@Cetashwayo Does a Universalist view of "in the end all men will be reconciled to God and know the truth" or something similar to it make sense in Pugilism or Vaspukaran religion at all, as like a thing someone could believe?
@Cetashwayo Does a Universalist view of "in the end all men will be reconciled to God and know the truth" or something similar to it make sense in Pugilism or Vaspukaran religion at all, as like a thing someone could believe?
Honestly, I'm fine with Makabam! My position isn't pro-Ohr or anything, it's always just been anti-Ma'on, I find them personally distasteful and I think it's disingenuous to frame this as some sort of high-and-mighty purity test when I am willing to have us ally with literally anyone else. I'm not concerned with us becoming 'impure' or rowdy or scared of fighting a revolution, I just really don't like the Ma'on and would like us to do literally anything else.
Honestly, I'm fine with Makabam! My position isn't pro-Ohr or anything, it's always just been anti-Ma'on, I find them personally distasteful and I think it's disingenuous to frame this as some sort of high-and-mighty purity test when I am willing to have us ally with literally anyone else. I'm not concerned with us becoming 'impure' or rowdy or scared of fighting a revolution, I just really don't like the Ma'on and would like us to do literally anything else.
Again, how many times do people have to point out that it's not a 21st Century Men's Rights Reactionary Movement?
Its an Old Schools all-boys club, like the beer pubs and saloons of old. This is problematic because they don't even consider questions of gender rights and theory, but they aren't malicious.
Most importantly, if them being a hypermasculine all boys' club is such a deal-breaker. Then we shouldn't have bothered to reach out to the Jurors in the first place. The Juries are hypermasculine Honor Warriors all-boys club by design, and even the Scourge of God, our most successful homegrown mass, is still an all-boys club where there are no women.
So what, are you gonna kick Akov and the others out because while they talk the talk about Women's rites, they still implicit have barriers against that in their own club? Since we know from word of the QM that the Gunpowder convent's agenda and the Scourge of God's unthinking exclusionary sexism will eventually have to clash, at this point it's like a ticking bomb inside our own sect's foundations. So lets just kick them out yeah?
You will never be able to actually advance the cause of Women's rites if you do not engage and work with people like this. Because their attitude is actually what is common. And it is only through working with them and engagement that you can make them start to see all the implicit and systematic oppression of women that the worse part of traditional and industrial cultural trends produces.
Going to set a vote-end timer, it seems as though discussion has cooled down. Thank you everyone for your contribution (and anything else you might like to say) and I appreciate that people listened when I asked to keep the temperature down. It's I suppose flattering that I can inspire such emotion, but I also want to make sure this is a welcoming quest that people can enjoy and vibe in, especially because of its subject matter.
Scheduled vote count started by Cetashwayo on Apr 22, 2022 at 8:51 PM, finished with 153 posts and 43 votes.
[X] Elder Komandir Varhan Sarbadgar, who brings with him the support of his Pale Horse Standard and some of the most extreme veterans of the War with the Mare, many of them on leave in Nachivan and spoiling for a fight.
[X] With the Rage of Rehabam we destroy our foes [Fervor rises to Absolute, recruitment will continue, the sect will prioritize absolute militancy over the next few weeks as it prepares measures to defend against the Jury of Nachivan].
[X] Ma'on, the gunpowder-fists of the Western Navel [Gain a contact in the Militant Pugilist sect and its squads of street-toughs, granting strong bodies on the ground].
[X] Ohr, the Militant-scholars of Wisdom's Heart [Gain a contact in the True Confessor sect and its network of city safehouses and secret tunnels, granting your sect escape and attack routes].
[X] With the Wrath of Barabas we wipe away our enemies [Discipline rises to Absolute, recruitment will pause, the sect will prioritize absolute order over the next few weeks as it prepares measures to defend itself against the Jury of Nachivan].
[X] Makabam, the Idol-Smashers of Old Nach [Gain a contact in the Political Iconoclast sect and its experienced streetfighters, who give your sect special advice in urban warfare].
[X] As Hahahyiim, the trance-knights of Little Eykshir [Gain a contact in the Mystic Amalist sect and its web of spies and scouts, granting advance warning of Juror actions and movements].
[X] Elder Abbess-Superior Tessel Tori, who brings with her echelons of the Order Marina within Nachivan and beyond, and connections across the most reformist and heterodox of the country's holy orders.
