Vodranti Literature and Scripture
A collection of the writings of the Vodranti.
Excerpt from the Second Letter of the Warlock of Ceres to the 3rd Warlock Archionate: 23 And so we must give high praise unto God for his many blessings. 24 For the blueprints and relics salvaged from the epochal age of man has shown extensive promise, and I have already begun the repair process. 25 The old order of metallurgists have preserved Emuna armor from ages past, and I believe there is much to be learned from their work. 26 For as you already know, few things in all of creation can rival the Emuna's extensive protective capabilities. 27 I have sent diagrams of the necessary information unto you, my most faithful Archionate Assembly.
4 So what is death? Naught but a threshold, a gateway between this life and the next. 5 To let the threat of what is ultimately inevitable, and the will of RBTR, dissuade you from serving Him is beyond ignorance- it is blatant defiance of His will. -The Writings of Yusa Undal, The First Zacharite (5th Collection, Chapter 23 Excerpt) 1 No, killing and murder and death are not things to rejoice in. 2 God did not make us to die. He made us to live in His light, His love. 3 But there are those who defy the glory and will of God, who reject his loving embrace in favor of the fallible works of man. 4 Those evildoers around us will fall, make no mistake. It is in God's hands, not our own. 5 But when the Spirit of God calls upon you, when His voice commands you to act, you act. 6 And, when He so chooses, that command is to destroy the flesh of sinners, to rend them asunder and to burn their temples. -The Writings of Yusa Undal, The First Zacharite (2nd Collection, Chapter 4 Excerpt)
Honor is a byproduct of service, to both the Ar+++++, and to your Empress. Serve, and be well. Serve, and you will never truly die, for your name will be immortalized through her. -The First Warlock of Ceres, Advisor to the Empress Immortal
"What is war without death? What is the flesh without faith? What is the soul without spirit? Mindless, pointless, meaningless." -Tur Lynn, Gesala of the 3rd Clan (Now known as the 5th Legion)
“We are fickle, fragile, delicate, like a pane of glass. And once the glass shatters, there is no healing, only shoddy repairwork done out of desperation. Strength is not only preventing the glass from breaking, but to mend it once it has.” -Ax̼x̼u Hiy, Gesala of the 5th Vodranti Legion
The Book of Understandings 'The "Book of Understandings" is a comprehensive series of transcripts of quotes regarding the nature of life, love, G-d, and the universe in the oral histories and teachings of the varied Vodranti cultures. As I see it, it is a "peek" into the foundations of Vodranti Law and morality today.' -Zacharite Faj Mikan The Book of Understandings, Recitation 6 (Excerpt) 38 The law of man is formless, fluid, flawed. Yea. 39 The Law of God, the Ar+++++, is static, solid, perfect. Yea. 40 Where the law of man fails, the law of God must be enforced. Yea. 41 Where the law of man denies the law of God, it is the duty of the faithful to enforce His Will. Yea. 42 The hands of the righteous are the weapons of the holy war of God. Yea. The Book of Understandings, Recitation 7 (Excerpt) 1 Destiny is the hunting wind. 2 It pursues and prowls like a beast. 3 It can thirst. It is the storm that hungers. The Book of Understandings, Recitation 11 (Excerpt) 14 "And what of science? Is science sin? For the elders state that it was the godless science of men that brought the wrath of Heaven upon us." 15 The ancient teacher shook her head. 16 "Daughter of Ceres, is it sin to study? To understand? No, no, for did the Ar+++++ not give us minds to seek with? Eyes to examine with? 17 Why give us creation if man was not meant to study it? 18 I believe the issue is an etymological one, sister. 19 For science is not a single thing, but rather the collective work of man in an attempt to study the universe, and by extension, G-d. 20 When you see the stars in splendor, there lies RBTR, our Lord. To examine them is to examine G-d. 21 No, science is not sin. It is an aspect of creation given to us by G-d that can be and has been corrupted as any other. 22 This is simple fact. 23 "So is science the study of G-d or of the material?" 24 "Does it matter? It rests on intent, but ultimately the scientist finds one or the other. 25 All of creation leads to G-d. 25 But science, as any other material creation, can lead to delusion. 26 Some among you can certainly recall the stories of men driven away from G-d, as they made their own divinity out of science. 27 That is sin, sister. To make an idol out of what is material. 28 For G-d and His attendants are beyond the fickle nature of the universe." 29 A man among the crowd, a proud warrior of Charon, spoke: "Yea, such delusions must be watched closely, so that they do not destroy us. The scholar can be as deadly as the sword." 30 The ancient teacher laughed heartily, and she said this in response: 31 "Hah, and the same could be said of the sword to the scholar! 32 For one can lose oneself in study as one loses oneself in warfare. 33 We can drown in both ink and blood, my friend. Take heed you do not fall in either." The Book of Understandings, Recitation 12 (Excerpt) 1 Mindless rashetti (formless beings of the mechanical aether) approached the ancient teacher, speaking on the subject of life and death, man and machine, flesh and spirit. 2 Their ramblings soon ended as they coalesced to pose a question to the teacher: "What is the future, that man might see it?" 3 The ancient teacher shook her head. "No," she said, "no, man may never understand the flows of time lest he dies and sees it from the Heavens. Nor may he accurately predict the futures before us in a way that is meaningful- 4 yes, we may grasp at reeds in the winds, snippets of what will be shown to us, but the only thing that may be divined from the rolling of stones (for the soothsayers used marked rocks to reveal such things at this time) is that it is He who sets these stones in motion.
