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The Five Guides

The heart's whisper cries more loudly than the shouting of tongues.

Historical Background

The first prophet and exemplar of the Great Dragon's teachings--and later the first emir exerting formal, temporal political power on behalf of the Great Dragon--was, in the years before his discovery and enlightenment, a petty thief named Alakar. A rootless vagrant, Alakar wandered widely and found no place where he could rest, for while his heart was subtle, his recklessness and lack of forethought inevitably led to discovery--and then the lash, and exile.

When in his wanderings Alakar came by chance upon the cave of the Great Dragon under a moonless desert sky, the Lord of Subtlety saw the thief's potential, and taught him much in exchange for Alakar's loyalty. After a time, the Great Dragon promised Alakar prosperity, stability, long life, and generation without fail, if Alakar would perform a great task: bring the whispered name of the Great Dragon into the world of men.

In the nearby city of Ris, a jewel of commerce and gateway to many lands beyond its own borders, Alakar was commissioned to spread the whispered name. Alakar asked, "How can the name be spread in such a large place, where the names of other gods are cried in the streets?" So the Great Dragon showed him how, and gave to him the Five Guides.

1. ** **Do not seek the light.

2. ** **A year's provision for a single subtlety weighs more than a single day's great struggle.

3. ** **Deceive when meet, yet beware your snares.

4. ** **Build strength from within, for your lord shall not rule over ruins.

5. ** **Place trust in no man, but in the nature of men.

After the subversion of Ris, the Five Guides were offered as the general principles not only by which the followers of the Great Dragon must act when in foreign lands, but also by which they must act toward one another and their own nations. The Five Guides are not, by any means, a comprehensive list of rules and commandments to the faithful, but they serve as the earliest and simplest codification of principles that inform the later elaborations of divine law. In some respect, directly or indirectly, all the commandments of the Great Dragon derive from these early instructions, and they are often the first principles taught to children and those new to the faith.

Do not seek the light.

Historical context: Alakar was commanded to refrain from drawing attention to himself, positive or negative. He could not achieve his goals if the eyes of many hundreds or thousands were upon him, if men and women spoke of him in their households and in the markets. He was to remain unassuming and ephemeral, forgotten as soon as he was out of sight, so that no one of power or influence in the city might recognize him and threaten his efforts.

Spiritual application: Do not seek ego gratification from other people. They may cheer you and honor you, but as your profile grows, so too will the envy of others, and your ego will turn to your own ruin. Take pleasure and satisfaction in your acts in and of themselves, not in the honors that they may give. Do not make a spectacle of either your greatness or your humility, though you may possess either. The fewer eyes upon you at once, the better you may do the work of the Great Dragon.

A year's provision for a single subtlety weighs more than a single day's great struggle.

Historical context: The subversion of Ris and the spread of the Great Dragon's name was to be a long-term task, lasting decades before its ultimate fulfillment. Alakar was being instructed here that he was not to think of his commission as a single task to be achieved in short order, but rather as a lifelong pursuit. While it may have been possible to incite revolution in a shorter timeframe, or to cut corners to try to achieve his goal more quickly, such actions would not have been within the Great Dragon's will. Alakar was being instructed not to let his recklessness threaten the success of his objective, and not to imagine that taking the long view constituted a failure.

Spiritual application: Even if it possible to achieve your goals with a great deal of expended effort in a short amount of time, the Great Dragon favors long-term planning. Additionally, he favors solutions that achieve one's goals cleanly, without chaos or confusion. Subversion is preferable to violence, but when violence is employed, it should be clean, decisive violence that does not beget a cycle of conflict. Pitched battles--whether literal or metaphorical--should be avoided where possible, and one's pride should not induce one to take a stand when one has the opportunity to retreat and come at the problem from another angle. The Great Dragon favors those who can swallow their pride so that they may strengthen their hand and reinforce themselves against their problems.

