What is written herein is NOT my opinions or thoughts, but merely the
narrator's voice. This is the first part of a compilation here on the
poetry board of all IC works I have ever written. Enjoy!

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�I have been described as a great, tall, handsome man, a visionary, with
incredible ideas and powers � I am none of that. I am a man who does no
more than any man should do � I fight for what I believe in.�

It all started five years ago: for the third time, I had refused to lie
to my guildmates in my interview � and for the third time, I was
outguilded.

People have told me I am too rash, too stubborn for my own good�perhaps
that is so; with naught but a cloak clasped about my shoulders, I braced
myself against the glacial winds of Sarapin, and let my feet take me
where they would.

Leaving a daze, I looked about myself, startled. I realized I was in the
Sangre Plains. A blast of icy wind raced past me, tearing at my
magi-cloak, whipping it viciously around me body. There I stood, in the
barren plains, sinking in the knee-deep snow; waiting.

As I waited there, determined in my cold anger, I looked into a
collection of raindrops which had frozen into a perfectly circular
mirror. Looking into it, I caught my gaze and held it firmly. My dark
brown hair was frozen stiff, and whitened by the snow; my chilled arms
had retreated to the depths of my cloak; my broad, muscular chest was
hunched over in an attempt to conserve my body-heat.

I know not how long I stood there; after a time, I sat down � my
thoughts began to scatter, my vision came unclear. I was dying, and I
knew it. But I didn�t care. I no longer even felt pain � I felt just a
gentle detachment from my body. It would be this simple, a sweet,
painless death � just go to sleep�

Suddenly I was no longer in the Sangre plains; in fact, I was nowhere.
No ground was beneath me, yet I was not falling. I was abruptly full of
vitality and warmth, as divine consciousness enveloped me.

�Ah, young Lorrin.�

I could sense the goddess�s amusement in her words, enveloped as I was
in her being.

�You would give your life just to make your point�to break the mold, you
would choose eternal sleep. Its seeing acts like these that restore my
respect for humanity.�

A mist formed around me, and I could not see a thing. Gradually, it
began to clear, and the goddess let me see her. She wore nothing but a
shawl over one shoulder, stunning me in her divine, naked beauty. I
could not help but gawk at her bared body turned to me.

Goddess Eris�s eyes sparkled with flattery and amusement as I strove to
keep my eyes down. �Well then Lorrin, as opposed to dying in an
unnoticed sleep, with your life having no significance�serve me,
champion chaos with me, and live for something. Now, make your choice.�

Shocked, awed, and scared, I had neither moved nor spoken to her � now,
at her command, I spoke: �Goddess Eris, my beliefs in chaos and light
combined have ruined my life, leaving me as a reject. The mere sight of
you restores my wish for life again, and allowing me to work with you is
such an honour that dying a thousand tortured deaths would not equal the
pain I would feel if I did not choose to live.�

Pleasure and approval swirled about me at her final words to me: �Then
serve me well, and you will be well rewarded. For now, speaking out will
suffice. For now, I leave you with this task: educate Sapience.�

I fell over with the sudden shock of solid ground beneath me again. The
warmth of the room I was in was to me, as food is to a starving man. I
looked about myself, trying to figure out exactly where I was. The
realization hit my finally: The Dancing Boar Inn of Cyrene, I realized �
I had stayed here with a friend some months ago. I ordered a mug of ale
for myself and sat down on a bench as I went over what had happened,
trying to make sense of everything, piecing things together.

�Educate Sapience� the words rang through my mind still, forcing other
thoughts out of my head. An idea occurred to me � perhaps Eris had set
me here for a reason. This place was as good a place as any to start.
The room was packed with people, friends come to have a drink, diners,
maids all filled the large inn. With an impulsiveness that surprised
even me, I stood up on my table, and spoke out the words that came from
I know not where.

�Friends, many of you believe in the values and ideals of light, or
good�we are in Cyrene, after all. Not many of you however, believe in
the values and ideals of chaos. Why, I ask you? Why not? Guilds, cities,
gods, impose ideas on us, ideas that we must shrug off � ideas that we
must fight, and ignore! What does evil or good have to do with chaos? It
is its own path, separate in totality from good and evil. I speak not to
dissuade you from your true beliefs, I speak not to persuade you to
become a follower of chaos � here I am, to speak only to educate you.
Evil and good, and chaos and order are not inseparably intertwined, as
so many would have you believe.�

While I was speaking at first, none could hear me for the loud buzz of
conversation in the room. Then a sudden hush overcame the room, as all
turned to listen to me. The bartender had yelled in anger for me to �Get
the hell off that table!� but now even he stood listening, rapt in his
attention to me.

