Giles (as himself): Despite being low casualty so far everyone should be aware that their characters are all expendable and mortal. I have no plans to kill any of your characters in mind. I was just thinking some of you were getting a little comfortable and needed to be reminded. The uber-plot (and there is one) requires none of the original characters being alive at the end, if anyone thinks they are indispensible I'd love to know where you get this delusion from.

Jen (BenG): "Everyone must die sometime.....it is more important to have served during life...... trust in Mimbruje and one will get their just rewards (whatever they may be)".

Arimus to Jen (TomC): "What a lot of Horror Droppings, death is irrelevant and Justice does not exist. We are all just physical projections from some part of the Astral plane - the strength of our astral energy will never be destroyed, only changed. That change is not governed by some simpleton's concept of Justice, but by whichever force is greatest and which controls those nodes in the astral plane that gives the greatest control.

If Justice was in any way a guiding force, our existence would never have come to pass, due to all its contradictions. What is just for one entity is not for another. Societies are built around justice, worlds are built by astral forces!"

Jen to Arimus (BenG):" Your description of existence is an interesting - if unenlightened one. Thankfully you have me to enlighten you on justice if not existence itself.

My contention was never that justice "governed" death nor created life. Like you I am not concerned with death, unlike you I am interested in life. Not simply in the science of it - what form it takes, whether or not it can be created or destroyed, but in how it is practised.

The "control" you mention is an illusion - you may have some means to manipulate the forces within and around you for a time. It is how you manipulate these and for what purpose that is important. You are given this strength, these powers for a time so that you can serve others - justly.

It still amuses me that people are content to understand a little of the nature of their own existence without ever questioning why they exist, what responsibilities they have to their creator, to each other.

You say that were it left to justice, our existence would never have come to pass - I put it to you that your existence is on loan, the price of which is to live justly, to be worthy of this gift, to justify your existence.

If you fail to be true to this gift it can be easily taken away... I know this from experience.

Whether or not you believe in Mimbruje, he will hold you accountable for your actions (or more accurately the intentions upon which these are based) in this life or after it. One day you will discover the truth of these this.... whether it be in this life or this plane is not important.... justice is a force every bit as real as those you serve, only it will continue to exist long after your consciousness (if not your energy) ceases to.

It is to make people aware of these obligations to each other, to existence itself that Questors of Mimbruje exist.

Worlds may be built by astral forces but those who live in them are ultimately governed by Justice.

Your existence is a gift - Justify it "....

Arimus to Jen (TomC): "Justify, I will do more than justify. I plan to prove my existance, something beyond the understanding of someone who is as poorly educated as your self. You obviously feel that having spent a short time beyond the confines of your hermit's hut, dying and seeing a Passion (or dreaming it - as you have wont to do to seem worthy of those who grace you with their prescence), that this fills you with worldly wisdom and knowledge.

Such arrogance I find distasteful coming from someone of such common blood! As such I will endeavour to educate you in some of the more basic and common works on the subject in which you seem so fervant with your meagre understanding..."

Ethilion: "Wow, look at that really big stalagmite. It looks like a big..."

Arimus: "...As, I was saying. A classic work in the area of the relationship between Passions, the Astral plane and physical beings is 'Astral Entities and Physical Fantasy" by the universally recognised scholar/mage Acon H Wiquen. A Theran in fact, so you will probably have a dream about him soon enough.

To paraphrase his work and do as little injustice to it as possible, he concluded that Passions were in fact extremely powerful Astral entities which are located in Lower Nodes on the Astral plane. Horrors tend to be located around Higher Nodes on the plane.

The significance of all this is that Nodes, as I explained earlier are powerful areas on the plane. A Low Node is one that is further away from the physical plane, while a High Node is one that is close.

Even you may know that over time the distance between the physical and astral planes varies. The Scourge being where they were very close. Acon H Wiquen made several journies to the Astral plane to explain the mystery of the Passion's connection to the Physical Plane.

He found that Passions used a sort of feedback loop between the Astral Plane and Physical to gain access from such a great distance. By harnessing the Astral energy of living things on the physical plane they were able to find a way to it.

Horrors are less refined and prefer to bash their way through, and so congregate in areas closest to the Physical Plane. As such the Passions have little trouble defending there Nodes, being so far away from the Physical Plane.

Now that I have flooded you mind with a whole lot of information that, given the look on your face, has only confused you. I will explain what role you and other little devotees such as yourself play in this little power game."

Jen: "I am a bringer of Justice, not a pawn in a power game!"

Arimus: "You are the ultimate pawn. It is your Astral energy that Minbruje uses to gain access to the Physical Plane. Your connecton to the Astral Plane and the astral energy you are is what forms the feedback loop.

The only gift of your existance is that offered to Minbruje. He uses you to make himself more powerful. Acon H Wiquen found that Questors of a Passion had their astral connections concentrated around or in the Node of the Passion they followed. Even lay followers had connections which predominantly focused around the Passion.

All these the Passion used to gain power and at times enter the physical plane. It offers some power back to Questors so that its fame and following will grow and so too its power."

Jen: "But what of Justice, that is all that is important to Minbruje".

Arimus: "All of the Passions have their own tag to draw in followers and Questors. Minbruje's is Justice. A nice simple concept that is highly adaptable, so as not to alienate many potential followers. I do admire the choice.

I will let you ponder this for a while, and when you have absorbed the basic findings of Acon H Wiquen, I will be happy to fill you in on or explain some of his deeper findings or some other interesting people's findings. The ones who have devoted considerably more time and effort to their studies than you have to your Passion."

Giles (as himself): "...life is pain, anyone who tells you different is trying to sell you something..." the Dread Pirate Roberts

Jen (BenG): A quick note for Arimus....

Do you often have conversations with yourself?.

Even though I'm sure your noble upbringing and education make you far more capable of expressing my opinions than I can, I would still prefer to stumble through it myself all the same... rather than you quoting me - in absentia.

Otherwise thank you for the book review of life according to Acon H Wiquen.... perhaps one day you will reach conclusions of your own and find something of your own to believe in.... until then.....

Arimus (TomC): Sorry about the "in absentia" quotes, that was just to make the whole thing readable.

"Belief has nothing to do with it, the conclusions are as much mine as Acon H Wiquen's. I don't have to believe in a Passion, because I know they all exist. There are in fact hundreds of Passions, but only a few have sufficient a following and power base to make themselves widely known."

Mr Kolari (BenK):

> A quick note for Arimus....
> Do you often have conversations with yourself?.

The technique is called the "Socratic Dialogue", where the writer, in order to enliven what might otherwise be a dense and somewhat indigestible philosophical theorem, frames their exposition in the form of a conversation between the skilled and knowledgeable master and the inexperienced and questioning pupil or interrogator.

Whilst rarely used in regular spoken conversation, the Socratic Dialogue has been used in many of the philosophical arenas (incidentally, including works that pre-date the great Dwarven thinker Socrates Q Wildebeest, in whose memory the technique was Named). Its use in this context is unusual, but not entirely inappropriate. The use of a pre-existing person or character (contemporary to the writer) as the inexperienced questioner was not unknown, and was often taken as a compliment (depending on the outcome of the discussion), indicating that the questioner possesses a willingness to learn.

There is an extensive collection of Mr Wiquen's works in the Great Library's Astral Cosmology section (Ref. KX398.3.WIQ), in the Closed collection, along with several commentaries. Borrowing rights can be arranged.