Signtism

Signtism is an ancient philosophy and subculture in the Anrel Isles, one of the many Schools of Thought who found a home in the Rasian Academy. The Grand Master Belikast was born into the Signtist community of Larford, and his association with the culture and the city led to its utter destruction during the Long War

The sect claimed direct descent from the philosophy and arts of the ancient Godmen, with Signtist clans (or kin) all named after renowned Godmenplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigGodmen

The Godmen were the mythical inhabitants of a landmass contiguous with the modern Natorn Archipelago, said to be the ancestors of all the Thalsic peoples of the northern Civilised World. In the Emerald Epoch they created the first great civilisation, referred to as the Realm of the Godmen. The Godmen are said to be mytho-historic, memories of an ancestor race shrouded by millennia of HartheraAnrelAnrelherherAnrelAnrel. They were respected in ancient times for their practical and artisanal skills, particularly in the manufacture of instruments and implements. They were renowned for their love of learning, dispute and debate. However by the classical period in Academic history, Signtism was in serious decline, having been eclipsed by the Great Schools. In particular they came into conflict with the powerful Holisticians, who accused Signtism of Reductionism, the logical folly of focussing on trivial details at the expense of seeing the greater picture. Signtists were banned from teaching students within the Academy, reduced to working as mere artisans in the city producing trinkets and supplies for the Academy. They eventually found a new home in the city of Larford, where they prospered as an important part of the local economy, working minerals and metals into base materials for manufactured goods.

Their ultimate downfall came with the fall of the infamous Grand Master, Belikast, who grew up in the Signtist community in Larford. With his trial and expulsion in 50 BME, criticism fell upon his origins amongt this obscure and secretive sect who had been banished from the Academy for what was said to be subversive practices. Passion was whipped up amongst the local populace, who attacked local leaders and boycotted their businesses. The sect survived in reduced circumstances, but were eventually wiped out during the Long War, after the Battle of Larford which utterly destroyed the town and its people.

The practice of Signtism encompasses a wide range of practical disciplines, under an over-riding philosophy. Signtists are observers of natural phenomena, searching for indications of underlying truth through observation and experimentation. The greatest dogma of the school is what they call the Method, which says that any problem or object can best be understood by reducing it to its component principles and understanding their meaning.

Signtists practiced such arts as astronomy, dissection and alchemical reduction, but during the Classical Period these were not considered constructive disciplines in the wider academy, or areas worthy of study. Both grammarians and holisticians dismiss signtry as superstition, an intellectual dead end which may lead to endless fascination but contributes little to the practical arts or the greater understanding of creation. As a famous holistician said: “no matter how thin you slice a loaf of bread and examine the intricate fascination of its structure, you will never be able to understand the complexities of an agrarian market economy, or the social and culinary history which produced it”.