PreTatchlan
This summarizes what little is known of the history of the Tolku
before and during the Lesser Era
of the Primary Epoch. Prior to the Lesser Era, there is no written record. Some measure of surviving documentation defines the Lesser Era. This extended period is also referred to as ‘Mundane Dominated.’ This includes all the historic periods preceding the Quickening
of Tatchlan
and the arrival of the first Majastas. This initiated the first Cluster-of-Clusters Nation
and the Greater Era
of the Primary Epoch. While from several sources, most of this material derives from a most-ancient collection known as the ‘Gashandak Treasury Abridged Encyclopedia’ within Mount Lumol in central Rho-Jashun.
These volumes were discovered two hundred years before the emergence of the first Koru Majastas. The complete encyclopedia has never been found. Reference is made here to the Mount Midin Amassment, which was extant during this period; it was tragically destroyed after the Second Suvuka Onslaught. Except for the Duamang Age, there are no dates in this abridged edition, presuming those needing them would refer to the now-lost complete edition.
Prehistory
Arose among Cousins, The Witnesses, Baby Mother rituals, Most-Ancient Mound Worship, Rural unremarkable
History
First Unifying Dynasty: Necessity of Writing, First Empires, Funomanru, Tolku made whole, Charsha, First ‘Generational Plan,’ Early Literature and Institutions, Taboo against the North, Upata-Shepsus Azure Stone, Bhampay founding, First Guilds and Maps, First Contintinental Bureaucracy, Funomanru Code, Cousin Rights,
Blue Star, First Surviving Histories,
Fall of Funomanru, Practicians and Masters
Second Unifying Dynasty:
Buyanupithar Dynasty, Salarish, Funomanru crop policy returns, Prosperity through food production, Thithanu the World City, Upata-Shepsus set aside, Buyanupithar Code, Calendar, Imperial Benefits, Buyanupithar troubles, Philosophers Mystics welcome chaos, Menem converts emperor, Machines, Menem Priests face urban challenges, Rural Loyalty, Diminished crop yields, Buyanupithar Dynasty falls, Midin Mountain Amassment
Third Unifying Dynasty:
Yin-Vinulan Dynasty, Primary Mountain Circle Clarified, Arts predominate, Institutes Enumerator, Wellbeing and Preeminent Works Ministries, Yin-Vinulan Encyclopedias, Encyclopedia series marked by female, Complete and male Nu, ‘Life must Live with Life’ leads to machine eradication, Anti-Menem backlash, Unity without ‘unification war,’ Masters become prominent, Increments of Eight Conventions, Eroticism affirmed, Midin Mountain Amassment grows, Yin-Vinulan falls
Fourth Unifying Dynasty:
Mysterious Fourth Unification, Muraharoma Dynasty, Menem return to power on Rho-Jashun, Two continents two cultures, Masters receive warning of Suvuka
First Suvuka Onslaught
Cataclysmic change, Uthumpon River assaulted, Suvuka convert Menem Shrines, Impact on Statos-Vey society, Menem Priesthood marginalized, Tatchlan Masters speak openly, Duamang Age,
Suvuka contained behind Vettencore Passage,
Master Duamang effect,
Tolku Thermistal, Unlikely pilgrimage, Tolku Rho-Jashun, Deliberate policy, Duamang Age prepares for Quickening, Summary of history's impact on culture and philosophy
Religion, Philosophy and Mysticism
Chelyaka: Hollow Anu, Kavan-Kyan Monument, No complete literature,
Rituals and Songs, Other beliefs, Memanu Myths, ‘Chelyakans still had their tails,’ Everlasting Ennui, Ten plays satirized concept of afterlife, Bliss turns to lethargy, Paradise becomes prison, Embodied paradise, Why was Everlasting Ennui written, Debate over inclusion in Chelyakan canon, Everlasting Ennui collection’s modern popularity
Menem Religion:
Militant Exclusivity, Borrowed from enemies, Converted an Emperor, Artistic legacy, First Suvuka Onslaught broke Menem Power, Menem legacy within Tatchlan
Menem Literature:
Core Narrative,
Yeoyupan, Yeoyupan creates Anu, Menem forget former existence on Anu, Daruadunnal, Tarunachit, Sixty-four Tarunachit shrines,
Zitapermas, Yeoyupan Epic, Yeoyupan Mystery, The Yeoyupan Story, Footprints become shrine,
Furrumittal, Mystic Tools and Menem Language, One Hundred Gates and their Guardians, Aspirant's journey, Final Binding of Yeoyupan, Aspirant, Dependant, Four Grand Menem’s Promise, Four Menem Generals become Furrumittal instructors, Vindaviran,
Samajalas, Samajalas and machines,
Tarunachit,
Yuyutar
Sedat and Sev: Aspirant binds lesser Menem to them, Sedat, Sev,
Sev and Memanu, Powerful Aspirants bind Grand Menem
Menem-Inspired Opposition to Tatchlan
Nallurakon: Little known, Worked on Larpana Plants, Leaves Masters, Sheshenara Plan, Masters Reveal Plan, Nallurakon exile
Geltran: Inspired Nebutan, Young Geltran sees ageing Suvuka, Suvuka bemoan their barrenness, Deserted Running Circle, Geltran Writings, Respected critic, Geltran’s work forgotten with domestication of Suvuka
Nebutan: Began as Water Viewer, Discovers Tatchlan Master Enclave, Rediscovers writings of Nallurakon, Forms networks and builds a movement, Nebutan discovered and flees north, Welcomed by Sawlu Clan discovers works of Geltran
Nebutan’s Works:
Rise of Tatchlan, Worse than Chaos, Dignity's Demise, Dies suddenly, Collected Letters
Philosophy
Water Viewing:
Contemplation, Water contained living code, Menem oppression
Three Forms of Water Viewing:
Practical, Ethical, Destiny
Prehistory
Arose among Cousins
The Tolku
arose from among the Cousins. Over vast ages, they distinguished themselves by their actions, communication and organization, fuelled by what would be later called their ‘Collective Crown’ of intelligence. As with early childhood, no oral or written memory of this first step towards self-awareness exists. Subsequent exploration reveals a rich set of interconnected societies seemingly based on the model of the Cousin groups surrounding them, even before the advent of animal domestication, agriculture and writing. While these first nations were innovative and creative, sadly, there is also ample evidence of violence and destruction. Layers of ash alternate with ancient remains of this series of city-states continually rising and falling across Statos-Vey
and Rho-Jashun. Contention over borders and ownership of trade routes and resources often led to the downfall of many otherwise brilliant cultures. Over subsequent ages, Honoured Historians
began to discern a pattern to this rise and fall of nations. This eventually led to the Four Generations theory, which was tied to the fundamental issue of Self-Absorption.
The Witnesses
The only surviving monumental artifacts were raised late in this chaotic era, known as ‘The Witnesses.’ They are broad groupings of roughly shaped stones, all located on Statos-Vey. Little is known about their fashioning, transport and use. What may be surmised from their placement and the surviving carvings on their flanks is that they created a briefly unified society galvanized by a larger purpose in what is now central Statos-Vey. Despite these colossal remains, we know almost nothing about the community that raised them.
Baby Mother Rituals

What continued through this volatile period were gradual advances in food cultivation and animal domestication, along with growing knowledge of working metals. Many deep traditions tied to all forms of agriculture emerged, including the ‘sprouting mother’ and ‘baby mother’ rituals. Remarkably, these agricultural ceremonies have survived despite the complete disappearance of all other aspects of these most-ancient times.
Details may be found in their continued practice among Rural Clusters. The rudiments of several Tatchlan elements were also achieved, with the tentative communication with Cousins and the first modifications of other living beings. There is no reliable dating system for most of this time. Despite each of these falling to violence and destruction, they inspired later generations and planted the seeds of the current Cluster-of-Clusters perfection.
Most-Ancient Mound Worship
This term refers to prehistoric rural traditions of communities forming around Ketukku
Mounds and the incorporation of these mounds into a wide variety of rituals following all life cycles. Oaths were sworn before them, and food offerings were made at various seasons. Life Pillars
were set around or even driven into the centre of these mounds. Circle marching and dancing around the mounts for extended periods as part of various rites of passage was widespread.
Rare minerals excavated by the Ketukku and often festooning outside their mounds were seen as ‘gifts’ to the community and held as treasures. Small portions of the outer city were carefully removed and fashioned into small Life Pillars and other emblems for ceremonial use. It was expected to bury esteemed members of the community around these mounds with the express purpose of their bodies gradually being consumed by the Ketukku.
However, even in these distant times, it appears to have been understood only a few bodies could be placed within their proximity and only at certain proscribed distances from the central city. These practices were sufficiently universal and widespread to continue despite many other historical and cultural upheavals and to be recorded in many most-ancient texts.
Rural unremarkable

While a significant improvement over the tiny foraging bands and pastoral clans of the past, agricultural settlements still tended towards being hidebound and inward-looking. Beyond a collection of customs, along with incremental change and innovation in tools and practices, rural life never lent itself to generating the necessary elements for civilization and the full realization of the Collective Crown. As urban centres coalesced at strategic locations, they quickly separated themselves from the surrounding hinterland. The inhabitants lost rural sensibilities, embracing an intensified, increasingly specialized, sophisticated existence. The raising of The Witnesses
was only possible within settled and organized populations. As the growth of edifying culture was equated with memory for most Honoured Historians, they view rural life as fundamental and unremarkable. Tatchlan Masters would eventually realize concentrations of a refined populace within an intricate set of urban structures were necessary for planting all aspects of the Tatchlan System. Once this was achieved, it was the essential responsibility of these cultivated urban gardens to export, via new institutions, this intensive specialization and refinement of life to the raw thicket of the backcountry. All subsequent events and developments throughout the pre-Tatchlan period
and subsequent Greater Era
of the Primary Epoch and the Secondary Epoch are directed by urban centres or a Dependency Establishment such as a rural Ablution Academy.
History
The First Unifying Dynasty
Necessity of Writing
Communal agricultural projects and commercial networks came with establishing the first shining cities. These innovations necessitated the creation of a series of written scripts to keep accurate records of trading and agricultural inventories, along with the first written dialogues and dramas. These were based on pre-existing verbal languages. When the oral term for a prosaic object was near the same as one for an abstract concept, the symbol came to stand for both. This led to the gradual formulation of written characters representing all words employed by the original verbal language. The result was superior to the spoken form, quickly strengthening and diversifying the original linguistic structure. It also superseded oral narratives in depth and scope, allowing vast amounts of cumulative knowledge to be retained. Out of this powerful innovation grew the first kings, scribes, crafters, soldiers, and their attendant resources. Hand in hand with this came the standardization of communal myths and nation-building narratives to fashion a shared identity and purpose. These first institutions of true nationhood would be adopted or re-invented by later nation-states before their collapse. This was the beginning of the Tolku
dilemma. Notwithstanding the evolution of urban elegance, primitive impulses could still overwhelm superior sentiment and turn everything back to raw life. Even the early Funomanru Venerable Scholars
were thwarted in any systematic attempt to document these warring kingdoms, numbering into one thousand major and countless minor political entities, due to the subsequent destruction of their precious documentation and physical remains.
First Empires
True history begins with the formation of healthy and unified empires run by large bureaucracies. These dynasties organized massive agrarian projects and oversaw two successive agricultural innovations to feed growing populations, formed extensive trade and diplomatic relations with other communities, fashioned extended societies and created art, languages and integrated cultures. Yet, despite their many successes, these entities eventually met the same end as the small warring states before them.
Funomanru Dynasty

The names of thousands of city-states are known to a few honoured historians, but each pre-adult learns the famous name of this dynasty. Like all other nation-states, they arose on central Statos-Vey before distinguishing themselves. They embarked on what is now termed the ‘First War of Unification,’ reducing the chaos of many states to one integrated realm for all Tolku.
While most nation-states were absorbed into the empire, outlying areas were left in peace because large portions of the population would train to serve as professional infantry and other officers of a new imperial army. Due to many factors detailed below, the empire could finance this army so that these outlying areas grew prosperous and loyal in their service.
The above icon
is based on a surviving few pages of a Funomanu Age manuscript from the Mount Midin Legacy. It suggests a gathering to celebrate the merging of several kingdoms, although no reference persists to their names or the significance of their emblems. There has been speculation that the location is, in fact, The Plateau
within Upata-Shepsus. If this is the case, the event depicted would have occurred at the end of prehistoric times before the monument was flattened for what would eventually be the seat of the Funomanru Dynasty.
Tolku made whole
With these successes and initiatives, the Funomanru
are said to have ‘made the Tolku whole.’ For six centuries, there was a significant increase in population, living between ten to twenty years longer than their predecessors, meaning statistically, there were an average of three generations per century instead of the previous four generations. This was also the first time a series of emperors ruled for forty, fifty, sixty years and longer. These were the optimum periods of tranquillity and prosperity due to the stable continuance of one dominant personality. This precedent inspired the later Tatchlan Masters to formulate an essential aspect of their programme, the long-lived Majastas. Through the quiet deployment of a unified and contented populace, this dynasty established an unprecedented period of order and plenty based on two foundational resources, Charsha
and Azure.
Charsha
The first of two agricultural innovations lay one foundation of their internal stability. As part of their emphasis on large-scale agricultural projects, this dynasty patronized the expanded hybridization and cultivation of what became the staple crop of Charsha. Throughout its history, this dynasty continued efforts to improve the yield and quality of this cereal grain. Many earlier city-states were undone by poor irrigation and exhausting the land around them.
First ‘Generational Plan’
This dynasty took the lore from this time to envision what may be termed the first ‘Generational Plan’ to prepare vast tracts of land for extended cultivation periods. This involved some clearing of jungles on central and northern Statos-Vey
and southern Rho-Jashun.
Vast irrigation works followed this before planting various crops intended to prepare the soil before the introduction of Charsha. Given good conditions, it was usual to have two harvests per year. Once a set number of annual yields had occurred, other crops were planted before the jungle could reclaim the area temporarily. Despite allowing the site to fall into the wilderness for a generation, the canal and irrigation systems were strictly maintained until the cycle began again. As time passed, less new land was cleared, and the existing tracts were increasingly well tended to ensure improving fertility cycles maximized the loam. At the same time, many cultural institutions were either revived from earlier times or laid down surrounding the cultivation of Charsha and all other branches of agriculture. The growing canal system also allowed for intensifying a longstanding practice of fish farming on the well-watered continent of Statos-Vey.
Early Literature and Institutions
The first literature coming down to the present originated during this time, revealing the beginnings of many traditions. Many city-states experimented with various trade methods, and one had minted the first coinage. The Funomanru
standardized their currency throughout their domain and beyond. They also created the first-known navy to ply the waters of the Wakanda Ocean
and Panchala Sea. Legal traditions were solidified into the first codes of law. An early penal system was also developed. Before this, criminals were executed, banished to remote islands or sentenced to servitude and forced labour. While these punishments remained, there was sufficient wealth and stability to set aside land and institutions to deal with a wide variety of aberrant behaviours, leading to new sciences in social and mental dysfunction and, eventually, further rehabilitation and treatment methods.
Taboo against the North
While there is no reference to the Suvuka during this time, surviving literature refers to a strong taboo against ‘the North’ in general, specifically Thermistal, first referred to as the ‘dark continent.’ A few available descriptions of terrible encounters with legendary and terrifying creatures exist. These sources refer to an epic composed during this time of such an encounter, but sadly, no copies survive to the present. Recent evidence suggests the distance between the northern coast of Rho-Jashun
and the southern coast of Thermistal were farther apart in prehistoric times, meaning they are growing closer over geologic time. This could go some way to explain the ignorance each creature had of the other for so long. Unlike Thermistal, this dynasty also had extensive land trade networks throughout Rho-Jashun and Statos-Vey. Beyond the explicit political borders of the dynasty on Statos-Vey, the cultural influence of Funomanru
extended across both continents. Fortunately, a few authors also saw fit to attempt a summary of what had gone before, providing us with what little we know of pre-dynastic ages.
Upata-Shepsus

The Funomanru
made their capital on Statos-Vey, within what is now known as the Primary Mountain Circle of Upata-Shepsus, atop a monument already named The Plateau. What became known as The Grand Interior
of this monument, extending over one thousand andas
south to north and five hundred east to west, was divided into four districts associated with monuments to governance and civilization, along with rich loam in the southern district, allowing for sweeping Charsha
fields and other crops to feed the growing population inside. The Imperial Way
would begin out of the Circumambulatory Highway, moving precisely out of The Gateway
for nine hundred and seventy-seven andas to the Port Terminus of Bhampay. The Funomanu also began paring down the peaks and smoothing the tightly compacted circular mountain range surrounding them. This was towards the end of creating the most mighty girding walls around their capital.
The walls of the Primary Mountain Circle were also a significant source of wealth. Azure Stone, almost unknown to the rest of Anu, was abundant throughout the Veradapandra Mountains on Statos-Vey. As it is now, Azure was listed as the First Grade of builder and sculptor stone, particularly those infused with veins of Argent, Cupric and Lapis minerals. All six classes of minerals and gemstones lay in abundance within the Veradapandras, where it is said that ‘the wealth of Anu is gathered.’ This was the second stabilizing foundation of the empire.
Founding of Bhampay
The Funomanru Dynasty also founded the first of many ocean ports in what would become the city of Bhampay. The first extensive and stable trade networks were established with Bhampay at their hub, bringing goods from all parts of Anu to benefit a burgeoning population. This led to an influx of populations from remote communities, many finding new homes in the port city. Children of distant principalities were also brought to Bhampay to be educated at the first universities alongside the empire's elite.
Most were explicitly trained as the ‘service aristocracy’ of the dynasty before being sent back to serve the designated governors of peripheral nation-states for the Funomanu dynasty. All these activities contributed to Bhampay's development of a unique cultural status.
First Guilds, First Maps

The ‘Concord of Guilds’ and other significant art and craft houses were established along with the first well-established academies of deeper learning. Shrines and altars to an abundance of faiths were raised and, over subsequent generations, amalgamated into new hybrids. The first authoritative Anu
Maps were also produced to trade further (except for Thermistal, which was only rendered in its coastal outline). Many other sciences were fed by the constant stream of materials and information entering Bhampay
and other ports. Here and in the capital Upata-Shepsus, public works took on a larger form. Along with the original irrigation works, the earliest recorded large-scale engineering efforts were constructed, such as paved roads extending thousands of andas, ambitious bridges, dams, and large public buildings.
First Continental Bureaucracy
While previous city-states had begun this process, the Funomanru
completed the necessary innovations to ensure the proper functioning of an encompassing nation from capital to periphery. They established a sizeable royal bureaucracy to provide taxation and uniformly administered services and founded entire imperial institutions throughout Rho-Jashun
and Statos-Vey. The foundations of what came to be known as the Chancellery Ministry and two of its bureaus, the Supervisorate
and Directorate and the Grandee Secretariat Ministry, were founded. They also laid the foundations for what would later be known as the Cycles
and Commandant Ministries. They appointed governors, trained under the imperium's eye and subject to removal as necessary, to administer all conquered territories in the dynasty's name. They were assisted in this by many of the service aristocracies. The progeny of former enemies were raised and educated in Bhampay
and elsewhere before being returned to their former homelands. These governors oversaw rebuilding urban centres now under their control and patronized old and new cultural and religious institutions. Through this and many other ways, the Funomanru worked to gain the loyalty of subject nations and integrate them into the larger society.
Funomanru Code
Another important initiative was the gathering, examining and reworking of all surviving royal law codes. A new Funomanru Code was eventually promulgated throughout the empire, linking a succession of emperors with law and order throughout the nation. Most of these laws were civil, concerning contracts, property, adoption and inheritance. Criminal law was based on ‘equal retribution,’ meaning an act, especially of violence, was met by an equal action against the perpetrator administered by the state. On several occasions, previous city-states were brought low by extended blood feuds, leading to civil wars. This severe retribution was meant to garner satisfaction from the aggrieved party, thus avoiding such feuds. Part of this code dealt with Cousin
relations and is detailed immediately below.
Cousins Rights

