Cornered you at last, have I? Put those books down and walk with me, young student. There is much for you to learn, and little of it from those texts.
So you've attended all your lectures about the Church of the First Saint. You know all there is to know about the Old and New churches, you're sick to your stomach of having to reread the scriptures of Agia Arwald that caused the Schism, and if you have to write one more paper on the Dragon-Church's seizing of power and the effect it had on getting the Old and New churches to work together then you're going to go mad. But you weren't satisfied with that, were you?
So then you dug a little deeper. You looked into the smaller sects and cult that form up the church; you researched the dogmatic differences both small and large between the Silverian Church and the Silent Cult, between the Church of Bloodied Purity and that of the Ancients. You started looking into more obscure pieces of theology, at things like the ancient Kingdom of Ereverry from which our faith descends and the Book of the Martial Saint. You've read Scholar Theseus' thesis on the nature of the Lamb and the Silence, and you've even started looking into the Church's ancient roots amongst the pagan faiths of the world.
But it still wasn't enough.
No, you want more. You want to learn more. You want to learn the truths of this world, truths that no faith has yet been able to explain. You want more, but you don't know where to turn. Or rather, you didn't. But you do now. You can pretend you don't if you want, but I watched you in the library just the other day. You'd picked out as many books as you could about Saint Khidon, not to mention the book of legal records that went alongside it. Don't try and act foolish, we both know you think you've found something. Something you weren't supposed to find, something that they told you not to find interesting. For a while you've listened, but you and I both know that soon you're going to give in to your desire to learn.
And if you're going to learn it anyway, why not learn it now? Why not learn it from... well, from me? You're on the right track to learning what you need to know, but I'd not bother with most of the records they keep on Saint Khidon in this library. You ever notice that they're all dated centuries after his death? It's because they're all lies. Falsified bullshit to help the image of a dead saint better fit the role the church wants him to take. He's too ingrained in the culture of Aegos and southern Kliskorios at large to be truly removed from all records, so instead the powers-that-be sought to twist his words and his findings to fit their own power plays and beliefs, leaving his real teachings in the dust.
But there are other books out there that exist. Books that tell the truth of his teachings. Books of what he discovered, and why it was that the Church of his time deemed him so dangerous that they ordered his execution to be carried out the day his sentence was passed instead of the customary sennight after sentencing.
There are books out there that teach of these things, young student. Books that teach of the true nature of death and of living. Books that teach of the Khidonean Doctrine. Would you like to read them?
Of course you would. You're smarter than most in your class, if not conventionally then at least in common sense. I'm going to teach you what I can about the teachings of Saint Khidon, and the tenets underpinning his ideals and several others like them. Be very careful in choosing who you spread this knowledge to, however. There are not many who care for the name of the 'Khidoneans' anymore, and there are a great many who would see you killed just for wishing to learn of these things. Does that not dissuade you?
No, it does not. You've got a good mind for knowledge.
Tell me, if you would: why are you here? You're not a normal student of this place, and before last month I'd never seen you around here. You're a Klironomean, a Polaeran if I have my accents right, and they've got plenty of their own academies dedicated to training clergymen. Ah, but you aren't a clergyman in training, are you? No, that's quite alright, no-one will mind. The Archbishops and Cardinal who run the school likely know you won't be here long. So, what is it that brings you here?
A genuine thirst for knowledge, hmm? Well, that I certainly can help with.
Come, walk with me. My chambers are not far from here, and entertaining foreign nobility is always a good excuse for getting off of work.
My name? Sin. It's a pleasure to meet you as well. I'll be a Cardinal in a month or two, I think, but for now I'm just Sin. An ironic name for a preacher, I know, but that's the one the priests all gave me when I got here. I don't actually remember what I used to be called if I'm honest, in fact that might have been my name all my life, but Sin is a fine enough name by me. Ah, enough about me. We're here to talk about the Khidonean Doctrine, so please feel free to make yourself at home here while we discuss these things. After you!
There we are. It'll be much nicer to talk in here without the risk of people listening in. The Khidonean Doctrine isn't one that's seen much love from church authorities since it was originally penned, and I don't see that changing anytime soon.
Yes, you've likely heard it labelled 'the Khidonean Heresy'. A crude title, but to most that's all it is. A heresy, no different than any other upstart little theology with a half-baked idea and a mad prophet to guide it. That's what the main church would like it to be, anyway.
