Kyriaki
Dark Phoenix
OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION
Intent: Expand on Tephrike.
Image Credit: Here.
Canon: N/A.
Permissions: N/A.
Links: Dominion of Light, The Guiding Strictures of Ashla and Mace Windu to Lead to Correct Thought and Belief, Windian Jedi Order, Battlemaster Mahtara, Grand Army of Light, Tephrike, Church of the Force, Jedi Inquisition, Nomi Sunrider Paragon Legion, The Unchained.
GENERAL INFORMATION
Religion Name: Ecclesia of the Followers of the Divine Ashla in Her Beatific Form as Mistress of Hope and His Glorious Form as Master of Victory. Usually shortened as Ecclesia of the Followers of the Divine Ashla, Ecclesia of the Divine Ashla or simply Followers of the Divine Ashla. But the official name must be used in all official correspondence.
Religion Type: Dualtheist, Force based.
Influence: Planetary.
Influence Area: Tephrike.
Symbol: A beam like a lightsabre rising from the middle of a blue circle with raised hands to either side.
Description: The Ecclesia of the Followers of the Divine Ashla in Her Beatific Form as Mistress of Hope and His Glorious Form as Master of Victory are a Tephriki religious movement whose tenets are based on the teachings of Mace Windu Thought. This doctrine is propagated by the Dominion of Light, a totalitarian Jedi theocracy that holds sway over much of Tephrike. The Dominion regards itself as the sole bastion of goodness in a corrupt galaxy that was consumed by darkness. They maintain that the Jedi failed in their duty to protect the people, and so they must atone by protecting civilisation - at any cost. In that regard they act as an adjunct to the Windian Jedi Order, the Jedi order of the Dominion. Both groups are heavily intertwined. Centuries of isolations have led to their beliefs becoming more than a little warped.
The Dominion believes that it has a duty to spread the teachings of Ashla among the masses. The Followers arose in part spontaneously, but have since become a part of the theocracy's propaganda and education apparatus. In the process the faith has assimilated - or exterminated - various local folk religions. An example would be the worship of the Twi'lek Mother Goddess, elements of which can be found in the cult of Ashla Soteria. Such developments have led to a faith that has not always developed in line with strict Windian orthodoxy. The Dominion elevates clones above 'naturals' - disparagingly called 'randoms' by many Windians. This has been a source of tension within the faith, as it seeks to attract those who have not been decanted in a laboratory. While the faith arose spontaneously, it has since become part of the Dominion's power structure.
While the faith has more than its fair share of cynics and people mostly going through the motions, most people in fact believe their own religion. Jedi are rare, and so the mundane preachers are often the most visible manifestation of Mace Windu Thought. It is faulty and so are the believers, but many of them are normal, good people who live their religion and its core principles in ways that show kindness and compassion rather than malevolence. One can even find people who try to promote good deeds and help their communities among the clergy. But the further one rises in the hierarchy the more one finds deeply unpleasant people. But even the cruel and amoral are generally believers, rather than closeted atheists manipulating the 'gullible masses'. Many a holy warrior has been equally devoted to aurodium, Ashla and glory. The attainment of power and glory is proof that you are doing Ashla's will, for the Light would not reward you otherwise.
Ironically, the Dominion has faced peasant rebellions from common folk against oppressive grain requisitions or collectivisation policies. But rather than reject the faith, these peasants often justify their uprisings on the basis of religion, claiming they are fighting for and not against Ashla. The faith is banned in areas under the sway of the Republican Guard and the Vaderites. Followers who live in such territories are subject to persecution and must practice their faith in secret.
The brief but intense war with Firemane and the fall of Fortress Purity to the Republican Guard has led to a time of crisis for the faithful...but also of awakening and mobilisation. Communities of believers have fallen under the sway of the anti-Force-User Republican Guard, which persecutes ardent believers in Ashla and tries to stamp out the faith. The revelation that there is life in the outside galaxy has upset old dogmas. The old temple itself has been turned into a pile of rubble. However, the Dominion still stands and the junta that has taken command is rallying the faithful for a war to the knife. For the time being, reformist and conservative elements are united in the struggle.
SOCIAL INFORMATION
Founder: An Ithorian prophet called Momaw Naawat popularised the faith and spread it among the masses. Travelling from village to village, he spread the word, delivered aid and judged the wicked. It was he who discovered the aurodium tablets that supposedly contained the sacred texts of the Jedi. He was martyred when he was murdered by rebel terrorists, though stories soon spread that he had managed to retain his identity within the Force.
Membership: Typically people will be born in it, though the Dominion is not shy about staging mass conversion events in occupied territory. Its reach is restricted to Tephrike though. New initiates undergo an initiation ceremony where they commit to the faith and swear to abide by its commandments. There is much chanting and singing. This is preceded by a ritual ablution. The ordination ceremonies for Cenobites includes head shaving. Obviously this is restricted to species that actually grow hair. A Cenobite will be issued with a robe that is a mark of their status as one of the elect.
Officially, the Ecclesia of the Divine Ashla does not discriminate on the basis of species. For the most part this is true. However, there is unofficial bigotry against Mon Calamari, Nautolans and Quarrens because many of them are closely aligned with the Republican Guard. Moreover, the Followers regard Yuuzhan Vong as demons. This applies to Force-Dead people in general. Opinions are divided on whether they can be redeemed by ridding them of their 'curse'. Men and women are treated equally, but clones are preferred to 'naturals' or, as they are disparagingly called, 'Randoms', even though the latter constitute the majority.
Sacred: Kyber Crystals, the sacred text of the believers called the Book of Ashla, and any light side nexus. Followers will strive to guard holy sites strong in the light and protect pilgrims who travel there to seek the blessing of Ashla Soteria. An example would be the Forest of Serenity. Moreover, Force Ghosts of deceased Jedi are sacred, and their purity in the light of Ashla is an example to all. Jedi temples are considered hallowed ground. Lightsabres are incredibly rare on Tephrike, and thus treated as sacred relics that may only be wielded by a Windian Jedi.
Dogma:
"An open mind is like a freshly turned sod. Unless it is sown with the generous message of Ashla and the bonds of compassion, the insidious weeds of heresy will take root."
The Ecclesia of the Divine Ashla is a popular religion applying teachings derived from Mace Windu Thought, the official ideology of the Dominion of Light and code of its Jedi. Mace Windu Thought revers the Light of Ashla, treating it as akin to a deity and the Dominion of Light as the embodiment of its teachings. Jedi must not merely be defenders, but actively seek out and smite the followers of the dark side. And only they possess the mandate of the Force to rule.
The Ecclesia applies a modified version of these teachings, mixed with various homegrown folk religions. For it is the way of the Dominion to spread the teachings of the Light to all its people. All its citizens must live in accordance with the way of Ashla. Those who do not are subjected to harsh punishment or re-education. In order to guide them back on the path to redemption and save them from the darkness, of course. However, the concept of an impersonal energy field that binds all life together is difficult for common people without a connection to the Force to understand because it is awfully abstract. Many of them will have never seen a Jedi. And when they do the powers of Force-wielders might strike some as divine, though this is dangerously heterodox and officially rejected by the Dominion. The Windian Jedi don't really assign gender to Ashla per se, but the faith has taken on a life of its own, especially in rural areas.
