Prosperity

From A Children's Primer of the Way

The Path of Prosperity

Not the wealthy miser, nor the gluttonous sot nor the lucky gambler can truly be called Prosperous.
True Prosperity is the culmination of effort and labour, sweat and toil, and celebrating the fruits of that labour.

The well-earned feast by the roaring hearth. The unnatural bounty of the spellbound mine. The city-wide day of celebration paid for with the Merchant Prince’s purse. Prosperity is all of these, and this is what comes to mind when the uneducated think of it. Wealth and luxury, celebration and finery – all of these are the fruits of Prosperity. But so, too, is the work it takes to harvest that fruit. The fireside feast is paid for by hard graft in the fields. The mine is tended by the magician’s skill as well as the miners’. The Merchant Prince’s celebration marks the culmination of a hard year of trading, negotiating and saving, of cunning and wise investment, and of her entire Guild’s hard work – and by this her whole Guild have earned the right to show off. Of course, there are other ways to come by great wealth, and other things one can do with it, but they are not true Prosperity as the Way understands it. The wealthy miser who refuses to spend his money for fear of losing it forgets that his next incarnation will be starting from scratch. The gluttonous sot who spends only on himself is left alone and disrespected, admired by no-one. The lucky gambler who spends money she never earned may win friends for a time, but those who follow the course of good fortune are as fickle as luck itself. All priests of Prosperity can agree that selfishness and overindulgence are unvirtuous, but luck is the most debated aspect of Prosperity-theology. In the past, Marcher theologians in particular have occasionally condemned those whose efforts were supplemented by good fortune as undeserving and unvirtuous, a view influenced by their distaste for the distant memory of their former Dawnish Noble masters. Such sects tended to come under fire from – not surprisingly – the rich and influential of the Empire, and are largely discredited in the modern age. More persistent are the subtle attempts of some historians – mainly Highborn Archivists – to quietly erase the element of fortune from great tales of human Prosperity and other Virtues. In this, as in many things, they have butted heads with the Torchbearers. True Prosperity is the celebration of earned success, whatever form it takes, and the spirit and effort it takes to earn that celebration. Whether they did it by the sweat of their brow, the skill of their hands, their study of the Realms or the silver on their tongue, the truly Prosperous are those who can look upon all that they have achieved and know for certain that they deserve a night’s rest with those who helped them achieve it. Tomorrow, though, the work begins anew.

To the one without Virtue, Prosperity is oft misunderstood as the pursuit of wealth and luxury, yet neither the wealthy miser, gluttonous sot or lucky gambler can truly be called Prosperous. True Prosperity is the culmination of effort and labour, sweat and toil, and celebrating the fruits of that labour. The Prosperous are: the farmer who toils to bring in the harvest and enjoys their bounty; the magician who strives to master a magic and then uses their newfound art; the merchant who competes fiercely for each coin they earn and then spends it in celebration. True Prosperity enriches those around them as well as the individual, and so what may seem the pursuit for the sake of the self is to the benefit of the many.

Guidance on the Path

Through study of the 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:

• Strive, toil, and claim the just rewards of your labours.
• Enjoy the fruits of your labour today; no one knows what the morrow holds.
• There are three things that should never be made: Food that goes uneaten, coin that goes unspent and magic that goes unused.
• The Prosperous are not selfish; all that is worthwhile is shared with those who deserve it.
• Despise the thieving bandit, the lazy wastrel, the grasping miser and those who take without giving.

Paragons and Exemplars

Paragons and Exemplars of Prosperity are considered reasonably easy to identify owing to their efforts and labour, and how they use - or share - the fruits of those labours.

Paragons

Recognised Paragons of Prosperity include:

• Good Walder of the Marches.

Exemplars

Recognised Exemplars of Prosperity include:

• The Little Mother of the League.
• Long Tom Goodfellow, healer and brewer whose legacy still encourages charitable acts and pilgrimages today.
• Zemress, the Blade of the Isles, who encourages hard work and investment as well as the taking-up of arms to defend what is yours.

Symbols, icons and trappings

The Path of Prosperity has many symbols across the Empire but one of the most common is the Wheatsheaf. This is symbolic of harvest time, which is widely known as a time of prosperity. Many Priests and Pilgrims of this Path may have a stalk of wheat or other grain upon them. Along similar lines an Apple or a Cup or a Coin are known symbols of this Path.

It is quite common for Priests and Pilgrims of the Path of Prosperity to carry waterskins, or bear fruit or other food, to enjoy or share as Virtue guides them. It is not unusual for some to also carry an oaken club as Good Walder did.