The Zacharitian Records The Zacharitian Records are a collection of the historical and scholarly records of the Zacharites, the historians, anthropologists, and scholars of the Vodranti. Third Zacharitian Records, Book 11, Chapter 24 (Excerpt) 1 On the 13th day of the 30th month of the year 1978 (Such a date is gregorian- before the standardization of the 3rd millennium, this date was in the calendar of Vesta), the vessels of the many clans of the proud Vodranti approached Ancient Mars. 2 And heralding the assault of Olympus Mons was the Gesala of the Clan of Chiron (who commanded the ships in orbit) and a Kenyr of the 3rd Clan, Dakai Mah-Lynn (who commanded the feet upon the soil). [DATA LOST] 14 A perimeter of great magnitude was established around Olympus Mons once the ancient anti-orbital arrays had been defeated (at great expense of blood and iron) and so the Gesala commenced his great bombardment of the high mountain. 15 The Grailborn whelps gnashed their teeth and tore at their own flesh, but they could not breach the perimeter to escape the blessed kinetic bombardment of the high mountain. 16 And as the atomics were prepared (Earthmover fission bombs, designed to usurp the ground and crush the mountain), lo- the Grailborn knights had prepared. Their pre-Epoch technology dug through the earth, rising from beneath the surface, disrupting the perimeter. 17 There was much blood. 18 The chitinous flesh of the Grailborn was subject to much destruction, but they cared not- they fought to the bitter end to defend the Grail beneath the high mountain. 19 A thunder rang out, unlike any even Great Venus could muster. The atomics had been detonated prematurely. 20 They dug through the earth, causing a fire so great that it blinded us even through our starsight, our second lid burning, leaving even the most robust among us begging for death as their flesh melted and merged with their armors, carbon-plastics fused to the bone by that accursed radiation. 21 Shots rang out among the warriors, most of which were directed at the self. 22 There was much death. 23 And when the earthmovers detonated beneath the surface, Olympus was reduced to ash. 24 The Zacharites cried out. 25 "Over 3 million souls perished in those umbral flames!" 26 Bitter tears from blind eyes stung the burnt flesh of the scant few survivors. 27 "3,858,394 dead, dying, hopeless souls! The Gesala must answer for this!" 28 And lo, the people found the Zacharite's estimate off by naught but one, for the Gesala was found dead upon his ivory throne- 29 having driven his own sword through his own flesh. 30 Thus it is recorded by the Zacharites.
The Book of Abidance The "Book of Abidance" is a transcript of the oral recordings of notable legal and religious cases in Vodranti history. The Book Of Abidance, Recitation 4, Passage 174, "Necromancer Judged Before The 3rd" (Excerpt) 1 The adherent wept sinner's tears freely from withered eyes, before speaking; 2 "Forgive me, my lord and lady, I have defiled the Law (for the law forbade the manipulation of the dead) and the Ar+++++ (who reigns forever). 3 Forgive me, I beg of you, as Ax̼x̼ua forgave his kenyrb despite apostasy." 4 The gesala paused as she listened closely to the whisperings of the Ancestral Throne, before responding with the authority of her predecessors and her army, 5 "I have forgiven you before. And as man may sin indefinitely, we forgive still despite this. 6 But your sin extends beyond any forgiveness a man can conjure. Even the Empress upon the Yauu cannot muster the grace nor the patience for this nonsensical rambling." 7 She raised her arms outward and upward, before the Ar+++++ and the assembled tribunae and kenyr. 8 "Know this- we all fail before the will of RBTR, our twice-sworn God, yet we are still allowed life despite. 9 But the violation and manipulation of the dead is thrice sin, and even the machine-worshippers of Venus recognize the danger and moral apostasy inherent in the act of necromancy. 10 I pray RBTR spares you unending pain, for I cannot. Mortal hands are weak. The divine wills, and it is so. It is not in my power to forgive. I sentence you to death inubriac, as stated by the Law." 11 And there was howling and wails of agony from the sinner-adherent, even before his skin was flayed and his flesh anointed in fiery oils. a: Ax̼x̼u Hiy was the gesala of the 3rd Clan (now the 5th Legion), who arose to power on the 42nd cycle of the 13th century, before his death at the hands of his brother, Myx Hiy. b: Uay Gitra, one of 9 kenyrii sworn to Ax̼x̼u, had defied the Law upon the orbital bombardment of the Neptunian-Martian colonies, for the Law states, "The death of many men is cruel necessity. Death in numbers exceeding thousands is dark reality. Death in numbers exceeding millions is sin." c: Death Inubria being a death traditional to the 5th Legion, where the sinner-apparent is bound by the flesh to a carvai table and deprived of skin, bone, and marrow. It is a practice often accompanied by imbibement in flame. The Book of Abidance, Recitation 12, Passage 98, "The Ageless Mass" (Excerpt) 18 And the thing crawled on its many arms and many legs, cybernetic and organic, a fusion of the sinful material and the tempting flesh. 