It seems appropriate at this point to speak at some length regarding the Sunfire Cult and its activities in Shdustu. The recovery and clean up period undertaken at Sun-Scourged Fortress represented an opportunity to consider the problem in depth and provided an unequaled source of information regarding the cult short of the impossibility of freely speaking to one of its members. Cult members in Shdustu are no less capable of resisting interrogation or detecting provocateurs than those elsewhere. Unfortunately, this means that much knowledge of the cult is known only to those who have completed initiation, and as such there is a gap in scholarly understanding as to just why these people choose to reject the Enlightened Revelation in favor of a crude heresy. I suspect the truth can never be known.

For those unfamiliar with the depths of history, it is well-established that the cult emerged shortly following the Enlightened Revelation. Though the exact dates are not documented, it was surely within the first generation. Its central heresy of superiority of the sky and the association of the sky with fire rather than ice in a reverse of what we know is true, seems to have originated from amid pre-revelation fire cults that were common across the continent in that era. At some point in the rapid early years of the Revelation's spread a leader from one of these cults, now known as Vire the Penitent, re-framed his associations in favor of a partial, but heretical, acceptance of the Revelation. This did serve to break the people of a large expanse of territory of loyalty to primitive spiritualism, but it birthed an equally false and far more dangerous belief in the process. This was the belief that only the Lord of the Sky and All Above, called in Shdustu Nakiet, was truly divine, that the Lady of Earth and Lord of Death were merely illusions, shadows cast by the overwhelming sun. This remains the core belief of the Sunfire Cult, though there are countless reports of other deviant fragments of their faith that are as varied as grains of sand on a beach. The different branches of the cult operate largely independently of each other and have no means to organize doctrine, leading to all manner of theological variation according to the dreams and visions various preachers see in the flames. None of these have any truthful support and most are merely reflections of ancient folk spiritualism. The association with fire does seem to be nearly universal, however, and fire altars are the most common feature of Sunfire Cult places of worship. While this is surely partly the legacy of the ancient cult, the fascination with fire seems to be deeply embedded in all humans, and though it is properly a facet of the Lady of Earth, is a very real conduit for divine essence.

In Shdustu, where the Enlightened Revelation spread slowly and was only wholly adopted after more than a century of effort, with many localized variations of dubious validity retained, the hold of the Sunfire Cult is notable for both its strength and its fervor. This was obvious at Sun-Scorched Fortress, whose cultists possessed a devotion far outstripping dilettante followers of this faith in the Core Provinces. The most obvious evidence of such potent belief is the practice of cremation and the assumption of martyrdom through self-immolation, something I observed firsthand and wish never to see again. Though Sunfire Cultists captured in Crisremon continue to believe that they will ascend to the eternal fiery embrace of the sun after death rather than descending to face the Lord of Death's judgment as is the inevitable true progression, they long ago abandoned this barbaric practice and return the bodies of their dead to the cycle through sky burial as is proper.

On the steppe the cult is to some degree self-sustaining, operating independently and less subject to the cycles of expansion and destruction tied to charismatic manipulators found in the Core Provinces. Cultists form isolated communities in places too small or too poor to draw Nikkad settlers, but with sufficient water and land to support more than mere bandits. Unlike the cultists in the Sanid Empire who must recruit secretly and hide their allegiance, Shdustu's cultists exist openly. While both groups gather up the disaffected and the destitute, in Shdustu many children are raised in the cult from birth. This gives the resulting groups a very different tenor. In the Sanid Empire cultists are few in number but potent and scheming and they utilize their martial converts as disposable tools of destruction and chaos. In Shdustu the cultists are numerous and much more egalitarian, and the entirety of each community works to sustain their fellows and pursue the cult's mad goals. I would also submit that the cultists of Shdustu are far more genuine in their heretical faith. In the Empire it is common for high-ranking cultists to, upon discovery by the Inspectorate, repent and beg for mercy. By contrast, the prophet at Sun-Scourged Fortress walked into the flames without hesitation.

I can only speculate as to why this may be so. The key observation I took from the fortress was that the cultists dwelling there, though gathered together in a discrete community, were desperately poor. They lacked not only armor and properly made weapons, but everything necessary for civilized life. Their survival depended upon constant reuse and repair of such limited assets as they possessed to sustain themselves in a terribly inhospitable place. While this did not mean they had absolutely nothing, it is not possible to survive on the steppe in the manner of an alley beggar of Crisremon who possesses only his rags, the assets of this community of two hundred people were distressingly meager. Though they possessed a flock of goats as their most significant resource, and one the Kharal warband paid well for, it was far smaller than that any clan of similar size would keep in sheep. Clothing was minimal, with most of the cultists barefoot, and their tools were worn down and dull. Many wore threadbare scraps and they must have been bitterly cold in winter. Many of the crude swords they wielded displayed clear signs of being repurposed as knives and levers in everyday work, and were pitted and chipped accordingly. It was clear they had been reforged from scrap metal, and many other tools such as axes were ground from stone instead. They had neither horses nor camels, and were dependent upon a handful of ragged donkeys to carry loads up the long path to the fortress proper from the badlands. They slept in joint chambers with compact walls so that all could huddle together on piled goatskins. Many of the dead, as reported by Lady Indili who dared to examine the burnt bones, were missing fingers and toes, clear signs of periodic losses to frostbite.