One set of new laws found within the Funomanru Code of particular interest to later generations were codes governing the use of Cousins. The law stipulates their status as ‘one step behind the Tolku,’ meaning they were of more profound status than pathuda
and other service animals due to their intelligence and ability to communicate with Tolku and their close relations. While there was a distinction between ‘raw’ and ‘domesticated’ Cousins in several vital areas, in general, both were to be treated with the respect of near equals. The parameters of the domesticated Cousins' status concerning the Tolku are laid out in great detail.
In some cases, no distinction is made between Tolku and Cousin. Tolku or Cousin was trained for work in the cities and shrines, and those working in the fields were equally protected from overwork, poor housing and feed, and a considerable list of other abuses. Those convicted of breaking these laws were subject to harsh penalties and, in extreme cases, ‘equal retribution.’ The fact that such final punishments could be enacted against Cousin abuse was an innovation of this dynasty. While ignored in times of chaos, this was reaffirmed by subsequent dynasties.
Blue Star

One of the earliest and most enduring symbols, now called the Blue Star, came from this time. Despite the name, this image has nothing to do with the fixed and roving stars of the sky but refers to a well-known creature primarily found within the Panchala Sea, particularly along its southern shore. The creature has seven arms and a bright red spot on its back. This serves as a warning to predators of the mighty venom it carries. It is also known for shepherding its young in small clumps between its arms.
Even before this first dynasty, this creature was admired for its majesty, potency, grace and guardianship, all lending themselves to an imperial symbol. The Blue Star became an emblem of royalty throughout the Primary Epoch
and is now used by the Danam Yelda
for the same purpose. It is an icon incorporated into the Variothya Ministries
and designates national treasuries and monuments. It has also always been a symbol of the city of Bhampay throughout the Primary Epoch among the Tolku, especially with the Yin-Vinulan Dynasty,
for whom Bhampay was their capital. It now continues this role in the Secondary Epoch
among the Danam Yelda.
This image’s initial provenance is well documented. Yet, it is also clear the Blue Star symbol took on an additional meaning later in what would come to be known as the Primary Epoch. This was an extended period where Anu
was visited by what was known as the ‘Blossom.’ This was a series of Cycles where Nu
burned bright and produced extravagant ‘Emanations’ that filled the sky. These events were accompanied by vitality and exuberance and thus celebrated by the Tolku of those later ages. During these times, the Blue Star image came to join others, lauding this happy visitation. Only later did these events grow too powerful, and what had been pleasure became pain. This would become the dreaded Burning Blossom. Despite this association, the Blue Star continues its efficacy as an icon of Majesty, extending back to this pre-Tatchlan period.
First Histories
The first rudimentary histories of the Tolku
come from this time and, despite their incomplete state, are often the only source we have for this period and what went before, including most of the information on this page. ‘The Witnesses’ monuments were already ancient at this time and were treated with reverence and awe. Despite having access to long-lost oral traditions, academics of this time could not learn anything about their origins or purpose. The Chelyakan Religion
was thought to have formed early in this dynasty as a revolt against the emergence of large cities, their increasingly cosmopolitan city culture, and intensive and universal agriculture changing the nature of Tolku life.
Fall of Funomanru
Honoured Historians
depict the Funomanru Dynasty
in very different ways depending on their sources. Despite its vitality and affluence, this dynasty was eventually snuffed out by waves of economic breakdown and chaos initiated by a devastating series of waves of the Brangnam Plague. This led to the degrading of many institutions and general documentation, challenging the subsequent history of their demise. What is known is there were a growing number of trade disputes, now spread across Anu, sapping energy from the centre. Numerous resulting conflicts led to enormous expenditures for the standing armies. Increasingly lavish state ceremonies fed a cycle of unsupportable public events. Eventually, the frontier populations forming the body of the military took advantage of internal difficulties to turn on their former masters. This was coupled with even more deadly internal conflicts, including the re-emergence of blood feuds, leading to a series of devastating civil wars. For the first time during these civil wars, Cousins, particularly the giant Tamku
and Toboku, were trained and used in battle in complete contravention of the Funomanru Code. While many disputes continued among Esteemed librarians
and Venerable Scholars over this period, there was a universal condemnation of this terrible use of Cousins. Later, sages would look back on this period as an example of Self-Absorption awakening from its Slumber and moving into the Hunger, Theft
and Murder
stages of its terrible ‘generations’ of wakefulness.
Practicians and Masters
What followed the Funomanru collapse was an indefinite period of several centuries of chaos. Many city-states appeared only to be snuffed out and replaced by others. Many pre-Tatchlan schools emerged in response to the alternating phases of civilization and turmoil, including the first ‘Water Viewers.’ These were mystical and philosophical schools, characterized often by a complete lack of supernatural cosmologies. They sought answers by ‘descending the depths’ of themselves and life by various meditative and Vision Window
means. Out of these diverse traditions, a unified mission was formed to address this social maelstrom by subverting the source: Self-Absorption. A variety of disciplines were brought together by what became a society. They called themselves Practicians and distinguished themselves from the others by not only using altered states to enter into life but actively attempting to modify its structure.
After many generations of trial and error, some achieved the title of Master. This attainment was mainly due to their formation of the first Living Instrument
- the Lustrum Mirror. These Masters then successfully began to grow the first Tatchlan Seeds with their tentacles, tendrils and tales; it would take billions of these to form the Living System of Tatchlan. For security and continuity, these Primary Masters
fashioned a secret society, quietly recruiting the best minds, and began their ‘Resplendent Work’ for many generations.
Notwithstanding many dangers and periods of active persecution, each generation of Masters would devote themselves, among many tasks, to producing as many Tatchlan Seeds during their lifetime as possible. Eventually, they would also begin to refine them into their distinctive classes. While this was one part of their ambitious programme, it was undoubtedly the foundation upon which all else depended.
The Second Unifying Dynasty
Buyanupithar Dynasty
At the end of this terrible period, two powerful nations, the Buyanu and the Pithar, coming from central Rho-Jashun, joined forces to end the turmoil. A Buyanu queen took a Pithar king, and together they launched the ‘Second War of Unification.’ The Buyanupithar
became the most potent pre-Tatchlan
dynasties, overseeing a new amalgamation of all Tolku
under a single government. As with the Funomanru, this immediately led to an increase in population and life span. While exceeding the former Funomanru in many ways, the Buyanupithar Dynasty would also face debilitating challenges unknown to earlier ages.
Salarish
The Buyanupithar Dynasty's success was partly due to the other major agricultural innovation of history. They oversaw the development of large-scale planting and harvesting of Salarish. Given the dynasty's origins in Rho-Jashun, they were well aware of the history of this crop. For millennia, it has been gradually transformed through random cross-fertilization with other grasses and patient and calculated breeding programmes across the north of Rho-Jashun and, to a lesser extent, southern Statos-Vey. These disparate efforts were made to polish this ideal cereal crop in colder and drier locations where Charsha
would not grow. Under this new dynasty's supervision, the grain converted the vast grasslands of the Marachla Plain
on Rho-Jashun into huge Salarish fields interspersed with other grains in highly organized crop rotations.
Funomanru crop policy returns
The Buyanupithar followed much of the programme of their southern predecessors, the Funomanru Dynasty, in both the intensive hybridization and large-scale cultivation of this distinctive staple, allowing for a considerable expansion in population on the formerly underdeveloped continent of Rho-Jashun. They also revived the Charsha programme, re-digging the canal systems and faithfully following the Funomanru's well-honed cultivation practices.
Prosperity through food production
These measures led to a much higher population density on both continents than was ever achieved during the Funomanru Dynasty. The Buyanupithar institutionalized the Salarish Blood Crop fertility rites
around the crop, bringing them into urban areas to heighten the prestige of agricultural society. While the wealth of the Funomanru Dynasty may have mainly been from trade in Azure
and other minerals, the prosperity and stability of the Buyanupithar Dynasty came from food production and diversification.
Thithanu - the World City
The Buyanupithar Dynasty was based in northern Rho-Jashun in their consolidated capital of Thithanu, close by the grand Mount Thuma with the immense Uthumpon River flowing around three sides. Due to the abundance of water from myriad small rivers and underground springs seeking out the Uthumpon River, Thithanu became the first known city dominated by an extensive canal system. (Bhampay on Statos-Vey had yet to divert the Siana River through the city). With Mount Thuma forming a dramatic backdrop to the north and the Uthumpon River creating the south, west and eastern boundaries, Thithanu became the largest metropolis on Anu, and an extensive road system converged on it from all sides. Not until the Living Mountains of the Koru during the Secondary Epoch were larger urban populations brought so closely together. This mighty urban centre would remain the capital throughout the Buyanupithar, Midin and Muraharoma Dynasties. Its name was a derivation of the words World City in the language of the time. It supported an immense population, saw many events, nurtured cultural and historical innovations, and authored innumerable masterpieces. Among many other recorded wonders, at this height, there were one hundred ‘North Towers’ encircling the southern surround of Mount Thuma.
This Primary Epoch Icon is based on a most-ancient emblem recovered from the Mount Midin Amassment. It is estimated the original image dates from early in the Buyanupithar Dynasty. It shows a stylized Uthumpon flowing in its original course to the city's south. It is in the foreground, with Mount Thuma rising to the north behind it. The mountain is presented in an idealized form. The city appears as a series of perfect structures at the mountain's base. It is unknown whether these shapes had a specific symbolic significance at the time. This Icon can now Summon because it is a vital nursery for the first significant associations of Masters dwelling there. For centuries, they continued their work in the shadow of Mount Thuma before the Menem Priesthood drove them out.
Upata-Shepsus set aside

The dynasty also possessed the Primary Mountain Circle of Upata-Shepsus
on Statos-Vey, over twelve thousand andas to the south and east. They continued to mine and shape the encircling Azure
Mountains of Upata-Shepsus into a massive wall while turning the huge enclosure into a vast ceremonial centre. When the previous dynasty fell, fighting within the Grand Interior
led to terrible slaughter and the loss of many treasures. Their capital being far to the north, the Buyanupithar chose not to occupy this historic site continuously. It was set aside for pilgrimages and paramount occasions.
Buyanupithar Code
The Buyanupithar Dynasty
re-established and expanded the land and sea trading routes of the Funomanru Dynasty
and most of its founding institutions. They eventually produced a new law code, the ‘Buyanupithar Code’ based on the original Funomanru Code
and many extensive revisions and additions. This dynasty greatly enhanced the original Funomanru Chancellery’s Adjudicator Bureau, bringing it to its current level of depth. It is agreed their more significant contribution was to the extensive formulation of the Grandee Secretariat
and its five bureaus, which have remained intact down to the present. The present structure of the Cycles
and Commandant
Ministries was also clarified at this time. However, both would see additions and modifications early in the Greater Era
of the Primary Epoch
and during the Secondary Epoch. Once again, stability and universal laws are linked to a ruling dynasty and uniformly enforced across both continents. The dictum ‘Peace, Order and Good Governance’ comes from this time. While much of the old conventions were maintained due to vastly increased food resources and other improvements, this dynasty initiated a new set of criminal law institutions meant to do away with many of the excesses of the ‘equal retribution’ criminal laws of the Funomanru Code. This led to the building of the first prisons and other detention and treatment facilities, stimulating the development of many sciences to study aberrant behaviours. Over time, many changes to social and health institutions took place, along with the founding of entirely new ones. The dynasty also developed a more loosely organized set of provinces across Rho-Jashun
and Statos-Vey. They also appear to have attempted to explore Thermistal
with devastating results. The third emperor of this dynasty officially declared the dark continent to be ‘accursed’ and affirmed the original Funomanru prohibitions against any further travel to it.
Calendar
Among many accomplishments, this dynasty revived the 486-day Funomanru
calendar divided into twenty-seven ‘two-weeks’ each week composed of nine days, meaning a two-week was eighteen days long. While the original titles had changed, the specially designated days, i.e., Day Eight is ‘Luck Day’ and Day Sixteen is ‘Fountain Day,’ remained despite the original significance of this system being lost. This established the continuity of this construct, ensuring its continence for the remainder of the Lesser Era. Notwithstanding Danam Yeldic
civilization being founded near the equator, this calendar and much else from the time remains despite its clear founding in the northern hemisphere. They also created their unified currency, which all Tolku
of Anu
used. Their standardized weights and measures are still in use today.
Imperial Benefits

With an extended period of a single government for all Tolku, each recognizable aspect of civilization came into being. The dynasty restored and honoured all Funomanu
works with dedication and reverence. Many of their empresses and emperors ruled for decades, and these long reigns were the peak periods of well-being and affluence. They oversaw growth in all arts and sciences, adding countless new wonders. While only a fraction survives, detailed descriptions and renderings allow a measure of appreciation of the splendours of this period. This is now seen as one of the most extended intervals of basking in the First Generation of Slumber before the final Quickening of Tatchlan
and the breaking of Self-Absorption’s cycle.
Buyanupithar troubles
Midway through the dynasty’s life, many divisions and conflicts arose and blossomed despite this progress and prosperity. Honoured Historians
point to many aspects of this period as conforming to the template of the Second Generation of Hunger and the Third Generation of Theft. While there were instances of corruption in the Funomanru Dynasty, it became endemic in the halls of power. This caused a rot to set into all governance institutions and all previously well-regarded establishments. Beyond these craven tendencies, various religions and social systems began to contend with each other. The population was divided into hundreds of differing idea systems, and the impulse to seek Harmony was forgotten. While many of these faiths had co-existed for eons, this period was when support for different groups began to coalesce around specific locations associated with a founder or seminal event, leading to competing enclaves. Even the capital, Thithanu, became separated into various contending boroughs. A new group, the ‘Menem,’ initially seemed to meet hostility from all sides. The leaders were judged to be mentally ill and dangerous disturbers of the peace. Many were caught and imprisoned. At one point, new prisons and other national threats were built to house them. This strong reaction produced sympathy for them, eventually leading to a reversal in policy. Menem gained many converts for the next century within an increasingly polarized and volatile culture.
Philosophers Mystics welcome chaos
Only the philosophers and mystics welcomed this bedlam, seeing it as the fulcrum from which a new, more vibrant nation would emerge. These thinkers and dreamers had their contentions and worked towards very different visions. Over time, other schools of thought began to back various coalitions of faiths and movements to build a new consensus. To the dismay of all these new alliances of philosophers and beliefs, their least favoured religion began to assert itself and reap many recruits through the growing disenchantment - Menem.
Menem converts emperor
Emperor Vegalajar IV was converted to the Menem faith
in his youth at the height of this chaos. Within a few short years, he brought senior members of the priesthood into each level of government. He completely overhauled the national bureaucracy and education system based on Menem teachings. While the intelligentsia reacted in dismay, the general public welcomed this development, having grown weary of the constant strife between evenly matched factions. With this conversion, those Tatchlan Masters living in Thithanu
and other Rho-Jashun
centres began emigrating south onto Statos-Vey. Most would eventually gather within Mount Uluvatu within the Veredapandra Mountains
and start laying the foundations of Tatchlan. A decade later, on Rho-Jashun, Emperor Vegalajar IV sanctioned the Menem Priesthood to take revenge for past wrongs by slowly and systematically destroying all other religions throughout his domain in the name of resorting order. While much destruction did take place, with several terrible massacres and prolonged periods of civil unrest, over two generations, they triumphed in their mission. Their power was first established in the urban centres and later in the countryside. The next generation came to laud this fashioning of a unified vision, bringing a new order to a society that had suffered from many competing forces.
Machines
Among other novelties, this new regime brought the innovation of mechanical devices. Many of these were based on the power of water, in liquid, ice and steam form, and included a variety of time-keeping implements along with various machines for hydraulic work. Menem
priests welcomed these creations as a sign of the inner Menem trapped inside the body of each Tolku, surpassing Yeoyupan’s creation of Anu
by fashioning new beings to serve the Menem during their ‘flesh captivity.’ They claimed the second of the four Menem ‘Generals of the Air,’ Samajalas inspired these creations and reflected the clean perfection of Ranvartawan.
While welcomed by many, these new machines were also a source of growing contention due to unforeseen adverse side effects of their use. It was debated that their introduction separated the population from the living systems of Anu. The few remaining Tatchlan Masters
of Rho-Jashun, who appeared to have been afforded some protection and were known to the general public, added their voice to this opposition to all machines.
Menem Priests face urban challenges

