[X] Integrate the Ravs of Labour as a Mass Section [Gain Ravs of Labour as mass section, sect popularity triples but fervor and discipline will fall].
[X] On the Hoarders of God by Esterkesy Oshana [Drawing on the extreme peak of Political Iconoclasm].
[X] The Autocephalates should be abolished [Popular and Radical Opinion].
So what presumptively happens if the Autocephalities are abolished? One the one hand the legal underpinning of the synkrata tax disappears so the Bull of Surrender couldn't be replicated anyway, that is if the Sanhedron or Great Synod even legally could abolish them and the Patriarch goes along with it. On the other hand would that mean the majority inhabitants would legally become Witches under a traditional Synodic Circle administration or would the practices that led them to be autocephalities be demoted to Vernacular Rites?
Or would it be a matter of further debate and controversy because actually abolishing one would be unprecedented?
So what presumptively happens if the Autocephalities are abolished? One the one hand the legal underpinning of the synkrata tax disappears so the Bull of Surrender couldn't be replicated anyway, that is if the Sanhedron or Great Synod even legally could abolish them and the Patriarch goes along with it. On the other hand would that mean the majority inhabitants would legally become Witches under a traditional Synodic Circle administration or would the practices that led them to be autocephalities be demoted to Vernacular Rites?
Or would it be a matter of further debate and controversy because actually abolishing one would be unprecedented?
[X] Integrate the Ravs of Labour as a Mass Section [Gain Ravs of Labour as mass section, sect popularity triples but fervor and discipline will fall].
[X] On Witches and Non-Believers by Hadat Sutri & Hadat Bhadan [Drawing on the esoteric edge of Mystic Amalism].
[X] The Autocephalates should be reformed [Amalist Opinion].
[X] Integrate the Ravs of Labour as a Mass Section [Gain Ravs of Labour as mass section, sect popularity triples but fervor and discipline will fall].
[X] On Time and its Robbers by Ghadan Nasir [Drawing on the deepest layers of True Confession].
[X] The Autocephalates should be abolished [Popular and Radical Opinion].
[X] Integrate the Ravs of Labour as a Mass Section [Gain Ravs of Labour as mass section, sect popularity triples but fervor and discipline will fall].
[X] The Autocephalates should be reformed [Amalist Opinion].
[X] On Time and its Robbers by Ghadan Nasir [Drawing on the deepest layers of True Confession].
Motion and Stillness
The turn of Kestvan to Tislev is the turn of motion to stillness. In the folk tales of the Vasp, snow is the ash of the ancestors, the weight of their memories falling down as bone-dust to haunt the living. In the north, it is the holiday of Gospodin, once a God of the Hospodari and now a Rav, often appearing in icons as a skeletal gentleman who escorts the righteous to the afterlife. The chill enforces calm upon the northern valleys, as friends and families find shelter by the hearth, and in the east, where great blizzards bury the highlands of Kutan and the River Mu turns to ice, the joy of young Kusri aristocratic couples sporting skates and warm haori jackets.
In the southern lowlands, the wet season continues, as skiffs sail the Monadai and Mendavai, eurypterid fishers hunting for river scorpions bestirred by the swelling waters. On the far northwestern steppe, snow buries pasture grass, and whole Cheshvan siches, wagons loaded, sheep herded, and horses saddled, uproot themselves and migrate to Kashar Nahad where they will winter until the spring of Nisan three months hence, singing hymns and bawdy songs as fathers race their sons and daughters on mares and stallions.
But there is no rest for the central basin, and it is granted no mercy from the cold. A polar vortex rising from the mountains of the Perusian Scythe unexpectedly sweeps south and brings a frost that Nachivan has not felt for half a century. The flurries that come with it, at first delightful novelty, soon becomes a nuisance as they turn the streets to a muddy slush. Worse is the falling temperature: Nachivan's poorly built tenements are either too airy or poorly ventilated, and none are well-insulated to provide warmth in winter. Within days, deaths are reported among the elderly and very young, and sickness and illness sweeps through the exarchate neighborhoods as too many crowd together around the fire to keep warm and either inhale smoke or catch cold from one another.
The city runs out of firewood within days and prices of coal explode, made worse by the inexplicably rising price of bread and corn despite a fine harvest. Moral Economists point to price-manipulation by the High Priesthood estates in the Upper Hadit, while the ordinary mouflon and low priest target the 'Baker's Plot', and identify the Order of the Sacred Wafer, the baker's artisan order, as the culprit. Bakeries are stormed and mouflon wives and mothers carry placards demanding the Patriarch enforce the Bull of Milk and Honey, a mostly vestigial and ancient series of laws whereby the Patriarch can order expropriation of private granaries in order to distribute it forcefully to the most vulnerable.
The measure, mostly designed in times of critical famine almost three hundred years ago, has not been used for 156 years, last deployed after dramatic floods on the Hadit ruined much of the local harvest. An alternative is offered by the sect of Yam Soph, who draw on Iconoclast principles to argue for the emancipation of enterprise: End the inter-circle custom walls, abolish the order of the sacred wafer's hierarchical structure that allows them to manipulate bread prices, and end Metropolitan price-floors (as many self-governing Metropolitan cities have their own laws enforcing price maximums), and you will remove the idolatrous dams to the free flow of commerce.
The sect itself feels the bitter cold. Much of the excess dues gathered from Yomri and the Ravs of Labour are immediately absorbed by emergency measures to hand out warm winter clothes to disciples, especially the children who Baba Tanda declare 'shall not be left out in the cold', remembering her own winters spent as a schoolteacher in the northeast trying desperately to prevent any of her students from catching chill. But even with the expenditure, the sect has had a windfall, between the Yeladada smuggling ring expanding its operations thanks to its successful partnership with Wendam, to the arrival of donations from the Ravs of Labour, enthusiastic to don headbands and finally have a sect to call their own.
It is a fine time, with the attention off them, for the sect to invest into itself, either to finally refurbish the temple (including with heating!), to expand its supports (and avoid the need to take emergency spending measures), or to establish stronger self-defense and stronger doctrinal adherence among its blossoming membership, as the sect now evidently has the attention of the Jury of Nachivan, and its disciples report being searched or harangued at random by Jurors hunting for 'blasphemous materials'.
How should the Sect spend its excess wealth? Choose one.
