Kadir Ammanar
From parody, tragedy
Kadir Ammanar (a.k.a. The Bard of Baldergash)
K
adir Ammanar was a Lancian cognoscenti who, long after his death, became famous for his authorship of the Testament of Baldergash - a biting parody of nearly all religious practices and beliefs. Still later, his reputation acquired an air of tragedy when his imaginary religion - the Pontificous Rite of Baldergash Sparcsylver - was taken up as a real faith, adhered to by millions of nonfictional people, and subsequently served as the impetus for the slaughter of millions.
Mental characteristics
Sexuality
Gay
Employment
K
adir was a lifelong member of the cognoscenti. Although it's not known exactly when he began training, or was recognized as a formal member, later records confirm that had become a resident of the Courdes klyster by his early twenties and he was a respected, senior member by his early thirties.
Accomplishments & Achievements
K
adir's crowning achievement has always been the completion of the Testament of Baldergash. It was not immediately recognized as a magnum opus. (Given the nascent state of "publishing" during his time, few books ever had the production and the backing to achieve mass popularity in a short time frame. Even the most influential tomes typically languished on quiet cognoscenti shelves - sometimes for decades - before the broader populace managed to explore them and extol their virtues.) But within a decade of its completion, the cognoscenti themselves had created a cottage industry of copying it and shipping it off to their fellow klysters.
Acceptance
By the time of his death, there were already signs of the broader population acquiring secret copies and sharing them amongst themselves. Less than twenty years after he passed away, the first Baldergash festival occurred in Courdes. This was a subdued affair, taking place mostly in private homes, as the text itself was seen as "subversive". But by the time of the Age of Rivals, the public had already started to openly embrace the work.
Failures & Embarrassments
O
ne of the most tragic aspects of Kadir's legacy is that his greatest achievement was also, arguably, his greatest failure. He was long dead by the time that this failure became evident. But there is little doubt that he would have been distraught to see the deadly legacy wrought by his prose under the purview of real religion.
Seed of Tyranny
The Testament of Baldergash is clearly understood as a rhetorical take-down of religion in all its forms. And for half a millennium, those enjoying his works certainly understood his underlying objectives. But in a tragic subversion of creative license, his works eventually became the basis for an actual religion . And as if that weren't bad enough, the faith that was spawned from his works exhibited all of the worst traits that he originally sought to expose through his writing.
Morality & Philosophy
L
ike many of his fellow cognoscenti, Kadir was dedicated to the pursuit of knowledge - verifiable, testable, empirical knowledge. He felt passionately that many of his peoples' challenges could be overcome if only the a greater understanding could be acquired of this world and all that lay within it.
Clashes
These views eventually led him into various tensions with the local religious authorities. His experiments did not always meet their standard for "acceptable" knowledge. Some of his activities alarmed spiritual leaders because he did not make proper concessions to prevailing dogma. For example, he was dragged before religious tribunals on at least three separate occasions because he was out "in the field" gathering data and conducting active research during holy days.
Mental Enslavement
But Kadir didn't see the religious authorities as the ultimate problem. He often lamented to his fellow cognoscenti, or to himself in some of his private writings, that the entire population was essentially brainwashed. They had been indoctrinated in church dogma since birth. If they wanted to maintain their social standing, they had almost no choice but to adhere to that dogma fastidiously. And by the time that any of them had gained the kind of wealth, experience, or reputation that would allow them to confidently make their own choices, they were already so hopelessly ensconced in church teachings that they would inevitably parrot whatever had been drilled into their minds since birth.
Personality Characteristics
Motivation
S
temming from his conflicts over his experiments, many have assumed that an esoteric quest for pure scientific knowledge was Kadir's greatest, and most driving, motivation. But his own writings imply that much of his frustration was borne from observing the state of local commonfolk and feeling that their condition was exacerbated by the church. While he certainly had a desire to further his order's scientific knowledge, he also demonstrated a keen interest in the general state of humanity - especially as it related to the poor and lower castes that typically huddled outside the klyster gates every morning.
In some respects, the Testament of Baldergash was his way to tell anyone who cared to listen that they needn't keep their mind locked in the church's dungeons. In fact, years before his completion of the Testament, he wrote in his journal that one of his greatest goals was to find some way to illustrate, to the masses, the blatant contradictions that he felt were disseminated by the church every single day.
Social
Religious Views
K
adir's defining religious characteristic was his staunch atheism. As a cognoscenti, he certainly was not alone in his religious views. Many of their order are skeptical, if not downright dismissive, of religious ideals and practices. But cognoscenti also have a long history of keeping their doubts to themselves. They have learned, sometimes through painful lessons, that openly questioning the theological underpinnings of the government, and of the population at large, can lead to violent consequences.
Defiant
In this regard, Kadir was something of a rebel. Although he did not go out of his way to spark theological debates outside the protective walls of his klyster, he also made no attempt to act as though he believed in, or wished to comply with, any of the religious rituals common amongst his fellow Lancian citizens.
Parody
It's perhaps for these reasons that he felt drawn to write the Testament of Baldergash. While his fellow cognoscenti would have looked disapprovingly upon any attempt to challenge local religious mores directly, his parody of the entire culture of worship was an ideal way for him to put his frustrations to paper without explicitly confronting any of the established power brokers.
Social Aptitude
R
eports from his cognoscenti contemporaries indicate that there were two faces of Kadir.
Rebel
The first face coincides with the modern view of the bard. He's typically seen as an angry firebrand who was constantly dueling with any-and-all church leaders and disdainfully ridiculing the religious beliefs of anyone in his presence. Although there are certainly some documented cases that confirm this side of his personality, his status as the author of the Testament of Baldergash has led future generations to assume that this was the only side, or the dominant side, of him.
Reserved
But delving into the historical record makes it clear that this combative side of his personality was rarely on display. His colleagues never reported encountering it in the private confines of their klyster. And even when he was in public, it seems that he went out of his way to simply avoid any situation that might put him at odds with the spiritual elite. Whether it was of his own discretion, or from the sage counsel of other cognoscenti, he seemed to be well aware that it was far easier to avoid the endless religious debates altogether rather than wade right into the middle of them.
Personable
The second face is that of a dogged scientist - one with an impressive intellect, but also a formidable sense of humor and a love of great conversation. While local zealots often painted him as a dour curmudgeon who wanted nothing more than to burn every church and chastise every believer, his colleagues repeatedly went on record to report that he was surprisingly warm. He was quick with a joke. And whenever an occasion called for some lighthearted revelry, he could be counted on to produce a delicious vintage.
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