Jisshōshugi

Jisshōshugi (Pronounced gee-SHOW-shoo-gee) is a philosophy grounded initially in the literary works of an Eladrin author and philosopher by the name of Natsuo Rakuai. His two most famous works were philosophical novels by the names Tenshu Monogatari (The Tale of the Celestials) and Waga (I). Though complex and couched in many of the common trappings of Elven philosophical ramblings and preoccupation with evading the eternal Elven threat of ennui, the main axioms as espoused by Natsuo's subsequent critics and scholars are thus:

Amongst the Elven philosophies, Jisshōshugi is considered far and away the most heretical in its placement of the individual before the group and its unabashed embracing of hedonistic tendencies. Where even the practices of the debaucherous Eladrin privilege emotional expression before sensual pleasure, proponents of Jisshōshugi tend to do away with even this caveat. The common criticism levied against Jisshōshugists is that their philosophy is only thinly-veiled apologetics for hedonism. Jisshōshugists, on the other hand, will argue that it strips away the pretension and moral prescriptivism of other philosophies in favor of a descriptivist approach to, “how sentient beings actually are.” Occasionally also accusing 'moralistic' philosophies of resulting in worse circumstances and thus more suffering than the 'greedy' philosophy they claim Jisshōshugi to be.
 * 1) That unhappiness comes about from treating the individual consciousness as of higher importance than the external world.
 * 2) That this is because the greatest threat to happiness is the question, “am I happy?”
 * 3) That there is no disconnect between sense perception and the outside world, and that all sentient beings can obtain an objective knowledge of the world outside themselves through the use of sense faculties.
 * 4) That because of this, rational egoism is the paramount moral imperative of the conscious mind. And lastly,
 * 5) That all social systems should thus structure themselves in a manner that will help the individual pursue their own independent happiness. The oft-quoted line from Natsuo Rakuai’s magnum opus Tenshu Monogatari that epitomizes this axiom is, “the greatest amount of people achieving their highest levels of potential.”

Though mostly a fringe, marginalized belief in the lifetime of its originator, in the time after his death it slowly began to take hold in the tribal-based societies of the sea elves who were the last holdouts amongst the elven races against adopting a formal philosophy. With no common philosophical thread, the sea elves struggled to maintain a cohesive cultural identity, and were faced with an onslaught of foreign philosophy and culture that was rapidly fragmenting the traditional society. Among these competing ideologies, the figure of the Grand Mayor Rai Andō of Shinjuwan - then just one city state among many - emerged as the champion of Jisshōshugi. As a titan of both commerce and carousing, his charisma and financial fortune inspired mass adoption of the philosophy that Andō gave credit to for his massive success. By the end of Andō’s life, Jisshōshugi emerged with only a few pockets of resistance as the dominant philosophy of the sea elves.

In the centuries since, the philosophy has diverged into schools. The divergence came about out of arguments pertaining to the actual praxis of achieving the nebulous aim of “the greatest amount of people achieving the highest levels of potential.” What remains consistent across all schools of thought iwthin Jisshōshugi: the primacy of the outside world, the importance of the individual, and the aim of ensuring the, “highest levels of potential,” even if only for themselves.

Primitivism
Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Domains: Nature and Light

The crux of the primitivist thesis is that what Natsuo Rakuai was arguing for was not hedonism or materialism at all, but rather a rejection of linguistic device as an integral agent in, “pursuing” happiness. Thus, they privilege the first two axioms of Jisshōshugi above the others, and argue that cultivating and internal and external “primitivity” is the ultimate concern of Jisshōshugists. Put more simply, they argue, “we had it right before asking if we had it right, and we were happier before it.” On the contrary to followers of this school being primitive and uncultured, the school is particularly in vogue amongst sea elf scholars and intellectuals, who are notorious for writing incomprehensible, “abstract” treatises that are supposed to represent pre-linguistic appeals to the mind. It is a matter of perception whether this is genius or gibberish.

Orthodoxy
Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Domains: Divine and Protection

Though they will argue that they are the “orthodox” or “original” teachings of Natsuo, all of the schools more or less emerged around the same time. Their claim to orthodoxy lies in their reluctance to prescribe any type of path towards how an individual or society might achieve their, “highest levels of potential,” viewing the question itself, similarly to the primitivists, as a refashioning of the original, “am I happy?” question. Instead they believe in an unknowable, unseeable deity who can grant this grace or not. Their soteriology, then, is to earn this grace through an experimentation with the many facets of life and the outer-limits of sentient experience. The assumption being that if there is a creator deity, it must be pleased by anyone who seeks to explore all of its creations. It is by the grace of this being and this being only that one can achieve happiness. Followers of this path are almost always adventurers and thrill-seekers, and critics will argue that they are only seeking ex-post-facto justification for their lifestyle.

