The Tetrimon in exile

When I was a younger man, before I got my calling to join the monastery, Heideran the Good (Heideran VII) was Emperor. He'd been emperor since I was born and long before that. In those days, the Order of St. Tetrimon was considered a fringe grouping outside the Empire, crackpots at best, heretics at worst.

It had been so ever since they chose the wrong side during the Moral Reforms, one and a half millennium ago. Somehow, the order managed to survive, even though it was disgraced and banished. 

During Heideran's reign, the Khanid Kingdom was not part of the Empire. The reason that they had broken away was the refusal of Garkeh Khanid to commit the ritual suicide Shathol'Syn after the trials that saw Heideran VII ascend the Imperial throne. This breakaway kingdom had offered sanctuary to the Order of St. Tetrimon, perhaps to spite the Empire. The Order was allowed to operate rather freely in the Kingdom, and built its headquarters in the Ibani system in the Budar constellation, a low security backwater pocket of the Kingdom.

So, at least until I left the monastery a year and half ago, in my imagination they were just a bunch of  Khanid zealots, who try to give themselves importance using the fading memory of a once illustrious past. 

You can imagine my surprise when I got back into worldly politics and learned of their swift ascension and the central security role they now play in the Empire...

Visiting the Order

Sometimes I think I bite off more than I can chew.

This is compounded by my inability to say no to requests - and as a result I often find myself lacking time or running around from one errand to another. It's not that I dislike the particular tasks: I enjoy the ministry, and what I can do for baseliners and capsuleers alike. I also love the library, and expanding its collections in a meaningful way. But time flies without me noticing it - in fact a week has passed as if it were a couple of days.

So, I have resolved to refocus some of my attention to the holy mission that saint Tal-Romon has given me. I'm going to try following a lead that I have not given much attention to yet: the order of St. Tetrimon. I've placed a request to visit the library at the Mother Chapter of the order, on Ibani VI, and it did not take long for them to respond positively to my request.

Time to dust off the Indagatrix and climb back into the pod.

A few uneventful days

This past week was rather slow after the Auction, and filled with tedious jobs, for the library and for the chapel. I do not complain: sometimes it's good to have a relatively uneventful few days.

That being said, I did have the pleasure of welcoming Yun-Hee at the Lamp. She's not a member of our corporation yet I think, but Lunarisse allows her to use the Lamp's quarters. She dropped by the library to explore this public part of the Lamp, and made friends with Mittens. I'm glad to have her around.

Ishta came to the chapel, she wanted to repair the altar after she had pinned down a sedevacantist on it. I let her try her woodworking skills on a spot on the side first, and initially it looked like the colour of the filling didn't quite match the rest. But now that it has had some time to dry and cure, it looks very good. I'll ask her fix the top as well now, if she still wants. It's nice of her to do this, and not obvious for her: because of her past, she does not have pleasant memories of altars...

Amra is allowed out of the medbay now for short periods of time, to do sports and relax in the bar. It must be that she's progressing well in her healing and I am glad for that. I must talk to Lord Anderson, I've come to see that his carnal relation with Amra might be sinful, given his position of power over her.

The Lamp underwent "sonic cleaning", whatever that may be. We had to stay out of it for an hour or so and I was very worried about the ancient books and artefacts in the library. Probably this is to take care of the rats - since we moved here the station rats started to explore the new structure that the Lamp represents for them.

I've noticed Aria seems a bit under stress. The whole thing with Amra, first in the chapel and then in the medbay... Then the subdeacon going nuts. And then the rats. I think she takes it all too personally, and sees this as failures of security, but I don't think anyone could do much about any of it. You just can't control everything... And especially not human error, such as a guard that gets infatuated with his prisoner.

The price of art

I am happy the auction for literature went well. Although I am stunned at the amounts of money offered by capsuleers, like I was last year.

The kind of money paid for luxury items like ship skins are outrageous - especially if you think of what it could mean to baseliners or to the improvement of the poor and weakest in society.

Six billion ISK - I think, maybe it was seven before I zoned out - was offered for art by a rather unknown Matari artist, Saccade Amir. After this news gets out, any art gallery in the cluster is going to try to get Saccade's art. Traders and investors are going to goggle it up.

At first, I thought it was rigged, some artists buy their own art through a third person, just to crank up the prizes for their art. But then, this was an auction, the money has to paid to Lunarisse to sponsor the writing contest. So it cannot be a loop, with the artist paying money to themselves just to boost the price of their works. 

