Update soon I am taking a short break to recharge, read some inspirational material and welcome family back from abroad but certainly we will get this deluge going by the weekend.
[X] Direct our attention to undermining the old order, and reaching out to those still under its unholy yoke [Improved relations with the sects of Ohr, Melecha, As Hahayiim, Yam Soph, and the figures of Sarbadgar, the Patriarch and the Sanhedron. Preferred option of Scourge of God].
The Changing of the Seasons
Shavat is the new year for the trees. The blooming of the cherry blossoms and the retreat of the frost and cold unveils new possibility. In Nachivan, the festival of Shuvatam plays out the changing of the seasons. Thousands of children primly dressed in bonnets, robes and dresses of winter white and fresh spring green assemble giggling on the streets of Nachivan in separate lines, ready for a race. It is the Abbess Kenturah who blows the starting horn as the winter children scream and sprint, running north along the center of an avenue that two months ago hosted cannons and barricades.
Behind them are the hooting spring youngsters wielding wooden sticks, ready to whack at the heels and ankles of winter's emissaries. Many of the spring children are so excited they trip over their robes and dresses or push other children down to get ahead to the laughter of onlookers. At the finish line, the parents of winter come to pick them up and spin them around for doing such a good job.
Huge tables arranged with feasts of mangos and breads brought from the south draw out toilers let out early from their work by the Order Calendrical's command. Ripe durians opened cause whole tables to flee in terror of the stench. Sect parades bring out disciples in their holiday best, while massive barbeques of scorpion, hefer, moa waft aromas that demand devotion. Amid the throng spectators spot HaKhofshim and Ohr headbands, aprons of Makabam, cockades of Kedesh, turbans of As Hahayiim, and the fiery banner of the Mass Jury in a mock parade.
The rowdy soldiers mingle freely with the congregants and some of the younger men, in shabby uniforms and baggy pants, puffing out their chests to elicit chuckles from the youth and swoons from a sweetheart. Sarbadgar steers his horse in an immaculate dress uniform, sternly inspecting the ranks of his mass jury. He is almost mobbed by a group of witches who call him 'Mahdi'. He nods at one, and she falls back onto her sister, pushing her brimhat onto her face to hide her beet-red complexion.
Patriarch Santsarran is come, and all are there to see him standing and waving on a palanquin carried by the mothguard. When he raises an arm, all fall still. When he speaks of the new world he is birthing into being, all fall silent in reverence. When a babe is carried up to him, squalling in her mother's arms, the Patriarch reaches out and touches her with an ungloved hand, and the mother weeps. Cheers erupt umprompted from the crowd: Patriarch Liberator! Patriarch Redeemer! Patriarch Divine!
Behind the Patriarch, is his fellowship, and especially Akabar Morsi. He rides on a splendid stallion, feather in his cap, flanked by floppy-hats of White-Gold, and speaks of the coming flood: That for the sake of freedom, all is permitted, and against the tyranny of the old, nothing is forbidden. Behind him, a dragon on stilts made of paper is revealed to be stuffed to the brim with bags of the new gold shekel bank-note: Members of the Order of the Sacred Treasury throw these notes like confetti at the crowd, as congregants barge one another aside for the chance to grasp the new currency which they treat more like sacred sutras than a note.
Artisans bring forth a stone statue of the founder of Sword-Altar, retrieved from the exterior of Tzinhas Barrack, and break it with their hammers. A mother who is claimed to have born seven children on the 30th of Tislev is carried through the streets with her holy litter by women praying at her side and begging for the same fertility. A grandfather whose birthday is today is given public honours as he has turned seventy-seven and is thus 'an auspicious old codger', in the words of Ghadan Nasir. Foreign merchants rebrand their wares as 'pious trinkets', and 'godtokens', blessed for having been manufactured on the 30th of Tislev. An Ashareian organ grinder draws significant attention thanks to his performing velociraptor, who 'is a most intelligent creature trained in all the proper positions of Vasparak prayer'. The spectacle elicits much excitement, but then the velociraptor spots a mouse and runs off into an alleyway, claw extended, the organ grinder screaming after it.
At every single corner hawkers sell epistles: the old label of 'prayer bulletin', meant to disguise radicals from censorship, has fallen away. In its place, the honest newsman writes not in euphemism, but direct challenge: challenge to the old order, challenge to orthodoxy, and challenge to those who conspire against the new. So many new epistle encyclicals are now being founded on a daily basis that printers have appeared on every other block. Dvorah estimates that perhaps ten epistles are founded every single day in Nachivan alone, and something like one-hundred across Vaspukaran.
This is the energy of possibility. This is the time of wonders. This is the age of miracles.
This is springtime, in Vaspukaran.
The Terror of the Old
Awesome is the power of the patriarch unleashed. The measure of his reach, by the sacrifices of the 30th of Tislev and annihilation of the originators in 822 Tebet, has expanded to the greatest seen by any in a century. Unlike the infallible Patriarchs, who ruled upon the basis of their glory and divinity, Patriarch Santsarran rules by virtue of mass popularity. He is the redeemer in truth, the prophet of freedom. In curtailing his authority, he has shocked even detractators in the Sanhedron. In going beyond the Sanhedron's own ambitions, he has shamed it into action. In his rest-day addresses he draws half the city to the streets outside the Balcony of Heaven, discussing topics as varied as the reform of orthodoxy to the repair of currency.
Oshana, at a lecture held at the Temple of the Free, offers her interpretation of his ends. The Patriarch may be a creature of his chamber, but he has an independent and unique authority as the prophet that transcends ordinary theopolitics. What Santsarran has done is accept himself fully as a Patriarch, independent of and disconnected from the priesthood. To do so is to shatter the old conventions, and break the intentions of Rav Yatoni, but is necessary if the institution is to survive the tumult elevated and powerful. The Patriarch will seek centralization, simplification, and the end of the old order: for the sects, that is beneficial, as it will make more horizontal the relationships between the people and God, and break the four chamber system which favours division and complication. Now what is essential is to further pressure and cajole the Patriarch, and ensure that his interests still lay towards the Deluvian redemption!
