[DL] Ideas for Templar Dreams? [Long]

["Leybourne, Brian" <Brian.Leybourne@airnz.co.nz>]

Gidday all, Sorry about the cross-post, this kind of applies to both DL and
HOE people, as you'll see...

One of my players is playing a Templar in the DL setting - I find that it
converts across really well, and with little effort, and he's having a blast
playing this guy from a secret British order, come to the west to find out
"what's going on" and report back to the order, etc.

Anyway, as a general rule this guy is a really good roleplayer, and often
comes up with pretty cool character notes etc. He's given me this document
in which he outlines the four basic tennets of his life as a Templar (as he
sees them, anyway) which I'll copy below. It's longish, but definitely worth
a read. In short, he outlines Humility, Honour, Sacrifice and Faith as being
the four basic factors (Humility and Honour tend to bhump heads IMHO, but he
avoids that well in the narritive).

Anyway, as part of the game I want to test this guy. God (or someone,
anyway) is going to send him four dreams, in which one of each of the four
factors are tested. In other words, one dream may test his concept of
Sacrifice and see how much he abides by it and whether he'll sacrifice
himself for the greater good, etc. The tricky part is that I want to test
him without making it obvious that the dream is actually a test. He'll
likely work it out by dream #3 or so, but hopefully at first they'll be a
surprise and he wont know what's going on (so the reactions will be all
character driven, not the player saying to himself "This is probably the
Faith dream, what should I do to 'succeed' here?").

Anyway, I'm after ideas as to how the dreams could be structured. I have
some thoughts of my own, but I have always found that the ideas I get from
the list are usually really good and help me flesh things like this out and
make the end result *really* good.

Brian "Document follows" Leybourne.

Principia.

This document is a discussion of theological issues, presented by Thomas
Hunter for inclusion in to the archives of the Order.


Humility.

'I am not God, nor could I be. I am not God's Messenger, nor am I God's
Chosen, their paths are beyond my understanding. I am not especially beloved
of God, nor am I any more worthy of His notice than anyone. I am not God's
mouthpiece, I am not able to pass His judgement on others, and must simply
live my life bound by the judgements of His chosen in my Order. The gifts I
bear are not mine, and they are a sign neither of worthiness, nor of value.
I am but a man, beloved of God as any man is, no more or less deserving of
His grace.'

Humility is the driving principle of our beliefs. Fundamentally, we believe
that we are the same as everyone else, we has no special mandate to pass
judgement for God. When we make a decision on whether or not another is
worthy of help, that decision should be driven by the teachings of the
Order, a group of people among whom we can find the Chosen of God, those who
are capable of interpreting God's will and creating from it a set of
strictures.

Humility is at a most basic level the admission that we are not special.
While this may not seem to fit with the abilities we display, our belief is
that those abilities are not an indication that we are special, rather they
are available to anyone, you just have to know how to ask. The idea is that
everyone is equally beloved of God, all they have to do is realise that, and
they too can express these abilities. The gifts are not 'ours' to use as we
see fit, they are granted on a case by case basis by God, to use in the
manner prescribed by God's Chosen (the priests of the Order).

Humility also involves the understanding that mankind's perception of God's
will is, by its very nature, flawed. As such, only the Chosen of God, or His
Messengers, can comment with authority on the interpretation of His
scriptures. Having been given a working model of the nature of 'Good and
Evil' from our schooling, we apply this along with our belief that God loves
those that strive for themselves, to decide where our help should be
applied. The humble man recognises his faults and endeavours to improve on
them, the vain man blames others for his troubles and seeks to have them
work to fix the situation. It is this latter class of person that falls
under the category of 'worthy of help'.

Given the belief that Man has free will, the philosophy that Man can only
come to God through his own choice develops. We have been taught that
although God does not like witchcraft, a witch cannot be forced to accept
God. Free will was granted by God so should be respected where it does not
harm another. As such, though we may dislike a witch, we (as flawed Men)
cannot judge that witch. Rather, we must strive to remain impartial in our
decision regarding assistance provided to the witch. If a witch is harmed by
his interactions with demons, our assistance should not be provided, as the
witch has willingly, and knowingly consorted with a power that God disdains.
Any misfortune stemming from such interactions is a predictable consequence
and thus the sole responsibility of the witch. Lessons from God come in many
forms, and as flawed beings we are often incapable of understanding them.
Instead of questioning, we are oath bound to allow such lessons to be
learned, hopefully bringing the witch to the understanding that just as we
choose to involve ourselves in harmful activities, we can choose to avoid
them, and find God through our own free will.

Humility is not the process of denying one's beliefs or capabilities. It is
the process of realising we are all the same, equally loved by God, and
striving to help those who may require it when they are, through no fault of
their own, beset by troubles, as is so common in these dark times.


Honour.

'I am bound by my word, and I do not give it lightly. I am bound to protect
the weak, an oath I took willingly. I will not lie, though I will not reveal
the lie of another if it would cause harm to do so. And I will respect the
wishes of others, except where it might cause harm to those we must
protect.'

As emissaries of the Order we are oath-bound to present ourselves with
honour and dignity. In understanding Humility we realise that we, as much as
any, have to strive to find God. Through our adherence to our codes of
honour, we aim to emulate the Honour of the Saints, learning their lessons
and following them in our lives. Though this does not make us better or more
beloved of God than any, it allows us to come to God in our own way, and
spend our time trying to help others to do the same.

