[GUILD] The Enlightened

[Araye]

I am pleased to announce the formation of a new guild:  The Enlightened.

History: 

The Enlightened were formed by several of the leaders of the Dark Shadows Guild just as it was disbanded with the sudden loss of the guild leader.  The Enlightened follow the teachings of Kaetlynn McDhai, The Enlightened One, and formed a guild in the structure of that which they believe.

The members of the guild believe that we are all one; that the sum of our individual consciousnesses produces the Universal Consciousness or single understanding of all that has been discovered so far.  That as living beings our purpose is to live and experience life to the fullest, feeding the Universal Consciousness information from which it continues to understand itself.

The guild leadership is composed of the Guru Illuminati.  The Guru Illuminati must gather the information on the issue before the high council from each member of the guild and add their own experiences to the understanding of the issue and come to a decision based on these factors.  The Guru Illuminati then meet, discuss, and vote on the issue.  The decisions made by the Guru Illuminati are then given to The Enlightened One to be executed.  Because The Enlightened One is in constant communion with the Universal Consciousness, she must be summoned to the material plane during a special ceremony when the need arises.  Day to day leadership is therefore in the hands of the Guru Illuminati.

Purpose: 

The guild exists for those that seek to understand the true definition of being.  We strive to attain communion with the Universal Consciousness as has Kaetlynn McDhai.

Alignment:

If one were to classify the guild's alignment it would be neutral good; however, we recognize that all living beings have the same purpose and that no matter how heinous an individual's action, the Universal Consciousness learns from that action and therefore serves its purpose.  We also recognize that just because something is lawful, that doesn't necessarily make it good nor does an unlawful action automatically define it as evil.  Good is in the intent and if one must break a law to do good, that law is broken.

Rules: 

   1. We are proud to be a role playing guild and encourage our members to participate fully within the PlaneShift realm.  This is not limited to role play and includes making use of the character advancement system developed by the Developers and Game Masters of PlaneShift.

   2. We expect our members to actually play PlaneShift on a regular basis.  Inactive players will be demoted one rank if they have gone inactive between two Formal Ceremonies. Of course this rule is flexible in the event of unexpected circumstances.  The demotion continues until you are Level 0 and expelled from the guild.

   3. All out of character [OOC] actions or conversations are to be kept within the guild chat unless interacting with a non guild member.  In this case, /tell is the preferred method and finally [bracketed conversation].

   4. We expect all members to participate fully within the guild which includes speaking one's mind, explaining their positions, and offering their experience and opinions on all matters.  Non participation is grounds for demotion.

   5. The leadership must use the information gained from Rule 4 in their decisions.

   6. The guild is also proud to be a member of the Sworn Council of Yliakum.  In keeping with the spirit of the purpose of the SCoY and promote peace within Yliakum, we will bring all issues we have with other guilds before the Council for mediation before taking matters into our own hands.

   7. As we continue to learn, becoming one with the Universal Consciousness, additional rules may be added or existing ones redefined.


Ranks:

Awakened - Just joined the guild. - Register on The Enlightened's Forum page and create a character profile.

Luminous Disciple One - You have just begun your education. - Earn 25 guild points.

Luminous Disciple Two - You are continuing your education and help those junior to you. - Earn an additional 35 guild points.

Luminous Disciple Three - You are now completing your basic education and have begun to assist the Teachers in educating those around you. - Earn an additional 40 guild points and submit a request for a guild vote.  If you haven't chosen a Division within the guild in which you will support, you must do that now before you are promoted.

Luminous Teacher - Having completed your basic training, you are now a recruiter for the guild. - Recruit and teach 3 members that attain at least LD2.  Submit your characters history and a request for a guild vote.

Illuminated Master - You are now able to award promotion points and assign guild points.  You may choose to become a Sectional Leader at this time. - You have become a Sectional Leader and proven your leadership qualities.  Submit a request for a guild vote.

Seer of Light - You are highly respected member and teacher within the guild.  You have assumed great responsibility as a Sectional or Divisional Leader. - When a position on the high council becomes available, you may submit your request to become Guru Illuminatus.

Guru Illuminati - Guild Leadership (High Council Member)

The Enlightened One - Summoned only when necessary.


Please note the above are basic guidelines.  Further information can be found on either our website or forum page.

Should this guild appeal to you, please feel free to contact any guild member about becoming one of The Enlightened.

Thank you for your time and interest.

Araye Bayebes,
Guru Illuminatus,
The Enlightened

Forum: http://enlightguild.proboards102.com/
Website: http://www.the-enlightened.com/

© 2006 The Enlightened

[Raedin]

This sounds more like a religion than a guild.  Is this some sort of masonic guild or something?

[lanser]

* lanser bows in respect.

An excellent post I wish all guild threads had this much effort put into them

[Pestilence]

Sounds like it has potential but also something I think will be hard to roleplay. Specially by your new members. Also hard to explain to new members as to how it affects actions IC and you'll have to make sure the guildmembers have a basic understanding so everyone explains the basics the same

[Araye]

@Raedin:  I hope I haven't offended you.  It is not so much a religion as it is an attempt to understand being - guild members have decided to partake in that quest.

