A raised fist is a common symbol of Preamblianism, especially when depicted alongside a quill pen and a coin. Colored or sculpted versions usually feature a golden fist.
Preamblianism Effect for Adherents: Your bWILL is increased by 1, and the reactive +TN provided by using Willpower is also increased by 2.
“It is wrong to aggress against any sentient being or that which is theirs.” -Declaration of Methods, Preamble
Like the Methodians, Preamblians are devoted to the Declaration of Methods; however, they focus on the more idealistic Preamble section rather than the pragmatic Methodology. Preamblians hold that the Methodology is only a first step in fully realizing the principles of the Preamble. Unlike the Methodians, they believe that no government, no matter how small, can coexist with the fundamental axiom of the Preamble - that it is always wrong to aggress against others or their property. Respecting the natural rights of the individual is viewed as an absolute moral imperative, in contrast to Methodianism's emphasis on practicality and consequences. Today, the freedom-centered Preamblian philosophy dominates the cities of Hal’Cione, Hal'Khursan, and Hal'Shalikh, while Methodian and Rationalist nobles control most of the rest of the Declaration realms.
Preamblians are fiercely independent and idealistic, much to the frustration of any who would claim some sort of “legitimate” authority over them. They believe their own conception of natural law overrides any law made by a ruler. Because of their dedication to freedom, they hate oppression and tyranny, and will often fight for others just as hard as they fight for themselves. Contrary to popular belief, not all Preamblians are undisciplined or disorganized, though many take full advantage of a life of freedom. Regardless of whatever an individual adherent might believe, none would dare think of trying to control others by force. Historically, Preamblians have opposed even rulers they have sympathized with; no one should be forced down a path they did not voluntarily choose, regardless of how beneficial that path may or may not be.
Critics of Preamblianism are often very vocal, and accuse them of rampant extremism and utopianism. Preamblians usually counter by asserting that rights and morals trump the what-abouts of practicality. From there, the debate usually turns to conflicting views about the regions already controlled by Preamblianism - for many other philosophies, the kind of "freedom" offered by an unregulated market does not hold up to the definition of the word, and the limited Preamblian conception of "force" sees nothing wrong with many ways in which the poor are exploited.
Subschools Shared-Values Replacement Effect: The reactive +TN provided by using Willpower is increased by 2. Your maximum insight is increased by 2 for every Attribute you have which is favored by Preamblianism.
"Tradition is not coercion, if is is chosen by a willing heart. Let no one denigrate your contract simply because it is signed by an 'old-fashioned' hand." -Gunnarr Shieldscroll
As radical opponents such as the post-decs and Prismatics emerged in Hal'Tayat, some Preamblian thinkers felt the need to distance themselves from radicalism entirely, especially in regions already controlled by their philosophy. Shared-Values Preamblianism is the result of such reaction, and it has been "marketed" particularly strongly in Hal'Tayatic rural culture, although with mixed results. The subschool is supportive of tradition and suspicious of change, and views Preamblian anarchy as a means of achieving homogenous communities united by a common culture. It emphasizes contract law to a greater degree than even the baseline philosophy, and tends to reject radical change in favor of gradual "Preamblianization" of law. Notably, the Shared-Values school contributes next to nothing to the support of the Ministry of Chaos, and some of their adherents even participate in electoral politics in Methodian cities.
Shared-Values Preamblians view their beliefs as countering the influence of other traditionalists more attached to the State. Voluntary entrances into a community's property contracts can enforce tradition just as efficiently (and much more justly) than more authoritarian ideologies, or so the claim goes. Critics accuse them of the exact opposite - infiltrating Preamblian communities with rewarmed Ascendancy or draconicism, paving the way for those influences to take hold further.
Cooperative Replacement Effect: The reactive +TN provided by using Willpower is increased by 2.Your depth tier counts as 1 higher when calculating your party's dynamic tier.
"We have allowed the major guilds to atomize us, but the fault is not in the Preamble's axiom. It is only that we have not asserted it ourselves in turn." -Manifesto of the Eastern Hal'Cionic Aid Council
While Shared-Values Preamblianism was spreading through certain rural areas, it encountered a rival there. In poorer communities more consistently victimized by large business interests, a new "Cooperative" subschool was taking hold. Its founders were unwilling to discard the liberties of Preamblianism, but still understood the weaknesses pointed out by post-decs. Rather than use voluntary contracts to protect tradition or investments, they focused on using them to protect the common person. Cooperative Preamblians support mutual aid funds, offering those in danger of poverty a means of help without resorting to the "violence" of taxation. They tend to encourage worker-owned businesses, and they use Preamblian private law to combat the influence of large business interests such as the Mercurius Company.
Cooperative Preamblianism is established in a few rural areas and minor districts of Hal'Cione, but whether it will be accepted on a larger scale remains to be seen. The subschool is popular within the Ministry of Chaos, but all recent Ministry Speakers have been reluctant to recognize or endorse it, fearing that doing so will lead to the promotion of too many sympathies with the Opened Hand. Cooperativists counter by repudiating the "extremism" of the Hand, having their own fears of a post-dec revival of conventional government.