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That a society living below the standards commonly managed to be sustained by bandits, who themselves generally fail to persist for more than a few years, should display such longevity as the cultists is truly curious. While the renewal of their numbers through births, something bandits rarely achieve, accounts for some of this, it is not sufficient on its own. Instead, it must be admitted that the Sunfire Cult recruits successfully from among all peoples and classes of Shdustu. The dead at the fortress includes those who could be identified as both full-blooded Kharal, Nikkad, and even a Bahab warrior from the hills to the distant north, people who usually will not willingly associate together. The general's men, sent to examine the fortress after the battle, identified one of the fighters killed by crossbow bolt as the third son of a prominent Kharal noble who possessed over one hundred horses. Much as it pains me to admit this, it seems that the allure of heresy is capable of drawing in not only the desperate and dispossessed. Those who reject the revelation and choose to live in this strange way come from all strata of society.

These were very troubling thoughts, ones I shared with Princess Romou in the hope of receiving insight from a properly trained intercessor of the Divines. Her explanation is one that I have endeavored to preserve in full, believing it a credit to the Enlightened Revelation, as she came up into the fortress and conducted the funerary services in person thereby seeing more of the Sunfire Cult than perhaps any other ecclesiastical authority of the Sanid Empire has before or since.

“Truth is complex, and therefore difficult, while lies are simple, and therefore easy. Any scholar knows this, as does the apothecary and the sorcerer, or even the hideous twisted masters of wizardry. The world contains many truths, but none are easily mastered. There are only hard truths that demand utmost effort and offer little succor. The Enlightened Revelation of the Divines is just such a truth, encompassing all others as it does, and to reach sufficient understanding as to grasp its profound beauty and genuine solace is a struggle. Life, death, passage, judgment, cleansing, and at last return, the joint cycle generated by the three Divines working in concert. It is known to us, but we stand here as well-educated persons taught to ingest challenging concepts from childhood where we were born in a land of plenty. In this harsh land beneath a scourging sun the lure of a simpler path, an easier path, is strong. One god instead of three, a straight path to salvation in the fiery orb above instead of an endless circle, it is a comforting deception. In the harshness of this land, and in the failure of its priests to guide its people to find succor, the cult sows the seeds of its appeal. Those who continually feel cold are least able to resist the mesmerizing lure of the flame. We must do more here.”

The appeal of salvation achieved simply through repentance and prayer, with no need for understanding or self-interrogation, is certainly a temptation I, and I think most, can grapple with. In a hard land where lives are simple, often short, and the opportunity to grasp the more complex mysteries of the world is limited, doubly so. It is to the credit of the missionaries of old that the revelation was impressed upon the peoples of Shdustu with as much success as it was, and it is equally regrettable that the Sunfire Cult successfully perverted the revelation by binding the Lord of Sky to their heresy. This deceives many, I am certain, into the false belief that embracing the cult's teaching does not mean abandoning the rulings of the Divines. A great regret, considering the prolonged cleansing to which all such heretics will surely be subjected before being returned to the next life.

Abject subjugation, the surrender of all judgment, to the Divines is not the path. We are reasoning beings, not dogs. I suppose that those beaten down by a life that seems little different from slavery might fail to understand this, or alternatively the arrogant who believe they can surmount the trials the world dispatches at us consider an eternal cycle insufficient reward and hold out for more. Something inexplicable, surely, sustains the zeal of these cultists, for the lives of the least among the peoples of Shdustu are not so wretched as what the ruined fortress revealed.

Equally distressing is the tolerance displayed by some in positions of power toward the cult. The same unscrupulous merchants who trade with bandits also extend their hands in commerce with these heretics. Worse, it seems perfectly ordinary families are willing to conduct trade with these wretches and to take advantage of those victimized by cultist raids when those targeted are their rivals. The Kharal, especially, do not seem to care much for theological vigilance. I suppose lack of education accounts for much of this. The difference between three Divines and one is recognizable by all, but without some measure of scholarship and the ability to recognize the divide between fundamental traits, it seems that they struggle to appreciate the significance of this. Further, guided only by shamans and without a formal priesthood, even their elites are poorly positioned to resist false lures and may be led astray.

The Princess was of the belief that the development of a proper priesthood was essential, and that it would be of great benefit to Shdustu. Certainly the presence of those able to properly display the blessings of the Divines would be of aid. Scholarship, I suspect, also has role to play. If the knowledge and wisdom of empires could aid in elevating those surviving in places such as the Sun-Scorched Badlands out of utter misery, then I suspect they might better resist false lures against their faith.