Generations welcoming Menem
institutions were followed by others coming to resent and, in time, resist them. Being closely tied to the increasingly ineffectual Buyanupithar Dynasty, implicated in numerous corruption scandals, and the disappearance of prominent dissenters led to open opposition and satirical characterizations covering city walls. There was also growing opposition to the Menem policy of euthanizing all children displaying ‘Touched’ abilities, along with numerous instances of priestly abuse and hypocrisy exposed. These and more outrages led to widespread disenchantment, particularly within urban centres. Weariness grew over current absolutes while nostalgia grew for earlier, less vigilant times. Artists of all kinds led the way in giving voice to these growing sentiments. Dramas began to be written critical of the Menem version of recent and ancient history, and attempts to shut down productions of these works sparked massive demonstrations. A collection of sharp satires survive down to the present, attacking with humour all gods and notions of the afterlife known as the Everlasting Ennui. New generations of philosophers began their campaign against the priests. They said the vile face of Self-Absorption
had started to poison the nation, leading to the Buyanupithar Dynasty being stricken by numerous urban uprisings, civil wars and other disturbances. They accused the Menem of being the active agents in stimulating self-absorption in all its forms.
All of this occurred against a backdrop of this massive city suffering other forms of crisis. The population had continued to exceed all bounds as it expanded. It now crossed to the far side of the Uthumpon River on three sides and climbed the foothills of Mount Thuma. Due to intensive generational farming in the countryside, crop yields began diminishing. A series of droughts led to a grain-exporting region being forced to import from the south. Despite the abundance of water, the infrastructure could not keep up with the amount of waste and garbage produced within the city. During these turbulent times, the ‘World City’ became the source of numerous disease outbreaks and, in general, became increasingly foul. For these and other reasons, a quiet exodus of elites and others with the means began to depart the capital, most heading south to Statos-Vey. This movement came to be encouraged by the embattled Menem Priesthood, as most were among its most vocal critics.
Rural loyalty
These events also displayed a growing gap between urban centres, including the capital, where most of this unrest occurred, and rural areas, where the Menem faith
remained unaffected by these changes. This was another form of large-scale social division unknown in Funomanru
and earlier times. Generations before, these agricultural communities had been the last to embrace the new religion; now, they were the priesthood’s staunchest allies. Their base was most fervent at the forty-four Tarunachit Menem Shrines
across the Marachla Plain
of Rho-Jashun. The communities guarding these ancient places of Menem pilgrimage disparaged the novelties of urban culture and despised Thithanu
as the seat of all corruption. Because of this, the Menem Priesthood could ride out the various storms against them. In the last centuries of the dynasty, they continued their programme to fashion a Menem-based nation, but their hold in the urban centres never returned to its initial power.
Diminished crop yields
Throughout the dynasty, there was mounting evidence of reduced crop yields. Despite various strategies to rest and enrich the soil, the growing presence of minerals brought to the surface by generations of farming and irrigation was proving increasingly challenging. This situation was slow to form and did not manifest for millennia. While not a crisis, this situation added to rural unrest across the continent. This situation was not resolved until the establishment of the Cluster-of-Clusters Nation. See Vilates
for the solution to this issue.
Buyanupithar Dynasty falls
The divisions created by the Menem Priests
were only the first of many to increase and grow. Portions of the empire began dissenting from Thithanu’s direction. This situation worsened with the prospect of a possible civil war between the southern states along with the Mulungu Mountain Range
and the central states of the Marachla Plain. Beyond this terrible standoff, the Buyanupithar Dynasty
also suffered a record number of natural catastrophes, including a Lifeless Curtain
event in the north, a series of Wailing Banes
in the southwest, a powerful Water Column
in the central plains of Rho-Jashun, and several Eyes of Nu
falling on both Rho-Jashun and Statos-Vey. Never had so many of these calamities taken place within two decades. This unprecedented series of catastrophes, which had a devastating physical and emotional impact, coinciding with continuing political and social unrest, contributed to the dynasty’s demise.
Midin Mountain Amassment
The Midin
is the least known of these early dynasties. Arising out of the ashes of the previous Buyanupithar Dynasty and completing the ‘Third War of Unification,’ they extended their rule south onto Statos-Vey, briefly occupying the Primary Mountain Circle. They only lasted four centuries before internal disputes led to a ruinous civil war, which wiped out nearly all records from this time. They are seen as the one dynasty to suffer the Four Generations of Self-Absorption
in the briefest timeframe. For this short span and other reasons, Honoured Historians
see this interval as the brief revival at the end of the Buyanupithar Second Unifying Dynasty period. The Midin Dynasty’s most notable legacy was a concerted effort begun early in the dynasty's history. They formed an ambitious campaign to copy and store large portions of documentation from the previous dynasty, including the only surviving copies of material dating back to the Funomanru Dynasty
of Statos-Vey, within underground vaults in the Mulungu Mountain Chain
to the east, in a Mountain later renamed Mount Midin. What came to be known as the Mount Midin Amassment
was three thousand, one hundred and ninety andas south and east of Thithanu and six hundred and forty-one andas north and west of Mount Arnom. Why this was undertaken and such a remote location was selected is unknown. Still, these vaults survived the destruction of their creators and remained throughout the Primary Epoch
as a source of information about the Lesser Era.
Tragically, this treasury was later destroyed after the Second Suvuka Onslaught
and the fall of the Primary Epoch. One population of survivors of the Killing Swath
had established themselves within Mount Midin
when the Suvuka
scented them. The Koru successfully diverted the Suvuka into the Legacy Chambers so they could evacuate their hidden community. The Koru
population escaped south to Mount Arnom, but the vast treasury was obliterated.
Primary Mountain Circle clarified
They chose not to formally occupy the Primary Mountain Circle, the site of the Funomanru Dynasty
capital of Upata-Shepsus. They stopped all mining within and began a different form of land sculpture. Prior to this, a significant set of foothills and small mountains connected the southern face of the Primary Mountain Circle to what is now known as the Eastern Range of the Veradapandra Mountains. The empresses and emperors of this dynasty began to systematically reduce the size of the surrounding mountains to distinguish further what now appeared to be a vast, smooth-faced wall surrounding what was declared to be The Grand Interior. These foothills had never been mined before, and vast deposits of Auarm, Cuprum, Ferrite, Thalo
and other precious gems and minerals were uncovered within these modest locations. Such was the bounty of these deposits that much of the dynasty's extravagant ways may be traced back to them.
Arts predominate
While the Buyanupithar Dynasty
was known for several agrarian and scientific accomplishments, the Yin-Vinulan Dynasty were reformers and patrons of the arts. They turned their port capital
into a fabled treasury of public art and architecture, nurturing a period of intensive literary, musical and theatrical innovation. They transformed Bhampay
and other centres with vivid public artworks drawing on many cultural traditions. The Yin-Vinulan also distinguished their city by constructing the Red Ring, a perfect circular wall around the city and extending out into the harbour. The only breaks were for shipping to enter its sheltered inner harbour and for land traffic to pass under its massive gate via the Imperial Way
from Upata-Shepsus. The ‘shifting’ outer wall, moving in and out with the waves and currents, was the marvel of the age. This dynasty appears to have used this dynamic Bhampaian culture to unify the rest of Statos-Vey. Recent findings suggest all of central and portions of southern Statos-Vey were taxed and serviced by the Yin-Vinulan. This was the first dynasty to use the ancient Funomanru Blue Star
image as an explicit symbol of Bhampay and its royal house.
Institutes Enumerator, Wellbeing and Preeminent Works Ministries
Previous unifying dynasties had seen fit to conduct a census and analyze the results. Still, this dynasty formalized the regular taking of the census each decade within the new ministry known as
Enumerator. They also added what would come to be known as the third of the ministry’s three bureaus, the
Erudite Bureau, to oversee and administer various intellectual and cultural activities. They also founded the
Wellbeing Ministry, which comprises three bureaus: the
Pacifier,
Ratio, and
Completion. While within the later
Cluster-of-Clusters Nation, two additional bureaus would be added; the original three parameters have remained unchanged through subsequent ages. This dynasty is also distinguished for creating a third ministry, that of
Preeminent Works. The four bureaus of today’s ministry were all founded at this time. The catastrophic failure of the great city of
Thithanu to control its growth and sufficiently deal with its unhealthy conditions was fresh in the minds of many. The newly instituted Preeminent Works Ministry was tasked with massive infrastructure works to make
Bhampay and other places of health and beauty. These many initiatives were, in part, a response to what was seen at the time as the foul and dour nature of the former capital of Thintlith under the influence of the
Menem priesthood.
Yin-Vinulan Encyclopedias
This dynasty also commissioned a set of over one hundred fulsome encyclopedias to cover a wide range of intensive and specialty subjects. Many thousands were employed in combing through the material and writing entries, along with thousands more fanning from Bhampay
to gather information from all of Statos-Vey
and Rho-Jashun.
Some intrepid explorers even braved the terrors of the dark northern continent of Thermistal
to gather what they could. Bhampay was fertile ground for most specialties, and most authors were present within the Red Ring Wall.
Encyclopedia series marked by female, Complete and male Nu
The crest for the entire series is pictured with a simple image. Nu
appears as a half-disk rising on the left side, following the demarcated half-circle through the day to the top and then descending to complete the arc on the right as a half-disk again.
The result was two half disks at either end and a full one at the top connected by the arc of passage. At dawn, Nu
was utterly female; by Nu’s zenith, the entire disk was displayed as a Complete, and at sunset, Nu was wholly male. This is the only iconography from a vanished ancient religion. It was in decline when the Menem
priesthood of Rho-Jashun
subsequently destroyed it. It is known that the later Uluvatu Masters
would affectionately refer to the perfection of gender unification as ‘Completes’ about what seems to have been looked back on as a lovely tradition. The Koru
carefully reproduced this most-ancient emblem into one of the icons honouring Completes.
‘Life must Live with Life’
 leads to machine eradication
This dictum
appears very early in this dynasty's literature. The term is attributed to the forerunners of Primary Tatchlan Masters, known as ‘Practicians.’ It became the banner for the Yin-Vinulan Dynasty's first set of reforms, outlawing all mechanical devices. Their proclamations said many of the miseries of the later Buyanupithar
and the Midin
Dynasties were attributable to the social and natural disturbances they caused. They charged these devices, creating a separation between the Tolku, their Cousins, and all other creatures. As the saying suggests, they declared true happiness in being embedded and surrounded by living beings.
In regular succession, the empresses and emperors of this dynasty oversaw an aggressive campaign to destroy all of these machines and eradicate manuals and other materials dedicated to their construction and repair. A well-known victim of machines was a small species of fish known as the Nemain,
which produced a large quantity of oil for their size. These were wantonly harvested for their oil
for the machines.
The Nemain became the symbol of this campaign and, through sophisticated promotion and strict penalties, gradually led to the extinction of the machines. While some states clung to their use on Rho-Jashun, most of the specialized materials used in making machines could only be found on Statos-Vey, and gradually, they also fell into permanent disrepair and destruction.
Millennia later, the first Cluster-of-Clusters Nation
of Anu
renewed this program using many means over generations. In extreme circumstances in later times, Majastas
took it upon themselves to ‘convert machines into animals’ as a last resort to break both the presence of these devices and, more importantly, the culture they produced among their users.
Anti-Menem backlash
Along with their ‘Life must Live with Life’ campaign, the Yin-Vinulan
were also known for their systematic diminishment of the role of the Menem religion. Given Menem championed the use of machines, it may be said these were two portions of the same campaign. Honoured Historians
now condemned the Menem Priesthood for creating havoc in the old capital of Thithanu
on Rho-Jashun. A long list of crimes was laid at the Menem Priesthood’s feet, including the eradication of many cultures, persecution and murder of specialized populations, manipulation of state institutions to their benefit, dereliction of duty concerning crumbling infrastructure and urban sanitation based on widespread corruption and other abuses of office. Menem institutions on Statos-Vey
were stripped of many of their former privileges and were no longer exempt from taxation. For example, Buyanupithar
laws establishing their temples as tiny ‘nations’ were abolished, meaning any government official or enforcement officer could enter them as any other public building. This was the start of a programme to encourage public opposition to what was perceived as their former political and social influence. At the same time as these measures were enacted, authors began publishing critiques of the religion. Some were philosophical and attacked many of the thematic underpinnings of the belief system. Such candour would have been unthinkable before this dynasty.
Unity without ‘unification war’
Using techniques similar to their ‘Life Must Live with Life’ campaign, the Yin-Vinulan
cultivated a widespread rejection of its teachings among academics, cultural leaders, and the general population. Venerable Scholars
and Honoured Historians
of later times have speculated the dynasty was founded partly to curb both the machines and Menem
from the outset, with the Tatchlan Masters
playing a quiet role in their establishment. They also suggest any answer as to how this dynasty unified the disparate elements of Statos-Vey
after the fall of the Midin Dynasty without resorting to a ‘unification war’ must take the growing power and influence of these Tatchlan Masters.
Masters become prominent
As the machines disappeared and the fortunes of the Menem
receded, the Tatchlan Masters rose after remaining hidden until late in the Buyanupithar Dynasty when most withdrew to Uluvatu Mountain; the Masters now walked openly in the streets of Bhampay. There are records of their obtaining regular audiences with a succession of Yin-Vinulan
empresses and emperors. They took a page from their nemesis’s book and entered into the bureaucracy, education and health system, enjoying growing prestige among all segments of society. The first Master Enclaves
were publicly established within the city early in the dynasty's history.
Increments of Eight Conventions
The Yin-Vinulan Dynasty first formalized this title
to encompass the basis of reorganizing all aspects of governance and society. The empire’s territory at the time was restructured into sixty-four provinces. Each province contained between sixteen and seventy-two districts. Each district was divided into ‘eight within eight within eight ’ governance units.
One example among many other utilizations of these conventions involved the long-standing unit of distance, the Anda. This was also subdivided into sixty-four units known as Ans. Each An is divided into sixty-four units known as Das or singular Da. Each Da is divided into sixty-four units known as Dans or singular Dan. This led to the standardization of many everyday items. Eventually, all Imperial Ways
would be one An in width. All cart axels were one Da in length, as were the width of the hull for canal craft. All official seals are one Dan in diameter. The Increments of Eight became universal throughout the remainder of the Lesser Era
of the Primary Epoch
and continue now through both the Koru
and Danam Yeldic
Cluster-of-Cluster’s Nations. Even the Yakku
employ these conventions, founded on the scientific institutions of the Primary Epoch’s Viracocha District Flora Ministry
of Western Thermistal.
What was not known by most at the time was this was the first manifestation of the Tatchlan Masters
leaving their sequestering within the Veradapandra Mountains to enter into public life. It is now understood they found their way into this dynasty, serving in all of its ministries and having the ear of its succession of empresses and emperors. The true origin of the term ‘Increments of Eight Conventions’ dates back to the first Uluvatu Masters
and their ordering of The General Plain
into an infinite series of eight components within eight components. While serving many ends, their ultimate goal was to embed the core notion of eight as a foundational concept in the general population to grow the notion of Circles of Eight
as the primary social unit.
Eroticism affirmed

The Yin-Vinulan Dynasty
founded fertility shrines and temples, rejecting Menem teachings of the body as a prison. The Yin-Vinulan empresses and emperors raised a host of monumental statuary and other monuments celebrating the erotic, and it is said an early depiction of the Tatchlan Face of Kava-Kura, the Face of Vital Delight, along with her attendant symbols of anticipation, fulfillment and contentment, once hung from the inner side of the Red Ring Wall.
Given that Kava-Kura, an early Face of Tatchlan, was not yet awakened within the Living System, this is clear evidence that Masters
working on Her and all features of the Living System were in charge of many aspects of the Yin-Vinulan administration. Attending these ebullient developments were severe attacks on the terrible damage Menem thinking had on the Tolku, with a litany of illnesses said not to have existed before their reign. The office of Soother within the Pacifier Bureau
of the Wellbeing Ministry is said to have taken on increased prestige as they worked to examine and address what they diagnosed as the many terrible emotional disorders caused by Menem beliefs.
It must be noted here that the above icon displays one of the earliest images of Nu
in its Benign Blossom
mode. This image appears to have been crafted as the Blossom Cycles first became apparent, leading to the first subtle benefits and paving the way for a future culture eagerly anticipating these events. As such, it is understood this dynasty presided over the earliest ages of Blossom Benisons, quietly supplementing the harmony of their reign.
The now-disorganized Menem priesthood uttered dreadful curses on the dynasty and its capital. Their wealth and privileges were gone; they began to leave Statos-Vey
and lent their considerable administrative abilities and communications networks to various dynastic foes on Rho-Jashun. It was not lost on subsequent commentators that this mirrored the exile of the Tatchlan Masters from Thithanu
millennia earlier.
Midin Mountain Amassment grows

While making copies of the Midin Mountain Amassment
collection still held within Mount Midin (the northern extent of the small portion of Rho-Jashun
mountains and coastline controlled by the Yin-Vinulan Dynasty), they did not seek to transport the collection. Instead, they expanded these fortified libraries with their materials, adding as much as one-quarter to the entire collection.
Yin-Vinulan falls
Like all dynasties before them, Self-Absorption
arose from its Slumber
despite their many successes. It proceeded through its Generations, afflicting the fair dynasty with the cancer of ‘vile greed and venomous ambition.’ Internal discontent was coupled with increasing incursions from bandit states from Rho-Jashun. It is now known the Menem priesthood
played a part in both of these destructive elements. A series of devastating civil wars brought the dynasty to an end. The defenders of the capital led a heroic defence, and the outer side of the Red Ring Wall
was filled with scars from the conflict. Despite overwhelming forces, the city was never breached and, due to subsequent developments, mainly survived intact.
The Fourth Unifying Dynasty
Mysterious fourth unification
As the continent of Statos-Vey
descended into the ‘Fourth War of Unification,’ through a series of ambiguous events, a relatively minor state formed the new dynasty named Muraharoma. Honoured Historians
struggle and debate the nature of the documentation and evidence from this period as much as they do over the founding of the Yin-Vinulan Dynasty. Once established, the first Muraharoma Emperor tore up the agreements with the Menem priesthood
and would not allow them to punish Bhampay. Portions of the city were repaired, and it continued under the new dynasty, although it was no longer the capital.
Muraharoma Dynasty
The Muraharoma
re-opened the Primary Mountain Circle
of Statos-Vey
and made it their ‘First City.’ The old imperial capital of Thithanu
was designated as their ‘Second City.’ They turned Bhampay, the seat of the former Yin-Vinulan Dynasty, into their cultural and educational capital, commercial hub and principal port. Despite the Menem
priesthood's continued objections, the city's cultural legacy remained intact and generous endowments ensured its cultural institutions continued. In all this, they emulated the already mythical Funomanru Dynasty. Through an extensive shipping/highway and communication network, expanded trade, and improvements in agriculture and irrigation, the Muraharoma Dynasty came to rule both continents for four hundred years up to the Suvuka Onslaught.
Menem return to power on Rho-Jashun
Even with their frustrations with the city of Bhampay
and its influence on Statos-Vey, the Menem Religion
returned to power on Rho-Jashun
during this time. The population of the vast continent had diminished, and many of the smaller cities were abandoned. The former imperial capital of Thithanu
remained, but the popular culture had entirely changed from the final years of the Buyanupithar Dynasty. Throughout the Yin-Vinulan Dynasty, there was a significant movement of educated populations out of Rho-Jashun onto Statos-Vey. Despite the Yin-Vinulan's fall, the Statos-Vey subcontinent could now be more populous and prosperous than their comparatively backward relations on the main continent of Rho-Jashun. There was another migration out of Statos-Vey by those opposed to the Yin-Vinulan culture on Statos-Vey. The Muraharoma Dynasty
enforced an accord between these two cultures for governance purposes, but notwithstanding their efforts, the gulf between the two lands widened. This separation of the two continents will be repeated similarly, for similar reasons, later in our story.
Two continents, two cultures
While something of an oversimplification, this led to the development of two cultures, Menem
on Rho-Jashun
and various ancient and new practices, primarily inspired by the hothouse culture of Bhampay, on Statos-Vey. The Tatchlan Masters
openly served the new Muraharoma Dynasty and all its ministries within the Primary Mountain Circle of Upata-Shepsus, ensuring the distinctive culture of Statos-Vey continued to develop independently of Menem-controlled Rho-Jashun. They were also present on Rho-Jashun but worked in a far less hospitable climate. The fickle Thithanu
general population had turned again and now were against the Masters. Those holding positions of authority, especially those with academic credentials, were presumed to be Tatchlan Masters and were all viewed with suspicion and hostility. The resurgent Menem Priesthood repeatedly tried to force them out of the city. These Masters were embroiled in numerous disturbances as the ancient city was divided between those supporting them and those standing with the Menem.
Masters receive warning of Suvuka
The Mount Uluvatu Masters on Statos-Vey received many warnings. These included news of increased disturbance incidents, such as a rise in Gandahatapan and Mahakram insect wars. Such natural anomalies were followed by explicit dispatches from their serving Cousins and Krall of an imminent threat approaching from Northern Rho-Jashun. They relayed this to their Tatchlan compatriots in Thithanu, who began to sound the alarm. Gradually, other authorities in various fields saw the signs and joined their call. Only a fraction of the population chose to listen and begin to move south ahead of the approaching storm. It is noted that while the Muraharoma emperor Semesilian XIII struggled with conflicting reports and indecision in Upata-Shepsus on Statos-Vey, he did accede to the Master’s urgings to stop all emigration from Statos-Vey to Rho-Jashun and to begin to fortify the three gaps in the southern Mulungu Mountain range. Due to trade and other issues, barriers had already been raised at these locations over a century earlier.
First Suvuka Onslaught
Cataclysmic change


