So now you know about my intellectual difficulty with Supheter. I am inclined to launch into the particular conflicting metaphysics right now, but that would not quite serve my larger purpose. In addition to talking through a more coherent fantasy Gnostic worldview, I want to express the foundations of these beliefs. This provides context for that vague potential future audience, Chase – that he may understand how I conceive of him and his religious peers, and (maybe) one of the other players should he steal the bible type book Supheter carries. So, let’s begin with bedrock.

Supheter believes that the gods normally worshiped are the first children of an infinite being from whence came everything. Via mystic communion (gnosis), he and others can contact and rejoin the original soul. In this sense, it is largely a Hindu type of religion with distinctions flowing from the setting and acting as a team player rather than a sole protagonist with the entire spotlight.

Obviously, this stands askance of the prevailing operation of faith that involves either focusing on a single “Aspect” of the primary divine (clerics) or an indifference to the pantheon whilst still assuming its veracity, if mutual unconcern. This unintuitive worldview came, not from his parents, but from after his magical apprenticeship. The graduated students to their mutual master had found a home in a hidden tradition that his anthropological research had introduced them to, the Enneadin. The Enneadin are a small clique of wizards, sorcerers, and others united by their faith in this Brahman analog stretching back to the first to report holy communion.

I am not entirely sure how the normal Dungeons and Dragons cosmology handles Genesis. This is how Supheter learnt it: eternally, and beyond beginning, exists the infinite Unity. The Enneadin alternately refer to it as either iQi or hQe depending upon which translations they prefer. It has no inner distinctions and represents an integration of all aspects that existence derived from it (good, evil, order, chaos) that no limited being can understand. Perhaps it is like the seed before the Big Bang where the density forbade the distinction between gravity, strong force, electromagnetism, and weak force that typify all subsequent existence.

For whatever reason, a void developed where it penetrated and diffracted unevenly so different Aspects of its unity separated. These are the First Sons, the gods we know in their great variety. They were limited in comparison to the Unity they seeped out of because each represented only a fraction of the whole. Subconsciously, each felt the absence and sought to surround themselves with intensifications and subdivisions of their own aspects. They birthed the planes and Second Sons: the celestials, aberrants, and demons. The new generation failed to sate the god’s nostalgia, so all colluded somewhat to create the material plane and populate it with as great a variety as possible. In effect, the world is an imitation of the formless amalgamation that iQi retains. Besides the inanimate furniture, the Third Sons came from this act. In game terms, any being that isn’t a PC race or an outsider (lamasu, dryads, ogres) is a Third Son.

The Profusion succeeded in representing still more niches, but at a mystic cost. The first sons carved the planes and outsiders from their inestimably vast energies. However, the outsiders could mature but a little and dispersed into the god upon death. The material creatures progressed even less. A clique of the gods decided to enact the Promethean drama as a last resort to deny the cosmic silence. Though none could commune with their progenitor individually, the concert doused their distinctions enough to allow a theft of unadultered essence. Strictly speaking, hQe’s infinity denied any more pain from the loss than when it originally extruded its mighty children. Each took its share and showered a particular race with these newly minted souls. Some races proudly proclaim their divine patron (the Dwarves, the Orcs, chromatic and metal dragons) whilst others forgot and chose among the pantheon as individuals.

The spark inside each being enabled a protean and unlimited potential. Gods and men found they could commune and formed clerical orders to orchestrate the energy flow. People could mature awesomely, given enough experience. Vecna’s ascension to godhood is actually a universal possibility. However, it required he and a great many others align their consciousness with his single aspect. The great project stymied them all as, unfortunately, are most people to a lesser degree. While the fourth generation could embody a great many Aspects over the course of a lifetime, many stuck with a single alignment and gravitated to the most similar plane upon death.

In contrast, the first Gnostic pioneer concentrated upon the totality of existence and managed to reconnect with the Prime Being. After some trials, this first managed to dissolve his soul back into hQe and his followers watched his mundane body crumble to dust. That group founded the Enneadin with the purpose of helping everyone rejoin the expanse that the selfish gods tore us from.

To this end, Supheter’s use of Ioun in his personal sigil isn’t entirely a front. In addition to her greater connection to knowledge, she also ‘governs’ communication including gnosis itself. If all the sons were isolated from iQi, the symbol would be an unbroken circle and no one but the gods would know [if it is true at all] of its existence. Thankfully, fourth sons can pierce the veil and restore themselves in the luminous Self. Other Enneadin prefer different moderators (Vecna, Corellon), though the reverence is always shallow.

If I had the luxury of narrative control, Supheter’s lifelong dedication would take the form of experiencing and embodying as many aspects (later, simultaneously) as possible. He would fast for a time, then gorge later. He might find a partner and practice tantric sex, then go on a bout of dispassionate orgies with a stretch of abstinence in between. He would father a child, build a golem, and grow a homunculus slave. Third sons would come to fear his martial prowress and a ctiy’s rogues guild (a stupid name for Mafia) would chase him down for operating without a license. Sometime after his bout as diplomat, Supheter planned to join Dragonborn rebels to the east. By the end of his journey, he would have several levels in every class and a single level in each prestige class he could qualify for. Supheter plans to grill as many types of second sons as he can and certainly Vecna himself and another god, at least.