Six billion. For a portrait and a painting of a house.And afterwards, the artist tried to murder someone and Ishta prevented it. 

Probably this will boost prices even higher....

Blessings and exorcisms

I'm glad I brushed up on my exorcism skills.

I was in Mehatoor to bless a new station, built by the 641st Task Force. They are valliant warriors active in the war zone, fighting the Republic's hold over our worlds. 

After the station blessing, there was a ship blessing. Always a joyous occasion, and one that boosts the morale of both capsuleers and baseliners. Except - this time mr. Nauplius showed up, asking for his vessel to be blessed too. Of course I was not going to bless the ship of a heretic and enemy to the empire! 

In stead, I attempted an exorcism. If it didn't work, well no harm done. But just in case he was indeed possessed by a demon... 

It turned out that this was not the case. I was hopeful at first, he grunted and shook. But in the end, no it didn't work. He quickly reverted to Sedevacantist propaganda. And left.

News: movies and music section

There was definitely a strange mood this morning in all sections of the Lamp. Baseliners and capsuleers alike seemed to be walking around as if there is a storm warning. Hurricane, highest category. It's betrayed by a definite tension, and an urge to look for shelter. 

I asked around, but of course nobody would acknowledge there was anything wrong. At the same time, nobody wanted to hang around for any amount of time.

I found out later, as I was watching the news. 

Apparently, there's a new sedevacantist movie that came out in the Federation. The news reporters explained how it portrayed a caricature of LUMEN. And Faith. And Luna. The news redaction was gracious enough not to show scenes, but the report anyway did not leave much to be guessed. If Luna hears this, there's going to be war.

Anyone you'd ask at the Lamp will claim they haven't seen any news today. But everyone knows. And everyone is keen on not being the one to tell Luna today.

As it turns out, I have to leave Nasreri today to go to Mehatoor to bless a station. Never was I keener to bless a station.

A closet sedevacantist

I was shocked to discover that one of the clerics in our Chapel is a closet sedevacantist. 

He blew a fuse yesterday, seeing Ishta - a former slave - in her high rank, now member of the illustrious House de Silvestris, at the chapel. He started insulting her and became so enraged he vomited out all his hatred.

Ishta stabbed the man in the hand, pinning him on the altar that got blood all over it now. So, she remained remarkably in control of herself. There was a time where I'd probably have had to go look for his bowels in the chandeliers.

He's been with us since a while, mr. Tykraen. Since Mehatoor, for sure. He is a quiet man, somewhat introvert. He has always been helpful and diligent. I know he was frustrated that he did not get a promotion to deacon, but he did not let that stand in the way of his work. How did the venom of sedevacantism find its way into the mind of this hard working man? 

In Mehatoor, he must have been exposed to the heresy, as it is also the home of Nauplius. Aria downplays the importance of Nauplius, and indeed his power is very limited - he cannot muster a fleet of Titans like the equilibrium of mankind. 

But I think the appeal of his simplistic message of hate and division should not be underestimated. There are many discontent, and when offered scapegoats that can be blamed for everything, it's very tempting to believe in that. Humans have this tendency to divided the world in "us" and "them", and blame all the bad things that happen on these others. 

This newest heresy plays on these feelings. It is therefore more contagious than for example promoting the red god, or any other demon worship. In order to multiply itself, this heresy relies far less on the person of Nauplius than what Aria may surmise. 

Confession

I visited the contortionist assassin, Amra Ronuken, in her cell in the medbay. She was indeed willing to confess - I think this was the reason why she showed up in the chapel earlier. She did, and I think it alleviated her soul.

In some ways, she reminds me of Ishta. Abused, victim of criminals of the worst kind, but nevertheless she still yearns for the light and detests the horrible things she has to do. The compass of her soul still works. I see promise for redemption in her, and hope lord Anderson will help her, as lord Pitojee helped Ishta. However, I am somewhat worried that the relation between his lordship and his enamoured assassin is more carnal, and this might be detrimental to good spiritual guidance.

We will see how this will develop. 

Meanwhile I had to notify Aria that the attendant who lets people in and out the cell has been somewhat negligent in his duties. He wasn't present any more to let me out, Amra had to open the door for me. That was surprising, as she is supposed to be the one who is locked up.

Sounds behind the Walls

Perhaps one thing to add to the summary is that I spent some time in an Achur monastery, and learned about their version of the Sceptre. I even got to see a shard of it, and it could be dated to the time the Eve Gate must have been built. Perhaps there were several Sceptres and as the Goners think they can indeed unlock the Gate...