Deceive when meet, yet beware your snares.

Historical context: Alakar was given license to deceive anyone whom he may have wished or needed to deceive, when his deception was performed in the pursuit of the Great Dragon's will and when that deception was likely to advance his goals. Simple lies and misrepresentations both were permitted to Alakar, but at the same time he was cautioned not to rely on these tools when it was not necessary, as a web of lies may quickly spiral out of control when it is not carefully controlled. The Great Dragon warned Alakar that if he were to deceive others indiscriminately and without forethought about the consequences, he would find himself caught in his own lies and exposed.

Spiritual application: Deception is a useful tool, but each deception one performs is like a snare in the road. Just as snares may be used to catch prey, the unwary hunter may also be caught in them if he lays them too thickly, forgets where they are laid, or is not careful to move with caution around them. It is no sin to lie, nor to mislead, nor to give a false impression with technically true statements; sin is to deceive recklessly, foolishly, or habitually. If one may achieve one's goals without deception (and if the quality of such achievement is unaffected thereby), one should refrain from lies, as each lie represents a risk, and the Great Dragon frowns upon unnecessary risk.

Build strength from within, for your lord shall not rule over ruins.

Historical context: When Alakar was commissioned to spread the whispered name of the Great Dragon throughout Ris, it was with the goal of making the jeweled city's inhabitants worshippers of the Great Dragon--not with the goal of bringing the city to its destruction. The Great Dragon desired to rule the hearts of men and to take pleasure from lordship over powerful peoples and cultures, so the destruction or diminishment of the city would have directly diminished the Great Dragon's own prestige. Alakar was commanded that his methods must be those which spread the name of the Great Dragon without weakening the city's military, cultural, or economic strength, and that he should, wherever possible, work to earnestly improve and strengthen the city itself, so that when the Great Dragon could finally claim lordship, it would be of a city worthy of his name.

Spiritual application: The Great Dragon is lord of one's heart and body as well as one's city and nation, and all should be kept strong and worthy as vessels, to honor him. Physical and mental fitness should be maintained, and all citizens of the Great Dragon's lands carry a spiritual duty to work earnestly to strengthen it. One's goals and plans, whether open or hidden, should at worst never destroy or undermine the strength of the Great Dragon's cities, nations, or people, and at best should leave them improved, so that the Great Dragon may derive greater glory thereby. Antisocial and self-destructive habits must be avoided, and the greatness of the nation is more important than the greatness of the individual, and all must submit to his ordinances both spiritual and legal. At the same time, each individual must take pride in themselves as a vessel of the Great Dragon. One should never honor weakness, failure, excess humility, or any other thing which diminishes the Great Dragon.

Place trust in no man, but in the nature of men.

Historical context: As Alakar was by necessity going to spend most of his time in Ris working in secret, and as it was inevitable that he was to work with many men of an unscrupulous nature, he was instructed to be careful about placing his trust in men. All men are liars of one sort or another, and Alakar could easily have placed his entire commission at great risk if he were to place undeserved trust in someone who might betray him. The Great Dragon instead advised him to learn and understand why people do the things that they do, what motivates them, what they desire and what they fear; that way, he would know what information was safe to share and with whom, who he could trust to carry out certain tasks and why, and to what degree he could be assured that he would not be betrayed.

Spiritual application: It is in the nature of men to deceive; indeed, the Great Dragon finds no sin in deception. Therefore, one may never be absolutely certain whether any given person is speaking with honesty at any given moment, and one should always keep in mind that even the most earnest-seeming man may be a traitor in disguise. However, since men are predictably motivated by certain desires and natures, it becomes possible to know how far and in what respects one may trust that another person's words and actions are in harmony. Study the desires, beliefs, natures, and actions of other men, and do not merely trust their words; it is meritorious to understand as deeply as possible the motivations of one's peers. Take no one at their word, and do not enter into contracts without understanding the motivations of the other person.