He was early today, the hall all but empty of guests and invitees. Guards standing around watched him slide into his seat next to the Khotla, not, he suspected, that they expected him to do anything worth their salary, simply that there was little else to watch.
“Managed to find this palace then?”
“Couldn’t bear your sarcasm again. Wasn’t expecting you to be here yet, actually”
“I had nothing else to do.” She stretched her arms above her head and a few of the guards lent forwards slightly for a not overly surreptitious look at anything that might be revealed.
“These guys are the Sworn Brotherhood of the Sanctity of the Patriarch’s Person. They’re the Patriarch’s bodyguards but they answer to the king.” She indicated the guards with a nod who, noticing they had been noticed, started guarding regions other than her chest. “This was a crucial bit of the balance of power way back when the Diarchy was forming. Secular didn’t trust religious, religious didn’t trust secular. So it was decided that the King would choose the Patriarch’s bodyguards from men loyal to the crown and the Patriarch would choose the king’s bodyguards from amongst the clergy. Don’t ask me how they got both sides to agree to it, but they did. And it worked quite well, each knowing that the people standing around them with swords were loyal to the other guy and any attempt at double crossing would end badly. Course, it’s nowhere near as important now, but these things hang around don’t they. King uses it as a way of recognising commoners who have distinguished themselves somehow, usually the war nowadays. Elevates them to the sworn brothers and they get a decent wage and can tell tavern wenches they are the Patriarch’s bodyguard. On the other side, the Special Congregation for the Preservation of the Monarchy, it’s mainly minor nobles, fourth sons and the like. Dad gives a bunch of money to the church and they are accepted as novices and then move on to be bodyguards to the king. They have the court manners needed, and it gets an extra son out of the way without it being a punishment or anything. All works quite well, really.”
“Do they see much action?”
“Oh my no. I’m not sure anyone has ever tried to kill the king or patriarch outside a war. They’re the honour guard if one of them does ride to war, but that hasn’t happened for ages either.”
“Fair enough. So what exactly is happening today?”
“Confirmation of the new Primate for the Congregation for the Jurisprudence of Land” She held up a hand to forestall his follow up questions. “I’m getting to it”
The Structure of The Church
“So the Church has two structures running through it. The Ordinary Hierarchy goes Patriarch, Topicarch or Themarch, Bishop, realistically, though some would add ‘Priest’ on to the end of that. This is the ruling structure. The Patriarch appoints Topicarchs that match the Lordships – Topicarch of Landhome, Topicarch of Karadport, and so on. He also, though, appoints Themarchs who are in charge of, well, things. Themarch of Trade, Themarch of Military, and so on. Topicarchs are the equivalent of Lords in the secular structure, Themarchs don’t really have an equivalent. Minister, I suppose. They then appoint Bishops under them – Topic Bishops under a Topicarch for individual cities and the like, Themic Bishops under Themarchs for important trade routes or a specific military campaign. Then individual members of the Clergy answer to whichever Bishop oversees whatever they’re doing. So it changes quite regularly as they travel, or change focus or whatever. The Bishop to Priest relationship isn’t as formal as the others, which is why I left it off the list. Got it?”
“And that delegation downwards works the same as the Secular?”
“Yeah, almost exactly. Dues are called tithes, but other than that it’s basically the same. The relationship between a Lord and a Topicarch is the same as that between the King and the Patriarch and so on down. Dukes and Bishops, etc. Barons will usually be matched with a Bishop as well, but a less important one. Same rank, but less important, if you get me.” He nodded “Anyway. That’s one structure. The other is the Congregations. These are, ooh, it’s tough to explain. Special interest groups maybe? Or, different focuses within the Church? Does that make sense?”
“Not even a little bit, I’m afraid”
“No, I didn’t think so either. OK, lets take today’s focus. The Congregation for the Jurisprudence of Land. This Congregation has Topicarchs, Themarchs, Bishops, all the ranks as its members. And it focuses on interpreting the religious laws, judging cases, coming up with new religious laws, etc. So an individual priest might be a wandering judge, hearing disputes between commoners. Disputes that fall within religious law, OK? But a Congregation Themarch would be more interested in bigger pictures about how religious law interacts with trade or, you know, mining or whatever they’re the Themarch of.”
“I’m with you. So every level has some representatives from every Congregation?”