However, as a group game set during wartime, I have no intention of wasting time pursuing any of these tasks. I suspect this ‘inconsistency’ might discomfort and bore my friends. Further, Chase has put a fire under my ass in a fashion that Supheter must respond to when Miranda destroyed the wold. At first, Nicholas thought it was because of revenge for the wold. I admit, I hadn’t really pinned down Supheter properly. Interacting with Barabelam, the devil accompanying him since then has helped define my character.

In hunting out bases for a new tarot long ago, I encountered Magick Without Tears by Aleister Crowley. In it he declares there are three schools of the magi: white, black, and yellow. The white tradition regards existence as pure joy; the black, a curse; and yellow regards the universe as fundamentally impassive and seek to abide in it seamlessly. This is Supheter’s goal and hope for all fourth sons.

To offer the maximum opportunity for non-Enneadin to convert or even achieve gnosis independent of the tradition, the Profusion within the material plane should contain as many aspects as possible. Unfortunately, beings, of all generations, incline towards intolerance as they polarize toward a given Aspect. The good allow at least some neutrality amongst them, but the evil factions often desire to disarm or convert all others. Miranda represents a threat to the necessary diversity.

The few critics aware of the Enneadin and its principles sometimes accuse it of wanting a balance between good and chaos and so on. The better understanding calls simply for enough space for minority experience. A balance exists as a static condition, which is the providence of the unchanging gods. Only dynamic competition ensures all factions vie and ally or are forced to incorporate aspects of the (short-term) victor and he some of the fallen to placate their surrender. The inclusion of artifacts such as the Staff and Crown destructively monopolize the faction that holds it and endanger gnosis for all peoples. I worried initially about some hypocracy in gathering the same; however, her force must be contested with a comparable one that I am in position to sunder with her removal.

There is more, and I will treat it later, but one last point about the organization itself. At the moment, the Enneadin have converted no clerics. Their overfocus and skepticism dissuade them from taking us seriously with the immanence of their chosen patron against a more difficult target. Nonetheless, they are regarded as a great treasure whenever they convert because their communion – after proper cleansing and depolarization – is the easiest of all via practice. Less than three have joined in the entire history of the world and each has been a masterful teacher to his age. Unfortunately, their strong connection makes them liable to dissolve before they can assist many other aspirants.

One of the perpetual contentions between the Enneadin’s factions concerns the acceptable course of converting cleric candidates (and to a lesser extent, conversion in general). Passive members regard individual dissolution as the extent of their duty. The extroverted faction argues that all races deserve a greater chance for their release than depending upon slow osmosis. Supheter’s social circle within the order argued for the latter even to the extreme in the case of clerics. They were not above kidnapping and drugging a priest in an attempt to force himer to achieve gnosis. While many disapproved (and were vindicated when the Harkenwolders were caught), his friends cited the subsequent enlightenment as justifying their method.

I created Walds as described, a ‘minimalist.’ Next, I created Virgil (in Chase’s first campaign) as a rogue reformed into a cleric. The downtime between these and the current arc offer opportunities to cast about for a suitable personality. It is possible I go about it incorrectly.

To wit, some options I considered for Supheter were a pseudo-Nietzschesean, a roman-type slave, a person on a gnosis quest, or a member of a mystery cult. There are more, but I will keep them in reserve for other games. Immediately, you can see I knew the limitation of transposing real world philosophies because there is no such thing as a Nietzschesean in a D&D world.

Someone can believe in Eternal Recurrence and maintain Amor Fati, but little else of his greater framework survives. There is no dominant world-spanning altruistic faith sapping Man’s potential. There is no question people can independently form their own world-view because so many deities represent a great variety. In this sense, the Ubermensch has less need to be, especially because there is an intuitive, immanent hierarchy of powerful beings and races clearly superior to humans (intellectually and potently). At best, a fantasy denizen can adopt the skeptical moral independence Nietzsche continually argued for.

Despite this, I chose to dedicate Supheter’s life to achieving Gnostic Illumination. This also suffers because it is a terribly common event. Clerics of any faith daily pray for divine energy to fuel their spells, which indirectly implies contact. The reality depends upon the dungeon master’s chosen cosmology (avatars walk the earth, intermediate spirits actually handle the clerics, or any of a dozen other options). At the very least, it wasn’t totally insipid because a) he is a wizard, not a cleric; and, b) he wants to contact the god above conventionally worshipped gods. Nevertheless, this presents a deep conflict in me in terms of justification as well as portraying my convictions. This is the primary obstacle I mean to overturn via my rambling.

The second aspect of his personality I fret about wasn’t on the list above, but I desired all the same. In the months before my friends invited me to join the current campaign, I watched the entire Lost saga with my sister prior to the fifth season. Benjamin Linus functions as the primary antagonist and plot mover after his introduction. He embodies the wicked manipulator archetype. Via his privileged knowledge, he maneuvers others into serving him - deliciously against their will. While any villain worth his salt employs some of the same tactics, the writers had him play it so consistently, it left an indelible desire to perform the same. Perhaps DMing would be a more appropriate means of satisfying this, but I tried to incorporate it into my early conception of Supheter.

The point wasn’t to stand at odds with the other players. (However, I did make notes to that effect as a contingency. I felt like I understood my peers much better afterward.) I also had bought a book about Transactional Analysis, which is a very cool psychological school concerned with Games People Play. I intended to make this an attitude and problem solving style rather than a Machiavellian goal. I have not evinced this much in play and don’t feel as committed to this aspect of my character any longer.