Elenicoi
From Almeopedia
The Elenicoi were Greek Christians of Oikumene who had left Arsinoe, Egypt, in AD 325. In 2780 their ship arrived in Avéla harbor bearing this strange cargo. They were soon convinced that their appearance was divine intervention— the Miracle of the Translation— intended by God to convert an entire new world to Christ.
Almost immediately their leader, Μιχαήλ— nativized as Mihel— found that a certain minority listened to his preaching with particular interest. He took them at first to be Jews, but found that they were called Arašei, after Araš, the Adam of this world. They in turn explained that they already knew God, and had been waiting for centuries for a prophet like Mihel to defeat the pagans and bring the people to God.
Mihel did not immediately accept this— what Fathers had written of these Cuzeians, these iliu, these Arašei; were Eīledan, Iáinos, Ulōne names of God, or traps invented by the Devil? Not all the Arašei were immediately won over either; if this Ίησούς or Iesu was relevant at all, was he really Eleď, or only his prophet, or something in between— perhaps an avatar like the Sojourner? However, both sides recognized the attraction of an alliance. According to the Book of Mihel (the chronicle of their arrival and feats), an iliu named Beldobre visited Mihel and led him to agreement.
The Elenicoi and Arašei spread out across Érenat with their new message. The latter perhaps overemphasized the theme of earthly liberation, which alarmed the authorities.
The Kebreni
A famous boďpila match between the Elenicoi and a Kebreni team in 2788 electrified the people of Avéla— indeed, led to a riot that wasn’t put down for two days. The Kebreni outlawed the new faith and Arašát to boot.
This was ground the Arašei had never mastered, but the Elenicoi knew well. They counselled against overt resistance, and meanwhile built a disciplined underground organization that spanned the province. Twice the Kebreni lifted the ban on these innocuous souls, revealing a stronger church each time. The Elenicoi were endlessly inventive at means to annoy the Kebreni short of outright rebellion: letters, graffitti, peaceful protests, pranks, miracles, tax strikes. Hotheads sometimes beat up an isolated Kebreni linna; and who could be blamed if the pagans, inspired by these antics, rose up in revolt? Mihel, decided the Kebreni, and had him executed in 2820.
They only created a martyr. Avéla rioted, and was never really pacified. A Kebreni army could always march down the street, but any smaller group was lucky to make it back home in one piece. By 2840 the Kebreni soldiers had had enough; they mutinied. Kebri still had no intention of leaving Érenat, but they brought the troops home— and stationed new ones elsewhere in the province— but Avéla was free, run by a hastily assembled committee of Elenicoi (under Mihel's successor Ezecio) and local merchants, nobles, and even a few pagan priests.
The Kebreni were still too strong to challenge directly; but the old methods of annoyance and obstruction were continued. Kebri tried blockading the port, but the Elenicoi were by now expert at slipping in and out of the city, and even arranged for supply shipments from Mišicama. In the 2880s they felt strong enough to support a rebellion in the Eren valley; this led to a long and brutal war, but the valley was free by 2900. By 2950 they had liberated the rest of the country, except for a strip of coast in the northwest that the Kebreni didn't let go until 3021.
Aftermath
The Elenicoi had won; but they had also disappeared. Most of them married Érenati women, but the physical unions were as barren as the spiritual union was successful. They adopted children, who called themselves Elenicoi and remained important in Érenati politics for centuries.
In the Union of 2987 the Elenicoi and the Arašei agreed to merge their doctrine and their hierarchies, forming the new religion of Eleďát.
Etymology: Elenicoi is the Verdurian adaptation of the Greek adjective Ελληνικοί, which means 'Greek' (adj. m. pl.)
| Author: Exez |
