Enzimian Inquisition

"Just as it is the army's duty to safeguard the lives and property of this great nation's people, it is the duty of the inquisition to safeguard their souls. The most critical duty of the state and its apparatus should be to provide for its people's salvation"

—Hierarch Cónsulo

The Holy Tribunal of the Inquisition (Varaso: Lo Tribunão Sanção do lo Inquiríção), commonly known as the Enzimian Inquisition (Varaso: Inquírição Enzimio), is a Furanist order created by the Enzimian Sanhedrin following the Estinian Crisis. The Inquisition was originally intended primarily to identify heretics and apostates in the Free City of Enzim and prevent their views from being spread, but it took on a new mission upon the Enzimian conquest of Varas The regulation of the faith of newly converted Furanists within the much vaster lands of the Holy Enzimian Empire was a much more dificult task after the sacred decree (fátua) issued in 2388 ordering non-Furanists to convert to Furanism or leave the Holy Enzimian Empire. The Inquisition is theoretically answerable to both centres of power within the Holy Enzimian Empire: the church and the state, though in practice, it operates mostly independent of the state and behaves like the paramilitary arm of the church.

Estinian Crisis

In the 2090s, an Enzimian priest named Estín began to preach a doctrine of Haír's divinity, claiming he was a divine aspect of Furana sent to disciple the world of men. The general view before Estín was that Haír had been a prophet who delivered the word of Furana to men, but was himself an ordinary mortal man. Estín's view, however, began to spread and its adherents became more ardent, and those on the other side grew more fanatical in their opposition to Estín. In the middle there developed a group called retro-Estinians that believed Haír had been born a mortal man but took on an aspect of Furana following his religious epiphany.
By 2113, the conflict had grown to late and the church was on the verge of schism. Hierarch Nico convened a Sanhedrin for the second Council of Enzim, which was itself the first doctrinal council convened. The Sanhedrin met over two dozen times over more than two years, discussing and hearing testimony. While Estinianism was not the only topic covered by the council, it was the primary issue. The Sanhedrin eventually, as part of the council, officially declared it the position of the church that Haír had been a mortal man guided by Furana to disciple and shepherd men in Her teachings, making Estinianism a heretical doctrine. Simply declaring it heretical did not eliminate the teachings, however, and five years later in 2118, the Sanhedrin was convened again in what's called the Inquisitorial Council, which created the groundwork for what would become the Inquisition. While the council did not directly create a body to serve as the inquisition, relying instead on the existing network of religious figures to police each other, it did create a system designed to enforce Furanist orthodoxy which would characterise later inquisitions.

Type

Religious, Holy Order