[] A stockpile of concealed firearms, to protect disciples from danger whilst they do their holy work [Institution added: Six-Shin Shooters, armed sect disciples ready for a Nachivan street fight].
[] A refurbished and beautified Temple, to sanctify the Mekdash and elevate the souls of its congregants [Institution added: Mekdash HaKhofshim, which greatly strengthens discipline by reinforcing the traditions of the sect].
[] Elder support and daycare, to support the young and old of the sect and pave a way for the world to come [Institution Added: Home of Mitzvat, which will increase fervor by reinforcing the sect's commitment to its past and future].
[] Kolel Study Circle, to support learning into sect doctrine and further integrate its disciples into the sect's teachings [Institution Added: Kolel Circle, which will strengthen the consistency and understanding of sect doctrine].
The Originating Principle
The collapse of the Bull of Surrender demoralizes many of the common people already unhappy about its passage in the first place. God's Own depicts the disappointment felt that the Sanhedron is failing in its mission: A cartoon depicts the reapers and reformers of the Sanhedron as exhausted boatmen in rags dragging the vast and leaking ship of Vaspukaran behind them. Atop the ship, an Autocephalate Elder, a High Priest, and a Juror drop anchors labeled 'PAGANRY, GLUTTONY, SAVAGERY'. One of the boatmen, back crooked, looks up towards the sky, where the Patriarch sits atop his throne, watching. They beseech him: Give us a hand, San!
The Patriarch himself remains an almost ethereal figure, effortlessly gliding above both controversy and action, bathed in mystery. He is simultaneously the most public Patriarch in years but also the least clear in allegiance: He has kept his comments short and his remarks curt during Sanhedron sessions, and mostly been content to allow it to debate without his own engagement. There are growing fears that the Patriarch must have been threatened by the Sword-Alter Standard (synonymous with the Jury of Nachivan) into silence, and it is restricting his freedom, a theory gaining credence as Komandir Reganan has been reported leaving and entering the Heavenly Mount multiple times in recent days.
Just as the bulletins aim their sights on the Jury of Nachivan as holding captive the prophet of God and leveling attacks on the Sanhedron, the Great Synod brings attention back to itself in the most dramatic way possible. Having reserved the written reasons for their judgment that allowed the Ischak Circle to strip folk rite and began the spiral of the Metamoa revolt, the Great Synod now formally issues a publication titled The Originating Principle. A short but profoundly important tract, the Principle is a maximalist vision justifying a scriptural rejection of the Sanhedron.
Arguing that the Sanhedron's existence was confirmed at the foundation of the Second Patriarchate by the Great Synod, but no successive Sanhedron was confirmed by the Synod, the Archdeacons of the Synod therefore argue every single Sanhedron has been operating illegitimately since its foundation. In having three and then four chambers, in including the Autocephalates and Missions, and in supporting the laws of the past Sanhedrons (all additions made after the foundation of the Second Patriarchate), the current Sanhedron is an illegal body that has no standing unless first confirmed by the Synod, which it will refuse to do so. Instead, the Fourth Grand Sanhedron should be replaced with an Originating Sanhedron, in accordance with the fundamental scripture. It will have only have two chambers, the Jury and the High Priesthood, and will reject every law of its successors unless first approved by the Synod.
Having released this earth-shattering revelation that effectively attacks the Sanhedron as an institution, the Synod then issues a call to the Circles and High Juries to totally, and immediately, reject the Sanhedron and accept the Originating Principle. Once a majority of Synods have agreed, a new Sanhedron can be convened, and in so doing, the balance of the universe may be restored. It is a document produced by the peaks of a traditional High Priesthood that feels increasingly alienated and disturbed by the progression of events in Vaspukaran, which especially fears the growing influence of the juries, especially the High Jury of Kedarkan. Afraid that the current Sanhedron, not structured by any schismatic revolt but by the ambitions of the Patriarch, will surely lead to their destruction, they seek to cut it at the heels before it gains enough support to overwhelm them. It is a salvo at almost every aspect of modern Vasparak life. Without the Three Sanhedrons, not only folk rite but Vernacular Rite, the Metropolitans, the two lower chambers, many of the orders - the entire progression of Vaspukaran would have to be reaffirmed by the Great Synod to be allowed to continue to exist.
Revenge of the Latter-Day Circles
Immediately on publication, the ancient Sufgar Circle declares itself in support of the originating principle, as do the circle's Palatine Juries, the Tetrarchy, who count among their number lineages who fought under the very first Amalgast. Ischak Circle, already in opposition to the Sanhedron, declares support. Alanar Circle's Synod stands for the Originating Principle, citing its own ancient lineage, but its jury does not, arguing this is an overreaction. In Raditakan, the Kazah Palatine declares for the principle, touting its service to the Kingdom since its foundation, but not the Synodic Circle, remaining committed to folk rites. These split loyalties are warning signs that the Great Synod's attempt to force consensus by deceisive action is failing, reinforced by the messages directed straight to the Sanhedron affirming loyalty from the north and east, from the south and southwest.
The Eastern Circles, outraged by the challenge to Kazarene Rite, issue swift condemnation. The southern circles, where Tranquil Rite might be subject to review in such a Sanhedron, and thus the institution of serfdom writ large, politely recuses support. The frontiers, where there is already bubbling outrage over disunity in the center, dispatch borderline bloodthirsty messages threatening that 'those who split the House of God will be split in turn'. The Northern circle, with its vernacular Hospodari Rite and firmly pro-Sanhedron stance, declares its opposition to the 'Dogmatite bandits', a derogatory name that sticks against the Originators.
The greatest turn, however, comes from the Ramayan High Jury. Until this point, Sufgar, Hamayan and Gushanaram have formed what the Pontiff-Prelate Samangan mocks as 'the infertile crescent', a solid block of orthodoxy opposed to reform. But if there were expectations that Gushanaram, and therefore the Ramayan High Jury, would eagerly follow Sufgar, this was a misjudgement. In the Sanhedron Elder for the High Priesthood and Archdeacon Dabami of Dufgar narrowly avoids being mobbed on the Sanhedron floor and begs for support across the aisle to High Ataman Burs of Ramayan. Instead the Ataman spits and calls him high blasphemer. Weeping, Archdeacon Dabami resigns from thr Sanhedron then and there, alongside several Juror and High Priest elders from the Originator circles. They are replaced by alternates for their prefectures several names down the list after the prior alternates refuse, obscure priests and Jurors who immediately declare their support for the Patriarch and reform.
