The Path

She had finally arrived. Several simple houses surrounded a small field, with a large oak tree at its center. As she stepped through the arched gate, she felt an immediate sense of peace and belonging, no longer bothered by the blistering sun overhead or her travel-worn clothes.

"Welcome, sister," called a young halfling. He was on his knees, tending to a large vegetable patch. His sunburnt face was smiling beneath a wide-brimmed white hat with a red band. "You must be new here. My name is Lantern."

"Thank you," she responded. "I am looking for Prosper. Do you know where I can find him?"

"That is him over there, leading the others in meditation", said the halfling and indicated across a low hedge. "I find it more relaxing to tend to our little garden, but to each their own."

She could see people sitting in the grass beneath the oak tree, each deep in thought with an open book in their lap. She saw three humans, one elf, two smallfolk, and a single red dragonborn, who was sitting opposite the others.

"I do not wish to disturb him in the middle of something important. Do you need any help?"

"Need, no - want, yes. The peas have grown far taller than me, and I can no longer reach the highest shoots. Could you bind them for me?"

"I would be glad to help. I am Daphne Tanner, by the way."

"That is a name for another place, and another time." Lantern hesitated for a moment, and then he smiled again. "In here, you will be known as Serendipity, because you saved me from having to fetch a ladder!"

The Path

Deities	None
Strength	~300 leaders, ~2500 followers
Major locations	Tec, Heimdall's Anvil
Leaders	Mercy, the Exegete
Motto	Go Your Own Way

Ranks

• Follower
• Thinker
• Iconoclast
• Philosopher
• Epistemian
• Exegete

The Path are iconoclasts who follow the philosophy of Lucidia of Tec and other thinkers. While they do not deny the powers of the gods, they believe mortals would be better served without their constant interventions and meddling.

Many Followers live in communes, where they share the duties of the house. These are often in remote places, but some are located in larger settlements. Some communes specialize in a trade, perhaps smithing or glassblowing, others just do what must be done. A common tradition in these communes is that meals are taken together every day, and they take much pride in cooking.

The Path has a larger foothold on the mainland, but there are several communes in the Estian sea. The largest is the Hazelton Commune in Heimdall's Anvil.

New Followers usually adopt a single virtue name upon joining, forgoing their old identity, but most often address fellow members as brother or sister.

Beliefs and teachings

The Path venerates free will and believes it is evil to force others to do your bidding. They abhor enchantment magic and its practitioners, more so than any other spell school. Most Followers are content with letting outsiders live as they wish, but some proselytize the tenets to non-Followers.

Perhaps the only tenet that all Followers agree on is the virtue of individual brilliance and the ability to argue with conviction. For the other tenets, there has always been debate and discussion on how it should be applied. For the major questions, different camps have coalesced over time, and some of these schools of thought represent serious differences, others only disagree on the theory, but not on the application.

Some communes are highly associated with a single school of thought, others welcome the debate that comes with opposing viewpoints.

Indifference Towards the Gods

While the Path absolutely concedes that the gods exist, and are powerful beings capable of world-reshaping magic, they do not view them as more worthy of veneration than any other extraplanar entities. The extent of their enmity varies, with the extremes in the Acceptance and Absolutist schools of thought.

Acceptance School

The Acceptance school does not view followers of the gods as evil, but only misguided. Some Acceptance-leaning communes even allow open worship of the gods, banning only the evangelizing of their cause. This school is also home to some who venerate the spirits of nature.

Absolutist School

To Followers of the Absolutist school, the gods are equated with elder elementals, archfey, archdevils - beings who you do best to avoid if you seek a simple life of happiness. They might see a remembrance shrine to Freya the same as a sacrificial altar to Baphomet, the Demon Prince of Beasts.

Equality For All

The Path seeks a world where all mortals are equal regardless of faith, creed, race, or wealth. Within that, there are two major schools that do not agree on how such a world should be ruled, the Anarchic school and the Eloquent school. Followers of these schools are engaged in lively discussions about their differences, but it is almost always a courteous dialogue. Some have tried to settle the debate, so that all Followers can work together to live by their teachings instead of quabbling about a theoretical system.

Anarchic School

The Anarchic school believe that an ideal world would have no need for rulers at all, with everyone enlightened enough to make their own decisions. This school is less common among the higher ranks of the Path.

Eloquent School

Those that follow the Eloquent school concede that some sort of governing body would be needed, and that such a body should value wisdom above all else, and should prioritize the needs of the many over the needs of the individual, with decisions reached after debate, and deliberation.

History

While the ideas that underpin the Path's teachings have always been a part of Teccan philosophy, the Followers consider Lucidia of Tec the first Exegete, and her Teachings is the most important work of literature within the Path.

