On Non-Violence

On Non-Violence was a tome dedicated to the pacifist dogma of the Church of Eldath, published sometime before 1281 DR.

"We Eldathyn believe that the only real way to live honestly is to resist the temptation to strike out in anger when things are against us. Violence arises from suffering and, as a result, can do nothing but cause more suffering in its occurrence."

- An excerpt from On Non-Violence

Content
On Non-Violence laid out the main principles of the Eldathyn faith – honest living and a vow of peace. The church believed that violence always led to anger and suffering, which, in turn, led to more violence. The book addressed criticisms of the Eldathyn beliefs that stated that nature itself invalidated the church's dogma – there existed storms and earthquakes, the nature was violent. On Non-Violence retorted the criticism with a simple statement that nature is a gods' gift to the mortals. It was created to function independently from the creators' will as its own system or a science. As such, nature was not inherently violent because the violent intent could only be formed by creatures and other objects with the capability to think. The nature was no violent, it was just nature.

History
By the, a copy of On Non-Violence was stored in the library of the Eldathyn monastery within the Dragon's Eye on the Spine of the World, which was secretly a yuan-ti ruse. By the, several copies of the book could be found in the Ten-Towns of Icewind Dale and in the library of the Black Raven Monastery.

Appearances

 * Video Games
 * Icewind Dale series (Icewind Dale &bull; Icewind Dale II)