Post by Fewms on Feb 5, 2009 3:59:24 GMT
~Meet the Magistrates - Gwydion Gleams In Ebony~
Gwydion was born in Genua. He passed his youth in the unstinting worship of the Demon. From the temple prostitutes, whom he esteemed the most subtle of philosophers, he learnt the rudiments of theology. By the time of his majority he was vying with the priests, though a mere dilettante, in all manner of vice - in short, in the practical Worship of things that are good, such as bloody sacrifice, refined corruption, and long philosophical dialogues with courtesans. No matter how greatly he indulged in such things, his thirst for the practice of religion remained unslaked. He was a pious youth, devout beyond his years. Eventually, ignoring their protest, he buried his parents, and entrusted his sisters to various nunneries and orphanages.
For a few years, he lived as a gentleman on his patrimony, which is to say extravagantly, but soon found that the world could not offer the lavish entertainments, omphalic orgies, and bloody bachannals whereof the Sekkite Orthodox Church was a perpetual host. So he abandoned his former asceticism, deeming it unworthy of a voluptuary, and, discarding his formal black for the sacred scarlet, became a priest of Sek, the seven-handed god. Zealous to immolate the holy in ever more interesting ways, he embarked on a tour of research in Klatch (now Djelibeybi), then called KLK, to discover the awful words by which Djelian priests charm crocodiles into devouring their enemies.
After he acquired this secret, a chance crocodile plague swept through the Sekkite Orthodox Church. Gwydion was soon after invested with the role of Minister of Internal Affairs, and returned to Klatch, to peruse at greater length things that had, in the course of his researches, caught his eye. Gradually, he realised that the Sektarian temple there was the most lavish in all of disc; the sacrifices commanded by priests, the most stimulating; the open reign of the gods' elect in the streets, the most instructive and sinisterly utopian. Klatch was elitist, xenophobic, and few of populace. Admiring such savvy zen, he thought to join this Brave New Council. He spoke randomly to a magistrate - by chance the most accommodating - and soon joined the Klatchian Council. Coincidentally, there was a magisterial election shortly after this. Gwydion was sponsored, then succeeded, to one of the magistracy's quinturnal sphinx-carved seats
His first term was a conspiracy-filled time whose true history may someday be told. In his second term, he began, and won, the first schism in the history of the Churches. As the Demon's High Priest, Gwydion seized control of Sektarians, making it a club exclusively for Djelian Sekkites, which it remains. He also began an obscurity-clouded organisation known as the Gulag for the Re-education of Morporkian Dissidents, which all Morporkian citizens in the Church were required to join. During this term he also served as first Klatch's, then Djelibeybi's ambassador to the tribes of Mor-pork. He was twice expelled from the post, for reasons wholly attributable to an audacious and withal unexpected appearance of the People's Bank of Klatch in the heart of AM, in which he played a leading part, and by which the Morporkian capitalists were aggrieved and incensed.
When Gwydion's radical reign eventually found itself the subject of a schism - do the backs of all Sektarians not form a Moebius Strip? - he chose not to contest the post, but stepped into the shadows, and from there helped ensure that another Djelian citizen - Chaste - would succeed him. The Djelian Dynasty of Sek unbrokenly endured, overall, three schisms and a multitude of months, over the latter of which period he served as Minister of Internal Affairs, guiding the faithful with zen gun and crozier. He is currently the Minister of Eternal Darkness, and in Djelibeybi has been re-elected for a third successive term, which he has implied shall be his last for an interminable period.
Gwydion was born in Genua. He passed his youth in the unstinting worship of the Demon. From the temple prostitutes, whom he esteemed the most subtle of philosophers, he learnt the rudiments of theology. By the time of his majority he was vying with the priests, though a mere dilettante, in all manner of vice - in short, in the practical Worship of things that are good, such as bloody sacrifice, refined corruption, and long philosophical dialogues with courtesans. No matter how greatly he indulged in such things, his thirst for the practice of religion remained unslaked. He was a pious youth, devout beyond his years. Eventually, ignoring their protest, he buried his parents, and entrusted his sisters to various nunneries and orphanages.
For a few years, he lived as a gentleman on his patrimony, which is to say extravagantly, but soon found that the world could not offer the lavish entertainments, omphalic orgies, and bloody bachannals whereof the Sekkite Orthodox Church was a perpetual host. So he abandoned his former asceticism, deeming it unworthy of a voluptuary, and, discarding his formal black for the sacred scarlet, became a priest of Sek, the seven-handed god. Zealous to immolate the holy in ever more interesting ways, he embarked on a tour of research in Klatch (now Djelibeybi), then called KLK, to discover the awful words by which Djelian priests charm crocodiles into devouring their enemies.
After he acquired this secret, a chance crocodile plague swept through the Sekkite Orthodox Church. Gwydion was soon after invested with the role of Minister of Internal Affairs, and returned to Klatch, to peruse at greater length things that had, in the course of his researches, caught his eye. Gradually, he realised that the Sektarian temple there was the most lavish in all of disc; the sacrifices commanded by priests, the most stimulating; the open reign of the gods' elect in the streets, the most instructive and sinisterly utopian. Klatch was elitist, xenophobic, and few of populace. Admiring such savvy zen, he thought to join this Brave New Council. He spoke randomly to a magistrate - by chance the most accommodating - and soon joined the Klatchian Council. Coincidentally, there was a magisterial election shortly after this. Gwydion was sponsored, then succeeded, to one of the magistracy's quinturnal sphinx-carved seats
His first term was a conspiracy-filled time whose true history may someday be told. In his second term, he began, and won, the first schism in the history of the Churches. As the Demon's High Priest, Gwydion seized control of Sektarians, making it a club exclusively for Djelian Sekkites, which it remains. He also began an obscurity-clouded organisation known as the Gulag for the Re-education of Morporkian Dissidents, which all Morporkian citizens in the Church were required to join. During this term he also served as first Klatch's, then Djelibeybi's ambassador to the tribes of Mor-pork. He was twice expelled from the post, for reasons wholly attributable to an audacious and withal unexpected appearance of the People's Bank of Klatch in the heart of AM, in which he played a leading part, and by which the Morporkian capitalists were aggrieved and incensed.
When Gwydion's radical reign eventually found itself the subject of a schism - do the backs of all Sektarians not form a Moebius Strip? - he chose not to contest the post, but stepped into the shadows, and from there helped ensure that another Djelian citizen - Chaste - would succeed him. The Djelian Dynasty of Sek unbrokenly endured, overall, three schisms and a multitude of months, over the latter of which period he served as Minister of Internal Affairs, guiding the faithful with zen gun and crozier. He is currently the Minister of Eternal Darkness, and in Djelibeybi has been re-elected for a third successive term, which he has implied shall be his last for an interminable period.