Ghadan Nasir adds in a dinner symposium his own thoughts on the Sanhedron. It has now been forced into a radical position by a temporary passion. In the grand scheme, many of its elders are strong members of the demiurgic class who have forgotten themselves. Swept away as they were by emotion, they are now afraid they unleash the dissolution of all existing social relations. He provides a recent incident as example: the Deacon Vurgavai, near Warabad, recently lost all of his penitents, all of his revenue, and when he went to complain to the Warabad Sanhedron he was arrested for provable collusion with the Warabad Synod and his estates confiscated. The Grand Sanhedron's judicial committee, composed mostly of High Priests, was troubled by the incident, and attempted to reverse the confiscation, as he had not been obliterated, but Samangan, Massima Rachel, and Akabar Morsi effectively browbeat the elders into maintaining the conviction and stripping his estates.
The fanatic euphoria that grips the hearts of men and women who proclaim, as the famous theological poet Xoan in Henoch has done, 'that the gates of heaven are open and the end of days is here' will soon enough find their temporary ecstasy blunted by seven revelations.
The first is that the tax system has effectively ceased to exist for much of the country, with the end of the threefold tithe, and there will be no money to pay many of the holy orders. The second is that fourteen-million penitents are now free and walking off their estates, and attempts to keep them there have already turned violent. The third is that the Mekubalic Conclave, composed of radical and schismatic preachers, is preparing to review every single rite in Vaspukaran and nothing will be safe from its exacting eye. The fourth is that all labour discipline within the artisan orders has collapsed save for the Golden Spike and a few other 'essential orders' to which new bulls have restored some measure of central discipline. The fifth is that the old rural High Priesthood has been rendered superfluous everywhere except the east and south, where customs and wealth still obligate them prestige. The sixth is that the liberation of the witches and schismatics has totally undermined the claim to power of the missions.
And the seventh is that they did not understand Akabar Morsi.
Strategy of Volume
At first glance, Sarbadgar describes at one memorable meeting, Morsi appears the model of an orthodox komandir. Wealthy, handsome, victorious, from the famed lineage of Akabar. His jawline is a saber's edge, his arms lean munitions, his chest an implacable fortification, his thighs two falconets, a cypress tree and model of the aristocracy (Sarbadgar pauses at this point to slice a slab of lamb chop, as Dvorah coughs, Chana loosens her collar, and Akov drinks a cup of water). But this is a dramatic and fatal mistake. Morsi is a cool predator, his acumen forged by the War with the Mare. He is not a man of simple charisma but deep cunning, and White-Gold is his companions in the task.
The largest credit union in Vaspukaran, White-Gold holds all of its properties and wealth in co-operative stead, and funds itself from the profits of its banking business. Morsi is an Akabar in name only: he is an instrument of White-Gold, survivor of its savage hazing rituals, and its foremost servant. He exists at its pleasure, and not White-Gold at his: Every act he takes is approved by the officers of the standard who he consults daily and who now staff the Order of the Sacred Treasury.
And white-gold are fanatics whose history has been obscured by their pomp and circumstances. They are all of them to the last man followers of their founder, the moral economist and komandir Ananchas Soto, who lived in the early 8th century, developed the theories of Yam Soph, and was arrested for a gunpowder plot by which he planned to explode the High Jury of Dvarim. Believing the state of creation to be one in which competition between owners led to the satisfaction of the whole, undone by the aggregation of monopoly and rent and the advent of the spire, Soto preached a 'tapestry of juror-owners'.
Holding in free association the fruits of their labour, these juros would be able to pursue co-operative and shared fortunes that would dwarf all seen before. To accomplish this, Soto advocated nothing less than the seizure and utilization of 'demolishing institutions' whose purpose was to completely destroy rent, end tenancy, and implement a 'genesis tithe on the value of creation'.
It is, Oshana chimes in, a strategy of volume, based on older Iconoclast ideas, and Sarbadgar assents that is the phrase Morsi said to him explicitly. Espoused by Soto and other iconoclast theorists, a strategy of volume advocates a pace of reformation so rapid that enemies 'are unable to find ground on which to stand'. So soon as they have adapted and begun criticism on one state of affairs, another is introduced. In this way, the enemy 'collapses from the drowner's exhaustion', and all obstacles to change perish under its irresistible momentum.
Nasir agrees, and outlines what he has already seen Morsi do in his short time: He has forced the Abbies Monopolistic to reduce and consolidate their debts. He has committed the Jury of Kedarkan to electoral reforrms and initiate elections in every single jury in its jurisdiction, throwing all competing juries into disarray. He has issued the first series of gold shekel notes off the massive quantitatives of gold taken from the obliterated Originators. And he has colluded with Buman Burs, allowing the Guardian to consolidate his domains at the expense of Juror liberty. Dogar, the last palatine outside of his grasp, was put to rest with nothing more than Morsi's assent and the Patriarch's retroactive approval, as Burs' steedeater invaded and deposed the ataman. In exchange, so much melted relic gold from Sufgar has been dispatched to Nachivan on locomotives from Sufgar that the trains are breaking down from the weight of their cargo.
Dvorah asks whether this strategy may as well be turned on them, and Sarbadgar grants her an unnerving smile, and remarks: perhaps it already has.
War on the Old Order
But these concerns are for those sects committed to keeping to account Morsi and the fellowship. HaKhofshim's attention is elsewhere, though the vote was a close-run thing and deeply acrimonious. With the growth of the movement to more than 10,000 souls in almost two months, discipline has more or less collapsed. The sages are able to keep order only by reference to their own legendary status, while fights break out constantly in the Temple of the Free. The brawling related to the vote on the old order intensified to such a level that Guru Wendam and Baba Tanda had to enforce a tournament with brackets between defenders of each side, which at least had the effect of releasing tension. By the morning, when Old Strong Belman had (of course, grumbled many), won, the tally had shifted decisively to attacking the old order and none remembered why they had been so angry the night before.
And there is no doubt that the old order still lives. No matter what strategy applied, or the renewed strength of the Patriarch, the majority of the country remains under control of the old priesthood and the old juries. Synods exist uneasily with new sanhedrons, sects are forming everywhere, the tithe system is collapsing and monasteries are running out of money, and the pace of change is wildly uneven. In the east, the covenental congress seeks to unify and rationalize the Kazar Rite to pre-empt the Mekubalic Conclave. Kutan groans under bondage, and new riots and protests demand a Sanhedron for the mission and the lifting of all restrictions on their traditional Ashamarki Rite.