Lucidia of Tec

(halfling, TN, 910-1018): Iconoclast teccan philosopher whose teachings gathered many followers in her lifetime. Her most famous work is Teachings, in which she promotes a lifestyle where an individual's actions are more important than their beliefs, and downplays the influence of the gods. This did not win her any favors with the various temples and the Senate, whose rule was intermingled with religion, and she was exiled by senatorial decree in 1001 AUC, and the early Path was disbanded and banned. Lucidia spent her exile in Astael. After her death, her writings slowly became more popular again among students of Teccan culture.

The Path as it is known today was re-founded in 1345 AUC when the Ruins of Tec were hit by a major spellstorm which rendered the city uninhabitable. The early Followers saw this as the wrath of the gods, and eschewed them, reviving Lucidia's writings and founding several settlements in the Heartlands where refugees from the city could settle in peace.

Today, Lucidia enjoys a semi-messianic status among the lower-ranked members the Path, something she would vehemently oppose if she was still alive.

Writings

There are several texts that Followers consider important, and they are studied closely, and their contents are debated in groups, meditated on, put to music and performed, and quoted in essays to the point that many know long passages by heart.

Teachings

By Lucidia of Tec

The most important book for the Path. It is a structured like a collection of dialogues between Lucidia and her disciples, and covers topics from the gods, to the role of nobility, free will, the virtues of a trade, the concept of marriage, and many more. It is accepted that Lucidia has the better arguments in most chapters, but not all. These dialogues form the basis of many debates among Followers, with some devoting their entire lives to studying a single dialogue.

The Skeptic

Unknown authorship

The Skeptic is a short book that follows a man in his downfall from prince to beggar. It is interspersed with commentary on how the man's fate might have been different if he had adhered to tenets of the Path.

Fama Mysterium Mortem

'The Famous Mystery of Death' by Zeal the Epistemian

A very controversial book among Followers. It hypothesizes that there are no divine afterlives, and instead that souls are reborn in another body when they die. The Absolutist argument against the book says this is exactly the type of thinking that turns a philosophy into a religion, while some more Acceptance-leaning Followers see it as a beacon of hope to strive towards.

The Esoteric Truth

By Mercy the Exegete

One of the most recently published books to join the Path canon, this book is a thick tome of commentaries on Teachings.

Emblem

Followers of the Path are identified by their emblem, a crimson phoenix on a white field. This emblem can be worn on tabards, pins, banners, robes, cloaks, shields, and all manner of clothing. The phoenix represents the symbolic rebirth that Followers go through to join the Path, and the white represents the purity of soul required for it.

Leadership

Each commune has a leader, usually the person who founded it, or an appointed successor for older communes. Neighboring communes usually have a lively exchange of people, wares, and ideas. Several times per year, the communes convene for a Symposium, a feast where new ideas are debated. It is at these events that promotions within the ranks of the Path happens. While everyone starts out as a Follower, your actions and presented viewpoints at a Symposium might earn you a different title.

Mercy, the Exegete

(halfling monk, CG, 71): Born on Vanadis, Mercy has experienced a theocratic society in the Pilgrim Knights. She started studying the writings of the Path, and set out for Tec as soon as she could afford it. Her insight and brilliant debate style did not go unnoticed for long, and she is now considered the leader of the Path and the foremost scholar on Lucidia's writings.

Defiance, the Iconoclast

(half-elf spellsword, CN, 34): Defiance leads a small group of magehunters who track those who use Enchantment magic to force others to their will. When they find their targets, they give them a choice to forgo Enchantment magic forever, or face their wrath. The existence of this group is not well known, but some believe they are under the direct command of Mercy, the Exegete.

Playing as a Follower

The Path has many capable adventurers in their ranks. The only class that is not represented are Clerics, as their divine worship is completely at odds with the core tenets of the Path.

The Path is probably the most racially diverse organization in the Estian Sea, with many of exotic heritage finding a home here. It is not uncommon to see halflings and dwarves working the fields of a commune side-by-side with drow and orcs.

Here are some suggestions for backstory seeds that you can use or remix:

• Fighter: You settled down in a commune when you retired, and now just want to live out your days in peace, but there is one last mission you have to fulfill first.
• Bard: You studied the Teachings, and now you debate their true meaning with other Path scholars. You are convinced there is a lost volume somewhere out there.
• Paladin: Your commune is in danger, and you have sworn an oath to defend it.
• Artificer: You got tired of the hustle in the city and joined a rural commune, where you can ply your trade in peace and plan for the creation of your masterwork.
• Rogue: You were on the wrong side of the law, and joined a commune to hide out for a while, but you realized the errors of your ways, and now seek to make amends for your previous way of life.
• Monk: You were born in a commune, and have known no other way of life. You have studied the texts, and your body is your weapon. Now, you have been sent to do something far from your home.
• Spellsword: You are a member of a squad of magehunters who hunt down practitioners of Enchantment magic, so that they cannot force their will upon others.
• Wizard: Joining a commune finally gave you time to finish your research, and some erudite company to keep your mind sharp.
• Sorcerer: Your family had always had great expectations of you, but you did not want this, so you joined a commune to live with others, as equals.