This world-shaking event changed everything for the Tolku on Rho-Jashun
and Statos-Vey. As powerful a force as the onslaught was, this also represents a terrible failure of the Muraharoma Dynasty. Most of the Tatchlan Masters
had left for Statos-Vey, but the few remaining received warning from the Uluvatu Masters by way of their many devoted servants, primarily the Krall
and Cousins, along with limited communications within the early Living System
via The General Plain. While these remaining Tatchlan Masters were the first to issue warnings a full two-week
before the catastrophe and began leaving Thithanu
and other Rho-Jashun urban centres in haste, most of the population remained divided. Even when many others travelling to the north and noting unusual animal migrations raised the alarm, there was little response. The Menem Priesthood
accused the Masters of stirring up the populace and attempting to drive the faithful into ‘the poisonous arms of the South.’ They disparaged their powers and assured the public their Menem Generals saw no sign of impending disaster. When directives came from Emperor Semesilian XIII in Statos-Vey to mobilize the army and begin evacuations, the Menem Priests accused him of being a ‘Tatchlan puppet.’ Their powerful resistance to the Tatchlan Master's message turned many from taking action.
Along with questioning directives from Upata-Shepsus, they actively contributed to the indecision of the local and provincial governments and the slowness of any official investigation into the matter. The onslaught was already underway when patrols went into the wilds of the Huallapandu Headlands
of northern Rho-Jashun. The Suvuka’s vast herds swept over these meagre forces and covered the Marachla Plain
in a matter of days, completely overwhelming still underprepared defences. Those not able to flee south were killed in the millions as all agricultural and urban works were utterly levelled. The First Suvuka Onslaught
eclipsed all previous catastrophes in Tolku
history combined. The vast, sprawling capital of Thithanu, founded with the birth of the Buyanupithar Dynasty, was, according to one lament of the time, ‘reduced to fine sand.’ There are fragmentary survivors’ accounts of many battles and increasingly desperate attempts to fend off the attackers, but the Suvuka were too powerful and possessed overwhelming numbers. The Gashandak Treasury Abridged Encyclopedia
states the city had just celebrated its seventh centenary. Of all the benefaction of Tolku civilization up to that time on Rho-Jashun, only the Midin Mountain Legacy
survived intact. This is now seen as a happy accident of how the entranceways led into the Treasury. The passages were relatively narrow and winding. They led to small, hidden openings that were easily camouflaged. This would be remembered when survivors hid within these mountains during the Second Suvuka Onslaught.
Uthumpon River assaulted
Such was the rage of the Suvuka when they arrived at Thithanu; they changed the course of the mighty Uthumpon River. Were the evidence not irrefutable, it would be impossible to credit. They did so by tearing down this immense city and pushing most of the ruin into the river in such quantities that it could no longer flow and change course. With all hope lost, the surviving Tolku began a frantic evacuation south across the Marachla Plain. Those reaching safety said the Suvuka became intent on levelling the World City and did not follow them initially. Due to many topographical factors, the river backed up and flooded broad areas, presenting something of a barrier when the Suvuka began to give chase. Despite these watery impediments, they quickly overtook more than half of the refugees and destroyed them. The miserable remnant allowed through the Xaduron Wall of The Impenetrable Barrier Region was the last Tolku of Rho-Jashun. The Uthumpon River eventually forged a new channel. It now flows far north of Mount Thuma and its small companion, Mount Thanur. This is the only example of such a monumental alteration of a major river by the Suvuka.
Suvuka convert Menem Shrines
There was one mysterious exception to their programme for eradicating all signs of Tolku presence on Rho-Jashun. Forty-four Menem shrines were built across Rho-Jashun, and a further twenty were built on Statos-Vey. These are mentioned in the Menem religious text, the ‘Daruadunnal,’ within the set of martial tales known as ‘The Tarunachit.’
They supposedly contained relics of the war between the Menem and Kovlah in Ranvartawan. They were characterized as having an egg-shaped central depository of the relic surrounded by large curving walls with elaborate murals depicting aspects of the Menem narrative. The Suvuka chose to trample down the complex while carefully converting these forty-four sites into their Running Rounds, suggesting something about these structures and their locations separated them from all others. Many theories have been expounded, but no clear answer to this mystery has gained acceptance.
Impact on Statos-Vey society
After this First Suvuka Onslaught, the surviving Tolku
behind the ‘Impenetrable Mountain Barrier’ was said to forget past quarrels as they ‘fell to the ground and wept together.’ Sorrow was said to be ‘etched in each face.’ The ‘Pauloman Catalogues’ of the Mount Midin Amassment
describe a collection of works written generations later known generally as ‘The Lamentations.’ This collection included song, poetry, prose, and a series of dramatic re-enactments, all dedicated to the fall of Rho-Jashun. This collection did not survive the later tragedy of the Amassment’s destruction
during The Interim. In the aftermath, the Muraharoma Dynasty
was crippled by the devastating loss of all Rho-Jashun. Emperor Semesilian XIII lay prostrate in the palace for a two week upon hearing the news and died prematurely within a year of the cataclysm. His heir, Semesilian XIV, struggled with maintaining the Impenetrable Mountain Barrier, which suffered some of its most intensive assaults by the frustrated Suvuka
over the next century. While the hastily begun defences were successfully strengthened before the hordes arrived, a massive shift in population and resources moved out of Statos-Vey to the southern side of the Mulungu Mountains
to establish a string of military outposts. These regularly monitored the over twelve thousand andas worth of mountainous boundary. Much of this formed an effective natural barrier, but the few gaps were intensively guarded against any Suvuka slipping through. Principal constructed portions of the Barrier, Xaduron Wall, Bulbogal Trench and Thumondu Wall quickly became watchwords of this and many subsequent generations. A fragment of a heroic tale tells of one bowman repelling down the inner side of a rough portion of the mountains when a massive wedge of Suvuka was seen climbing up what had been deemed a sheer rock face. She got close enough to shoot the lead creature in the mouth. It fell backwards, causing an avalanche of Suvuka bodies, some thousand or more, to fall to their deaths. Mount Atunis is said to be named after this archer.
Menem priesthood marginalized

For all the external challenges, the Tolku
of Statos-Vey
had an additional set of trials from the intensified situation of the imminent threat, coupled with social stresses caused by the influx of Rho-Jashun
refugees. One group particularly discomforted was the surviving Menem Priests. Along with their general influence, their ‘Thithanu Orthodoxy,’ principally based within the World City, was destroyed. Their immense libraries of Thithanu, containing many foundational, commentary, and narrative collections, were preserved mainly in the upper echelons, so few copies existed elsewhere. Only two relatively minor works out of an extensive canon come down to us intact. On Statos-Vey, their rival, the Masters, was in the ascendancy. The well-known fact further disadvantaged the priests that the Masters had correctly predicted the onslaught, and the priests had impeded any effective response to it. The once influential association was marginalized and powerless to influence subsequent Tolku history. Most Honoured Historians
agree that the First Suvuka Onslaught
destroyed the Menem Religion
as a force in Tolku history from this point forward.
Tatchlan Masters speak openly
At the same time, the Tatchlan Masters
rose to full power. They now occupied all levels of government along with many great professions and academic positions. They also held leadership roles in the general education system and dominated all medical institutions. They began quietly advocating their long-held vision for establishing a Cluster-of-Clusters Nation
from these positions. They said this would be based on modifying all life on Anu
by sinking to the deepest levels where the Living System
was now actively cultivated. While distributed across Statos-Vey, they concentrated their efforts in the capital region with its primary centres, Upata-Shepsus
and Bhampay. Given these cities and their administration were intact, the dynasty
survived for another fifteen hundred years, but it was a time of profound upheaval. Two hundred and twenty-seven years later, the final era of the pre-Tatchlan age began, the Duamang Age.
Duamang Age
While this is also the last millennia of the Muraharoma Dynasty,
it is given a clear title. This age is named after the historic Tatchlan Master Duamang. She oversaw the sterilization of the Suvuka
herds occupying Rho-Jashun
from her perch on Mount Anchaphron overlooking the southeastern Marachla Plain
by employing a domesticated version of the hateful Brangnam Plague. The once mighty Suvuka dwindled to a feeble population easily driven north before being left in peace to die out along the Huallapandu Headlands. Master Duamang's weapon also partially worked on the main population of Suvuka on Thermistal. After their subsequent defeat, a new calendar was initiated named after her.
Depicted here is the triumphal Icon
of Master Duamang’s Weapon. Against one of the traditional backdrops of the Living System, a pair of Suvuka paws are pushed apart by an upthrusting blade containing the tiny Brangnam agents designed within Tatchlan to stop their wombs.
The weapon was said to ‘pierce them from below,’ signifying how the agent entered their bodies, along with telling the source was from deep within Anu. This was also the primary emblem for the entire Duamang Age.
This was not the only powerful image from this momentous period. Also, many Sensitives
had dreams of a glowing form dispelling all nightmares at this time. A tradition quickly formed of symbolic images, known as Duamang Icons, appearing throughout Bhampay
and elsewhere across Statos-Vey. Often, these contained the royal Blue Star
symbol, linking the Tatchlan Masters
closely to the Muraharoma Dynasty. During this Duamang Age, true Invocates, able to not only employ Tatchlan Cubes
but work Living Instruments
directly, were perfected and began their vital work.
This age lasts twelve hundred and seventy-three years until the Quickening
and the infant awareness of the first Tolku Majastas Thakadush-Satwa. The first calendar of the Greater Era
of the Primary Epoch
is then established.
Suvuka contained behind Vettencore Passage
Not only did these dramatic events remove the possibility of fresh invasion, but in time, the Tolku
crossed the Panchala Sea
in force and drove the remaining herds, significantly diminished by the same Tatchlan agents, onto the southeastern section of the continent. A vast natural fissure separated much of this from the rest of Thermistal, known as the Vettencore. The army engineers fashioned a connection between the northern and southern halves of this deep fissure and flooded what came to be known as the Vettencore Passage.
This was further widened, and high walls were created along its length on both banks, effectively trapping the remaining Suvuka
on the relatively small ‘eastern third’ of their former range. Initially, the Suvuka tried to swim across the passage many times, only to be repulsed. The army formed a permanent set of stations all along the western side of the course and defensive works and rode mighty Tumatch
to patrol the waters (Dine, a character in the first novel, Heshavira’s Challenge, was among many who in their youth worked under the military’s direction on this project for a time).
Under the army's protection, others came to study the Suvuka (Shuna-Vurupta, another character of the first novel, becomes one of these). The creatures eventually began bearing young again in numbers, but their barrier had become unassailable by the time they were a vital population. Traders and others began to use this relatively safe passage to sail to the northern coast of Thermistal, where many natural resources, including several new pharmaceuticals, were found.
This official icon
displays, in simple terms, the passage dividing the Tolku of central and western Thermistal from the Suvuka of Eastern Thermistal.
Master Duamang effect
These extraordinary events propelled the Tatchlan Masters
into even greater prominence than during the Yin-Vinulan Dynasty. Master Duamang’s success inspired the population of Statos-Vey. They became an avid audience for the Master’s dream of ending the misery of being bound to the wheel of Self-Absorption’s Four Generations, seen as the sole agent in the demise of all previous unifying dynasties.
A succession of Muraharoma Empresses and Emperors decreed the Masters' leading role in public education and health provision. They also granted increasingly generous gifts of land and other resources to establish additional Master Enclaves, particularly within Statos-Vey’s political capital, Upata-Shepsus, and its commercial and cultural fulcrum, Bhampay. The Masters openly filled the Muraharoma Dynasty's ministries and all branches of education and medicine.
There is more than one reference in the literature of the time to the fact all Healers and Soothers within these cities and on much of Statos-Vey were also Tatchlan Masters. Incremental and significant structural alterations also began to occur in these two centres, including the gradual formation of interconnected boroughs subtly designed to concentrate and maximize scent within the population. The Masters instituted many other fundamental changes as they worked towards their ultimate goal, establishing the first Cluster-of-Clusters Nation. Their new Enclaves
now faced substantial waiting lists for their instruction and preparation of new Masters, and the Shesha
and Nara
became symbols for health and vitality.
The first surviving depiction of a Living Instrument
was publicly displayed during this time. This same image would become employed later during the Greater Era
of the Primary Epoch
in the Icon
for all Enclaves training Invocates
to serve their Cluster-of-Clusters Nation within the Tatchlan System.
This same period also witnessed the quick re-occupation of Rho-Jashun and a new occupation of Thermistal, with very different results.
Tolku Thermistal
Tolku
settled and explored most of Thermistal
for the first time in history. This was done under strict governmental control. Two different populations began specific programmes in Central and Western Thermistal.
In Central Thermistal, most of those served in either the armed forces or a government ministry. The majority were deployed along the western side of the Vettencore Passage
to secure the barrier and study the now-imprisoned Suvuka
with many observation posts within the eastern wall, allowing for continuous monitoring of Suvuka activity. Naval traffic sailed up and down the passage, and trading stations were founded along the southern shore of Thermistal with networks moving into the interior to explore, map the terrain, study the unique flora and fauna, and determine the kind and extent of resources. Beyond the army, scientists, scholars and traders clustered along the southern coast and the western flank of the Vettencore Passage, only a few adventurers, dreamers and others chose to live in this new wilderness. General immigration was initially limited to an insignificant number due to ongoing fears of the Suvuka finding a way to cross over the Vettencore Passage. At no time was this minimum number of applications met for the next two generations of Tolku. Thermistal was more a place of service than a home for the first generations of guardians. Most Tolku stayed until their contract or mission was completed and then immediately returned to either Statos-Vey
or Rho-Jashun, bringing tales of hardship and infections. This trend changed with subsequent generations, and a permanent population grew up by the Western Wall.
Western Thermistal presented a unique set of challenges and rewards. There was an unprecedented stand of immense forests containing a multitude of wonders unknown in the rest of Anu. These vast tracts of flora surrounded the westernmost range of mountains on the continent, named the Viracocha. This western third of the continent was initially known as the Viracocha District and was in some locations over ten thousand andas west to east and north to south. The Muraharoma Dynasty
was sufficiently impressed by the numerous studies and reports on the living riches of this region that they instituted an entirely new ministry formally installed as the Viracocha District Flora Ministry. Due to the securing of the continent and its distance from the Vettencore Passage, a substantial permanent population quickly developed in this unique region.
Unlikely pilgrimage
Despite most of the general population shunning the ‘dark continent’ and those staying advancing exploration and research, an entirely different population sought it out for an unlikely pilgrimage. It ran almost exclusively from Rho-Jashun
to Thermistal and served the remaining devotees of Menem. The religion underwent a resurgence in the chaotic resettlement of Rho-Jashun
(see below). The object of this ‘holy expedition’ was the Island of Lewetar, surrounded by the largest fresh-water lake on Anu, Lake Teval. They believed the footprints of the mythic protagonist Yeoyupan
could be seen on the island. (More details of this tradition and this pilgrimage are found below.)
Tolku Rho-Jashun
In contrast to the small but thriving new population on Thermistal, the subsequent history of Rho-Jashun
was judged far less successful. Unlike Thermistal, nearly no government presence preceded unrestricted immigration onto the reclaimed continent. Later developments made clear many of these immigrants were Tolku
choosing to leave the emerging Master-dominated Statos-Vey. Few necessary institutions were successfully established before this sudden influx, and most social infrastructure remained incomplete. Within a few generations, an incremental degeneration splintered the new society into separate hostile provinces. While nominally part of the Muraharoma
territory, it was poorly administered, and portions began openly opposing what increasingly appeared to be the corrupt nation on Statos-Vey. The former religion of power and learning, Menem, filled the vacuum left by what was seen as an absent and incompetent state, becoming a new binding ideology.
Deliberate policy
As time passed, Honoured Historians
discovered the truth about what happened at Rho-Jashun. The chaos was cultivated as part of a deliberate policy overseen by certain branches of the Tatchlan Masters. This was unknown to most and formed something of a secret ‘Generational Plan’ over several centuries. The initiation of the Cluster-of-Clusters
society required a densely populated core out of which the various branches of Sensitives
were more likely to be born. These, in turn, would create the necessary intensification of Aromas
to inspire additional Sensitives to be born and diversify into the specific potencies leading to the eventual formation of the Spokes of the Cluster Wheel, all of which was carefully monitored by the Masters. This began within the specially designed boroughs of Upata-Shepsus
and Bhampay
before spreading outwards, eventually reaching the rudest of distant settlements. The Masters knew once the process was established and the true ‘Spokes of the Cluster Wheel,’ i.e. Doubles, Betweens, Completes
and finally Maja, began to be born, the ‘Quickening’ would commence, and Tolku
everywhere would be gradually transformed.
Most of those in opposition to this trend were encouraged to immigrate to Rho-Jashun, leading to increased intensification of the programme on Statos-Vey. Despite being a far larger landmass, Rho-Jashun never exceeded a third of its former population before the First Suvuka Onslaught. For the above reasons, the returnees could never recapture the sophisticated Thithanu
society. All innovation and advancement now took place in the unified south, and Rho-Jashun remained in a backward and disordered series of contesting provinces. Due to fertile agricultural land, a favourable climate and other abundant resources, and a highly organized society with an increasingly integrated purpose, Statos-Vey
supported many times the population of Rho-Jashun at this time. The few opponents on Statos-Vey who attempted to stop their progress failed and encountered significant hostility among the general population. These historians declare the suffering of the Rho-Jashun population was an unfortunate necessity in ensuring the Quickening occurred far sooner than if an attempt was made to replicate the more fragrant society of Statos-Vey on what had become the rugged and crude continent of Rho-Jashun.
Duamang Age prepares for Quickening
All this rapid change occurred during the Duamang Age, which lasted twelve hundred and seventy-three years. This is now viewed as the vital period leading up to the Quickening. Maja and other Cluster Wheel Spokes finally emerged among powerful Sensitives. As these specialized populations grew, many things within the Living System
fell into place. Some of these first generations of Maja proved strong enough to call for the formulation and perfection of the Invocate training program. These Invocates, employing their Living Instruments, began to enter Tatchlan and carry out new refinements. Despite these rapid developments, the infant awareness of the first Tolku Majastas Thakadush-Satwa still amazed everyone with Her bringing about the full emergence of the Cluster-of-Clusters Nation. This took place more quickly and unpredictably than the Masters
of the time anticipated. The actual Quickening occurred in a very different way than they had planned. The event burst open the Resplendent Work and caused many new challenges for the Masters, who suddenly found themselves in an altered landscape. Not all foundational elements quickened at the same rate, and some began acting unexpectedly. After these events, the first calendar of the Greater Era
of the Primary Epoch
was established. The Lesser, or Pre-Tatchlan Era, came to an end.
All of this, taking place in the final year of this age and the dawn of the Greater Era, is covered in the first novel of this series, ‘Heshavira's Challenge.’
Summary of history's impact on culture and philosophy
A primary theme throughout the pre-Tatchlan period is a longing for release from this cycle of successive societal creation and destruction attended by ‘execrable cruelty, vile green and venomous ambition.’ Eventually, this repeating cycle became known as the Four Generations
theory. Even during intervals of relative stability, there is evidence of intense speculation on this question. Some took the form of mysticism, some a variety of religions, while a few embraced philosophy. Most eventually concluded that the only solution lay in changing key aspects of the Tolku
themselves. Out of this crucible, the first Dreamers and Water Viewers
initiated themselves into Raw Sensitives, wandering the deep places of life and finding they could modify and change for the better. These explorers laid the foundations for the Tatchlan Masters
and all subsequent history of the Primary
and Secondary
Epochs. Below are a few more pertinent cultural movements across this turbulent historic landscape that led to the Tatchlan Masters' ‘Resplendent Work.’
Religion, Mysticism and Philosophy
The dominance of Menem
The Menem Religion
dominates this section due to their successful campaign to eradicate all competing faiths during the Buyanupithar Dynasty. So thorough was their erasure of other sects, the eradication of their art and architecture, and the expunging of all reference to them in literature that now we only have a handful of partial lists of inexplicable personalities, deities and concepts, along with a few confusing fragments. One unlikely source for a partial appreciation of most-ancient times is the collection of ten parody plays known as the ‘Everlasting Ennui,’ tentatively dated to just before the First Suvuka Onslaught. Another source referring to many of the same deities is the famous Yeoyupan epic poem. Venerable Scholars
also know of three successive traditions, the first beginning in prehistoric times, that treasured the Touched
and used them as inspirational guides. Beyond this, we know next to nothing, not even their names. The Menem Priesthood was especially virulent
in oppressing all these Touched traditions and the Touched themselves. Two most-ancient images
are now part of the modern Touched iconography. While they survived, the significance of their symbolism is lost.
Another tradition celebrated Nu
being female at dawn, a Complete
at noon and male at Nu’s setting. The image miraculously comes down to us intact from its preservation by the Yin-Vinulan Dynasty on the covers of its famed encyclopedias series. It also survives in the name ‘Complete’ for the later formation of a key Spoke of the Cluster Wheel. Beyond this, next to nothing persists of this tradition and its history.
As a result of these destructive campaigns, there is insufficient material to present any coherent summary of the many religions once covering Anu. One of the only exceptions to this is the Chelyaka. This is primarily due to a massive monument, the Kavan-Kyan
cave complex, which was successfully hidden and left undiscovered until early in the Secondary Epoch.
Chelyaka
Very little is known of these most-ancient beliefs beyond their unique view of the shape of Anu. They believed the planet was a vast, enclosed sphere with all life on the inner surface. Nu
and all the other moving and stationary bodies were contained within this globe. Beyond the outer skin of Anu, nothing was said to exist. Earlier traditions described Anu taking various shapes. How the Chelyaka correctly determined that Anu was round while incorrectly imagining all else about it is unknown.
Hollow Anu
Their principal emblem was a circle. The outside was smooth, but the inside was filled with holy symbols. There are only a handful of surviving copies, and while there is some variation, most share the following features. Nu stands at the centre of this hollow body of Anu as a flaming eight-point star. The four moons and eight stars are arranged around his arms.
From the inner surface, four groups of three Memanu grow inwards towards Nu, symbolizing the Memanu's role in sending messages from one side of the inner sphere to the other. Their blossoming tops are presented as stylized swirls. Between them stand what appear to be four large, three-tiered altars with a flame coming out of the top portion. It has been speculated the lower tier represents rock and soil, and the middle story, which appears to be a stylized wave, is meant to symbolize Anu’s oceans. By this estimation, the upper level is the sky, and the flame is Nu himself. Eight tiny figures stand on each of these structures with their hands joined above their heads. A single Xumkuka flies over this architectural arrangement.
Kavan-Kyan Monument

