Court of Violets

Court of Violets
Headquarters	Arcadia
Founded	unknown
Organization type	Aesthetic
Leaders - Grand Artist - unknown	Shining One Treader of Air
Membership	5,700
unknown

The Court of Violets is a political entity originating from a region to the east of Skytopia referred to as the Courtlands. The Courts of Skytopia and the Courtlands are generally referred to as the Western Court and Eastern Court respectively.

The Court seems to place a large emphasis on art, and all of the representatives have expressed a very poetic form of dialect, often leading to cryptic messages, doubled meanings, or insightful analogies during discussions.

There have been three representatives: Shining One, Treader of Air and Great Reflection.

Game description

The following text appears in the Embassy on Arcadia when you click "Faction".

Arcadia was instantly focused on by the Court of Violets. They saw great beauty in the branches of the great tree reaching out towards the sky. They have since begun to settle and teach their way to the people of Arcadia. The pursuit of art is paramount to the betterment of one's self. Perfection is more than just an abstract ideal, it is a goal to be sought in every aspect of life. The touch of brush against canvas, the addition of phrase to discussion, the application of bullets into the hull of your enemy. Each of these things must be performed with utmost care for the final result. Through this, we may create wondrous works and continue on our path to most supreme Excellence. - Shining One Do you seek excellence? Does the path of art call to you? Would you know yourself and others better? Follow. Watch. Listen.

At other skylands, the following is displayed:

This skyland is following the path of the Court of Violets. The people are seeking to find artistry in all things. Here's more about them... The Court of Violets is new to Skytopia, having arrived from skies to the East of here. Their people seem to follow a philosophy of seeking personal excellence and perfection in all things. Painting, sculpture, poetry, diplomacy, trade, war -- to the Court, all these things are art and means to reaching perfection. They are lead by the enigmatic Shining One, called their Grand Artist. They are an unnerving people... yet incredibly charismatic. In all things, excellence.

History

The Court of Violets was founded by He Who Had Found the Way (who may be Shining One referring to himself in third person) after he united the disparate skylands of the east.

Arrival in Skytopia

The Court of Violets discovered Skytopia while hunting for the source of the Hidden Fleet. After meeting the inhabitants of Skytopia, they chose to stay and teach their ways to any who sought it.

Culture

Names

The Eastern Court uses artistic/descriptive titles in place of what Skytopians regard as names. What the cultural significance of this is not known, but Shining One considered Skytopia's use of names to be strange. In real life, while word names are uncommon in the English speaking world, they are commonplace in East Asia.

Skytopia's Courtiers, meanwhile, are free to follow the Court's naming practice or keep their own name.

Terminology

Apart from their usually flowery speech, Eastern Courtiers call the Great Upheaval the Great Breaking and refer to skylands as gardens of the sky.

Organization

The leaders of the Court of Violets are known as Incarnations.

• Incarnations of the Lower Court are the leaders of the various Paths, which represent various skills.
• Incarnations of the Higher Court are the leaders from the Ways, which are groupings of similar Paths.
• The Incarnation of Art, also known as the Icon or Grand Artist, is the leader of the Court of Violets and chosen from the Incarnations of the Higher Court.

Apart from the Incarnation of Art, the Eastern and Western Courts have separate Incarnations.

Games

Many members of the Court are rabid game players. Some perennial favorites include Pin the Tail on the Unicorn, Speak Most Obsfucatingly on a Subject, and, the all time favorite, Sink!

Sink! in its most basic form (often called the Socratic Rules), involves a floating object which players throw other objects at, trying to make the floaty object un-floaty. The player who sinks the first object with the second object then yells "I sank it!" and gets a point.

There are various rules and levels of difficulty, with items floating underneath skylands generally considered advanced play. It is generally considered bad form to try to sink your opponents mother, no matter how challenging that may be.

Hippocratic Rules

You name an object, and try to infer humiliation, discomfort, or humor, and then try to make it splash and sink as spectacularly as you can. You do no direct harm, only collateral and emotional damage. The more people that express genuine reaction, the more points. The point system is based on fractions of the whole of current observers plus one per opponent. Your opponents are worth two points, you see. Though sometimes imaginary or hallucinated friends count, based on other complicated rules I don't get into. Though that sometimes goes into irrational numbers, depending on how rational, irrational, and irritable the other person is.

Afterward, it's customary to have strong drinks, followed by the postmortem Pretentiousness Multipliers being kibbitzed over by all non-competitors present for the event, thus scoring bonus points for excessive pompousness and pretense.

Champions

For some reason, Eon Tuskany is one of the world class Sink! players. Though his playstyle is often described as "blind luck and horridly unlikely coincidence" and it is best to take cover every time he winds up to throw, he consistently wins most of his games.

Themes

Remember: You don't have to follow any of a faction's themes if you don't want to.

Art

The dominant theme of the Court tends towards modernism and the avant-garde. Due to the difficult to understand and often seemingly absurd nature of modernism, most players tend towards the more traditional arts.

The most obvious element of modernism is their flag, based on De Stijl art movement, from which it could be argued the Court also takes many of its ideals. Their ties to a more traditional sense of art are present in their chosen capital of Arcadia and its Great Tree.

Philosophy

Jõshû asked Nansen, "What is the Way?"

"Ordinary mind is the Way," Nansen replied.

"Shall I try to seek after it?" Jõshû asked.

"If you try for it, you will become separated from it," responded Nansen.

"How can I know the Way unless I try for it?" persisted Jõshû.

Nansen said, "The Way is not a matter of knowing or not knowing. Knowing is delusion; not knowing is confusion. When you have really reached the true Way beyond doubt, you will find it as vast and boundless as outer space. How can it be talked about on the level of right and wrong?"

With these words, Jõshû came to a sudden realization.

— Ordinary mind is the Way, a Zen koan from The Gateless Gate

The philosophy of the Court of Violets, at least that of the Eastern Courtiers, is a generic version of Eastern philosophies and religions, such as Buddhism and Taoism.

In this way, the Court is intended to stand in contrast to the Earthen Order, which is shaped after Christianity.

Notable Courtiers

See List of Courtiers

Wings

• Tyrian Perfectibilists

References

Further reading

1. Meeting Between the Court and the Skytopians
2. The Path and the Way of the Court of Violets