“Well, I think that’s probably the ideal, but in practice no, not even close. Each Primate, the head of the Congregation, tries to get their own people in, a Topicarch from one Congregation is more likely to appoint Bishops from his own, so on and so on. So in practice, you get clusters. If an area, geographic or subject, has more from one Congregation from another it affects how the Church manages that area. So if, well – the Topicarch of Trade is a member of the Congregation for Jurisprudence of Land which means, unofficially, that most of the Bishops and so on are which means, unofficially, the Church tends to take quite a legalistic view of trade matters.”
He nodded. Dealing with the Diarchy’s Church was easy in its way, but did involve a plethora of checks and inspections not common with his other trading partners.
“Oh, and then there are the Special Congregations, like the Patriarch’s bodyguards. These are smaller and have a General not a Primate, he doesn’t sit on the Assembly. They’re special purpose things. More focused than the Congregations. And Brotherhoods aren’t members of the Church, they’re usually people who wanted to be but aren’t for some reason. Officially the Church says that they’re nothing to do with them,” she frowned “Officially the Church says the Brotherhoods are nothing to do with the Church and, yes, the Church can’t give them orders or anything. But the Church has a lot of informal sway over them.”
“Sounds complex”
“It really isn't too bad. I don’t have any parchment obviously” she gestured at herself. Today she was wearing a large red feather largely covering her right breast paired with a bright green dress covering her left and finishing high up her thigh. Modest by Khotla standards, no doubt in deference to the Diarchy’s attitudes. “But I’ll do you a chart or something if you want it.”
“That would be useful.” They watched the guards watching the slowly growing crowds for a moment. “You know, I’ve never really understood how the Diarchy actually works. Who’s in charge?”
“OK.” She took a deep breath. “OK.”
Who’s in Charge
“The Diarchy is, well, it’s a diarchy. There are two people in charge, the King, or Queen, and the Patriarch. They’re both equal, they can both make laws and both impose taxes – dues and tithes respectively. Laws made by the Patriarch are called Religious Laws but they don’t have to be about religious matters – they’re religious because they’re made by the Patriarch and enforced by the Church, not because they’re, you know, to do with religion. The King is the only person who can repeal a Religious Law – that includes the Patriarch and similarly the Patriarch is the only person, including the King, who can repeal a Secular one. Again, this was balance of power stuff in the early days but nowadays they communicate and work together and there’s not as much tit for tat repealing as you might think. There are also what’s called Dual Laws, or Double Yoked Laws, which are actually just the same law passed by both people. So murder is a Religious AND a Secular crime.”
“But everyone has to follow Religious and Secular laws? So why bother with Dual Laws?”
“Well, not quite everyone actually. Members of the Church don’t follow Secular laws, the nobility – Barons and upwards and their immediate families don’t follow Secular laws. Oh, there are also the Maritime Laws, I forgot about them, which are enforced by the Lord of Han. Han’s weird. They apply to anyone on a boat in Han’s waters. The whole of Han is officially a boat though.”
“Han’s an island”
“Sure, two islands technically though you wouldn’t know it to look at it. But legally it’s a boat. Han’s weird. Said it before and I’ll say it again. Any time I explain anything about the Diarchy just imagine I’m adding ‘except for Han’ to the end of it and you won’t be too far wrong too often. Anyway. So that’s one reason for Double Yoking a law, so that the Church can’t murder people with impunity and the nobility can’t make their own coins. The other is that only the Church can try Religious crimes and only the nobles, or usually they designate someone to do it but it’s officially done by them, but only the nobles can try Secular crimes. Double Yoking makes sure that some crimes can be tried, punished, et cetera by whoever happens to be around.”
He nodded and looked thoughtfully around the hall, which was beginning to fill up. “I guess that makes sense. I mean, it’s not the most efficient way of doing things but I suppose you end up with the system you end up with don’t you. Lot of the same faces here as yesterday.”
“Yeah, these kind of things attract anyone with the social status to come to them. Catch up on the gossip, marry off some spare children, that kind of thing. Oh, hey, this is kind of funny. You see them?” She pointed off at the bodyguards who were laying chairs out on the dais at the front. A large one in the centre, flanking that were four less impressive ones on each side. “The Patriarch in the middle, the eight others are for the seven Primates and…can you guess?”
