The many monks of the 10,000 Roads.
Introduction:[]
"Priests preach often the prose of no mind, and frequently are surprised when their students come to no understanding. You must reaffirm yourself of these teachings however. For they are not inaccurate, merely mistranslated. Your goal is never to empty your mind. It is to uncomplicate it." - Yamamoto Tsunemoto.
It can be said that one understands how far along a traveler is in their journey of the 10,000 roads by how they respond to this quote.
The young traveler questions why anyone would rely on the wisdom of a warrior when they are themselves priests and scholars. They practice the Way. Are they not above things so petty as fighting and murder - and by extension those who extol them?
The seasoned traveler laughs at the young traveler, for they remember when they were ignorant in the Way of things. The Way is beyond origin and merely is. Where wisdom comes from is of little concern.
The eldest of these travelers says nothing. They are busy practicing this wisdom.
Summary:[]
The 10,000 Roads are a concept many find difficult to wrap their head around at first.
It's hardly a surprise. The average Secret is a thing of deep shadow and intrigue. Where one goes, there is power and wonder in equal measure to the terror and might of the Abyss. By contrast, with one major exception that we'll cover later, the 10,000 Roads have nothing to hide. The reasons for this are many, and we'll go over every one of them by the end of this entry. For now though, at the very heart of this sect lies a simple desire. One that they've sought over countless life times:
These monks seek truth. They seek enlightenment.
History and Culture:[]
Like many secrets the 10,000 Roads have a curious relationship with history. Theirs is perhaps more striking than most however, as though they've scholars abound who are dedicated to keeping track of their many histories and life times simply for the sake of interacting with other secrets, the over all attitude to such is rather detached from the matter. Because in the mind of a 10,000 Roads disciple . . .
"All things are true."
"I'm sorry. I don't. Perhaps the translation spell is a little buggy, could you assist me with this? What does that mean?"
The master bit back a sigh and closed his eyes. Outsiders were always like this. A little slow to the punch, and difficult when it came to understanding the simplest of matters. But, to show displeasure would be unseemly. One must cultivate a good student in all things.
"All things are true." They repeat. "Your spell works well enough. Tell me something. With your magic, your companion over there - you are an air mage yes? And specialized in gravity? If they cast a spell and gravity is now 'Up' is that true?"
"Well. No. Because they made it that way."
"Ah. So if I killed you at this moment, you would not be dead, because I 'made it that way'?"
" . . .well. No. I mean yes, obviously. I would be dead. But--" They squirmed. This was always the hardest part. Still, the master pressed on.
"Then you begin to understand. All myths are true. Now, what the nature of that truth is? That is something you must learn to consider deeply for yourself."
All myths are true to a mind of 10,000 roads.
All things are possible.
In that same vein, then, while they do not pay a particular sense of attention to their many exploits over the past few millennia, there is an idea that forms the core of their beliefs, as unlike many Secrets, members of the many roads still practice a religion, Mahayana Buddhism as it is central to their understanding of themselves and their magics.
10,000 Roads, The First Sorcerer, And Their Beliefs Continued:[]
The 10,000 Roads do not believe necessarily in an origin of the universe. The idea that there must be a beginning or an end feels unto the average member's mind a petty distraction. As it is a mind seeking an answer where none may feasibly found - a question that only exists to keep one from greater heights of mystic acumen, personal betterment, and enlightenment as a whole. It is actually for this reason, that though their sect undeniably started in India, it has major headquarters all across the Asian Continent.
What they do believe in however, is the First Sorcerer - whom they claim to be the First Buddha and the founder of their organization. Attempts at looking back in time to discover the veracity such an answer, or seeking such from gods, are all attempts that have historically ended in utter misery for all parties involved - Gods included. This, understandably, only fuels the hunger of the search for many.
But we get off topic. The 10,000 Roads hold a simple belief that the first Buddha was also the First Sorcerer. And through their understanding of the great cycle of life, death, and rebirth they managed to become a master of the great illusion of a fixed reality. They spread this teaching, and through this journey, their disciples became the first Sorcerers of the 10,000 Roads.
And they've been practicing their magics ever since.