In the south, the prince-priests have totally co-opted the first communal elections of Vadashta, and by an alliance of wealthy low priests, high priests and jurors have begun hunting escaped serfs in the city despite its status as a free territory even as they present themselves as the feeders of Nachivan. An attempted oblate revolt in Hasor, claiming the principles of the Midnight Bull as its own, has been put down, and the conspirators, a group of iconoclasts and allied serfs, have all been hanged or impaled.
In the near northwest, jurors in Gushanaram and Hamayan are organizing to force Buman Burs to step down from his spot as High Ataman, for his defense of witches and 'churlish aggregation of unearned power outside his proper and holy jurisdiction'. Local sanhedrons have returned majorities for the Perusian Rite, entrenching further the vile system of caste which divides believers on the basis of nothing more than blood. On the frontier in the far northwest, Simurgh Banner has made its displeasure known in response to an announcement by Noyan Kobatai that the Patriarchate will seek to make a lasting peace with the Great Western Coven.
And in the center, there remains so much to be done. Outside of the circles controlled by the Sanhedron, millions still exist within the awkward dual power of the Sanhedrons and Synods. In Ischak, an outrageous attempt by the provisional Ischak Sanhedron to provoke a fight with Metamoa has ended with the Grand Sanhedron dissolving its juries and Sarbadgar marching north to occupy Arhan.
Vashti, praised by the Patriarch for her defeat of the Sufgar Juries at Tendavara, is in the mdst of negotiations to secure recognition as a 'free territory'. Qanam has written that the Patriarch is amenable to special status for Metamoa so long as its villages respect the authority of the Grand Sanhedron to make laws, and any proposals of Vashti's prophethood firmly stops. This is expected to be a simple enough task, as for all of Qanam's loose talk, it is a principle agreed by all schisms and orthodoxy that Amalgast is the ultimate prophet, and none may succeed him in having a direct connection with the hidden divine. On the Hamgad Steppe to the east of Nachivan, ranchers are organizing, led by a figure known as 'Longhorn Lomas'. And in the mountainous circles of Hashech and Yichud the Tukhari Pugilists, who preach free love, free land, and free custom, have emerged from hiding and repression as a heresy repressed by the traditional minyan communions.
HaKhofshim must direct its attention somewhere, and begin building the power of toilers and tillers in the countryside and outer circles. But to do so, you must commit to focuses on specific doctrine, for in each region different issues dominate. The floor is open to the throngs of disciples, and all pray that this time if there will be fights Old Strong Belman will hit hard enough this time for the outcome to be decided faster.
Choose one region to focus on. You will receive more news on this region and it will be a much greater priority on organizing and doctrine than others.
[] The Northwest, and its evil castes! [Strategy will prioritize issues of caste, witches, the wider world, and Mystic Amalism].
[] The East, and its chains of debt! [Strategy will prioritize issues of missions, debt, federalism, and Eastern Iconoclasm].
[] The South, and its yoke of serfdom! [Doctrine will prioritize issues of serfdom, periphery, priesthood, and Southern Iconoclasm].
[] The Center, and its deprived many! [Doctrine will prioritize issues on the tiller, the toiler, popular rule, and Old Pugilism].
Theories of Freedom
A finger in the eye of evil, writes Keteani Merodak, is to dispense with ignorance, and pursue wisdom. It is an insight that brings with it the possibility of illumination. Learning, and its attendant values, are not to be disparaged, but treasured. Such is the philosophy of pugilism that speaks with the language of theology and not fists, the written to the kinetic tradition of the angelform. But the texts have been neglected. Pugilist intellectualism has declined not out of a particular fundamental weakness but because of the long repression of its radicalism. The other schisms have constructed edifices of power which have fostered learning, but for near to four centuries the main edifice of written pugilism has been the hangman's scaffold.
Many of HaKhofshim's own doctrines are drawn from new insights gained in recent months. Some have been so successful they have been rendered irrelevent: the abolition of the threefold tithe has been accomplished, and with it the collapse of the greatest pressure on the mouflons that exists. Also fallen to the wayside is the theory of incapacity of cloister. Extinguishment has been affirmed by the Mass Jury, but still remains essential to jurors forced to obey cruel atamans and komandirs in the outer circles. The Mosaic Principle remains important, but the autocephalates remain an open question and a problem not yet solved by either sect or Sanhedron. A fine principle indeed to assert some autonomy for rites, but in what fashion, and under what government? Prince Sen is the hero of many, but he is a blood aristocrat at the head of a gang he calls his black army. Should he really be supported, and should the sect truly take a position on such archaic feuds?
After debate and discussion Dvorah highlights four areas, many of them lobbied for by disciples of HaKhofshim, that need rapid and essential addressing. Of them, one must be chosen, and one must developed to the fullest. The old fragmentation into many doctrines will not do for a mass movement that needs a clear message. Doctrines can no longer contain only a single point or be about a single slice of the population, but must bind and unite the flock on core principles.
Choose one major doctrine to develop strongly over the next few turns. This may replace or synthesize existing doctrines and has the possibility to encompass aspects of other choices not taken.
[] Beacon of Liberty: Truths of the Second Gender. [Examining issues of labour and home life for the women and men of Vaspukaran. Favored by the Gunpowder Eucharist, will draw on the works of Esterkezy Oshana].
[] Acts of Creation: The Tiller and the Toiler's Work [Examining the sanctification of labour and the free peasantry. Favored by the Ravs of Labour, will draw on works of Ghadan Nasir].
[] Light Everlasting: Education and Ecumenical Illumination [Examining the possibilities of mass education and a priesthood of all believers. Favored by Ma'on, will draw on esoteric Pugilist writings.]
[] Immolation's End: Possibilities of the Mass Jury. [Examining the Mass Jury as an institution and a potentiality. Favored by the Scourge of God, will draw on new writings on the position of Juries].
The Meaning of the Words
And all of this must mean something. There must be an hour, as says Ghadan Nasir, where you see before you that your doctrine has brought immanent happiness to this mortal world. To be trapped within the strictures of pointless doctrine, to be overly obsessed with a dogma which does not bring about the good, is to consign yourself to a prison of scripture. Amalgast wrote, "and let it be done, that adherence to my commandments shall bring about His wonders". It is those that forget the second half of that quotation, who adhere without purpose, who ensure the chains of darkness that bind the soul will never be broken.