See, the Khidonean Doctrine isn't a 'religion' by itself. It doesn't form a core part of any faith or cult in the world, not that I know of at least. I won't pretend to know all their is to know about these things, but I've never heard of a faith that placed it at its heart. Khidoneans are not the adherents to one particular faith, rather they believe in the words of Saint Khidon on top of the words of whichever variant of the scriptures they follow. This means that their are Khidoneans who worship at the New-Church, those who follow the Cult of Anawroth, others still who hold to the Ichorian Cult; you get the idea. It isn't one faith by itself, merely a truth that certain people hold close to their hearts regardless of who or where they worship.
The Khidonean Doctrine isn't a catch-all theology. It deals with one very particular part of our world, that being the matter of death. All die one day, be they jester or king, kind or cruel. It doesn't matter who they are or how they've lived their lives, because at some point it always comes to an end.
At least, that's what most believe. Oh, there are the heavens and the hells, but they're different. They're eternal. They're locations. But to get to a location, you need to travel there first. That's what Saint Khidon's research looked at. That's what he wanted to learn the truth of. Saint Khidon was a fervent believer in the scriptures, no matter what anyone says about him, but he also held the belief that, before we reach heaven or hell, first we must journey past this world. He believed that death was not something that merely ended life and flung you to your eternal destination, but that your spirit would have to find its own way to hell. Some Khidoneans take this literally, and ponder how one might be able to ensure that one's spirit can find their way to heaven as a physical location. Others believe it to be metaphorical or mystical, and claim that there is a place beyond this world that we go to when we die which requires either mental or physical navigation. Some even claim that the path we must walk is not a true path at all, but rather the idea that we must live out our lives again through the shoes of another until we find our destination, whatever that might be. A form of reincarnation, I suppose. Not one that goes on forever, but a form of reincarnation nonetheless. One in which we need only to find where we are meant to be to reach heaven or hell.
Now of course there are other things to consider, but the teachings of Saint Khidon are remarkably simple. Where they grow complicated are when one looks at the history associated with them.
See, Saint Khidon wasn't some obscure figure like we might assume nowadays. He was practically a celebrity back in his lifetime, and for all he accomplished he lived a remarkably short life at that. He was a grim man, not stern nor unkind but with an unmistakable seriousness surrounding him. He believed firmly that all of life was nothing more than a test to prepare one for death and what came after. His sermons drew crowds numbering in the tens of thousands, and entire university complexes would crowd themselves into open fields just to hear a word of his teachings from his own mouth. Though grim he may have been, he was immensely popular amongst many of the faithful. His lectures often even saw a great number of pagans in attendance; the priests of the Sotenari took the long voyage across the Ambyr sea to listen to his words, and druids from both Brythonia and Scelopyrea would sit next to one another despite their ancient hatreds so that they might be privy to his wisdom. The words he preached were humble, and yet grand. They were so very complicated, and yet also completely accessible to even the unlearned. Yes, Saint Khidon was a wonderful teacher while he lived.
He did not live for long.
As I mentioned, the powers-that-be were never pleased with his popularity. They saw him as a threat to their established canon and to their liturgy, and though they would never admit it in public his popularity made him a direct threat to the power they wielded. Why? For he believed that the Church should not possess great riches, nor should they own any lands outside of the cathedrals, churches, shrines, graveyards, and potter's fields they ministered to. He believed that any lands that did not directly see to the needs of the church should not be owned by the church, be they farms, mills, or breweries. You can see why this didn't go down well with the higher levels of the priesthood.
Before his words could reach the ears of kings who would no doubt be pleased to propagate his words as an excuse to seize the lands of the church for their own they called him to trial for crimes against the faith, and for Arch-Heresy. He was one of only three men to be tried for Arch-Heresy in the last thousand years. Yeah, his work really made the church paranoid. Can't think why.
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Sometimes I wonder whether the clergymen who ordered him killed had even bothered to read his work. I doubt it; most of them probably didn't care much for the scriptures regardless of what they said.
As for his execution, that's the subject of much debate. Not over 'how' they did it, since we know that much: he was sentenced to be executed by being interred in a statue of his likeness for spreading his beliefs. No, the thing people aren't sure on is whether or not it actually happened. There was no skeleton inside the statue when it was knocked down, after all. Most of his followers generally believe that he all but disappeared before his sentence could be carried out.
Though many have speculated on whether he escaped or was killed, no evidence of any sort has ever been found about him from the day his execution was set to take place. He simply vanished.
His beliefs laid the foundations for the what church-folk call the Khidonean Heresy, referred to amongst adherents as the Khidonean Doctrine, which encapsulated his beliefs. The Khidonean Heresy is not a sect of the church by itself, merely a doctrine of faith that a few extremely minor sects adhere to. Despite many radical differences with each other, any sect following the Khidonean Doctrine sees other faiths following the doctrine, or even pagan faiths with similar beliefs, to be brother-faiths. Old-Church, New-Church, pagan, it matters not. If one holds to their beliefs in what comes after, they are a Khidonean.
