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Oliver D. Bernuetz's Regions - Ralios - The Church of The Revealed Truth (The True Church) Back to my home page Back to regions Back to Ralios Nothing is real, everything is permitted
The Church of the Revealed Truth was founded during the chaos and strife that accompanied Arkat's crusade against Gbaji. Uber von Rakmon was one of Arkat's followers during those dark times having left the Seshnelan army to follow Arkat east. While in Seshnela he had studied at a no longer existing school known as the Abode of Learning. The teachers there were organized in what were known as the Assemblies of Wisdom. They practised and taught a no longer existant branch of Malkionism known as Isbillah, named after it's founder. The Isbillah faith was based on a concept known as loral or "spiritual hermeneutics". Loral actually means "to take something back to its source or deepest significance". The Isbillah had always read certain verses of the The Abiding Book (the Malkioni Bible) as being veiled or symbolic allusions to some deeper meaning about their dead founder Isbilla. The Abode taught that a perfect ruler would come who would have perfect understanding, the Amman. This leader would guide the Isbillahs to perfect Malkionism and on to Solace. Once the Amman was realized, the strictures of Law and Path would fall away naturally like split husks. Knowledge of inner meaning frees one from adherence to outer form: the ultimate victory of the esoteric over the exoteric. The Amman would be able to lead the loyal to Solace directly. The practices of the Isbillah were considered heretical by their fellow Malkioni so their followers were allowed to practice "permissable dissimulation" or Concealment, and pretend to be orthodox to escape death or punishment. Isbillahis could pretend to be of whatever church they wanted, whichever was most advantageous. For the Isbillahis, to practise Concealment was to practise the Law; in other words, pretending to be orthodox meant obeying the Malkioni Law. During a power struggle von Rakmon was ousted from the Abode of Learning by two of his enemies, a Brithni renegade and one of the peasant caste (Isbillah practised abrogation of the caste system) and left to follow Arkat. During a great battle von Rakmon was wounded unto death and as he lay dying he had a revelation. He realized that the he, himself was the Amman. He left Arkat's service saying, "If I had two, just two, devotees who would stand by me, then I would cause the downfall of that Brithni and peasant" By preaching and proving that he could take followers to Solace in this life von Rakmon found his two devotees and many more and he managed to take control of a fortress in Telmoria that Arkat had built called the Black Mountain. Perched on a rocky hill high above the waters of the Tanier river (which flow around the base of the hill) the fortress is considered by many to be impregnable. Rather than using the overt instruments of worldly power von Rakmon decided to use some covert mechanisms to work his will. To show their loyalty to the Church the lowest level of initiate were sent abroad to practise Concealment and infiltrate society everywhere. von Rakmon spun his web quietly and secretly and before any hint of danger was known the killings began. von Rakmon's followers, or Assassins (an ancient Seshnegi word meaning guardians of secrets) began slaying his opponents and enemies. The Brithini and the peasant were among the first to die and when Old Seshnela was later destroyed by the Luatha von Rakmon took credit for that as well! This wave of assassinations set the tone for later relations between the Assassins and the rest of the West. Relations have always been bad but no one has yet managed to bring enough force to bear on the Black Mountain to crush the True Church though this has not stopped sermons against them. One theologian was first threatened with a knife (left by his pillow as he slept), then bribed with gold. When his disciples asked him why he had ceased to fulminate against the Black Mountain from his pulpit he answered that True Church arguments were "both pointed and weighty". The writings of Uber von Rakmon have been collected in a tome called The Book of Revealed Truths. No copy of this work has ever left the Black Mountain. The central beliefs of the Malkioni can be condensed to the words of the full Credo:
There is also a shortened version that the Malkioni use as their central tenet.
from The Abiding Book The Church of the Revealed Truth (aka the True Church) teaches that all of the above credo is true, BUT by following the will of the Amman one can learn the truth about Faith and the hollow shells the Tests are, the true Mastery of Will, how to attain Solace in this life and that all the true Keepers (i.e. clergy) are within the True Church. There are seven degrees of initiation within The True Church. In the first the pupils are thrown into a state of doubt about all conventional ideas, religious and political. The initiates are taught that everything they had previously learned was prejudiced and capable of being challenged. Their teachers hint continually that formal knowledge is merely the cloak for hidden, inner and powerful truth, whose secrets would be imparted when the youth was ready to receive it. This teaching was carried out until the student reached the stage where he was prepared to swear a vow of blind allegiance to one or other of his teachers. Initiates of the first degree, known as Assassins are normally the only degree of inititiation found outside of the Black Mountain. After being initiated into the first degree they are sent out to infiltrate some society and to wait for a target or for orders to return to the Black Mountain, neither of which may ever come. Their holy garb (always donned for an assassination) is a white robe with a red sash and they always use a dagger as their weapon. Having performed their duty the Assassin then plunges his own dagger into his breast being guaranteed immediate entrance into Solace through his devotion. The head of the True Church is the Amman who claims to be the same Uber von Rakmon whjo founded the Church. Critics ask why if he is able to lead his people directly to Solace why he has not done so already. Very vocal critics tend to have accidents or leave town. The True Church does not have any saints itself but through the practise of Concealment any of its initiates can follow any saint they want or need to follow to keep up their disguise. All other sects are wrong in some things and right in others. Only the True Church has correct knowledge and only the Amman has perfect knowledge as revealed to him by the Invisible God. All other sects consider the Assassins to the darkest, most vile sort of heretics and always burn them at the stake when they are revealed. The pagan so-called gods are nothing more than large spirits. The practise of Concelament does not work in pagan cults so Assassins have a hard time infiltrating them. The Place of the True Church in the World The True Church plays a strange part in the modern world. They have little true temporal power (though the followers at the Black Mountain and its impregnable nature make it a powerful fortress). The Old Man, (the Amman) claims to have followers everywhere on Glorantha but this is doubtful. Even in Ralios where it is believed that every level of society is infiltrated by assassins there don't seem to be all that many assassinations committed by the true Assassins. They can be hired by outsiders but anyone targeted has to be someone the Old Man wants dead or doesn't mind having killed anyway. The practise of Concealment is made possible by the teachings the first degree initiate is given. First degree and higher initiates can embrace all sorts of Malkioni faith and can truthfully claim to follow any tenets of the sect they are pretending to be a member of. They can only follow one sect at a time and it is very rare that a First Degree initiate will ever change sects in his lifetime. The only way a initiate practising Concealment can be uncovered is to get them to confess to their deceit. This will require extreme torture as the initiates can actually feign belief in any Malkioni belief. This ability does not work with pagan sects (though it does work with the Henotheist sect). Women The True Church practises total equality between the sexes and Assassins can and have been of both sexes. Non-humans are not the chosen race and can never achieve Solace. They are to be used, pitied or destroyed depending on their specific nature. Last updated 2000? Last updated August 28, 2017 Glorantha is a trademark of Chaosium, Inc. Gloranthan material on this page is copyright ©1997-2016 by Oliver D. Bernuetz or by the author specifically mentioned on an individual page. Glorantha is the creation of Greg Stafford, and is used with his permission. Email me at bernuetz@mymts.net
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