An Angel Called Eternity

Lore Chapter: The Khidonean Heresy and Exalipsianism

Cornered you at last, have I? Put those books down and walk with me, young student. There is much for you to learn, and little of it from those texts.

So you've attended all your lectures about the Church of the First Saint. You know all there is to know about the Old and New churches, you're sick to your stomach of having to reread the scriptures of Agia Arwald that caused the Schism, and if you have to write one more paper on the Dragon-Church's seizing of power and the effect it had on getting the Old and New churches to work together then you're going to go mad. But you weren't satisfied with that, were you?

So then you dug a little deeper. You looked into the smaller sects and cult that form up the church; you researched the dogmatic differences both small and large between the Silverian Church and the Silent Cult, between the Church of Bloodied Purity and that of the Ancients. You started looking into more obscure pieces of theology, at things like the ancient Kingdom of Ereverry from which our faith descends and the Book of the Martial Saint. You've read Scholar Theseus' thesis on the nature of the Lamb and the Silence, and you've even started looking into the Church's ancient roots amongst the pagan faiths of the world.

But it still wasn't enough.

No, you want more. You want to learn more. You want to learn the truths of this world, truths that no faith has yet been able to explain. You want more, but you don't know where to turn. Or rather, you didn't. But you do now. You can pretend you don't if you want, but I watched you in the library just the other day. You'd picked out as many books as you could about Saint Khidon, not to mention the book of legal records that went alongside it. Don't try and act foolish, we both know you think you've found something. Something you weren't supposed to find, something that they told you not to find interesting. For a while you've listened, but you and I both know that soon you're going to give in to your desire to learn.

And if you're going to learn it anyway, why not learn it now? Why not learn it from... well, from me? You're on the right track to learning what you need to know, but I'd not bother with most of the records they keep on Saint Khidon in this library. You ever notice that they're all dated centuries after his death? It's because they're all lies. Falsified bullshit to help the image of a dead saint better fit the role the church wants him to take. He's too ingrained in the culture of Aegos and southern Kliskorios at large to be truly removed from all records, so instead the powers-that-be sought to twist his words and his findings to fit their own power plays and beliefs, leaving his real teachings in the dust.

But there are other books out there that exist. Books that tell the truth of his teachings. Books of what he discovered, and why it was that the Church of his time deemed him so dangerous that they ordered his execution to be carried out the day his sentence was passed instead of the customary sennight after sentencing.

There are books out there that teach of these things, young student. Books that teach of the true nature of death and of living. Books that teach of the Khidonean Doctrine. Would you like to read them?

Of course you would. You're smarter than most in your class, if not conventionally then at least in common sense. I'm going to teach you what I can about the teachings of Saint Khidon, and the tenets underpinning his ideals and several others like them. Be very careful in choosing who you spread this knowledge to, however. There are not many who care for the name of the 'Khidoneans' anymore, and there are a great many who would see you killed just for wishing to learn of these things. Does that not dissuade you?

No, it does not. You've got a good mind for knowledge.

Tell me, if you would: why are you here? You're not a normal student of this place, and before last month I'd never seen you around here. You're a Klironomean, a Polaeran if I have my accents right, and they've got plenty of their own academies dedicated to training clergymen. Ah, but you aren't a clergyman in training, are you? No, that's quite alright, no-one will mind. The Archbishops and Cardinal who run the school likely know you won't be here long. So, what is it that brings you here?