Politics Book of Ios
USN Informational Briefing – The Book of Ios
PRETEXT:
The Crusaders are no longer as active as they once were, however many of the soldiers of the Antarean Star Empire believe in the same religion, that of emperor worship. In order to more completely understand the mental workings of your opponent this briefing on the primary aspect of the Iosian religion has been created. This is REQUIRED TEXT for all USN officers Ranks CADET and above.
TEXT:
The Book of Ios is the main tenet of the Church of Ios. It was supposedly dictated by the First Emperor to his faithful and loyal retainer, Saint Aromir Ios. The Book of Ios is in fact made of three separate volumes, or books.
The Book of Journeys
The First Book (The Book of Journeys) details the Imperial Family's departure from the Origin Planet (Earth) and then, their escape from the deprivations of the First Systems, the original colonial powers, to found their own system. It then tells about the First Emperor’s adventures exploring the Galaxy, seeing a dangerous and violent place without order. He travels through many situations, both good and evil, before returning to his home system. He tells first hand accounts of the corruption he discovered during his participation in the [old] Antarean Federation and the lack of civility inherent to that government. It ends with the text of his call to the public for a new government. The First Book examines the morals and ideals of the Emperor himself as well as displaying the need for the Empire. It also traces the Emperor's Bloodline to the pre-Exodus period.
The Book of Rule
The Second Book (The Book of Rule) traces the establishment of the [First] Antarean Empire. It details the divine influence the Emperor receives from his Imperial Ancestors when he encounters problems and while he sets up the laws of the Empire. In this book the Emperor navigates through the problems of establishing an Empire. He deals with Rebellion and Resistance before a peaceful Empire is established.
The Book of Life and Law
In the Third Book (The Book of Life and Law) The Emperor lays down a body of laws. He also gives advice to Ios on how to live a good and loyal life. There is then a series of pieces of general advice and a collection of vague proverbs. These proverbs seem to be for the purpose of illustrating various moral and tactical doctrines; however some have seen strangely accurate parallels between the tales in the third book and the events of real life. Others doubt the tales to be prophesies and see them simply as rules to live their life. After these are dictated to Ios, apparently over a series of decades, the Emperor sees his own infirmities and realizes that the time is soon approaching for him to join his ancestors. He details his bloodline and selects his successor, based on the similarities between the two, genetically, mentally, and physically. The book ends with an astonished Saint Ios seeing the dying Emperor transcend into the heavens. Afterwards a beam of light punches through a huge planetary thunderstorm and allows Ios to transcribe the Emperor's final words and a description of His transcendence, thus completing The Book. (While official historians claim that this is a metaphor for cremation, the Faithful believe that this was a literal transcendence in which the Emperor’s spirit visibly left the body and entered the heavens where he then controlled the weather to put the entire planet into mourning.)
AFTERTEXT:
This Briefing is marked for MILITARY and PUBLIC use.
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