He frowned and shook his head then turned to her in disbelief as an idea dawned. “No…”
“Yup.” She grinned “Imagine how annoyed the Necromancer would be if she decided to send a representative and there was no seat at the big table for them. Better safe than sorry, right?”
“Unbelievable. Which one is theirs?”
“Which chair? You probably can’t see them from here but seven of them have a kind of picture, ideogram really, on the back. Her representative, if he came, would have the one without a glyph on. I’ve heard, though I don’t know if this is true or not, that there’s a wood carver on standby ready to dash out in case they show up with some sort of sigil. Quickly carve it in. Can’t decide if I believe it or not.”
They watched the gathering crowds in silence for a while. Standing when instructed as senior church members filed in, sitting after more important people had done so. “The Patriarch’s a woman?” he eventually asked, was quickly shushed by others and repeated sotto voce “The Patriarch’s a woman?”
“You didn’t know?”
“I just assumed from the title.”
“No, it’s the same title for both.”
“I really though their outfits would be fancier.” He looked again at the simple woollen smocks of the senior clergy, then down to work leather boots which even from this distance he could see were caked with mud. A far cry from yesterday’s finery.
“Abstention – giving up silks, mortification - scratchy wool. They consecrate the robes and there’s attention from us. Say what you want about the Church but they kick every bit of veneration they can Land’s way”
“Does he need it? How does he compare to yours?”
She snorted laughter. “How does Land compare to my spirits? He doesn’t, basically. It’s a ridiculous aspect of language that we use the same words to describe Land and the things I coalesce. Most Khotla call them ‘spirits’ for exactly that reason – save ‘gods’ for the likes of Land. Although there isn’t really anything on Land’s scale. Or nothing I’ve ever heard of before. People talk about the Diarchy’s naval might being what makes it a force to be reckoned with but honestly the level of power the Church can command if it puts it mind to it massively overshadows their warships. The Church can seize power faster than I can say the phrase ‘the Church can seize power’.”
“So why don’t they?”
“Twenty-third precept.” She recited in a sing-song voice “The Twenty-third Precept is this: Land supports the Secular Monarch. That is the Twenty-third Precept.” At his surprised look she grinned. “Honestly, spend long enough here and you’ll learn them. Keep an ear out, I bet you hear them recited twenty times a day. Anyway. Church rises up against the Secular Monarch, Church is now worshipping someone who isn’t Land, Church loses access to all that power, Church is overthrown. Better half than none.”
“I think I sort of knew he was powerful.”
“Just unbelievably so. The official word is that everyone in the Diarchy venerates him. In practice there’s probably some people missing with their veneration but the Church does what it can to minimise that number. Then add in the Sleepers churning out veneration in huge quantities and he really is just…” she shook her head.
“Does Land mean something else?”
“Other than land that you stand on? No, that’s where the name comes from. That’s what he was originally. Or, obviously he wasn’t, he was a god. But that’s what they thought he was in their pantheist days.”
The Origin of Land
“There was a village, where Landhome is now, called Upper Cornmill. They were pantheists, this was before they knew how gods work, and they worshipped the land itself, it was a farming village. The land itself, agriculture, stuff like that. One day there was a guy who lived there called Mikhail, they call him the Prophet Mikhail nowadays. He worked out how gods work and…”
“How did he work it out?” he interrupted. “I’ve always wondered that”
“Same way we did. Same way most cultures do, if they’re not told by someone else. He asked.” At his raised eyebrow she continued. “Honestly. Stumble on a god who’s accidentally powerful enough to be able to communicate directly and ask them. Most gods aren’t powerful enough, most people don’t think to ask them – they ask for a good harvest or something like that, but if those two things come together then there you go. The inside scoop on how gods work.” She laughed along with him before they were both shushed by others. “I know, it seems like it should be a much more complex procedure doesn’t it. Anyway. Mikhail had the charisma and the leadership skills to convince everyone else. They renamed the village to Landhome as consecration and attention. Because it’s Land’s home.”
“Yeah, I got that.”
“Yeah. Anyway, they consciously farmed Land as well as land, forgive me for that. Got rich and strong. Eventually Mikhail died and his nephew, also called Mikhail -the Patriarch Mikhail they call him - realised that with a god on their side they could crush the feeble inhabitants of Lower Cornmill. I’m not actually certain what their first conquest was, I just like to think it was those Lower Cornmill weirdos. And from there to the next village and so on and so forth. And so the Theocracy was born.”
