Sam

Sam (born c. -4, died c. 57) is the last recognized prophet of The Faith, and is considered by many believers (about 30% of the ~1 billion Faith followers) to be the mortal incarnation of Ace (God). His believers are known as Samites and globally they number about 300 million (of whom about 120 million live in Merritt), over a thousand years after his death.

Early life and physical appearance

Sam was born in the town of Lala in Tadania, which was then a colony of Giraz, located on the northeastern-most peninsula of the Southern Continent. He was said to have had green eyes and dark skin, and was short and somewhat overweight. His parents were entrepreneurs and artisans and considered lower middle class for their time and place, making various items such as shoes and abacuses. His mother died when he was twelve years old; this deeply affected him for the rest of his life.

Sam's father was not wealthy enough to put him in school, but he was able to afford fees to browse Lala's town library, so Sam had access to many hand written books and scrolls (the printing press was invented around the same time he was born, but printed books were still extremely rare and not available in Tadania yet). In particular Sam enjoyed reading tomes about ancient Girazian philosophy, particularly relating to ethics, and he also loved reading the revelations of The Prophets.

Beliefs and Teachings

See also: Samism

Sam was disturbed by the fact that Ace seems to allow bad things to happen to people, especially to those who are kind and honest. He also wondered why people chose to do wrong, and how they could be encouraged to act righteously.

Sam believed that humility, honesty and utilization of talents were the noblest traits a person could have. He saw politeness as being over-emphasized in importance and often used by the wicked to manipulate others and avoid accountability. According to Sam a righteous person never boasted of their good deeds, did not harm or cheat others for personal gain, were not wasteful or gluttonous, were as self-reliant as society and their abilities allowed them to be, had compassion for friends, strangers and enemies alike, helped those in need when possible, took full accountability for their bad deeds and did not try to justify or minimize them, and, most importantly, used the talents Ace gave them to improve their own lives and the lives of others.

Sam believed that Ace loved everyone unconditionally, and that a person's worth was inherent and "enormous", and came from the fact they are sentient, magnificently complex and dynamic beings and not from their utility to others. He taught that men and women, as well as Pragmatics and Idealists were equal in the eyes of Ace.

He advocated strongly for people with disabilities, both of the physical and mental kind, and preached that Ace gave everyone talents and it was the responsibility of people to use their talents for good, and it was also the responsibility of others to allow and encourage people to use their talents. Sam convinced the owner of a pottery factory to hire a blind woman after he had initially turned her away; she turned out to produce wildly popular and exquisitely beautiful pottery that made everyone in the company moderately wealthy.

Like the other Prophets before him, Sam believed that Ace would revive the dead at the End of Time and judge their place in the Forever World. Sam believed that a person's place in the Forever World will be determined based on the condition of their hearts, and that those who strove to be kind and of service will be eternally content and enjoy peace of mind and the company of Ace and their loved ones in "mansions on the hills", while the cruel and lazy will be condemned to "eons" of drudgery, boredom, anxiety and loneliness and will have the live in the "slums" of the Forever World. Samites debate whether the unpleasant fate of the wicked is eternal or if they can eventually redeem themselves. Sam quipped that many of those who are seen as righteous Ace will judge to be wicked, and many who seem wicked Ace will deem righteous.

It is unknown whether Sam viewed himself as Ace incarnate or not. Samites believe he did, as he said in his Biography) that "Ace is One and Eleven; I am Twelve and Seven", and he insisted several times that he was "Not of this world", although the context of that is debated and he may have simply been implying that he felt like a misfit.

Death

Sam was very controversial among the priests of the Faith in Tadania at the time. He disrupted a service of a preacher named Obbo who he considered "greedy and deceitful", and urged Obbo's followers not to attend his services. Obbo pulled out a knife and stabbed Sam in the heart, killing him at the age of sixty-one.

Obbo escaped to Giraz and it is unknown what became of him.