Solace of the Body

Gloranthan Folk Tales

Gloranthan Songbook

Moonie Madness

Carmanian Sources

Malkioni Scriptures

After the expulsion/exodus of Malkion and the Malkioni from Brithos, one way or another, they crossed the Raging Sea and settled in Seshneg.

Note that throughout the text below I am using Brithini and Malkioni in their traditional senses: the Brithini are the atheist inhabitants of Brithos who follow Malkion's original Logical Laws but reject Malkion's later Prophetic Revelations, while the Malkioni are those Brithini heretics who followed the Prophet's new revelations and went with him in his exile from Brithos. Please don't confuse them!

Solace of the Body was the secret Malkion taught in his New Laws. This enabled people to use the resources of the world to obtain liberation from their troubles. Regardless of the flaws and follies of the world, it was possible for those who obeyed the Laws of Malkion to obtain perfect preservation and protection after their physical demise, in the spiritual haven of Solace in Glory. Solace of the Body taught that there is more to existence than this one life; that a man who lives in accordance with righteousness will not perish utterly from this world.

The Brithini completely rejected the need for, nature and existence of Solace. The Brithini "religion" - the Brithini Way - denies that there is any life after death, and most contemporary accounts of Solace come down to interpreting it (however crudely) as a form of post mortem survival. "Malkion's big revelation was that of Solace, which in its crudest (and best understood) form provided the message that followers of the Invisible God could attain a perfect life after physical death." - Players' Book: Genertela. [1]

It's not that the Brithini have "forgotten the original version of Solace": they listened, but they weren't convinced.

Solace of the Body means: behave yourself, follow the letter of the Law as it applies to someone of your Caste, and the Creator will look after you when you die. This is something the Brithini have never needed to be told; and after all, if it was a revelation to Malkion, it can't have been a logical conclusion (and therefore wasn't part of the Kingdom of Logic's Laws). Being Solace of the Body means that you don't have to think or believe anything in particular: it's a religion for everyday life and ceremonial observances, with no room for Belief, Faith, Conscience, etc. (i.e. the parenthetical "of the Body" is a late addition made after Hrestol, to define the state of affairs that had earlier existed). If problems arise with this, then the fortunate inhabitants of Malkonwal always have recourse to the Prophet Himself, who could show them how to interpret His Laws. [2]

[1] Some people have queried whether Solace of the Body is really about life after death. After all, this is the Prophet's teaching as perceived by the Modern Malkioni. Some may think the earliest Malkioni would perceive this as something different. But the Kingdom of Logic is being attacked by things there are no Laws to cover. Chaos is one, the very embodiment of Illogic. More terrifying to the Brithini, though, is Death. Therefore it is far more likely that Malkion's revelation was of some way of transcending Death (with the modern "harps and clouds" version being a crude distortion of the original) than that it was merely another repetition of what had been, after all, the Brithini Way ab initio.

[2] It's also been suggested that perhaps Malkion's message was, simply "Live the perfect life according to your caste, and you will live forever". This is, after all, what some Rokari are trying to do. But those Rokari who do so are going "back to basics": before even the "Exilic" Malkonism of Malkion the Prophet, back to the Logical Laws of Malkion, Lawgiver of Brithos. This fits the Rokari's "reformation" idiom. While the Prophet is among them, guiding men in the paths of virtue, many of the inhabitants of Malkonwal are indeed unaging by reason of their bodily purity and adherence to the Laws of Caste. But they still need to fear sickness, injury, infirmity and contamination, quite apart from Death. At this point in the Godtime, good Malkioni don't age, and bad Malkioni aren't Malkioni! This is the Great Darkness, guys: you gotta stay good to survive!