“Who came up with the Precepts? I thought they were the creed of Land but the twenty-whatever-it-was-you said seems to rely on the Diarchy existing and from what you said their Land predates the Diarchy”
“He does. So the Precepts are in three groups. The earliest are the second group – eight to nineteen. The Prophet Mikhail came up with those and they're basically codified versions of what everyone thought anyway. That’s why they’re kind of agricultural. So the ninth says that Land wants everyone to have a good harvest, nowadays the Church expands the meaning of harvest to include income in general. Land wants farmers to have a good harvest and merchants to have a profitable trip and, whatever, and shoemakers to do good business. One through Seven were written by the Patriarch Mikhail and are basically about how Land wants him and his successors to be in charge. He was the one who numbered them as well. Twenty through twenty five date from the time the Diarchy was being contemplated and are to do with the Diarchy.”
“Did adding characteristics to Land not hit him then? Seems like if you go around adding new rules you’re going to end up with a situation where some people are venerating the old Land, with fifteen Precepts, and some are venerating the new Twenty Five Precept Land.”
“Oh, undoubtedly. There were a lot fewer worshippers then though which doubtless made it easier. But yes, I imagine there must have been a hit.”
“Fair enough.” Everyone who was coming seemed to have done and they watched the largely formulaic pronouncements of the new candidate’s achievements for a while before a comment from the Patriarch caught his attention.
“He’s ploughed the First Field”
“Oh yeah, this is quite interesting actually. So, deep in the palace there’s an open courtyard with a field in it. Apparently – I’ve never been there, non-clergy aren’t allowed there. But anyway, this is apparently the field that Mikhail the Prophet worked. In order to move to Bishop or higher you have to plough it. I mean, not with oxen and stuff, by getting Land to do it. Magic. It’s a test basically. If you’ve been directing your veneration to a pseudo-Land then real-Land will prevent the magic from taking effect, if you’ve been directing it to real-Land then he’ll plough the field for you. Theory being, and it probably makes sense, that any pseudo-Land you’ve, accidentally or otherwise, been directing veneration to won’t be able to overpower real-Land and plough the field.” He looked confused and she nodded and continued.
“You’re too used to Khotla spirits. Remember how I was saying how much more powerful Land was than anything I could coalesce? It took me about three weeks of pretty hard work to get enough to change my eye colour. Priests of Land can casually plough fields with a wave of their hand, the power levels really aren’t comparable. I mean, obviously they don’t plough them, Land does. But you know what I mean. There are forts in the mountains above Ruthertown that clerics literally just magiced into existence. Told the stone to grow upwards, to form a hollow bit here, etc. Hell, look at the amount of reshaping that went into Han. The amount of juice senior clerics can call on is overwhelming. As I say, they could take over tomorrow if it wouldn’t cut them off from that power in doing so.”
"Land can do pretty much anything?"
"Well, within the confines of the Precepts obviously, but yes. That's why there's so much vetting goes in to appointing even the lowest ranks. Letting that sort of power get into the hands of some people, most people, would be pretty terrible for everyone involved."
"But the laity are worshippers too? Surely they can tap in to that as well?"
"The Third Precept is this: Land works his wonders through his Clergy. This is the Third Precept."
He snorted laughter. "They've got that all tied up haven't they".
"Yeah, they really do. The Church, Land, all of that, they're an absolute object lesson for the Khotla. There's nothing even nearly like it round the Eastern Sea and you've just got to admire them for it, really."
"Well, maybe. Is this done then?"
"What? Oh, the investiture? Looks like it." Eight of the nine seats were now occupied, the Necromancer's sitting predictably empty. "There's a new Primate. They'll stay here in Landhome."
"Doing what?"
"Oh, all sorts. Trying to become next Patriarch, trying to stop anyone else from becoming next Patriarch, placing their friends in important positions, stopping their enemies from placing their friends in important positions, becoming exceptionally rich. If there's time, which there probably won't be, they'll advise the Patriarch. That is what the assembly is for after all, but all that politicking doesn't leave much time for it." She shrugged. "Food?"
"Food"
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