[D3, LE] Library research time (open to anyone else using library)

[Agasha Yuna]

Yuna had at last received permission to enter and use the Ikoma library (if only for one day, and one topic.)

The library was a temple to Tenjin, so she first prayed at Tenjin's shrine, thanking him for written records, written knowledge, libraries, and librarians.

Then, she made her way to the desk where she understood a set of materials had already been made available. Jihen had particularly researched the theological resources available. She reviewed that set and then used the remaining time to do additional research of her own on the topic. His theological research was impeccable, so she focused on more of a historical perspective. A single question. Historical references to the worship of Gobai. Uncertain if there was anything more that could be found.

She remained faithful to the permission provided, and did not search on any other topic.

She did make courteous introduction to the reference staff, as a fellow librarian, and familiarized herself with the layout and organization.

(Jihen's initial research for her: Lore theology: https://sakkaku.org/r/15796 52 vs TN30; 2 raises)
(Her own study: Lore history https://sakkaku.org/r/15952 25 v TN 20; single question; no raises called)

[Fukurokujin]

There is a fair amount of material available, indeed. Much of it seems to be repetitive, and at least two of the manuscripts appear to be copies of an earlier work that also appears in the materials gathered. Overall, the historical practice of veneration of Gobai has been limited, as your previous researches and knowledge had suggested. It also focuses on balance in an overall sense of remaining tranquil amid turbulence, rather than as a mathematical equation.

There is not a record of a conclave ruling as to whether the mathematical approach is heretical or merely heterodoxical, but such commentary as is presented to you suggest that what mainstream veneration exists considers the mathematical perspective to be overly simplistic, if not outright laughable.

[Jihen]

In a different part of the temple complex, overlooking the stars as they emerged in the night sky, the monk Jihen sat pondering as to the state of the world around him.

The earthquake in the morning... the threat of war, calamity, starvation... all hinted at what many of the young monks in the Four Temples had began to feel.

An imbalance in the elements...

The physical world was unavoidably connected to the proper Way of things... and the diviners and ritualists of the past few decades had so frequently failed to adequately resolve this constant state of potential destruction.

Had humanity strayed so far from the way to be welcoming its own collapse? Was there anyway to reverse and change things on the largest scale?

What was the way forward? And what was his place in this crumbling world? Where was the source of this imbalance... and how could he help rectify it?

He would ask the heavens... and seek the answers in his heart.

----

D3 LE Divination, Nature of Earthquake/Imbalance, 4 Raises | 10k8 ⇒ 53 (TN: 35)

[Fukurokujin]

snip

Some of the records, annotated by Kitsu scribes from consultations with shugenja focused on the Earth, suggest that deeply buried Earth spirits, massive and generally sleepy, occasionally do something very much like turning over in their beds, occasioning some earthquakes. A similar comment from a Kuni shugenja not otherwise consulted suggests that something more massive and less benign sleeps uneasily, although annotations on that commentary question whether it is heretical or alarmist. Some others point to hubris in addressing the Fortune of Earthquakes; like all lords, that Fortune mislikes arrogance in addressing or referring to him, and he works that distaste upon those who do such things.

One scroll, which seems to have been the only one left on a particular shelf, notes offhandedly that the Fortune of Earthquakes and the Fortune of Balance have something of a history together. What that history is is not clear; the scroll writes of it as if of a thing so commonplace as to occasion little comment, like having rice with a meal.

[Jihen]

Funny how the world works sometimes. The stars moved about the sky as his memory moved about his mind from the things he had read the previous day.

What was heresy? How did one get there?

Could the fortunes really be so… childish… Or were these just the child stories humans told to themselves? A simple answer for a much more complex problem…

A metaphor of some greater discord?

He could not tell… but he would not stop the investigation…