Pecunarism
Alignment: True Neutral

Domains: Knowledge and Forge

Pecunarist Jisshōshugi is part philosophy, part religion, and part political economy theory. At its core, it believes that all beings are in contention with one another to acquire wealth, and thus access to sensorial experience and pleasure. The acquisition of wealth, favorable balances of trade, and high protective tariffs on imported goods are essential for the state to secure the highest level of happiness for their citizens. In general this philosophy has fallen by the wayside in favor of its far more popular cousin, tradism. Nonetheless, it is still in vogue above smaller political units within the republic trying not to be overwhelmed and bought out by larger polities.

Tradism
Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Domains: City and Tempest

Tradism is more common than all the rest of the interpretations of Jisshōshugi put together. Its proponents argue that full economic freedom unhindered by barriers to trade or the political state is the quickest, most efficient, and most natural path to the “highest levels of potential.” Its proponents will point out that the innovations brought about by commerce and industry have created living conditions unfathomable to people of previous generations. Its detractors will argue that this comes at the cost of a moral degradation that normalizes greed and alienates personal relations, to say little of the “exploitation” of labor. Nonetheless, tradism has taken hold as the predominant expression of Jisshōshugi in the Shinjuwan Republic, and criticism towards it is relegated to the fringes of intellectual discussion. More than likely someone from Shinjuwan who, “doesn’t care too much about philosophy or religion or politics,” more likely than not in fact latently holds Tradist views.

Charitism
Alignment: Lawful Good

Domains: Life and Virtue

Charitism is peculiar among interpretations of Jisshōshugi in taking an egalitarian and communal-based approach. Where many of the other schools of thought view self-actualization as an intensely personal and individualistic pursuit for which charity and altruism are more harm than good, charitism takes the opposite stance. That the greatest level of actualization occurs when everyone is helping everyone else, and that the questions of, “do I have enough?” and “what have I achieved?” are both rephrasings of the original, much-maligned “am I happy?” question. To give selflessly without thinking, then, is the highest quality of sentient beings. As such, though looked on as a valiant effort by mainstream sea elf society, it is mostly relegated to a smattering of decentralized cults throughout the republic.

Realism
Alignment: Lawful Evil

Domains: War and Order

Realism is perhaps better regarded as a political stance with a Jisshōshugist ex post facto justification. Realism postulates that there is a fixed amount of resources - and thus objects for sensual pleasure - and that they must be secured by force and distributed hierarchically according to ability to secure them (read: Might Makes Right). Though not necessarily held by the average citizen of Shinjuwan, it is the philosophy de rigueur of the military and the civil government, both of which are in perennial conflict with the merchant and industrialist classes. In point of fact, it influences Shinjuwan foreign policy, but has very little to do with its domestic and trade policy. Moreover, most citizens regard it as defeatist and pessimistic to assume that resources are fixed and cannot be made more efficient over time, and thus that Realism represents precisely what they are seeking to avoid in their government.

Churnism
Alignment: True Neutral

Domains: Luck and Trickery

Churnism holds very similar views to tradism and pecunarism as to how precisely one might achieve the goal of, “highest levels of potential.” Specifically through control of resources and wealth. Where they differ is in the Churnist notion of “temporal agglomeration,” or the ability for specific individuals or families to accumulate power and resources over time and ensure that the rules and laws will permit them to maintain these resources even after these same individuals or families have become decadent and no longer contribute to rising standards of living. Thus, churnism proposes that laws be structured in such a way that wealth cannot accumulate at the top. Other than a few intellectuals and poor idealists, however, this is an extremely marginalized interpretation of Jisshōshugi.

Inevitabilism
Alignment: Neutral Evil

Domains: Death and Grave

One obvious caveat to Jisshōshugi is that, whatever one accomplishes or earns in this life, it is ultimately lost upon death. Inevitablilists fixate upon this and are keen to point out that, while the philosophy gives advice on how to live one’s life to maximize one’s sensual pleasure, it gives little to no advice on how to deal with the death that awaits all. More like a disorganized critique of Jisshōshugi than it is an interpretation of it. Rather than simply dropping the philosophy and turning elsewhere, however, inevitabilists tend to embrace the doom and gloom of the inevitability of death and enjoy nothing more than trying to inculcate it in others. There are no organized churches or organizations that head inevitabilism, but rather it is more an attitude that some sea elves arrive at over the course of their life.

Ascendencism
Alignment: Lawful Neutral

Domains: Arcana and Night

By far the most esoteric and eclectic of the interpretations of Jisshōshugi, ascendencism is something of an amalgam of traditional Elvish spirituality with the individualist and pragmatic strains of Jisshōshugi. The seemingly entropy-defying energy of magical and arcane power is seen by ascendencists as epitomizing what Natsuo was speaking of with, “highest potential.” Something behind ordinary conscious experience and broaching matters of divinity and the realm of the celestials. This is achieved through means of esoteric magical rituals and spells, deep states of meditation, and mind-altering alchemical substances. Though one of the smaller more insignificant factions in Shinjuwan society, its secretive and mysterious nature has imprinted itself upon the minds of Shinjuwans, who view it with a mixture of awe, suspicion, and fear, and more than a few conspiracy theories place them in charge of the whole Republic from the shadows. In reality there are a loose organization of arcanists who are bound only by their mutual interest in the arcane and occult.