Thus they are taught that Ashla has two aspects, which inform how the godhead acts. In conflict Ashla Niketas will conquer the dark, whilst in peace Ashla Soteria will save and guard the true believers. In spite of this distinction, the Dominion doesn't actually care about gender roles. It has female generals and warriors, as well as male healers and teachers. But they are not exactly the most flexible and open to new ideas group. Senior clerics are continuously frustrated by the fact that some peasants don't seem to understand or care about the distinction and view Ashla as exclusively female. (Un)fortunately even the ability of a totalitarian state built upon the bedrock of soul-crushing order to enforce orthodoxy has its limitations.
To the Ecclesia, the Dark Side is a cancer upon the galaxy. Rather than being a natural component of the Force, it is an aberration. Just as Ashla has two aspects, so does Bogan. The darkness is personified by Bogan Prodosia, the betrayer, and Bogan Phobos, the fear causer. To restore balance to the Force means restoring the Light to preeminence. The Jedi are essential to restore the balance, but they are not the only ones. In the past, the Jedi waited for a cosmic saviour, the chosen one, but in fact every living being can contribute to the balance by living a good, virtuous life. In doing so they will save the galaxy and their own soul. This is the final battle in an apocalyptic struggle to lead the world to salvation or condemn it to darkness. A virtuous life favours the harmonious Light, whereas selfishness contributes to the growth of the Dark Side.
The faith stresses submission to lawful, correct authority. It postulates that a government that doesn't abide by the precepts of Ashla is illegitimate, which means it opposes the separation of church and state. For a government that doesn't venerate Ashla will lead its people into evil and damn their souls to Chaos, a hellish place of torment. Sith are the servants of darkness, following the teachings of demons. If they cannot be redeemed, they must be slain. This is an act of mercy, for it means they can sin no more. Once you walk down the dark path, forever it will dominate your destiny. But Force-Users are not the only ones who can be corrupted by the darkness, mundanes are susceptible as well. That is why rebels who take up arms against the Dominion are not only defying Tephrike's sole legitimate government, but also Ashla. The machinations of the darkness have created a Force Wound, and each act of evil feeds it. But equally as more and more people achieve enlightenment and expel the darkness from their souls, the dark forces will lose their grip on the galaxy. The separation between matter and spirit will be overcome, poverty will be banished from the world and all will achieve oneness with Ashla.
The Gulag Virus is seen as a machination of the servants of the dark side to engulf the galaxy in darkness and bring civilisation to its knees. This imposes a special responsibility on the adherents of Light to ensure that the last bastion does not fall. It is an act of penance for the Jedi Order's failure to prevent the Great Darkness. To the believers, this is truly the end of days and the clergy preaches that this justifies even the most extreme measures in the war against the forces of darkness. The final triumph of evil will drown the galaxy in darkness and misery. However, if the forces of light prevail the pure will ascend, transcending hunger, poverty, disease, suffering and greed. Similarly, the Netherworld Crisis is attributed to the machinations of malevolent dark side entities, which is actually not that far from the truth. To the Followers, it is the second sign of the apocalypse. The first was the Gulag Virus. The third will end with the ruination of al the galaxy, or the final triumph of Ashla. The tenets of Ashla Niketas teach the devout that the wicked must be purged. Only the Elect are to be spared. These are the end times.
The faith teaches that death is a natural and inevitable part of the lifecycle, and the dying person should be made to accept this reality. For this reason, using Force techniques such as essence transfer or necromancy to cheat death is regarded as a grave sin. Violating the natural order leaves a permanent stain on one's soul, for it is the highest display of egotism. A believer who has passed away accepts their destiny and transforms into the Force, for the spirit endures beyond the demise of its physical form. For there is no death; there is the Force. By contrast, the souls of those who have fallen into darkness will forever be trapped in the hellish realm of Chaos. The Followers of the Divine Ashla believe that the corruption of Bogan has not only affected the material realm, but also the Netherworld of the Force. As the darkness spreads, the fabric of reality itself is weakened and the barriers between this world and the next are broken down. Thus spirits, and demons may walk the earth, further spreading corruption. This means that not one's life, but also one's soul is at stake. The cosmic struggle is fought in both realms.
The Ecclesia stresses that the foremost goal of every believer should be to live a virtuous, wholesome life by thinking pure thoughts, being modest, honest and devout and serving Ashla by serving the Dominion. One does not need to be Force-Sensitive in order to follow the ways of Ashla, just live a life of virtue and justice in accordance with the tenets of Ashla Soteria and Ashla Niketas. The Followers argue that living a life of virtue and moderation, considerate and kind but willing to ensure justice is done and the weak are protected, is the way for one to attain a virtuous way of life. On first sight, this makes the faith rather egalitarian...but while anyone can serve the will of Ashla, only Jedi can interpret it. Thus these 'luminous beings' are indispensable intermediaries between the profane and the sacred. The obvious contradiction has been the cause of schisms and unrest.
The most virtuous believers will be rewarded by achieving oneness, a blessed state of union with Ashla. This can only be accomplished by letting go of one's ego. To that end a believer must let go of attachment, selfishness and desire. At all times, a Follower should think in terms of the collective, not the individual. The goal is to treanscend the material body, and transform from crude matter into a luminous being. Ideally, every believer should live a life of complete austerity and complete abstinence, renouncing vices such as sexual intercourse, meat and liquor. However, this is obviously not feasible for the majority of sentient beings despite the Dominion's best efforts to encourage them to live a virtuous life free from sin.
Even today, many citizens of the Dominion are conceived naturally, rather than being grown in a medically sanctioned way in a laboratory. The Followers have found a way around this by creating a special group of adepts called the Cenobites. Officially, they are only adepts whose role is to teach and aid ordinary members in achieving enlightenment. Some are itinerant, others live communally in segregated houses. All are distinguished by robes they wear as a sign of their status of purity. Cenobites usually make their own robes from cloth that is donated to them. Ordinary believers are expected to support the Cenobites, and in return receive guidance from them. When a believer is close to death, a Cenobite will administer the final rites. Cenobites are expected to live in a monastic manner. It is tradition for Cenobites from species that grow hair to shave their heads as part of their ordination. Cenobites take their vows for life. The Ecclesia doe not discriminate between male and female Cenobites and nuns are entitled to the same amount of support from the laity. No distinction is to be made in the spiritual stations of men and women, for both possess the same potential for virtues and intelligence. Hence, the equality of the sexes is seen as a spiritual and moral standard that is essential to achieve unity. Cenobites of exceptional purity might be invited to join the Blessed Lineage Project and be cloned; a great honour for a 'Random'.
Cenobites are required to undertake frequent fasts. Officially, the Cenobites practice mendicancy and thus do not own private property, having taken a vow of poverty. Even their personal property is supposed to be very limited. Believers provide them with alms and lodgings. The faith's doctrine acknowledges that there are necessities in life an adept or believer cannot do without, namely food, accommodations, clothing and medicine. But a Cenobite should take a completely balanced stance towards these necessities and subsist on the minimum that is required for survival. Food should be divided equally among all Cenobites.
