Wesmodian Invectives

The Wesmodian Invectives are a collection of eight essays written by the Tyrosian jurist Wesmod in the last few years before the Wesmodian Reformation, a social transition they are generally credted with launching. They led to the rapid collapse of religious faith in the Eleven Cities surrounding the Sea of Jars. Such was the social impact of these essays that the modern history of the cities dates from their publication.    

Content

  The Wesmodian Invectives are a series of eight pamphlet-length essays, none more than a few thousand words long, attacking the notion of relgious faith and the irrational demands it makes on society. The first invective serves as a general introduction to the theme; each of the other seven takes on one of the eight core gods of the religion tradtion which was practiced in the pre-Wesmodian Eleven Cities. The only god spared this attention is Maryas, which in context is a very peculiar omission and has led to widespread speculation about Wesmod's motives in writing the Invectives at all.   The Invectives are brefly summarised below:  

First Wesmodian Invective

  The shortest invective; a programmatic introduction in which Wesmod notes that faith in powers above humanity is an arbitrary and baseless pattern of behaviour which exacts high - and to his mind pointless - costs both individuals and the society they make up.  

Second Wesmodian Invective

  An attack on the largely rural cult of Pergyad, in which Wesmod notes that those engaged in animal husbandry are essentially gods to ther flocks. While it may be constructive to imagine an idealised goatherd as an aspirational model for their work in that capacty, Wesmod suggests, the idea of limting one's behavior or curtailing one's rewards by engaging in religious veneration of such a figure is foolish and self-defeating. This is widely considered one of the weaker invectives, displaying as it does an ignorance of animal husbandry which, although forgiveable in an urbaite from an insular city, limits his insights into the relgious dimensions of the practice.  

Third Wesmodian Invective

  A critique of the cult of Krezzan, mostly in the form of a refutation of the idea that time is malliable. If this is the case, Wesmod argues, then time ceases to have all meaning, since it is by defnition a finite resource which passes at a predctable rate, and constructive use of it is entirely dependent on the activities being pursued. The invective closes with a discussion of the death of Wesmod's sister, which the clerics of Krezzan could do nothing to prevent; he does not blame them but cites it as evdence for his contention that there is little point in investing emotional energy in the cult. This is widely regarded as one of the more thoughtful and penetrating invectives, precisely because of its fair-mindedness.

Fourth Wesmodian Invective

  A refutation of the value of worshipping Ajqyod, framed mostly in terms of the fact that fire is something any dilgent and responsible person can create and control. With this in mind, Wesmod argues, there is no reason to sanctify the phenomenn by suggesting it is the purview of a supernatural agency. Wesmod also provides a critical survey of the mythology surrounding Ajqyod, noting the often destructive consequences of the god's rash actions, and opines that most people capable of kindling a fire in a hearth and keeping it under control would be a more appropriate subject of veneration.  

Fifth Wesmodian Invective

  An argument that the degree of support that the prests of Ynglyas enjoy is disproportionate to ther service to society. Acknowledging the priesthood's role as meteorologists, Wesmod nevertheless argues that it is hardly necessary to support large networks of such scholars on their various observational and ritual trips, especially when the purpose and results of these trips being kept secret. The only reason one would support a group behaving in such a way, Wesmod argues, would be out of religious veneration - to hs mind, a weak excuse. Given the downstream effects of the disolution of the cult of Ynglyas, this is wdely regarded as either the least preceint invective, or the one that was most toxically taken too far.  

Sixth Wesmodian Invective

  An attack on the concentration of economic power in the hands of the priesthood of Zargyod. The combination of temporal power and religious authority worries Wesmod, who argues that this combination could turn the presthood into an unaccountable dictatorial force in society. The shortest invective other than the introduction, the sixth is noted for containing very little criticism of the worship of Zargyod, as Wesmod is apparently more concerned with the growing political power of his clerics. It is interesting to observe that the former priesthood of Zargyod swiflt reinvented themselves as the Commercial Guilds, and are if anything more powerful now than they were before the Wesmodian Reformation, leadng some commentators to wonder how revolutionary the Reformation really was.  

Seventh Wesmodian Invective

  An attack on the Boles of Dahan, the clerics of Dahan, who Wesmod characterises at great and emotive length as a cabal of physical and sexual predators leeching off the rural communites of the Alluvial plain. This is the longest and btterest of the invectives, and the one which most clearly displays Wesmod's biases and limitations as a sheltered insular urbanite. There is evidence that it was the first written, and that the other invectives followed as companion pieces as Wesmod expanded his objections to the Boles of Dahan to other priesthoods. Certainly, Wesmod's response to the popularity of his work - leaving Tyros to tour the Alluvial plain giving addresses inveighing upo the Boles - displays a clear and specific antipathy to that particular group.  

Eighth Wesmodian Invective

  A carefully-written philsophical refuation of the worship of Hayan, in which Wesmod argues that the delegation of the protection of children to an unproven celestial entity is not only irresponsible but damages the very personal relationshp between parents and children. He concedes that a figure such as Hayan may be of social value as an aspirational ideal, but the notion that such a figure actuallye exists and can be invoked to grant protection to the vulnerable is a risky idea unsupported, he points out, by any real evidence. The politely firm, reasonable tone of this invective leads many to cite it as the strongest of the eight in terms of logical argument.  

Commentary

  The Wesmodian Invectives launched the Wesmodian Reformation, making them probably the most influential texts ever written in the Eleven Cities. Wesmod appears to have written them very quickly, over a period of no more than two or three moons, while maintaining his responsibilities as a functionary for the sitting Dog of Tyros. He then crculated copies to various scribes in the city, who began moving copies at an impressive rate. Within two moons copies of the Invectives had appeared in Dyqamay, Chogyos and Pholyos, and within a year they were known and being taken seriously throughout the Eleven Cities. Two years later the priests at what is now Chogyos Customhouse ceased ritual observances to Zargyod and restyled themselves as the Commercial Guilds, an event widely regarded as the extinction of the old religion, though the precise date is a matter of debate. By that stage every city had ceased supporting the priesthood of Ynglyas, and thus lost count of days and track of the date; it would be anything from four to seven more years before dates were standardsed across the cities again wth the commencement of the year 1 AWR. Given how much information about the old relgion had been lost by then, this date really marks the beginning of modern thaumatological research.   Among the curiosities surrounding the Invectives is that at no stage in the entire collection does Wesmod make a single reference to Maryas. Given the heat with which he inveighs upon the clerics of Dahan and Pergyad, it is odd that he makes no mention of the cult of the goddess of secrets, an institution already reputed (rightly or wrongly) in his day as associated with secrets, conspiracies, and ritualised physical and sexual violence. Scholars throw around various explanations for this - that he was a secret devotee of Maryas; that the cult blackmailed him into omitting their deity, that a ninth invective exsts (or used to) but was somehow suppressed by the cult - though pending any game-changing discovery it is unlikely that the matter will be solved.  

Availability

  The Wesmodian Invectives remain popular reading among those with the time and money to read; the third and eighth in particular are widely studied as intriguing examples of argument in practice. Almost any scribe worthy of the name will include at least some of the invectves in their catalogue.