A Brief Note on Real World History, Religion, and their relationship in The World of Secrets:[]
Now, smart folks in the audience are liable to pick up on a few things rather quickly. Particularly if they're apt and well read on this subject matter. Because we do actually know who the original founder of Buddhism is. We do know, roughly, what they were doing at the time. (At least at the time of writing, and with current knowledge available to us via research. If these answer comes into question for one reason or another, we'll be updating it as scholars progress.)
More importantly, the beliefs of these so called Buddhists are likely to vary in one form or another from what one might reasonably expect out of people who claim to espouse such beliefs. Mahayana Buddhism is fairly flexible, and even espouses that there are many roads to divinity and enlightenment. But it probably won't validate fighting of any kind, or give you magic super powers, or really lead you to necessarily all or even any of the beliefs these sorcerers espouse.
And the reason for that is simple: Magic has changed very much what many religions in the World of Secrets look like, and we've done our best to write practitioners of those beliefs in a way that reflects what we hope is a logical and natural extension of those religion's run ins with the supernatural.
That said, reasonable people could be inclined to say that everything here is misrepresented and that it needs to be burned down. We here at Secrets would like to clarify that we in no way imply that this is the end all, be all of a religion or its practices and cultures, and as always we encourage players and people whose imagination is lit up with the lore blocks presented, to do their own research and give things the respect they deserve.
The Unique Magics of the 10,000 Roads:[]
"It is a good viewpoint to see the world as a dream. When you have something like a nightmare, you will wake and tell yourself that it was only a dream. It is said that the world we live in is not a bit different from this.
People with intelligence however, will use this to fashion things both true and false, to try and push through all problems with their clever reasonings. This is nothing but injury from one's own intelligence. Nothing you do will have effect if you do not use truth." - Tsunemoto Yamamoto.
The lifestyle and philosophies of the 10,000 Roads have produced a series of interesting quirks within their sorcerers. The first is that they are all to a man, woman, and child, Theos mages. Every one of them is a student of both light and dark.
The second is in their application. The combination of Light and Dark becomes illusion, but in the hands of a Traveler, it becomes something altogether new. And that something is built on pillars of faith and training, as well as the third point.
For unlike every other sorcerer, practitioners of the 10,000 Roads live, age, and die as naturally as any other. . .within reason. If a sorcerer truly felt the need, they could certainly extend their life cycle with magics we'll cover in a moment. They simply don't often feel that need.
Many sorcerers of course balk, and gasp at such a concept. Who wouldn't feel a need!? Why would you follow a road that steals the power of a true spark from you! That's INSANE. To which the average Traveler simply smiles and waves. After all, they don't care.
Because the average traveler does not stay dead.
It's a point of contention among their many mages. To be reborn into the cycle is a sign that one's learning was incomplete. Additionally, to carry the memories of a past life is an even greater disgrace, because it is a confirmation of Samsara, and proof that one's mind and soul remain distracted.
Despite this claim,the truth is many are content to greet their brother and sister sorcerers anew. They argue that of course their souls are still distracted. Look at the rest of the Secrets! It would be more sinful to leave them behind! No, someone must remain to offer them the way of enlightenment.
This is a story, for the most part, that the many Travelers of the 10,000 Roads have come to accept with a knowing wink and a nod, acknowledging that sometimes, they too may still have a lot to learn. It is certainly possible that one may become a Buddha in one life time. But if it were so easy, there would be no world left at all by this point. It is no shame to be ignorant in one's journey. It is a shame to willfully remain so.
Unique Magics Continued: Truth[]
But we have a magic to cover. And though this cycle of life and death is viewed as a great tragedy by some, in it lies the greatest source of a Traveler's power. Going through their many life times, the apparent nature of reality begins to lay itself bare to the Traveler's mind. The highest heights, and the darkest depths of Light and Dark Magic alike become as readily perceived to them as words from the page of a book, and they are able to access and even shape "Truth." This is what Illusion becomes in their hands. A form of magic that allows the many feats of all the elements to become possible through the traveler. Of course, to do this one must confront many life times, or "Think deeply on matters," as the masters are so quick to put it.
