Cardinal Minadoras

From: Nick Brooke <100270.337_at_compuserve.com>
Date: 22 Feb 95 03:40:59 EST



I, Minadoras

For Mike Cule, really: this is the personal background and thoughts of Cardinal Minadoras, recast from his HtWwO character sheet into a first person narrative. Note to readers: this is *not* a game write-up from HtWwO: it's a modified character sheet. Do Not Be Deceived (as Arkat says)! And now, over to the Cardinal:

It would be inappropriate (and indeed heretical!) to dwell on my family background and early life: as if that had any importance in the development of my character! Suffice it to say that I come from true Loskalmi stock. On reaching mature years I rose rapidly through the classes of Hrestolism: first working as a carpenter in my native Nevs, then serving for an unhappy period as a junior knight in the Royal Army's garrison at Pomona. I hated this stage of my upwards course: the Knight Commander took sadistic glee in mocking my slender physique and lack of athletic prowess. When I was finally demobbed (on medical grounds), it was to become the Headmaster at the Academy of Young Gentle Knights in the northern city of Ease.

The Academy was situated in an abandoned monastery which my predecessors had converted into a vast state-run orphanage. Under the old regime, an unwholesome emphasis was placed on finding homes for the adoption of my charges. My insight into Hrestolism turned this around: under the present system, children from all backgrounds are treated to identical conditions, none of them being presented with any advantages denied the others. They are brought up away from the corrupting influences of parental "love," receiving their education under the benign tutelage of approved instructors. This schooling instils a profound sense of Hrestoli virtue and fair play in all its students; their boyish high spirits are contained by a regime of strict discipline.

In each of my careers, I swiftly mastered all of the appropriate arts and sciences. My diligence has been justly rewarded: at the age of only 34, I was elevated to the Lordly rank of Cardinal, and assigned to preside over the Hrestoli faithful in the principality of Easval, the northernmost region of Loskalm. My isolated position in Easval has at times seemed an exile, as if the rulers of the nation had tucked me away out of sight. But I have been able to turn this to my advantage, testing new social theories in obscure towns and hamlets on the northern reaches of the Kingdom. Among my recent successes are Yenburg and Blasnor, two towns where, following my plan, all the children born in either are given up for adoption in the other. This severs the unhealthy tie between parents and their offspring, and ensures all children are treated equally.

The best feature of my "exile" to Ease came as a pleasant surprise to me, when I eventually discovered it: it seems that at the Fifth Malkioni Ecclesiastical Council, held back in the Second Age, a sub-committee was established to determine how the original Class System of the Kingdom of Logic should be implemented in contemporary Malkionism. This is my own pet subject! Truly, God moves in mysterious ways!

The misnomer of "Caste" arises from a basic misunderstanding. The Prophet Malkion assigned roles to his four sons as he saw fit. He did not state beforehand, "My first son will be a Lord, my second a Wizard," and so on. Yet this is how those who follow the Hereditary principle would have us order society! At the very Dawn of Time, Prince Hrestol showed the folly and inadequacy of the caste system. In Tanisor, in the Third Age, the "caste" of Lords can trace their pedigrees back to the Battle of Asgolan Fields, but no further - of course not, for before that they had not come to merit their place! Even the Rokari, then, accept that a place in society can be won, whether on the field of battle or otherwise.

It is obvious that the Family, an institution which has no Logical role in society (save to legitimise disloyalty to one's Lord, it appears), and which is never mentioned in Malkion's original Laws of Brithos, should be done away with altogether. Marriage and domesticity are distractions, redolent of the fleshly sins they encourage and legitimise. It is monstrous that the Church should "bless" these carnal unions! Better to turn a blind eye, and let nature take its course.

Moreover, with no Family there would be no Heredity: society would naturally become run along meritocratic lines, as there would be no viable alternative way of selecting individuals for their tasks in life.

That said, I am in slight divergence from the "orthodox" Idealists (the current orthodoxy, that is). The doctrine as taught at present holds that every child should start out in life in the lowest, Farmers' class, rising through Knight and Wizard to Lord as their ambition and ability permit. Obviously, this goes some way towards "equalising" children from different backgrounds. Just as obviously, some children are suited by Nature to one or another class. The present system serves muscle-bound bruisers well: they can either stay on the farm as rustics or join the ever-victorious, ever-valiant Army of Loskalm. But what of the sensitive, intelligent youth? By nature he would incline towards the Wizard class, but the prospect of having to master the various mucky and/or violent trades of Farmers and Knights could well serve as a deterrent.

I believe it would be better if the coming-of-age rite also selected the appropriate role in life for each child.


Nick

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