On True Power
I know the ultimate weapon. Humans commit folly after folly because they are afraid. Fear was once Humankind's most powerful ally, giving enormous potency to the instinct for suvival. Now, fear has become Humankind's greatest enemy, and such is the obtusemenss of my species that is members do not realize it is the most powerful element of Human existance.
Full Item Description
It is a simple brown booklet with loosely bound pages. There are dozens of 'editions' to this book, as a variety of scriptoriums and press shops have reproduced this classic work.
History
'On True Power', Phobi-can's thesis on 'the ultimate weapon' and man's natural state. It made such a powerful statement that the man's name came to mean a fear (Phobica or Phobia). It is viewed like Machiavelli's The Prince, as a guide book for the use of fear to defeat opponents and rule the weak. Unlike Machiavelli's book, this is not a satire. Phobi-can believed that fear was the ultimate power. Eventually he must of lost control over the people around him, for he was killed by political assassins.
Exerpt from the Introduction:
I know the ultimate weapon. Humans commit folly after folly because they are afraid. Fear was once Humankind's most powerful ally, giving enormous potency to the instinct for survival. Now, fear has become Humankind's greatest enemy, and such is the obtusemenss of my species that is members do not realize it is the most powerful element of Human existence.
It is what drives them to embrace leaders who offer nothing more than false promises of security and doctrines that assure them that they are exempt from the inevitable consequence of being born, and to destroy the planet with insane consumption that does nothing more than distract them from their own mortality. They venerate charlatans and deny what is necessary to their own well-being because they are afraid. The situation is exacerbated by one of evolution's cruelest jokes, the capability to deny to themselves what they are doing even as they are doing it.
I have taught the followers of the crown that to overcome fears they must first face it. Once cannot change until one has accepted oneself fully. I have also instructed the minions in manipulating the enemy's fear, in the use of fear as a tactical weapon. With it, the minion of the crown are invincible.
Fear is my weapon. I shall use fear.
Magic/Cursed Properties
None. Though there are legends that hint about them.
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? Responses (5)
I like it as a non-magical item best. Every world should have books like these: classic works of political theory/philosophy.
I do like this more than the magical version (which you find by following the links)
Note also, that a book of this format will be surely frowned upon by the church, if not outright banned. There's got to be such books, beyond the average tomes containing nakedness, or, yawn, dark magics. In the long term, a book like this may be considered more dangerous.
Good work.
I am sure various groups and even governments have denouced or even banned the work. However that said. I see this book as from 'a long time ago', kind of like a Greek or Egyptian scroll. Or The Prince in our own times. It is a work of some scholarly note that occasionally creeps out of the dusty tomes of acadamia.
The Prince was flailed upon when it was first published. Then after a while, people got over it and got upset about new things.. forgetting it. Really that is a shame. Phobi-cans' work is just as dangerous now as it was then. Just like The Prince.
A good item, as Iain said.