[X] Elder Rector Massima Rachel, who brings with her the support of the rapidly growing Sanhedral Zekhedri Sect seeking to found the Moral Kingdom, bringing with them many of the most radical members of the Sanhedron.
Actually, a quick pointer which is kind of useless now but but I read @Cetashwayo's description of the Ma'On again, and I think these guys have been kind of mischaracterized, not because of any conscious effort but because I'm pretty sure these guys are insired by javânmardi and the Lutis of the Iranian constitutional revolution. In Iran, a "Luti" is a kind of wrestler, typically from the lower classes and who trains in a zurkhaneh (house of strength, a kind of religious wrestling association). They tend to do public displays of strength and wrestling to build support for certain causes and during the Constitutional Revolution, Luti support for the Constitutionalist cause provided a critical supply of manpower for that group. Lutis were also instrumental in the conversion of southern Iraq to Shia Islam in general, because of a perceived failure of the Ottoman army to respond to Wahhabi raiders from inner Arabia, so local Imams would go into the cities and gather as many Lutis as possible so they could push back Wahhabi raids with their aid. To quote from Sivan Balslev's Iranian Masculinities:
Sivan Balslev said:
During Qajar times, javânmardi was strongly associated with the lutis – urban brotherhoods of non-elite men who were sometimes designated "social bandits": strongmen who protected the weak in their neighborhood, or were used as hired muscle for the powerful, or both at the same time. Dehkhoda defines the lutis or dash mashtis as a group of javânmardân who had their own etiquette and jargon. They were headed by recognized leaders called lutibashi and were associated with specific city quarters. These groups were characterized by a strong esprit de corps and were loyal first to other group members, then to the quarter, and only then to the city. Another group called lutis that was not perceived as embodying javânmardi was the guild of jugglers, street performers, and acrobats.
A very important part that really embodies the Luti javânmardi ideal, I think is this:
Sivan Balslev said:
As long as lutis did not break the moral code of javânmardi, their misconduct was forgiven. Some examples of deviant but condonable luti behavior may be found in Mohammad Ali Jamalzadeh's (1895–1997) novel Isfahan Is Half the World, published in 1955, that provides a nostalgic view of late-Qajar Iran.
Jamalzadeh dedicates a chapter titled "Chivalry and Manliness" to the narrator's visit to a traditional gym (zurkhaneh; see the next section), where some lutis exercise. Four types of lutis are personified in the figures of four athletes. The first, the captain and director of Isfahan's athletes, was the respected Fathollah the Standard-Bearer. His age, skill, and seniority made him a community leader and his story demonstrates this leadership. When the price of bread soared because of hoarding, Prince Zell ol-Sultan, the governor of Isfahan in the last quarter of the nineteenth century, visited the city. Fathollah caught the prince's horse by its bridle, and urged the prince to act on the matter. If not, he suggested, Fathollah would call him to justice on the Day of Resurrection. A second athlete met at the gym, Haj Ma'sum Juzani, followed a certain preacher. When some fanatical clerics wished to get rid of this preacher, and planned to drag him down from his pulpit, Haj Ma'sum found out and packed the mosque with his supporters, who attacked the conspirators with swords and daggers. A third athlete, Nayeb-Mehrab, resigned his position as outrider in the service of the deputy governor after defending an innocent ribbon-seller wrongly accused of cheating. When the ribbon-seller was tied to a pole to be bastinadoed, Nayeb-Mehrab sprang to his defense and untied him, swearing that he would allow no further abuse of innocent men by government officials. The fourth character, the only one specifically called luti, was Yadollah Zorab the Lasso-Thrower. This man had been an ordinary thief until he had a dream in which Purya-ye Vali, the Sufi saint of zurkhaneh athletes, was revealed to him and made him promise to rob only the wealthy and divide the spoils among the poor, which he proceeded to do.
The four characters demonstrate the javanmardi of non-elite men by employing violence or breaking the law in defense of their community.
