Second Archon War: Relationships, Ambition, and Embodiment (Patreon)

An Excerpt from:Relationships, Ambition, and EmbodimentA Repudiation of the Tabibian ModelDr. Grigori VladimirovDepartment of Modern Theological StudiesOur Lady of Beneficent Compassion University, New MoscowEdited by Dr. Tanya MiranovaAnointed by Father Klaus NiemeläDedicated to Her Serene Benevolence,Bronislava Cocolievna SnezhnayaAnd to our patron, Her Most CompassionateKollei Bronislavna SnezhnayaPreface:Since the publication of the first edition of On the Elements in 2016, the Tabibian Model advanced by the Baghdad House of Wisdom has become the most widely accepted theological framework among modern metaphysicists and the foundation upon which much of our present understanding has been built.The author holds Dr. Tabib in the highest personal regard, notwithstanding her history in the former godless lands, and extends the same respect to our fellow scholars at the Baghdad House of Wisdom. Nevertheless, the Tabibian method is fundamentally flawed. It was devised before the establishment of the Modern Celestial Order and developed over many years while the Most Holy Archons were still arriving in our world from Sacred Teyvat. Its observations were necessarily partial, its categories provisional, and its conclusions shaped by an age that had not yet witnessed the full embodiment of divine Authority upon Earth.It is therefore the purpose of this work to identify and correct the errors within Dr. Tabib's model, while preserving those observations that remain sound, and to establish the groundwork for a more complete and holistic understanding of modern theology.[Several sections omitted.]I. The Three PrinciplesTo begin, we must establish the three principles underpinning the Modern Celestial Order. Their rudimentary forms were alluded to in On the Elements, but a mature understanding cannot simply divide metaphysical phenomena among the Seven Elements. Rather, it must recognize that the Elements themselves arise from three more fundamental principles:All metaphysical phenomena are relational.All Authority derives from Ambition.All Ideals must be embodied.The Seven Elements are neither arbitrary categories nor the fundamental substances of divine reality. They are the seven great forms through which relational Ambition becomes embodied as Authority. To begin with the Element is therefore to begin with the visible result and mistake it for the originating cause.In On the Elements, Dr. Tabib correctly identified that Visions are granted to mortals whose Ambitions bear a meaningful relationship to an Archon's Authority, though she did not formulate the observation in those terms. Instead, the Tabibian Model treats this relationship primarily as evidence of elemental affinity: the mortal possesses an Ambition of a particular kind and therefore receives the Element corresponding to it.This reverses the true order of causation.[Several paragraphs omitted.]

II. All metaphysical phenomena are relational

Thus, we may now establish the true underlying principle: All metaphysical phenomena are relational.A Vision holder possesses a relationship with their divine patron. The author himself heard the words of the present Pyro Archon when she named him Son of Rigor. Through that act of recognition, a relationship was established between a mortal Ambition and a divine Authority, mediated through the Archon who embodied it.This is not metaphor, nor merely a title of affection. It is a metaphysical relationship with observable consequences.Yet the relationship between Archon and Vision holder does not explain every known manifestation of metaphysical power. What of the so-called "cultivators" of the Crane School, who transform Daoist mysticism, disciplined practice, and filial obligation into physical might? What of the kapu practitioners of the Commonwealth of Hawaiʻi, who draw upon land, ancestry, and communal duty to establish binding pacts and efficacious rituals?Neither group depends upon the direct bestowal of a Vision. Nevertheless, both acquire metaphysical capabilities through relationships with an established Authority.The cultivator enters into relationship with teacher, school, practice, and inherited tradition. The kapu practitioner enters into relationship with land, ancestors, community, and obligation. Through disciplined participation in those relationships, each becomes aligned with—and eventually capable of acting through—the Authority those relationships embody.They do not merely imitate an existing power. They become participants in the relationships by which that power is made real.[Multiple paragraphs omitted.]

