Me>> There are the God Forgotten to tell [the Aeolians] their perfidy
>> and the truth of their words would be given extra force since the
>> Opening with renewed contacts with the West. The Aeolians will
>> certainly be bewildered by this.
>The God Forgotten have come there because they did it wrong, and still
>haven't got it right.
Nevertheless they can muster impressive credentials to show the Aeolians that their ways are non-standard Malkioniwise. However their current lifestyle tends to dilute the potency of their spiel "If you are doing it right, how come we are better of than you?".
>Renewed contact with the West did indeed shatter much of the Aeolians'
>self-imagery, and led to a schism between Malkioni-friendly "acceptors"
>and Orlanthi-friendly "rebels".
I think the situation is a wee bit more complicated than that and besides the labels are slightly misleading. The Aeolians are Malkioni hence Malkioni-friendly is a tad redundant. Also I don't think Aeolianism is really that rigid a faith for people to have schisms. Rather the division is _political_.
Here's what I think the situation is like on the eve of the Lunar invasion.
In the beginning, the Aeolians are part of the Nochet bishopric. The creed is some sort of Stygianism that the Pharaoh has tinkered around with. Come the Opening and the Du Tumerines and the Capratis reach Nochet and bring word of their faith. Consequently the Bishopric is now in Communion with the See of Leplain, the bishop's a paid lackey of the Quinpolic League and they are busy trying to convert the Aeolians to their faith to create an allied nation in the region. Richard's reign was part of this process. I suspect similar efforts are being made to convert the God Forgotten but they are less than successful.
Accordingly, I would group the three main groups of Malkioni in Heortland as follows. The divisions that exist between them are not doctrinal but largely political.
The Seshnegi faction not only includes immigrant knights from Nolos, Pasos and Tanisor but also native Aeolians who have been seduced by the fame and fortunes of these knights. They bring a robust and energetic faith that puts a premium on the enjoyment of wordly riches (this is the Quinpolic version of Rokarism). Even acts of venality and simony are okay if properly blessed beforehand.
Ideally the Seshnegi would like a pure Malkioni kingdom. What they are trying to create now is a kingdom where Malkioni lord it over pagan peasants, a bit like Jonatela (although with a more pious nobility). I believe some of the Newcoast cities are being persuaded along this route as a result of missionary activity by the Quinpolic league.
After Malkioni leadership has been established, the Seshnegi should attempt to convert the pagan peasants as well. However they are likely to put this at the bottom of their list of things to do as there is no glory or fortune to be found in it. Any Quinpolic clergyman entrusted with converting the pagans would simply try and sell them indulgences so they can keep their pagan ways and still enter Solace.
Heretical Malkioni such as Stygians (whom they have contact with at Handra) or Ramalians (through Khorst) are tolerated as the Seshnegi have prayers that protect them against heretical corruption while they fleece them. Hence I don't believe that the Seshnegi in Heortland are po-faced Rokari zealots imposing their creed on the Aeolians with the fire and the sword. Their attitude is a mixture of evangelicism and patronizing put-downs.
The Seshnegi _were_ desecrating holy places and converting people at swordpoint in the recent civil war but that IMO was directed against opponents of King Richard's Rule (both Orlanthi and Aeolian) and was done to show them who was the boss. Aeolians and Orlanthi who support King Richard are tolerated for now as they can be peacefully converted later.
The main opponents of the Seshnegi faction are not more conservative Aeolians IMO but suspicious Heortland nobles who believe that the Seshnegi plan to place the pagan Heortlanders in bondage to the land. Given that the Seshnegi are planning something along this line, they have a right to be suspicious. Since Heortland abhors slavery or serfdom this is literally dynamite and explains the bitterness of the recent civil war.
I don't think there's any clear issue either political or doctrinal that determines which side the Aeolians will take. Both sides need the Aeolians to win but lack anything to swing the Aeolians as a whole behind them. Hence the Aeolians are on the horns of a dilemma.
First are the loyalists who support King Richard with varying degrees of distrust or acceptance. He has IMO a strong claim to legitimacy. Some might be ardent supporters in hope that he will reward them with a fief or hope to convert him to their faith and establish an Aeolian Kingdom. Most of them realize that if Richard wins, their social position can only be improved.
The Aeolians opposed to King Richard would do so for a number of reasons. They may disbelieve his promises of toleration, they might be obeying their local Orlanthi noble who is rebelling, they may oppose him because the Seshnegi are really the foreign God Learners in disguise, or might fight for the Orlanthi in the hope of social rewards from the grateful victors, or may simply be appalled at Richard's destruction of the chapel of such-and-such.
>A church with a schism simply is more interesting than a monolithic
>block.
The Aeolians seem to me to be more of a collection of like-minded communities scattered throughout the towns and cities of Heortland each with its own little church rather than have a organized hierarchy that a "church with a schism" implies.
End of The Glorantha Digest V7 #273
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