Core Philosophy
Source: Oathbond World Bible (Final), §2
The ideas the Known World is built on. They are held in common by five city-states, argued over in all of them, and absent in the sixth.
The pages
- True Mastery
- Authority is earned every day by inspiring loyalty; force is a confession of weakness.
- What Might Means
- Every city agrees authority comes from strength. They disagree on strength of what — will, skill, mind, line, character, or simply strength.
- The Natural Order
- People have natures; natures differ; the order of the world rests on those differences. Three claims, one undisputed and two contested.
- The Pact of Reason
- Reason without nature is hollow, nature without reason is brutal — and the treaty that ended a war and made a person's status portable across cities.
- The Contested Ground
- The argument over slavery, as the world holds it: defenders, reformers, abolitionists, and the questions neither side can answer.
How they fit
The Oathbond is what makes all of this enforceable without an enforcer. True Mastery judges those who hold authority; the Natural Order and station decide who holds it; the Pact of Reason sets the two in balance and carries status from city to city. The Contested Ground is where the whole structure is tested, and it has not finished being tested.