This also describes the best-preserved example of this image, retaining substantial portions of its original colouring. It is found within a series of caves known as Kavan-Kyan
just off the northern shores of the Angakut Channel
on southern Rho-Jashun. Inside these caves are a series of devotional painted carvings, including this circle, said to be among the second-oldest artifacts, after the impressive Witness
formations on Statos-Vey, to be found anywhere on Anu. The cave entrance was sealed when the Menem
religion aggressively persecuted the movement during the latter part of the Buyanupithar Dynasty. It remained hidden during the First and Second Suvuka Onslaughts. It was rediscovered by the Koru
early in the Secondary Epoch
and was visited by the Danam Yelda
on their Ceremonial Walk to Statos-Vey. Details of this visit are found in the third novel of this series. There are now many reproductions of this image, primarily based on this Kavan-Kyan image, to be found within many of the Koru Living Mountains and on public monuments in most Danam Yeldic Provincial Centres.
Another well-known image is now the emblem for the second of the Five Aroma Accords, the Cool Accord. This is based on the well-preserved image found within this monument. The original had nothing to do with the modern Tatchlan
notion of Accords beyond the universal valuing of the medicinal qualities and cooling attributes of the Thado Plant. It is to be noted here that all Chelyakan emblems are enclosed in circles, ovals, egg shapes and other rounded borders.
This is seen as a vital part of their belief system in all life being contained within Anu. Given the primary importance of the circle to Chelyakan iconography, which is admired for its artistry, many subsequent emblems are encompassed in the way of deference to the artistic legacy of this tradition, as can be seen in the remainder of the Aroma Accord
series and many other instances, including the Invocate
badges.
No complete Chelyakan literature
There are scattered most-ancient references to epic literature devoted to the Chelyakan cosmology. Along with passing mention of this configuration, there are conflicting accounts of how followers of Chelyaka viewed the composition of this enclosed sky. There is mention of a long work explaining how Nu's passage from dawn to dusk took place within this framework and one brief reference to the notion of Nu 'circulating' around the central axis of this inner sphere, thus appearing to rise and set as it moved away from view. Unfortunately, as with all original Chelyakan material, no original copies of this work survive.
Rituals and songs
We know little from summaries made in the Gashandak Treasury Abridged Encyclopedia. There, we find a general overview of the works of Funomanru
scholars, who did possess these now-lost documents. Sadly, these authors recommended these sources to those wishing more information, mentioning several extinct pieces by name. A brief reference was made to a different type of ‘circle dance’ practiced by Yeldic
clusters
today. This involved groups of various sizes forming inward-facing circles and performing a dance where their feet would smooth out the soil in a circular motion as they turned. The belief is this ensured that a portion of the ‘outer shell’ was fortified. Several eyewitness accounts of a ritual none would have believed otherwise involved many young women and men forming a hollow sphere with their bodies, partly supported by an elaborate framework. At the same time, small children were passed inside to be moved about, as within the void of Anu. Many songs to be sung during this event appear to have been recorded, none of which were quoted in surviving material.
Other beliefs
Chelyakans viewed urban development as malignant and praised the agricultural and pastoral life. They appear to have championed a hunter-gatherer existence, although there is no evidence they practiced this extreme form of subsistence. Given these beliefs came about after the rise of the first city-states, long before the first Unification War
and the founding of the Funomanru Dynasty, Chelyaka was seen in part as something of a protest movement against aspects of what was a new urban civilization. They idealized earlier eons and championed forging additional links with Cousins, saying this reflected more virtuous times. Despite their hatred of the violence of their times, they rejected the notion of self-absorption
being a fundamental evil, saying within small communities in agrarian society, they were in balance and only in inflated populations did they cause harm.
They had a distinctive affection for the notion of land and their claims to possessing ancestral territories. While this was partly tied to the peaceful maintenance of agricultural and pasture bounds, it was also uniquely linked to their cosmology. They appear to have had notions of being ‘rooted’ to the loam and how the land bound them to it. They saw raw life
as the source of all wisdom and attributed powers to animals and inanimate objects.
All this reflects how they saw the land as their only barrier to outer chaos, given they saw themselves as dwelling inside an egg. This was made explicit by another symbol, the same fiery Nu
surrounded by the four moons and eight stars but now enclosed within an egg. By caring for and maintaining their portion of the land, they ensured the continued existence of their world.
They worshipped and feared the soil and were told to always ‘tread lightly’ on it. They treated the two Skin Banes, Consumption Monoliths and Hungry Rock, as ‘Anu Gateways’ and were known to ceremonially ‘feed’ them with stone refuse to fortify the Skin of Anu ceremonially. Anu quakes were monumental traumas for them, and elaborate rituals and ceremonies attempted to mitigate them. Eruptions of Dead Blood horrified them, as they believed this was puss issuing from a wound in the Skin of Anu. Despite the tradition being extinct, some agricultural practices, including the ‘Baby Mother’ harvest rituals, come down to us from this time.
Memanu Myths
As illustrated by their circle imagery, Funomanru
scholars said their literature claimed the Memanu colonies knew where their fellows were on the far side of the inner sphere and stretched across the internal space towards them. They believed some of their prophets latched onto the Memanu at their rising and rode up past Nu
and the four moons before meeting Memanu from the other side of the inner sphere, who took them down to the far side.
Later, the followers of the Menem Religion
gave them a similar role in their cosmology. The Memanu became messengers from Anu
to Nu. As the Chelyakans before them, followers of Menem would attach messages and offerings to their trunk as it rose at dawn. They are dubbed the ‘glorious swaying ones.’ They saw them as refuges for the trapped invisible Menem, who could occasionally be seen floating around the opened blossom.
The Primary Epoch Icon
for Memanu is included here to illustrate how later civilizations carefully reproduced many Chelyakan images. The most well-known is the Memanu image, a direct reproduction of those seen in the Kavan-Kyan Monument. Other notable examples are the cosmological phenomena, such as the four moons. This may be interpreted as respecting these lost traditions and rejecting Menem’s hostility towards them.
‘Chelyakans still had their tails’
Ashwamed was a beloved playwright living in Bhampay
during the height of the Tolku
civilization during the Primary Epoch. He was unusual at the time for writing both tragedies and comedies. One of his comedies was about what were already ancient religions, such as Thalana, Heason
and Chelyaka. Like much of his work, it does not exist in its entirety. Most know his line, “Those Chelyakans still had their tails!” This was meant to suggest that faith was formulated when the distant ancestors of the Tolku still lived in the trees with the other Cousins.
Everlasting Ennui
A sole surviving copy of a most unusual literary collection, ‘Everlasting Ennui,’ filled with Chelyakan references, was found within the Midin Mountain Amassment
early in The Interim
by the first generations of Koru. The collection was known from numerous references in other documents from the Primary Epoch. It was claimed some copies were brought by the final waves of Thithanu
refugees escaping the First Suvuka Onslaught. Until the Amassment was found, it was presumed none had survived the Second Suvuka Onslaught. This unusual cultural artifact has proven to be one of the most popular and enduring Amassment items to survive down to the present, next only to the Yeoyupan epic. At the same time, it remains profoundly puzzling and departs from all other surviving forms of Chelyakan literature. By chance, it was selected for initial study in Mount Arnom when the Amassment Tragedy
took place and thus persists to exist into the present.
Ten plays satirized the concept of an afterlife
Ten authors (mostly anonymous or using what appear to be light-hearted pseudonyms) penned one comedic drama each for the stage that was gathered together in one volume under this title. All centre on a single notion: the inevitable boredom and misery suffered by those cursed to live forever. The plays are ordered by a simple one-word title, being the name of the presiding divinity or divinities of the theatrical production:
Achalam
The cover shown here refers to one of the plays, the ‘Laranal,’ which, among many other things, depicted an afterlife setting full of glowing, floating flowers that gave off music and perfume as they moved in stately aerial processions. This initially delightful spectacle becomes sufficiently monotonous for those trapped in eternal life to swat at them whenever they appear. They then discover they are delicious and consume them avidly until they cease to be of any interest. After many other events, these flowers and the denizens themselves fade with a collective sigh.
While the six divinities names are known from other fragmentary sources, including oblique references to most in the Yeoyupan epic, due to the extensive persecution program enacted by the Menem Priesthood, closely followed by the destruction of all civilization on Rho-Jashun
during the First Suvuka Onslaught, little is known of their narratives and idea systems. Ironically, in some cases, their satirical treatment in this work is the only source for attempting to understand the religion they once represented.
It must be noted this single original manuscript of Everlasting Ennui was itself a facsimile of an earlier document. The internal coherence has long been observed, leading to a consensus the work is an intact specimen. In many ways, this collection diverges from other material associated with Chelyaka, yet references to other known aspects of the religion and its iconography abound in all ten plays. Near all Chelyakan altars are part of the scenery, and more than one opens with its iconography present. Modern research has yet to uncover the rationale behind this Chelyakan backdrop. In one play, ‘Cathalu,’ the first line is, “It appears the Chelyakans were correct and all of us mistaken.” Part of the mystery of this line from the Cathalu and the other set references is the complete lack of evidence from any other source of the Chelyakan religion presenting any afterlife narrative. It may be noted here that the actual tradition of Cathalu
was itself largely philosophical, hence its gentle treatment within this anthology.
Bliss turns to lethargy
Each composition is distinct, but several themes appear in most of them. A single individual or group of strangers, close friends, or relations find themselves in an afterlife. The audience follows them through increasingly preposterous situations stretching out over vast expanses of time. Through dialogue, song and dance, traditional notions of ‘eternal life’ are played out to their ultimately illogical conclusions.
Along with explicit references to Chelyaka, many allusions to other extinct religions are made, and several of these plays begin in contrasting and fantastical ‘afterlife’ settings. Numerous philosophical issues are addressed within the comedic format, and several standard ‘separate invisible body’ beliefs of the time are dismantled. In all cases, everlasting bliss turns to lethargy and weariness. In six of these ten plays, one or more divinities make a single appearance or become recurring characters. All six become a source of many hilarious and sometimes ridiculous elements.
Paradise becomes prison
By various means, these ten sets of characters come to several common conclusions. A life without end, even in a paradisiacal setting featuring endless joys and wonders, unlimited growth and perfection, and inexhaustible attainments and abilities, inevitably becomes an unbearable prison. Along with dialogue, musical, and comedic action, these plays also give specific stage directions to further this theme. For example, vibrant sets and costumes initially lose all colour or fall apart throughout the performance. In some, these initially impressive props become hilarious parodies of themselves. Other directions include having booming voices fade to whispers, and in one production, there are instructions to cool the theatre gradually. The six deities, or exemplars, prove disappointing to the devout as they suffer from the preposterousness of their existence. For example, the goddess Heason is unable and unwilling to rise from her couch. Her consort, Hays, often traps her. In several scenes, Hays is asleep, snoring loudly on top of her. She and her unconscious mate eventually sink into their couch, and then it deflates into nothing on stage.
The god Achalam
had four bodies to manifest different traits. They finally lose all colour and become four lifeless, flat silhouettes striking absurd poses on a wall. The god Sime
presides over a strict afterlife regime with many punishments for minor infractions. One of his favourites is a lake of Dead Blood
he throws what he considers miscreants in. Over immense periods, his victims stop suffering and finally drink all the lake and then turn on Sime himself. When the god is confronted with this rebellion, he begins making the distinctively comical calls of the Raiden
before transforming into one. His former followers chase him around the stage before consuming him. The production of Sime usually includes throwing out sweetmeats meant to be part of his body for the audience to finish (It may be of interest that the later Menem Religion
had a slight affinity with the Sime faith and incorporated some of its doctrines into their own before persecuting them with the rest). The goddess Thalana
grows progressively smaller until another character accidentally steps on her. The goddess Hathnal
is the Queen of a court of gods. She and her bickering ensemble begin in dazzling hues only to collectively dissolve into a puff of smoke that dissipates by the end. Both players and the audience stay silent until they are finally gone. The demise of these deities results in general jubilation and usually signals the characters resolving their untenable situation. These include ludicrous rituals allowing them to ‘successfully die,’ to the characters laughing or clapping with relief as darkness gradually swallows them.
Embodied paradise
For all the parody and satire, many sincere moments reflect on the nature of actual existence and the value of embracing our embodied selves. True humility and peace are found in understanding our being part of all existence, which goes through cycles of creation and destruction. Beliefs in having an escape at death into an absurd playground reveal a lack of understanding along with naive hubris. Paradise is found in this life through our collective efforts. No doubt, such underlying messages, reflected within the Uluvatu Master's later thinking, contributed to the modern appeal of this otherwise obscure collection.
Why was Everlasting Ennui written
Many questions surround the most-ancient circumstances that led to this collection being written. It appears these separate plays were composed around the same time with the intention of the resulting collection being published together. No forward survives to provide context as to why this project was undertaken. The ‘Pauloman Catalogues’ mention several supplementary works and commentaries in the Amassment, but like the voluminous materials on the featured divinities, none survived the Mount Midin Tragedy. History records this supplementary material had been requested, but the order lay in charred tatters within the ruined Amassment. As a footnote, the only shred of information suggests the ‘Everlasting Ennui’ collection resulted from a competition where these ten were selected from a larger group of entries.
Debate over inclusion in Chelyakan canon
The general public loves to see these plays performed in modern times, while significant academic contention over this collection remains. There is compelling internal evidence for ‘Everlasting Ennui’ being written and staged in the cosmopolitan capital of Thithanu, perhaps only a decade before the First Suvuka Onslaught. This would have been far later than any other Chelyakan material. Given their prominence in this cultural setting, references to the Menem Religion
are conspicuous by their absence. This suggests none of the different religions had much sway, whereas Menem was a growing force with no tolerance for mockery. Whenever it was produced, it is clear these ten plays were intended for a far more sophisticated audience than one would expect among rural Chelyakan adherents. For these and other reasons, some Venerable Scholars
specializing in Chelyakan Studies dispute ‘Everlasting Ennui’s’ inclusion within the Chelyakan canon.
Everlasting Ennui collection’s modern popularity
Humour does not always survive its context. Some Primary Epoch
material deemed entertaining when written provides meagre amusement to Secondary Epoch
audiences. Everlasting Ennui is a notable exception to this rule. These plays are regularly performed, with a particular emphasis on pre-adult matinees, throughout modern times. Early on, it was considered an excellent amusement for pre-adults and Fresh Adults. It is seen as a way of providing entertainment and an instructive launching point for refuting certain dissociative personality beliefs cropping up on occasion. The Everlasting Ennui is performed regularly in all Ablution Academies
in urban and rural settings. This and the far more earnest prose epic, the Yeoyupan,
are the two most acclaimed drama collections from the Primary Epoch.
Menem Religion
Militant Exclusivity
These turbulent times were fertile ground for many religions. As the Chelyaka
receded, others flourished to varying degrees before and during the Funomanru Dynasty. Late in this age, a newcomer emerged from far to the north. What began as a ragtag assembly of frightful sages grew into a formidable organization that eventually dominated and overthrew all the rest during the Buyanupithar Dynasty. This tradition was called by many names, but it is most commonly known as Menem. While its success was partly due to the strength of its message, it was also because of the rigid hierarchy of its organization and the absolute exclusivity of its teachings. This led to an uncompromising hostility towards all other religions. They appear to have been equally intolerant to any divergence in doctrine among their communities. Like all other religions, numerous rival traditions and alternative canons developed. There are references to secret conclaves where various splinter groups were either persuaded or tried for religious crimes against what came to be known as the Thithanu
Orthodoxy. There is evidence those Menem communities dissenting from this Orthodoxy had anathemas pronounced on them. This led to their being treated the same as non-Menem religions. Menem was often described as a martial movement where all converts saw themselves as part of a ‘holy army.’ Struggle and conquest were foundational themes, along with unusual ideas about body impurity and after-death existence that imbued their followers with a terrible zeal. They broke from most other traditions by rejecting the notion of ‘self-absorption’ being a vice and promoted it as a virtue linked to individuality.
Borrowed from enemies

