THE
CULTS
OF MARI |
Looking from the outside we
can say that Murmillions have
two Gods in which they believe but they only worship one. We said "looking from
the outside", because a Murmillion
scholar will always argue with you on this matter, as one of these Gods has a
very problematic status. This God is invested with the "task" of creating the
world, but he is thought of being absent and even more than that: a
Murmillion would be capable to
tell you (in their specific paradoxical formulations) that this God actually
doesn't exist, but nevertheless he created the world and he keeps standing as a
reason for which this world exists. Thus we may consider this God more as an
abstract principle, though still a God we could say...
The God that Murmillions are
actually worshiping is called Mari. This
one usually is invested with a feminine form and is thought of having many
different manifestations. For almost each of these manifestations,
Murmillions have dedicated a
special Cult and almost entirely through these Cults their social and cultural
life is regulated.
Description.
The Cults of Mari are not opposing each
other, as
Murmillions
believe that each individual has a special way of relating with
Mari. The Cults are meant to meet each and
everyone's needs. As long as a Cult has a sizeable enough number of adepts it
can gain the official recognition from the other Cults. Also if a Cult runs out
of adepts, it may be canceled (though its records are to be kept in the Book of
Dreams).
Organization. All
the Cults have the same pyramidal organizational structure. On the top of the
"pyramid" stands the high-priest, the ultimate authority inside that Cult, the
Kunran (as
Murmillions
are naming them).
Under the direct authority of the Kunran, we find the four Masters entrusted
with organizing the different activities of a Cult. Thus we have a Sermon Master
- who deals with everything that relates to the sermons, a Master Librarian -
who keeps the Cult's Library and leads the glyphwritings and researches of the
Cult, a Master Healer - who deals with health issues but he also has as
subordinates the Teachers, and we have also a Master of Iron - responsible of
the Cult's workshops.
A Cult building is usually structured in six wings: a sermon hall, a library, a
school, a workshop, the clerical apartments and the clerical offices. Healers
never work in these buildings, as the Cults assigns them in other locations.
Also many Cults have decided to assign their healers in the same place, and
thus, to work together.
Each Cult is sponsored by one or more Families (the larger and most powerfull of
those Families granting the Cult with the location for their main building, in
that Family's drak), therefore each Cult represents a certain political
interest.
The main decisions regarding the general theological issues are taken by a
Council of the Cults (where each Cult is sending its representatives - be that
the Kunran or just a trusted person). This Council though has also another role,
which can affect
Murmillion
life directly: it has the power to elect the
Murmillion
King/Queen. When a King/Queen dies, each Family or group of Families propose one
person to be the King/Queen, and thus the Cult Representatives (officially, they
take this decision by theological considerations) have the power to proclaim one
of these persons as King or Queen for life.
The task of organizing this Council and keeping the track of its works and
decisions is given to a special organization, named The Arkhaeon Guild.
Worship.
Generally Murmillions believe that one should relate to
Mari mainly on a personal level, the Cults
though have added some other activities that are now considered to be ways of
worship too. Thus there are three forms of worship according to the Cults:
interpretation of glyphs, smithing and attending the Sermons.
Interpretation of Glyphs
Murmillions
use two kinds of writing. A non-phonetical writing style, the so called "glyphs"
and a normal, human, phonetical writing
(horizontally from left to right). The Glyphwriting is used only for special
texts - mostly those that are considered to be sacred and the normal writing is
used for common utilitarian texts and as well for the interpretation of the
texts written in glyphs.
The glyphs are abstract symbols that stand for ideas/concepts, their origin is
lost in time so now we can consider that more or less they are arbitrary signs.
The closest resemblance to these glyphs may be the
Styrásh
symbols.
Glyphtexts are written in vertical rows and they always contain just statements.
The arguments for these statements (or even against them), as well as the
explanations/interpretations are written in the normal alphabet and they are
considered to be a form of worship.
Apart from scholars and smiths, every
Murmillion
nobleman must learn this art of glyphwriting. This is because glyphs are
considered to be a sacred magical act, through
their abstract essence one can contact the World of Dreams - where
Mari is the one that walks.
Of course, there are many ways in which one can translate a glyphtext and
Murmillion
Librarians do a perpetual hermeneutical work on the glyphtexts, but only the
Council of the Cults is invested with the power to decide for an official
interpretation.
For instance, the "Sermons of Mari" is written half in glyphs, half in normal
writing. The part that is written in glyphs never changes, but the part written
in normal text (translation of the glyphs actually) is edited after periodical
Council meetings. So let's use this fragment:
"Blind me with your emptyness.
Close my eyes and
Take me to my Mistress."
- The Sermons of Mari ("Ressurection of Menemronn")
Let's say this is the latest edition. But in an earlier edition (few hundred
years early) this fragment would look like this:
"Take away this world from me
And drown it into nothingness,
As I will open up my eyes inside
And I will meet my Mistress..."