The Jury of Nachivan remains circumspect, simply emphasizing the essential need to preserve the sanctity of both Sanhedron and Synod, and declaring they will continue to protect the House of Creation from 'heretics, hooligans, and radicals'. A dramatic shift occurs again in the Sanhedron, as the conformer majority collapses. A majority almost flips in the Juror Chamber for either the cause of reaping or reform, and even the High Priesthood's morale, flagging, flips to a 50+1 in favor of either reaping or reform thanks to Samangan's obstinate resistance. At the same time, the Autocephalates officially form the Mosaic Covenant, declaring they will come to an internal consensus on any issue and then decide whether to issue their veto on any matter that concerns them, transforming them from non-entities to kingmakers of the entire Sanhedron. And with Patriarch Santsarran's quiet assent the whole Grand Sanhedron now works on the publication of a Bull that will formally condemn the Great Synod's actions and defend its legality.
Enter the Angelic Banners
In a letter to an ultraorthodox bulletin in Harasdad, Archdeacon Dabami admits he no longer has any idea what is going on in Nachivan, and that all shall surely fall into ruin. It has, after all, been three months since the call of the Grand Sanhedron. Fears of a religious war grow as the Simurgh Banner in the far northwest, on the border with the Great Western Coven, comprised of almost 75,000 soldiers, the single most combat-capable force in Vaspukaran, warns that it will act in perfect loyalty to the Kingdom of God in ensuring it remains united. This is the first entrance into Sanhedral politics by one of the 'Seven Angelic Banners', the most formidable and well-organized banners in Vaspukaran, guarding both the frontiers and garrisoning missions. It is followed by another missive from the Rehabam Banner in the far southwest, which declares it will 'visit death upon those who block the path to heaven'. Lazaran Banner, veterans of the War with the Grand Mare to a man, declare that 'those who ignore our true enemy will soon enough join them on the stake'.
For now, apparently panicked by the unfriendly response, the Originating Circles and Juries issue a decree making clear they wish for peace. They confine themselves instead to declaring they will deal swiftly and strongly with the revolt of Metamoa. It is perhaps not a moment too soon that they do, for the revolt is spreading across the plateau despite the winter snow and is nearing two of the largest towns on the plateau: Nevad, the gateway to the Upper Hadit, and Tendavara, on the major east-west railway line connecting Harasdad to Nachivan. Ischak's Circle Jury has called for a mass draft of all Jurors in the Circle to form a new standard, but they will not be ready for weeks. Instead, the task must fall to the Jaekelopterus and Gore-Mastodon Standards of Sufgar, who are massing 10,000 Jurors to 'set fire to the non-believer from Tendavara to the Hamgad Shore'. In a small piece of positive news, Qanam reports through a letter delivered by a peasant peddler to the sect that he has reached Vashti safely, and that she has welcomed him as a 'faithful advisor'. He believes she is more radical than she appears, and can surely be swayed to absorb the teachings of Pugilism, though he admits he is just one among many in her 'peculiar cast of plucky allies'.
It is clear enough that this 'parallel existence' of the originators and the orthodox is untenable, but the lack of true authority among the juries mean it is very difficult for the High Jury of Kedarkan to stop its own subordinates from simply refusing to listen to it, especially as Kedarkan fears use of force would provoke a religious war. Instead, it has simply issued condemnations, and asked for pledges of support from the rest of its sub-juries, which they have speedily given, besides the Jury of Nachivan itself which has not returned such requests since the Temple Coup of 747 AA. The Sanhedron, however, bays for blood, and Komandir Akabar Morsi is on record as declaring that 'there will be a reckoning, and we shall sweep Sufgar away, mark my words, as the flood swept Babarak'.
There are also hints from within the Originating Circles that the decision to turn directly against the Sanhedron has not been popular with the lower chambers of the region, and monks of the artisan orders in these circles are sending letters to Nachivan affirming they will not fight against the Patriarch in any 'fool's holy war'. The Patriarch, taking advantage of the imbalance, has issued a call for peace, and is reportedly in active discussions with both the Great Synod and the Jury of Nachivan on how to stop the eruption of what could be a new schism.
An Honest Schism
The sect feels practically harmonious in comparison, even as it engages in heated debate on Autocephaly. There is clear division, but those who advance a more Amalist position, by which some level of religious autonomy might still be extended through the Autocephalate system, win the day. Almost all agree, despite any misgivings, to allow the Ravs of Labour to join as a mass section, whilst there is significant disagreement on which article to analyze. In the end, it is agreed on to examine On Time and its Robbers, and better understand the particular brand of True Confession brought forward by Ghadan Nasir, the great-bearded professor of moral economy whose sect Ohr is the largest of the confessor schism in Nachivan despite the growth of the refounded High Confessor sect Melecha.
Confession, Ghadan Nasir explains as Dvorah summarizes the article for the sect, is a premise of the universe. Man is composed of a spiritual soul, but is trapped inside a hostile demiurgic plane of creation as a test by God after the punishment of the Spire. Mankind seeks the truth by elevating the spiritual and rejecting the material, the better to approach the holiness of heaven. Sin is a manifestation of the influence of material over mankind, and the domination of one soul over another for the purpose of material gain the greatest sin of all. By pursuing truth, mankind elevates itself beyond material pursuits, and so is liberated from a false material existence.
Where Confession splinters is how to elevate the spiritual and reject the material. Hermetic Confession argues it is enough to create of yourself a paragon of virtue, to live with total honesty, naked and bare, and deny material temptation through ascetic living. High Confession denies the 'selfishness' of Hermetic Confession, and suggests instead that it is by the imposition of a total spiritual reality overlaying the material that mankind will succeed in its mission of reaching the divine. By crafting a heaven on earth by way of mass education, mass organization, and unified divinely ordained time, a total realignment of the material to the spiritual is achievable, creating a priesthood of all believers. A spiritual existence is imposed on the material world, and uniform rite is promoted to support it. This is accomplished by the Infallible Patriarch, also called Watchmaker, setting a centrally established schedule of time that transcends material space, with absolute power to remake the world.
The Robbers of Time
But True Confession turns High Confession on its head. True Confessors are above all clear-eyed and honest, and so see the world for what it is. Creation cannot be denied, but must instead be dominated and manipulated. The path to heaven is the subjugation of the demiurge. By acknowledging material conditions, and then altering them so that they suit a more spiritual vision of mankind, the soul turns from slave to master over creation. Mankind cannot be forced into a priesthood of all believers, but must instead have the conditions for the priesthood established by the redistribution of the domesticated fruits of creation.