Not only is this a process that first demands a ritual through which one might actually confront their past lives. It also often means spending the time necessary to break those lives of their illusions, their preconceived notions, and the things that stopped them from true enlightenment in their life time. It's also a process that requires one be of a body ready to channel such powers. Sure, your past life may have once been Sun Wukong. But unfortunately, for you, a diet of cheetos and coca cola does not make channeling the fierce magic of the mountains themselves a prospect readily available to you, unless you fancy breaking every bone in your body.
For these reasons and more, it is often a very time consuming and difficult process to say the least for a traveler to truly master their unique brand of magic. It is a journey that could take several life times. . .and for many, one that has!
Even so, one may reasonably wonder why the students of the 10,000 Roads don't run the world. Any element? With enough training? Well, it is a path that has its downsides. For one, there is the considerable effort it takes of reaching these masteries. Not the magic itself, but the mastery of oneself. If you think it is easy to miraculously free yourself of your own earthly flaws, as well as the ones from your own past lives, you're likely the type of person who never masters so much as a singular additional element, never mind all of them. But there's also the matter of rightful action - or what they simply refer to as the Way.
The Way: The Road and the Gate to Truth.[]
A traveler's magic never seems spectacular to its practioner. Everything is simply as it should be. When they defend a nexus point from a hundred beasts of the abyss with cauldrons of flame, water, and earth, or by the summoning of ancestral dragons, that isn't magic. That is the bear minimum they must achieve.
A Traveler is more a monk first, and a sorcerer second. Their magic forever rooted in their mind and harmonious actions rather than any mystical acumen. In fact, there are more than a few tales of sorcerers who strayed from the Way, sure that now they possessed "The Ultimate magic", the world would be theirs to rule! Only for them to try it out and find that they had no access to the powers to begin with.
In a room full of monks.
. . .Who'd spent their lives mastering the magic they'd now just lost access to.
Shit.
A Traveler that has no moral back bone to speak of is less than human, and they are all too happy to let sorcerers figure that out for themselves.
That said morality is not the only key to the Way. Training, meditations, mindfulness, and further studies are all parts of the Way. Still, we don't want to write an entire book here. So consider this for short-hand:
If a Traveler is constantly self-interested, possessed of no ability to consider matters with the fullness of his wisdom, always starting fights, and greedy, it's liable that this is not a Traveler long for their magics.
Final Words - The Great Secret, Notes on Non-Violence, and the Struggle of the Modern Traveler:[]
And now we come across the other reasons for why this particular Secret hasn't had a terrible impact on the world at large.
Let's talk about the Menders.
Both of these Secrets started on the same continent as one another. Both of these Secrets walked many of the same roads, and traveled in many of the same circles. No one is surprised that of the Secrets the 10,000 Roads is the one to lay sole claim to knowledge of the true depth and scope of their existence. Which provides something of a moral dilemma. For obvious reasons.
Besides, the standard things: "Murder is wrong," "Self-appointed extra judiciary sorcerous groups are terrifying, What do you mean this group wasn't founded in Stalinist Russia", etcetera, their mere existence has provided the Travelers with a problem. With "Truth" as their defining magical skill, they know that the Menders while misguided in their eyes, are at least a magic organization that operates fully with the best interests of humanity in their sights at all times.
Exposing them would leave not only India defenseless as the subcontinent fell into a mystic civil war, but several other groups, nations, and factions subject to greater influence from the abyss. Rooting them out would almost certainly kill more people than it would save. Buuut letting them go unchecked would be a moral failing they could never hope to repent for. Oddly enough, in a twist of fate so strange the Travelers STILL aren't sure they hallucinated it, the Menders came forth with the compromise. They weren't going to stop what they were doing. But there would always be a head's up when they were on mission. And additionally, should it become necessary, they could always seek sanctuary and spiritual cleansing in their many monasteries.
The deal wasn't. . . a ludicrous one.
No one was proposing the other give up their beliefs. Neither was under any illusions as to what was going to happen there. And no one was proposing anything quite like a peace. Whatever the Buddhas have said over the centuries about peace and non violence, any historian can tell you that when push comes to shove there is a difference between non-violence and pacifism.