These exclusive doctrines did not stop them from incorporating various elements from other religions, most of which are no longer traceable, given the eradication of the originating tradition. We know the Menem Priesthood absorbed the Chelyakan
notion of protecting property and possessions, albeit not to protect the fragile shell of an inverted globe, but as unfortunate necessities of their ‘incarceration on Anu.’ They also shared the Chelyakan veneration of the Memanu. They went further than the ancient Sine religion in despising the Repast of Remembrance, seeing the practice as the ‘ultimate perversion of Yeoyupan.’ Despite ‘drawing pages from other books,’ they mercilessly persecuted all other religions into extinction on Rho-Jashun
(they never had the same influence or power on Statos-Vey, where small pockets of many faiths continued to grow and merge). They were also suspicious of mystics and philosophers. Due to their small numbers and the prohibitively intellectual message and discipline, they saw them as less of a threat in gaining dominance over most of the population. While they seldom actively persecuted them, they did attempt to limit their influence systematically. As the Tatchlan Masters
began distinguishing themselves, the Menem Priesthood regarded them as a contending religion and oppressed them.
Converted an Emperor
One vital aspect of their long-range campaign was to secure a significant presence within the Buyanupithar Dynasty. With their conversion of Emperor Vegalajar IV in his youth, who became a long-lived emperor, their campaign to systematically root out all other religions, destroying their art and literature, became state policy. They also set up a new dynastic succession policy that guaranteed only their devotees would succeed their first devout sovereign. The new state religion was now known for cutting off the heads of other deity images, inverting them and using them as the base of the pillars of their temples. They burned all religious literature not in accord with their own while embracing the new steam-powered devices
as a way of combatting what they saw as the ‘evil flesh’ of Anu. They depicted these devices as being inspired, if not directly sent by, the pure land of Ranvartawan.
Artistic legacy
Notwithstanding being known now for many exclusionary and destructive tendencies to other traditions, it must be said its rich symbolism and iconography also lent itself to creative expression. Menem temples significantly pushed the boundaries for the viable construction of what, at the time, were the tallest structures ever built. As seen below, their North Tower was a defining feature, symbolizing the One Hundred Gates
rising into the sky. Significant dramas and artworks were also created using Menem imagery. Many of these creations have survived, in whole or part, down to the present. Later generations of Tolku and all subsequent audiences came to value these works separately from the tradition's teachings (see Yeoyupan Epic). The Menem Hierarchy and institutions were based on the continent of Rho-Jashun. Their religious leaders came to play a leading role in most of the ruling dynasties of this period. Despite this, with the First Suvuka Onslaught
of Rho-Jashun, this tradition was mortally wounded and never recovered.
First Suvuka Onslaught broke Menem power
Along with the ruling hierarchy, most Menem academies, shrines, libraries and accumulated wealth were wiped out, along with their supporting elites, by the Suvuka
as they swept south through Rho-Jashun
before being stopped by the Mulungu Mountains. The small fraction of the leadership reaching safety behind the Mulungu barrier found a different world on Statos-Vey, where their last foe, the Tatchlan Masters, was well established. The Masters had sounded the alarm
about the Suvuka, and many had already credited them with powers exceeding the Menem priesthood. Humiliated and disorganized, the surviving Menem priests never recovered their former status. Honoured Historians judged the final blow came with the work of Tatchlan Master Duamang, who formulated a way to defeat the Suvuka. This marked the decisive rise of the Masters and a general turning away from the previous tradition. During the last age of this pre-Tatchlan period, named the Duamang Age
in honour of this Master, the practice dwindled until it ceased to exist early in the Greater Era
of the Primary Epoch.
In the last generations of the tradition's life, two historical figures stand out as the final critics of Tatchlan; one is Nallurakon,
and the other is Nebutan, found below.
Menem legacy within Tatchlan

Notwithstanding this history, the Tatchlan Masters
used some language and iconography from this tradition to fashion the Living System, such as ‘invocant’ and ‘operant.’ The symbols of the Four Grand Menem
are integrated into the cardinal directions at court and lend themselves to the four original Cluster Virtues. Because of their chaotic history and ignominious end, the origins and most of the leading personalities of this tradition (with the notable exception of the last two, Nallurakon
and Nebutan) are lost. While fragments of various texts have been found, several copies of two complete documents still survive. They are the 'Daruadunnal’ and the ‘Furrumittal.’
The Core Narrative
While dissenting in minor details, the Daruadunnal
and Furrumittal
share a founding theme. Anu
was the creation of an evil being to imprison his enemies. His name is Yeoyupan (see immediately below), and he is described as black and covered in filth. He is the second child of Untasha-Kabash. She is the supreme peak of perfection.
For unknowable ages, she glowed within the darkness of chaos in pristine isolation and silence. Then she had a thought. With this thought, a being was born, dividing perfection into two. Untasha-Kabash is beyond the awareness of this new existence. He fills all corners of the void with a glimmering reflection of his mother's perfection. His name is Ranvartawan. He shelters his mother, and all other thoughts are born inside him. This firstborn is closest to the mother. He remains beyond awareness of all that follows.
Yeoyupan
The next thought brought forth Yeoyupan. Unlike his mother and brother, he is a lesser being and was aware. He stood before his mother and spoke to her for many ages. He became enraged because she did not see or hear him. Many more thoughts are born. They become witnesses to Yeoyupan's long speeches to her. Because of this, all of them also are aware. While Untasha-Kabash floated in the cold ocean of light, Ranvartawan, all other thoughts were divided and imperfect. Yeoyupan could not endure his existence. He and those of like mind named the Kovlah formed an army to unseat their mother. Others of her children, the Menem, remained faithful to Untasha-Kabash, who, with each thought, continues to replenish both sides.
Yeoyupan creates Anu
The Kovlah repeatedly attacked Untasha-Kabash, but she was unharmed. They are unable to move her in any direction. Yeoyupan then declares war on the Menem. He finds that, like their mother, they cannot be harmed. The Menem also can do nothing to the Kovlah. Yeoyupan then devises a plan to expel them from the body of Ranvartawan. He creates a prison. It is a dark and hard place, made from the scrapings off his body and pressed together in his cupped hands. He called it Anu. He encircled it with many traps watched by his Kovlah to make all escape impossible. He causes his thoughts to fill Anu with the noise and confusion of his mind. He creates one great gateway, the burning Eye of Nu, and many more minor ways for his enemies to fall through. Then, the Kovlah began casting the Menem down onto Anu. When the Menem saw this, they, in turn, began casting Kovlah down as well.
Menem forgot their former existence on Anu

As the Kovlah land on the creation of their master, they retain their memory and are born in brutish bodies (later versions suggest they are Suvuka, but earlier versions make no such correlation, suggesting they predate knowledge of what will become the mortal enemy of the Tolku). The fallen Menem lose all memory of their glorious existence and are born into bodies of flesh. While forgetting their former lives, their beings are naturally repelled by their ‘skin sack’ and the filth they are surrounded by. This leads to a gradual awareness of their true nature and a keen desire to shed their prison garb of flesh and return to Ranvartawan.
This story is related, in differing ways, in both the Daruadunnal and Furrumittal. These are the only Menem texts from the Lesser Era
of the Primary Epoch
to survive intact. There are references to the official canon of the ‘Thithanu Orthodoxy.’ They contained the following: six primary texts of foundational doctrine, twelve major commentaries, four lesser narratives, and ten sanctioned manuals of practices. While all these formed the Menem Canon, reference is made to hundreds of additional accounts and an immense compilation of generational exegesis deemed necessary to apprehend the tradition fully. The Daruadunnal is one of the four canonical books from the Narratives Collection, and the Furrumittal is one of the ten manuals from the Practices Collection.
Daruadunnal
Also known as the ‘Collection of Holy Words,’ this Narratives Collection text is the smaller, and in some ways more disputed, of the two full surviving Menem documents. One copy was carried through the ‘Impenetrable Barrier Region’ by a survivor of the fall of Thithanu
during the First Suvuka Onslaught. For over a century, its value was unappreciated. Only when it became clear that nothing of the original corpus of Menem literature survived was it rediscovered, studied and numerous copies made. This work was done in Bhampay, a city with little love for the Menem tradition. It then found its way back into Rho-Jashun, where it was clung to as one of the last vestiges of the faith.
Along with the above narrative, the Daruadunnal has many tales unique to it concerning the war between the Menem
and Kovlah. Many battles are told, and innumerable names of particular participants, habits, and dress are detailed. As was familiar with the Tolku, many of these events were relayed in dramatic form, intended for public performance.
Tarunachit

This is part of the Daruadunnal collection. What would be later known as one of the Four Grand Menem or ‘Generals of the Air,’ Tarunachit appears to be a formidable and ruthless general able to assume fantastic forms. The epic stories featuring Tarunachit, already ancient by their inclusion in the Daruadunnal, are presented as a single collection with his name as its title. The Tarunachit is the second largest body of Menem drama after the Yeoyupan. Huge murals depicting various portions of the Tarunachit in great detail once covered the inner walls surrounding the forty-four Menem Shrines on Rho-Jashun and the twenty shrines of Statos-Vey (see immediately below) before the coming of the Suvuka. While this collection contains much standing beside the best examples of heroic literature, Venerable Scholars have picked out the darkness lying beneath these battle narratives. Four are notable among the names of Kovlah generals arrayed against Tarunachit. Achalam, Hathnal, and Nethuns
are the principal deities of what the Menem viewed as rival religions. Any ambiguity about their origins is removed when the first of these Kovlah generals, Achalam, is depicted as having the power to divide into four parts. The original Achalam religion worshiped their God, dwelling within four distinct bodies. The Tarunachit also equates many taboo behaviours with the Kovlah, including their eating their dead. These are now seen as early calumnies by the Menem followers, equating longstanding prehistoric traditions and the rituals of other religions with the Kovlah. One other name appearing in these works is significant. One of Tarunachit’s generals is named Sime. This was also the name of another religion’s deity that the Menem found some initial sympathy for due to their agreement on specific issues. This did not inhibit later generations of Menem from persecuting the followers of the Sime Religion into oblivion.
Honoured Historians point to this text as being used many times for justifiable and unjustifiable wars. They deem the justifiable ones as those having to do with fighting the Suvuka, where the Suvuka were equated with the Kovlah and the war framed as a religious one. What is now judged unjustified instances had to do with a series of bloody purges and crusades waged against other religions by the Menem Priesthood of the later ‘Thithanu Orthodoxy’ period. There are also instances of devastating civil wars where all sides used their language to fuel hostilities and justify war crimes.
Sixty-four Tarunachit shrines
In this collection, details of the sixty-four shrines, forty-four on Rho-Jashun
and twenty on Statos-Vey, are chronicled. Each shrine was said to contain a relic from the war, including weapons, armour and other implements. It relates how if the Menem item was besmirched with Kovlah blood or offal and landed on Anu, the filth possessed it and became physical.
Secular visitors to the surviving shrines on Statos-Vey after the First Suvuka Onslaught
reported they found an oval enclosure composed of a great inward curving wall, the inner side covered in dense murals usually depicting the battles described in the Tarunachit. This structure surrounded the central shrine in the shape of an egg standing on one end. This usually shone black, with an image of Untasha-Kabash
filling the front and back sides of the shrine. The shrine's interior was glittering, with the central dome standing over what appeared to be a large object that seemed to be fused to the rock.
These shrines suffered from diminished attendance in the Duamang Age
and fell into disrepair. Early members of the first dynasty of Tolku
Majastas, the Thakadush Dynasty, rescued them from destruction and had them repaired as historical artifacts. The Suvuka
destroyed the forty-four shrines on Rho-Jashun during their first onslaught. They then converted them into their Ceremonial Running Rounds. The remaining twenty sites on Statos-Vey were obliterated during the Second Suvuka Onslaught.
One of the few surviving representations of these once-famed structures is shown here. This historic icon was part of a series depicting ancient sights and wonders early in the Primary Epoch. Accompanying materials have not survived, so some aspects are the subject of considerable speculation, particularly the significance of the Memanu
appearing to grow out of the shrine and the presence of Xumkuka
outside the walls. The three blossoms are also a matter of some conjecture.
This is an example of a true Summoning Icon
that depicts some perennial annoyance or historic provocation to the Living System of Tatchlan. They Summon dignity, resilience and fortitude.
Zitapermas
The final portion of the Daruadunnal texts has the name of a specific author attached to them - Zitapermas. He was born in the far north of Rho-Jashun, at the base of the Huallapandu Headlands, some one hundred years before the First Suvuka Onslaught. He would later say that when he was a child, he played with bleached Suvuka
bones he found at the shore of the northern Panchala Sea. The existence of the Suvuka was less controversial in the far north, where isolated encounters had taken place. As a child, Zitapermas suffered debilitating headaches, and in his youth, he began to see visions. His family and community gathered around him and wrote down his every word during a series of trances.
As a young adult, he publicly claimed to represent a Menem
serving the first of the Grand Menem, Vindaviran. Zitapermas declared he managed to reach through his Tolku
skin while still alive, finding an imprisoned eternal Menem at his core. This nameless Menem found a voice through Zitapermas. The Menem described how, during these continuing battles, when each of them fell through Nu
to Anu, they were trapped inside a Tolku, mired at the bottom of existence. In this work, Zitapermas says the Kovlah
are responsible for their loss of all memory of their actual condition so that they would be content in their ignorance.
The Zitapermas and other later chapters in the Daruadunnal explicitly claim that when a Kovlah fell, they were born as Suvuka. The earlier sections, replete with references to the Kovlah, make no mention of the Suvuka. Zitapermas said the Suvuka worshiped Yeoyupan, the creator of Anu, and relished all forms of dirt and flesh. Earlier portions of the Daruadunnal exhorted the Tolku to recall they are Menem. Zitapermas declared that Tolku was nothing but flesh prisons, and whatever grace they exhibited was due to their confined Menem ‘gleaming through the cracks.’ He said his mission was to remind all Tolku that their bodies encased shining Menem, who sought all means of escape to return to their natural home, Ranvartawan.
Zitapermas is said to have revealed the truth and opened the way for many others to have visions sent by the Menem through the Eye of Nu. He was named a prophet and gathered a devoted following around him. While many miraculous events are associated with him, it is now thought a portion of his behaviour was rooted in mental illness. His followers built a cult around him and, after his death, caused much mischief in Central and Northern Rho-Jashun. During his lifetime, the established Menem priesthood of the capital, Thithanu, had banned the Zitapermas as one of a class of ‘Kovlah Heresies.’ The following generation lifted this prohibition and gradually incorporated his work, declaring it to be ‘an inspired late addition’ to the Daruadunnal. The vibrancy of Zitapermas’ testament and his insistence that the Suvuka were the embodiment of the Kovlah changed the nature of the Menem message and thus ensured it not only survived but was fully integrated into the Menem Canon.
The Tarunachit, composed of extended battles with the mythical Kovlah, did not mention the Suvuka. Zitapermas was explicit on this point of doctrine. It is an irony of history that this message failed to inspire the devout of Rho-Jashun
to react more swiftly when learning of growing incidents of Suvuka in the north and then the impeding Onslaught.
Epic Poem - ‘Yeoyupan’
This collection has a significant poetic narrative, twice as large as the works known as the Tarunachit
and Zitapermas. Several additional copies of it alone were found, although it appears it was always part of the official ‘Collection of Holy Words’ of the Daruadunnal. It is the chief cause of the collection's fame and is by far the most universally read in every age. It does not bear the name or style of the author, Zitapermas. Internal evidence suggests it predates him. Given the subject matter of the rest of the Daruadunnal, its inclusion is surprising. All scholars agree it is older than The Tarunachit and Zitapermas but younger than the core texts of the Daruadunnal. Some Venerable Scholars
see a few passing references to this poem within The Tarunachit, although this view is not universal. Zitapermas refers to The Yeoyupan by name and, at one point, presents an unmistakable quotation from the work. Yet, in many small details, it also suggests a very different belief system to that shown in Zitapermas and the later works. It is not a battle narrative, a ritual manual or a philosophical treatise. It is epic poetry of the deepest rank.
Yeoyupan Mystery
Given its confirmed early date of composition, it also poses a puzzle. Before Zitapermas, there had been no other mention of the
Suvuka within any other surviving
Menem or literature. Until the
First Suvuka Onslaught, little was known about them. Many shipping losses crossing the
Panchala Sea led to a tradition of evil ‘residing in
the North.’ Increasing reports of fantastic bones washing up on the northern shores of
Rho-Jashun cemented this notion. When the first explorers successfully returned to Rho-Jashun and described the Suvuka, the Menem Priesthood condemned them for suggesting such a being existed (not being mentioned in the
Daruadunnal and other now lost early texts). They attempted to prohibit and destroy their published accounts (this is why the Zitapermas were also initially suppressed), declaring they fell under interdicts against all forms of ‘Kovlah Heresy.’
While its structure and language usage prove this epic significantly predates the Furrumittal collection, it describes the landscape of Thermistal with surprising accuracy. The unknown author(s) also possessed a comprehensive knowledge of the rest of Anu, along with many long-extinct mythologies. With few exceptions, the only other surviving source of information about them is the Everlasting Ennui, dating a millennium in the future of The Lesser Era. Traditional Menem works eschewed all such religions, claiming they were evil falsehoods of Yeoyupan and later fabrications of the Kovlah/Suvuka. Lastly, Suvuka’s social structure and many dancing and running rituals are described in detail, as could only come from first-hand observation. Many questions remain unanswered about how this work fits with what is known of the period.
All of this evidence now leads Venerable Scholars to conclude this creative work was the product of an anonymous author, or authors, who had survived one or more extended voyages to what was then known as the ‘Dark Continent.’ It has been suggested, given the poor reception factual accounts had in Thithanu, that the dramatist chose to frame their message as a theatrical narrative to increase the likelihood of its survival. Several forensic examinations were undertaken, by notable academic figures, of other literature surviving from the time to identify the playwright - without success. Such is the enduring popularity and profound respect accorded to this work that, even today, contentious debates erupt occasionally within learned circles and at assemblies over various points on interpretation and authorship of this most-ancient narrative.
The story

The Yeoyupan relates how the Suvuka, as the physical embodiment of Kovlah, once gathered from all over Anu. They filled the land on all sides of the shores of the Grand Lake Teval
on Thermistal. There, they sent a mighty call up to Ranvartawan. All the Kovlah and Menem stopped their battles and looked down on Anu. The Suvuka called for Yeoyupan. He, in turn, asked what they wished for him. The Suvuka praised him and his creation and urged him to return to his world. He stood upon the island of Lewetar
amidst the vast lake. Yeoyupan was so large all of Thermistal could see him. His two immense feet left deep and broad depressions believed to remain on the island (the map highlights the formations in red. These are enlarged to be visible).
The Suvuka called for Yeoyupan to join them on Anu and leave Ranvartawan. Yeoyupan hailed the Suvuka as masters of Anu and called all other beings to gather around the lake to witness their lordship. An extended dialogue takes place, and many heroic deeds are celebrated. Others came down from Ranvartawan to attend the ceremony. The vast herds of Suvuka perform synchronized dances and form huge running herds encircling the lake and island. Many stand on their hind legs and deliver lengthy battle hymns and martial poetry in his honour. All the prominent names of those dwelling in Ranvartawan and their attributes are detailed, along with a fantastic array of other mythical beings, making clear the poem drew on numerous ancient traditions far predating the Menem. The collective voice of all denizens of both Anu and Ranvartawan was said to shake Nu in his circuit and cause the roving stars to lose their way and fall in glittering streaks all around the lake.
‘Footprints’ become Menem Shrine
Only after the dawn of the Duamang Age, when the Suvuka
were banished from the island of Lewetar
and most of Thermistal, did some Tolku
venture to visit the site said to have inspired this epic. The Suvuka had destroyed the formal Menem Priesthood and institutions on Rho-Jashun. The Menem Religion
subsequently fell from favour among the majority of Tolku of Statos-Vey. A small number of devout Menem Tolku made pilgrimages by chartering ships to sail up the Vettencore Passage, along the rocky northern coast through the violent Tharapura Ocean, named the ‘The Black Maiden,’ and down the Bellechin River onto the Grand Lake Teval
to the Island of Lewetar. Sufficient numbers did this to inspire some to stay and found a theatre at the site to perform the epic for pilgrims. Because of the shape of the ‘footprints,’ it became a tradition for actors playing the lead role to appear in monstrously deformed feet.
Were it not for the deep channel running through the site's northern portion and east to the lake, the natural springs at the bottom would have filled them, creating a series of inland lakes on Lewetar. The small river flowing out of this area is named the Yeoyupan. This shrine continued to be visited, even after the Menem Religion went extinct within the Cluster-of-Clusters Nation, as a significant cultural landmark. From this time onward, dramas highlighting events from the pre-Tatchlan ages were also performed here.
No other most-ancient work has inspired more creative and academic attention. More dramas have been based on this epic from all periods of later history than any other text.
Furrumittal
This Practices Collection text is the more extensive and transcendental of these two surviving works, written by the steady hand of the Menem Priesthood
of Thithanu. While portions of what is now the Daruadunnal
were subject to controversy, the Furrumittal was always an expression of the ‘Thithanu Orthodoxy.’ As with the Daruadunnal, a single copy emerged in an estate collection in Upata-Shepsus
some three centuries after the fall of Thithanu. Appreciating that, along with the Daruadunnal, these two volumes remained from a vast array of religious literature; they were preserved with care and reproduced for study. The Furrumittal was particularly interesting to Esteemed Librarians, Venerable Scholars and Honoured Historians as it represented the most comprehensive portrait of the Menem Priestly culture of Thithanu. As with the Daruadunnal, reproductions made their way back onto Rho-Jashun, where they were seized on as treasures by the new generation of Menem followers. A small portion repeats the core epic with its unique details. There is no mention of the stories related to the Yeoyupan Epic Poem
or the Tarunachit. The work can be divided into several broad sections.
Mystic Tools

