Thoughts of Division

The Thoughts of Division are collection if philosophical schools of Transcends that was founded in the years before the Second Aeon War.

## Description

The Thoughts of Division constitute multiple schools of philosophical thought that focus on the betterment of oneself and others. Whilst the specifics may differ between each school, the general aspects shared between all of them involve moving beyond suffering through the metaphysical removal of flaws of their surroundings and other individuals. More radical schools focus on harmony through simplicity; that such a state could be achieved if one's surrounding existence is reduced in its entirety to the fundamentals of what makes them great, with all their flaws, real or perceived, being excised from their being.

## History

The original Thoughts of Division was founded in the year 139 823 FE by the Transcend Iln Eda, after several new developments occurred with metaphysical augmentation, mainly in the alteration of a Transcend's Pattern. Research and observation of the past six million years showed that a Transcend's Void Core was fairly dynamic; a Pattern could change through experience and time over several millennia, sometimes developing potent derivations of existing abilities if such changes were focused in particular ways. Unlike Exaltations, which are shaped at the time of Transcendence and a remain a permanent part of a Transcend's Void Core (through even manipulation by the Opal Light), these new abilities are only retained as long as the Transcend in question kept constant usage of these abilities. If these abilities were allowed to atrophy, the Transcend in question would have to focus the same change in their Pattern to regain those abilities. In order to aid the latter process, metaphysical augments were developed to accelerate the reacquisition of old Pattern modifications, allowing them to be regained in as little as a day.

These new developments lead to a rush by Transcends to focus their Patterns into creating their own abilities. Iln Eda, a eccentric orator and diplomat who saw a way to gain more political and metaphysical power, entered the rush. Iln wished to approach his ambition with a more philosophical, perhaps even religious tone. Iln decided to craft a philosophy that he would have influence over as a leader. Over the centuries of the rush, Iln's thoughts turned to the concept of suffering, especially in relation to someone and their surroundings. During these centuries of reflection and planning, Iln settled on an answer; that suffering resulted from flawed outside influence clashing with one's inner self. Iln then founded the Thoughts of Division, gathering a small following immediately. Over the next few millennia, Iln developed his own Pattern to create the Dividing Tools; instruments that enhanced the potency of one aspect of Transcendent concept manipulation; the removal of concepts from an entity or region of reality. This organisation initially started on the fringe of Weave society, but its teachings gained traction in many of the backwaters of the network. The Thoughts of Division taught Transcends how to transform their Pattern to live their ideal existence; by removing the flaws of their surrounding reality with the Dividing Tools, they could move past suffering through a universe perfectly suited to them. Iln's organisation recruited from all walks of life, and did not discriminate. From respected scholars, explorers and militiary personnel, to outlaws and criminals, believers and opportunists, the creed made no exception.

As Iln Eda's following grew, so did the divisions in his organisation. Even with the presence of the Weave, there were vast differences in culture and social norms between those living in different realities across the vast stretches of the Void. Cliques and sects gradually formed in the Thoughts of Division, deriving from individuals who disagreed with each other in their interpretations of the initial three tenets of the original school, to opportunists wishing to rise further in the philosophical school or hijack Iln's followers towards their own ends. Iln's political power grew fractious as he struggled to control the teeming duodecillions who followed him. Iln never favoured one sect too strongly, attempting to maintain his reputation as a figure above the divisions of the philosophical schools. Despite these attempts, however, Iln's followers increasingly saw him as indecisive and began to take things into their own hands.

This period of division saw the rise of Alca Cade, who had gained a large following within the Thoughts of Division. Alca presented themselves as decisive, bold leader, and one that had the complete loyalty of her followers. This attracted many within the philosophical school to her, and Iln found himself with a rapidly diminishing support base. When Iln attempted to regain his followers, his actions were met with contempt. Alca decided for her and her followers to move to multiverse at the far fringes of the Weave, onstensibly to practice their way of life in peace. Iln was left with a greatly diminished school, left with far fewer members than before.

Now away from potential scrutiny, Alca started to subtly subvert her followers with the intention of transforming her offshoot into a cult. Over several dozen millennia, Alca changed her rhetoric to a more militant tone, and through a mix of persuasion and blackmail started to have her followers perform bizarre rituals and fit themselves with increasingly dangerous and mentally compromising metaphysical augments. By the end of this process, Alca had an entire force of zealots and fanatics willing to carve realities into their ideal image. Alca initially moved with subtlety, concealing her actions under the relative obscurity of the region she controlled.

Using the wealth of her cult, Alca began to funnel resources into her region of universes. She moved slowly, over the course of a hundred thousand years to avoid suspicion on her activities. Once Alca's cult had enough resources to establish herself as a regional power, she began to move, capturing countless Bound Beings and having the Dividing Tools forced on them while making sure that none escaped. Rumours began to spread, but Alca's hold on her followers allowed her to hide any obvious evidence. The Thoughts of Division's reputation was called into question as a result, with some investigations launched by local authorities in the region.

