Greetings, in post 14891, Laorir refers to allowing all classes to join
the Sentaari house. But it seems that the Sentaari house along with most
other houses don't accept Occultist. Even the Occultist Guild wont let
most new rogue Occultists join them. Is there any special reason for
this mass discrimination? Or is it all based on the fallacious fact that
a person with the Occultism ability automatically likes chaos? Do
priests like demons and hell, I think not, but they still summon them
and visions of them against their foes. Persons with Occult skills
aren't evil by default, some of course are, but most are not. This is
segregation, it might not be based on race, but what segregation is
based on hardly matters...whether it is language, religion or skills, it
is all the same.

I do understand not letting people with beliefs that are directly in
conflict with yours join your houses, that would be self destructive but
Occultist like Serpents can be good or evil. To some extent, it's not
the skills that are important but what one does with them. There are of
course classes that have core beliefs attached to them, such as Priest
with their Good aligned skills and Apostates with their Evil aligned
skills. But Occultists do not have good or evil aligned skills. Let's
run down the skills an Occultist possesses:

Tarot: Well nothing much to be said here, it does contain the devil card
and the death card and other evil sounding abilities, but like I said
before it's what you do with the skills that matter. Moreover the
jesters possess this skill and they are let in houses that allow a lot
of classes.

Occultism: An ability that requires Karma to work (yes that's right
Karma, the balancing force of the universe). If a force keeps the
universe in balance then we can logically extrapolate three facts from
this;

1-It's not inherently evil and it's not inherently good but it can be
used for both. (If this would not be true, and karma was in fact evil it
would contribute misbalance)

2-Karma as I said is a force that keeps the universe in balance; is
balance Chaotic in nature or is it the very definition of Order? Well
I'd say Balance and Order go hand in hand. There are of course those
that see Chaos everywhere they look even in Order itself. I don't know
about you, but if something is white, it's white, I see no black in it.

3-The Skill Occultism utilises Karma, without it you cannot use most
Occultism abilities. After what you now know on the subject of Karma, do
you think that an ability based on its use with truly be Chaotic?

Domination: A skill that enables its user to summon Chaos entities to
help him mainly in combat. Sentinels summon forest animals to help them,
that does not make them animals. So by summoning chaos entities we do
not become chaotic beings ourselves, we simply use their services. Once
again, it is important to remember that their services can be used for
Good or Evil, to bring Chaos or to bring Order. You can achieve good,
bad, chaos and order with the Magi Elementals, but Magi are also
accepted in most guilds that accept many classes.

The problem as I see it, is one of perception. There is only one
Occultist guild and it has a long history. If there where only on
Serpent guild and it was situated in Mhaldor, and one Magi Guild and it
was situated in Shallam, then we would see people with the Serpent
skills as evil and people with Magi skills as good. We might have been
mostly right in the past, when one had to be in the specific guild for a
certain time before achieving class and then leaving if they chose to do
so.

THIS IS NO LONGER THE CASE.

Guild mentality and guild skills are two absolutely different things.
This is a new era; one where people can chose their skills and
alliances/alignments on a totally different basis. This new era calls
for a new mindset, one of tolerance and then we will be able to prosper
even farther then we already have.

PS:*** I am not debating here what Chaos is in theory; I have no
interest in that. Rather, what I am debating is what people see as
Chaotic and if that is what the abilities of Occultists and Occultists
themselves support and advance (If you haven't realised it by know, I
use the term Occultist as one of the class, not one of the guild).
Furthermore, the terms used in the Occultist entourage do often make
reference to chaos, but they are only terms, not deep rooted personal
philosophies (At least not among rogue Occultists. Do not misunderstand
me; I am in no situation to speak for the Guilded Occultists. This is
only my personal opinion )***

PPS: The Sphere excuse is not a good one, since nature/magical/good/etc.
are already mixed up.

Thanks for listening,
Madus



Penned by my hand on the 9th of Phaestian, in the year 395 AF.