Ma'on is the purest expression of this act of sanctifying commandment. For its disciples, the good doctrine is the doctrine which secures a bounty on the table, which raises the destitute, that brings about the world to come. Ma'on's street gurus go from door to door to ensure this: they know the names of all those on their assigned block, and the block knows theirs. When problems come to them, they solve them. When they are tasked to investigate mysteries and crimes, they do so without hesitation. Bound to the brotherhood of the sect, they refuse the corrupting influence of money and power that have so destroyed the ethics of the juries.
But Ma'on has been devastated. Its eldest sages have been killed and crippled in the fighting on the 30th of Tislev. Their brother-sect, the more moderate Ghadim came off no better when their dojo was overrun. Those inside fought to the last man and woman against the Sufgar Juries, and survivors of the sect come to HaKhofshim with mourner's hollow eyes, knowing it is the last sect standing of Pugilism in holy Nachivan. Guru Bluff himself fears disintegration, fears the collapse of the tradition. He predicts that undisciplined youngsters without guidance will soon turn to the crime they vowed to fight against in order to survive. HaKhofshim is the only alternative. Guru Wendam moves many when he says to them that they are fingers of the same fist. Where the sages of Ma'on have been so tragically cut down, HaKhofshim's sages still stand defiant in a mourner's defense of the same principles. And together they shall fight for the youth of Nachivan, as was promised before the Bloody Day.
The Children of the Street
A Nachivani receives a rudimentary education from their parents, an ethic of literacy deeply ingrained by the influence of confession. But for the children of toilers, there is no time for tutors or for school. By five the girls will be helping their mothers with wrapping matchsticks or selling household trinkets. By age eight the boys are expected at the factory. By age twelve they are working men, and watch the children of monks and priests filing into schoolhouses with a shrug as they carry bundles on backs already bent before the first hair appears on their chins. For many, their education has declined since the transition to factory life: the Maranine minyan schools have not spread to the cities, and in Nachivan education above the most basic level is the preserve of the wealthy of the four chambers everywhere.
Orphanages present another vile vector of exploitation. Run by the Order Bevanine, the orphanages are unclean centers of disease and abuse. Children are beaten bloody for the most simple transgressions. Once they are of age, girls are invariably funneled into the monastic orders, trained to be obedient lay labourers for monasteries, while boys are funneled into factories. Their education crafts their souls to be those of mental slaves, and the funding and operation of these orphanages is wildly corrupt, with absentee abbesses profiting off cut corners whilst the nuns range from abusive, to corrupt, to too exhausted to stop the excesses of their sinful peers.
Ma'on has been fighting back, but they need the help of HaKhofshim to formulate a strategy. For the first time, they might have official support. Tessel Tori, the sunken-cheeked and fierce Haviva of the Patriarchal Fellowship, has reached out to HaKhofshim and wishes to prepare reforms to totally transform the lives of children in the capital and across Vaspukaran. The question is what will be the most worthwhile initiative. Reforms to child labour would ease the burdens on their young backs and end the undercutting of wages by those who should not be working in the first place.
Children's education, and the ideal of universal, is a potentially epochal issue that would liberate from ignorance millions and is deeply popular among the learned classes. And reforms to orphanages and the orphanage system would help some of the most destitute, delinquent, and poorest of the children of Vaspukaran. All of these require different strategies, and train the sects in different things. And all would be necessary to begin repairing the deficiencies of discipline which plague both Pugilist associations.
Ma'on has given everything for HaKhofshim. Now, if it is to integrate itself and perhaps even merge within the growing movement of the free, it espects HaKhofshim to give back. The question underlying everything is: how, and where, should they act to best bring about the world to come?
Choose one initiative to work with the Haviva Tessel Tori, member of the Patriarchal fellowship and cantor of Melecha, and Ma'on, to strengthen relations and work together on a coherent project of urban renewal and reform.
[] Upend the Orphanage System! [Ma'on will investigate the orphanages and directly confront the Order Bevanine, training both sects in utilizing local power to confront Patriarchal institutions].
[] Expand Access to Education! [Ma'on will build a campaign in favour of mass education on the streets of Nachivan, training the sects in broad street mobilization in favour of political goals].
[] Reform and restrict child labour! [Ma'on will report and expose the abuse of the city's factory owners, training the sects in using the press in order to affect opinion and affect change].
The Sect of HaKhofshim [The Free]
The Three Prescriptions of the Righteous Movement
Discipline {Focus}: Low. The movement has been inundated by thousands of new disciples and needs reform. Fervour: Absolute. An infectious energy and the ecstasy of possibility overwhelms all sense. Popularity: Over 15,000 members. The movement has a significant base in Nachivan and its first chapter outside.
The Three Stolen Tools of the Foolish Master
Wealth: Overflowing. You have more money than you know what to do with from donations and loot. Influence: Considerable. You have unexpected friends in high places, at least in Nachivan. Doctrine: Prosaic. Your triumphs and discipline draw others but your doctrine leaves much to be desired.
HaKhofshim Relics, Institutions, Traditions
These are the physical or symbolic anchors of the sect and represent its shared heritage, history, and bonds.
Six-Shin Aluf [Relic]. The sacred angel-flag that flies in defiance of evil. Steels the hearts of all who see it. Sefer Ghadi [Relic]. A precious and sacred illuminated manuscript of the Book of Ghadi. An icon of artistic righteousness.
The Spirit of Hasadaya [Tradition]. The founding myth of the HaKhofshim, a heroic prison break immortalized in sect memory. Crimson Headbands [Tradition]. Blood-red headbands reflect the blood of martyrs and the cleansing of the strain of evil. Storming of Vikrag [Tradition]. The victory of the gunpowder eucharist over Sword-Altar shall carry forward to eternity.
Black Sheep Printing Covenant [Institution]. You operate a contracted printing press which allows you to magnify your popularity. The Guns of Nachivan [Institution]. You are the most armed sect in Nachivan per disciple, with a veritable stockpile of weaponry. HaKhofshim Mekdash [Institution]. A modest but beautified temple, which strengthens internal discipline.
HaKhofshim Fundaments
Fundaments represent the originating beliefs and philosophical tenets of the sect. They cannot be invested into or improved, and are more difficult to change without consequences.