Their temples are run as a collective enterprise by the Followers. The Dominion denies that the Cenobites constitute a privileged clergy, but that is essentially what they are. Each Cenobites must undergo rigorous mental and spiritual training. Jedi are rare, and so the average believer will never see one, but will have had regular contact with the local representative of the faith. However, Jedi will always be above them in status, for they are the embodiment of Ashla's power and purity. The Cenobites are also a group for the Windian Jedi send recruits whose Force affinity is too weak to merit proper Jedi training. They must abide by vows of celibacy and vegetarianism. There are those in the faith, particularly among the more moderate Cenobites, who believe it is up to the followers of Ashla to pave the way of righteousness and holiness that will restore the balance of the Force, conquer the darkness and brighten Ashla's light once more. In their mind, the way to achieve this is through good works, good thoughts and good words.
They do this by aiding the poor, tending to the sick, and feeding the hungry, promoting ecological projects and carrying out welfare missions throughout the Dominion and surrounding lands. They will go out and take food to the elderly, provide general assistance to communities in need and intercede with the authorities in favour of the unjustly persecuted or discriminated. The faith advocates the elimination of poverty and inequality. This is the more popular, honest interpretation of the holy scriptures, but is often overlooked for the much more fanatical preachers and their propaganda. All too often the pursuit of the cause of Ashla is paired with the pursuit of power and intolerant bigotry. Moreover, the faith has effectively enshrined an unaccountable, opressive dictatorship with the Jedi as the ruling caste. And it can also drive those who are sincere in their faith to commit horrible atrocities while being fully convinced of their own righteousness.
To the believers, Ashla's will is made manifest through each Windian Jedi. Hence the latter are expected to maintain an austere lifestyle untainted by sin in order to provide a suitable vessel for Ashla Soteria and Ashla Niketas. A Jedi who has been welcomed fully into the Windian Jedi is regarded as having become trans-material. They are still part of the material world, but have achieved a higher state of being that links them to both sides of Ashla even in this world. As vessels in whom Ashla dwells, they are to be adored and obeyed by the faithful. A Windian Jedi Master has attained the highest level of enlightenment possible while still being part of the material world. Every believer must treat a Windian Jedi with the utmost respect. The tenets of Mace Windu Thought are holy writ.
The Ecclesia maintains that Nomi Sunrider was one of the first Jedi. Trained by the venerable master Vodo-Siosk Baas, she became the first Grandmaster of the order and led a relentless inquisition to bring the Dark Lords to heel in the Great Sith War. Her cleansing light destroyed the Sith Purebloods, a race of demonic manifestations of the Dark Side. However, they had passed their teachings on to weak people who became the Sith of later times.
Nomi, Mace Windu, Yoda and Luke Skywalker are venerated as Paragons of Light. The Followers maintain that the Dominion built the society Mace would have created if Anakin Skywalker had not betrayed the Jedi Order. By contrast, they have a low opinion of Qui-Gon Jinn. Indeed, orthodox adherents of Mace Windu Thought have a view of him that corresponds to the 'Grey Jedi' stereotype. In short, Qui-Gon was a rebel without a cause who arrogantly believed he was wiser than the entire council and that he could master both the Light and the Dark Side without suffering any repercussions. He realised his folly in his last dying moments, but by then he had already passed on his false beliefs to young Anakin.
The faith teaches that Luke Skywalker vanquished Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader with the power of the Light. However, Palpatine's dark spirit endured and his fanatical acolytes formed the First Order, which waged total war against the free galaxy in order to bring about his resurrection. This was called Operation Cinder. Their reign of terror devastated many worlds. But Luke thwarted this diabolical scheme by carrying out the Byss Purge of the Dark Side sympathisers there, harnessing the power of a star through the Force. The demonic Palpatine fed on mass deaths to facilitate his ascension, but by purifying their tainted souls with Ashla, Luke ensured that they would join the Light instead of feeding the fallen Emperor. Thus he burnt away the darkness in the vanquishing light. Following this he ascended to the astral plane to purge deceased Dark Siders trying to escape the Light in the Netherworld.
Reputation: Well-known on Tephrike, and virtually unknown outside of it save for the orbit of Firemane and the Unchained, a group of political fugitives and former Dominion prisoners. Both groups loathe the Followers of Ashla. On Tephrike, the faith is regarded with intense hostility by the Republican Guard and the Vaderites, the two main rivals of the Dominion, though people in areas under their sway may still practice it in secret. The Republican Guard has a habit of burning their sacred texts, much like they claim Luke burnt Jedi texts after realising the harm they had caused.
The Republican Guard that has occupied part of the City of Harmonious Industry and renamed its zone Vortanstad has stepped up propaganda efforts to stamp out the faith, but is limited by meagre resources. The official stance of the vanguard rebel movement is the complete destruction of all institutions and ideas dedicated to Force worship because a society free from the tyranny of Force-Users cannot coexist with the continued influence of Force religion even as an independent entity. Rebel propaganda must employ militancy and irreconcilability towards all forms of Force worship. This has manifested in anti-Ashlanite campaigns.
However, tactics have varied. Typical tactics are seizing property of the church, ridiculing the faith, harassing believers, putting Ashlanite clerics and Jedi on trial, and spreading anti-Force beliefs in the schools Cennobites, normal believers and Jedi have been tortured, executed or sent to detention centres. The official line is to spare and convince the ordinary believers and limit persecution to the clerics, but this isn't always followed. Within areas controlled by the Guard, the social work and charitable ventures of the church are instead taken over by the rebels' proto-state. Church property is seized and put to publis use. At the same time some rebels have argued in favour of a more pragmatic approach that combines repression with trying to split the believers from the Jedi. At the same time, religious cults accepted by the Guard such as the True Way of the Yuuzhan Vong and the cult of the Twi'lek Goddess have made efforts to convert Ashlanite believers.
The Vaderites utterly despise the Ashlanite faith as it stands in direct contradiction to all their precepts other than the supremacy of Force-Users. After all, they are genocidal human supremacists. Their policy towards Ashlanite believers is one of brutal persecution, though they will make an effort to convert humans to the cult of the true God-Emperor Vader, who was incarnated by the Force, and his bride Padme. Alien believers, on the other hand, can only expect brutal repression, torture and outright murder of forced labour until they drop dead if they don't keep their beliefs secret.
In the Dominion the Followers of Ashla are a denomination of Mace Windu Thought and all common citizens will be taught to adhere to the faith. Even art must conform to it. There is obviously a good deal of cynicism and opportunism, but most people do in fact believe their own religion, even if they are jaded about the way its leaders behave.
Many of the Dominion's social programmes are run by the Followers, so they are a vital part of daily life. Some Windian Jedi look down on the faith not because they are secretly atheists, but out of the belief that it has strayed too far from proper canon. For example, the idea of a dualistic godhead does not really align with Mace Windu Thought. While many Unchained have disavowed the Ashlanite faith, there are still people among them who try to abide by its tenets, though they have renounced their allegiance to the Windian Jedi and the Dominion.
MEMBERS
Zoica Confessor (NPC) - a Mirialan political officer who is part of a somewhat new strain of clones designed to enforce Mahtara's dictates in the Grand Army of Light. The Battlemaster found that many of the old Confessors were too closely tied to the crazy old Grandmaster so had them replaced with new clones to fill the role. As a Confessor, her job is to monitor officers, conduct propaganda and ensure the soldiers' loyalty to the faith - at gunpoint if needed. In effect, she is a political officer and a cleric. Zoica is one of the competent Confessors. She has been programmed with a profound understanding of psychology. She overlooks minor infractions and works to improve conditions for the soldiers as a sop to improve morale. At the same time, Zoica ruthlessly executes cowards, deserters and traitors. She is actually inspiring in battle though, which reduces the chance of desertions or routs occuring in the first place. Soldiers under her will not count days, they will not count miles; they will count only the number of Vaderites, rebels and Firemane mercenaries they have killed.
