Part One: The Commandment.

By your actions, or the actions of those you empower, do no harm to others and do not allow harm to be done to others.

Part Two: The Edict.

By your actions, or by the actions of those you empower, reduce the suffering of others and do so in a manner that does not contribute to the suffering of others.

Part Three: The Righteous Paths.

Auri gave to Csuri and Rohvana the commandment and Csveti gave to Csuri and Rohvana the edict. It was Csuri and Rohvana whom gave Humanity the Righteous Paths.

To those who seek to follow the commandment and the edict, there are three righteous paths foreseen by Csuri and Rohvana.

The Path of the Improvement of the Body seeks to hone the flesh with discipline and adorn it with the respect of conviction.

The Path of the Improvement of the Mind seeks to hone the mind with discipline and seeks to escape the fogs of inhibition and oppression.

The Path of the Improvement of Others seeks to salve the discomforts of others and help them escape their own suffering.

Part Four: The Comforts of All Paths

It was amongst the Daughters that the first comforts came. There are four universal comforts known to the Daughters and viewed as righteous.

The Comfort of the Flesh by which suffering is eased by the appeal to physical desires and lusts.

The Comfort of the Vine by which suffering is eased by the imbibing of intoxicants of wine or smoke.

The Comfort of the Jewel by which suffering is eased by the adornment of the body with finery and beauty.

The Comfort of Faith by which suffering is eased by the adornment of the mind with trust and hope in others and in the Dae.

Take care of the perversions of these comforts, which turn those who partake in them from the righteous path and by which break the commandment and the edict.

The Perversions of the Flesh are those which seek comfort in taking the flesh by force, by coercion or by seeking comfort with those of one’s own blood.

The Perversions of the Vine are those which seek comfort in imbibing intoxicants which corrode the mind or the body, or those that may put others at risk of suffering.

The Perversions of the Jewel are those which seek comfort in the hoarding and overabundance of finery and beauty, or that take from others, or that limit others chances at seeking this or any other comfort.

The Perversions of the Faith are those that seek comfort in the lies and falsehoods of heretics, that prey upon those who believe, or that worship the Dae’haruvas.

Part Five: The Practices of a Moral Person

Follow the commandment and the edict.

Do not succumb to the perversions of the comforts.

Do not prevent others from seeking comfort.

Uplift others to seek their own comfort.

Do not hate others for their comforts, even if they are perversions - they are astray of the righteous paths and should be helped back towards this path.

Part Six: The Failings of the Vyman.

By the time of the tenth generation it became apparent to all that the bane which caused the division of Humanity had left one half weaker than the other.

The Vyman, by no fault of their own, was inferior to the Woman.

Vyman by nature lacked the discipline of mind inherent to all women. They were irrational and emotional, prone to anger and lacking in empathy.

Such problems made them poorly suited as a whole to become administrators, engineers, politicians and the like. Those exceptional individuals who overcame these failings often were not as well suited as the exceptional women.

Vymen thus came to occupy a position of lesser importance, and eventually had to be placed under the protection of the women in their lives. As they were prone to perversion and venturing off the righteous paths, they required submission and subordinance to ensure they were brought back in line and encouraged to better themselves.

Part Seven: The Blood Price.

In order to live a moral life, one must follow the commandment and the edict, but there was a war that must be prepared for. Humanity was created out of love, but was to come to serve a greater purpose as an army to hold back the Dae’haruvas.

As such all must contribute to society.

To measure this and ensure all contribute it was Arca the Black that first came up with the concept of the blood price. A price for being part of society, a price all men must pay. The idea spread and it was incorporated into all tribes and formed the basis of a deeper morality.

To pay the blood price a man must make a sacrifice, they must pay it with their blood.

To bear a child is the most common way to pay this price, a woman’s price is always paid before a vyman’s and as such a vyman must have two children to fully pay their price.

To shed blood is the next most common, as to serve in the military or as guards, to be bled to maintain a tribe’s safety or to help reunify the shattered world demands a great deal of sacrifice.

To bleed oneself of their own comforts is the idea that covers most of the other ways to pay the blood price. Not only birth and bloodletting can pay the price, some will choose to give their life in service to others, to give to them comfort and to serve as part of the apparatus of the state. It takes a lifetime to pay the price in this way, and so usually the price is paid in another way first.

Those who refuse to pay the price are often exiled, or shunned by their own tribes. Some are imprisoned or killed, or rendered into slaves so that they are made to pay the price.

Part Eight: Of Milk and Of Honey.

Given the importance of paying the blood price, and the importance of the comforts, the Daughters lived a life of Milk and Honey. Though the Daughters had no notion of the blood price until Arca the Black, there was an idea of what the unions between individuals should entail.

It was Stychia that first taught the idea of the Milk and the Honey to tribes of her wives.

The Milk is the union for the purpose of bearing children.

The Honey is the union for the purpose of comfort.

Neither explicitly speaks of companionship.

For those who seek comfort with their own kind, woman with woman or vyman with vyman, they violate no laws. Nor do those who seek companionship with their own kind. Nor do those who seek comfort or companionship with many.

It was not uncommon, and in fact became the norm for women to seek honey from other women and for vymen to seek honey from other vymen. Most would also seek companionship from their own kind, and it was a symbol of status to have multiple honey-wives.

Magics, typically reserved for the most high status of women, were capable of allowing woman to bear child from woman, as the Dae and the Daughters had achieved.

Next Chapter: The History: Chapter Four - The Falls