Books

* *Discipulus De Historiae* by Antipho Cervidus (pseudonym of Tadia Opis)
* *The Writings of Plutarch the IV* by Plutarch the IV
* *Natura Speculum est Scriptor* by Yimu Sura
* *Scriptum Erat Ignoto* by Vīlīam Sācspaer
* *De Humani Memineris: Error in Cognitione* by Titus Caecilius Gavrus
* *De Mentibus* by Esteemed Psychologist Stephanium Meminius

### Known Quotes

> What is man’s nature? Perhaps it is creation — that would be a fair assessment. Perhaps it is love, although that is too often generous. Perhaps it is jealousy or greed, except those are too specific. Philosophers, sages, demagogues, speakers, religious leaders: all of these have beliefs about what man’s nature is. Perhaps a synthesis of their theses could reach the Truth That Is Veiled, I do not know. What I do know is that the truest nature of a thing is the characteristic which remains when all associated circumstances have been stripped away.
> — Yimu Sura, *Natura Speculum est Scriptor* (20500 A.A.P)
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> The spans of time which Man has become accustomed to: they have only made our own mortality and insignificance in comparison to the Pantheon more evident! Let it be said here first.
> — Yimu Sura, *Natura Speculum est Scriptor* (20500 A.A.P)
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> The expansion of Man into the heavens is our sacred duty. To extend the reach of our Roman Republic; that is the task that the glorious Gods gave us! When they returned from on high to save us from the petty rule of human Emperors our blessings multiplied. Let it be known: we will not fail them in return!
> — Yimu Sura, *Natura Speculum est Scriptor* (20500 A.A.P)
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> MASTER: ‘Heroic qualities are things such as: loyalty, intelligence, perseverance, and leadership.’
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> APPRENTICE: ‘These are amazing qualities, granted to man by the Pantheon so that we can be but pale imitations of the Gods.’
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> MASTER: ‘Forget not this instruction, however! All these qualities have a dark side: that which makes a man heroic, can also make him a nightmare to his fellow Men. Be wary of the Heroic Man, son.’
> — From *The Writings of Plutarch the IV* (19498?-19800? A.A.P)
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> The power of people is in organization. The power of a person is in his reason. Somehow, when you combine many people, who individually maintain their power, the combination is somehow less than the individual parts. It is an almost supernatural process, and one that a student such as myself has seen many times in our past.
> — Antipho Cervidus (pseudonym of Tadia Opis), *Discipulus De Historiae* (14199 A.A.P)
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> The gates of hell are open night and day; / Smooth the descent, and easy is the way: / But to return, and view the cheerful skies, / In this the task and mighty labor lies.
> — *The Aeneid* by Virgil (-2698 A.A.D., -19 A.D.)
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> Is not death a sweet respite from the vagaries and violence of the living world? Just as sleep is to the day — so death is to life. Do not forget that while you strive to live: death is not to be feared when life has been lived properly. Live life properly, even if it leads to your death, so that you may fear neither death nor life.
> — Gyatso, *The Dead Religions: P’aw Chapter [BANNED]* (1300 A.A.P)
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> You run from things because you are afraid. This is simple nature; we also see it in the animals. However, the human mind is prone to associating a cause and effect so closely that it can inadvertently reverse them. For, if it sees something and another thing always together, and always inseparable, so that the arrow of causation is not forced upon the viewer at the time of viewing, it correlates them and can mistake the causation. In this case, humans often begin running, and then add fear *post hoc*. But once you are running and afraid, you begin running faster. Hence, running from something can only serve to increase your fear.
> — Titus Caecilius Gavrus, *De Humani Memineris: Error in Cognitione* (11380 A.A.P)
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> Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more; it is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.
> — Vīlīam Sācspaer, *Scriptum Erat Ignoto* (~1500 A.D)
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> The nature of politics is that of incredible, intricate complexity; the more complexity one is capable of handling, the more devastating a politician one will become. But central to all this ancillary complexity is something beautifully simple: an understanding of humanity centered around Game Theory — because in politics, few act apart from their own rational self-interest: politics is the prime haven of high-functioning psychopaths.
> — Deng Caizhang, *Scriptum Erat Ignoto* (10346 A.A.P)