Hm, perhaps that's not quite true. I believe that those believing in pagan faiths who still hold to the truths of Saint Khidon don't tend to use the term 'Khidonean' much. It makes sense of course, especially because similar beliefs have existed the world over for as long as anyone can remember. Most of those in pagan faiths instead keep to their own local versions of the Khidonean Doctrine, many of which predate it but weren't anything other than tiny sects of belief before Saint Khidon sparked interest in these similar teachings. As a collective umbrella, these small sects and doctrines of belief with very similar teachings are referred to as 'Exalipsianist' beliefs. You'll probably never encounter another type of Exalipsianism outside of the Khidonean Doctrine however, since interest in such things has waned greatly since the killing of the blessed Saint Khidon centuries ago.
Yes, there is a monastic order that bears his name, just as there is a cathedral dedicated to him within the walls of this fair city. Strange for one labelled as an Arch-Heretic to be honoured in such a way, no?
That's because they don't commemorate him. They don't commemorate his teachings. They commemorate the false version of him that the church pretends existed. They put his name on books he never wrote, on scriptures he never cared for, on transcripts of lectures that no-one had ever heard him give. They lied, so that they could pretend he was someone he wasn't. So that they could do more than just erase him from history; they've used his name and his words to disparage the very groups he sought to support. They've perverted his vision and dug up the path he once laid, letting the darkness of the forest reclaim the trail.
But some of us remember where that path once was. Some of us remember what he believed, what he said, what he taught. Some of us remember the real Saint Khidon, and with any luck you now will as well. He was arguably the most important Saint since the First Saint himself, and yet his name has slowly been forgotten by all in the outside world, and shunned within the confines of holy places.
Saint Khidon's message may have been cut short, but the pieces of it we have that he left behind are enough to get us started on working out what's left. We don't know what grand truths he'd reached past what he'd spoken of in public, and we know for a fact that six half-written books bearing his hand were burned when the church came for him. Saint Khidon got us started, but we now need to work out the rest alone. He held his lantern out for us, but the candle within has flickered and died. It may never be rekindled, but we can at least do our best to stumble through the darkness and follow his footsteps. It's what he would expect of us, after all.
Ah, my apologies. I never realised you were royalty. There aren't many princes that come here anymore, though prince Mathias Perytlos did used to come by here a few times a year. I do believe the burnings have put him off a little, however. Not that I blame him, they're fuck-awful things. Tell me then, prince Alekos. What do you make of Exalipsianism? Of the Khidonean Doctrine and its beliefs?
Yes, I agree. Fascinating, aren't they?
Well, that covers most of it I think. I know that was probably more of a ramble in places and for that I'll not apologise, since that's just who I am. Still, rather strange to find a prince from as north as the civilised world goes down here. If I were you I'd not hang around here for long. There's a reason Dathan has been seen as the backwater of the continent this last few centuries, and it's about to get a hell of a lot worse. Yes, the Aegan Civil War is over. No, that doesn't mean everything here is all fine and dandy. I respect your wish to tour the peninsula, young prince, but I wholeheartedly stand against it. There's zealots and despots galore around here, and you'll be hounded at every step of your trip by those who wish to curry favour with you. Yes, I'm aware that such a thing never happened here in Aegos. You wanna know why?
Because Archcardinal Adikos hates royalty.
He sees them as impure, unneeded, vainglorious. He despises them for what he sees as laziness and sins abound, not to mention how much they try and hold the church in check. Adikos hates all sorts of people, but royalty is certainly up there. He'll not do anything to you, don't worry, he isn't stupid. He doesn't want to start a war with a kingdom as far away as Polaeros. No, what I mean by all of this is that he hasn't tried acting nice to you because he has no intention of even pretending that he cares about you. He hates royalty, he hates those who worship Angels, and he hates Klironomeans for what they did to Terranea. Me? I couldn't give less of a shit what happened a thousand years ago. But then it doesn't matter what I think, because Adikos is in charge.
Yeah, it is odd how different Khidon appears to other Saints from around here. I mean, you don't see figures like Saint Priore causing a rift in the church's theology so totally, do you? Saint Brassica came close in her lifetime, what with her desire for power and ambitions of greatness, but that's a story for another time. Oh yes, Saint Brassica is another case of the church trying to cover up and rewrite its own history. Quite a few of the Saints were rather different in life to what they're seen as in death, though some are admittedly little different than the records say. Anyway, that's not important right now. If nothing else I've given you something else to consider, haven't I? I'm not sure how many records of the Saints from the time they lived in still exists, but if you wished to find any and they did turn out to exist then I'd be very surprised if there wasn't at least a copy of each in the Great Library of Sothettar. There isn't really much of a presence from the church on that island city, since they keep to their own ancient gods. Therefore there wouldn't have been any reason for them to get rid of the books. Makes sense, right?