@ Lanser:  Thank you for your kind words!

@ Pestilence:  Yes, I agree.  It will be hard for the new members of the guild.  I am currently writing a "Tome of Enlightenment" that will be studied by the LD1-3 members.  By the time they become teachers (recruiters) they should be fully familiar with the teachings of the guild and be able to answer non-guildmember's questions.  So we do expect some confusion with the lower ranks.  This gives the Teachers and above a training task.

Thank you all for your comments!

Araye

[Raedin]

Araye, I'm not offended.  Sort of intrigued maybe.     Is there more to the history?  Is there more to the "belief system"?  If so, where can I find it? 

[Araye]

Hi Raedin,

Yes there is more.  However, the actual "Tome of Enlightenment" is only available to guild members.  It is broken down into three volumes.  The first volume is available to Luminous Disciples One and gives a brief over view of our beliefs and explains the guild structure.  As the member progresses to LD2, they receive volume 2.  This is more indepth knowledge of what we believe and how it compares to the other common belief systems in Hydlaa (or anywhere actually).  Finally, volume three (for LD3) is a heavy dose of the belief system - delves into quantum physics.  I have chosen to disseminate the knowledge in this manner as it gives the guild member a chance to see if the guild is truly for them without giving away it's secrets.  It also gives them something to look forward to, establishes a hierarchy within the guild, and allows the guild members to roleplay a character that progresses from freshman to senior to instructor to leader.  I guess one could also look at it from the perspective of a "monistary", but I try to stay away from religious symbology.  I don't want this to be considered a cult.   

Oh and the history will be recorded in another book entitled, "The Enlightening of Kaetlynn McDhai" which has yet to be written.  I thought it best to finish the Tome before moving on to a novella.  Besides I still have a long way to go with the Tome; it's about 35% complete.

Araye

© 2006 The Enlightened

[Araye]

So that interested persons can get a better feel for who the Guru Illuminati (Guild Leaders) are, we have posted our histories under the Guru Illuminati tab on our website:

http://the-enlightened.ifastnet.com/Index.htm

We hope you enjoy these short stories!

Araye Bayebes

[Fayodin]

I dont really get the purpose that much though or how you are going to RP it :/   I'd bet that you won't even do much concerning your purpose and just level/do rp events.  I dont really see it going anywhere, but hey just my opinion.

[Araye]

Thank you for your post Fayodin.

The "purpose" - "to understand the true definition of being" is begun once you start to study the Tome of Enlightenment.  Unfortunately, this is a secret Guild Members only book.  The book is designed to give the new members a piece by piece introduction to existance as explained to Araye Bayebes by Kaetlynn McDhai.  It builds a foundation and then adds a structure and finally ends with the central idea.

Because we give the information out in this manner, the guild member roleplays a character that is learning the path to enlightenment, enabling them to make many mistakes and form many misconceptions as they learn just like a student of anything else would.  We already have several excellent students that have shown this system works.  They began with one understanding and have now changed as they grew in knowledge.

We are a roleplaying guild.  We have many members that are students and roleplay students of various levels of knowledge and we have teachers and guides also of varying degrees of knowledge - all striving to be like The Enlightened One.

We have ceremonies and rituals that take place in Hydlaa, where each member has a specific task to be performed.  We have invited the guild that we joined in an alliance with to witness and participate in one already.  We require each character to write a detailed history by the time they submit their application to the rank of Master which is publically displayed and we expect them to adhere to that history and roleplay that character as written.  And we have plans to host a role play event shortly.  We are active members of the Sworn Council of Yliakum and uphold it's founding principles.  [Araye has been killed once already for trying to help negotiate a peace between two guild - lol]  I think we do a lot of roleplay. 

But you are right as well, many of our students also participate in advancing their character stats and we also love to participate in roleplay events such as those hosted by The Vespers and Scions for example.

As for it not going anywhere, maybe you're right, but at the moment I am having a good time and I think you'll find our members are enjoying themselves as well.

So, if this guild interests you, please see any member!

Araye

© 2006 The Enlightened

[Fayodin]

yea...I reread it and figured it out...I must have really really misread it.  anyway, I'd love to meet u guys in-game and good luck.

[Raedin]

Are you guys allied with other guilds?  Who are they?

[Zacharias]

This really sounds like an interesting concept, are you excepting new people to the game also?

[Araye]

Hi Raedin, we are currently members of "The Light"; an alliance between the Wrath of Azure, Rays of Light, and The Enlightened.

Hi Zacharias, yes we accept all that hear the calling.  Just ask a guildmember in game that you'd like more information.  Also on the forum site http://enlightguild.proboards102.com/ there is a board for those that wish to apply as well as a lot more information about who we are.

Araye

[Araye]

Sorry for the double post, but I need to make a correction.  We are no longer aligned with any guild formally due to circumstances outside our control.

Araye Bayebes
Guru Illuminatus
The Enlightened