Great Kings' War (2 page)

The audience roared. Management Party, which everyone considered the Paratime Police's political mouthpiece, had been in control of the Executive Council since the Mystic Wars some four thousand years ago. Management Party—and therefore the Paratime Police—was considered by most academics to be the major obstacle to serious outtime research. Sirna wasn't convinced that the Paratime Police were doing anything more than their job as mandated by the Paratime Code since, as a collective body, the University had about as much vested self-interest as Styphon's House. That 'view' of hers had long been a major area of contention between her and her former husband.

"The Archpriest of the Archives was a half-blind highpriest of some eighty years and he was pleased to at long last find what he saw as a successor. In the Archives, most assistants leave as soon as they can buy, bribe or blackmail their way to a better position within the Temple hierarchy. After a short period of administrative work, I was promoted to his assistant and allowed access the High Temple of Balph Archives, a treasure trove of ancient parchments and documents. After a number of years in the Archives, I was able to put together a complete history of Styphon's House—not that I'll go into that here."

There was an audible sigh of relief throughout the room. These were all academics and they understood how much time a complete history briefing might involve.

Sirna noticed wryly that Danthor did manage to add a plug for his new book. "However, I will mention that the new edition of my history on Styphon's House,
Gunpowder Theocracy
,
is now available from the Dhergabar University Press."

Danthor made a dramatic cough before starting again, "The actual priestly apothecary who invented the fireseed formula is forgotten. However, while searching through the Temple Archives, I found a statue of the priest who discovered its lethal potential. In the beginning Styphon's House used fireseed to create explosions of colored gas and light to awe the locals. Then Highpriest Trythos discovered, while making primitive fireworks, that fireseed, when used inside a tube with a fuse, could propel a stone a significant distance.

"It was Highpriest Trythos who contrived the first primitive handgun—a metal tube cradled in a wooden stock which shot a stone pellet." Dras reached down and picked up a golden statue, which he then took to the first row of seats and handed to one of the professors. "Trythos was pronounced as the first Styphon's Own Voice and devised the Inner Circle of Archpriests as a means to protect the Fireseed Mystery. This is Trythos' image recorded in gold. The statue bears a striking resemblance to Styphon's Great Image in the Great Temple at Balph, made several decades after his death, where the Inner Circle of Styphon's House meets. Styphon's true believers see this as proof that Styphon himself was the author of the first handgun.

"Please pass it to your neighbor after you've had a look at it," he admonished the professor who appeared mesmerized by the statue.

It took several minutes to reach her row, but Sirna found the small gold statue to be very heavy and cold, but vibrant with a life force all its own. The work was vaguely Babylonian, reminding Sirna of some of the stonework she had observed from Fourth Level Babylonian Hegemony, Assyrian Subsector that she had studied in her Empires Frozen in Time class. The beard was long and braided; whoever had made the mold—probably using the lost wax method—was a talented artist. The face looked almost real; there was an arrogant sneer to the tiny lips—probably made after Trythos was elevated to the top of the Temple hierarchy. All the Archpriests she'd seen on spool had shared the same look of innate superiority.

Once everyone had been given the opportunity to examine the idol, Danthor continued, "Styphon's House was quick to exploit their new discovery. To the Zarthani of that time, it was a fearsome unearthly weapon from the gods. Styphon's House used that superstitious awe to destroy their enemies and reward their allies.

"The rest, as they say, is history. It took Styphon's House a century to go from mealed fireseed to corned, or black powder, and another century and a half to evolve the firing mechanism from the early matchlock handguns to flintlocks. Firearm technology has remained in a state of stasis ever since as Styphon's House can discern no advantage to making their weapons more efficient. In fact, there's evidence they've held back the evolution of firearms, such as cast cannon with flintlock mechanisms, to keep the military forces from developing more effective arms. Through their control of military technology, as well as the supply and dispensation of fireseed, Styphon's House has been able to keep the majority of the inter-kingdom conflicts small and contained, preventing any decisive wars that might establish peace and lessen the Great Kingdoms' dependence upon Styphon's House.