That is to say, these are guys who effectively would hold the social role equivalent to say, greasers or another masculine youth subculture in a tumultuous time. Their ideals of masculinity would probably not really be comparable to the reactionary masculinity of say, incels or MRAs or whatever other random modern movements that they have been compared to so far, because all of those movements are actors in a world where they seek to "bring back" their own visions of masculinity, but the Ma'On would be living in a world where that vision of masculinity is still well and alive, not something that needs to be brought back. I think when @Cetashwayo calls them "hypermasculine", it has less to do with a systematic hatred of women or whatever, and more to do with strict adherence to like, traditional visions of chivalry, equality among all men, a young man as an executor of street justice and religious activism. That's not to say that there is nothing wrong or objectionable to that, obviously these are still very machismo ways of behaving that assume the exclusion of women from the active sphere of violence and similar stuff, and I think the relationship with our views like the Order of the Gunpowder Eucharist would definitely cause confusion or a small degree of hostility, but I don't think their "masculinity" has really been given a fair shake.
Attack and Challenge God - Stormcrown Barkaran Rab declares Cloudwar Tournament from Captive Psalms - an Usrali Bulletin in Little Eykshir
"The Riparanti Bombard that broke the walls of Harasdad at the climax of the Weeping Years has fired, its shot echoing from the walls of the Fortress Urmandrum. The eels have been consulted, the crackers exploded, the augurs divined, and for the first time, an electric cable ignited, a new proof of the Spiral of Truth's support for Usral. Stormcrown Rab has called his Ishkurim, grand landed warriors of old, to attend the greatest melee of the age at Ondan Usral, on the shores of Lake Hulamati, and answer the challenge of our Demon-God Gongoros, who by his sending of this winter storm demands that Usral answers with its own storm of gunsmoke and thunder.
Many thousands upon thousands of both Ishkurim and ordinary Usralim will attend at the month's turn, and it is certain that Prince Naram, his trueborn son and heir favored by the great Ishkurim and the Demon-Priests will attend as well. And to the dread of all, also invited is the base-born Prince Sen, the Stormcrown's favored child sired by the Priestess-Concubine Alkuheta. Prince Sen rides for Ondan Usral with his coterie of Amalists, lesser Ishkurim, and common veterans who seek recompense for fighting as Demons against the unholy Mare for the Son-Of-Storms called Amalgast. Naram and Sen are locked in terrible conflict exemplified by the splitting of the relics of Usral. By tradition the melik's heir must hold both Rav Karogen's Blackenblade tempered with the blood of the Last Guardian and Urmah's Sabershield embedded with the tooth of the Smiling-Lion, but our most holy artifacts are split between the true and baseborn son, Naram holding the Sabershield and Sen the Blackenblade. Enclosed below are prayers from the Tablets of Rip Tang Goo for we folk unable to exalt the Thunder-Demon from our homes, and who yearn yet to return to the rains and to the forests of our homeland so near and far away..."
Dvorah's Note: We have too little information to understand what this means, but it cannot be a coincidence that the Stormcrown has called his levies, including thousands of veterans and armed men, at a time when there is a standoff between the Originators and the Sanhedron. This is especially pertinent as the Kazach Palatine Jury, which has issued its support for the Great Synod, lies on the border with Usral, and Nachivan is naught but a few hours away by train. We must be wary of the last Melik's ambitions.
Gospel of Enlightenmenton Trial - Rector Lazar prepares to defend his Seventy-Seven Theses! from The Unborn Child - a Mystic Amalist Bulletin in the Eastern Navel
"Bone-eater servants of the Corpse Patriarch assemble in Gospodar for a chance to taste the living flesh of God's most brilliant shepherd. Rector Magarami Lazar stands accusing of telling truth to the throne of lies, and so is on trial for daring to speak the word of God. They seek to silence him, for he has spoken and written the truth for near to seven years and they are afeared his followers will rise up and destroy them. Unborn Child is no more cowed than Rav Obrogras was to challenge Rav Yatoni's slide into delusion, and reveals Lazar's advancements of the mysteries of the tree of life and the attributes of God, the impulses of which define both the firmament and the waking world.
Key to his revelation, Lazar proposes that 1) there is no differentiation between law and gospel, 2) that gospel is divined by way of the faith alone of the total sangha of believers, 3) that enlightenment lies within the reach of all those who hold faith, not simply those who pass exams of scripture, 4) that the Spiral of Truth is plural, and converges from separate faiths to a single root at the base of the Tree of Life, and 5) that the Indulgent Class seek to cheat their way into heaven by way of manipulating law and buying blessings instead of proving true belief. For this and other principles of the Seventy-Seven Theses, reprinted in its entirety below, Lazar stands accused of the sin of performing schism, which some say shall be upgraded to High Blasphemy for challenging the fundaments of the covenant of God's Kingdom. For those who seek further succor, a series of divine numbers below are assembled to grant strength to Lazar in his trial, and ensure that the only fire he faces is the chariot of heaven come to carry him to heaven..."
