Pen first put to paper on this day, the 18th of Tarsakh , 153, by Tal Quin Makabi, Sciant Disciple of Savras.
A critique and partial refutation of "Seeking the Truth" by Priestess Thrisa Catrisa of Savras.
A sharp quill pen Readers,In her recent, aforementioned tome, the priestess makes several good points where it regards the nature of truth. Indeed, seeking it can be as difficult as fighting a dragon, for most thinking beings are incapable of speaking the truth in its entirety without first coloring it with their own opinions or life experiences. So too, is her treatise colored with incorrect opinions, failed logic, and likely based upon past life experiences that have left her a morally devoid creature, incapable of understanding the most basic fact about truth.
To be trusted, one must be ever-truthful.
I make no secret of my duties to Savras, the all-seeing. Since my sixteenth birthday when I first served my vigil I have been in the service is Savras, and he has gifted me for my loyalty and penitent nature. My blessed third eye is open, and I see the nature of men and women with but a glance. I have looked upon the priestess Catrisa and though we share faith, and she speaks long and eloquently on the topic of truth, The All-Seeing tells me not to trust her.
I do not call into question her veracity when she speaks. That the woman serves the Lord of Divination faithfully is evident in her divinely granted powers. No. What I question is what she is willing to do to seize the truth, and how her methods may in fact serve the master of lies, who I will not name.
When spoken willfully, the truth is like a clear song. It rises to fill a room with it's call, and it cannot be drowned out no matter how the guilty rail against it. When drawn forcefully from someone though through torture? Bribery? Intimidation? The song becomes strained, half-hearted. There will always be a doubt about whether the words spoken were spoken merely to end the sufferring of the tortured, or to belay the expected punishment. If a man needs to be paid to merely tell the truth, how do we know he has not been paid more to lie?
Words of truth are not something to be bought in pain, threat or gold. They are given freely, or not at all. That the guilty does not speak truth, does not make a thing false. The truth simply is.
If a man is guilty and his guilt is known, he will be punished. The truth does not exist as a means for a man to lessen the punishment for his crime in life. No. Speaking the truth is the means by which a man can lessen the torment of his soul in the ever-after.
Priestess Catrisa makes several points, many of them wrong.
Tal Quin Makabi, Sciant Disciple of Savras.