The Last Breath of Tradition

The Last Breath of Tradition is a manifesto that is half prophecy and half doctrine. It was intended as a private internal reckoning of the Asteri's future role in Molluscan society. It challenges the passive stewardship of the organization and argues for a transition from preservation to control.

Originally believed to be a philosophical reflection for senior members only, the document was never formally published within the Asteri archives. Its leak sent shockwaves across all levels of Molluscan society, as it implies that the Asteri view themselves not merely as custodians of tradition, but as the inevitable inheritors of dominion.

Select Excerpts:

1. The Waters Do Not Ask Permission

• It is not tradition that sustains the tide. It is inevitability. That which endures longest must rule.

2. The Memory Is the Law

• What the Houses forget, we remember. What they fear, we interpret. What they bury, we grow.

3. Tradition Is Not a Tomb

• We do not kneel to the past. We harvest it. Culture must bleed if it is to breathe.

4. The Ink Will Burn Clean

• Let the old marks scar the flesh. The Asteri must inscribe the next age.

5. The Prime Ascension

• When the last of the old titles is swallowed by the sea, the Asteri Prime will speak the forgotten name. And all Houses will kneel.

Officially, this document has been not acknowledged or denied by the Asteri. A fragment was discovered in a lost satchel near a coral reef and several redacted versions have since appeared. Suppression measures have been put in place with known readers having disappeared, been discredited, or retracted their statements under duress.

Nobles: Alarmed. Many interpret this document as a veiled coup. Demands for the Asteri to be formally disbanded have been brought to Anassa JaySeaBoom who instructed the Asteri Prime to "handle it", and had the Lord Commander of the Inkies, Desdemona Rose to add a watch on the one who wrote it

Commonfolk: Confused and indifferent.

Within the Asteri: Official silence. Acolytes whisper of secret hearings. Some elders have gone missing or “taken the brine silence”—a self-imposed exile ritual.