by Nick Brooke and David Hall
History
The Hrestoli Church is one of the oldest and largest sects of Malkionism. Founded by Prince Hrestol, the Second Prophet, at the Dawning of the World, it revitalised the then-moribund Malkioni religion. The sect was established before the end of the first century as the official religion of Akem (later Loskalm), and is thus the oldest established Malkioni Church. It has profoundly influenced all modern forms of Malkionism, even those that reject its basic tenets. For example, the Rokari King of Seshnela wears a Crown, but also wields Sceptre and Sword, insignia of the three High Castes, a Hrestoli innovation that would have been unthinkable to the Brithini.
In the First and Second Ages, all pious Malkioni worshipped in the Hrestoli manner. The God Learner heretics who deviated from this path were all wiped out with the downfall of their Empire, and rightly so. Only fragments of any older non-Hrestoli church survive. Thus is the Will of God made manifest in the world.
The New Hrestoli Idealist Church of Loskalm was re-established by King Siglat the Wise, son of Prince Snodal, during the tranquil peace of the Syndics Ban. After defeating and pacifying his unwise opponents within Loskalm, Siglat laid down the sword and through meditation managed to perfect the then-moribund forms of ancient Hrestoli religion. Widespread visions and manifestations brought by Saint Hrestol himself to members of all classes of society proved that these reforms in every way embodied the Ideal form of what the Prophet had desired.
Now that the Syndics Ban is ended, the Kingdom of Loskalm has the opportunity to teach virtue by example, uplift the lesser states and peoples of Fronela to join them in the perfection of the Idealist State.
Theology
The united Hrestoli Churches of Loskalm and Seshnela declared unanimously at the Fifth Ecclesiastical Council of Malkionism that there is only one god and he is the Invisible God and his prophets were Malkion and Hrestol. All good Malkioni accept this decision.
We follow the Law of Malkion including the prohibition of Tapping. Loyalty to self, to race and to nation is paramount: all must strive together for the common good of Loskalm.
We believe that God created all men equal -- that upward mobility through the class system is a right open to all, regardless of birth, wealth, or status. We recognise the fourfold class system instituted by the Sons of Malkion: Farmer, Knight, Wizard, and Lord. Everyone is born into the Farmer class, and can only rise above that lowly status by first mastering the skills of the land. When an individual has fulfilled all requirements for advancement, he is ordained during an appropriate religious festival: the popular Fairs and Tourneys, and the more solemn Examinations and Investitures.
Sin is twofold: acting against your own conscience, or possessing a deficient conscience. Hrestol knew that acting in accordance with the dictates of conscience brought about a perfected state of spiritual harmony, which he named the Joy of the Heart. Every Loskalmi person possesses a functioning conscience through his Hrestoli Idealist upbringing. Other, inferior breeds of humanity are not so fortunate. It is our pious duty to strive to nurture these peoples to self-awareness through the strict but benevolent supervision of their spiritual superiors. Non-humans have no hope of attaining Solace: their time of glory in this world is past. Man is the Master Race now.
We know it is not necessary to rise through the classes of society to achieve salvation (though doing so will guarantee it): through the intercession of saints and holy men, it is possible even for the lowliest farmer to attain Solace in Glory. Failure to achieve Solace condemns the recreant sinner to Waste: he dies, and everything about him dissipates as if he had never been.
Women are spiritually equal but different to men, having been created second and thus in some ways more refined than the original form of humankind. Just as a man can achieve salvation through his own merit or through the intercession of a perfected Saint, so a woman can achieve higher social class through her own merit or through marriage. A married woman holds the same social class as her husband, though if she wishes she can rise separately.
Alchemy, astrology and natural science are studies which help increase our knowledge and understanding of the Invisible God through the study of his creation. All things mirror their Maker. The scholars of Sog University are undertaking righteous studies, though they are atheists, and their discoveries have usually met with the approval of the Watchdog Council.
Hierarchy
New Hrestoli Idealism is the state religion of Loskalm, and the sect's doctrines are pervasive throughout Loskalmi society. To rise to the highest offices of the land, it is necessary to study the lore of wizardry, and satisfy the examiners of the Watchdog Council with one's mastery of the arcane arts. This enlightened requirement ensures that those who become the Lords Secular of the Realm - chief among them being the eight Princes who serve the King - are in every way as magically accomplished as the Lords Spiritual.
The Hrestoli Church of Loskalm is headed by the Ecclesiarch of Southpoint: this is the oldest established position in the Malkioni Church. The current holder of this sacred office is Gaiseron the Mystic, an ancient wizard who together with Siglat the Wise shaped the modern form of Hrestoli Idealism. Beneath him are the College of Cardinals, the Lords Spiritual of Loskalm, who head the Church in the eight Principalities of the Kingdom. As well as various formal institutions of the Church, like the Watchdog Council, there are many spontaneous popular clubs which celebrate the virtuous spirit of muscular Hrestolism in a patriotic and inspiring form.