Pasan Ghadi's Legacy (Metaphysics): You are a sect of the Pugilist schism, believing in the dualism of the soul into parts light and darkness, the war against five evils, martial arts training, and the necessity of personal and collective alignment to hasten the apocalypse and the world to come. Increased affinity with other pugilist sects.
Sayings of Guru Myriam (Theopolitics): You are a sect of the militant pugilist splinter of the Pugilists, interpreting the world to come as a call to action. You believe that the world to come will be achieved only by a dramatic transformation of real conditions and the levelling of social relations and equality of the human soul. Increased affinity with militant Pugilist sects and other radicals.
Flood as Treachery (Theodicy): Holding that God is intrinsically good but that the Flood was a result of the treachery of evil that forced the direct intervention of God, you argue that it is essential to work to expel and destroy evil within the souls of humanity in order to prevent terrible intervention from the righteous judge. Increased affinity with Pugilist and Confessional sects.
Transmigration (Apotheosis): You agree with the position of Rav Yatoni and the Second Patriarchate that the Patriarchs Amalgast really do possess a portion of the soul of the prophet Amalgast, and that it is possible by election or selection to elevate a figure or entity to supernatural power. Increased affinity with Confessors, Pugilists, and the non-Amalist masses.
Amalgast the Accelerant(Prophecy): You place Amalgast within the broader Spiral of Truth as simply the greatest of prophets so far rather than as a being different in kind as well as degree. Greater affinity with all radicals and with foreigners, decreased affinity with the orthodox masses.
Low Disavowal (Eschatology): You deny and despise the works and doctrines of High Confession, seeing its prioritization of a Patriarch-led and totalizing vision of existence as anathema to the possibilities of freedom offered by the world to come. You have far less affinity with High Confessor sects.
HaKhofshim Doctrine
Doctrines represent politically focused and present-oriented positions elaborated on from the sect's fundamental tenets. Doctrines are separated into tiers by order of power. Investment of doctrine points increase effects.
Doctrine of Extinguishment (Tier II): A powerful attack on the institution of the Grand Jury as it is currently constituted, on the practice of immolation, and Juror self-sacrifice. Significantly increases Juror recruitment but also attracts negative attention from their commanders.
Abolition of the Threefold Tithe (Tier I): An elementary attack on the threefold tithe for its fundamental unfairness and robbery from the lower to the upper chambers, and advocacy for its total abolition. [DEFUNCT - THIS IDEA IS NO LONGER RELEVANT]
Light of the Sanhedron (Tier I): Your sect believes that the Sanhedron, if used correctly, can act as a tool of freedom for the people and for the rescuing of the country from its place of bondage. This is a popular position with the masses.
Incapacity of Cloister (Tier I): Your sect argues that the Patriarch, both because of his background as a High Priest and his captivity, cannot be counted on to be a faithful friend of the flock. This is a radical position, and will mark you as such to both the masses and other sects. [DEFUNCT - THIS DOCTRINE IS NO LONGER RELEVANT]
Truths of Light and Darkness (Tier I): An argument from first principles that light and darkness are not just metaphysical but social principles that derive from material conditions, and that altering them requires altering the conditions and society which fosters them.
The Mosaic Principle (Tier I): Your sect argues that the Autocephalates should be significantly reformed and changed in favor of fairer and more equal systems, but deny the necessity of a unified rite or a radical transformation in the nature of Autocephalous autonomy.
HaKhofshim Sages
Sages are leaders and notables of the sect who serve to grant the sect connections, represent mass sections, and assist in actions undertaken.
Guru Wendam [+Popularity, +Wealth]. Former Juror and sect sage with strong experience in subterfuge and smuggling. Available.
Starshy Akov [+Fervour, +Discipline]. Juror defector from Nesra, leader of the Scourge of God, officer of the Mass Jury. Prioritizing Scourge of God actions.
Kendanaya Dvorah [+Doctrine, Influence]. High Priest's daughter, accomplished schismatic writer, influencer within the radical movement. Available.
Baba Tanda [+Discipline, +Popularity]. Well-armed low priestess grandmother, organizer, and famed fighter on the streets of Nachivan. Available.
Galavani Chana [+Fervour]. Young radical, leader of the Gunpowder Eucharist, stormer of Vikrag and emblem of the Deluge. Prioritizing Gunpowder Eucharist actions.
Vardar Bukak [+Discipline] Gruff labour leader, railway monk and Grand Rav of the Ravs of Labour, builder of barricades. Prioritizing Ravs of Labour actions.
HaKhofshim Mass Sections
Mass Sections represent affiliated organizations and orders of the sect with missions, purposes, and ambitions.
Scourge of God [Heterodox Underground Juror Standard-Cult]
Ambition: Embed themselves deeply into the mass jury and fight against the old order. Relations: Content. The Scourge of God are pleased by the priority placed on extinguishment, the possibilities of the Mass Jury, and the commitment to fight the remaining pieces of the old order.
Convent of the Gunpowder Eucharist [Militant Religious Feminism]
Ambition: Advance radical gains in womanly rites. Reach out to the women of Vaspukaran. Relations: Restless. The Gunpowder Eucharist has made great victories on the battlefield but seeks to ensure these victories mean something for the women of Vaspukaran, who remain slaves to the darkness of their households.
Ravs of Labour [Mystic Labour Federation]
Ambition: Keep the Sect focused on Labour issues. Expand into the newly flattened artisan orders. Relations: Restless. The Ravs of Labour are pleased by the labour victories made since the 30th of Tislev but wish for the sect to better prioritize toil and its issues into doctrine and organize in the artisan orders.
HaKhofshim Chapters
Chapters represent individual sub-sects established across the Kingdom of God. Chapters self-govern but send a share of member dues to the central sect. Ralabarak Chapter [Established]
Size: ~6,000 Leader: Ghami Pola, a working weaver and veteran disciple of HaKhofshim.
A disciplined section of HaKhofshim formed out of the original core of membership. Work in tandem with the Ravs of Labour and prioritize issues of toil and toilers. Form an organized bloc among the mouflon elders of Ralabarak'sLower Sanhedron.
HaKhofshim Allies & Connections
Allies
Ma'on [Ally]: A nearby all-male Pugilist sect that works to police the neighborhoods of the Western Navel alongside its toughs and braves and that is working with HaKhofshim on all matters in the Western Navel, devastated as it is by the 30 of Tislev.