Once when soldiers fled during a battle she yelled at them, but didn't fire when they ignored her orders. Instead she waited until after the battle was over and she had a clearer view of the situation. Then Zoica had the whole unit assemble and watch while she stripped their commanding officer of her insignia and publicly executed her for incompetence. Her logic was that if soldiers were frightened enough to ignore her, her rank and her weapon even though they knew the consequences of cowardice, they were too scared to be of any use and their commander had failed to train and lead them adequately. To kill them would not have solved the problem, only shifted blame. Turning to a junior commander who'd displayed initiative and skill during the battle, she informed him that he was in command now and she'd give him her full support, uphold discipline and maintain morale...and shoot him if he made the same mistakes. Soldiers who'd retreated against orders were court-martialled. They were sentenced to six months in a labour camp so they could 'better focus their mind through productive and harmonious labour'. Then back to the army. Any who failed at the camp or tried to escape would be purged.
Presently, Zoica is gathering evidence to be given official sanction to execute an overconfident, excessively prideful human Jedi commander called Cimon whose death charging keeps resulting in 'victories' with 50%+ average casualties. For obvious reasons it's more difficult to purge a Jedi in Jedi theocracy..but she is incredibly tenacious and meticulous.
Melanie Administrator (NPC) - A Mirialan government official with a background in propaganda who has risen to the position of regional governor due to the losses the Dominion has sustained and her ability to be a little smarter about how to utilise resources and get results. Some hardliners still want to purge her for her heretical thoughts about rewarding workers and allowing initiative, but she gets protected so long as she delivers results. Melanie has made a vital contribution to the Dominion's war effort by supervising the evacuation of military factories from endangered areas such as the City of Harmonious Industry and Nexus City and their reassembly in safe territory the enemy cannot touch.
She is related to Mel, a clone who used to be employed in the Ministry of Enlightenment but fell victim to a purge and, after a brief stint in a penal unit and then as a smuggler, ended up in Serene Springs, an Inquisition black site. There, Mel joined a group of prisoners who were plotting to escape. Elpsis also ended up being imprisoned her and Mel won her freedom during the prison revolt. Melanie is Mel's template and tried to shield her clone from the secret police. Indeed, her clone used to look up to her. But now she in the stars and Melanie is still on Tephrike. Conservative Dominion leaders have attacked her methods as 'Sith-capitalist'. Melanie has been careful to avoid criticising Mace Windu Thought and the doctrine of Ashla, and in fact presents her approach as fully in keeping with it.
Instead of interrogating employees about their loyalty to Mace Windu Thought and their knowledge of Ashlanite religious doctrine, she looks for people with strong technical or managerial skills. When questioned about this, she claims that she is teaching them about the true faith. She has downplayed the importance of the seemingly omnipresent Confessors and other ideological watchdogs who excel at purges, but lack practical skills. Melanie is by no means an atheist, though she has been smeared as such, but argues that the Dominion is in a transitional stage before the utopian values of Mace Windu Thought can be fulfilled.
As an administrator, she stresses universal principles of science and engineering, and promotes experts. Privately, she has stressed that 'Ashla does not mean shared poverty' and argued that the Dominion should 'seek truth from facts'. Within her province, she has introduced limited local reforms to encourage initiative and reward meritorious workers. When poor peasants in a rural village secretly implemented a system that made each household responsible for their profit and losses of production, she protected them from being punished for heretical activities. She argues that planning and market mechanisms are not incompatible and that a policy should not be rejected outright just because it is not associated with Mace Windu or the founders and prophets of the Dominion. She uses the term 'cost accounting', a term strongly at odds with the Dominion's command economy since it's typicall used for management in a free market economy.
Akronis Cenobite (NPC) - a righteous man of unquestionable benevolence and boundless generosity; a holy and noble being who has dedicated his entire life to providing aid the poor and needy and spreading the word of Ashla. He has travelled far and wide to provide the downtrodden with care and minister to the lost. For those he cannot meet in person, there are his public broadcasts, for he harnesses technology to reach the faithful. He comes from a prestigious line of clones, but has dedicated his life to spreading Ashla's glorious message to the lowest of society. He has gained renown for his work aiding victims of the Vaderites and the Republican Guard.
In truth, the Caamasi is a fraud with the charisma of a televangelist. The charities he collects donations for are actually controlled by him, so it is merely an exercise in public relations. He runs the 'Clearskies Society of Soteria's Grace and Harmony'. It has been alleged that the quality of medical care provided in a hospice associated with him is actually haphazard, to say the least. Frequently doctors are absent, so volunteers and acolytes must make decisions about the patients' care without them. The facility also suffers from overcrowding. It is always cleaned up when journalists, government bureaucrats or local notables come to visit, so they don't see the often substandard and stingy medical care it provides.
For someone who belongs to a caste of holy men who have renounced material wealth and earthly pleasures, Akronis is a surprisingly worldly man. At the same time, he supposedly once said that it was beautiful for the poor to accept their lot, to elevate the soul, and achieve oneness, as the ancient masters did. The world, he is said to have stated, is being much helped by the suffering of the poor people. Akronis does work with refugees and former inmates of Vaderite concentration camps or Republican Guard asylums. But he also pressures them to convert, using a mixture of persuasion, favours, threats and plain gaslighting. Any time he punishes a disciple, he will act like he is only doing his duty to save their soul and it is completely their fault.
Mnason Cenobite (NPC) - A Rodian hellfire preacher and polemicist...who has denounced the Ecclesia's leadership and the Dominion of Light for turning away from the true path of Ashla and becoming agents of Bogan. They must repent...or be destroyed. He proclaims that the Council has been seduced by the temptations of earthly glory and forgotten that the scriptures speak most loudly to the poor, the humble and the suffering. The Cenobites and Jedi have lost touch with the people and their needs.
The Ecclesia has excommunicated him.
Persecuted by the Inquisition for his heterodox beliefs, he has found shelter among rebellious peasants living in the mountains. Long mistreated by the plain dwellers, they eventually accepted him as their spiritual leader. Mnason preaches sacred poverty, and combating injustice. He combines this with an egalitarian social message. Years of study and meditation have led him to the conclusion that Ashla speaks to all, both Force-Users and Non-Force-Users, clones and 'randoms'. A Non-Force-User who follows the tenets of the Ashlanite faith and lives a virtuous life can achieve the same state of enlightenment as a Jedi. In other words, he believes in a universal priesthood. Jedi must be guardians, not overlords.
Church property should be expropriated, and mortal sin punished regardless of stature. He also criticises extensive church artwork and large temples as excess that distracts from helping the needy and preaching. It is worth noting that while he opposes the Dominion, his views are opposed to secularism. He feels particular animus for Akronis, whose claim to being a source of emulation or religious reference Mnason considers illegitimate because the senior Cenobite lacks the required expertise in theology, revealed texts and principles of Ashlanite jurisprudence. Moreover, the crimes Akronis has been complicit in render any judgement made by him invalid.
