Vigilance

From A Children's Primer of the Way

The Path of Vigilance

The Virtue of Vigilance is popular amongst those charged with ensuring the safety of things precious; from the inquisitor who seeks out treacherous cultists, to the scrivener who scrutinizes their Dhomiro’s records against fraud and theft, to the shepherds in the fields. The threats to the Empire and its Citizens are many and varied and all must be prepared for, guarded against and actively opposed lest they tear down civilisation. Not all threats carry arms like the barbarians; some come with smiles and lies, like false-faced Eternals, or even lie in the hearts of weak citizens. Through diligence, detail and dedication in all things does one person’s vigilance safeguard another from harm.

Guidance on the Path

Through meditation on the auras of Vigilance, and by studyin the lives of Paragons and Exemplars, the priests of The Way have gleaned insight into the heart of the Virtue and how best to pursue it. There are collections of parables, tales, sayings and teachings that distill this for Imperial Citizens to learn from. The following are a handful of teachings and sayings deemed to be essential to understanding the Path:

• Seek out the poison in your neighbour’s fields, lest your own crops be blighted.
• Be alert to all dangers; within and without.
• Seek out falsehood and expose the truth.
• Prepare for malice, yet thwart malice before it strikes against you.
• Despise that which threatens what you watch over, whether by malice, lies, folly or carelessness.

Paragons and Exemplars

Attempts to catalogue Paragons and Exemplars of Vigilance have met with mixed success. In some cases, the disaster they prevent or the catastrophe that goes averted results in their heroism going unsung. More notable are those who publicly expose traitors, infiltrators and black-hearted villains. Recognised Paragons and Exemplars of Vigilance include:

• The legendary Paragon known as The Sentinel is credited with building many ancient towers and fortresses that still stand today.
• The Paragon Vardas the Witch-Hunter of Varushka dedicated his life to tracking down and bringing to justice the criminals who preyed on his people.

Symbols, icons and trappings

The Path of Vigilance has many symbols across the Empire, but one of the most common is The Tower, which is symbolic not only of The Sentinel’s ancient works, but also epitomises the importance of defending what is precious, and in making the effort to prepare against threats. Along similar lines, another common symbol of the path is a Bell to symbolise the means of sounding a warning. Priests and Pilgrims of the Path of Vigilance will often carry a bell or whistle for precisely the purpose of alerting others to danger they have identified.

Further Reading

• You can learn about the various spiritual roleplaying effects created by priests dedicated to Vigilance here.
• You can learn about the skills that priests can use to safeguard the virtue of Vigilance here.