Dvorah's Note: It is difficult to make much of Lazar's philosophy from our own principles, but there is something brewing in the north. That Mystic Amalists are reprinting his work in Nachivan is of note, and it is rumored that he has allies in the High Jury of Yelisan. This is certainly a rector to watch, and his theology is impressive in its basic simplicity compared to the more esoteric nature of traditional Amalism, which obscures revelation in levels of mystery in order to model the individual's path along the Spiral of Truth.
The Nullifying Sacrament - Jurors Stand Against the Idolatry of Command! from Day's Orders - Exilic Juror Prayer Bulletin in Kentelken
"The Trial of the remaining Jurors of the Black Elephant Standard, who in an obscure confrontation with a since-disappeared sect lay down their arms and did not immolate (or were otherwise wounded and refused to be shamed), has faced a setback in the High Jury of Dvarim. Any Juror shall know that the contradiction between the imbecile Komandir and the imperative to martyrdom is an essential problem of our chamber, and nowhere has there been a Komandir more imbecilic and the imperative to martyrdom weaker. The attempt by High Ataman Gorgamam to force through a prosecution of death for shirking God has met the most extraordinary barrier in the form of the nullification of the decision by the jury.
Acknowledging that the men of the Black Elephant Standard are guilty (and those who deserted guilty in absentia), the jury nevertheless has absconded from ruling them guilty and instead nullified the proceeding. Speaking on the matter, the Jurors of the defiant body issued a declaration that they tire of 'FILCHERS AND FARRAGOS', who in their 'pursuit of idolatry', venerate their superiors over God himself. The attempt by the High Ataman to force a result using obscure mechanisms has faced further obstacles as mutineers in the civic jury of Dvarim have seized several officers and hold them hostage, demanding 'a pound of gold and a pound of flesh for the apostates who lost us our holy war', and declaring 'they would rather live free than die slaves'. All must ask now and forever: if immolation is so essential a principle for the defeated Juror, then why do our Atamans still march with unseared flesh?"
Akov's Note: By God, has it already started? Is this what has come to our comrades in Black Elephant? I had thought them doomed forever...God is good, God is good. There is little we can do from Nachivan, but this quote is surely from Dvorah's piece - it has been printed as far as Dvarim! I had not even dared to think it...
Behemoth's Harvest- the Phantom Scythe of the Ischak! from Light Among the Nations, a Pugilist Bulletin in the Western Navel
"Who stands against the darkness? Who holds the lantern of freedom in the midst of the inky black of slavery? It is Vashti, and her reverent ones! There has been no stronger light for Pugilism since Opernani Myriam, no grander example of its enduring vision since Pasan Ghadi. With bullet and bayonet Vashti lays waste to her enemies, and rids the homes of God of evil. Already the high priests and their lackey dogs among the lower chambers flee the territory of Metamoa and cry scorpion's tears about the stripping of their unjustly gained estates. Already, the massed forces of the originator juries of the Jaekelopterus, Gore-Mastodon, and Opabinia Standards tremble at her might. She is a phantom scythe, who ambushes in the night and has stolen victory by morning. In her ranks, this correspondent has learned, she gathers a priest with tongue of fire, a witch of the Lekgolo flesh-swallowing wood, a Juror rogue, a Cheshvan bandit, and an elder peddler and sorcerer. Even as winter plunges the Ischak into frozen cold, she fights, uniting minyan communions and holding roving court, dispensing justice and granting the territories of the wicked to the good.
All fear her. The Ischak Circle can do nothing to her, and the komandirs of the three standards quake in Tendavara, able neither to advance against her nor to retreat for she will surely seize the town if they allow her. It is a dictate of Pasan Ghadi that the woman is the beacon of liberty, and let the daughters, wives and mothers who read this know: Be as Vashti, and you shall never be allowed to forgot your own glory! Printed below are diagrams from the Guru Pathak, in particular, on how to advance your angelforms, and ensure that your body is well-warded against evil..."