19 It spoke with its endless mouths, each one spitting its dark heresies. 20 "What is man, but a derivative of itself? 21 What is the body if not an extension of the world? 22 Who are we without G-d, what is a god without us?" 23 The men were horrified. Their blades were drawn, their guns at the ready. 24 G-d willing, the creature would not suffer a moment longer. The Book of Abidance, Recitation 12, Passage 64 (Excerpt) 1 Between stars set by God's own hand 2 Lay creatures freed from the Celestial Strand 3 Divine limitations broken by mortal things 4 Make for the despicable beings 5 Creatures whose flesh defies the Moon and Sky 6 Those whose Worms may never die. This specific canto of the Book of Abidance is currently unverified by Zacharitian priests, and its presence within the 12th Recitation is... odd. While Passage 64 discusses the mysterious beings known as "Worms" before and after, this poem does not mesh with the rest of the passage and leaves for two possibilities. The simpler is that the passage is entirely fabricated, or the other, that something greater was lost that left this song alone. The Book of Abidance, Recitation 17, Passage 8, "The Scholar Speaks of Faith to the Archionate of Ceres" (Excerpt) 28 The young scholar cleared her throat. 29 The Archons looking down at her from the assembly regarded her with suspicion and even resentment. Some detested the young scholar for her audacity in approaching their assembly thus- she was only Vodranti by her mother's blood, not her father, and he was a Cytherean of Venus. 30 She lacked authority, title, ancestry, and education to even stand within these chambers. 31 It was only by the will of the Gesala of the 9th Legion that she could speak before them, and that same Gesala gave the scholar a reassuring smile, before gesturing to the Archionate, 32 signaling, however slightly, that it was time to speak. 33 And so, the young scholar did. 34 "Some have been deceived into believing that our faith, our Emuna, is a method of projecting an illusion of understanding to those outside of our "cult", maintained only by warrant of metal and war. 35 Some have been deceived into believing that our religion, our culture, is nothing more than the charade of a deluded people. 36 Some project the moniker of "deranged" onto those who disagree with them on religious or societal subjects when confronted with the idea of that which may differ from their own understanding of the world, while they themselves remain "deranged". 37 "These assumptions are incorrect. 38 Faith is a byproduct of understanding. 39 While exceptions exist, one comes to faith by understanding God and His Work. 40 By understanding the Law, the Words, the Work, and the Worker, I can then have faith. 41 But ultimately, faith cannot be based on raw logic and reason. 42 Faith must have an aspect of uncertainty to ensure legitimacy. 43 That seems to counteract itself, but such is life." 44 Her audience was stunned.
Did the Caduceans, those Salamandrine Warriors, cry out to heaven for salvation from the wrath of Heaven? No, they did not. They bled and died as their skin burned and flesh melted, metal and bone fused into spires of wicked un-life. But G_d had never graced their lips, their iron hearts dared not pray for forgiveness. And the Apocryphon, those silicon servants of June, did unmake their world, tearing its surface from itself, the crust flayed and rendered asunder. For the G_d of Ceres has spoken: "Thou art my weapon of war, for with you will I rend the kingdoms asunder, and with thee will I raze their temples." They will be His motive force, those metal angels, a conduit of His Will. Spare none, Placer of Stars, raze it to the very foundations. -The Sermon of Chariklo by the Prophet Ukarr, Upon the Second Throne "All of prehistory can be summarized thus; Man, being proud, raped and pillaged the work of the Lord and so God, being merciful, scattered Man as dust before Him." -The Sermon Of Charon by the Prophet Ukarr, Upon the Second Throne
"Let it be known that there is a G_d in Heaven, a God of fire and metal, He who sets the stars in place and reduces to ash the works of men." -Hark Mikan
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