These conditions, Nasir declares, are now close at hand. By the Principle of Transmutation, by which human labour converts the raw material of false creation to true spiritual nourishment, there has never been a greater quantity of spiritual potential in mankind. The growth of the industrial toiling class, and the decline of tillers (who are perpetually enslaved to the material soil which they must work to survive), means that the direct conflict with creation as nature is coming to a close.
Now instead the conflict is between soul and soul - the demiurgic class, dominated by aggregation of the material, who monopolize time and the priesthood must be pulled down. By their own existence they do not transmute creation, but instead profit from the domination of other souls: they are soul-vampires. Time, in particular, is the currency by which the demiurgic class suppresses the toiling class, and if time is seized by the mass, and hours allowed to be set by the whole of the toiling class, then time can be controlled by the toilers, for the toilers. Time is essential because it is scientific and universal, whereas theologies of space are too location-specific. By crafting a chronotheology, where rites are determined on the basis of a calendar and not specific pilgrimage sites, holy centers, or holy people, it is possible to create a genuinely universal time-state with the only difference between regions being defined by the practical, and not cultural, zones of time.
The piece concludes on an exhortation to the labouring class to take back its time - to become the watchmakers of their own destiny, and to free themselves from the 'calendar of ruin'.
The sect is left to argue and debate on what exactly about the article it would like to most draw on, and integrate to its own theology. Obviously, the core principles of Confession are disagreeable to the utmost: Pugilism has no material-spiritual distinction, and denies that tillers would ever be excluded from any 'principle of transmutation'. But there are valuable ideas that might be drawn on, and which the sect might elaborate on through reference to its own theology. Many of the disciples are tentatively intrigued, even as some of the more academic and esoteric language makes their heads spin.
What in particular intrigues the sect about Time and its Robbers, and how does it relate to its own theology?
[] Chronotheology & the Watchmaker. A religion of time, based on strict adherence to a central calendar, can unify disparate rites.
[] The Principle of Transmutation. Labour is a sacred act because the act of labour itself is an extraordinary religious sacrament.
[] The Demiurgic Class. There exists a class above the rest, not specific to any chamber, who exist by exploitation of others' labour.
[] Subjugation of the Material. Understanding and changing material conditions is essential to the success of spiritual aims.
Foundries of Blood
Here are the temples of transmutation.
The earth is chewed and gouged by machine and explosive, abducted from its resting place, sent on great mobile tabernacles, and collected at a shrine of iron. Great boiling cauldrons of glowing molten liquid bubble and sizzle while the carcass of ancient forests is burnt to feed the fires. The flames of hell threaten to set to a blaze the flesh of toilers set to work to stoke the demonic maw. For twelve hours, fourteen hours, sixteen hours, they do not see the sun, engulfed in smoke and soot. Coke and limestone, ore and slag, the screeching of steam and the crackling of drops of boiling iron blood. Produced in slabs and sheets, cooled and prepared, this is the Pesselpan Ironshrine. This is the toil which builds Vaspukaran. One thousand workers, most of them Jurors this is the most obvious Vaspukaran's industrial transformation, loud and vast and brutal, a complex that occupies a triangle as large as Tzinhas Barrack, helping fund the gilded pensions and stipends of the Jury of Nachivan's bloated ranks.
A nightmare of ropes and hanging boxes navigated by steamers paddling from upstream, barges crashing up against one another and pulled by sailors from the shore. Rolling goods unloaded from the hooting locomotives, categorized, collected, itemized and dispatched where it needs to go. Barrels upon barrels, some losing control and breaking the limbs and spines of those unlucky enough not to have steered clear. Men of prime age whose backs are already crooked, loading and unloading tea and fungal caterpillar and reams of silk and carrying huge scrolls of spun cotton.
Vagrants wandering from job to job, desperate for some work, standing on the shore, hoping not to slip into the swift current of the Hadit as they carry loads up on the gangplanks, again, and again, and again. If you fall into the blue, they won't find you, not alive. This is the toil which connects Vaspukaran. At Braki Wharf in the Alangan Yards alone, there are anywhere between 750 and 1500 workers on a given day. It is their work which funds not just the navy, but the profiteers of Usral and Eykal, who draw huge sums from Alangan's customs fees, none of which returns to their people but stays in the pocket of princely estates and pirate families.
A tragedy of machine weaving, a hypnotic repetition of machines that stretches within the enclosed space. Hundreds of mothers, wives, young girls, working, working, working, steam spindles turning and turning. Inhaling cotton dust, inhaling the chemical dyes by which the machine clothes are given fine new colors, women collapse from coughing fits even as their foremen rush up and down, caning those who fall asleep. Girls and boys as young as five work as scavengers to catch the cotton wastage beneath the machines, and when their heads and arms are crushed by moving parts they are sent off as disposables, to be dealt with by the Maranines or some other charity.
For all of this the women will receive a wage vastly substandard to a man doing the same work, and for this are favored. A Baba, used to being an honored authority and not a human machine, falls behind: She will be fired at the end of this day's shift and thrown onto the street. This is the toil which clothes Vaspukaran. Eight-hundred women, girls, and young boys are employed at the Mill Eglantine, situated at the border between Rohir's End and Little Eykshir, owned by the Exarch of Rohir's End, and helping to finance his recent steam pleasure barge to travel up and down the Hadit.
Cultivate ye Fertile Ground
Bukak has wasted no time since arriving in Nachivan. With plans already discussed with Baba Tanda has identified all three of these locations as potential targets for labour action and the expansion of the Ravs, but he doesn't know Nachivan as well as you do so he isn't sure where to hit first and what might be most dangerous. On the Ironshrine, Akov knows that the Jury of Nachivan will respond directly to organizing in its own factory. At Alangan, Wendam reports, he has seen enforcers of the Order Karaban, naval officers who have turned into disciplinarian strikebreakers, many of them nobility from Usral. And in Rohir's End, the exarch will surely strongly respond to a strike or organizing in his own factory. But these, Bukak says, will be long-term projects. They will not flip them in a month, but the sect has a competitive advantage. The Gunpowder Convent and its damned tough girls, the decision to oppose abolition of the Autocephalates, Extinguishment - all of them give options.
