Manifesto of Terb
It is perhaps more accurate to call this the manifesto TO Terb, since it is a document written by his followers to address him and his perceived failings.
While The Cult of Terb has never officially split from their god, and indeed would never dream of declaring him in some way not to be the head of their religion, but the document does contain a rather unusual set of declarations.
Purpose
The Manifesto was written by the Cult, addressed primarily to their chosen deity (but also to those who might doubt their commitment to their faith). It states their intentions to no longer follow the majority of Terb's direct commands, but to create their own interpretation of what they ought to do as adherents to the Cult, based primarily on Terb's prior actions, and selectively picking which of his words to devote to.
Document Structure
Clauses
The Manifesto is divided into 4 parts.
- The declarations to Terb, wherein they state their intentions not to listen to him verbatim anymore but to make a composite of everything he has said up to that point that they like, extrapolate based on the actions he had previously taken as to the intent of the words, and base everything they the cultists did around those theories.
- The individual points relating to each of Terb's areas of divinity and how the cultists intended to treat each of these things.
- The broad-strokes declaration of war against anyone not following the absolute letter of part 2, even if by accident.
- The appendices where they expand upon various points, particularly ones made in parts 2 and 3.
Historical Details
History
After a long series of arguments with their own god, the Cult of Terb decided to take him at his word.
"Fine. If you want to get in a million holy wars, you can do that. But don't start whining to me if someone else smites you for it."With that in mind, they wrote the Manifesto to declare their intentions to the world, thus essentially making one permanent declaration of war against other faiths. This would be less of a problem if they were not in Varios, where there are hundreds of deities and no true atheists. The cultists are on record as to seeing their god as lazy, and see this document and their subsequent actions over the six hundred years since it was published as being a much-needed impetus to get Terb to do what they want. It is unclear what exactly that might be, but they are quite emphatic in declaring it.
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