Book of Oa
After Thomas Kalmaku used Jordan's ring to rebuild Oa, Kyle Rayner used his power as Ion to resurrect the Guardians. The book of Oa is now restored.
The Forbidden Chapter of the Book tells the prophecy of the Blackest Night, the final destruction of the Green Lantern Corps at the hands of their greatest enemies as it was told to Abin Sur by the demons of Ysmault.
Upon recruitment, a Green Lantern is expected to uphold certain principles of his/her/its duty. These principles include:
- The protection of life and liberty within the assigned sector.
- Following the orders of the Guardians without question.
- Noninterference with a planet's culture, political structure, or its population's collective will.
- Acting within local laws and obeying the local authority within reason (presumably, the Guardians' orders can overrule this when necessary).
- Taking no action against anyone or anything until they are proven to be a threat against life and liberty.
- Avoiding the use of equipment, resources or authority of the Corps for personal gain.
- Showing respect for and cooperating with other members of the Corps and the Guardians.
- Showing respect for life which includes restraint of force unless there is no reasonable alternative.
- Giving top priority to the greatest danger in the assigned sector.
- Upholding the honor of the Corps.
The book of Oa has been designated off-limits after being rewritten by the Guardians of the Universe to include ten new laws. Only the first four have been revealed:
- Lethal force is authorized against the Sinestro Corps.
- Lethal force is authorized against all enemies of the Green Lantern Corps.
- Physical relationships and love between Green Lanterns is forbidden within the Corps. This law is later repealed and relationships between Green Lanterns are allowed following the Blackest Night event.
- The Vega System is no longer outside of Green Lantern Corps' jurisdiction.
When the new laws are written, the book is revealed to be written in Interlac, which is the galactic universal language used by the 30th and 31st Century United Planets and Legion of Super-Heroes.
To enforce these principles, the Guardians closely monitor the activities of the Lanterns. If they feel a violation of Corps regulations occurred, they will summon the offender to Oa and hold a trial in which the charges are read and the Lantern is allowed to explain his/her/its actions. If the Guardians are not satisfied by the explanation, they have a number of disciplinary options which include:
- Probation
- Personal supervision by the Guardians on Oa
- Temporary exile from the Lantern's homeworld
- Ritual Trial of Endurance (a Lantern must attempt a dangerous passage through the Anti-Matter Universe)
- Expulsion from the Corps
- Prime Duty (when Superboy-Prime was an Oan prisoner, guard duty was used for punishment)
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“Arrogance invites ruin; humility receives benefits.”
—Chinese proverb.
I-ching (Book of Changes)
“He wrote in prison, not a History of the World, like Raleigh, but an American book which I think will live longer than that. I do not know of such words, uttered under such circumstances, and so copiously withal, in Roman or English or any history.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)