A feeling of power came over me, as I held all of these people in my
words. �Why should not there be a population of chaotic-followers,
unbound by their guilds, single-minded and together in their pursuit of
chaos? Good, neutral, and evil alike could set aside their differences
in their pursuit of chaos! Merchants, beggars, and nobles could mingle
in their pursuit of chaos! Why should not such a community exist? What
more idyllic a utopia could you wish for?�

�What is time? Time is a wheel, spinning down a path�Now ask yourself
this: What is order? Order is the stuff which deepens the wheel�s rut;
it�s the glue which holds the wheel in place, leaving it able to spin,
but not to change directions. What then, is chaos? Chaos is the rock in
the wheel�s path, the men who push at the wheel essaying to push the
wheel into a new, different path. If you are of a good orientation, then
likely you�ll help push the wheel into a better path for humanity. If
you are of an evil orientation, then likely you�ll help push the wheel
into a worse path for humanity. Evil or good, better or worse, no new
path is as bad as the same path, being dug deeper and deeper into its
olden rut.�

�Think well upon what I have said. Rethink all you have ever believed in
� for it is all false. My name for any who wish to contact me, is Lorrin
� I thank you all for listening, and I bid you all adieu.�

And with this I turned to leave the inn. A group of men stood near the
door, cracking their knuckles, sneering at me menacingly. Trusting to my
luck, I kept my pace to the door. True enough to my hopes, my supporters
rushed to the opposition, and so I started my first tavern brawl.

Over the next few months, I published many articles, spoke many times in
both private and public. I wrote my most famous article, On Order and
Chaos and had scribes working furiously around the world copying.
Finally, I got together a group of followers. I wished to remain
unnamed, but regardless of that, our group named themselves, the
Revolutionaries.

There were a hundred-strong of us, and all we did in the name of chaos.
We offered to Eris, broke common moulds expected of us, completed
chaotic quests�together, we set pebbles in the way of the wheel of time,
so to speak.

I continued to speak regularly, and appointed other natural orators to
help me in giving speeches all around Sapience. Our ranks continued to
grow as our undemanding expectations of any who wished to join came
clear. As believers in chaos, we could not impose regular offerings to
Eris, nor make people do things that were not expected of them. But even
those who did not actively work with the Revolutionaries, tended to act
more chaotically.

I, with the encouragement of Eris, had changed the world as we knew it,
spread chaos throughout the realms. I had encouraged enough rocks into
the wheel�s way that finally, the wheel of time had left its ancient
track completely.

I had not summoned any extraordinary creatures from another plane, nor
had I created or killed a god. I had but spoken out, and my end result
was well worth all I had put into it.

Nothing ends perfectly � as the Revolutionaries grew old, our numbers
began to dwindle � after all, no revolution can go on forever.

People forgot about what we had done; until, after many years, I was no
more than an eccentric old man. I had created no permanent community of
chaotic-followers, Chaosis, from my dreams. But I had helped Eris, and I
had been part of the movement to set time in a new path, and that was
enough for me.


An old scroll found in a library:

On Order and Chaos,
By Lorrin Chaisin.

There are many things worth pointing out, but most importantly, let me
put out this common misconception � chaos is not evil/dark, just as
order is not good/light. This is an association that both stupefies and
disgusts me, for chaos is not in any way related to evil, just as order
has nothing to do with good.
Yes, in Achaea there does seem to be a slight relationship of
chaos-evil, and order-good, but these are mental constructs forced upon
us by the ways our guilds operate, and illogical ideas of others imposed
upon us, who would like nothing better than a brainwashed population of
ignorants.
Let us create a hypothetical city, called Chaosis. In this utopia: good,
neutral, and evil guilds mingle, together in their pursuit of chaos. Why
should not such a community exist?
This brings an interesting point to mind as a brief sidetrack: should
guilds following order be allowed to be based in Chaosis? This, I will
let you reach your own conclusions upon: though this could cause
conflict, and diminish the togetherness, and single-mindedness of
Chaosis (is this a bad thing?) it would bring more ideas to light, and
perhaps help to create more chaos in Chaosis�what I�m saying, is that
there would be a danger of chaos becoming like order, ordered in its
fanatic belief of chaos, which I do not believe would be beneficial to
any. On the other hand, single-mindedness is also valuable�you decide.
Just a thought, there.
Speaking from my own self, I personally am a very firm believer in
light, and good. I am just as strong in my beliefs in chaos.
I am whole-heartedly for chaos, and against order. Time is like a wheel,
spinning along a path. This wheel fulfills rotation after rotation, and
this is where order and chaos come in. Order is the stuff which deepens
the wheel�s rut; it�s the glue which holds the wheel in place, leaving
it able to spin, but not to change directions.
Chaos then, is the rock in the wheel�s path, the men who push at the
wheel essaying to push the wheel into a new, different path. Whether you
are good or evil will likely determine what kind of new path the wheel
is set in�as I see it, a better, or a worse path. But to me, no new path
can be worse than the same path, being dug deeper and deeper into its
olden rut.
Each time you help Auntie Maim, each corpse offered to Eris, each crazy
thing you do�puts one more pebble in the wheel�s way.
How many rapists were not molested as children? How many murderers come
from good families and nice neighborhoods? Time repeats itself, in a
cycle. Your parents do well by you, you in turn for your children, and
they by their own�Certainly, that is a cycle that seems harmless
enough�and it is harmless! But when violence and crimes are involved,
the infinite cycle seems not so benign.
Which leaves me but to close this passage�My beliefs then, are
chaotic-light. Set the wheel in a different path � a better path for
humanity. Order stifles, prevents, slows, and stops. I leave you now, to
make up your own minds. Think well, friends.




Penned by my hand on the 15th of Glacian, in the year 383 AF.