|
Post by admiral on Feb 13, 2019 10:11:10 GMT
Written by: Dînadan
"And Lo I sayeth unto you my Highest Commandment is 'Children, Obey thy Father in All Things.' And I decree that this shall hold true beyond the bonds of blood.
A family shall obey their head of the family, for he is their father and they his children.
A family head shall obey the head of his House whom I name Despot, for the despot is the father to their house and thus the family heads are his children.
A Despot shall obey the head of his Household whom I name Overlord, for the Overlord is the father of their Household and thus the Despots are his children.
An Overlord shall obey the Sorcerer of his Court whom I name Prophet, for the Prophet is father of the Court and thus the Overlord's are his children.
A Prophet shall obey the High-Priest whom I name Regent, for the High-Priest is father to the Cult and thus the Prophets are his children.
The Regent Shall Obey me whom I name Hashut, for I Am his Father, and through him Father to All, and as it has been written, my Highest Commandment is 'Children Obey thy Father in All Things.'
- Inscription found on the first of the one hundred and forty-four bronze tablets in the Temple of Hashut atop Mingol Zharr-Naggrund, each displaying one of the one hundred and forty-four Commandments of Hashut given to the Twelve Fathers when they signed the Covenant of Hashut and pledged their allegiance to him. Smaller, stone versions of the tablets are found throughout the Dawi Zharr empire and can be found in almost any building. Many Dawi Zharr in positions of authority favour this one and display it prominently near their thrones.
|
|
|
Post by admiral on Feb 13, 2019 10:12:18 GMT
Written by: Dînadan"And as I have set thee above all other races, I decree my Second Commandment to be 'Ye shall toil for the Glory of the Dawi Zharr people.' For I am your Father and as with all fathers I wish to see my children prosper.By my Fiat you have been set above all other races, and by your actions you will strive to stay there.By my Design you have been given a hard land to rule, and by your actions you will labour to master it.By my Contract you have been anointed with my blood, and by your actions you will endeavour to spread my Rule.By my Favour you have been granted my blessing, and by your actions you will validate my faith in thee.For I am your Father and as it has been written, my Second Commandment is 'Ye Shall Toil for the Glory of the Dawi Zharr people.'"- Inscription found on the second of the one hundred and forty-four bronze tablets in the Temple of Hashut atop Mingol Zharr-Naggrund. The official interpretation of this is to reinforce the First Commandment; each Dawi derives his authority from his father as defined by the first commandment, and he derives it from his and so on and thus ultimately all orders are derived from the High-Priest and through him from Hashut and in turn thus must be for the glory of the Dawi Zharr as a whole. The more ambitious Dawi Zharr see the second commandment as holy sanction to undermine their rivals or even their 'fathers' for the Dawi Zharr despise weakness and thus disposing the weak is for the glory of the race as a whole and they will even move openly against rivals if they can justify it being for the betterment of the Empire.
|
|
|
Post by admiral on Feb 13, 2019 10:13:50 GMT
Written by: Dînadan
"And as I set a father above all, I decree that my Third Commandment shall be 'A Father Owns all his Children and Wives and all their Possessions.' And I decree this to hold unto death and only holy writ may break the bonds.
For a child must obey their father in all things, and thus must offer up any and all possessions when ordered to by their father. And thus those goods belong to the father and are held by the child in trust. And in a father's absence, I decree his eldest male heir shall stand in his stead and arbitrate on his behalf.
And when a father dies, his authority passes to his eldest living son. If he has no living sons, then it shall pass on to his eldest living male heir. And if he have none of these, onto his nearest male kin as decreed by the Order of the Clans. And he who inherits shall now be the father.
And as my consorts are shackled to me so to shall the bond betwixt father and daughter be broken and a new one forged between her and her husband. And he shall own her unto death whereupon she shall be rebound to her father.
And as these bonds hold between father and child so too shall they hold between me and you, for I am your Father, and you my Children, and thus are my property for as it has been written, my Third Commandment is 'A Father Owns all his Children and Wives and all their Possessions.'