Sorry, I realise we've gotten quite far off track. You had a question, you said? Oh, the monks? Yeah, there's a small monastic order nestled in and around the city of Athio called, plainly enough, the Monastic Order of Saint Khidon. I think it watches over three monasteries, a nunnery, and eight priories. There's a hermitage nestled into a relatively isolated and secluded area as well, not far from the coast near the Rocks of Aercad. As with much of what bears Khidon's name, it's widely accepted amongst the church and Khidonean practitioners alike that they don't really teach his true work.
There are a few things about them that make me think they might hold more than a few secrets about their adherence to their namesake, however. Sure, in the eyes of the wider church they're seen as adhering to little more than the toothless and bastardised version of Khidon's teachings that the church claim were his actual beliefs, but I'm not so sure. They hold no lands outside of the various buildings they call home, with the only exception being a balneary that they run for pilgrims making the trip to Aegos. That's it; a bath house and a series of convents. No grand prestige projects, no vast farming estates, nothing like that. Just what they need to survive, and no more. They swear a vow of silence and don hooded robes of deep crimson, both of which are not uncommon amongst Khidonean congregations the world over. Taking on a vow of silence also helps them stop anyone from slipping up and revealing themselves, hypothetically speaking of course. It would be interesting to see how they operate from within, however even someone set to be as high up in the church hierarchy as myself may not enter a convent without invitation.
And the Monastic Order of Saint Khidon do not make any invitations. To anyone. Ever. The day they agree to let someone not of their order past the walls of one of their convents is the day that this entire continent bows before the same ruler.
Yeah, that was a joke. Because neither of those things are ever going to happen.
Anyway, they're pretty alright. Some monasteries and monastic orders tend to have a bit of a prideful streak, but Saint Khidon's order is just a little isolationist. They want to be left alone, generally speaking. They're fine with helping out folks in the outside world, but they generally don't enjoy people asking them questions about how they operate. If they weren't so small in scale they probably would have been forced under a little more oversight, but as it stands people are generally content to let them provide alms, operate their bathhouse, and generally just remain apart from the world. That's what monks and nuns are supposed to do anyway, isn't it? Stay away from worldly desires?
Don't worry, I'm not gonna chastise you for laughing at that. I've seen the central abbey of the Order of Saint Mikah, and I'm pretty sure there's more gold stashed away in that place than your palace back home. No offense. Yeah, I think some of the abbots around here just... never got around to reading the whole 'avarice is a sin' part of the scriptures. Go figure that one out by yourself, because I've been pondering it for years and I'm no closer to finding an answer to that particular question. Let me know if you figure out how the fuck they think everything being gold helps them get closer to the First Saint.
The Order of Saint Khidon doesn't go in for that kind of stuff. Granite and slate, that's all they care for. They don't even go for lead on their roofs, so you can imagine exactly how little use they have for gold. They don't care for opulence; they're masters at making the mundane fantastical. They might not have marble walls, but their carvings are some of the best I've ever seen. They might not have masterful statues and plinths, but the gargoyles that perch atop their convents are more than enough to convince everyone around them to simply let them be and leave them alone.
I can respect that, in all honesty. They help the poor and the needy, and their ranks are almost entirely populated by those cast out on the streets with no-one to turn to and no-where to go, usually children. That's how they recruit; they help people. No ulterior motives, save that you now must help them help the next person who is taken in. Whether the order forces them to stay I won't pretend to know, but in my mind it's pretty telling that not once has anyone ever broken their vow of silence when outside the order's walls. Oh, they can talk and sing their hymns while inside, but as soon as the doors are opened and the monks walk out it's as silent as the grave.
Ah, that'll be enough of your time wasted today. As I mentioned before, I'd leave Dathan relatively soon. I give it half a decade at the most before this peninsula is knee-deep in blood. Best for foreigners to keep away when that time comes; despots ruling over an increasingly war-weary and angry population are always keen to use outsiders as scapegoats or bartering chips. I wish you well in your travels, Prince Alekos, and I hope you will not soon forget Acolyte Sin. I'll be a Cardinal soon you know, and if Dathan isn't at war with itself when that time comes feel free to come and visit me again. I'll be down in Athio whenever you wish to make your appearance.
Good day to you as well, and goodbye. Be careful what knowledge you seek next, young prince. I know better than most that knowledge never comes without its price.