Joerg casts up:
> The history of the Councils mentions the Invisible God already for the
> Third Council (of 453 S.T.), which predates even the earliest God
> Learners.
Yup, but this could easily be a RetCon. Mind you, my impression was that Nick's scheme involved antedating God Learning somewhat, so they get stuck in on Malkionism before making themselves known to the world at large. To exactly whem I'm not quite clear.
> > I suppose it could be argued that Nick is putting forward this view since
> > it rather facilitates (what I gather is) his picture of the Carmanians
> > as a group of "Malkioni" who were polytheists of very long standing.
> Hmm. It also facilitates Jonat's somewhat polytheistic believes, and the
> facts of the Serpent Kings in Seshnela.
I don't think the (very evident) polytheism of Jonatela, the Serpent Kings, or the Stygians are part of the same developmental limb at all. Jonatela was presumably IGised sometime late on in the previous bout of Loskalmi expansionism (the 2nd Age), while the Serpents KIngs don't seem to have any plausible claim to be orthodox, even by the standards of the day. Carmania I don't know about, either way.
But the point, I think, about Carmania, is that whether any of the elements of their Heresy, rather than just the basis for it, predate their moving to Peloria. I imagine that Nick's going to tell us it does. (Right Nick?)
> > What about the Stygians? Does their
> > form of worship _predate_ "orthodox" Malkionism?"
> They certainly say so, and accuse the "Return to Rightness" Crusaders to
> have forced a false colonial belief upon the majority of Malkionism.
Yes, but They Would Say That, Wouldn't They?
At any rate, the present form of Stygianism certainly can't be any older than the end of the first age; whether polytheism was, or had been, the norm, and thus justifying such worship (though not necessarily worship of the particular entities involved).
> The Third Council (held shortly after the destruction of Dorastor)
> settled at the Invisible God as holder of the highest truth. This still
> allowed other truths, only that they would be lesser - which most modern
> Stygians happily agree to.
Doubtless, but in a spirit of pettifogging legalism. The "drafters" of such a phrase hardly seem likely to have phrased it that way to let in a Russian-doll-set of lesser deities, rather it seems more likely they had in mind something in the sense of value-judgements of truth. As in, "Our God is the Invisible God and Creator", being a "higher truth" than "this bread is getting stale".
Alex.
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