The Defenders of the Common Grace
The Defenders of the Common Grace is a hybrid spiritual and political movement which promotes equal rights and democratic values in specific opposition to traditional aristocratic institutions and also to those that revere the power of mages in ways which it deems superstitious or dangerous to the interests of ordinary people.
They are particularly active in those parts of the world controlled by the Congress of Concerned Citizens, since their ideology is sympathetic to the style of government practiced by the Congress.
Culture
The Defenders of the Common Grace support democratic forms of government and mistrust arcane power in all its forms, whilst not denying that it sometimes has its uses. The movement is a philosophical one, rather than a practical political force but it has backed specific parties at various times in history, such as the Cities Under Grace and more recently, the Congress of Concerned Citizens.
History
The movement was born in the turbulent years towards the very end of the Time of Terrors, as it became clear that the Nexorin Pathogen was profoundly altering the condition of the world, by cutting down the rampant power of the most vile mages. Ordinary people had lost faith in magic and its users, and as they also lost their fear, they looked for a source of new ideals. They found it in the radical text, In Praise Of Common Grace, written by a formerly obscure scholar Paloman Marne from Arginbury.
An idealistic young builder's merchant from Jebbin City named Lodirol McEnnim, came across a copy of In Praise Of Common Grace almost by accident, several years after the death of its author, and was radicalised by the book's message. He founded the Defenders of the Common Grace on 10th Tivith, 3634 APC as a group for like-minded thinkers.
Acting as a focus for this near universal disgust with arcane excess, the Defenders of the Common Grace set the conditions that would give rise to the Second Popular Ascendancy, but it would outlast the politics of the time to survive until the present day, its fortunes waxing and waning in counterpoint to the influence of magic and arcane power in the realm, but never fading and always ready to support the rights of the "common" people against the "arcane" specialists.
Tenets of Faith
The Defenders of the Common Grace accept that there are deities and other Powers within the world, acknowledge the presence of the Dark Domains and have a general appreciation of the Discontinuum but they see no reason to revere these authorities or to worship them. Their faith is founded on the principle that any lowly citizen can learn to appreciate the rich complexity of life and the working of the universe. Through greater knowledge comes greater understanding and with understanding comes empathy. They oppose obscurantism and mystic ritual, and to the extent that traditional arcane practices encourage these attitudes they stand against them.
The Defenders of the Common Grace, revere the great truths of the local Laws of Form on Magicians' End. Sunrise, sunset, the seasons and the moons, the hydrological cycle. These are the patterns that need no mage to enforce them and are greater than any magical "trick". Such Common Graces are to be respected and exploited in the manner that any man or woman can learn with the virtues of hard work but without arcane aid.
Founding Date
10th Tivith, 3634 APC
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
Founders
Permeated Organizations
Notable Members
Lodirol McEnnim at Jebbin City by DMFW with Leonardo AI
In Praise Of Common Grace by DMFW with Leonardo AI
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