The Acolytes of the God-King were the priests of Salbin, the dominant faith of the Exoi people of Toriafas. Though they were responsible for missionary work to spread the faith, their foremost duty was attending the Exoi God-King and his household. Toward the end of the Kritocracy, the most senior Acolytes began to take over the duties of incompetent God-Kings as shadow rulers.
Duties[]
Acolytes were responsible for attending the God-King and his family (during the eras when the royal family was large). They prepared his meals, kept his schedule, served as bodyguards, helped him dress, and served as advisors and consultants on religious matters, including assisting him with Salbin rituals.
The Acolytes maintained the Temple of Incarnate Glory, which was both the palace of the God-King and the primary temple of the Salbin faith. It also housed most of the faith's religious texts in a massive library.
Acolytes were responsible for missionary work, spreading Salbin to foreign world. At its height, the Acolyte order had hundreds of thousands of members for missionary work. Acolytes could also deputize laybeings to help spread the faith.
Ranks[]
The ranks of the Acolytes were stratified in rigid groups:
- Devotees were laybeings allowed to assist Acolytes in missionary work.
- Acolytes of Humble Submission were those training to be full Acolytes. They assisted senior Acolytes in missionary work and studied in Salbin temples.
- Acolytes of the First Steps were those who had passed examinations and been deemed full Acolytes. This was the highest level which could be achieved by non-Exoi and the first which allowed admission to the Temple of Incarnate Glory. First Steps Acolytes were primary missionaries, though those Exoi selected for higher training were allowed to serve in the lowest levels of the Temple of Incarnate Glory as janitors and servants for their seniors.
- Acolytes of the Holy Wisdom were senior Acolytes who were well-versed in Salbin's scriptures and history. They guided missionaries and led small temples.
- Acolytes of the Sacred Trust were senior Acolytes with experience in leadership. They led larger temples, oversaw preaching efforts on entire worlds, and were allowed to teach lesser Acolytes.
- Acolytes of the Many Truths were the most senior scholars of Salbin and allowed to serve in the upper levels of the Temple of Incarnate Glory. The master of the Temple's library was always an Acolyte of the Many Truths.
- Acolytes of the Glorious Presence were allowed to be in the physical presence of the God-King by virtue of their rank and look at him directly; when the God-King visited lesser Acolytes, they were obliged to lower their eyes. These Acolytes could also serve royal family members.
- Acolytes of the Most Blessed Flesh were the Acolytes allowed to physically touch the God-King, and served as his closest attendants and ministers.
- The Most Devoted One was the single Acolyte who led the entire order and served as the God-King's chief advisor on religious matters. He also single-handedly appointed all the Acolytes from the Many Truths level up; he was himself appointed by the God-King personally. The Most Devoted One abandoned his birth name, using only the title for self-reference.
History[]
The Acolytes developed around the same time as the concept of the God-King itself, formed from pre-existing groups of Salbinite preachers and ministers. Early Acolytes were instrumental in both spreading Salbin and eradicating nonbelievers. When Qelrayt I and Tamondafir Pazpope founded the Exoi Kritocracy, the Acolytes advocated for the construction of the Temple of Incarnate Glory.
During the Golden Age of the Kritocracy, the Acolytes were active in missionary work to promote Salbin on all the worlds the Kritocracy had acquired. The Temple was completed early during this period, and the Acolytes began to centralize knowledge and rituals. There was brief dispute as to whether aliens should be allowed to become Acolytes, with the eventual compromise that they could serve in the lowest ranks, but not minister to the God-King himself.
The defeat of the Kritocracy in the Kritocracy-Ascendancy War prompted many questions among the Acolytes; they remained largely faithful to the God-King, placing blame on the Governing Judges and the War Judge. A few Acolytes attempted to assassinate the God-King in what became known as the Unspeakable Heresy; they failed in the attempt and were privately executed to prevent widespread loss of faith.
As the Kritocracy declined, the ranks of the Acolytes thinned as fewer and fewer worlds needed preachers and ministers. Many Most Devoted Ones urged the Governing Judges of their times to continue the conquests, but over time, the Kritocracy lost more worlds than it gained.
In the Late Kritocracy Period, interbreeding and incestuous relationships among the monarchy and the nobility resulted in God-Kings who were increasingly physically deformed, mentally retarded, and incompetent for their offices. During these times, the Acolytes covertly took over many of the God-Kings' governing duties. Only the seniormost ranks of Acolytes were in on the deception; their juniors, never allowed to interact with the God-Kings, were taught that they had gone into seclusion until the Kritocracy experienced a renaissance of its glory.
The final God-King, Chohwelk VII, was so profoundly physically and mentally handicapped that he was incapable of independent function and required mechanical support to remain alive. The Most Devoted One and the seniormost Acolytes performed all his government duties while maintaining the myth of his health and seclusion. When Rin Sakaros brought the Golden Empire to Toriafas, she and her Royal Guards invaded the Temple of Incarnate Glory, exposed the deception, killed Chohwelk VII, and slaughtered the Acolytes who had perpetrated the deception.
After Toriafas and the other now-former Kritocracy worlds submitted to the Empire, the Acolytes continued their duties of preaching Salbin, although many left the order, either disillusioned by the deception of their seniors or having lost faith entirely with the extinction of the royal line.