Elder Varhan Sarbadgar [Ally]: A hard-bitten elder and radical juror, and komandir of the Mass Jury of Vaspukaran. One of the most powerful people in the country. Took the Mushad Bridge oath alongside Chana.
Esterkezy Oshana[Ally]: Radical intellectual and exile focused on the rites of women and the detonation of idolatrous institutions, disciple of the Iconoclast sect Makabam. Took the Mushad Bridge oath alongside Chana.
Cantor Ghadan Nasir[Ally]: Pedantic and scholarly leader of the sect of Ohr and editor of the popular sectarian epistle Ayn Soph. Took the Mushad Bridge oath alongside Chana.
Rector Qanam [Ally]: Rector of the sect, on a mission to the Metamoa revolt on the Ischak Plateau to spread the teachings of HaKhofshim and assist Maryam Vashti in her holy people's war.
Connections
Yeladada Merchant Clan [Connection]: A smuggling family of Amalist merchants with which Wendam is working on circumventing the city's customs walls with.
Elder Kardon Hadi [Connection]: An elder of the Sanhedron representing Vadashta for the Low Priesthood, he is an oblate serfdom abolitionist, champion of free silver and gabbi of the ecumenical rationalist sect Kedesh.
Girls of Eglantine Mill [Connection]: Brave mill-girls passing messages and information from within Eglantine Mill and picking up the pieces after the 30 Tislev has obliterated their owner and replaced him with a patriarchal agent.
[X] The East, and its chains of debt! [Strategy will prioritize issues of missions, debt, federalism, and Eastern Iconoclasm].
[X] Light Everlasting: Education and Ecumenical Illumination [Examining the possibilities of mass education and a priesthood of all believers. Favored by Ma'on, will draw on esoteric Pugilist writings.]
[X] Upend the Orphanage System! [Ma'on will investigate the orphanages and directly confront the Order Bevanine, training both sects in utilizing local power to confront Patriarchal institutions].
Torn between picking the Center or the East, but at the end of the day I really want to go back to Kutan and burn the mission structure to the ground. Or at least get a front row view of the locals doing said burning. As for the doctrine, all are very intriguing but I like picking up education as one of our big bugbears. Plus, legally I'm not allowed to vote for anything that acknowledges the existence of Confessor doctrine...
[X] The Center, and its deprived many! [Doctrine will prioritize issues on the tiller, the toiler, popular rule, and Old Pugilism].
-Honestly all of the options seem important but for now I'll go with the Center.
[X] Beacon of Liberty: Truths of the Second Gender. [Examining issues of labour and home life for the women and men of Vaspukaran. Favored by the Gunpowder Eucharist, will draw on the works of Esterkezy Oshana].
- Our sister of the order are growing restless over the issue of women rights I for one will thus support them on advancing there cause.
[X] Reform and restrict child labour! [Ma'on will report and expose the abuse of the city's factory owners, training the sects in using the press in order to affect opinion and affect change].
-Bluntly all three of these issues are important and need to be done but well I'll first focus on stopping the factory's from killing children with such hard labour.
[X] The East, and its chains of debt! [Strategy will prioritize issues of missions, debt, federalism, and Eastern Iconoclasm].
[X] Light Everlasting: Education and Ecumenical Illumination [Examining the possibilities of mass education and a priesthood of all believers. Favored by Ma'on, will draw on esoteric Pugilist writings.]
[X] Upend the Orphanage System! [Ma'on will investigate the orphanages and directly confront the Order Bevanine, training both sects in utilizing local power to confront Patriarchal institutions].
Torn between picking the Center or the East, but at the end of the day I really want to go back to Kutan and burn the mission structure to the ground. Or at least get a front row view of the locals doing said burning. As for the doctrine, all are very intriguing but I like picking up education as one of our big bugbears. Plus, legally I'm not allowed to vote for anything that acknowledges the existence of Confessor doctrine...
Mass Sections represent affiliated organizations and orders of the sect with missions, purposes, and ambitions.
Scourge of God [Heterodox Underground Juror Standard-Cult]
Ambition: Embed themselves deeply into the mass jury and fight against the old order. Relations: Content. The Scourge of God are pleased by the priority placed on extinguishment, the possibilities of the Mass Jury, and the commitment to fight the remaining pieces of the old order.
Convent of the Gunpowder Eucharist [Militant Religious Feminism]
Ambition: Advance radical gains in womanly rites. Reach out to the women of Vaspukaran. Relations: Restless. The Gunpowder Eucharist has made great victories on the battlefield but seeks to ensure these victories mean something for the women of Vaspukaran, who remain slaves to the darkness of their households.
Ravs of Labour [Mystic Labour Federation]
Ambition: Keep the Sect focused on Labour issues. Expand into the newly flattened artisan orders. Relations: Restless. The Ravs of Labour are pleased by the labour victories made since the 30th of Tislev but wish for the sect to better prioritize toil and its issues into doctrine and organize in the artisan orders.
A Sect-Party must be united, and while the Ravs and Convent are just restless now. We might want to consider picking focuses and strategies that satisfy their demands as well.
[X] The Center, and its deprived many! [Doctrine will prioritize issues on the tiller, the toiler, popular rule, and Old Pugilism].
[X] Light Everlasting: Education and Ecumenical Illumination [Examining the possibilities of mass education and a priesthood of all believers. Favored by Ma'on, will draw on esoteric Pugilist writings.]
[X] Reform and restrict child labour! [Ma'on will report and expose the abuse of the city's factory owners, training the sects in using the press in order to affect opinion and affect change].
Honestly, quite a few hard choices here. I think on the whole I favor the idea of focusing on engagement with Pugilist roots right now as a potential source for a new doctrine. Especially the idea of the "priesthood of all believers" sounds like a potential breakthrough in the realm of theopolitics as the source of legitimacy for radical policies toward more liberal and popular governance. And on the whole learning how to use the press to push a pressure campaign seems like the most valuable future skill for the Sect to pick up.
[X] Beacon of Liberty: Truths of the Second Gender. [Examining issues of labour and home life for the women and men of Vaspukaran. Favored by the Gunpowder Eucharist, will draw on the works of Esterkezy Oshana].
