From: Charles Corrigan (charles@indigost.demon.co.uk)
Date: Mon 05 Apr 1999 - 22:26:38 EEST
A section in Greg's Myth of the Month a few months ago regarding The
Some time in the early 600s there arose a group of idealistic young
Finally they developed a magical ritual to "announce" their
Abiding Book got me thinking about the rise and fall of the God=20
Learners (GLs) and their subsequent effects on the Malkioni religion.
His document appears to be a brief introductory commentary on the Book
written from the point of view of a Justreli or later Malkioni.
Here's my view on the story of the Book and its consequences.
people from a particularly conservative/fundamentalist background who
were prepared to think radically about how to spread their version of
Malkionism. They distilled out the "best" ideas from existing
Malkioni writings (i.e. threw out anything they disagreed with),
integrated ideas from the Arkati, simplified the complex and, where
there were gaps, wrote entirely new doctrine. The result was a book
simple enough for most Malkioni to understand and believe in but
all-encompassing enough to successfully explain the world and how to
control it. I am sure that they explored the mythical planes using
Arkat's techniques to "prove" that they were correct. And they were
not above inserting some particularly self-serving sections about the
Secret Keepers and Paternal Keepers to justify their own positions in
the new order that they were attempting to build.
revelation. The heroquest probably was designed (again, using Arkat's
methods) to attract those people that were already in agreement with
the general outlines of the Book and to exclude those inimical to its
ideas. Also, the Witnesses included all of those that participated in
the writing of the drafts. So, at a carefully stage-managed event
(possibly an existing religious ceremony) on Kaltan's day 646, the
hand appeared and wrote the final version of The Abiding Book.
The results probably exceeded the greatest hopes of the perpetrators.
Within just a few decades they controlled Justrela to the extent that
they could send off crusades to convert the rest of the world.
Their emphasis on extracting simplicity from an apparently complex
But. The cynicism at the core of the new Malkionism infected the GLs.
At first, the GLs were the more intellectual and inquisitive adherents
The political/temporal rulers of the MSE were not necessarily GLs
After this disaster the remaining Malkioni, who were mostly cut off
world and on practical proofs (*1) led to the experimentation of the
GLs. The GLs answered many questions and provided many material
benefits to the general population. In fact, I think that the
Justreli civilisation at the core of the Middle Sea Empire (MSE) was
the most materially and spiritually contented of all human
civilisations at any point in history or myth (*2) for the majority of
its existence.
This, of course, was a necessary mythical consequence of the
scheming - even if the GLs did not (initially) know that the Book was
a human invention. And this cynicism encouraged the world destroying
mythical manipulation that led to the downfall of the GLs and the MSE.
of the new Malkioni religion but later, I imagine, they were thought
of as heretics, but too powerful to challenge. The mainstream
Malkioni did not consider their plundering of the myths and treasures
of the other cultures as an issue because the Malkioni worldview held
that the other "gods" were just jumped up spirits, ex-mortals and
immortals oppressing their worshippers. The problem was that the GLs
took some of the religions of these cultures, modified them for their
own purposes (*3) and then worshipped these "gods" as and when
required. This was a step back to the ways of before the Book.
themselves but would have continued to support and encourage the GLs
for the material and military benefits they provided. So, from an
outsider's point of view, the MSE and GLs were almost synonymous, as
the MSE plundered their material wealth and the GLs plundered their
spiritual wealth. So eventually the whole world rose up against the
combination. The GLs in particular were searched out and destroyed,
the MSE dismembered, most of Justrela and much of Seshnela sunk and
the oceans were Closed.
from all but their closest neighbours, were forced to think carefully
about their religion. The disasters were blamed either on the
Brithini, the GLs or a combination of both. All knowledge that the
Book was a human construct had been erased with the destruction of
both the GLs and the Malkioni hierarchy in Justrela and Seshnela (and
therefore the cynicism had been mythically paid for). So the Book was
interpreted in its strictest sense and all God Learner and pre Book
deviations were considered anathema. It is a proof of the coherence
of The Abiding Book that, when the Closing was lifted, the various
major Malkioni sects that emerged were so similar.
(*1) I suspect that the Tests of Faith included absence of ageing as a
proof of better religious ability as it showed that the ageless person
was closer to the conditions of the Kingdom of Logic.
(*2) With the possible exception of the mythical Feldichi in Dorastor.
(*3) For instance, many of the Lhankor Mhy and Issaries spells and
abilities have no obvious mythical explanation (Spell Trading, Trade
Talk, the analysis spells, etc.). Also, Caladra and Aurelion. An
interesting speculation is what these religions looked like before
they became tools of the GLs.
regards,
Charles
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