"The Temple Archives do not contain any documents regarding Styphon's divine beliefs or revelations at all; in fact, there's a conspicuous lack of normal priestly records of revelations and devotions in the Temple Archives. Other than Styphon's Way, a series of homilies that pass for divine revelation, there appears to be a conspiracy of silence over the whole issue of Styphon's godhood—except when it comes to Styphon's oracle. As I already mentioned, in the Great Temple of Balph resides the other 'miracle' of Styphon's House, Styphon's Great Image"

Danthor paused and dramatically smacked his lectern for emphasis. "This is no small statue, either; it rises up over three stories and is bathed in enough gold to feed the Five Kingdoms for an entire year! When the Temple faces a problem, the righteous flock to the Great Temple, where the Golden Image, on rare occasions, 'speaks' to the multitude. It's the usual primitive voice amplification with articulated joints at the jaw. The 'secret' of Styphon's Great Image is so well guarded that only the head of the Temple and the highpriests who rule the Great Temple and all its worldly possessions know that it's a fraud.

"Styphon's Own Voice is the head of the Styphon's House and is presumed—like the Pope on most Europo-American time-lines—to speak for their god and rule the Temple. In actuality, Styphon's Voice is typically a figurehead chosen to represent the interests of the Inner Circle of Archpriests, a closely connected group of thirty-six Archpriests which includes the highpriest of each Great Kingdom High Temples of Styphon."

Dras turned to the visiscreen and they were shown the innermost chamber of the Great Temple where a dozen yellow-robed Archpriests were surrounded by kneeling pensioners and penitents. "Only on rare occasions will Styphon's Own Image will speak to the multitude. These believers are attending the great idol in the hopes that Styphon's Golden Image will speak and answer their questions—believe me, they pay a lot for the privilege of waiting.

"The current Styphon's Own Voice, His Divinity Sesklos, was an activist until the past year when Lord Kalvan's rapid military successes discredited his leadership." The visiscreen showed a wizened old man with a beaked nose and ice-gray eyes dressed in a red robe. "For the past decade, Sesklos has been promoting his handpicked successor, Archpriest Anaxthenes who has now emerged as Speaker and the dominant member of the Inner Circle. On the Kalvan Control time-lines it is presumed that Anaxthenes will follow Sesklos as Styphon's Voice.

"One of the true believers, Archpriest Roxthar, has attracted our attention because he's become a pivotal player within the Inner Circle on Kalvan's Time-Line. However, this is not the case on the Kalvan Control time-lines where Roxthar is viewed as a crackpot by the other Archpriests of the Inner Circle and his harangues on Styphon's Divinity are greeted with derision. Only on Kalvan's Time-Line has Archpriest Roxthar become one of the major power centers or created his Office of Holy Investigation, to seek out Kalvan fostered heresy within Styphon's House. Thus, it is now evident that Archpriest Roxthar's rise on Kalvan's Time-Line is a direct response to the threat Kalvan poses to Temple's continued existence."

A beefy professor with a red face shouted: "Next you'll be telling us you are a supporter of the Great Man in History theory!"

Danthor cocked his head, ran his fingers through his hair, looking thoughtful. "It's still too soon to draw any definitive conclusion, but I will admit the evidence is pointing in that direction."

Sirna couldn't have been more surprised if the Scholar had admitted to friendship with Verkan Vall, membership in the Management Party or relations with a barnyard animal! The red faced professor and the rest of the audience were shocked into silence. Was what she was witnessing possible—a tenured University Professor rising above his prejudices and the group consensus of the Dhergabar herd?

Danthor acted as if the interruption had not occurred, continuing on with his talk. "Now before we get any further into Styphon's divinity, let me inform you that Styphon and his prime competitors—Dralm, Galzar and Yirtta—are not the only gods on Aryan Transpacific, Styphon's House Subsector. The original Indo-Aryan invaders, who called themselves the 'Zarthani,' a contraction of 'za-aryan-thani' meaning in their language 'the noble people,' brought with them some twenty-five to thirty gods and goddesses. Many of these 'original' deities have since disappeared from popular consciousness as their worshippers have declined and are now
remembered
only in curses, old sagas, legends and yarns. These days there are only twelve True Gods and four Demons—five if you count Styphon as a Demon as many of Dralm's worshippers do. Although some of the so-called True Gods, like Phydros, God of Wine and Music, and Lytris, the Weather Goddess who is worshipped primarily by sailors, have a small or select constituency.