Mnason has some...interesting views about Elpsis and the 'cleansing fire from the stars' due to getting distorted information. He is of the belief that the 'star woman' was a righteous warrior sent by Ashla to deliver judgement upon the sinful. This was the first warning. One day she will return, and the faithful must be ready for the day of reckoning. The Rodian firebrand is secretly being cultivated by the Inheritors of the Light Father, who seek to cause a schism in the Ecclesia.
Jedi Ryshana (NPC) - Ryshana is a great war hero, a chivalrous knight without fear or reproach. A brave and noble warrior, a wise and just sage - a defender of the oppressed and a storm of the unrighteous, a heroine-crusader. From a certain point of view, this is all true. Ryshana is indeed a talented, fearless commander and formidable warrior. But there is little positive to say about her beyond that. She is, ironically, deeply unpopular in the province she nominally oversees. Appointed to supervise the governors and magistrates beneath her and ensure public wellbeing, the Jedi lord began to squeeze the juices out of the water, collecting resources for a frankly wasteful and unnecessary crusade to reclaim a holy nexus that had been despoiled by demonic Yuuzhan Vong from the infidel Republican Guard.
This served as an excuse for plunder, as well as pogroms against supposed nonbelievers and heretics. She is rumoured to have even engaged in the dirty business of trading government offices, titles and economic concessions. As the Dominion has a command economy, her powers of patronage were considerable. She only spent a few months at home before she embarked on her crusade. Rather than govern, she wanted to engage in an adventure that would immortalise her name in the annals of the Windian Jedi Order, as well as guarantee her achieving oneness with Ashla.
She swore an oath to renounce her past sins in order to show herself worthy of being a holy warrior. In the process, she invaded an independent Ashlanite island because a clone sibling had been imprisoned. On her orders, her troops looted and burnt down the city of Mesana. During her holy war, Ryshana betrayed oaths, and massacred over two thousand prisoners of war. Ironically, while she won impressive victories on the battlefield and conquered an important port city for the Dominion, she never managed to take the holy site that had been the cause of the whole enterprise. Despite being only a few miles from the sacred place, she refused, thereafter, to set eyes on it, since Ashla Niketas had ordained that she should not be the one to conquer it.
She is often careless with her own safety, which resulted in her being wounded and almost killed by a Republican Guard sniper. To her credit, unlike some Jedi generals, Ryshana is actually a competent, intelligent battlefield commander, but incredibly self-centred, vain, arrogant, petty and cruel. She arouses both great adulation and intense loathing among those who cross her path. She loves her clone family, but behaves ruthlessly to her enemies. Despite being the darling of the press, she has been blocked from promotion to high command because she is considered difficult to work with.
She happens to be good friends with Jedi Cimon, which has made Zoica's investigation harder. Ryshana is capable of both great callousness and generosity. She sacked an island inhabited by fellow believers over a slight most of the natives had nothing to do with and had 2500 prisoners of war murdered. But she also summoned the sniper who almost killed her to her bedside and was so impressed with the man's refusal to be cowed that she pardoned him, and refused to countenance reprisals. Perhaps having a 'worthy foe' flattered her considerable vanity.
Neona Medicus (NPC) - a female Kaminoan scientist and the head of the Commandery of Bodily and Spiritual Genesis for the Purpose of Effective Multiplication, an awfully long-winded name for the government institution responsible for selecting, growing and educating new clones. Kaminoans are very rarely seen outside of Kamino. But during the Galaxy's Golden Age, Tephrike attracted the attention of genetics companies due to its bountiful flora and fauna. One such company was owned by Kaminoans. Tephrike's corporate, environmental and animal rights laws were rather lax. But the Dark Age stranded them on the planet and their money soon lost its worth. They had to use cloning relatively early to stop a gene pool recursion.
The Dominion 'welcomed' them into the fold, employing them for their reputation as cloners. Neona grew up in an environment where her path was set by her genes and caste as well as standardised aptitude tests. Unlike the stereotype of the atheistic scientist whose only deity is progress, she perceives her work through a religious angle. She believes that creating new clones 'without sin' is her key duty, and necessary to fight the forces of darkness. 'Every clone carries Ashla's Light in them. We must see it is not darkened by corrupting influences!' She decides who should be included in the Blessed Lineage Project.
However, there is a darker side to this: She 'culls bad batches' of the 'single spirit broods' for the 'greater good'. Neona views clones as superior to 'randoms' because they can be grown and moulded free from aberrant traits and influences, and are conceived in a process free of sin. Her organisation also labels and classifies the clones, and she keeps detailed records. She answers directly to the chief healer of the Windian Jedi Order.
Graroor Administrator (NPC) - typically a Wookiee would be expected to be a fearsome warrior, using his impressive strength to wield a bowcaster and rip a stormtrooper's arms off. The more perspective know that Wookiees are also talented technicians and builders, not just fighters. However, Graroor is an intellectual and a propagandist who writes books, pamphlets and movies for the Ecclesia. He is very eloquent and has a way with words, translating obscure theological arguments into something comprehensible for the masses.
The Wookiee has been given a 'normal' name because the Dominion believes social harmony is only possible if everyone is the same. On the one hand, the Dominion celebrates Wookiees as noble warriors against the forces of darkness and loyal allies of the Jedi, but on the other there is latent bigotry against them. This translates into somewhat patronising comments about their physical strength. As a Wookiee, he inevitably stands out among the crowd. Inevitably he was shuffled into a military role.No one took Graroor's intelligence seriously until a passing Jedi who understood the Wookiee heard his patriotic comments and took notice of his ability to inspire. The Jedi brought him to Nexus City to be properly educated.
They found he had a great grasp of the required knowledge yes, but also how to write it down in a way which was understandable and persuasive. Eschewing the pretentious language of ivory-towered mystics, he has a folksy style. For this reason he has been put to work producing propaganda to shore up morale. He has a primitive 'talk tron' - in other words a protocol droid - which translates exactly what he says for interpersonal communication. The conformist Dominion has a thing about people not speaking the 'righteous tongue'. He obviously cannot speak Basic himself, but understands is just fine.
Fracarza Cenobite (NPC) - an itinerant Twi'lek mendicant and mystic who actually strives to live up to the ideal of a Cenobite. They are biologically female, but identify as what people in the greater galaxy would consider non-binary and tried to be referred to asexually. However, although procreation is seen as somewhat sinful, this was one step too far for the conformist Dominion. Such bigotry has no religious basis, since unlike the faith of the Vaderites, the Ashlanite scriptures don't actually contain queerphobic passages or even talk about non-binary people. But the totalitarian regime hates it when people step outside of their assigned roles. Indeed for a while they were sent to a special facility to 'cure' them of their 'disorder'.
Fracarza is a 'random' and was born the child of a minor manager in a state-owned enterprise. Their paternal and maternal had high hopes of the child being included in the Blessed Lineage Project. But Fracarza did something unorthodox by seeking to pursue a path other than what their caste would dictate. In their youth, Fracarza claims to have received visions from the old masters, including one where Ashla Soteria urged them to repair her temple, for it was falling into ruin. Initially they took it to mean a specific temple, but now they understand it to be the Ecclesia.
Travelling across the remote lands of the Dominion, they soon became associated with miracles and acts of healing. Determined to bring the gospel of Ashla to all people, they visited impoverished and devastated lands far from the Dominion heartland. While they were not political, they were non-conformist and interceded in favour of people who had been unjustly repressed by the inqusition or the morality police, both clones and randoms.
