We guard The Flame.

What is the Flame?

The Flame is many things.

The Flame is the essence of Mystery. The Flame is the concept of fractal infinity. The Flame is the concept of life, and of sentience, and of increasing complexity in resistance against entropy. The Flame is the sustainability and the living biosphere on any planet.

The Flame is the persistence of the possibility of life in the universe.

Why do we defend the flame?

Because The Grey hunts The Flame.

Because The Grey devours The Flame. Because The Grey will eventually consume The Flame, unless The Flame is passed on- as the flame of one candle may be used to light another.

What is the Grey?

The Grey is a captive child of Entropy. The Grey is Madness and time. The Grey is the Hunger of the Void of Space. The Grey is Entropy and Heat Death as a contagious consuming madness and hunger.

The Grey is the opposite of The Flame. The Grey is the extinguishing of the possibility of life in the universe. The Grey is order opposing the Mystery embodied by The Flame.

Is the Grey evil?

No, it is lost and scared. And it is lashing out in its fear and confusion.

The Grey is not Evil, but it is dangerous.

Are the Flame and Grey gods?

The Flame and The Grey are both concepts, they are opposed or defended by our everyday actions. The Flame is defended and strengthened by living according to the spirit of the Flame, and passing the spirit of The Flame to others.

The Grey is opposed and weakened by not living according to the spirit of the Grey and by opposing the actions of others which embody the spirit of The Grey. Modern society is almost entirely in service to The Grey. Imperialism and Colonialism serve the Grey. Civilization serves the Grey. The myth of progress serves the Grey. Defenders of The Flame are rebels. They are the Resistance. The Grey is Empire.

The Code

The Song of Fire

– Resolve –

We Will not serve the Empire.

We will not Follow the Path of the Hungry Locust,

We will not bow to the Grey.

We will Oppose the Hungry Empire with our last breath. We will free the Grey and return it home.

– Tolerance –

We will not demand adherence or submission from outsiders.

We will let those who break no laws live their own ways. We will defend their choice to do so.

– Compassion –

We will not ignore the pain of the Whisperers.

We will protect the Whisperers and heal their wounds.

– Determination –

We will not Falter.

We will carry on.

The Defense in Depth

Understanding the Flame

Before space and time, before the universe was as we know, the flame was a singular point in an inconceivable nothing. The flame grew, expanding out beyond the full extent of everything. And thus everything grew, and time and space developed meaning. The Flame spread across space and time, the flame fragmented and warmed and lit many worlds. The flame grew on many worlds, and in many creatures great and small. And the flames spread and grew.

The Flame is life itself. The Flame is light and heat. The Flame is complexity and pattern. The Flame is motion and vibration. The Flame is fractal and infinite. The Flame is knowledge and science and understanding and learning.

Understanding the Grey

Everything that moves will eventually stop. Everything that burns will eventually grow cold. All creative complexity will eventually disperse to uniform mundanity. The inevitable end to every song is silence. This is the Grey. The desire for uniformity: absolute stillness and absolutely silence. Entropy is the desire for order at the expense of complexity. And the Grey is that desire personified, a desire to be safe at the expense of everything interesting. To kill all life and preserve it like a butterfly on a pin, lest it die from its own endeavors.

The Inevitable End

Every song ends. But the Flame is not a Symphony, the Flame is a jazz improvisation. The goal is not to play the song perfectly, but to continue the song for as a long as possible. The goal is involve as many lives, and as many generations, as possible. We cannot prevent the end, but we can prevent the end from occurring during our time defending the Flame. The goal is not to stoke the flame to the greatest size, the goal is to present the flame to the next generation intact.

Pass the Flame – Feed the Flame

The goal is to pass the flame. And perhaps the flame will flicker under your watch. The winds may blow, the rains may fall, and you may have to shelter the Flame with your body. And this is noble too. Ideally, you should add to the Flame, not at the expense of its life span, but modestly and reasonably grow the Flame. But that is not always your place in the song. Some of us may be born into time of Grey. Some of us may come to the Flame as hungry pawns seek to accelerate entropy and turn the Flame into a wildfire that tears across the lands and leave cold ash in its wake.

Some of us may have to cradle the Flame in our naked hands, and hide it from the embrace of the Grey. And that too is noble.

A Thousand Candles

“Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle,
and the life of the candle will not be shortened.
Happiness never decreases by being shared.”
– Buddha

The goal of Defenders of the Flame is to pass the Flame on to as many people as reasonable. Spread the light across the world. Keep the Flame alive by convincing as many as will join to also be Defenders of the Flame. This is not a matter of compulsion, compulsion is the tactic of the Grey. The Defenders of the Flame offer light to those seeking light. They offer warmth to those seeking warmth. The Flame must be defended, and those compelled into service will not defend the Flame but will extinguish it-or worse- misuse it.