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> The things that change a person are multitudinous — but simultaneously unifocal: the enumeration of these proximate causes depends largely if not entirely on the scope and range of the change expected; that is, if a small change is all that is under consideration then there are many small causes which can produce a change, while if the change under consideration is relatively more gargantuan, the cause required is likewise significantly larger in size or scope — or more essential/foundational in nature, which is the same thing. In a sense it could easily be said — and this indeed works as a serviceable summary — that the size of the change imposed by a cause is directly proportional to the size of the cause; although there are some considerations in the cases which I have considered previously which might indicate that the proportion is geometric. It is here, however, that an important point is to be made: the nature of these changes, while often precipitated in external causes, is surprisingly subjective (and this is why I used the term “unifocal” above, since it happens predominantly in the mind and for a singular reason): such a large cause is required, simply, because that is what is required to jog the human mind out of its stupor, and have it reconsider its self: metathinking is expensive, and for a species evolutionarily produced to preserve energy — having developed to outlast its prey on the steppes of Africa — a higher bar before metathinking is triggered was necessary.
> — Esteemed Psychologist Stephanium Meminius, *De Mentibus* (A.A.P 11300)
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> The natural order of things can be temporarily upset by human hands, of course, but the real crux of the matter is this: it cannot be totally ignored. Like ignoring gravity: you may ignore it for some of your buildings, but the larger the building and the longer you wait, the worse it will become for you that you ignore this scientific law. So it is for society: there are inherent laws of human nature and social interaction which can be bent and warped — but to ignore them completely or even partially will eventually bring ruin.
> — Socellia Pertinax, *Naturalæ Iūra* (1400 A.A.P)
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> The nature of flight — especially spaceflight — is inherently unknowable to the human mind; the pious worshiper, who seeks to adhere to the proper doctrines in all matters, should trust that this is so and leave the full understanding of such things to the Pantheon. Secondarily, it is important for this author to note at this opportune junction that the false and facile whispers that allege that the Numerius Cult had something to do with modern spaceflight propulsion should be ignored and roundly denounced in the strongest terms. There is no truth to such impious theories and it is blasphemous to even consider them.
> — From the *Navigus Mechanicus Theologica Commentarii*, Volume IV
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> If you wish to know who a [person] is, look [around] them at the things they choose, but at what they do not also. — Gyatso, *The Dead Religions: P’aw Chapter [BANNED]* (1300 A.A.P)
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> Without flame, without light, without ray, / I, beholding a new and terrible star, / As I was preparing my cloak, / It quailed me at the sight, / And besought me not to enter; / For it had a demon in its eye.
> — Pellio Iustinus, *Luctus Noctis Caeli* (11300 A.A.P)
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> Q: Who are the gods?
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> A: The gods are the creators of all things visible and invisible.
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> Q: Why did the gods make us?
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> A: The gods made us that they may better be served in this life and the next.
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> Q: What happens to those who do not serve the gods. A: Those who do not serve are condemned to damnation now and forever. —*Catechismus pro Iuvenibus* (12400 A.A.P.)
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> TRANSCRIPT OF DEBATE M
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> Felix: ‘Is it a disease?’
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> Lucius: ‘Wonder? No.’
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> Felix: ‘But wander-lust surely fits this description. It is a vector.’
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> Lucius: ‘By which the humanity is entreated to grow, to be assailed. Where they want us to go — already planned — it’s useless.’
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> Felix: ‘So you praise hardship.'
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> Lucius: ‘Of course. Have you ever seen the base of a mountain, the ragged rocks upon which the sea breaks into spume, the vast tract of tumulted sky, or the melt of tundra, and not been assailed by its majesty?’
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> Felix: ‘Bah, poetic waxing of the sublime. We are not fools, that movement burnt out its wick for good reason.’
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> Lucius: ‘But doesn’t it hold the deadliest of weapons we aim to arm ourselves with? Is the experience itself not unassailable.’
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> Felix: ‘You are trying to persuade me. I’m troubled, but still... the vectors of death—’
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> Lucius: ‘Grant life. You want to learn from the gods? Step out of their shadow.
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> Felix: ‘May the pantheon make you house strong.’ Lucius: ‘And yours as well.’
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> QUERY: Fragments of this line of thinking reoccur when sites lose contact. Advise resolution.
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