Bukak wants to focus on one and try and pull its workforce into the Ravs of Labour ahead of a major strike action. All three are massive and strategic: stoppages there would drive production in Nachivan to its knees, but also elicit a major response. He wants to know not just if you're good for it, but where the Ravs might direct their efforts - 'point our fists and tell us what angelforms'll give us better wages, and our boys and girls will be doing flips faster than a juror draws his gun upon a righteous man'. Akov laughs uneasily, and it's clear enough the two will take some time getting used to each other - Bukak's only experience of Jurors is as enemies, and he is not of a temperament to forgive easily.
The matter is left to the sect to decide: Where will the Ravs of Labour begin a long-term organizing action in Nachivan?
[] Pesselpan Ironshrine, the vast Nachivan Jury owned smelting complex in Kentelken, employing entirely juror steel workers.
[] Braki Wharf, a major dock of the Order Karaban in the Alangan Yards, employing Autocephalate sailors and vagrant souls.
[] Eglantine Mill, a cotton mill owned by a High Priest Exarch in Rohir's End, employing mouflon women and children.
Four Eyes of the Earth
And then the world rudely enters into the drama of Vaspukaran, rudely disturbing the self-obsession which has consumed since the beginning of the Sanhedron.
The globe is dominated by the continent of Camad, an enormous landmass whose southern extremity breaches the equator and whose northern edge is beyond the arctic circle. Camad is dominated by four superpowers, called the Four Eyes of the Earth. The Guarded Domains, called Asharei after the core of its great empire, is a confederated Empire of Sacred Laws in the far occident, legendary for its longevity and wealth, with a royal lineage tracing itself back into deep antiquity, hemmed in by protective mountains against potential enemies.
To the northwest of Vaspukaran, the Great Western Coven, land of Yuhwan witches, is a theocratic commonwealth ruled by a Celestial Sejm in which half of Camad holds seats by way of some obscure blood title, and led by the elected Eoraha Witch-King, the antithesis of the great Patriarch. The Grand Mare is an island dominion, ruled by the HRM, a holy parliament of women, in alliance with the Ayan Admirality and Sipahi sealords who dominate the politics of the continental Outremare and its far-off holdings, and the judicial clergy who maintain adherence to the sanctity of its sublime court which long since overthrew its sultans. And of course, there is the Kingdom of God.
Until recently, Vaspukaran's decay was absorbed and disguised by the scale and scope of its domain. The most populous and largest of the Four Eyes of the Earth, Vaspukaran's industrial development under the domination by its Jurors and High Priests was thought a welcome reprieve from the mad infallible Patriarchs who planned to declare war on the entire world to 'bring into alignment every kind of time'. There was even thought that this might lead to a constitutional stability such as that enjoyed by the Mare, or a permanent settlement into an Empire of Legal Rite such as Asharei, where faith to the state is elevated above even faith to God.
Instead, after a substandard showing by the Simurgh Banner in a War with the Great Western Coven eleven years ago, and then the total rout in the east in the War with the Mare, Vaspukaran is now mocked as the old blind eye. The Sanhedron, initially looked upon with fear as a reinvigorating body, or hope among radicals in the coffeehouses of the cities of the Mare and Asharei, is now a laughingstock for its daily drama and wild fractiousness. But the chaos internally has not lead to any major threat to the country itself: if anything, there is relief that Vaspukaran is otherwise occupied.
The Great Western Coven and Grand Mare feud over island holdings, and on the southwest frontier the Shehu of Gontagora and Oda of Osogdo appear more primed to fight each other over mountain border-federations than stir the hornets of Vaspukaran. Even the Grand Mare is rocked by a debate within the HRM between the Court of Lilies and Court of Tulips over reform of the Ayan and corruption scandals relating to strategic marriages between members of the HRM and admirals leading to the funneling of bribes in the parliament to support further war abroad.
An Explosive Problem
It is thus Vaspukaran which forces the attention of the world when on the 6th of Tislev Nachivan a bomb is exploded in the garden of the Mare's legation, thrown over the enclosure. None die, but the groundskeeper is seriously injured and the Mare's ambassador, Gassalith Leyla, demands an apology from the Patriarch. The culprit, arrested quickly by the Jury of Nachivan, appears to be a deeply disturbed mouflon who raves about 'exterminating the foreigners to bring about the world to come'. The trial is swift and he is dead within a week, but cheering accolades run in some of the more popular bulletins about the 'heathen smasher', and that 'the only trouble was he missed'.
The issue would end there, but the Patriarch refuses to apologize, seeing it as an affront and further humiliation, with the ecstatic support of the Sanhedron. In response, the Mare legation advises there will be consequences, and Mare warships embark from the treaty port of Ezmir in the far south of Vaspukaran and menacingly approach within range of the port of Zoan. The Jury of Nachivan requests from the Patriarch to garrison Fort Karnak and Kennakerib Hill, overlooking the Hadit approach to the city, and after some initial hesitation Santsarran grants it when the Sanhedron demands to know why he is not protecting the faithful from these pagan beasts.
The issue becomes another talking point of the day. There is open glee and thrill in some of the bulletins that 'we have remembered our common enemy - the heathen and the harlot', and Akov cannot help but admit that he hates the Mare and would love to see it thrown down, even as he thinks it would be incredibly ill-advised to start a war. Dvorah thinks this is some tactic, or a unifying gambit by Santsarran - she cannot possibly see a war start over something so iconsequential, especially as the Mare is currently distracted elsewhere. But it does bring up a considerable issue, as the sect, isolated as it was, has never truly had to consider world events and determine a response to events outside the country.
Now, with the city in a kind of war-fever against both the Mare and the Originators, it would behoove the sect to take some position. Dvorah recently met for tea with Ghadan Nasir (who she says is profoundly grumpy and persnickity, the most pedantic man she's ever met) and reports that he thinks it a distraction from the true enemy, but that there are those who argue that the Mare and other enemies of Vaspukaran must be defeated for the Kingdom of God to triumph, for they will surely not allow any true reformation lest it endanger their own positions. Others still, like the Amalist Hadat Sutri, believe that the world outside must be fully liberated from their own bondage, and that the Kingdom of God's mission is a world mission.
