VIRTUES & LESSONS
The best of us are always looking to take care for the worst of us.
– Virtues, Cassias Aldophus
Everyone is always looking for a place to put the knife.
– Lessons, Cyrin Ildelvi
The virtues of chivalry can be traced back to the dark times after the fall of the Old Empire. They were rules to guide the fighting man, to give him a sense of right and wrong. What they have developed into is a way of life to guide those who hold thousands of lives in their hands.
When questions of honor arise, the ven turn to a single book, the official treaties on the subject. Virtues, a treatise on honor and chivalry was written by a man named Cassias Aldophus. A document over two hundred years old, Virtues directs nobles through the dark morass of moral ambiguity.
(You can read the entirety of Aldophus’ text later in this book.)
The purpose of chivalry is to maintain society, to inhibit the wicked, and empower the righteous. It is a goal, not a destination. The ven are flawed, imperfect creatures, and chivalry gives them an ideal to aspire to. The notions of chivalry can be traced to those dark times when no government or social order stood, when warrior-kings ruled at whim. Thus, chivalry is in direct opposition to “might makes right.” Instead, chivalry espouses the notion of “noble obligation,” that is, the strong have an obligation to protect the weak.
Only the ruling class is expected to be chivalrous; the peasant out in the field is too busy to concern himself with matters of honor and duty. But to what was quickly becoming known as the “nobility,” this code of ethics was seen as the only thing keeping them from falling back into a world of chaos.
In the courts of the ven, they tell stories of noble knights and modest ladies. Tales of chivalry and romance. Stories. But we all know the difference between stories and reality.
Knights are trusted to self-monitor their behavior, the ultimate “honor system.” The truth of the matter is far from the ideal. Knights and ladies operate under the veneer of chivalry, but in fact, the realities of court life demand an entirely different kind of code.
This alternate code was first publicly addressed in an anonymous book entitled Lessons. The sheer boldness of the volume caused a near panic in the Senate as the nameless author used real Senators (under thinly veiled pseudonyms) to illustrate his points. The book advocated a philosophy we would call real politic. It advocated dishonesty, deception, and even murder. While Virtues clearly stated that one’s methods were just as important as the outcome, Lessons disagreed entirely. The ends were all and the means were nothing.
The anonymous author of Lessons was eventually revealed after his death. His name was Cyrin Ildelvi, a man with no title or claim of Blood: he was a lowly clerk working in the Senate. His position gave him the means to learn all manner of secrets and his lowly position gave him perfect anonymity. His daughter found her father’s original papers and delivered them to the Senate, hoping to gain some manner of favor for her discovery. She died shortly thereafter with no official investigation.
Since then, the Senate and courts have played out their dramas with two philosophies, using them both as weapons in their private wars.