In this section are a multitude of magical formulas and illustrations. These are intended as tools to secure the release of the imprisoned Menem and their triumphant return to Ranvartawan. A large portion of this section concerns language.
The Four Grand Menem: Vindaviran, Samajalas, Tarunachit
and Yuyutar, mentioned along with many others in the Daruadunnal, are prominent voices, instructing the reader in their mysteries. Each became associated with one of the four moons of Anu. While retaining their names and some of their attributes, in many ways, these are different figures from the ones presented in the Daruadunnal. For details of their attributes, see below.
Menem Language
A language is presented, purportedly spoken by the Menem themselves in Ranvartawan. Mastering this language was essential to use the other tools and rituals successfully. The written form was termed ‘tongues of flame’ due to its long, flowing form and ‘spark’ accents coupled with the conventional flame-coloured inks and black ground.
This form is said to be due to the pure breath of the Menem turning to flame in the foul air of Anu. The structure was elastic; the exact phrase could be stylized, and its dimensions changed.
It was intended to be incomprehensible to the uninitiated and was known as the most complex written language to master, leading to the few surviving copies being undecipherable today. Vindaviran, the first of the four Grand Menem, is presented as the principal teacher of this secret language. It is interesting to note that the name 'Zitapermas' appears in this section, not as the author of large portions of the Daruadunnal but as a great leader of the Menem residing forever in Ranvartawan.
One Hundred Gates and their Guardians
Most texts in the Furrumittal describe in extended detail the series of one hundred successive spheres created by Yeoyupan
around Anu. Each sphere is composed of increasingly pure existence. In each globe is a single blue crystal gateway leading to the next. They are all aligned with Nu
and follow him through his circuit. Staring into Nu's Eye is seeing through all the gates to Ranvartawan
beyond.
At each gate is a Kovlah Guardian with names, attributes and abilities. These guardians passively allow all to fall from Ranvartawan from either side to land on Anu. They wish the Menem to drop down to reduce their number in Ranvartawan. They enable the Kovlah to descend because there, they will dwell in the creation of their lord, Yeoyupan. They resist with intense ferocity any attempt to come back through the gates from Anu. The gates themselves are said to have no handles or locks on the Anu-facing side, further impeding anyone from returning.
This image represents both a receding line of these Gates and the standard ‘North Tower’ of most Menem Temples.
These towers were amongst the highest structures ever built, and many travelled as pilgrims to view them and spend one day and night ‘dwelling in the air.’ They were primarily viewed on their southern side, where they presented the illusion of being this set of Gates going up into the sky. This southern side was traditionally highly decorated, while the other three were smooth. This ensured pilgrims approached them from the south and looked north to view them. Later in its history, when the Menem Priesthood
possessed the World City of Thithanu, one hundred of these towers were built around the southern slopes of Mount Thuma. Many surviving accounts stumble in describing their wonder with the mountain rising behind them. Here, the Gates are shown sprouting weapons of the attending Kovlah Guardians and passing the four moons to the Ranvartawan, Nu’s Eye
entrance. The Gates also display some of the mystic script of the Menem.
Aspirant's journey
The term 'Aspirant,' found nowhere in the Daruadunnal, is used frequently here. It refers to the disembodied Menem
that had been released from their Tolku
prison body after death and now had to pass through all the gates to return to Ranvartawan. The Guardians would be appeased only with the correct series of phrases and rituals performed before each gate. A particular knocking sequence roused each Guardian and had to be addressed by name and propitiated distinctively. Each could open the gate from his side. They could not open any other of the ninety-nine gates. Even though the Aspirant gained entry through the gate, the Guardian would call out a warning, ensuring the Aspirant would meet resistance at the next gate. Each gate had to be opened for the Aspirant to return to Ranvartawan. The ritual for the first gate was relatively simple; the second had an added feature, the third another and so on, meaning the one hundred gates could be seen as successive stages in an increasingly elaborate initiation ceremony into Ranvartawan. With each passage, the Aspirant would shed skin, reducing the weight of filth from Anu. By the time they reached the one-hundredth gate, the Eye of Nu, they would be composed of light alone.
There is evidence of sects at various points in pre-Tatchlan times, also known as The Lesser Era
of the Primary Epoch, of complete re-enactments of this process as a form of induction into their society. Some cults encouraged suicide after such rituals so the Aspirant could immediately begin their journey. The Menem Priesthood
always condemned and banned these suicide extremists.
Final Binding of Yeoyupan
At the Eye of Nu, the successful Aspirant
uttered a final incantation binding Yeoyupan
from ever sending the Aspirant back to Anu. This is a very long and involved event, composed of many parts that need to be done in a precise sequence.
In this way, eventually, the Menem
would outnumber the Kovlah. Then, the Kovlah would be forced to join the others on Anu. There, they would be born as Suvuka
and possess Anu while all Tolku
would cease to be, having been purified of all dirt and flesh. At the end of this collection are two separate and distinct works detailing the trials of the Menem after they are released from their Tolku bodies, titled 'Aspirant' and ‘Dependant’ (see immediately below).
Crafted during the Primary Epoch, this traditional Menem image represents the end of the war with the Four Generals of the Air
striking down the One Hundred Gates to Anu. There are two separate well-known dramas depicting this event.
In one play, the Guardians fall with their Gates; in the other, they turn and join the final Aspirants travelling back to Ranvartawan. These reflect the two versions of this event described at the end of the Furrumittal. In the first novel of this series, Seti
believes this event occurred during a violent sea storm.
‘Aspirant’
This portion of the Furrumittal exhorts the Aspirant
to commit to memory all that has been learned. This is the one time the other significant ‘Collection of Holy Words,’ the Daruadunnal, is mentioned by name. Three texts are named with it, all of which have been lost. They are all hailed as 'revered witnesses.' The entire contents of the Furrumittal
are summarized into ten steps, each with ten subsections. This summary is meant to aid the tradition recalled after the Tolku
died and released their Menem. Their first great trial is to remember to look at the digits on their spectral hands and recall their mission. They may wander forgetful for many ages through the air before this occurs. When they remember, they become Aspirants. Now, they begin to ascend out of their prison and return home.
‘Dependant’
If they were strong enough, the Aspirant could also save two 'Dependents.' These are Menem trapped in the air after death without knowing of escape. Only Aspirants can choose their Dependents. To do so means the journey will take three times as long as the weight of the Dependents will slow the Aspirant's ascent. They can also be the source of trouble due to their ignorance of what is needed to escape. Once chosen, the Aspirant takes one Dependent in each hand. As they approach each gate, the two dependants must never let go of the aspirant's hand while they look over their fingers to recall what must be done at each barrier.
There are several well-known theatrical works from many pre-Tatchlan periods
dramatizing these events. Each has distinctive characters and unusual twists in the plot.
Notwithstanding the regard these narratives were once held in, most of these period pieces have a strong comedic element. The Aspirant is presented as the long-suffering shepherd of an unruly and incompetent set of Dependants. In these comedies, invariably, the Aspirant takes on more Dependants than the original transition allowed, magnifying the opportunity for comedic situations. Despite the religion having no known adherents in the Secondary Epoch, these themes still occur within modern literature and theatre, attesting to the inherent drama of these accounts.
Four Grand Menem’s Promise
At this collection's end is a declaration from the Four Grand Menem (see immediately below). They promise to remain behind until every Menem
is freed from Anu
and successfully passes through the One Hundred Gates. Once this is done, they will pass through, destroying each gate as they pass, ensuring none will ever be able to fall to Anu again. They declare they will send the guardian down to Anu to join the other Kovlah, although one well-preserved copy of this text is notable for significant alteration. In this single edition, the same Menem Generals say they will be compassionate to the Guardians and take them back to Ranvartawan.
Four Menem Generals become Furrumittal instructors
While traditions vary, there are a few commonalities. All sources agree the Menem
sent to Anu
are initially trapped in a body and forced to remain there until that body dies. Once freed, they thought their banishment was over. They quickly tried to flee Anu and find a way back to Ranvartawan. The Guardians of the One Hundred Gates
easily repulsed their continuous attempts to break through. Gradually, the growing population began to organize, usually into an army led by a series of commanders and generals. Many generals are mentioned by name throughout the Daruadunnal. Only four are called by the same terms and given the same attributes in the Daruadunnal and the Furrumittal. There, they are also presented as speaking to the narrators and instructing them on becoming Adepts and successfully returning to Ranvartawan. These stand alone in the Furrumittal at the apex of the invisible Menem and have become called the 'Four Grand Menem' (see immediately below). In this collection, they also become associated with the four moons of Anu. At the end of the Furrumittal, they say they have taken a vow not to return until every Menem has successfully returned to Ranvartawan; then, the four of them will pass through and destroy each of the one hundred gates behind them.
Vindaviran
This First of the Four Grand Menem was known as ‘The Teacher,’ this Menem was said to have taught all trapped Menem
a single language for Anu
while reserving the language of Ranvartawan
for Aspirants
alone. He was invoked for council and was the source of wisdom. The aspirant able to bind one of Vindaviran's servants or messengers, or Vindaviran himself to serve them, was said to take the ‘Path of Knowledge.’ He came to be associated with Xica-Nu, the first of Anu's four moons, known as the 'nearer moon,' which has a pale blue face. His emblem
is an open book with Xica-Nu displaying a full face on one side and a crescent on the other.
The modern Drafting and Seals Bureau
of the Danam Yelda’s Grandee Secretariat Ministry
has taken on the most-ancient icon of Vindaviran due to his association with language. Along with ‘Drafters,’ they are also known as ‘Vinda Guardians’ for maintaining the most in-depth structure and the richest word in each official document.
Samajalas
The Second Grand Menem was known as 'The Comforter' and 'The Potter,' this Menem was said to have taken pity on the sufferings of the 'body-bound' Menem, yet to be freed of their flesh prison and to have stooped to ‘domesticate Anu,’ with many new creatures and foods to ease their torments. His flesh was blue, and his hands reached down to soften the rough land and smooth away many terrible crevices and crags. It was believed these same blue hands would occasionally extend down to comfort the young, the elderly and those in pain by stroking their faces.
His second title was thought to come from his ancient symbol, as the potter turning various signs of life on his wheel. This developed into the later version of a pot sitting on its wheel, covered in a series of blue handprint designs.
It was common for artists of this period to include a blue handprint in their works, signifying their inspiration came from Samajalas. Healers of the time often painted their hands blue for ceremonial occasions. This practice may still be found today, where Doubles, Healers and Soothers paint their hands blue for the Naprahath Festival
on Day Reciprocity 33.
Samajalas and machines

In later times, Samajalas became closely associated with the mechanical devices
of the Buyanupithar Dynasty. These machines were celebrated as ‘surpassing’ living creatures by being animated by Tolku
hands, thus exceeding the works of Yeoyupan, the ‘Anu Prison creator.’ It was even suggested they were created by direct instruction of Samajalas and displayed the perfection of Ranvartawan.
The aspirant able to bind one of Samajalas's servants or messengers, or Samajalas himself to serve them, was said to take the ‘Path of Compassion.’ Despite his many admirers, more severe followers of the ancient Menem tradition tended to disparage this Menem. They even cast him as a servant of Yeoyupan for making life on Anu more pleasant. He was associated with Lya-Nu, the second moon, known as the 'farther moon,' and had a golden face.
The modern Danam Yeldic
Doubles and Vats Bureau of the Wellbeing Ministry have traditional images of Samajalas among their emblems.
Tarunachit
The Third of the Four Grand Menem was known as 'The Devastator'' and 'the Thyma,' this Menem is said to have taken a terrible vengeance on any Kovlah
he could reach, on Anu
or above it. In many of these tales, he assumed the form of a monster able to swallow entire armies. His symbol was a crown of Kovlah/Suvuka
bones. This usually took the shape of the upper skull worn as a cap with both sets of skeleton paws, their talons intact, forming a crown over his dreadful helmet. He also carried a terrible halberd crowned with an axe, pike and spikes. While the other three Generals of the Air were traditionally shown riding the stately Xumkuka, Tarunachit was ever mounted on a fearsome Kumastam.
There are several tales of his battles with various Kovlah in the air and Suvuka
on Anu
in the Zitapermas. These collected tales, known as the Tarunachit, form the second largest body of Menem dramatic literature after the epic Yeoyupan
itself.
The aspirant able to bind one of Tarunachit's servants, messengers, or even Tarunachit himself to serve them was said to take the ‘Path of Vitality.’ He was associated with Myka-Nu, the third moon, known as the 'larger moon,' which is dark red with wide blue scars or ‘lakes’ and yellow patches
Yuyutar
The final member of the Four Grand Menem was known as 'The Guide’ and ‘The Bridge,’ this Menem was said to have formed a link between Anu
and the first of the One Hundred Gates. Without him, even Tarunachit could not reach his primary battlegrounds. He was also shown to be able to speak with the Kovlah and understand them. He was even said to have spoken with Yeoyupan
himself.
His symbol can be elaborate. Generally, he is depicted as a hunched figure with his head bent forward and long yellow locks cascading down to his feet. He has his arms stretched out broad on either side, holding a black sphere in one hand and a white orb in the other. Four sets of simple figures, an infant, an unripe Adult, a Ripe Adult and an Elder, walk along his arms from the black to the white ball.
The colour designations of these four groups are unknown but have been traditional ever since—light blue to children, green for unripe Adults, orange for Ripe Adults and red for Elders. Usually, the Elder at the end sits on the hand holding the white ball.
The aspirant able to bind one of Yuyutar's servants or messengers, or Yuyutar himself to serve them, was said to take the ‘Path of Accommodation.’ He was associated with Bekma-Nu, the fourth moon, known as the 'smaller moon,' which is nearly white with green and blue patterns covering it.
The Adjudicator Bureau
for the Chancellery Ministry
has made the most-ancient symbol of Yuyutar as their Crest.
Sedet and Sev
Aspirant binds lesser Menem to them

The aspirant learned innumerable lesser Menem served each of the Four Grand Menem. These were divided into two classes. Those immediately associated with their master were Sedet or Servants. Those who served the Grand Menem and their Sedet were Sev or Messengers.
An artistic tradition developed of depicting this process as singing or playing an instrument to invoke these beings, shown as small animals. The Aspirant was often described as being dressed in royal robes, signifying they were now beginning a noble calling. In painted, sculpted form and mosaic, this image and others became widespread throughout Rho-Jashun, appearing in Menem precincts
and within public arenas.
Sedet
These Menem
were said to gather around the leaders of the air. The majority of Menem are of this class. They carried out the commands of the Grand Menem, were sent all around Anu, and continually attempted to find ways for their master and the rest to return to Ranvartawan. Along with this service, they could be drawn down to Anu to become servants of Menem, still trapped in bodies on Anu. They would approach and bind themselves to the Aspirant
if appropriately called. According to some portions of the Daruadunnal, a close connection could lead to the Aspirant becoming reborn as a child of the Servant or even of the Grand Menem they serve while still trapped in a body. After the Aspirant was freed from their body and became a full Menem, they were conducted to their Grand Menem before becoming Servants. Sedet was said to be suited to those choosing the path of action.
Sev
The primary function of the Sev is to act as Messengers. Their charge might take them to and from their Grand Menem, other Sedet under their Grand Menem's command, or other groups of Menem. Any Sedet could call on them to deliver a message anywhere over Anu or up to the gates where the Menem struggled to return to Ranvartawan. These Messengers were also subject to being called and bound to an Aspirant. While Sev was of lesser standing than Sedet, Aspirants becoming attached to Sev may obtain a far more profound understanding of Ranvartawan. These Aspirants could develop powerful skills and perform significant works through their guiding Sev. This was because the Sev travelled far and spoke with many. They were said to be more knowledgeable than a Sedet. After the Aspirant was freed from their body and became a full Menem, they were confined to their Grand Menem and likely to become Sev themselves. These are the most likely to seek out and become attached to new Aspirants on Anu. Sev was said to be suited to those choosing the path of observation and calculation.
Sev and Memanu

A passing reference by Zitapermas
in the Menem collection known as the Daruadunnal
speaks of seeing Sev become visible over fields of Memanu. Thereafter, the tradition of the devout reporting sightings of Sev flying among the blossoms began.
Powerful Aspirants bind one of Grand Menem themselves

Occasionally, an Aspirant could summon and bind one or more of the four Grand Menem to them. These were the most powerful and became great workers of wonder and leaders in Anu. It was thought that when they became full Menem, they would also become the close servants of the Grand Menem who served them. In our first novel, Hesha Vira’s Challenge, the Menem prophet Seti
is said to have achieved this goal without effort.
Menem-inspired opposition to Tatchlan
Nallurakon
Little known
Except for favourable mentions made by Nebutan and her short biography of Nallurakon, whose works have survived, all that is known of this figure comes from accounts by her enemies, who supported the work of the Tatchlan Masters. All agree on the following facts.
Worked on Larpana plants
She was born in central Statos-Vey
in the first century before the Duamang Age. During this time, the Suvuka
possessed most of Rho-Jashun. The Suvuka were stopped behind the southern Mulungu Mountains
and the barriers
the Tolku
erected there. Most Tolku lived in central and south Statos-Vey. Tatchlan
was the primary employer in the health field, and Nallurakon was an herbalist.
In her early years, she became an initiate of the Science of Tatchlan and distinguished herself for her work on the Larpana. Many generations of Tatchlan Masters
had already worked on this plant. The Larpana would become the standard way most would tell time between Nu's setting one day to the next. It was intended to replace the mechanical time towers typical to the time.
Leaves Masters
Because of her accomplishments, she was introduced to another plant also being worked on a much higher priority - the Nara. A creature known as the Shesha
then ingested the fruit of this plant. The resulting outflow was known as Sheshenara. This entire process was known at the time as the Sheshenara Plan. When she learned the fundamental nature of this project, she withdrew and severed all ties to the Masters. She regretted her early work with them and spoke out against the Plan, gathering a following around her. She is said to have initially engaged in debates and travelled widely within Statos-Vey
in attempts to stop it. She imparted information not intended for general discussion and caused much controversy.
Sheshenara Plan