- Inscription found on the third of the one hundred and forty-four bronze tablets in the Temple of Hashut atop Mingol Zharr-Naggrund. From this commandment arises the practise of indentured servitude and a more flexible approach to family than in western dwarf society. As a Dawi is considered the property of his father, it is commonly accepted that a father may sell his sons to another as he would a slave, whereupon the new father may elect to adopt the son or elect to sign a contract with the old father for a fixed term. However while this is commonly regarded as acceptable, it is still relatively rare as everything a Dawi owns, including his sons belong to his father, and thus he may not sell without his father's consent. As a result, these sales are usually restricted between those with a 'father' in common. Another common application is a father who wishes to remove a son from the line of succession; for example, if a father has three sons and the middle son is out of favour, it is common for him to sell the third son to the first, thereby making him the first son's son.
|
|
|
Post by admiral on Feb 13, 2019 10:16:05 GMT
Written by: Dînadan 'And as I have decreed thee to be superior to all other races, I decree my Fourth Commandment to be 'Thou Shalt Master the Other Races and Yoke Them with Your Might.' For you will suffer no Lord save your fathers and through them me.
I grant you mastery over the Greenskins in all their forms, Orc, Hobgoblin, Goblin, Gnoblar and Snotling alike.
I grant you mastery over the frail Elves, for weakness must be despised in all forms.
I grant you mastery over the Children of the Old Ones, though far off they be.
I grant you mastery over the Children of Chaos, mutant, Gor, Ungor and Fimir.
I grant you mastery over the Daemon, who swim the Empyrean.
I grant you mastery over Mankind, whose time has yet to come.
I grant you mastery over Dragonkind, from greatest to smallest.
I grant you mastery over Ogrekind, from fattest to slimmest.
I grant you mastery over all beasts that walk the land, swim in the seas and fly in the air.
And these masteries I grant you from this day forth as your birthright, for I have decreed thee to be superior to all other races and as it has been written, my Fourth Commandment is 'Thou Shalt Master the Other Races and Yoke Them with Your Might.'
- Inscription found on the fourth of the one hundred and forty-four bronze tablets in the Temple of Hashut atop Mingol Zharr-Naggrund. It is from here that Dawi Zharr justify their enslavement of other races. This commandment has caused some discussion among the Sorcerer-Prophets in days past as the tablet neglects to mention several races such as the Skaven or Giants. This was reconciled by a decree that any race not explicitly stated is to be considered a beast, and thus the right to enslave them falls under the last mastery. There has also been some speculation that this is not the original Fourth Commandment and that the tablet baring the original was lost or destroyed at some point, accounting for how some of the races mentioned were unknown to the Dawi at the time the Commandments were written. Others counter this argument with the claim that Hashut's knowledge and foresight are greater than any Dawi, and that it was he, not the Twelve Fathers who wrote the Commandments.
|
|
|
Post by admiral on Feb 13, 2019 10:17:28 GMT
Written by: Dînadan "And as I have laid out the Order of your race, so too shall I lay out the Order of your lives and thus I decree my Fifth Commandment to be 'Know Thy Place in My Plan and Accept it.' For you are my possessions to do with as I will.
I have seen far beyond your ken, and thus have devised a plan to the Glory of Me and thee.
You each have a part to play in my plan, you are each a cog in a Divine machine and like any machine, a cog broken or out of alignment will be the ruin of the whole.
And as already commanded, you are to work always towards the Glory of the Dawi Zharr people and thus must play the part I have chosen for you.
For I am your Father, and in all things you must obey my Will, and as it has been written, my Fifth Commandment is 'Know Thy Place in My Plan and Accept it.'"
- Inscription found on the fifth of the one hundred and forty-four bronze tablets in the Temple of Hashut atop Mingol Zharr-Naggrund. On the surface, this commandment appears contradictory to the sentiments in the previous commandments that Dawi Zharr are supposed to strive to dominate all others, however most Dawi reconcile this by taking the stance that their striving for upwards mobility within their society is all part of Hashut's plan, and that they should each seek to find their place within society and that doing so is part of the plan. Those that don't take this view tend to be less ambitious or dullards and thus content with the positions they are born or luck into.
|
|
|
Post by admiral on Feb 13, 2019 10:19:34 GMT
Written by: Dînadan "
"
- The one hundred and forty-fourth of the one hundred and forty-four bronze tablets in the Temple of Hashut atop Mingol Zharr-Naggrund is blank. It bears no mark on its surface, nor can any make one, save for the twelve handprints of the Twelve Fathers in their own blood that each of the tablets bear. Legend holds that Hashut will return and reveal the commandment at the Time of Ending, sealing the doom of the Dawi Zharr. Over the millennia, more than a few Sorcerer-Prophets have claimed to have been revealed the Commandment, but when each has set chisel to the tablet to engrave it the tablet has been left unmarred and the Prophet in question has been shackled in chains and thrown into the fire that heats the Great Bull Statue in offering to Hashut for his impudence.
|
|