Dvorah's Note: Qanam is certainly busy, and Light Among the Nations is certainly breathless. I think we can appreciate their energy even as we are cynical on some of its messages. Vashti has faced no major impediments as yet since the defeat of Gilded-Eagle. Given Ataman Burs is massing something like 25,000 Jurors in the reformed Steedeater in Ramayan just north of her, it is entirely possible he could pivot to destroy her. It is odd that the Originating Jurors have not yet marched against Metamoa, however. Perhaps they are waiting for the storms of winter to abate, or wish to return home quickly should Burs invade them?
Tranquility's End? The Deluge of the Idols draws nigh in God's Second City from Cosmic Harmonics, Iconoclastic Bulletin in Gabbana
"The stars are alight with the desire for redemption by all creation! Not since the Antipatriarch held his divine and geometric court has there been such hope for Iconoclasm in Vaspukaran's second and eternal city. For Seventy-five years, with support from the High Jury of Barabanan, the essential facts of the Iconoclastic Codices have been suppressed and the divine shapes obscured. This 'harmonious' and 'tranquil' equilibrium of the south so beloved by these twisted souls worships at the idol of human subjugation and serfdom, and Vadashta is its unholy mount. Defiled by vile iconography, and made filthy by the grasping hoof of the golden calf, Vadashta is a well-watered garden of sin. Now, however, the Patriarch has by recognition of the universal rite of all souls, accepted the fundamental need of his reverent ones to assemble, worship, and speak freely, as all humanity did in the state of creation before the enslavement of the Spire.
And with it we emerge! Shayam, the ancient sect of our fathers which once waged Iconoclastic holy war as far north as where Yomri stands today, has burst from secret hiding. Returned is Bnei Kol, whose Kolim assert the fundamental truth: God is King, and only God is King, and the scripture of humanity must reflect the gospel of God and achieve a return to creation. The Covenentals, the sacral alliance of our sects founded in the first rising and shattered in the aftermath of the Temple Coup, has been refounded in a tremendous ceremony concluded with a choir of five thousand. Vadashta the Pure, which fought against both the idolatry of kingship proposed by High Confession and the empty icons of the originators and their dogmatic sin, will rebuild the House of God. The preparations are laid to refound the self-governing Communion of Vadashta so yearned for by the flocks of the ecstatic and quaking faithful! Speedily yes speedily, in our days soon, God rebuild, God rebuild, God Rebuild your house soon!"
Dvorah's Note: I must admit that Iconoclasts frighten me. I promise you all Esterkezy Oshana isn't like this.
Rumors & News in Nachivan
Rather than clippings from news, this is rumors that you've been able to gather either from the street or simply by word of mouth from disciples of the sect. As your intelligence-gathering capabilities improve, so shall your capacity at getting accurate rumors.
Scheduled Scrapping of the Sakarog Ironclad - The Sakarog Ironclad, which was involved in one of the only major naval battles of the War with the Mare that Vaspukaran was victorious, and one of its most famed and heroic ships, has been scheduled for scrapping. There is widespread outrage in the echelons of sailors and monk-captains alike, but the Grandmaster of the Order Karaban has declared that with the downturn and the impending sovereign default of the Patriarchate they can no longer wait for the Sanhedron to come to an agreement on revenue to supporting the Order. Within the month, Sakarog will be scrapped and towed out of the Hadit to be sunk, a humiliating end for such a mighty ship. The ship's crew, moored with the vessel in a harbour of the Alangan Yards, have already resisted attempts at scrapping violently, and with the support of their obstinate officers, twice. Now they have been put under house arrest as the process to strip the ship formally starts, even as other sailors weep.
Exarchates splinter on issue of Origination - Good news from the Exarchates, the city's suburbs. Some of the High Priest Exarchs, as had been expected, express support for the Jury of Nachivan and the principle of Origination and directed their packs of paid-thugs to support it, but the southern and eastern Exarchs have all asserted loyalty to the Patriarch and Sanhedron. In particular, Tata Targon, known for controlling the upper-east side of Nachivan with an iron and paternalistic fist, providing enrichment to his friends and death to his enemies, has made clear he is "the Patriarch's loyal servant, for now and forever", and formally disbarred the Jury of Nachivan from entering his controlled territories. Already overstretched in a restive city, the Jury of Nachivan has declined to dispute the order, and one haughty officer who tried to patrol with a squad was greeted in his own home by Tata Targon, playing with his daughter on his lap (a fact Tata Targon proclaimed proudly from his monastery a day after). The officer did not enter again.
