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	== Relationships ==		== Relationships ==
	- '''[[Yasnic]]''' - the sole living practitioner and self-described last priest of the order; his survival of the faith and his refusal to sever any clause of the oath are the entire living content of Clarethism. He is seized by soldiers at the scene's close, and his fate is left unresolved. - ch 21		* '''[[Yasnic]]''' - the sole living practitioner and self-described last priest of the order; his survival of the faith and his refusal to sever any clause of the oath are the entire living content of Clarethism. He is seized by soldiers at the scene's close, and his fate is left unresolved. - ch 21
	- '''Maestro Ostravar''' - the Alkhand's court musician who names Clarethism "that old heresy" and pronounces it dead, yet whose very act of naming it confirms that the tradition lingers in cultural memory even after its institutional death. - ch 21		* '''Maestro Ostravar''' - the Alkhand's court musician who names Clarethism "that old heresy" and pronounces it dead, yet whose very act of naming it confirms that the tradition lingers in cultural memory even after its institutional death. - ch 21
	- '''[[His Tranquillity Oparan\|Alkhand Oparan]]''' - sovereign of Peor, in whose court the encounter takes place; the soldiers who seize Yasnic act under his authority, placing the faith's last practitioner at the mercy of a secular ruler. - ch 21		* '''[[His Tranquillity Oparan\|Alkhand Oparan]]''' - sovereign of Peor, in whose court the encounter takes place; the soldiers who seize Yasnic act under his authority, placing the faith's last practitioner at the mercy of a secular ruler. - ch 21

	== Notable Quotes ==		== Notable Quotes ==

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Clarethism is a pacifist religious tradition identified in the old books of the known world, defined by a single absolute oath binding every adherent never to harm another person or to incite another to do so. By the time of the events at Peor, the faith has been declared extinct for two generations and is dismissed by the learned as a dead heresy; yet it persists in one living figure, Yasnic, who calls himself a priest of God in the Clarethism tradition and identifies himself as the last of the order. Its significance within the narrative lies precisely in this contradiction: a faith that the powerful have already written off is, in fact, embodied in a flesh-and-blood man who will not break his oath even when soldiers come for him.

The tradition matters to the series as a test case for the question of whether an uncompromising ethical absolute can survive in a world of courts, sultans, and armed retainers. Clarethism offers no compromise clause, no severable terms, no exemption for the self-preservation of the believer. Its final recorded appearance is Yasnic's arrest, his fate left hanging as he is dragged from the scene, making the faith itself an open question at the edge of the text rather than a settled historical curiosity.

== The Practice ==
=== What It Is ===
Clarethism is a monotheistic faith whose entire doctrine reduces to one oath: a devotee must do no harm, lift no hand against a fellow person, and incite no other to do so. The stricture is sourced "in the old books" and is presented as an oath taken by followers rather than a merely advisory precept. Critically, the terms of the oath are not severable; a practitioner cannot honour one clause while setting aside another, which forecloses the possibility of a partial or situational adherence to the principle. - ch 21

=== Who Holds It ===
Yasnic describes himself as a priest of God in the Clarethism tradition and states plainly that he is the last of the order. No other living adherent is named or implied. The faith's transmission appears to have required an unbroken line of oath-bound priests, and with Yasnic's isolation the mechanism of succession is, in practice, extinguished. - ch 21

=== How It Is Regarded ===
At the court of [[His Tranquillity Oparan|Alkhand Oparan]], the tradition is treated as a curiosity already long dead. Maestro Ostravar, the Alkhand's court musician, dismisses Clarethism outright as "that old heresy" and asserts that it has been extinct for two generations. The encounter in which Yasnic identifies himself as its sole survivor occurs in this courtly setting, and the outcome-soldiers dragging Yasnic away-suggests that even in a court that tolerates the old musician's mockery, a living adherent who will not bend his oath is a person to be removed rather than engaged. - ch 21

== History ==
=== City of Last Chances ===
Clarethism is identified in [[City of Last Chances]] as the name, found "in the old books," for a faith whose adherents are bound by a single absolute stricture: "do no harm. Lift no hand against your fellows, nor incite others to" - ch 21. The [[His Tranquillity Oparan|Alkhand Oparan]]'s court musician Maestro Ostravar dismisses the tradition as "that old heresy," noting it has been dead for two generations, yet the faith persists in the person of [[Yasnic]], who describes himself as a priest of [[God]] in the Clarethism tradition and states plainly that he is the last of the order - "it's just me" - ch 21. The stricture is presented as an oath taken by followers, and Yasnic explains that its terms are not severable; a devotee cannot observe one clause while setting aside another - ch 21. Despite Maestro Ostravar's assertion that the faith is extinct, Yasnic's survival and his refusal to break the oath's terms make him the sole living practitioner, and he is dragged away by soldiers at the scene's close, leaving his fate in that moment unresolved - ch 21.

== Relationships ==
- '''[[Yasnic]]''' - the sole living practitioner and self-described last priest of the order; his survival of the faith and his refusal to sever any clause of the oath are the entire living content of Clarethism. He is seized by soldiers at the scene's close, and his fate is left unresolved. - ch 21
- '''Maestro Ostravar''' - the Alkhand's court musician who names Clarethism "that old heresy" and pronounces it dead, yet whose very act of naming it confirms that the tradition lingers in cultural memory even after its institutional death. - ch 21
- '''[[His Tranquillity Oparan|Alkhand Oparan]]''' - sovereign of Peor, in whose court the encounter takes place; the soldiers who seize Yasnic act under his authority, placing the faith's last practitioner at the mercy of a secular ruler. - ch 21

== Notable Quotes ==
:"do no harm. Lift no hand against your fellows, nor incite others to" - stricture of Clarethism, ''City of Last Chances'', ch 21

:"that old heresy" - Maestro Ostravar, ''City of Last Chances'', ch 21

:"it's just me" - [[Yasnic]], ''City of Last Chances'', ch 21

== Tags ==
#religion · #heresy · #pacifism · #extinct-faith

[[Category:Culture]]

Clarethism - Revision history

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