Council of Cifrare

Gathering / Conference

The Council of Cifrare was a council convened in the aftemath of the Bloat Plague to adress the future of the Eradicators, a religious organization formed by people across Kontinent to drive back the spread of the Plague.

As the last infested areas in the south where being cleansed by the armies of the lords alongside the Eradicators, many both within and outside the organization began to wonder and worry about the theological and political implications of this new religion in a world freed of the plague it was formed to defend. It was the philosophically minded Erokos IV that first proposed a religious council and offered to host it in the capital of his city-state, Cifrare.   Scholars from all manner of faiths where invented, but special importance was placed on those faiths designated as offical by the various rulers. Among the most prominent were a conclave of Cimyran Druids, the Tenth Dionan Inheritor, a representative from the Cult of King Brais, the Second voice of the Eternal King, A collection of priests from the various city-states of the central plains and of course the heads of the various branches of the Eradicators themselves.   The first and perhaps most pressing matter was that of the Eradicators' future as a whole in the face of the diminished threat posed by the near-extinction of the plague. The overwhelming consensus was that the order was to continue their work in purging the plague wherever it appeared and was even granted the legal right to requisition money , supplies and soldiers to assist in their endeavours should a local infestation grow dire enough. The faith itself was allowed to continue it's practices in all the attending realms save that of the Enlightened Empire, on the basis that the divinity of the Eternal King could not be questioned. This quickly escalated into a flurry of accusations of heresy and even a short fistfight before the participating representatives where (forcibly) calmed down.   The second point of order was the organization of the faith itself, with some espousing the continued existence of independent regional organizations whilst others wanted an entirely centralized organization with an appointed leader. In the end a compromise was struck, partly guided by representatives like the Cimyrans. The regional branches of the faith would retain a large degree of autonomy, but also agreed to send regional representatives to a collective "council of the faith" in order to deal with matters affecting the faith as a whole.   Perhaps the most controversial matter that had to be dealt with was that of the branch of Eradicators operating within the Enlightened Empire, composed primarily of escaped Orcish and Human slaves, though there was also a significant prescence of Elven commoners among their ranks. Despite a debate lasting several days, the only thing approaching an agreement to emerge was that the first meeting of the Eradicators' Council of the Faith would specifically exclude the Imperial branch of the faith.   The Three Edicts of Cifrare as issued by the council would go on to form the pillars of the faith:   1. The greatest and holiest of duties afforded to the Faith of the Cleansing Flame is that of purging plague and pestilence from the land.   2. The Council of the Faith is the official voice and arbitor of the Faith.   3. The Faithful worshippers of the Cleansing Flame seek no quarrel with the gods of others and expects that others do not quarrel with them in turn.   In addition, the faliure to resolve the conflict with the Enlightened Empire would go on to directly affect the current strife between the two resulting from the official recongition by the Faith of the Imperial Branch and the subsequent conflict that continues even at the time of writing. Perhaps the most controversial consequence of the edict was the enforcement of the edict upon those branches that disagreed, leading to either exectution for heresy or in the milder cases mere expulsion.