Order of Golden Spike testing telegraph system - In a peculiar piece of theater Dhagan House, the headquarters of the Order of the Golden Spike, the order which is in charge of all of Vaspukaran's railway and railway telegraph lines, has dispatched a message to every single railway station in the country in a feat of incredible logistics. Hundreds of in-order telegraph workers sent out the messages over hours, with the words: LOVE THY KINGDOM AND THY KINGDOM COME, followed by instructions for railway stations to send back their own response, MY KINGDOM COMES AT THE INFANT'S MOON. Responses have streamed in from everywhere in Vaspukaran, including from within the Originating Circles. Abbott Superior Qero has said that it is a "proof of the ingenuity of our order and its monks that we carry forth the Word of God to every corner of his Kingdom".
News from your Neighborhood - There has been a stream of well-wishes from the surrounding neighborhood for HaKhofshim and Ma'On. The proceeds of a recent cassowary fighting match has been donated to us , and some of the girls from the factory upstairs have come to sit shiva for Yoni during a break during work. There have also been huge marches, organized by Ma'On and with our cooperation. The Great Synod, apparently, has demanded that the Jury of Nachivan break up our 'mourning hordes', but for whatever reason, the Jury has refused to provide additional garrisons to the House of Creation, which has led some Archdeacons of the Great Synod to leave Nachivan outright, fleeing either for their home circles or to Harasdad. A local school of well-to-do and its Maranine dean have been fundraising coats and warm blankets for our own children. On the 23rd of Tislev, enough snow fell, and there were enough well-dressed children, that a few disciples coming out from mourning even urged the children into a fight of balled snow. It became somewhat competitive, however, and once Tanda and Dvorah were involved it was hazardous, as the two dueled up and down the street. Chana did not join, but did drink warm coffee from the porch of the Temple, watching with the ghost of a smile.
Miscellany
In addition to news and rumors, Dvorah and other sect disciples have pinned up points of interest and clippings they simply find intriguing or amusing to the Hakhofshim Mekdash's bulletin board.
Komandir Shulgi's Battle-Tested Anointing Soap - An advertisement for a type of soap made from crushed powder and claiming specific extraordinary healing qualities for the 'filthy soul'. Its slogan reads 'YOUR BODY IS A TEMPLE - SANCTIFY IT', and it then describes, in a textual description similar to a piece of scripture, the Juror Komandir Shulgi's quest for the perfect surfactant, ending with his now famed anointing soap. There is a list of benefits, including 'extraordinary virility' - It is circled, and in Dvorah's handwriting, underlined, it is written 'WENDAM - BUY THIS NOW'.
Zarnai Unveiled - The Most Extraordinary Pagan Land Reviewed - in between being one of the most inflammatory elders in the Sanhedron Pontiff-Prelate Samangan continues to be one of its most amusing. In a review for a travel compendium by the 'scholar-adventurer' Friar Bram, Samangan writes that Bram 'is as poor a liar as he is an archaeologist and writer'. Samangan outlines a massive number of absolute falsehoods about both the history and present of the Mission of Zarnai that Friar Bram indulges in, and spends a section of the review pulling apart Bram's obsession with the 'docile and yet nubile heathen women of this mountain country'. He concludes by sharing his own actual account of Zarnai, in which he spent three weeks on the run from local authorities after attempting to return a stolen scroll of Moonsong hymns to a pagan conservatory on the Shevan Sea, and provides quotes from local bulletins from the local priesthood denouncing him as the 'harbinger of heathenry' to prove it.
The Parizar Exhibit - Iconoclasm as a Geometry of Heaven - An advertisement of an intriguing new exhibit at Vakiva Seminary offers admission to the exhibit of the Hexagrammaton, an Iconoclast-inspired attempt to depict heaven without any iconographic form whatsoever. The school's bold use of color and lines, and near abstract styling in its symbology and paint-strokes, has attracted widespread attention from the heterodox in the art world. Surprisingly, it is Akov who has put it up, as apparently some of the exemplars in the advertisement remind him of the tattoos in his home of Nesra, and that the Friar Parizar is himself a Nesri makes him excited to see the exhibit, perhaps in the new month. It is also a way for all, with the formal mourning period ending, to take their thoughts off Yoni, and towards a future still so fragile.
