A Foundation of Shifting Sands - Justifying Ones Actions
Since even before the adoption of Zoroastrian beliefs there had been a central temple located within the confines of Ysatis, a temple where Fire was worshipped and a man could come and go to purify himself and clear his thoughts; it was a rather simple building, one of the only structures inside the city walls formed of solid rock, one entrance allowing entry into the mian chamber and within that an ever-burning alter upon which the flame could never be extuinguished. Each day this temple, though more like a shrine to foreigners, was attended by the priests who cleaned it, stoked the sacred flame and lived within a small room but a few feet away from the inner chamber itself.
On this day, as hot and mouth-drying as ever they were on the eastern plataeu, it was the turn of Artobyzus himself to enter the temple and cleanse himself of his misdeeds...and one in particular. Around him were but a handful of guards, not a procession of military might as the Makedonians might have done, sturdy men wrapped in linen and each bearing the lasso favoured by the Sagartian peoples of old Persia. Inside this block of eight men walked the two sons and daughters of this self-proclaimed satrap, Artobyzus himself strolling bare-headed and garbed simply in the coarsest robes he could find, his hair and beard still damp from the purifying wash he had given himself only half-an-hour before.
All around the inhabitants of Ysatis came to see this man, the one who had turned his back on Darius yet claimed he would now lead them to greater things. He was one of them, it was true, but to some among them he was no better than Alexandros and his Hellenic thugs, Persian blood or no.
When the slowly stepping procession reached the entrance to the Fire Temple it halted and the guards parted, Artobyzus stepping from the group for a moment to address the men, women and children that he considered as his people, the people of his race, his faith and his blood.
"People of Ysatis, I failed my King. I will not excuse what I have done, only Ahura Mazda may grant me the cleansing I seek, and I shall enter unto this temple and see to it that I am cleansed. Good Words, Good Thoughts, Good Deeds. Only through following these may we lead good lives, and be forgiven for our past mistakes. I shall seek forgiveness and purity from the brightest of Gods within the temple, yet I ask it also from you gathered here without. Think upon my words while I am absent, and perhaps when I emerge a new path may begin to be forged. For Ysatis, for Persia."
Tears had quite obviously began to form at the corners of the Persians eyes, the desert-dweller leaving them there for all to see, slowly turning about on his heel and entering the illuminated inner sanctum of the temple.
Artobyzus had promised them many things, but mostly he had sworn that a new era of Persian dominance would come- whether under his leadership or with the help of others- and that these so-called 'successors' of the murder (and at one time personal friend of Artobyzus) Alexandros. By entering the temple he hoped to show them of the sincerity of his claim, as well as the deepest regret he had for what some saw as his betrayal of their rightful King.
Into the temple he had gone, but what would they think of him when he emerged? Would they accept this show of pious honesty, would they follow where he would lead, or would they lynch him and his entire family in the street?
OOC: I would request a roll to see if the people accept him as their rightful/legitimate leader, as well as wiping away the stain of defecting to the enemy once his King was on the run. Thank you!
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Originally Posted by Lucius Malfoy