These were people who'd been finding the same faith and belief set over a dozen life times, versus the ones who'd willingly given up their faith so that people like this could be alive to be horrified at their actions. Ask them not to fight, and one may as well ask for the sun and moon as well.
But, each got something out of it. The Travelers would be free to keep an eye on the Menders, and by extension an eye on the many Secrets of the world. It gave them ins to be at the right place at the right time. And the Menders, for all their talks about ethics, and whether or not they were doing the right thing none of them could deny that without some outside help all of them were doomed to fall to the alluring corrupting power of dark eventually. Their morals made little more than sand on the wind. Someone to occasionally make sure they knew where they were headed wasn't an idea many were willing to turn down. So. It worked.
Their relationship now is a curious one, it's almost like a game. Where Travelers frequently become illusionists, and trickster spirits, or wise warrior sages trying to stop them while the Menders outwit, and outfox them on top of all the other problems they've accrued. Ironically, despite being almost diametrically opposed the two groups have made each other better.
Better. But preoccupied all the same.
Non-violence:[]
Speaking of which.
Non-violence is another reason why this Secret hasn't seen the same acclaim others might have in its position. The 10,000 roads espouses that murder and violence is the last refuge of the unskillful and the uncreative. Notably, there is an extensive list of exceptions to this rule, all of which concern various Others from the Abyss.
They're monks, not insane.
But even besides that, there is the matter of non-violence when it comes to their fellow brothers and sisters of mankind. Normal Buddhists have been struggling with this question for literal millennia. The question is made exponentially more difficult when one has to consider that though the Secrets are in an alliance, it is a pact fraught with fraudulence, malice, and often malevolent and violent conflicts.
Mortal Buddhists of course have found many answers to this problem. Some simply hold to their beliefs in the face of all dangers, others subvert and redirect the attention of their enemies, and some master just enough martial skill to end conflicts quickly and without massive harm. Students of the 10,000 Roads have largely chosen to adopt all of these tactics, and rare is it that you can find someone without some measure of skill in all 3 that isn't just starting out in this Secret.
Of the last of these, Skillful Resolution is a matter of cultural importance. The many Travelers of the Road understand the world they live in, and so despite their otherwise insistent approach to peace and enlightenment in all things, a Traveler is taught any and all martial arts that would benefit that student. It is worth noting that Martial Arts is not merely the act of appropriately calculated violence, but often encompasses many real world philosophies and studies to properly round out a student.
Which brings us back to Skillful Resolution. A modern ear is more likely to be familiar with this concept in its current form "Necessary Force." Skillful Resolution could be boiled down to that concept alone. But when a Traveler hears that, it conjures to mind equal parts instant worry, the resolve that a fight is about to come to pass and the will to deal with it, as well as a readiness to begin debate. One must always be prepared to end a matter of conflict as quickly and smoothly as possible. Unnecessary injuries, the death of one's fellows and even one's enemies, are all thought as hallmarks of an unskilled traveler, and that is itself a grave disgrace and a grave insult if it is leveled at you. And so despite the otherwise. . .peace loving nature for outsiders and their fellow Travelers, it is not uncommon to hear of loud ornery debates, brawls, and more between the Travelers. For all their claims, they are still human.
But for all other matters, the Travelers are content to treat beauty and magic as something that is more natural and all the better explored while unimpeded. They don't fight and politic with other Secrets, and largely don't feel a need to. Many newer, and even some veteran Travelers are beginning to decry this of course. Chasing enlightenment is one thing, but this particular idea could, and in many minds HAS led to them being self-centered. They chase the mastery of their own magic to the exclusion of all else, and are surprised when Gods die and secrets are uprooted. It's shameful.
This is the final Struggle of the Modern Traveler. They are at a point now where tradition and wisdom - very powerful tools that has kept them relevant despite an ethos that has kept them out of the action - are beginning to fail. The Modern Traveler must find a new road. A new way to be a Traveler and a Sorcerer, and a good ally, lest the Secrets and thus humanity, finally fall.
Thankfully, they may be able to do it. After all.
There are 10,000 Roads to enlightenment. No one can know them all.