But, coming back from daydreaming to daily reality at the lamp. There is a noise, a clunking, audible behind walls from time to time. It got Mittens' attention. It's probably just the structure settling in, but I want to make sure we do not have a poltergeist. So I'm having some advanced equipment shipped in from my contacts at the Theology Council. Poltergeists have an effect on the electrostatic potentials in the room and on the thermal gradients in the room. This equipment will detect and track it.

Summary part 4

 Part IV - The Moral Reforms

The expansion to the stars increased the power of the Emperor. Together with with the five most important planetary Holder houses, the later Heirs, Heideran V (not to be confused with the more recent Heideran VII) contested the power of the Council of Apostles. It was a conflict that had been long in the making, but started more or less openly in 21875, five hundred years after the flight of the Sabik.

The civil war would last half a century, till roughly 21930. Heideran V's forces defeated the Council of Apostles. The Order of St. Tetrimon had sided with the Council during the conflict, but managed to remain active in small sects that continued to act against the Moral Reforms. Led by grand master Tetrimon IV they hid away the artifacts and records of the Council of Apostles.

This is probably the second moment in our history where a lot of relics and artefacts were hidden or taken away. I've conjectured earlier in this summary that Council of Apostles - in its ancient role of keeping the power of the Throne in check - was for many millennia the caretaker of the Ametat. During and after the Moral Reforms they would certainly want to keep this symbol out of the hand of Heideran V. 

In recent years, the Order of St. Tetrimon has made a comeback. Their return was encouraged by the recent Empresses Jamyl and Catiz. They now have built a magnificent headquarters, home to their growing fleet and their center of power. If they kept possession of the Ametat, this is the place where they'll keep it. The only other possibility is their Mother Chapter in the Kingdom, Fortress Teakh tak-Teakh on Ibani VI.

I haven't yet pursued that lead, although I was hopeful when one of the Tetrimon joined the ranks of LUMEN. But I haven't seen mr. Moon for a long time now.

This concludes the summary of my search till now.

Summary part 3

This post follows the two previous ones summazing my search thusfar.

Part III - Investigating the Takmahl lead

The Takmahl political organisation reflected what we had in Amarr, and at the head of their society stood an emperor. The possession of the stolen Avetat would have strengthened his claim to power and brought the wise rule necessary to make the Takmahl thrive well beyond any other Sabik colony. Under the emperor stood holders, with commoners under them, and finally slaves at the end of the chain of obedience. The Takmahl empire incorporated Talocan technology into their own science. 

I spent most of the year investigating several leads in connection with the Takmahl :

• I have not uncovered hard evidence that the Takmahl could reach Anoikis or any other far flung part of the cluster using Talocan jump gate technology. There are Takmahl artefacts in Anoikis, but it is not clear they were left there by the Takmahl themselves.

• I spent a lot of time investigating the Araz constellation and the surroundings of the Takmahl core worlds. During one of my expeditions I found a mummified corpse with intact cyberimplants (the Takmahl have developed advanced cybernetics). I keep that corpse in a stasis pod, I need to clone it to succesfully fool the cyberimplants and reactivate them.

• Given their attachment to the pentagram, I was intrigued that besides Araz there is only one other pentagram constellation in the cluster, in Deklein. I went there, beyond the borders of the civilized world, but was unable to find any traces of the Takmahl.

• The Bersirym system is another such place of interest outside or Araz. There is a high concentration of Takmahl relics there, and I found out that it was being used by gangsters to fund their activities. Although I found their space warehouse, I haven't really found the source of these relics, and this is a lead I must continue.

• Finally, I followed archeological reports that claimed there is a large temple or treasury on, let us call it "planet G". The Takmahl emperor would indeed have kept such a relic in a well guarded treasury, but it is not clear that their influence reached planet G. It is also not clear why they wouldn't keep them close at hand in Aphi - unless they got scared of them. There are certainly interesting things hidden there, guarded moreover by typical Jove tech (nanoswarms). However, this treasure is not accessible any more...

Ultimately, Takmahl society collapsed, for reasons not altogether clear. Their numbers dwindled from billions to a few hundred thousand that had reverted to barbary and ignorance by the time our explorers encountered them, as can be seen from the photograph below.

This means that any knowledge of where the Avetat was kept, if indeed it ended up in the possession of the Takmahl emperor, is now lost. Searching their ruins and wreckage will therefore remain an important part of my search.

However, there are still other leads to follow.