Zarnai Unveiled - The Most Extraordinary Pagan Land Reviewed - in between being one of the most inflammatory elders in the Sanhedron Pontiff-Prelate Samangan continues to be one of its most amusing. In a review for a travel compendium by the 'scholar-adventurer' Friar Bram, Samangan writes that Bram 'is as poor a liar as he is an archaeologist and writer'. Samangan outlines a massive number of absolute falsehoods about both the history and present of the Mission of Zarnai that Friar Bram indulges in, and spends a section of the review pulling apart Bram's obsession with the 'docile and yet nubile heathen women of this mountain country'. He concludes by sharing his own actual account of Zarnai, in which he spent three weeks on the run from local authorities after attempting to return a stolen scroll of Moonsong hymns to a pagan conservatory on the Shevan Sea, and provides quotes from local bulletins from the local priesthood denouncing him as the 'harbinger of heathenry' to prove it.
There is a list of benefits, including 'extraordinary virility' - It is circled, and in Dvorah's handwriting, underlined, it is written 'WENDAM - BUY THIS NOW'.
for whatever reason, the Jury has refused to provide additional garrisons to the House of Creation, which has led some Archdeacons of the Great Synod to leave Nachivan outright, fleeing either for their home circles or to Harasdad.
Archdeacon shows up to the House of Creation and theres just 5 Ma'on flicking knives and 5 Gunpowder Nuns cleaning their guns outside the door. "Oh hey, you're still here?" one of them says.
"No I am not," says the archdeacon, and turns around to head towards the train station instead.
Yeah, as Dvorah says, this looks a whole lot like Usral is raising an army. A bunch of soldiers and feudal nobility are being gathered in the capital. That's dandy. The Usralis themselves are possibly blinded by feudal and autocephalous norms - their bulletin sees it as infighting over the succession. I suspect Dvorah has much the opposite problem - as a good god-fearing Vasp, she detests and hates feudal nobility, so she assumes this is a unified move to put an army together in case Usral wants to intervene in national politics. I'd cautiously lean more towards the Usrali perspective here - we know absolutely nothing about the situation, but I don't see an army marching out of Usral until the apparent power struggle is resolved one way or the other. Also, interestingly, the challenger for the throne here has Amalist backing - they really have their fingers in a lot of pies. Wait...hmm.
Gospel of Enlightenmenton Trial - Rector Lazar prepares to defend his Seventy-Seven Theses!
Shit's going down in the north. Lazar's theology is very radical and very understandable - big dangerous! We've gotten some previous hints of this conflict. The vernacular Hospodari rite was created to try to break the Amalists in the north, but never really caught on, and there's been plenty of rioting in the last couple of months. I suspect the priesthood won't be rid of him this easily, especially if he really does have allies in the High Jury who might bail him out. Which brings me to this quote Cetash dropped in the thread a while back....
You would have a hard time actively convincing them. Hahahyiim is much larger and wealthier than you and while they can certainly consider sending some weapons out they are sending their guns, the Yeladada say, somewhere else. No one's sure where.
My first thought when I saw that is "oh, they're sending the guns up north to their fellow Amalists." Maybe an Amalist secret society is going to carry out some assassinations, or maybe they want some firepower for the rioting. Or even something wilder - maybe somebody's hatching a plan to storm a jail or a train and break Lazar out, that's the kind of shit that late 19th century revolutionaries did on the regular. But, on second thought, I think the guns are going to Usral. Gospodar is far, far away, and Usral is very close. A sect can't smuggle enough firepower for a full-sized Banner - but it could seriously aid Prince Sen's march of a few thousand grumblers. I don't know what's going to happen in Usral - it could be nothing, or it could be a very big something. Perhaps we'll see sovereignty fall to an Amalist-aligned Prince, and suddenly the Autocephalate veto will have an unexpected (but still autocephalate-loving) weakpoint. Who knows!
The Nullifying Sacrament - Jurors Stand Against the Idolatry of Command!
Based and Dvorah-pilled. It's nice to see Akov happy. Also - if this is true, it's fucking huge. A very militant mutiny is underway in the very seat of a High Jury. Inspired directly by us, it seems. We're very happy to see the strength of Dvorah's writing - and also this will no doubt inspire greater Jury crackdowns on our head. Also - wild to think how different this likely would've turned out if we'd put the Komandir on trial.
