Sgrios Mass: Chaos Reigns - Sgrios & Law Enforcement

We live in lawless times. One need not leave the confines of their beds to be inundated with vexing heresy, whispered directly into their ears from all points across this blessed land. Hunters stalk the frigid peaks and the crowded ruins in a trance; no more lucid than the skeletons they slay. Bullies roam the abandoned paths of once thriving cities, aware that they throw aislings and insults with impunity. In terms of Chaos and Decay, it is clear that Sgrios has risen to dominance among the Gods. Remember that there were times when the boulevards were so choked with eager young aislings that guards would have to split their busy workload between directing traffic and apprehending those who spoke in terms of other worlds.

When I first took office in Mileth for my first term as guard, I saw a lot of raised eyebrows. A dedicated Sgrian priestess in a guard’s tabard is not an entirely common sight, and, admittedly, it gave me pause, too. I felt conflicted swearing myself to man’s law when my Lord dictates an allegiance to anarchy. Is there room in the heart and soul of a devoted Sgrian to maintain order whilst simultaneously subverting it?

This question has puzzled me for a great while; at times during my duty to Mileth I could feel a deep connection with my work here at the temple, as much as there were times holding mass or dealing with our ever growing congregation that my work in politics felt poignant. These moments easily outweighed the times of doubt and the feeling of being a fraud in one organization or the other. It wasn’t until recently that I was granted a divine flash of inspiration to make sense of the relationship between law and chaos, and I praise His great wisdom in making me work for the answer rather than giving it freely.

Historically our temple has been one of the strictest in the lands; I’ve been told tales of the great priests of old having notoriously difficult initiation tests that set the bar of admittance impossibly high, and our code of ethics prohibited so many of life’s small joys that it was difficult for any worshipper to do naught but study scripture and give praise. A very Gramaillian environment, if not one draped in the incense of decay and darkness. Conversely, aislingkind used to be heavily policed by career politicians hellbent on keeping peace and order in the land. Those draconian times have led to pass, and as the population dwindled under the gentle twisting of Sgrios’ clawed thumb, so, too, did the strength of the law. We live in an era ruled by chaos.

But when chaos becomes the standard, when does it cease to be chaos and start to resemble order? If we are to expect and anticipate that our streets are lawless and that the favored hunting grounds are more populated by criminals than they are deadly beasts, what, in this equation, brings unease to the minds of the living? Nay, when chaos and disorder lack the ability to challenge, they are no longer fit to be categorized as such.

In this twisted scope, it then falls on the order of the law to re-introduce chaos to the land. If the Aisling are accustomed to shouting profanity into the void without repercussion, it is the humble guard who steps up to impose boundaries that shakes up the status quo. When culture has grown so comfortable allowing themselves to fall into a trance and lay waste to the fertile depths of Nobis or Chadul’s Realm without having mastery of their actions, it is the ranger who brings anarchy by enforcing the mundane charter. Yes! When lawlessness becomes the law, then the law itself becomes a weapon of chaos.

Just as our world cycles through prolonged periods of abundance only to fall into years of drought, we can only spin the slow wheel of change from death to birth to death once more. We see this change every cycle as we move from season to season. While the role we play in the world might change, the action remains the same. For those of you with lofty aspirations in politics and a heart devoted fully to Sgrios, do not feed conflict between those goals, but marry them under the same purpose -- sow the seeds of chaos and challenge society.