/// Well... You can get richer in Seshnela, particularly if you are starting rich. The Book does not forbid riches. In fact, Talari are expected to live lavishly and spread their wealth around. And if you are too poor to feed your family, your talar will order people to help you, for the "material well-being of the community". And the Readers do keep an eye on who starts suddenly flashes new money. Could it be that - gasp - they obtained it through heretic means ???
But I wouldn't call hrestoli men of all "rotten". I'd rather say they are too otherworldy for the hard-working peasants and brutal soldiers. They live in a permanent exalted state and it must be very tiring to have one as a neighbour. Normal Man is not meant for such supercharged status, as our Holy Watcher explains. We all must fullfill our caste duties : no less, but no more. Hold to the Book.
It's no wonder the Rokari won, in Seshnela, against Hrestoli groups (granted, they weren't nearly as "meritocratic" as Loskalm, but the core ideals were still there). Their subjects saw their Hrestoli overlords as rotten to the core and realised that the Rokari system was actually more just, since it appeared to guarantee that the poor won't get poorer and the rich won't get richer - the opposite of what happened under "meritocracy". I suspect that is how it must how unfolded in some places, anyway.
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