Tzom Tammuz and Fasting

Yesterday was Tzom Tammuz, the beginning of the Three Weeks that lead up to Tisha b'Av, the anniversary of the destruction of both the First and Second Temples (and if you believe all the stories, basically everything bad that ever happened to the Jewish people as a whole). Since it's a fast day, I woke up at 5 a.m. to eat before sunrise...and then I went to work, which was probably my first mistake. It's hard for a fast to serve the purpose of focusing the mind if I'm just doing what I do normally anyway and always distracting myself with doctors' names.

I don't usually find it that onerous, and on Ta'anit Esther I don't recall having any problems at all, but then again, sunrise and sunset were four hours closer then, so I woke up at the normal time and just ate dinner a little later. And on Yom Kippur I was fine, but I also spent almost that entire evening and day in services, which does a lot to focus the mind. On Tzom Tammuz, I came home and I was fine for a bit, but near the end I mostly lay on the floor for a bit and thought...which i guess counts as focusing my mind? If the goal of fasting is to clear the mind, well, it worked, but it didn't really allow for anything to come in to fill it. I stared into space for a bit, helped by schoolpsychnerd being at a conference in Washington D.C., then I was hit with roleplaying inspiration, got up and wrote for a bit, and then I realized it was after sunset and went off and ate dinner.

One thing I have noticed as I’ve gotten older is that I no longer dismiss tradition out of hand nor think that all ritual is ludicrous. There are plenty of traditions that are awful and I’m sure I don’t need to illuminate them here, but I don’t really think that the modern nihilism that throws out everything from the past is actually a superior approach. You could ask me what a good approach for determining what tradition is valuable and what isn’t is, and I’d probably say “I have no idea,” but maybe if we took the age of a custom into account as merely one of a number of factors, instead of just jumping to a binary “Older is better”/“Long practice is meaningless” approach, it would be better? This isn’t something I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about, admittedly, but it is part of the reason I do a lot of stuff that people at our synagogue might not even consider.

But I remain with the question of why I did it. I mean, I could say that it's obligated, but so is keeping kosher and I don't do that (other than free range, sustainably grown, organic, blah blah food--what I've seen some people call "hippie kosher"). I could come at it from a rationalist explanation that willpower needs to be exercised in order to maintain its strength, and I did set out some wine and bread and a glass of water on the table as soon as I got home even though I didn't eat or drink for a few hours after until sunset. But that wasn't the reason I set out with when I decided to wake up at 5 a.m. so I could eat before sunrise. I'm not sure I had a reason I could communicate with others.

Do I need one? One of the great quotes from the Torah, at least in my opinion, is נעשה ונשמע (na'aseh v'nishma, "We will do and we will hear") from Exodus 24:7, which is usually interpreted to mean that understanding comes from action. There's also usually a hierarchy, where doing without understanding is placed on a higher level than understanding without doing. I'm not usually much of one for gnostic understanding, but I can see how observing the fasts is part of a process, and "why did I do it?" isn't as important as waiting and developing an answer for "why do I do it?"

Life is a process, after all, and the search for enlightenment is valuable even if enlightenment is never attained.

Warlords of the Mushroom Kingdom: Martial Orders, Part II

I wrote a few more. Hopefully, this provides a good cross-section of the kind of thing I'm trying to do with these.

The Heavenly Righteousness Society
Originally rooted in a Chaian peasant rebellion, the Heavenly Righteousness Society's ideals spread like wildfire throughout most of Agarica, mutating to fit local conditions as they went, and now nearly every country has its own version of the Society. While the original focus of the Chaian society was on tax relief and draft protests, most Society branches are now primarily focused on teaching the peasantry self-defense.

In many countries, striking a noble is a terrible crime and the peasantry are forbidden to own weaponry, so the Society trains its members to roll with attacks, misdirect their opponents, retain mobility, and otherwise win--or at least, survive--without having to directly fight back. Even stripped of its political goals, the Society is very unpopular among the nobility, but there are enough dangers in the wilds that it can't be entirely banned. And usually, those portions of the Society who do still have political aspirations use that to try to spread their goals to the apolitical sects, causing a constant back-and-forth over the purpose of the Heavenly Righteousness Society and a low level of simmering unrest.