"As I mentioned previously, the primary Trinity—before Styphon's prominence—was Allfather Dralm, Yirtta Allmother and Galzar Wolfshead, the God of War. Dralm is the all-knowing, all-powerful Father god, like Zeus, Jupiter and a host of others familiar to most Fourth Level Indo-Aryan scholars."

Heads bobbed up and down in agreement.

"Yirtta is the goddess of harvests and fertility and as such she has maintained her prominence within Zarthani life and ritual, primarily among women who are more conservative about their gods. The Temple of Yirtta Allmother is a very traditional and conservative temple, similar in many aspects to the Roman goddess Vesta and her cult.

"Galzar God of War has seen no diminution of status with the passage of time; if anything, as Dralm's influence has waned, Galzar—with the constant internecine warfare and proliferation of mercenary units—has grown over the years. The Uncle Wolfs, the priest of Galzar, have even taken over many of the healing duties of older gods, including Styphon.

"Dralm's position among the gods has dropped dramatically, particularly, within the last hundred years, as Styphon's influence has increased in the Northern Kingdoms, principally among the gentry and the upper classes. The Styphoni do not consider Appalon, Dralm's son, the Patron of gamblers and gaming, a True God. Whereas the followers of Dralm add Lyklos, the Trickster, who has a powerful cult in the Middle Kingdoms, to their pantheon instead of Styphon.

"As Styphon's House's political and economic power grows, the worship of Styphon has spread its way through the upper strata of society, whereas Dralm is in danger of becoming almost exclusively the god of peasants and artisans. Styphon's House with its tithing and manure collection continues to be unpopular among the lower classes, except in Hos-Ktemnos where his worship is firmly rooted after four hundred years of priestly tyranny.

"As I've demonstrated, Styphon's House has used their 'fireseed' miracle to awe the unsophisticated and manipulate the politics of the Five Kingdoms, the dominant ruling states on Aryan Transpacific. Furthermore, Styphon's House has its own military of which there are two arms; the first being Styphon's Own Guard. The Guard is an elite corps and very well paid; most are former mercenaries and are not above doing the nastiest kind of deeds. Often times, they are poised behind unreliable troops with the orders to execute anyone who retreats or runs from battle. They've earned the sobriquet the Red Hand through their scrupulous attention to such orders.

"The second martial arm is the Order of the Zarthani Knights, who protect the western borders of Hos-Bletha and Hos-Ktemnos, as well as act as a buffer between the Five Kingdoms and the Sastragath and migrating nomads from the Sea of Grass. The Grand Master of the Order is also an Archpriest in the Inner Circle, but like most military holy orders they have little participation in the day to day running of the Temple. The Zarthani Knights are a formidable fighting force and the Grand Master rules more territory than the largest Great Kingdom.

"Styphon's House's usual tactics are to encourage grudges and border disputes among the princedoms of the Five Kingdoms, helping allied princes with ample supplies of fireseed, while withholding it from their opponents and placing them under Styphon's Ban. The Ban is a very important tool since it not only deprives that princedom under the Ban from purchasing fireseed from Styphon's House, but also carries the threat of withholding fireseed to any other lord or prince who might be willing to sell his excess powder to the proscribed lord. Without any other recourse to obtain fireseed for their smoothbores and guns, the opponents of Styphoni supported armies are quickly dispatched. It's been a very successful policy throughout Styphon's House Subsector, except on one time-line—Kalvan Prime.

"From all reports, with Lord Kalvan, Styphon's House ran up against someone from the outside who knew the Fireseed Mystery and was not cowed by their wealth or military might. Kalvan is the former Calvin Morrison, a Pennsylvania State Policeman, who was picked up as a transtemporal 'hitchhiker' on a Fourth Level Europo-American time-line far advanced over Aryan Transpacific, both socially and technologically."

There were snickers from the audience as they all were familiar with Hispano Colombian. The dominant culture there was socially backward, but also explosively creative and technologically innovative. Lately, the latest Hispano-Colombian music crazes and flat screen
movies
had become very popular with the masses on First Level—especially the proles.