Pugilism itself, as a folk faith invested more in defense of the low against the mighty, has never held a strong position, beyond despising the oppression of foreigners and wishing them to get their boots off the necks of the people. At this point, with the sect so small and the position so transitory, Wendam advises the sect merely choose strategically whether it should join in some of the attacks on the Mare as a foreign imperializing and heathen menace, or whether it should prioritize against the 'true enemy', inside the country. There is not much cost to either option, but it may help the sect begin meditating on how it should respond to these complicated and poorly understood foreign issues. In times like these he exclaims if only Qanam was here, for the rector was known to have more knowledge of the pagans beyond the Kingdom's edge.
How should the sect respond to the war fever against the Mare?
[] Hands off Vaspukaran! [The Sect will take a position against the Mare. This is especially popular in the east and south].
[] Aim at the true enemy! [The Sect will prioritize its position against the Originators. This is especially popular in the north and west].
The Sect of HaKhofshim [The Free]
The Three Prescriptions of the Righteous Movement
Discipline {Focus}: High. The movement retains a strong central focus and mission of freedom. Fervour: High. The movement's gains and successes have kept the sect in high spirits. Popularity: Small. The movement has started to spread in Nachivan and has established another chapter.
The Three Stolen Tools of the Foolish Master
Wealth: Modest. You have a consistent flow of income from dues, donations, and smuggling. Influence: Small. You have connections in the underworld and some of the Sanhedral elders. Doctrine: Prosaic. You have intriguing ideas which distinguish you, but little intellectual backing.
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. 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.
Black Sheep Printing Covenant [Institution]. You operate a contracted printing press which allows you to magnify your popularity. The Guns of Hasadaya [Institution]. You are armed and dangerous and have a hidden cache of bolt-action rifles.
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.
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.
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 provide bonuses to actions to which they are assigned.
Guru Wendam [+Popularity]. Former Juror and sect sage with strong experience in subterfuge. Available. Flagellent Akov [+Fervour]. Juror defector from Nesra, leader of the Scourge of God. Available. Kendanaya Dvorah [+Doctrine]. High Priest's daughter and accomplished schismatic writer. Available. Baba Tanda [+Discipline]. Well-armed low priestess grandmother and organizer. Available.
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: Spread the word of the Lord to the Jurors of Nachivan. Be inculcated into the sect's doctrines.
Convent of the Gunpowder Eucharist [Militant Religious Feminism]
Ambition: Advance radical gains in womanly rites. Expand the ranks of the convent.
Ravs of Labour [Mystic Labour Federation]
Ambition: Keep the Sect focused on Labour issues. Expand operations in Nachivan.
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. Yomri Chapter [Established]
Size: Tiny (Sub ~1000)
HaKhofshim Allies & 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 and champion of free silver.
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.
[X] A refurbished and beautified Temple, to sanctify the Mekdash and elevate the souls of its congregants [Institution added: Mekdash HaKhofshim, which greatly strengthens discipline by reinforcing the traditions of the sect].
It's winter. Our people are cold and hungry. That cannot continue.
[X] Subjugation of the Material. Understanding and changing material conditions is essential to the success of spiritual aims.
Dialectical materialism baybeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
[X] Braki Wharf, a major dock of the Order Karaban in the Alangan Yards, employing Autocephalate sailors and vagrant souls.
I don't think we can survive a direct set of repressions from Nachivan's jury just yet, and fucking around in the steel mill will almost certainly provoke one. Let's focus on outreach with Autocephalates and try to build some ties there.
[X] Aim at the true enemy! [The Sect will prioritize its position against the Originators. This is especially popular in the north and west].
I'm of the mind that we'll want support from the north more than the south, as it's a lot more religiously restive.
[] Kolel Study Circle, to support learning into sect doctrine and further integrate its disciples into the sect's teachings [Institution Added: Kolel Circle, which will strengthen the consistency and understanding of sect doctrine].
I think for Sect improvement we should go with this we just had a large infusion of new members so having this would allow us to teach them our doctrine. And if we have this now it'll be easier to keep a coherent doctrine as we grow larger, though I also wouldnt be upset about getting more guns or beatifying our temple.
[] Eglantine Mill, a cotton mill owned by a High Priest Exarch in Rohir's End, employing mouflon women and children.
I say for the Rav of Labour we go with this since we also have our convent of gunpowder to potentially help by swaying the women there.
[X] Kolel Study Circle, to support learning into sect doctrine and further integrate its disciples into the sect's teachings [Institution Added: Kolel Circle, which will strengthen the consistency and understanding of sect doctrine].
[X] The Principle of Transmutation. Labour is a sacred act because the act of labour itself is an extraordinary religious sacrament.
[X] Eglantine Mill, a cotton mill owned by a High Priest Exarch in Rohir's End, employing mouflon women and children.
[X] Aim at the true enemy! [The Sect will prioritize its position against the Originators. This is especially popular in the north and west].
[X] A refurbished and beautified Temple, to sanctify the Mekdash and elevate the souls of its congregants [Institution added: Mekdash HaKhofshim, which greatly strengthens discipline by reinforcing the traditions of the sect].
[X] Subjugation of the Material. Understanding and changing material conditions is essential to the success of spiritual aims.
[X] Pesselpan Ironshrine, the vast Nachivan Jury owned smelting complex in Kentelken, employing entirely juror steel workers.
[X] Aim at the true enemy! [The Sect will prioritize its position against the Originators. This is especially popular in the north and west].
As much as it pains me to have to choose between all the options opened up by the windfall of dues and income, since all are worthy and useful, I think I will go with the Study Circle as necessary to develop a tighter integration of Sect with the new Mass following. The Sect's crudeness of doctrine remains a relative impediment to being taken seriously, and is also a potential weakness in its discipline in the long run as it expands. A study circle will help develop and expound doctrine while also being a means to reach out to educated members of the Lower Priesthood and labor organizers among the Jurors and Mouflons. It might also be a little premature to start arming up, since the Sect probably still lacks the strength to win a street fight against the Jurors while if it comes to open conflict the arms from Hadasaya are still available and we'd be relying on implicit alliances with the other Pugilist sects in the quarter to avoid being wiped out anyway.
EDIT: On second thought what we need right now is a warm, inviting Temple to draw in the curious among the Ravs of Labor and others who might be convinced to start practicing the Angelforms. That will be a way to begin their affiliation with the Sect. Those who show intellectual curiosity and leadership potential can be invited into a later-established Study Circle. Also having the Temple will reinforce our identity as Pugilists, which may be very useful to help consolidate tacit understandings with other Sects in the Pugilist quarter that we remain united against the Jury of Nachivan if they decide to become more forceful in their approach.