The Inquisition considered them a potential source of heresy, and Grand Inquisitor Antonius put them to the question, and made them undergo several trials of faith. When Fracarza survived them all, they they were brought before the Radiant Obelisk of Ashla's Divine and Eternal Judgement, the obelisk's light did not strike them. Indeed, they impressed several interrogators with their knowledge of canon law. When their 'abnormal' behaviour came up, Fracarza tried to use theological arguments, pointing out that Ashla did not conform to a binary gender. They were held in protective custody under a flimsy pretext. But when the inquisitor died they were released and held up as an example of moral piety to raise morale. In spite of all they have endured at the hands of the regime, Fracarza is actually sincere about their faith, and has continued interceding for unjustly persecuted.
They preach apostolic poverty, and complete renunciation of property for Cenobites. They have a great love for animals and the environment and have spearheaded ecological projects. A common image of them is of a bird resting on their hand. According to Fracarza, nature itself is a mirror of Ashla, for the Force binds all life together. They are very much a double-edged sword for the Dominion, since they are a pious, popular figure, but one the regime doesn't control and whose nonconformism can serve as a beacon for dissidents. But they still operate within the system. As such the reformist faction in the Dominion government has taken an interest in them.
Diona - a former Jedi warrior and inquisitor. A clone, she was moulded from birth to serve the theocracy without question. She is a dutiful soldier haunted by atrocities she was forced to commit in her homeworld's horrible civil war. Diona was the leader of the Inquisition team that captured Elpsis. While Elpsis was incarcerated and brainwashed in a concentration camp, Diona was both her jailer and, to an extent, protector. Her crisis of conscience came to head when Elpsis had been brainwashed into an obedient drone.
Ultimately Diona turned on her masters and helped Elpsis escape. Now she has linked up with Firemane, but many of the sky people distrust her. Likewise, the Unchained are reluctant to accept her. Diona's main drive is to make amends for her sins, as far as she can. While she has forsaken Mace Windu Thought, she still believes in many Ashlanite tenets and seeks to uphold her vows. Her beliefs have also been influenced by exposure to Tygaran groups such as the Seekers of the Sky.
Chares Investigator (NPC) - a member of the Jedi Inquisition who zealously combats heresy and all manifestations of the 'dark side'. In spite of the name, most Inquisitors are Non-Force-Users or only mildly Force-Sensitive. Chares has a minor Force affinity that makes him incredibly observant, but does not merit Jedi training. He has a preternatural memory, but it is a struggle for him to even lift a tiny rock with telekinesis. Chares was not close to the late Grand Inquisitor Antonius. Not being part of Antonius' inner circle used to be to his detriment, but has now actually improved his promotion prospects since Battlemaster Mahtara had Antonius' cronies purged. Now new blood is needed to administer commissar justice and crush dissent on the home front.
Chares has the knowledge of and commitment to canon and secular law, the diligence and, above all, the discretion to do the job. He is actually pretty consistent to the laws and standards, but very zealous. Worryingly so. He does everything by the book and demands sign off from the council as insurance but also demands action to combat 'dark forces' which might be anywhere. There are situations when his legalistic streak can work to the advantage of someone who has been denounced, for he actually takes the law seriously. However, the downside is that he is very paranoid about supposed manifestations of the dark side.
Chares is not only a 'random', but a Neimoidian, a species of ill repute in the austere Dominion because its members are stereotyped as greedy and shifty. This may have given him a complex, which is why he rigorously sticks to the letter of the law and is opposed to even the slightest deviation.
HISTORICAL INFORMATION
Tephrike has been isolated from the rest of the Galaxy since the outbreak of the Gulag Virus. Originally colonised during the twilight years of the Old Republic, it was subjugated by the Galactic Empire. The human supremacist regime established by the Empire was overthrown with the aid of the Rebel Alliance and the planet emerged as an unstable, multi-species federation.
Then the Gulag Virus sent the Galaxy spiralling into chaos. Warlords, Jedi, Sith and rebels vied for power. Prolonged warfare and the use of primitive weapons of mass destruction brought great devastation to the planet. Benign intentions turned to evil over time. Jedi who sought to restore order and reunite the planet fell to the darkness they claimed to oppose, while still believing that their intentions and actions were good. In so doing, they followed in the footsteps of Atris and Jorus C'boath.
When Jedi General Zaras Dant couped Tephrike's weak federal government following a massacre of peaceful protesters before Parliament building, she intended her new regime to be a temporary emergency dictatorship to restore order. She might have been sincere about it at first. However, civil war ensued, as rebels denounced the new regime as tyrannical.
The chaos of the Dark Age had paved the way and both Jedi and Non-Force-Users increasingly feared that they were the last bastion of light in the galaxy. They would impose their warped interpretation of the code not just on the Jedi, but the entire population. At first, small sects formed, espousing these radical beliefs. Some performed charitable work, filling a vacuum left by the collapse of the planet's old government and its fragmentation into warring factions. As the Jedi assumed a protective stance, word of their deeds spread. Jedi healers went out into the land to cure the sick and help the needy. Increasingly, the Jedi-led government took an interest in these cults and decided to shape their dogma - and persecute those who preached the wrong teachings.
An Ithorian prophet called Momaw Naawat spread the word of Ashla among the masses, offering a message of hope for who had long lost it. His teachings blended Jedi tenets, the Ithorian faith in the Mother Jungle, the Twi'lek Goddess worship and other teachings. Travelling from village to village, he spread the word, delivered aid and judged the wicked. It was he who discovered the aurodium tablets that supposedly contained the sacred texts of the Jedi.
Soon the cult spawned by him became more militant. Cultists formed militias to protect their communities...and crack down on enemies of the peace. The Duros Jedi Lord Zaras Dant was sceptical of the new faith. She viewed herself as an emergency dictator, not a theocratic leader. When word of fiery inquisitions reached her, she punished cultists and resisted efforts to proselytise in the army or introduce mandatory prayer sessions in schools. Nonetheless, Ashlanite militias proved themselves to be fierce, loyal shock troops in Tephrike's civil war.
When Zaras Dant was murdered by treasonous Jedi who believed her interference in politics and assumption of dictatorial power violated the Code, the Devaronian Jedi Tyian Kree came to power. Unlike her predecessor, she was a religious zealot who had unknowingly fallen to the Dark Side. The new Jedi Lord embraced the cults Zaras had kept at arm's length. Ironically, Momaw was wary of her zeal. Though relentless against servants of the dark side, Momaw also believed in forgiveness for those willing to repent, and had tried to moderate the actions of his most fanatical followers. He spoke out against intolerance. The path to Ashla was the sole true one, but it could not be imposed through brutal force or collared by bureaucracy.
However, he was martyred when he was brutally murdered by rebel terrorists, though stories soon spread that he had managed to retain his identity within the Force. Tyian eulogised him at his funeral when his body was found, assuming the mantle of both military dictator and religious leader. She preached a fiery inquisition against the enemies of Ashla, taking the faith into a radical, militant direction. The Jedi order, the state and the faith would be one. Ashlanite clerics would go into the schools and barracks to spread the faith. Inquisitors would be trained to uncover and dismantle all forms of 'heresy'.
