abstract
| - Prayer-Eating is a Discipline commonly associated with the heretical Face of the Gods Dharma, although certain sects of Thrashing Dragons and Devil-Tigers have adopted the Discipline for they own purposes. As the Quincunx frown upon this Discipline and do not shun from declaring practicioners akuma if used recklessly, most users of the Discipline are found within the Bijali Courts and the Golden Courts. Prayer-Eating operates on the principle that a god is connected to her worshipers. Through the development of this Discipline, the Kuei-jin learns to extend her spiritual influence into those who pay her homage. Among those Quincunx Cathayans permitted to review such blasphemous reachings, largely bodhisattvas and Elder mandarin-magicians, there's a long-running debate on the source of the Discipline's power. Some scholars maintain this hubris-born art harnesses power that's mostly divine prerogative. They argue that akuma derived this Discipline from the study and spiritual vivisection of the hsien, and the ability to derive golden Chi from Prayer-Eating seems to support this. Others say the Discipline is in no way divine or special, and instead, simply manifests a soul-touching effect like Obligation, only it's centered on beings willingly making a connection with the vampire through the channel of "worship." The fact that the study of this proscribed art is entirely academic makes discussion ponderous, and more rooted in the ideologies of the Wan Kuei discussing it than the actual spiritual realities of the art. These origins remain largely unexplored by the Discipline's traditional practitioners, who learn it as an established craft, not an academic pursuit.
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