That said, we do have a comparative advantage in appealing to Jurors now enslaved to industrial labor so we should exploit that and start wearing away at Pesselpan Ironshrine. The time will come when there will be a confrontation with the Nachivan Jury and organizing the workers at the crown jewel of their economic structure would be a major advantage not just in a public confrontation but also something that would draw other factions toward the HaKhofshim as allies. There's not really a bad option as such, but I think this one is the best option in the long term.
And it should be obvious that confrontation with foreign powers is dangerous in that reactionary forces can appeal to patriotism and fear of the other to whip up support for a war they have caused. While a losing war reinforces revolutionary potential anyone associated with it will be tainted by the failure. Better to remember who the real oppressors are, and they are already within the bounds of Vaspukaran.
Finally the Confessor's article is mostly insane gibberish but understanding the relationship between material conditions and the potential for the cultivation of spiritual prowess seems like a necessary task for Pugilism. The starving cannot practice the Angelforms and fight the Darkness, so insuring that no one starves is a first step in a long campaign.
[X] A refurbished and beautified Temple, to sanctify the Mekdash and elevate the souls of its congregants [Institution added: Mekdash HaKhofshim, which greatly strengthens discipline by reinforcing the traditions of the sect].
[X] Subjugation of the Material. Understanding and changing material conditions is essential to the success of spiritual aims.
[X] Braki Wharf, a major dock of the Order Karaban in the Alangan Yards, employing Autocephalate sailors and vagrant souls.
[X] Aim at the true enemy! [The Sect will prioritize its position against the Originators. This is especially popular in the north and west].
Discipline is the very core of our sect's power, the beating heart which pumps blood to its limbs, and therefore we must create a symbol capable of reinforcing that discipline. The Ravs of Labor and the new initiates will have a place to receive tutelage and be inculcated into our sacred knowledge, and it will serve as a springboard for all future endeavors.
While I believe strongly in the potential of True Confession as a supporting force to strengthen our own doctrine and a source of compromise with like-minded fellow-travelers, I think we should avoid defining the toilers as a less-spiritual class or otherwise dividing those who work against each other. Likewise, while the demiurgic class must be opposed at all possible moments, opposition to them does not constitute a positive belief and thus cannot be a long-term benefit to our sect. Also, though I do support the idea of a uniform and universal rite, the personalism of the so-called "Watchmaker" is a grave affront to our mass-based program, in which the whole of the people must necessarily be included. A focus on the tangible, material conditions which presently affect and afflict the lower classes is the most beneficial for our spiritual and temporal well-being.
Thirdly, foreign wars distract from our true purpose. While the Mare is a grotesque and hubristic enterprise, voracious in its appetite for our blood and treasure, it is not presently our main priority. Those internal enemies who seek our personal destruction must be countered in turn before we can turn our attention to foreign foes.
Finally, sailors and longshoremen are stout, hardy, capable individuals who will likely both appreciate and enlist in our holy cause.
[X] A refurbished and beautified Temple, to sanctify the Mekdash and elevate the souls of its congregants [Institution added: Mekdash HaKhofshim, which greatly strengthens discipline by reinforcing the traditions of the sect].
Winter is approaching and the update actively says that a refurbished temple comes with heating and would ease up on emergency expenses. We need to address this now before deaths start occurring in the sect due to said Winter. And if death does come its gonna the older elders and the kids which could scupper morale
[X] The Principle of Transmutation. Labour is a sacred act because the act of labour itself is an extraordinary religious sacrament.
[X] Subjugation of the Material. Understanding and changing material conditions is essential to the success of spiritual aims.
Shame that the Amalism option didn't win but I'm partial to these two of the ugh confessionalism options
[X] Braki Wharf, a major dock of the Order Karaban in the Alangan Yards, employing Autocephalate sailors and vagrant souls.
We need to follow on the Autocephalate reform and actually talk to some people from them. But I'm open to getting convinced to voting for the Mouflon Women or the Juror one
[X] Aim at the true enemy! [The Sect will prioritize its position against the Originators. This is especially popular in the north and west].
It is not the Mare that is at war with the Metamoa and seek to destroy the Folk Rites
Convinced by brother Snark I am lending support towards organizing the Mouflon Women
[X] Eglantine Mill, a cotton mill owned by a High Priest Exarch in Rohir's End, employing mouflon women and children.
Yeah in retrospect maybe thinking the refurbished Temple would be the best immediate investment. As a practical matter freezing conditions hardly contribute to doing good studies, and an impressive and inviting Temple may bring in more members of the Ravs of Labor to start practicing the Angelforms. Getting involved in the martial arts practices of the Sect may be a better way to draw in more practical-minded members of the Mass and get them to identify as HaKhofshim while later on the more promising leaders among them can be drawn into an ideological study circle.
It is the will of God that the pagans and witches should embarrass the mighty, laying low the prideful, and expose the iniquity of our times. Nevertheless, it would seem that some among us have been so misled that they would like to see the mud of devilry track on the floor of God's house! Were the good Rector still with us, that he might knock such silliness from your skulls. How did Amalgast foremost please God? By overthrowing with mighty blows the witch-kings of Gushan so that the flock could prosper. What good will it be for the sheep to know God's voice more perfectly, if they are being sheered by invaders? Before false doctrines and teachings mislaid, the brothers and sisters of the Kingdom of God ought to heed his example!
Semi-major question @Cetashwayo but which option, exactly, grants HaKhofshim and its members the greatest resilience against the semi-century polar vortex? The temple option is stated to include heating but I assume it's not exactly specialized care for the young and old.
Semi-major question @Cetashwayo but which option, exactly, grants HaKhofshim and its members the greatest resilience against the semi-century polar vortex? The temple option is stated to include heating but I assume it's not exactly specialized care for the young and old.
The temple option includes heating for the temple itself to act as a shelter for people. Support for children and the elderly would include reserves of warm clothing and handing out coal purchased in bulk by the sect to families to take home.
Oh noooo.
So, if I am correct, and perhaps I am not, the Great Synod continues to be a greater danger to the Kingdom of God then even the Mare.
The Patriarch, I suspect thinks that the threat of the Mare will cease the bickering in the high places and thusly cause the Kingdom to unite as it should be, and God has granted us a cold wet season, to remind us all of the dangers of losing our tempers, while the angelic banners at the frontier are on the verge of doing just that, fed up as they are with the mismanagement in the center!