[X] Reform and restrict child labour! [Ma'on will report and expose the abuse of the city's factory owners, training the sects in using the press in order to affect opinion and affect change].
Anyways speaking in terms of keeping the sect's unity while our Discipline is still shot to hell, I would go for Truths of Second Gender and the Child Labor things. As they should help with the Gunpowder Nuns and the Ravs of Labour.
Normally I'd frown on something that tries to please everyone. But in our current situation with how expanded our numbers are and how much of a wacking our Discipline took. Its the prudent choice. Give the Sect time to digest its new membership for a few turn, and form bonds by working on helping Children and Women. And then we can unleash a more focused salvo on a single path with the Discipline to reinforce unity.
[X] The South, and its yoke of serfdom! [Doctrine will prioritize issues of serfdom, periphery, priesthood, and Southern Iconoclasm].
[X] Immolation's End: Possibilities of the Mass Jury. [Examining the Mass Jury as an institution and a potentiality. Favored by the Scourge of God, will draw on new writings on the position of Juries].
[X] Expand Access to Education! [Ma'on will build a campaign in favour of mass education on the streets of Nachivan, training the sects in broad street mobilization in favour of political goals].
Serfdom is the biggest sin of the old order and I'm surprised people so far don't seem to focus on it.
Immolation's End is a choice to make sure we are ready to oppose Morsi when the time comes. We need to rally military support, oppose the industrialist and banker juries and get in hard with Sarbadgar and the Mass Jury. We are pugilists and being on the theoretical forefront of the people's war against the chamber system is not only the best pick in terms of power politics but also vibes pretty well with our martial character.
[X] The South, and its yoke of serfdom! [Doctrine will prioritize issues of serfdom, periphery, priesthood, and Southern Iconoclasm].
[X] Beacon of Liberty: Truths of the Second Gender. [Examining issues of labour and home life for the women and men of Vaspukaran. Favored by the Gunpowder Eucharist, will draw on the works of Esterkezy Oshana].
[X] Reform and restrict child labour! [Ma'on will report and expose the abuse of the city's factory owners, training the sects in using the press in order to affect opinion and affect change].
Right now messing with Serfdom in the South or the Caste system of the Perusian Rite will trigger a civil war. If we had to choose, there is far more prospect of getting the support to deal with the Perusian Rite than with serfdom and the civil war that would involve is less likely to draw in foreign powers and thus more likely to be won with an overwhelming victory in a shorter period of time. Dealing with serfdom then is necessarily a long-term goal and focusing on it, right now, means far less ability to accomplish anything in the short-term. It would also tend to position the HaKhofshim as a one-issue Sect on an issue that Pugilism has historically not had much involvement with due to its geographic origins.
We should probably build up to confronting it from the basis of a more generalized development of Doctrine and after strengthening the institutions of the state to be able to win the resulting civil war, then.
[X] The Center, and its deprived many! [Doctrine will prioritize issues on the tiller, the toiler, popular rule, and Old Pugilism].
[X] Light Everlasting: Education and Ecumenical Illumination [Examining the possibilities of mass education and a priesthood of all believers. Favored by Ma'on, will draw on esoteric Pugilist writings.]
[X] Reform and restrict child labour! [Ma'on will report and expose the abuse of the city's factory owners, training the sects in using the press in order to affect opinion and affect change].
Very tempted also by Beacon of Liberty, but I think that issues of gender-politics are going to be trickier (we've seen hints of intra-sect tension whenever the Gunpowder Eucharist strongly advocates) and so I want us to have a grasp of how we can wield our words and ideas before we tackle that. Part of why I'm picking the child labor options is because it trains the sect in wielding the press.
[x] The Northwest, and its evil castes! [Strategy will prioritize issues of caste, witches, the wider world, and Mystic Amalism].
[x] Beacon of Liberty: Truths of the Second Gender. [Examining issues of labour and home life for the women and men of Vaspukaran. Favored by the Gunpowder Eucharist, will draw on the works of Esterkezy Oshana].
[x] Expand Access to Education! [Ma'on will build a campaign in favour of mass education on the streets of Nachivan, training the sects in broad street mobilization in favour of political goals].
I ask only one thing: Vote for the Gunpowder Eucharist. We did not build doctrine for this last time, opting instead to focus on the Jurors, and it has paid off, but again and again people will say "later" because it is so easy to forget the Other Half of all Vaspurakan when you think there are other, more important things to focus on.
"Three of every ten of my Sisters are dead, and I envy them."
Who was it that cut the gate-rope at Vikrag Prison, opening the way? It was a martyred Sister of the Gunpowder Eucharist.
"Their souls soar freely into the world of tomorrow."
Who was it that charged first into the Bulletspitters at Mushad Bridge, so that others might live? It was a martyred Sister of the Gunpowder Eucharist.
"Our war is a holy, good, and just. I do not know what Chana will have to say. But I speak from my heart: Do not deny us this again. Do not deny us representation again, not now, on this precipice of transformation, when the evils of old are at last crumbling under the blows of the righteous fist. Look at yourself, into your hearts, Brothers, and do not abandon half of the Kingdom of God at the beginning of this age of Miracles."
We're Pugilists, we've succeeded in the past by reaching out to other Pugilists. Let's continue to play tall and form an alliance of Pugilist radicals and revolutionaries!
[X] The Center, and its deprived many! [Doctrine will prioritize issues on the tiller, the toiler, popular rule, and Old Pugilism].
Look: we want to tear down serfdom and the caste system, but our influence is only present in the center; our allies are in Nachivan, we have pull with the urban poor and labor, and we're the most important Pugilist sect in the country.
We can't be everywhere, so let's build a very strong web of contacts and influence in the core.
[X] Light Everlasting: Education and Ecumenical Illumination [Examining the possibilities of mass education and a priesthood of all believers. Favored by Ma'on, will draw on esoteric Pugilist writings.]
Tough choices because I like all of them and we need doctrine. I want to feed the Gunpowder Eucharist, and my Pugilist-Confessor tendencies make sanctification of labor appealing, but I also think mass education has potential especially when paired with...
[X] Expand Access to Education! [Ma'on will build a campaign in favour of mass education on the streets of Nachivan, training the sects in broad street mobilization in favour of political goals].
