NationStates Jolt Archive

The house of Just Fires had been disbanded. No more would they train Witch Hunters, and the Grand Masters of the House would no longer see their numbers growing. It was not chaos the House succumbed to. It was not darkness that destroyed it, either. No. Instead, it was change in the society Of Marignon itself that had made the House obsolete. The Chalice had been secured many years ago, the Chalice the Knights of the Chalice had been formed for. But change did not come swiftly, and for many years even after regaining the Chalice, the Knights remained. They were still needed, after all, in a sense, as the nation itself was still in a state of constant strife, no matter how small it in fact was.

But then came the time when there no longer was anything that fought against the society of Marignon. Practically no dissent was there, heresy was nonexistent. The belief in the One True Faith in Marignon had reached its peak. That was when the idea of sending out expeditions (http://forums2.jolt.co.uk/showthread.php?t=327787) had been conceived. Many years have passed since, and even during those expeditions, change had reached the society itself, even if the common people did not much notice it.

The Inquisition went through it unharmed, as it worked as kind of police at the same time, something that was still needed even in a society that is bent more towards... Exporting enlightment than isolationism. And there always were heretics to be found, ones who were just in hiding. The House of Just Fires that taught the Witch Hunters and in which the Grand Masters were was not quite as lucky. The Knights of the Chalice were of course also disbanded, as it had done what it had been originally made for. The House of Just Fires was changed into the House of Justice which held no power over the society itself, unless one counts the fact that it is where the most grievous of crimes would be tried. That, and it would not train even a single man ever again.

But what took its place? What did they think would be more important for the kingdom? A great naval academy was what took its place as the central place of learning and teaching magic within Marignon. A place where those needed to command the many wooden ships they were building even now would be taught the ways of the sailors. Even if the general populace of Marignon had not been too knowledgeable on the secrets of sailing, there had always been some who had done it anyway, families who had done it for generations ever since the great Exodus. Some of them were even of noble blood, some of them were not.

Captains, chartmakers, royal navigators, admirals... Those took the place of the witch hunters and their Grand Masters, even if the Grand Masters still held much power in the internal workings of Marignon. While the Grand Masters declined the offer of being given the chance to be ranked anew as "admirals", the initiates of the House were easily enough trained to be chartmakers, and many of the witch hunters became royal navigators. Even the friars who had wandered around the lands of Marignon were re-educated into missionaries, although there always were some who refused the privilege. They would still be the last of their profession in Marignon.

This did mean also one other thing. The admirals, with the exception of the Grand Masters who had been given the choice of becoming admirals, had to be of noble blood. This fact alone gave a certain boost of vitality and power to the line of royalty within Marignon, that had not held any power for millennia, for it meant that only those somehow related to them could become the most powerful of the naval academy. And only the kings of Marignon could grant nobility to those were not directly even related to them, so the nobles would still have a certain level of loyalty towards the kingdom itself. It meant, for the first time in millennia, that the Holy Father would have to share some of his power with the king.

Why? Because the Holy Father had held almost absolute power over the House of Just Fires and the Inquisition alone. He could not hold a power as great over the naval academy, which, unlike the House of Just Fires, allowed practically anyone to enter to study. Magics, even. The House had had a very thorough screening of those who would be allowed to join and those who would not. The monopoly the religion had had on magic was gone due to this change. But unlike one might think, the Holy Father was in fact one of the people behind the change, instead of trying to stop it, for Marignon's religion had spread as far as it could upon the lands Marignon was situated in, and the only way to spread it further was through expeditions.

One could say that Marignon had reached an Age of Exploration.

(OOC: But -Marignon- itself is in future tech times.)

(OOC: Hm... Another age of exploration to ruin. :D j/k... This is actually a TAG)

The very first expeditions had been sent before the fall of the great House of Just Fires, and with them were sent witch hunters and Inquisitors. Of course, the witch hunters in those expeditions only would hear of the fall of their House when they return, or somehow contacted Marignon proper - some of them had been trained in the ways of telepathy, after all. Those very first expeditions had been sent to their merry way even before the Naval Academy had been formally introduced into the society of Marignon, with their captains and crewmen being as green as they could ever be. They were simply sent with the very first ships they could muster. One expedition after another left to the unknown.