Perhaps I should see about making flood preparations as well...
[X] A refurbished and beautified Temple, to sanctify the Mekdash and elevate the souls of its congregants [Institution added: Mekdash HaKhofshim, which greatly strengthens discipline by reinforcing the traditions of the sect].
If our temple is warmed, we can provide sanctuary to those who are cold, and possibly light the way for others to do the same.
[X] Aim at the true enemy! [The Sect will prioritize its position against the Originators. This is especially popular in the north and west].
Vaspukaran is not blinded, but distracted. And if the Kingdom of God is losing it's ability to be one of the Four Eyes, it is because it's strength is stolen away by contemptible evils from within that delude it! The Mare's victory is not because they have found some hidden well of strength but that Vaspukaran has had it's strength stolen from it by those bound to the Evils, like that venerable body!
[X] A refurbished and beautified Temple, to sanctify the Mekdash and elevate the souls of its congregants [Institution added: Mekdash HaKhofshim, which greatly strengthens discipline by reinforcing the traditions of the sect].
[X] Subjugation of the Material. Understanding and changing material conditions is essential to the success of spiritual aims.
[X] Eglantine Mill, a cotton mill owned by a High Priest Exarch in Rohir's End, employing mouflon women and children.
[X] Hands off Vaspukaran! [The Sect will take a position against the Mare. This is especially popular in the east and south].
A strong temple is a symbol, it also makes sure our people dont die of cold. Its fairly important for us to get Discipline up. We can be down on all things, but so long as our Discipline is pretty high, we can punch up far more effectively than our size would suggest.
As I said, Dialetic Materialism.
As far as the strikes go. As I keep saying, we cannot focus solely on the Jurors. That's a trap for any revolutionary movement. We want mass appeal in order to build up the legitimacy of a mass movement. And while yes, we see the potential of the Jurors and how they are also an oppressed underclass, many others do not. The Ravs of Labors still kind of see Jurors as enemies of the people, and that's fair.
So the best way to take advantage of our Doctrine of Extinguishing right now is to not use it. We have already build up credibility and attention from the Juror classes and have begun to build connections with Sympathetic Elders. That gives us the flexibility to flip to other options in order to expand our mass appeal. I understand the point made about Jurors and getting more soldiers, but remember part of what Vasp Society has learned. Yes Jurors are supposed to be a Warrior-Soldier Class-Caste. But in practice, most of them are urban toilers, and there is nothing wrong with that. But it does mean that focusing on them solely because it would give us an army is a bit of a misconceived notion.
And again, we've made good progress already.
So now on the path to a United Proletariat. For that the Eglantine Mills is the best. Because it simultaneously satisfies the Convent of Gunpowder and allows us to advance our doctrine on Women's Rites, and it fufills the desires of the Ravs of Labor. Who again, understands the point about Toiler Jurors well enough intellectually. But emotionally, its still better to focus on something that they can pursue better without any nagging doubts, which would be the exploited labor of women. Something that is easy to inflame the hearts and minds with.
Finally, there is an Enemy Great Power at the Gates. Seeking to break down our gates and subject our nation and culture to further humiliation as its slaves, that cant be allowed to happen. Fighting the High Priesthood is all well and good, but at least they are still members of the House of God. And not Harem Slaves of the Mare. There can be no liberation or reforms if the Mare breaks down our door and forces upon us its desires.
[X] Elder support and daycare, to support the young and old of the sect and pave a way for the world to come [Institution Added: Home of Mitzvat, which will increase fervor by reinforcing the sect's commitment to its past and future].
[X] The Demiurgic Class. There exists a class above the rest, not specific to any chamber, who exist by exploitation of others' labour.
[X] Eglantine Mill, a cotton mill owned by a High Priest Exarch in Rohir's End, employing mouflon women and children.
[X] Aim at the true enemy! [The Sect will prioritize its position against the Originators. This is especially popular in the north and west].
[X] A refurbished and beautified Temple, to sanctify the Mekdash and elevate the souls of its congregants [Institution added: Mekdash HaKhofshim, which greatly strengthens discipline by reinforcing the traditions of the sect].
[X] The Demiurgic Class. There exists a class above the rest, not specific to any chamber, who exist by exploitation of others' labour.
[X] Eglantine Mill, a cotton mill owned by a High Priest Exarch in Rohir's End, employing mouflon women and children.
[X] Aim at the true enemy! [The Sect will prioritize its position against the Originators. This is especially popular in the north and west].
The Originators are making demands for holy unity against the Mare at the same time they continue their war of destruction against the Ischak Plateau and the planned elimination of folk rites and vernacular rites throughout Vaspukaran. The Mare threatens to seize a few cities here and there, if provoked; the Originators threaten to destroy the very soul of Vaspukaran. The true enemy is quite clear.
[X] A refurbished and beautified Temple, to sanctify the Mekdash and elevate the souls of its congregants [Institution added: Mekdash HaKhofshim, which greatly strengthens discipline by reinforcing the traditions of the sect].
[X] Subjugation of the Material. Understanding and changing material conditions is essential to the success of spiritual aims.
[X] Eglantine Mill, a cotton mill owned by a High Priest Exarch in Rohir's End, employing mouflon women and children.
[X] Aim at the true enemy! [The Sect will prioritize its position against the Originators. This is especially popular in the north and west].
Finally, there is an Enemy Great Power at the Gates. Seeking to break down our gates and subject our nation and culture to further humiliation as its slaves, that cant be allowed to happen. Fighting the High Priesthood is all well and good, but at least they are still members of the House of God. And not Harem Slaves of the Mare. There can be no liberation or reforms if the Mare breaks down our door and forces upon us its desires.
While I agree on most parts with my brother fighter, here i must differ. To declare the ignorant, and not ignorance, as our enemy, is to make an enemy for ourself. The Mare does not want war either, not truly, for all the posturing of their elites. And should the posturing of priests, jurors, and nobles come to war in truth... it will be toilers and tillers that suffer, on either side. Our brethren, if uneducated in our ways. Better to keep focus on what is here, merely a province away from Nachivan itself, immediately next to our brothers and sisters on Ischak. The Mare will back down, surely. They, just as the House of God, have their own internal issues, and this will all blow over like so much wind on the sea.
