Wesmod and spoke to him about his ideas. This meeting was said to be very constructive, with the clerics leaving with a solid idea of the sort of social impact Wesmod expected his invectives to have and some equally solid notions about how the institution could reform itself to adapt to the changes thus predicted. Essentially, the Brotherhood of Rooks claim that they operate with Wesmod's intellectual blessing. 
This cozy image of ecumenical open-mindedness and intellectual open-handedness is not attested in any known, contemporary sources, leaving open the possibility that the Brotherhood made the whole thing up.  There are, however, precious few reliable contemporary sources about Wesmod at all, and absence of evidence cannot be taken as evidence of absence. The Brotherhoos's own records might prove something, although getting access to them is famously difficult. The respectful, at times even conciliatory tone of Wesmod's indictment of their former cult, however, leaves the possibility that they may be telling the truth here.

Type

Text, Letter