But since no place was exactly close to Marignon itself, as they would have found those places by now anyway, since they had known how to walk beneath the waves themselves for centuries, those expeditions reaching anywhere would've taken many months, maybe even years. It was during that time the changes truly took place, and Marignon was changed forever.

It was still obvious, though, who ruled in Marignon. The king, even if he finally had gained some power still was far from gaining the Holy Father in the sheer number of people loyal to him. Even the nobles were not hundred percent behind the king for many of them were religious, and they were more than happy to let the Holy Father guide them. Many of the kings of old had been fanatically religious themselves as well, which had been the reason why religion had become so powerful in the kingdom in the first place. It had been practically impossible for those kings of newer generations to regain that power, as their ancestors had even given up the rule of the armies of the kingdom to the Holy Father himself.

And even kings were under the watchful eye of the Inquisition. The Inquisition had never left those who had gained the throne unchecked. If the king had become powerhungry, he could easily be tried and executed for heresy, which had happened quite a few times in the past.

But it had not been a bad thing, either. Under his powerful rule, Marignon had only grown stronger - although it was only obvious this would happen, as when he became the Holy Father, the Exodites had just found the lands now called Marignon.

The Holy Father was the de-facto ruler of Marignon. He was immortal. He was wiser than many a Marignonian put together. Inbreeding had not impaired his mind as it had those of kings. He had stood on the lands of the ancient Marignon, and he knew the horrors those who are undead brings upon the land if left unchecked, for the ancient, forgotten Marignon of the times before the Exodus fell under the darkness caused by the carelessness of the rulers of Ermor.

Although it was known that there had been Holy Fathers before Orion - First the Vigilant, as some call him - their names were unknown to all, forgotten by time itself. Much of the history of Marignon - and Ermor itself - was lost during the great war that consumed their ancient homeland. That is why they know very little of the times before the Exodus from the continents of Ermor.

(OOC: Heavy on fluid time. And rather short, too. Not feeling too creative today. Hell, haven't felt too creative in weeks. :-P)

IC:

Much time had passed since the expeditions had first started. Marignon had changed. Adapted. Modernized. The change was much quicker than in most countries, but then again, Marignon was in the blissful state of being able to choose what to take and what to leave... In the name of the Holy Father, of the Inquisition, of the Kingdom.

There was no great revolution. Dissent was minimal. The general populace took what the "Church" allowed them to take. They did not care about being controlled. No, they had embraced it. It was Marignon's way to survive, had been for millennia. As such, the One True Faith's position did not change. Marignon was still a fiercely fanatic, religious nation, just as it had always been. It was just that technology had found its way into the otherwise magic-oriented nation.

Instead of letting outsiders tread upon the sacred soil of the lands of Marignon and build what the Kingdom needed, they simply chose to build everything they needed themselves. They had had their own people to learn the ways of technology, their own people to acquire the equipment and materials they needed, their own people to create the infrastructure they needed. It took years to accomplish, but yet... It was done. This still did not mean that outsiders were not permitted into Marignon.

But in these times of change the integrity of the people was always being tested, and so the Inquisition had to become more vicious, more ruthless, more xenophobic. And most of the time not even without a reason. The Eternal Pyres burned ever so brightly, cleansing the lands of heresies brought from the outside world. On matters of religion, Marignon had always been intolerant to the extreme, but now it was even more so. No other religion would be tolerated publically, and every citizen of Marignon would be permitted to stop any other religious cults from acting within the country.

But as long as these outsiders kept their - religious - views to themselves and did nothing considered criminal - minor offenses excluded - they were tolerated, for they benefitted the community at large more than harmed it.

And thus, Marignon was hastening its pace. Technology had finally found its way into the Kingdom, even if it was selectively distributed.