The Cult of the Clarati
While most of the inhabitants of Ynys treat the period of Clarati rule as a distant and unpleasant piece of history, some have come to romanticize and idolize the sorcerers who ruled the island for so long. They believe that the Clarati were more powerful than the gods (as evidenced by how many of Ynys's gods were bound into service or inactivity during their rule), and that a return of the Clarati would usher in a golden age for Ynys, where the magics of the Clarati would enable Ynys to be the center of the most powerful empire in the Great Ring. They teach of a world built along the lines of Sange before its destruction, claiming that a return to Clarati rule would include an end to all disease, pain, and want, and that those who enabled their return would be granted power, wealth and status.
Drawing on the methods used by the notorious Godcrafter Guild (originally created by the Clarati Illustrata), they believe that they can use the beliefs of the populace to direct the Egregoric Force. That force would resurrect the Clarati (in a form dictated by the beliefs of the faithful), creating a reborn pantheon of benevolent and all-powerful deities that could create the world they wish. Critics of this plan point out that their newly recreated Clarati would partake of all the ideas that are associated with them in the Dream, making them more complex and less predictable than the cult proposes, and that they very well may create monstrous versions of the dead sorcerers, rather than benevolent gods. This criticism has not deterred the cult from pursuing its aims.
The Cult of the Clarati originally arose in Creoda, in the city of Lifworðig. They grew there for a little more than a decade before their beliefs and aims were considered too dangerous and disruptive to be tolerated. The Creodan monarchy arrested and expelled the cult leaders, and forbade any worship of the Clarati. The cult disappeared for a while after the expulsion, but has recently re-emerged in Dyfed. They appear to have gained a measure of acceptance there by offering knowledge of the Clarati and Clarati artifacts to King Guortepir, whose fascination with the Clarati is well known. In the last four years, they have been aggressively proselytizing throughout Dyfed, and have swelled their ranks into the thousands. Missionaries of the cult have begun to visit other nations on Ynys, and are attempting to set up clandestine branches of their sect. Several nations, including Elmet, Mathrafal, and Cait have banned any worship of the Clarati and are actively persecuting any members of the cult who appear in their territory. In other places, notably Rheged, Deira, and Cunedda, the cult is having some success in gaining followers.
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