Ma'on's big strength is their street-level organizing and community policing. We need those skills to mobilize the common people of Nachivan and other cities, and mass education will be huge not just for improving quality of life but also spreading our doctrine.
In conclusion: Pugilism, Pugilism, and more Pugilism!
[X] The Center, and its deprived many! [Doctrine will prioritize issues on the tiller, the toiler, popular rule, and Old Pugilism].
[X] Beacon of Liberty: Truths of the Second Gender. [Examining issues of labour and home life for the women and men of Vaspukaran. Favored by the Gunpowder Eucharist, will draw on the works of Esterkezy Oshana].
[X] Reform and restrict child labour! [Ma'on will report and expose the abuse of the city's factory owners, training the sects in using the press in order to affect opinion and affect change].
We do need to appease the other Mass Sections that are currently restless.
[X] The Center, and its deprived many! [Doctrine will prioritize issues on the tiller, the toiler, popular rule, and Old Pugilism].
[X] Light Everlasting: Education and Ecumenical Illumination [Examining the possibilities of mass education and a priesthood of all believers. Favored by Ma'on, will draw on esoteric Pugilist writings.]
[X] Reform and restrict child labour! [Ma'on will report and expose the abuse of the city's factory owners, training the sects in using the press in order to affect opinion and affect change].
I'm roleplaying as a Scourge guy and I love our rogue Juror element. With that said, HaKhofshim's strength is built on three pillars: soldiers, women, and laborers. We've spent substantial time and energy building up our military element, which was both good and a necessary solution to a very pressing problem. Now that we have a little breathing room, it's time to put some sustained investment into the other two pillars, which are of equal importance and represent vital constituencies.
[X] The Center, and its deprived many! [Doctrine will prioritize issues on the tiller, the toiler, popular rule, and Old Pugilism].
[X] Light Everlasting: Education and Ecumenical Illumination [Examining the possibilities of mass education and a priesthood of all believers. Favored by Ma'on, will draw on esoteric Pugilist writings.]
[X] Reform and restrict child labour! [Ma'on will report and expose the abuse of the city's factory owners, training the sects in using the press in order to affect opinion and affect change].
[X] The South, and its yoke of serfdom! [Doctrine will prioritize issues of serfdom, periphery, priesthood, and Southern Iconoclasm].
[X] Immolation's End: Possibilities of the Mass Jury. [Examining the Mass Jury as an institution and a potentiality. Favored by the Scourge of God, will draw on new writings on the position of Juries].
[X] Expand Access to Education! [Ma'on will build a campaign in favour of mass education on the streets of Nachivan, training the sects in broad street mobilization in favour of political goals].
I've been convinced by the argument that ceding the intellectual argument regarding the role of the Mass Jury to the likes of people like Morsi is a bad idea. If we want to stay relevant we need to have the revolution's main army on our side and he first step towards building that support is to define its mission in terms we find favorable.
[X] The Center, and its deprived many! [Doctrine will prioritize issues on the tiller, the toiler, popular rule, and Old Pugilism].
[X] Beacon of Liberty: Truths of the Second Gender. [Examining issues of labour and home life for the women and men of Vaspukaran. Favored by the Gunpowder Eucharist, will draw on the works of Esterkezy Oshana].
[X] Reform and restrict child labour! [Ma'on will report and expose the abuse of the city's factory owners, training the sects in using the press in order to affect opinion and affect change].
[X] The Center, and its deprived many! [Doctrine will prioritize issues on the tiller, the toiler, popular rule, and Old Pugilism].
[X] Beacon of Liberty: Truths of the Second Gender. [Examining issues of labour and home life for the women and men of Vaspukaran. Favored by the Gunpowder Eucharist, will draw on the works of Esterkezy Oshana].
[X] Reform and restrict child labour! [Ma'on will report and expose the abuse of the city's factory owners, training the sects in using the press in order to affect opinion and affect change].
Truths of Light and Darkness (Tier I): An argument from first principles that light and darkness are not just metaphysical but social principles that derive from material conditions, and that altering them requires altering the conditions and society which fosters them.
[X] The Center, and its deprived many! [Doctrine will prioritize issues on the tiller, the toiler, popular rule, and Old Pugilism].
[X] Beacon of Liberty: Truths of the Second Gender. [Examining issues of labour and home life for the women and men of Vaspukaran. Favored by the Gunpowder Eucharist, will draw on the works of Esterkezy Oshana].
[x] Upend the Orphanage System! [Ma'on will investigate the orphanages and directly confront the Order Bevanine, training both sects in utilizing local power to confront Patriarchal institutions].
[X] The Center, and its deprived many! [Doctrine will prioritize issues on the tiller, the toiler, popular rule, and Old Pugilism].
After looking over the state of our Mass Section, I think this would be something the Ravs of Labor approve of.
Edit: Also I want us to have a base of support surrounding Nachivan, and this one could realize that. Plus, we get to be much more involved with Metamoa and, well, whatever Burs is up to.
[X] Beacon of Liberty: Truths of the Second Gender. [Examining issues of labour and home life for the women and men of Vaspukaran. Favored by the Gunpowder Eucharist, will draw on the works of Esterkezy Oshana].
I've talked about wanting HaKhofshim take up the doctrine championing women's rights after we chose to make ourselves known for Extinguishment (which "leveled up" the doctrine), so now here's the sect's chance. Also taken due to the Gunpowder Eucharist's restless state.
Edit2: ahahahah I copied the wrong vote option. Wait a sec.
Edit3: There we go!
[X] Reform and restrict child labour! [Ma'on will report and expose the abuse of the city's factory owners, training the sects in using the press in order to affect opinion and affect change].
End child labor *and* potentially please the Ravs of Labor by p o s t i n g
[X] The Center, and its deprived many! [Doctrine will prioritize issues on the tiller, the toiler, popular rule, and Old Pugilism].
[X] Beacon of Liberty: Truths of the Second Gender. [Examining issues of labour and home life for the women and men of Vaspukaran. Favored by the Gunpowder Eucharist, will draw on the works of Esterkezy Oshana].
[X] Reform and restrict child labour! [Ma'on will report and expose the abuse of the city's factory owners, training the sects in using the press in order to affect opinion and affect change].
I am taking a short break to recharge, read some inspirational material and welcome family back from abroad but certainly we will get this deluge going by the weekend.