A key element of her message was her revelations about the nature of the Sheshenara Plan. All knew this was a highly specializedin potion, the result of careful cultivation by the Uluvatu Tatchlan Masters. When another crafted being, the Shesha, a predatory creature native to the tropical jungle, ingested Nara fruit, the resulting liquid cured many ailments. What was less well known then was that this nectar's primary use was to form a vital bridge into the Tatchlan
programme. Nallurakon
revealed its role in the special diets for girls from birth. It had become common in many parts of Statos-Vey
to give diluted juices from the plant to them until they became pregnant. It was then given to them in its pure form with a grand ceremony.
This baby Icon
comes from the Greater Era
of the Primary Epoch. It represents a long tradition of symbolic representation of the importance of this plant and animal partnership in nurturing pre-adults
and cluster health and vitality.
Initially, the Shesha hung on specially designed racks near the Nara
plants. Later in the Primary Epoch, the Nara were further modified to grow into small trees. From that time to this, the Shesha have hung from their lower branches in a formation known as the ‘upper and lower canopy.’ These images also symbolize the protection and benefits of the Tatchlan system. Even though the images seldom resemble the actual plant and animal, they are universally recognized.
Masters reveal plan
Nallurakon declared that Sheshenara Nectar
was instrumental to the Masters' gradual modification of each generation and condemned feeding it to young girls and women. She said while the plant, distinctive for its broad purple and green leaves and abundant fruit, could be found throughout Statos-Vey, several islands off the coast served as specialized farms dedicated to their care. Her voice led to much debate when the Tolku
was in crisis because of the ongoing threat of the Suvuka.
The usually silent Tatchlan Masters came forward and answered many of her charges. They provided detailed studies illustrating how the Tolku had improved through recent generations through their efforts. It was shown that Sheshenara had been responsible for eliminating many diseases and other ills. They also said it was partly responsible for the general increase in the lifespan of the Tolku and declared one byproduct of the programme that produced Sheshenara was a weapon then being perfected to use against the Suvuka. It is said proofs were shown of this, and the majority welcomed and supported the Masters. No details survive as to what these proofs were.
Nallurakon Exile
Nallurakon
was unable to counter this information successfully, and her prestige diminished. Stories arose of those influenced by her stopping the practice of feeding their young women Sheshenara Nectar
and then having a terrible illness and death fall on them. While such events were rare, their stories widely circulated. During these times, we see the first references to the Sawlu Clan, which appears to rise within Nallurakon's organization (See first novel, Heshavira’s Challenge). As the years passed and her movement faltered, some of her followers began to destroy crops of Sheshenara and attack Tatchlan Masters.
There was a general revulsion of these acts and many calls for Nallurakon's arrest. She and her most devoted following went into hiding. It was at this time she became an ardent follower of the Menem. As was expected, she had symbols tattooed on her fingers and hands
to assist in her recalling the way back to Ranvartawan. She wrote many books. Despite her diminished popularity, they enjoyed considerable readership. None survived intact into the Secondary Epoch
and only existed as references by Nebutan
and others writing in their time. There are many conflicting accounts of how she spent her last years and died. What is known is she dwelt in a series of caves within the Central Veradapandra Mountain Range
on Statos-Vey. Several large caverns linked to each other are shown today by local clusters of the modern Danam Yeldic
Province of Bai as the last home of the anti-Tatchlan rebel, Nallurakon.
Initially, her followers scattered, but later, many merged and formed a roving band that began to sail north out of Statos-Vey to the outer islands of northern Rho-Jashun. The Sawlu Clan of the modern Wazaratcha Archipelago claims they arrived when the Suvuka
still held Rho-Jashun and mounted a heroic defence from the islands of the north, keeping the Suvuka at bay. There are commemorative monuments and supposedly historical materials and documentation. Yet, most established histories dismiss this material and say the evidence indicates their arrival after Master Duamang defeated the Suvuka.
Geltran-Kenal-Tumhal
Inspired Nebutan
The story of Geltran
belongs here even though he had no interest or association with the Menem Religion. This is primarily because his story and writings inspired Nebutan, the last and most significant of the anti-Tatchlan critics.
Young Geltran sees aging Suvuka

Geltran was born in Eighty-Three of the Duamang Age
in the Xaduron Wall Region. The Xaduron Wall was one of three constructions or excavations filling gaps in the otherwise dense southern Mulungu Mountains
known as the ‘Impenetrable Barrier Region.’ It was a vital line of defence in the southeastern mountain chain. He grew up learning of the Suvuka
threat and his and other communities’ role in keeping them beyond the barrier. As a child, he was told nothing about the silent offensive mounted against the Suvuka. One day, he was offered the increasingly rare site of going up to the top of Xaduron Wall and watching the Suvuka patrols. These had become infrequent and disorderly. The adults knew it was near the end for them, and they were no longer a threat to anyone. For the first time in his life, he saw the enemy. While far below him, they were visible in all their dark and musky strangeness. He had seen many pictures and knew right away most were old, and many seemed sick.
Deserted Running Circle
The' All Clear' was sounded in One Hundred of the Duamang Age. After the army moved north to clear any remnants of Suvuka, the colossal process began to move out and gradually reclaim Rho-Jashun. Geltran was now a young adult and joined his Tumhal community in one of the early exploration parties. At one point, he encountered one of the Suvuka’s Great Gathering Circles. It had long been deserted and had a hollow, empty feel. In a place where hundreds or more could have gathered, their scent had dissipated long ago, and hardy plants were reclaiming well-worn ground. In the centre were several of their strange geometric formations. As he moved around them, he discovered other Tolku had already visited the site and had hung a message on one of them. It said: ‘They killed some of us with their paws. We killed them all with our heads.’ According to his signature work, ‘Our Great Failure,’ these words struck him like a blow. He sank beside the monument and wept.
Geltran Writings

Geltran would live a long life and produced a series of works outlining what would be seen as a history of Tolku
ethics. They are our primary source for details about the early work of the Primary Tatchlan Masters
in modifying and creating the modern versions of Cousins
and Ally creatures. They also included several dramas of various historical events between the Suvuka
and Tolku and his experiences. He touched on many themes, most centring on the idea that despite Tolku's brilliance in many areas and their success in crossing many other creature boundaries, they could never connect to the Suvuka. “There was no natural landscape we could not cross except the source of our emergence. The Suvuka pricked us awake, and our only successful response was to destroy them.” He knew well the rise and fall of Nallurakon
and chose to be in no way aggressive in his views. He also ensured his admirers learned from the mistakes made by those who followed Nallurakon. He did not go to Upata-Shepsus
to publish ‘Our Great Failure’ until 150 of the Duamang Age, seven years before his death.
Respected critic
While his words were welcomed and discussed in distant Statos-Vey
and among the younger Tolku, among his generation growing up behind the barriers, they evoked strong and sometimes bitter emotions. Eventually, he returned to Upata-Shepsus
to defend and expound on his position. This hearing was in the year 157 when he was seventy-four. During the proceedings, one of his most famous dramas, ‘Nimbret,’ named after the main character, received its first public performance. After his death, the hearing transcript would be added to ‘Great Failure.’ That same year, he saw some of these dramas performed in Rho-Jashun. He insisted that they be seen in an original Suvuka setting wherever possible. While not all welcomed his message, his work gained great respect. He died on the verge of his seventy-fifth year.
Geltran’s work forgotten with the domestication of Suvuka
Millennia after his death, with the domestication of the Suvuka
early in the Greater Era
of the Primary Epoch, the message of Geltran receded from general discourse. The domestication was seen as a triumph and the ultimate refinement of what had been viewed as an utterly vile and irredeemable species. The Duamang Weapon
was now considered a vital first step in this transformation, and all critiques of its method were cast aside. Were it not for Nebutan including much of his words in her work, it is possible no record of his life and thoughts would have survived.
Nebutan
Began as Water Viewer
Born in 1212 of the Duamang Age
within a humble settlement, she distinguished herself as a 'Water Viewer' in her youth. She was known to have travelled extensively within northern and central Statos-Vey in her early teens to view several famous springs and many rivers (See ‘Ethical Water Viewing’). As a young adult, she was trained as an academic and philosopher and attained the rank of 'Wandering Scholar' at twenty years of age. Such scholars served a vital role in less populated regions where the standard school system was less prevalent. Being still a vital youth, she even crossed the Pax-Zenam Ridge
into southern Rho-Jashun, teaching and reciting to the general population for lodging and food. While these scholars were certified to train additional members of their order in the field, the Muraharoma Dynasty
wished to ensure universal standards, so all Wandering Scholars were required to visit Upata-Shepsus
once a year to renew their certification and receive additional training. Nebutan
had never been to the capital, and what she found openly displayed there changed her life.
Discovers Tatchlan Master Enclave
While within the Primary Mountain Circle
for her first re-certification, she saw some Tolku
with shocking physical deformities and others emitting strange odours. She followed them to one of the Tatchlan Master Enclaves. Along with their tall Nara plants
growing in abundance around the entrance, odd-looking birds
perched on the roof and a distinctive moss
covering the walls that emitted a sweet odour. Despite growing up in a Master-dominated society, she had yet to directly encounter them or their works. She pretended to be interested in becoming an initiate and was taken on a tour. What she saw there horrified her. She then made enquiries and read everything she could on the programme. She became convinced it was a great evil and must be stopped.
Rediscovers writings of Nallurakon

She found a complete set of Nallurakon's
essays and accounts of her life during her research. She would later declare that Nallurakon's mission must be taken up anew, and those joining her must learn from her successes and mistakes. She approached other wandering scholars and brought several of them over to her point of view. Like her, they returned to work but now resolved to sew the seeds of dissent against the Tatchlan System.
Forms networks and builds movement

Nebutan was permitted to remain within Upata-Shepsus
to receive additional instruction. There, she gradually contacted many faculty members to further her research and explore the likelihood they would join her movement. She made a point of staying away from those likely to have sympathy, or actual involvement, with the Masters.
Nebutan discovered and flees north
One day, a professor took her aside and said she had been reported. She immediately contacted all the senior members of the group. They urged her to leave, and they would stay in contact. They had heard of the Sawlu Clan
in the far north of Thermistal. They arranged passage for her up the Panchala Sea
and around the Huallapandu Headlands
at 'the Crown' of Rho-Jashun, where the Panchala Sea met the Tharapura. She left Bhampay
in 1234 at age twenty-two, and the journey took most of a year. During the trip, she laid the foundations for her principal writings condemning Tatchlan. She was fortunate to make the trip around the headlands with little incident. After additional land travel, she finally reached the Sawlu Clan on the central island of the Wazaratcha Archipelago.
Welcomed by Sawlu Clan, discovers works of Geltran

Word of her activities had preceded her, and the clan welcomed her. She spoke at length about what she saw and learned, confirming many of the clan's concerns. They invited her to stay under their roof. She was amazed at the formidable library they had generated over the centuries of observations throughout Rho-Jashun
and Statos-Vey of the growing evidence of Tatchlan. Among these were the long-out-of-print works of Geltran-Kenal-Tumhal, including ‘Our Great Failure,’ his lament over the Tatchlan Master's sterilizing most of the Suvuka population, published over one thousand years before. She regretted being ignorant of this insightful collection when she had lived in Upata-Shepsus. She studied his thoughts and observations, along with much more generated by the clan, at length and augmented her findings with them. She then prepared to use all this material to write her books. Sawlu Clan
mobilized to assist her in every way they could. While not as wealthy as they once were, they can purchase materials and those skilled in their use for every aspect of publishing books. While she writes, they take on yet another edition of Nallurakon's works. She worked on three separate multi-volume documents for twenty-six years while maintaining extensive correspondence with scholars, academics, and others in Tolku
society on Anu. She even initiated a dialogue with the Tatchlan Masters
themselves.
Nebutan's Works
Her three published collections were exhaustive and detailed, with extensive appendixes and long lists of sources. The ‘Rise of Tatchlan’ has a companion volume titled 'The Sawlu Observations,' where most of the original field notes made by the clan were transcribed. During her life at the Sawlu Clan, many rare volumes were brought for her examination. They ensured she had the privacy, extensive resources and quiet to continue her work. Many authorities of every persuasion began to come to visit and speak with her. She died suddenly of a severe infection at forty-eight in 1260, having not yet seen the final bound version of 'Dignity's Demise.'
‘Rise of Tatchlan’
She dedicated this work to Geltran-Kenal-Tumhal
and his work ‘Our Great Failure.’ This was a general overview of the history of the Tatchlan System
from its birth among the Uluvatu Masters
to the present. The considerable collection of Sawlu's observations of Tatchlan events and generational developments was extensively referenced here. (They were able to make most of these observations through their large fleet of trading ships, which travelled in what they termed ‘The Circuit,’ taking them down the western coast of Rho-Jashun
and Statos-Vey, then up the eastern coast of both continents before returning home, stopping in all principal ports along the way.)
‘The Rise of Tatchlan' usually appears as a work of eight volumes. It includes a summary of its beginnings before the Tolku's first encounter with the Suvuka. It details the primary Masters' first interactions with the Cousins. The training of these and other creature allies
led to more extraordinary abilities to control them. Over time, this genius was built on by the secluded Uluvatu Masters and the quiet determination was made that this science held the key to Tolku's survival. From there, the idea developed of the need to modify the Tolku themselves to reduce certain primitive traits
not affected by many ages' attempts at social and educational improvement. It was at last determined to bring all of raw life
under its sway to ensure a complete and harmonious system. Nebutan contended this last vision was now the primary focus of the Tatchlan Masters. It appeared they estimated this would take several more generations to accomplish. Along with the Sawlu material and the works of Nallurakon, she lists one of her significant sources as 'Our Great Failure' by Geltran-Kenal-Tumhal, whom she praises as the first among ‘ethical philosophers.’
‘Worse than Chaos’


This is her most philosophical work and usually appears as a collection of four large volumes. In it, she examines the underlying assumptions of the Tatchlan System
and critiques them. She acknowledges the waste and confusion that can be found in Tolku
society and within the wildlife of Anu. She then lays out the kind of existence these Masters
envision, which she insists is one of profound slavery and uniformity. She listed the numerous ethical objections to such a living framework and provided the reader with extensive examples from her observations, along with many others.
‘Dignity’s Demise’

This was her final work in three large volumes. It focuses exclusively on the cluster model. This was now openly discussed by the Tatchlan Masters
of her day as the foundation for the eventual Cluster-of-Clusters Nation. She said the model is partly inspired by the troupe organization of the Varku
and other Cousins, along with several insect societies. She attacks it on many levels as an offence to various morals and ethics, undermining fundamental individual liberty and the right to possess goods and property.
Died suddenly
After completing the work, she died suddenly and unexpectedly in 1260 of the Duamang Age. Dignity's Demise was published posthumously and contained several laudatory declarations about her life and work. Given her relative health for most of her life and her young age (she was forty-eight), there were calls for an investigation into her sudden death. Despite many passionate claims of a conspiracy, all evidence pointed to an acute infection, perhaps aided by exhaustion from her work. While some continued to accuse the Masters
of having a hand in her death, the truth was her works had already reached their peak influence while she was alive and had begun to recede. For all the interest and discussion they inspired, it was already clear they did not threaten the Masters.
Collected Letters
This is the final publication to appear with her name several years after her death. In five volumes, it is nearly as large as her first significant work, the 'Rise of Tatchlan.' It is a collection of her vast correspondence over the years she spent studying and working within the Sawlu Clan and several notations of extended conversations she had with the famous and influential who came to see her. Of particular interest were her debates with three Tatchlan Masters who made the journey to speak with her. This work came to have equal standing with the others, both for its historical value and the many explorations of concepts and details of history not found elsewhere in her published works.
Note: events in the novel Heshavira’s Challenge
occur ten years after Nebutan’s death.
Philosophy
Ethics predominates
Philosophers concerned themselves with many matters, but the dominant theme could be characterized as ethics. This was partly due to the repeated destruction of various societies, both the earlier city-states and later dynasties, leading to the loss of life, works and knowledge. This led to the anguished cries of ‘Secure Us or Slay Us,’ suggesting a profound desperation to end this cycle, later known as the Four Generations of Self-Absorption. From pre-literate times, Self-Absorption
had always been identified as the fundamental impediment to peace and happiness. As noted in the Pauloman Catalogues, mystical writings of the later Cathalu
tradition explicitly identify the term ‘Self-Absorption’ as the culprit behind these cycles of chaos. While the Cathalu may have coined this term, it grew beyond this one most-ancient tradition. Prior to the Masters'
development of the Tatchlan System
to effectively address this sickness once and for all, many mystics and philosophers had tried to confront this scourge. One mystical tradition, ‘Water Viewing,’ had a long history before any written language. Funomanru
scholars said that in prehistoric times, the practice of 'Viewing' water in all its forms and the attendant rise of all living things around it was the foundation of many philosophies and sciences long before specific Water Viewing culture came into being.
Water Viewing:
Contemplation

While small portions of water-viewing texts survive, much of what we know comes from secondary sources. Water Viewers tended to form isolated groups or communities, ideally within easy reach of various waters. Usually, these included the shore of an ocean, the shore of a lake, a river, a stream and a brook, along with a pond of still waters. It is said contemplation of each of these forms of water was undertaken as part of a more significant mystical exercise, which may have, on certain occasions, included touching or entering these waters.
They also stood naked in the rain, singing their devotional songs. They understood steam, and ice were other water guises and reserved particular rites for approaching them. They created little architecture in the form of shelters near natural steam vents. While there were established communities, water viewers could also observe in solitude. There appears to have been no prohibition from members entering and leaving these groups repeatedly. The majority quietly practiced their rituals as they could amidst their lives in general society. Their two most common ancient symbols were a raised pedestal holding a wide bowl of standing water or an eye emerging from a rippling pool.
Water contained living code
Due to most communities and practitioners living on Rho-Jashun
before the First Suvuka Onslaught, little of their mystical literature has survived, and what has is very difficult to interpret. There are references to four to six founding texts, said to be in poetic form, and many more volumes of exposition, none of which have endured subsequent destruction intact. What may be summarized is that Water Viewers saw water as the foundation of life and its nature and movement, which contained a living code for all beings. Viewing the waters allowed a measure of understanding of this code, leading to peace and contentment unobtainable by any other means. While it might appear unlikely Water Viewers would have any links with their contemporaries, the followers of the Chelyakan Religion, there are references to some mutual understanding between these two groups. No amount of research has uncovered what this connection may have been.
Menem oppression
Unlike Chelyaka, the Touched Venerators, and many other early traditions, Water Viewing continued unmolested, as a tiny minority within the population throughout most of Pre-Tatchlan history, until the Menem Religion
began to become aggressive towards all forms of belief other than their own. As might befit devotees of water, they passively withdrew from this aggression and continued as something of a secret society. During this time of persecution, the three branches of Water Viewing formed. It is said that some first Tatchlan Masters, prior to their trek to Uluvatu Mountain on Statos-Vey, were adept in this Water Viewing tradition.
The three forms of Water Viewing
Practical
The most recent branch of the tradition involved using fluids and reflections for various magical practices. This was known as the 'practical stream' of Viewing. Sub-branches of this tradition used other liquids, including blood, to ‘skry’ and perform other rites. While most would occasionally use other fluids, some condemned this in all cases. This became very popular with the general population while being seen by purists as degrading the original tradition.
Ethical
It was a series of elaborate ethical systems based on all right actions based on water's many attributes. This came to be termed the 'ethical stream' of Viewing. Before Menem's
rise, entire governance systems were based on this stream. Unfortunately, most works devoted to this have since been completely lost. (Nebutan
was a practitioner of this stream of Viewing.)
Destiny
The last form to develop involved the first attempts to reach into the foundations of life itself. This was named the 'destiny stream' of Viewing. While those who would become the first Tatchlan Masters
distinguished themselves in all three forms of Viewing, it was the Viewing of the foundations of Life they came to emphasize. Because of their later connection to the first Tatchlan Masters, a significant portion of Destiny Water Viewing poetry and literature has survived.