Iln, meanwhile, was not idle as his rival made her actions. He investigated Alca's whereabouts after she had left, and made use of numerous spies to glean information on what she had been up to. His investigations yielded frustratingly little, however, and would not gain anything more than negligible amounts of actual information until after Alca made more overt moves. In the meantime, Iln began to rebuild his power base. After the Thoughts of Division's reputation took a nosedive with the rumours surrounding Alca, Iln decided to distance himself from what he had founded and took to founding a second school of thought known as the Contemplation of Singularity. This second philosophy focused inward rather than outward, on the growth of oneself and the overcoming of one own metaphysical flaws. This school Iln had founded to oppose what he had first created, and often made efforts to put his followers in opposition to Alca.

Learning from his first mistakes, Iln made sure to tighten his recruiting methods. He carefully vetted members in, making sure to eliminate the opportunists from the recruiting pool. Using what he had learnt from creating the Dividing Tools, he developed a Pattern Modification known as a Seed Matrix as a hard counter to the former. The Pattern modification he taught also held several changes from his old founding. This time round Iln had placed conditions within this Pattern growth, instead requiring that someone bearing it must act in accordance with the spirit if not the letter of its tenets to use its abilities to the fullest.

Alca mostly ignored the investigations launched her way, and attempted to break away from the Weave and establish her cult as an empire. Her forces cut their realities off from Weave access, before pilfering any universes within the cut-off point and Opal Lighting the Transcends within. Alerted and unwilling to surrender territory to violent secession, the civilisation nearest to the Weave Node governing the region prepared their assault. Alca's fortifications, however, made assaulting her position a difficult process without the intervention of an Outer God. Paired with the Dividing Tools that all her followers used and the endeavour would be a long war of attrition. Iln, who received the news immediately, mobilised his own followers and rushed to reinforce the reclamation force being assembled.

The Division War that followed was long and brutal. Iln's contributions to the war saw him as a welcome part of the reclamation force as they suffered less casualties, but he was otherwise a controversial figure due to being the founder of the original Thoughts of Division. Iln's followers provided protection against Alca's Dividing Tools, allowing much of the reclamation force to ward off one of the avenues of attack by the cultists. Nevertheless, the extremely heavily augmented troops that Alca fielded and their stockpile of superweapons often slowed offensives to a halt. Steady progress wouldn't be made until the reclamation force received considerable reinforcements from Weave Nodes close to theirs, allowing the necessary concentration of force to break through Alca's defences. The war ended once Alca had been eliminated. Alca herself finally fell to ego-death late in the war when Iln assassinated her via Opal Light with assistance from several Shardbearers who masked his Void presence. The Transcend who was once Alca was left to be raised by one of Iln's followers, who would name them Rufine. Alca's cultists would be rehabilitated after the war, but they had suffered long-term damage from what their leader did to them.

Seeing what his former followers had wrought made Iln deeply regret his actions in the past, and he formally forsook the use of his own Dividing Tools. With his reputation left firmly in the dirt after the war, Iln decided to fully embrace the second philosophy he founded. Motivated by his guilt, Iln travelled around the Weave to nurture and heal others, especially Alca's former cultists.

For a period until after the Second Aeon War, the Thoughts of Division would be outlawed, only being formally reorganised after an appeal by Kernak, one of Iln's followers. Kernak would reestablish many of the less extreme schools of thought that existed under it umbrella, attracting many newer Transcends while those who had experienced the events of the Division War kept well away from the new schools of thought. Although it regained its status over the millions of year since, the various schools of the Thoughts of Division would never completely shake off the reputation that they had from the Division War.

Post Tor, the Thoughts of Division exist as isolated conclaves across the Weave remnants. Few of the of the schools survived the crisis, but those that did are amongst the most hardy of its followers. In the current environment of the present Weave, the Thoughts of Division receive many new recruits wishing for strength and a path forward in the bleak conditions that constitute the post-Tor period.

## Core Tenets

* Suffering is the result of the outside influencing one's self.
* Fear not suffering, for it reveals the outside's flaws.
* Suffering leads to ambition.
* Ambition leads to will; the will to perfect existence.
* A perfect existence can only be achieved through the excision of flaws.
* As a surgeon removes the rot and tumours of a body, a practitioner of the Division excises the flawed parts of their environment.
* Once an end state of reality of has been achieved, so too shall the suffering of Division be ended.

## Dividing Tools

The Dividing Tools are a Pattern modification/extension initially developed by and created by Iln. Iln later taught his followers how to develop their own, with room for customisation. This Pattern modification enhances an intrinsic aspect of Transcended concept manipulation, that being the removal of concepts from a region of reality or from an entity. This modification allows the relatively effortless removal of concepts from entities and regions resistant or otherwise hardened against such measures. This modification typically manifests itself when in use in the form of various tools that can be used either up close or at range using remote operation. Iln later developed a Pattern modification specifically to oppose the Dividing Tools in the form of Seed Matrixes, which render these tools all but useless against a bearer of the latter.