This is a Brithini cosmology, recited by Horali from Brithos in the Gbaji Wars and transcribed in the late First Age. Note the importance of Wisdom (“Right Use of Knowledge”) and of Ignorance of the source of all evil.
The Creation
The invisible God is all things. He is beyond knowing or feeling or being. He contains all things and will contain them all in the future. He is beyond life or entropy.
Within the Invisible God is Existence, and within Existence were conceived the Laws. All things outside the Laws were excluded and cast down, and those things were of chaos and entropy.
The Laws created the World through the self application of Wisdom. The experience of Being is of movement through the accumulated Wisdom of the World. By understanding this, and being one with it, we are the Brithini.
The distribution of existence created a dissolution of Wisdom, and the natural application of divine introspection created Ignorance and beings which thrived upon it.
The spread of Ignorance created a gap in the Wisdom, and in that gap some beings willfully used Ignorance for their own ends, creating the two weapons of Ignorance: pain and injustice. From this was born Death, which changed all things.
One being went further, for although he knew of the Wisdom and walked in it willingly he used the Ignorance of others to manipulate it to hurt itself. This was the birth of Evil and Corruption, and it was made by Vadel.
In the spread of Evil and Corruption many beings turned upon themselves and each other, wallowing in the absence of Law and tearing the fabric of Life. They summoned beings to help them. This was the entry of Chaos into the world.
The natural conflict between Law and Chaos is inevitable, for each is forever rejecting and incapable of understanding the other. The organic contest within the created world brought forth a need for the living beings to understand the Laws to balance the forces of chaos which threatened it.
Malkion the Prophet was the one who could teach others of the Law and the Wisdom. He took the myriad patterns of Existence and showed each person how to consciously find and to be his part within it. While the rest of the world ate itself alive all the beings and parts which he blessed continued in their divine perfection. In this way the seeds of truth were preserved during the terrible Ice Ages.
Zzabur the Sorcerer was the greatest of the keepers of wisdom. He could see the worlds and sort out their layers, keeping all in mind and out of mind at once.
He saw what was and what could be, and he manipulated the subtle Laws to bring back the Wisdom. Thanks to his spells the old world was reborn again. He understood the mechanics of the cosmos and brought back the Sun, which had fallen from the sky.
The Vadeli possess Wisdom but the use the Ignorance of others to manipulate and cause pain and suffering. And they do not age, and are a mirror reflection to us. They are the Enemy.
Of the Seven Basic Denials held by all Brithini, first of course is, “There is one God, the Maker of the Laws; we worship no other.” But another prohibits Unauthorized Sex, and another is: “The Talar is Law. Remember that, obey his commands, do what he says and you will not do wrong. Disobey the talars and your immortal life is in jeopardy.
The Brithini often call mortal men “Mud Men” or “Dirt People” or even “simulacra”. Most Brithini consider non-Malkioni to be artificial life forms created by deluded sorcerers who have sold their souls to evil spirits. These “simulacra” usually have the appearance of normal dromal, except for their actions, of course. Any dromal carrying any weapon, for instance, is always a simulacra.
One of many reasons why people in the First Age feared the Brithini: “The mud men are inferior creatures without soul or concepts of true nature. They threaten the existence of our immortality, and thus must be destroyed. Once destroyed they can return to material matter and immaterial energy; raw materials for the Invisible God. The parts can be recreated and, if blessed to be within the realm of the Brithini, immortal.”
However, it is important to realize that there is over a thousand years of distance between the Brithini and any living Malkioni. The Brithini are like Moorcock’s Vadhagh, not even noticing what the Mabden are up to. And the Malkioni wildly misinterpret and reinterpret what the Brithini are and believe.
If I recall, the last Birthing of the Brithini prior to 1620 was in 375. Which means that with the exception of the cadre of Brithini children, all who are less than ten years old, the next youngest Brithini are some 1250 years old. They likely have far less understanding of mortals that the Brithini of the First Age.
So imagine the world from the point of a long-lived Brithini. You know all that you should know. You have perfected your art, whether that is crafting and farming, sword fighting, spell casting, or the art of rule. You’ve done this for more than 1200 years. You know friendship, sadness, love, and doubt – you are not emotionless! But more than 60 generations of simulacra have come and gone. They build cities and kingdoms, only to tear them down in war and conflict. They gain knowledge only to lose it. Perhaps they might sometimes be amusing, but by now you have lost interest and few care even to keep track of them.
And the Brithini classify heresies far differently from the Malkioni. Examples of dangerous heresies are:
- Denialist (using logical techniques to deny that one has not acted in accordance with Wisdom)
- Deist (worshiping or communicating with gods other than the Invisible God)
- Sexual activist (having Unauthorized Sex)
- Disobeyer (disobeying a talar or justifying disobeying a talar)
- Meddler (doing something outside of your class, so a soldier trying to figure numbers, or a talar learning sorcery).
All of these can cause death through aging.
I actually do not believe the Vadeli commit any of those heresies. Not a single one one.
I don’t think the Brithini believe the Vadeli are heretics. I think they believe them to be the source of all evil and corruption in the universe and that they are willingly, knowingly, and intentionally evil.
One last thing (at least for the moment) – remember that Arkat was Brithini, born in 375 and raised among (or at least in friendship with) the aldryami of Brithos. So much so that one Brithini document refers to him as Arkat of the Elves. Arkat was best of the Sunstop Generation, trained by those who fought against the Vadeli before the Dawn, but was still considered a child by the Brithini.
The aldryami of Brithos are aldryami who live on the isle of Brithos.