Saints
Hrestol, Saint and Prophet, First Knight, Prince of Seshneg. One year after the Dawning, Prince Hrestol received a vision of the angelic Prophet Malkion, who inspired him to break with the traditional bounds of society in order to rescue the Kingdom of Seshneg from its barbarous enemies. He is credited with discovering the rank of Knighthood and the spirit of the Crusade. Yet before his final victory against the Basmoli, he was exiled from the land for offending against the evil Serpent Queen, Seshna, his new stepmother: after years of journeying through the Isles of the Western Ocean, he was condemned as a heretic by the Brithini, and gloriously martyred in Sogolotha Mambrola. Hrestol was assumed bodily into the Solace of Glory, and no relics are known. Most of the locations of his life are now underwater, having sunk with Old Seshnela: the precise site of his martyrdom in Sog City is known, and is a popular pilgrimage site for pious Malkioni of all churches.
Talor, the Laughing Warrior, redeemed the Kingdom of Akem from vile Deceit in the Chaos Wars which brought the Dawn Age to a close. He smote the Tarjinian Bull, and laid a righteous curse upon the vile pagan Telmori people, revealing them for the brute beasts that they were. He banned the Stygian darkness that overcame Ralios from his land, instead shining for all his people as a beacon of pure Light and hope. His song of battle enables us to achieve strength through joy.
Xemela, the Black Lady, Mother of Hrestol. She took Death upon herself during the Dark Ages in order to save her people from the despair that came with the Longest Night. We all revere her for this noble act of self-sacrifice.
Heresy
The most widespread heresy within modern Hrestolism is that of the Perfecti, or Pure Ones. These fools claim that the institutions of the Loskalmi state are inimical to holiness, that progression through the classes cannot be achieved within the structures of the established church, as the lords and wizards of Loskalm are too interested in the trappings of worldly power (they falsely say) to provide for the salvation of the masses. Through filthy and deviant acts, they claim to carry out a spiritual process of development and purification, in which the aspirant to perfection gradually refines his soul and transcends the four aspects. Few are insane enough to claim to have achieved this.
Attitudes to Other Sects
Rokari
Like the stubborn Brithini, the Rokari heretics of Seshnela oppose man's spiritual development by preventing personal self-fulfilment and upward mobility through the four classes of society. Their kingdom is a vast and despotic oppression upon the souls of its people: when shall their groans be heeded? Or must the land of Seshnela suffer yet again for the wrongs of its unrighteous overlords?
Syanorans
The Church of Syanor grew from the same pious roots as our own Idealist Church, but was severed from its fatherland during the Syndics Ban. Whereas in Loskalm the presence of Good King Siglat enabled true doctrine to grow up straight and tall, in the benighted lands of Junora, Jonatela and Janubia the Church fell into sad decline, accepting the discredited hereditary principle and slipping into pagan and heretical ways. We must guide and lead them back to the path of virtue!
Arrolians
This pagan sect from the East gives worship to the Red Moon, and claims to know of seven Saints who are not found in any pious Malkioni scripture. They would overturn the old order of society, but have nothing to replace it with, offering individual satisfaction at the expense of the state.
Kingdom of War
The Kingdom of War is a cruel and oppressive land, home to a brutal pagan army which claims to worship a hundred gods of war. It continues to assault the fair cities of Junora, even now laying siege to Einpor. The armies of Loskalm will shortly meet it upon the field of battle, where the Order of the Swallow will demonstrate the supremacy of Hrestoli arms.
Stygian Cults
Arkat the Destroyer was a contemporary of Talor the Laughing Warrior, who founded the Stygian Dark Empire in Ralios. Because Arkat's kingdom was founded in shadows of obscurity, his cults fall willy-nilly into the same trap, with convoluted and impossible doctrines. They are not a major force in the modern world, and it is best to ignore them.
Vadeli
We know of two races that call themselves the Vadeli. The first are a brown-skinned trading nation from the southern Vadeli Isles. Though they are atheists, we make them welcome in our ports, in memory of the hospitality they showed Hrestol, who lived as a Judge among them during his years of exile. The second is a monstrous cannibal race of red-skinned pirates, formerly the scourge of the Western Ocean. Our longships have been successful in suppressing them, and their coastal raids are now much diminished.
Sedalpists
Other than that they hail from the Southern Continent, we know nothing of this sect.
Don't miss the expanded sect description for the New Hrestoli Idealist Church, including RuneQuest rules, spells and blessings!