Requirements: Athletics ••, Dodge ••
Style: The Society practice the Rebellion Demon Style, which was built on the lack of peasant martial training and focuses on avoiding enemies and staying mobile. Its practitioners are highly mobile and able to avoid nearly every blow that comes their way, but it is of little use when taken on the offense. Rebellion Demon does not permit the use of armor and is fought without weapons.
Style Skill: Dodge
Benefit: When the Martial Artist purchases the Seven-Breath Decision Charm, they may buy 2 pts of the Creeper mutation. When they buy the Rebellious Demon Form Charm, they may buy 3 pts of the Jumper mutation. When they master the style, they may buy the 4 pts version of the Wall-Crawler mutation.

[mechanics snipped]

Petals of the Black Rose
The Black Rose is the Muskalan guild of assassins, which has a branch in each of the trade princes' city-states and even some in the other countries of Agarica. The guild is named after the custom of delivering a bouquet of black roses to a target for whom an assassination has been contracted, and the Petals are the most skilled assassins in the guild, sent after those targets that require supreme guile and stealth to kill.

While the guild is legal in the Muskalan Confederacy, where assassination is a part of business and the proper conduct of assassins is strictly regulated, this is not always the case in other countries, and so chuzan fill the guild's upper ranks but the guild is open to anyone from anywhere who is skilled enough to survive the initiation and willing to murder their targets in cold blood. One infamous Petal is even a kong from Pithek, who has never divulged his reason for coming to Agarica or why he became an assassin.

The Petals don't tend to spend their time in the guild houses, but are sent out into the world and take on cover identities and cover jobs as the guild tries to develop as wide a net as possible. When a contract comes on, the archives are consulted and a Petal close to the target receives the contract at the same time as the target receives their black rose signal that their life is now forfeit. As such, most Petals give relatively normal lives for large portions of the year, with little or not sign of their allegiance or loyalty.

Requirements: Backing (Black Rose) •, Melee ••, Stealth ••, Thrown •
Style: The petals practice the Black Rose Style, which relies on stealth to achieve their assassinations. It allows its wielder to become a peerless assassin, but in open battle several of its most potent techniques are useless. Black Rose does not permit the use of armor and is fought with slashing swords, knives, thrown knives, and shuriken.
Style Skill: Melee/Thrown. Either ability may meet the minimum required to purchase Charms in Black Rose Style.
Benefit: When they buy the Form Charm, Petals may puchase the Skulker mutation. When they buy the final Charm, they may buy the 6 pts version of the Invisibility mutation.

[mechanics snipped]

The Temple of the Holy Flame
Originally founded by a merging between followers of Nyahré and those of the Chaian deity Rai, the Temple of the Cleansing Flame is now an organzation with bases all across Agarica and occasional expeditions into Pithek. Part reliigous organization, part knightly order, and part brutal thug, the members are officially called the Knights of the Holy Flame, but are known throughout Agarica as the witchhunters.

The witchhunters travel in small bands throughout Agarica, seeking out necromancy, demonology, cultists of the Darkness beyond the Star Road, the unquiet dead, and other perversions against all that is good and holy and putting it down with fire and sword. And if that was all they were known for, they would have a sterling reputation, but the witchhunters have a very expansive definition of what counts as witchery and are not particularly sad if a few innocents get caught in the fires. Those witchhunters who know the Temple's distinctive form of combat can create fire that distinguishes between the tainted and the pure, but the majority who are unable or incapable of learning Golden Janissary Style often assume that being burned is a better end than being corrupted, leaving smoke and ash in their wake.

Despite that, the witchhunters catch enough actually outbreaks of diabolism--and pay enough in taxes and gifts to the ruling powers--that they're allowed to operate nearly everywhere. The exception is the Dragon Empire, where the Circle of Xhamekh openly consorts with demons from beyond the Star Road with the support of the Dragon Emperor, and in Makai, where the blood-drinking Kurokyura rule from shrouded castles in the mountains and the population lives in fear. The Temple has been forced to slip parties of witchhunters into those two countries by stealth and agitate for rebellion, with only limited success.

Requirements: Lore •, Melee ••, Occult •
Style: The witchhunters practice the Golden Janissary Style, which burns creatures of darkness with purifying flames. Against its intended targets it is supremely potent, but against those who don't bear any taint it is of minimal effect. Golden Janissary permits light armor and is fought with spears or lances.
Style Skill: Melee
Benefit: When they buy the Form Charm, witchhunters may purchase the 4 pts version of the Spirit Sense mutation applied to creatures of darkness. When they master the style, they may purchase the Spirit Walker mutation for 2 pts, with the limitation that it only applies to creatures of darkness.

[mechanics snipped]