Her reign saw the final defeat of the ADF, but also struggle against the fledgling Republican Guard and the Vaderites. The rebellion of the Republican Guard and, even more threateningly, the rise of the Disciples of the Vader led to a surge in religious fervour. The war to secure the Dominion was transformed into a righteous crusade. Barbaric atrocities committed by the xenocidal Vaderites fanned the flames. The Sith were very open about how they viewed aliens as lesser beings to be exterminated or enslaved, so the war assumed millenarian proportions.
By the time the Vaderites were defeated at the Battle of Palmyra - a victory attained at high cost, for the former capital was turned into a radioactively contaminated, cursed hellscape - Tyian was dead, having died of a heart attack during the siege of Red Coral City, stronghold of the fledgling Republican Guard. Her successor Norn Astur lacked his predecessor's pedigree a warlord. He was a builder, an administrator and crucially a theologian. It was he who convened the great conclaves that brought the divergent strands of the Ashlanite faith together, codified the faith's tenets and decide what was orthodoxy...and what was heresy.
Mace Windu Thought was the code, the Ecclesia of the Divine Followers of Ashla were the church. Counselled by Jedi and 'wise men', he established guidelines for the selection and training of Cenobites, institutionalising the clergy. Before that its organisation had been haphazard. In some areas, clerics had been elected by their local communities, and acted as learned elders who possessed authority on account of their piety and respect. In others they were essentially warlords, ruling as feudal overlords. Others had bought their clerical titles, and sired children.
Norn put an end to this. Everyone would have a place within his realm, be assigned it from above and remain there. Thus society would be in harmony. Significantly, Jedi were separated from the clergy. The Cenobites possessed a lower degree of enlightenment, but stood above the mundanes and would follow many of the Jedi tenets as a sign of their purity. They formed an order bound together by vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. He ended the Dominion's great campaigns and oversaw a relative period of calm that gave the faith coherence. But it didn't become more tolerant of dissent. The faith suffered its share of deviations. One of them was the Balance Heresy, also known as the Grey Jedi Heresy. Its followers were unmasked by the Inquisition. Those who did not see the light and refused to recant were exiled into the Dune Seas.
The Ashlanite message of political unity and spiritual purity was turned into a political programme as a matter of convenience as much faith by rulers eager to turn the Dominion into the dominant power on the planet. It spurred Dominion leaders to prosecute holy wars against the Republican Guard, the Vaderites and the few neutral factions on the planet. Ashlanite militias did bring a measure of security to the streets; the Ecclesia did provide emergency medical care, minister to those who had lost faith, inspire hope in people who would otherwise have none. It also imposed a draconian social order, for it served as a branch of a dictatorial government.
In the early days, the Ecclesia fielded its own corps of knights. In deference to the tenets of Mace Windu Thought, they were all Non-Force-Users, for all Force-Users had to be Windian Jedi. However, the knights took monastic vows in imitation of the Jedi Order. They were called the Knights of the Everlasting Light. They provided protection to pilgrims travelling to holy sites, built hospices and fought in holy wars against Republican Guard rebels and Vaderites. The Knights became a favoured charity in the Dominion, and rapidly soared in membership and power. In time the order became an important economic actor, providing infrastructure in devastated or underdeveloped districts and towns. They also engaged in banking, providing credit for pilgrims. For at the time the Dominion had not done with money.
However, it turned into an issue to the Jedi, starting to eclipse them in numbers and support and so it needed to be dealt with. So the Jedi moved quickly against this threat, with the support of the Dominion regulars who were none too happy about this religious army operating outside their command and getting the best gear. The Ecclesia was pressured to disown them. Many of the Knights were excommunicated, tortured and executed after being found guilty of worshipping dark side idols and plotting to restore predatory capitalism.
Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Without checks and balances, there is no accountability. The Dominion was a totalitarian dictatorship, and the oligarchy wanted to enjoy its power. Corruption became a growing and pervasive problem. Senior Cenobites flouted the laws against the acquisition of material wealth. Defying their vows of chastity, more than a few took lovers and had offsprings and sometimes tried to bequeath ecclesiastical titles and holdings to them. But In all fairness, the growing worldliness of the church also contributed to a cultural thaw, limited cultural freedoms and even a limited degree of freedom of information.
Censorship of the arts relaxed in the Dominion, and minorities received greater cultural rights, such as the right to be taught their own languages in schools. In some ways, it is better to live under a robber baron than under a tyranny sincerely exercised for the 'greater good' of its victims. For the robber baron's cruelty might sometimes sleep, if only for the simple reason that it woud get in the way of more base desires. But those. But unrest spread in the Ecclesia, and reformist movements attacked the corruption of the church and the Windian Jedi Order. A hardline Grandmaster pushed against free enterprise in agriculture, pushing for the imposition of collectivisation to fuel economic development and promote social engineering to create a 'new man and new woman'. He called it the 'Great Enlightenment', attacking 'capitalist roaders' in the church and state.
It was this climate that contributed to the Cultural Revolution of the Blue Guards, a paramilitary mass movement composed of students, Padawans and young Jedi Knights who denounced the establishment as corrupt and materialistic. The movement began among idealistic seminarians of the Ecclesia and Jedi Padawans. The administration of an Ecclesia seminary denounced them as heretics, forcing them to conduct secret meetings. However, Grandmaster Tsal Te Mong sided with them and ordered the media to disseminate their beliefs. This action legitimised the Blue Guards and student groups quickly began to appear across the nation. The Grandmaster was under fire for the disastrous failure of his collectivist economic policies. He saw the young radicals as a chance to avenge himself on the oligarchy, whose members in his opinion lacked zeal...and didn't worship him sufficiently.
Spurred on by the Grandmaster, the Blue Guards sought to usher in an egalitarian utopia by smashing the 'four olds'. The young revolutionaries viewed themselves as the vanguard of a new age. The Blue Guards destroyed symbols of Tephrike's pre-Dominion past, including ancient artefacts and gravesites of notable Tephriki figures. Furthermore, they beat, publicly humiliated and even murdered people viewed as dissidents as well as government and church officials. However, there was also factionalism among the Blue Guards. There was a divide between Blue Guards who belonged to the elite, such as clones from prestigious lines and youths related to prominent figures, on the one hand and 'randoms' from the countryside as well as clones from more mundane castes. The latter were more radical, and aimed to restructure existing systems of inequality to benefit those of poorer backgrounds.
The movement quickly grew out of control, frequently coming into conflict with authority and threatening public order. The Blue Guards were suppressed by the military once their revolution grew out of hand. What followed was a return to normalcy defined by rigid caste barriers and totalitarian controls of private and public life. Inquisitorial tribunals were formed to deal with heretics, including idealistic Blue Guards who had become politically inconvenient. Now that they were no longer needed, many were banished to remote areas of the nation to live among the peasants and 're-educate themselves' through hard labour in the countryside.
But not all Blue Guards went quietly. One of those who refused to be silenced was Pievar Avier, a human male of peasant origins and a 'random'. He had heeded the call of the Grandmaster, denounced enemies of Ashla and tried to smash the 'Four Olds'. Now he had been cast aside, and his family lived in poverty. He felt that he and his generation had been betrayed by the oligarchs. While living in internal exile, he learned about the Knights of Everlasting Light. Some of their members were still alive, but very old and living in obscurity.
