The Seven Virtues

    The virtues of the Prismatic Order have their roots in the early religious teachings following the Epiphany. The virtues were imparted to ancient man by the immortal angels, and while modern religion has moved away from their strict adherence, the belief structure of the non-militant orders is still spiritually grounded in the virtues. The sole exception to this loosening of standards is the Prismatic Order itself, which still demands fidelity to the virtues at all times.
    In general, the virtues are considered a narrow path between opposing extremes of sin and vice and consist of the proper measure of their defining trait. Religious scholars consider it all but impossible to understand them independent of one another, as they reinforce each other and are inextricably bound together in their existence, and to think of a virtue solely as the balance between just two extremes is a gross over-simplification. It is generally accepted wisdom that the only way to truly understand a virtue is to practice it.
    When a trainee dons a blessed cloak, it changes color to signify the Facet most strongly "reflected" in his soul.*

* - It should be noted that for the change to take effect, for a man to be truly accepted as a paladin, the cloak must be placed on his shoulders by a current member of the Prismatic Order. Many have tried stealing a blessed cloak in the hopes of imitating a paladin (or simply joining their ranks without undergoing the rigorous training process), but the cloak will not change without the willing hand of a paladin to bestow it.

Courage (Red Facet)

Courage is the proper balance between fear and brazenness. It is not the absence of fear, for no such state ever truly exists. Fear is to be acknowledged and used, for in hiding or denying its presence, a man allows the fear to rule him as surely as if terror stayed his hand. Courage requires knowledge of the dangers being faced, although leaping into the unknown may be considered courageous in some circumstances. The virtues are often difficult to live by, and it takes courage to adhere to them in adverse times.

Knowledge (Orange Facet)

Knowledge is not simply the accumulation of data through study, but rather a balanced combination of intelligence, wisdom, and experience. Knowledge can be gained by direct experience or careful application of intellect, but neither should be accepted as truth without verification and study. Knowledge for its own sake - without purpose or application - is generally not considered sinful, but accumulating and using it for the purpose of gaining power over others is considered just as vile as willful ignorance and wasting information. Knowledge underlies the other primary virtues, for without knowledge there can be no intent, and therefore no moral or virtuous value.

Temperance (Yellow Facet)

Temperance is both a virtue and the means by which all virtues are followed. It can most easily be defined as proper self-restraint. Being angry is no more a sin than being happy, but being angry to the proper degree, for the proper reasons, and directing that anger to the proper source is a difficult skill to master. Giving in to one's passions is just as harmful as quashing and rejecting one's own feelings.

Love (Green Facet)

Love is considered the most complex virtue by many scholars, largely because the word has taken on so many meanings, each with its own vice-filled opposite. Hatred, disregard, self-centeredness, self-loathing, idolatry - all are vices resulting from the misapplication of the virtue. Love is proper consideration for one's self as well as others, two separate continuums existing in cooperative competition. It is possible to love one's self too much or too little, just as it is possible to love one's fellow men too much or too little. Placing another's needs above your own to your own detriment is just as potentially harmful as ignoring the needs of those around you in lieu of your own gratification. Love is the source of the miracle of healing, which is a gift from God. Paladins manifest this virtue through healing prayers and can reverse or repair many forms of physical damage, although death, disease, and dismemberment are beyond any hands but God's own. It is through love the other virtues find their place in the world, for it guides one's path of spiritual development as well as informing how a man of virtue interacts with those around him.

Justice (Blue Facet)

Justice is often confused with "fairness" by laymen - the primary difference being that justice concerns matters in which the individual(s) had a choice, while fairness does not. Indeed the virtue of justice is the means of achieving fairness. Justice is unique among the primary virtues in that one does not have too much or too little of it, rather the virtue is an act of balancing competing external forces, and tilting in favor of one over another creates the collective vice known as injustice. The vices most frequently cursed in the absence of justice are vengeance and lawlessness, but the subtler vices of expedience, pity, and even positive discrimination can just as easily taint one's soul with injustice. The virtue also has an internal component, balancing the often competing impulses stemming from the other five primary virtues. Justice is the means by which a paladin might attain the White Facet of beauty.

Piety (Violet Facet)

Often confused with "faith," piety is proper devotion to God. A man on the pious path should beware the zealot and the apostate with equal fervor and deny credence to the words of the fanatic as well as the atheist. God calls each man and woman to an appropriate level of service, taking one to evangelize His words while leaving another untouched, and each is following the will of the divine. Coexistent with this idea is that a pious man should show proper devotion to those around him as well. Ignoring a friend in need is as vicious a deed as ignoring the call of God, as is devotion solely to the bonds of family and amity to the exclusion of some other responsibility. In a life of competing duties, a pious man must seek the proper path as he is called by God and man, finding the proper balance within himself. Piety often works in tandem with justice in seeking to balance the virtues and leads to faith in their strength and teachings.

Beauty (White Facet)

As a virtue, beauty has nothing to do with physical appearance. It is a state of relative balance between the other six virtues, desirous because of the purity and stability it represents in a man of God. The six primary virtues do not have to be in "perfect" balance for this virtue to become a paladin's reflection, and leading scholars currently conjecture that each man has within him an ideal balance specific to his own life, and seeking an ideal personal balance is more meaningful than aspiring toward some as-yet unknown universal balance. As there is no way to quantify or measure one's strength in one virtue over another, the exact nature of this balance is impossible to study. A better understanding of the virtue is further complicated by the inexplicable curse that comes over all paladins who attain the white cloak of beauty. Beginning in 113 AM, every paladin who has had his reflection change to White has been overcome with an overwhelming compulsion to cross the Merging, leaving the mortal world behind in some maddened, suicidal quest.