III. All Authority Derives from Ambition

This brings us to the second major principle: All Authority derives from Ambition.As has been established by the current body of research—and is accepted by scholars in both New Moscow and Baghdad—an Archon is an Authority embodied and given form.It is less widely accepted, though well known within the most advanced circles of modern theology, that Authority itself arises from Ambition. This principle is frequently misstated as Mortal Ambition, an unnecessary limitation inherited from the earliest period of Vision research.We must therefore begin by defining Ambition.Ambition is not merely desire. It is a totalizing orientation of identity, will, and purpose that propels an individual along a metaphysical path. The individual need not be human. A mortal, beast, shard, spirit, or god may possess Ambition, provided that it is capable of directing itself toward an ideal and becoming transformed through that pursuit.The initial relationship need not be conscious, reciprocal, or metaphysically efficacious. Ambition is the process by which that preliminary relation becomes the organizing purpose of the self.[Multiple paragraphs omitted.]With Ambition properly framed, we may now turn to Authority. To borrow a phrase from pre-Celestial philosophy, an Authority may be conceived of as a Platonic Ideal that exerts metaphysical force upon the world.All reputable scholars—and, by now, even the least educated among us—understand that Ideals such as Love, Wisdom, and War are not merely human inventions devised to organize experience. They are among the fundamental forces by which reality itself is constituted.According to the first principle, all metaphysical power derives from relationships. This principle reaches its fullest expression when a being's relationship with an Ideal, pursued through Ambition, becomes so total that the being no longer merely stands in relation to that Ideal. Instead, the two enter into metaphysical union. The being embodies the Ideal and may thereafter exert Authority through it upon reality itself.This may manifest as an Archon calling upon an elemental Authority, a god exercising an Aspect, or one of the Higher Powers asserting its domain. Such beings may not act outside the Authority they embody. Within that Authority, however, they possess broad power to define how the Ideal relates to themselves, to others, and to reality.Authority is therefore neither unrestricted power nor obedience to a fixed definition. It is the capacity of an embodied Ideal to determine the terms by which it acts upon the world.[multiple paragraphs omitted]

IV. All Ideals Must Be Embodied

Having established the relationship among Ambition, Authority, and the Platonic Ideal, we must now recognize that no Authority can exert metaphysical force upon reality without embodiment. This follows from the third principle: All Ideals must be embodied.An Ideal may exist independently of any particular bearer, but it cannot act upon the world as a disembodied abstraction. It must acquire concrete expression through a person, spirit, institution, community, object, ritual, or other metaphysically sufficient form. Only through such embodiment does an Ideal become capable of exercising Authority.Since the famous Gold Morning, dozens of new deities have emerged, each formed through the embodiment of an Ideal and recognized as a god by all discerning theologians and modern metaphysicists.This progression follows the causal chain already established.First, a relationship with an Ideal is formed through some divine, metaphysical, or relational medium. As that relationship deepens, it crystallizes into Ambition: the sustained orientation of the self toward the Ideal.Over time, the being becomes increasingly defined by this Ambition. What was initially one relationship among many becomes the organizing principle of identity, purpose, and action. The being no longer merely pursues the Ideal, but begins to participate in it.At this stage, the being develops a metaphysical claim upon the Ideal and the latent capacity to exercise Authority through it. That Authority cannot become fully efficacious, however, until the final stage is reached.The being must embody the Ideal.Through embodiment, the distinction between bearer and Concept becomes sufficiently narrow that the being may act as the Ideal's concrete representative within reality. The relationship has become Ambition; Ambition has become identity; identity has become embodiment; and embodiment permits the exercise of Authority.Thus, the complete progression may be expressed as follows:Relationship gives rise to Ambition.Ambition transforms the self.The transformed self embodies the Ideal.The embodied Ideal exercises Authority.[The monograph continues for several pages. Although Vladimirov further develops the proposed causal model, the argument increasingly gives way to demagoguery, direct attacks upon the Baghdad House of Wisdom, Tabibian thought, and several Nahidist schools, together with a number of pointed remarks directed at particular scholars against whom Dr. Vladimirov appears to hold specific professional grievances.]Author's Note:Dr. Vladimirov is broadly correct about the metaphysical framework underlying Second Archon War, though he is not correct in every specific example or application.He is also engaging in the academic equivalent of firebombing the House of Wisdom while cackling gleefully.