Hearing the truth about what had happened so many decades ago fuelled his radicalism. Avier rejected orthodox Ashlanite principles, creating a doctrine that sought to dispense with the hierarchy and holy tenants in favour of following the 'Will of the Force'. These teachings were popular among exiles and others who had been repressed. It grew into a revolutionary movement that challenged the Ecclesia and the Windian Jedi Order, which culminated into an open revolt. However, after years of upheavals the nation was tired. People chafed under the soul-crushing order...but they wanted calm, not more upheavals, chaos and bloodshed. This contributed to the failure of his revolution. The people did not realise the danger until it was too late. Avier was executed for heresy.
The regime drew its own lessons. With the cooperation of church authorities, the government instigated a purge to enforce orthodoxy. In contrast to earlier initiatives, this was a silent purge, not a mass campaign. Within the span of a few months, thousands of political dissidents and religious nonconformists were systematically subjected to enforced disappearance in Dominion detention facilities across the country and extrajudicially executed pursuant to an order issued by the Grandmaster and implemented across prisons in the country. Many of those killed were subjected to torture and other cruel, inhuman and humiliating treatment or punishment in the process. They were universally denied access to a fair judicial process. The extrajudicial executions were followed by the authorities' refusal to officially acknowledge the killings; fully disclose the fate of the victims, including the causes and circumstances of the killings; identify the remains; and ensure that they were returned to the families.
The systematic concealment of the fate of the victims and location of their remains also involved not providing families with death certificates and responding to families' requests for death certificates by issuing ones that were in many cases inaccurate, misleading or incomplete about the causes, circumstances and dates of the death and cited 'natural' causes or simply 'death' as the cause of death or provided no cause at all. These ongoing enforced disappearances and the continuing uncertainty concerning the fate of their loved ones and the location of their remains caused considerable anguish to the families. Rumours began to circulate about the mass executions, desperate families went to prison gates and government offices in search of information, only to be met by silence and abuse.
Sometimes they were falsely told that the prisoner had been transferred, so the families embarked on wasted journeys to distant prisons. Even some Cenobites tried to intercede to help civilians trying to find out what had happened to their loved ones, but to no avail. Two low level clerics went on a hunger strike, but they were isolated from the public. Most families were just summoned to prisons or a government office, handed a bag which an official said contained the personal belongings of their dead relative, and were ordered not to hold a memorial ceremony. Some families were not even given these last mementos. Some were told their loved ones were still alive when they had in fact been executed, or simply told nothing at all. A Jedi Master simply told the bereaved "Mourn them, do not, miss them, do not. For their darkness has tainted the Light of all."
Enforced disappearances, extrajudicial executions and torture were carried out in a systematic, deliberate manner. Typically, the victims were sentenced by a troika consisting of an Inquisitor, a state prosecutor and an Ashlanite cleric. They didn't have access to legal representation, a chance to defend themselves or question witnesses. Authorities interrogated prisoners about their political beliefs and categorised them according to the degree of their perceived loyalty to the Dominion's rulers. Many years later, the sister of an Ashlanite cleric leaked an audiotape of senior officials discussing the coordination and implementation of the mass killings. It also showed that the officials were using rebel attacks as a pretext to carry out mass killings that had been planned long in advance. She was convicted by a special court of Ashlanite clergy for spreading propaganda against the system, committing acts of treason and espionage, and never heard of again.
It was also during this time that there was a theological shift that caused the Ecclesia to embrace clones as being more morally pure than 'randoms'. The Dominion had used cloning long before the Cultural Revolution. One reason was simple pragmatism: plague, famine and strife had caused staggering losses. Artificial and scalable vat reproduction allowed population planning and replenishment. But now it received a theological validation that marked a new stage in the church's evolution.
Clones could be grown in a medically sanctioned way free from lust. They were a blank canvass upon which the tenets of Ashla could be imprinted before they had drawn their first breath. Moreover, they were, in theory, loyal to the Dominion, not class, family, species or clan. Of course, in actual fact clones from prestigious lineages formed a new elite, and networked to ensure those of their line received perks and good jobs. 'Mundane' clone lineages often stayed at the bottom. A gulf developed between clones and naturals, who were disparagingly called 'randoms'. And the Ecclesia continued to endorse and legitimise Dominion repression and wars of aggression. When General Kennobi waged a brutal campaign against the Mon Calamari, Cenobites were sent to proselytise among the aquatic aliens. Unsurprisingly, Mon Calamari and Republican Guard partisans started lynching them. The mass 'relocation' of Mon Calamari to detention centres was justified as a measure to 'save their soul'.
The Netherworld Event threw the faith into a crisis. To many devout followers it seemed like the End of Days was at hand. The mass panic was exacerbated by a full-scale Republican Guard invasion as well as a Vaderite offensive. Many temples were destroyed and Cenobites and believers lynched. The Dominion prevailed, but had to combat Light Sith infiltration of its institutions. The Inheritors of the Light Father made efforts to infiltrate the Ecclesia from within.
The new Grandmaster, the former Barsen'thor, was ostensibly a liberal reformer who deplored the cruelties of past administration. Initially he encouraged alternate views of established dogma and solutions to problems. Reformists in the Ecclesia and society were encouraged by Grandmaster Aegus, which said that "the policy of letting a hundred flowers bloom and a hundred schools of thought contend is designated to promote the flourishing of the arts and the victory of Ashla." Citizens were being encouraged to openly express their opinion about the regime and criticise its leaders. The Grandmaster had been elected by the oligarchy as a compromise candidate, which meant his position was rather weak. Like many Grandmasters since the Cultural Revolution, he was a figurehead. The Netherworld calamity had left him rather mercurcial. The campaign was a gamble, based on his belief that intellectuals and seminarians would speak out against people and practices he opposed. But he miscalculated significantly.
Intellectuals and liberal-minded Cenobites created Ashla Walls, which they covered in posters and letters criticising the Windian Jedi Order and the Ecclesia's establishment. Most participants did not demand the overthrow of the Dominion. Instead they attacked the lack of accountability, the cruelty of past mass campaigns, the privileges of the leaders, corruption in the Ecclesia, and the stiffling of freedom of expression. But after a brief period of openness, the regime initiated a crackdown against those who had dared to question orthodoxy. Hundreds of thousands were arrested, publicly humiliated, forced to conduct 'self-criticism' and condemned to re-education camps, or even executed. The Dominion turned its gaze outward, seeking to regain lost territories and expand its domain. The Ecclesia legitimised its armed campaigns as armed pilgrimages. One holy campaign ended with the holy warriors sacking an Ashlanite city under flimsy pretext.
The faith has endured Firemane's brief but bloody campaign against the Dominion. However, as time has passed and living standards have not improved, it has increasingly become apparent to some that the old ways are failing. With Firemane support, the Republican Guard has gone on the offensive. The Jedi Temple of Nexus City lies in ruin. A new government has taken over, composed of hardliners and pragmatists focused on winning the war rather than pursuing esoteric goals.
At the same time, the Ashlanite faith remains the guiding light of society, even as some of the scriptures are being altered to suit the new reality. But the crown has been tarnished. A Rodian hellfire preacher called Mnason has been agitating among the rural folk of the hills. Light Sith sabotage and infiltration have intensified. And reformist elements are growing in strength. In contrast to the radicals of the past, they work within the system, desiring change rather than its dismantlement. Thus some have been incorporated into the power structure as long as they don't make too much noise. For now they have a coalition of interests with the pragmatists among the hardliners, but only time will tell.
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