Honour drives us, it is our self imposed path to virtue, and through it we
let people know that in these times of hardship, they can trust us. If our
chosen path to God is through self sacrifice and the aid of others, through
Honour we can make it easier for others to allow us to aid them.

It is easy, sometimes, to allow the principle of Honour to overshadow the
principle of Humility. It is easy to look upon those who do not follow the
principle of Honour and imagine them somehow inferior, more sinful, less
worthy. By placing the principle of Humility before the principle of Honour
we remember that we are no more worthy than any man, our code is simply one
way of reaching God, and others have their own. Our Honour is a choice, not
a requirement of God. We must not let the principle of Honour overshadow the
purpose of Honour.

Honour is a principle directly opposed to personal vengeance. While
vengeance on behalf of a wronged party may be considered honourable,
vengeance against someone for a personal wrong falls outside the principles
of Humility and Sacrifice. In all, Honour is perhaps the principle that
should be most carefully applied, as it can tread so close to arrogance and
self importance.


Sacrifice.

'I will not covet wealth or possessions, I have no need of them. I will give
what I can, and judge that amount through the application of the other
principles. I will not live to excess, but I will not engender situations
with the purpose of allowing sacrifice. Above all, I recognise my worth as
being no more or less than any man's, and will never allow myself to place
myself above another who needs help.'

While the principles of Humility and Honour define our motives, the
principle of Sacrifice is not a motive, but a method. Sacrifice, when used
as a motive for action, can easily fall outside the principle of Humility.
Martyrdom cannot be planned, and attempting to create a situation in which
you may be martyred is to forget that we are not more important than any
man.

Because of this dilemma, it is important that we treat Sacrifice as simply a
result of our desired actions, rather than a goal we must strive to attain.
Sacrifice is the natural result of our applications of the other Principles,
and something to think about only insofar as we must watch for behaviour
that would violate this Principle, and endeavour to remember that what we
have is not ours by right, but given by God, and to be used following the
Principles.

Sacrifice is something we are prepared to accept. When we give our Oath to
the Order we accept that we are going to make sacrifices, as part of the
principle of Honour. In the course of our work, many of us face great
sacrifices in both physical and spiritual form. Our acceptance of these
sacrifices is vital to the strength of our commitment to the Principles.

Sacrifice is not unique to our kind, though in their day to day lives there
are few who accept it as an integral part of the process of coming closer to
God. Modern thinking tells us that through our advance as a people we have
made it easier to live, easier to work, easier to worship, and as such we
can come to God through less effort. While it is not for us to decree that
the lazy man is not worthy of God's love, for God loves all, we must
remember that it is not our way, and when the temptation to lighten our
burdens is presented, resist it where it would conflict with the Principles
by which we live our lives.


Faith.

'It is through my Faith that I follow these Principles. It is through my
Faith that I accept Sacrifice, and devote my life to the Order. My Faith
will be challenged but I will maintain it. I am not immune to failure, and
when I fail my Faith will be questioned, but it will not fail. I trust in
God and His Chosen, and this trust is given of my own free will. My Faith is
my life, and my Faith is my strength.'

Faith forms the foundation of the other Principles, it is the guiding
Principle that brings us together in the Order and gives us the strength of
body and heart we need to dedicate our lives to it. From our Faith, we
derive our belief that what we do has value. From our Faith, we derive our
trust that God has spoken through his Chosen and defined for us a path.
Without out Faith, though we could do the same work we do now, the strength
needed to show Humility, Honour, and Sacrifice would be harder to come by.

Faith is much maligned by modern thought. Science, with its truths and
calculations, attempts to damn the concept of Faith by requiring visible
evidence for belief. The basis of Faith lies in the belief of the unproven,
and as such the strong of Faith understand that they cannot, when
confronted, explain to a non believer exactly why they have Faith. It is
important, to build a strong basis for Faith, that we remember this when
confronted with a challenge to our Faith. There is not one among us who has
not felt the hand of God in some manner or other, and though a man of no
Faith might challenge this belief and attempt to explain it in another
manner, he cannot take from us what we have felt.

Is Faith a blind Principle? Does it require that we ignore explanations
provided by modern thought? Not necessarily. Faith has changed with science.
A scientist may tell us that lightning is caused by 'electricity' created by
forces within the clouds, and in the past a man of God may have accredited
it to the wrath of God, but today, we can accept the word of science without
denying the word of God. Lightning may well be explicable by men of science,
but they have yet to explain, in their strict methodology of proof, exactly
why the electricity creates lightning, what causes it to take the form it
does, what force decided that the forces in the sky should create this
visual spectacle.

And that is the basis of strong Faith, the ability to see that our Faith is
not just a surface level explanation for the things that happen in the
world, but a belief in the underlying force that caused the world to be made
in the manner we now see it, and that force is God.

If God is omnipotent, and loves us all, why is the world a dangerous, and
dark place? Many have attempted to use this question to challenge the Faith
of our kind, and at first glance it does seem like a reasonable question.
But I have answered this question in my discussion of Humility. God has not
made the world what it is. Man, through free will, has made the world what
it is. Through it all, God still loves us, but it is our responsibility to
come to Him through our deeds, and those who ask the question are often
attempting to pass off the blame for their own lives to God.

Faith is our strength, our guidance, our life. Above all, remember this.


.-->
Brian Leybourne
NT Systems Administrator
Wang; Air New Zealand
brian.leybourne@airnz.co.nz

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