Behemoth's Harvest- the Phantom Scythe of the Ischak!
Burs is a complete enigma, and that's why we love him. Vashti seems to be making good moves - she's setting up a rudimentary government and implementing land reform. Light Among the Nations is drawing a parallel between her companions and the companions of Amalgast, interesting. I think Dvorah's right about why the Originators haven't moved - as long as they're in Tendavara, they can race Burs to Harasdad by rail, but as soon as they march into the Ischak Burs is free to move. I'll elaborate on this more when we get to the Synod.
Tranquility's End? The Deluge of the Idols draws nigh in God's Second City
Going to want to keep an eye of this - it's an egregious slight against the fleet, uniting the sailors and their officers in opposition to it. There will be unrest.
Makes sense why the exarchs went the way they did. The ones near the barracks play nice, they likely have pre-established relationships with them - the ones with rivers to protect them side with the big man. Boss Tweed in a habit Tata Targon is making a strong play here, though. Seems like a sign that the winds are not in Sword-Altar's favour.
This is the big one. Pressuring the Synod with Ma'on has worked so far - but perhaps not how we thought it would. I think most of us expected a major standoff at their gates between us and Sword-Altar, for better or for worse, but it doesn't seem to be happening. Here's my theory:
We expected a fight on the steps of the House of Creation because, to some extent, we viewed Sword-Altar as the Synod's attack dogs. We had that backwards. For the Jury of Nachivan, the Great Synod was a sometimes ally and a sometimes puppet. They provided legitimacy, but not payroll: Sword-Altar pays its own bills. From the most recent turn:
And now, in God's house, the wicked dare to walk again. In God's House, they dare to question the nature of His will. In God's House, they dare to question the nature of His glory. In God's House, they dare to question the nature of His laws. In God's House, the demons dare to dream.
The enemies of God are clever and sly, and to them seventy-five years is naught but the blink of an eye. Without proof of strength, they curdle vile boldness, and the Synod has failed in its historic duty to quell their designs by the incantation of a law that it hoped, in its geriatric folly, they would understand.
So tonight, on the 14th of Tislev, the Jury of Nachivan will activate a different incantation.
This wasn't just rhetoric - I think this was a sign of a serious and irreparable break between the Jury and the Synod. They are fucking pissed. The power-sharing agreement of the Temple Coup is done. The Synod screwed the pooch and now have nothing to offer their partners. The only 'strength' they have left is the Originator army to the west, which is zero help to Sword-Altar and is a destabilizing force that's got members of the Sanhedron raising armies. Truly, the old men have ruined everything. The legitimacy's gone, the legalism's gone. The only levers left are holding the Patriarch hostage and using main force against the people of the city. The Jury doesn't need a bunch of old lawyers to do either of those things. So fuck 'em, let 'em run.
If this analysis is correct, I take it to mean two things. One: I don't think the Synod is long for Nachivan. More archdeacons are going to flee the city, more will head for the safety of Harasdad instead of risking a return home, and eventually Originator power might be reduced to a Rump Synod in Harasdad, forgetting about Metamoa to weather the storm of Burs and the other Anti-Originators. That may be part of the logic behind preserving their forces and holding that railroad from Nachivan open.
Two, more pressing for us: three civil powers entered. Two remain relevant, the Sanhedron and Santsarran. If the Jury of Nachivan values legitimacy at all, if they don't plan on running the city through pure force, there is only one remaining way to attain it. Do what they do best: put a gun to the Patriarch's head and make him play nice. (edit: i mean i guess they could also put a gun to the sanhedron's head, but that's new-fangled and non-traditional)
Going to want to keep an eye of this - it's an egregious slight against the fleet, uniting the sailors and their officers in opposition to it. There will be unrest.
As we all know sailors are a group with famously low revolutionary potential
Orthodoxy has done very little to secure the loyalty of the armed forces. We have a few juror chambers that profit economically from the status quo but Metamoa showed that quite a few of the orthodox juror chambers are parade soldiers without real teeth. While the frontier jurors with actual combat experience seem to lean reformist. I'm not saying the hardcore orthodox jurors amassing aren't a danger but I'm optimistic. The navy being angry now really is just the cherry on top.