So the glyph version of this fragment would have to comprise the following
symbols:
- a glyph for blindness/exterior withdrawal/nightfall/fading away(of things)
- a glyph for hole/nothingness/void/(or that-which-has-no-name)
- a glyph for subject/first person
- a glyph for slumber/imagination/gate to a dream or to the World of
Mari/beginning of a dream
- a glyph for binary relation
- a glyph for Mari
Both these writing styles were known to
Murmillions
since their very first times. No one can tell for sure now how exactly they came
to use them, as
Murmillions
have a really long history - they are one of the oldest "tribes" of
Nybelmar. What is commonly agreed upon is
that the Glyphs were initially used by Menemronn himself. And I must say that
even if Kyras the Dark was the one that forged their Kingdom, this Kingdom still
follows the legacy of Menemronn. It is Menemronn the one that
Murmillions
are seeing as a bringer of redemption. Menemronn is their Forefather and their
Teacher. He showed them the way to Mari, he
showed them the way to salvation. There are a number of glyphtexts that are
attributed to him, no one can prove this for sure, but what is certain is that
these scrolls and inscriptions are forming the base of
Murmillion
religion.
In time
Murmillions
themselves learned to produce such glyphtexts, but they are even now, viewing
this special writing style as a tool to reach for eternity. Glyphs are symbols
which stand for thoughts, thus they cannot be tainted by the subjective views.
Nevertheless they are the means for reaching the
subjective enlightenment that every
Murmillion
is searching.
Reinterpreting the glyphs (which can be seen as a re-writing) can bring quite
very different views, but without such a constant work on glyphs, these symbols
would simply die. One needs to "speak" the glyphs constantly and only thus, this
"gift of Mari" can be properly used.
Smithing
The Mastery of Iron is also a very important part of
Murmillion life. They are
excellent smiths and their craftsmanship is renowned throughout all east
Nybelmar. The Mastery of Iron represents
their belief that Nature should be conquered and set at their disposal. Nature
is part of the World of Exile, the world in which
Murmillions believe they are
"thrown" to prove themselves for Mari.
Through smithing they believe that they are accomplishing a sacred
magical act, that's why the workshops are
always under a Cult's direct orders. All smiths must know also the art of
glyphwriting because almost all their artifacts must be engraved with different
glyphs (as this is supposed to offer them a magical
property - which works only for the one for which the artifact was made).
Sermons
The Sermons are the form of worship which everyone can attend (as smithing and
glyphwriting are not so accessible for the commoners). Each Cult is dedicated to
a certain "manifestation" of Mari, and to a
certain way of relating to her. Therefore each Cult has its own Sermon. All the
active Cults together with their Sermons are described in one of the
Murmillions sacred Books, "The
Sermons of Mari" (the inactive Cults, meaning those that have no adepts anymore,
have their records kept in the other sacred writing, "The Book of Dreams").
Main Cults. Below the three most important Cults are summarized:
The Cult of Moth
...who sees in this nocturnal butterfly's behaviour a sign from
Mari, a Gate to her World; critics say that
they are almost granting the moth with divine attributes, although the Cult's
Kunrans have always tried to underline the fact that it's
Mari the one that they see in a moth and not
some other pagan God.
The Ressurection of Menemronn
...is a Cult who emphasize Murmillion
belief that Menemronn was not at all defeated but in fact, he was the First One
to reach his essence and prove himself to Mari
and thus he was able to leave the World of Exile and transcend into the World of
Dreams, to join Mari in her walk; Menemronn
is seen as a primordial hero, who showed us the true path towards redemption.
The Cult of Fire
...is the Cult which gathers most of the commoners as adepts; they emphasize the
image of Mari as a beautiful woman with
fire wings and they see fire as
the most obvious means to master the nature and own the nights; they also have a
rather strange perception of the sun, as they see it as
"impure fire", a means of deception and illusion "as only
the fire which comes from us", they say, "can clear our
path into this place of Exile".
Without
exception, all the Cults are preaching a disregarding attitude towards death.
But strangely again, they do not preach an after-life. There is no "after-life"
for Murmillions, they believe
that each individual has an essence but this essence is something that must be
reached. When it is, there can be no more issue of death (as Menemronn showed
them). Dying before reaching the essence resembles to what we may call a "second
chance". Death means the encounter with the Dark One, the Unspoken, death means
denial. But through this denial the conditions for their existence are again
fulfilled and thus they think they get a "second chance". Though (and this is
what is strange) they see no link between past individuals and present
individuals. They are manifestations of the same essence, yet completely
different individuals. This is a quite complicated issue and maybe requires a
separate analysis - for the one that really wants to completely understand the
Murmillion way. Nevertheless I
can draw one worrying conclusion out of this: the more beaten/defeated or
unhappy Murmillions are, the more
they become open towards an aggressive warlike attitude and seemingly insane
fanatical acts.
Information
provided by Smith in Exile
|