Struggle: The Path to Power

Metropolitan

Triangular darkroom. A triangular dark table. A Black Stone pattern on each of the three walls. The surroundings are dark and there is no room to breathe.

There are two dark figures on each side of the table – six in total. Each is wearing a black robe with a hood and a white fang on his back. This is the religious council of the Empire, the Sacred Seim.

Religion of plagues on the sacred book "Zhakh". In its essence it was no different from the philosophy of the concept of humanity of the "Axial Time". But a number of generations of the holy church rewrote it, making changes in its favor and to strengthen the spiritual power. Earlier, even before the appearance of "Zhakh", polytheism was accepted in the plague state, and the church, as an independent organization, did not exist. All rites and rituals were performed by the priests of temples, who were not related to each other.

After the emergence of the Zhakh, the church also appeared: all the temples were united under one umbrella. Since then, the spiritual authority increased its pressure on public life and state affairs many times over. Any significant issue could be solved only with the assistance of the high priest and the Holy Sejm.

Twelve years ago the Holy Sejm approved the decree of the high priest-patriarch SilanZhakh. It dictated the infallible authority of the head of the Church of Plague (Nevrokh, the High Priest), his exclusive rightfulness as heir to the teachings of the Zhakh, and the sole interpreter of the will of the Black Stone.

This meant increased influence over all events, both church and non-church, to destroy witches and sorcerers and to counter heresy. This branch had wide powers in judicial proceedings conducted by the middle priests. After the Silan Jah, the Secular Sejm ceased to be secular, and the active branch of the Inquisition received a new breath of air, gaining the right to investigate heresy and witchcraft, while removing the state apparatus. This was the new principle of the law of the Grand Inquisitor Torquedoch.

Subject to trial:

Perpetrators of false notions about the holy church

Those guilty of practicing witchcraft and divination

Anyone who has been excommunicated and has not sought reconciliation

The harborers and intercessors of heretics

Those who resisted the decrees of the Inquisition

Lawyers, notaries and jurists who defended heretics

Anyone who refused to take the oath required by the Inquisition

Anyone who has died in open and alleged hereticism

Anyone touched with heresy by word, deed, or composition.

What atrocities they did to scrape out the "truth", some absolutely sophisticated steel hooks and claws, wires, bayonets – about 60 items in all. And since each accused belonged to any of the 6 categories, only things of his category could be applied to him.

Each item or method could only be used for 6 minutes – although this article was often ignored, explaining that something was used incorrectly or not completely. There was even an unspoken competition among the executioners for mastery of the various tools and the ability to make the "guilty" consent with a particular item.

By the way, the whole system was based on consent. The Church did not need to kill someone and thereby make a martyr out of him, even though he was a heretic. They wanted him to live. Of course, first admitting his guilt and repenting, but living. Because this life then was an additional testimony not only to the rightness of the Church, but also to its eternity in the life of the plagues.

Hierarchical system of division of the whole organization of the Church according to the system of 360 degrees – 60 for each priest-metropolitan. Here everyone tried to excel, but as a rule the first and sixth had the worst results. Their field included checking for heresy among the employees of the state apparatus. What was the "inconvenience" of the provisions: the secular authorities, the army and the SChK took care of their employees. Almost no one was caught for "witchcraft" there, and in the case of heresy one could recant without being tortured and in frequent cases, with the mediation of big bosses, not to suffer too much.

The quality of the work of lower ranking priests in high and critical hazard areas was put up for discussion today.

The topic of the meeting was announced by Uginoch, in charge of Sector 180 (the "hard labor" sector, as it was called by all those who stood behind the backs of the priests and saw the price of the Inquisition; under its watch was everyone whose condition was rated below normal, which was more than two-thirds of the entire Empire): "High Priest-Patriarch Nevroch, direct successor to Grand Inquisitor Torquedoch has expressed his concern in the affairs of the Church in the conquered territories. The Church has weakened in those areas, and there is no sign of a possible increase in its importance. High Priest Nevroch requests that action be taken."

Most of the priests believed in the necessity of the Holy Inquisition, and regarded it as the mainstay of the justified supremacy of the Church. Posing the question from the side of the threat of weakening influence pressed on ambition as much as on principle.

The conquered territories themselves were mostly government employees, so in this case the Inquisition of the State Apparatus of Shiroh (60th degree) and Samoh (360th degree) had the most workload.

"I tried to send six inquisitors to the Indian Colony. – Metropolitan Priest Katoch (300th degree) stated. – But the broz only authorized two. How can I destroy heresy when even the local authorities prevent me from doing so?"

"Our phase is running at full capacity, but most of the suspects have connections at the top. They are being taken into protective custody and we can't put them on trial," Shiroh had nothing more to say. He knew he would soon be replaced by another.

There began a verbal attack on everything and everyone in attendance.

We're being obstructed by the BCC. We demand the introduction of a special investigation. The inspections should be carried out with great intensity and scope.

– I believe that the level of corruption in their ranks has reached a dangerous level. We need to act covertly.

– I suggest using an unspoken resource.

– Seconded. – Me, too.

– Seconded.

– Utilizing an unspoken resource is a good time.

– So, I'll give the High Priest a suggestion for the use of an unspoken resource. – summarized Uginoch. – And I recommend you, Metropolitan Priest Shiroh, to personally go to the troubled territories and follow the process of the Inquisition. No local official will be able to refuse you a visit.

Shiroh tried to nod understandingly and even say something in conclusion, but he didn't have the energy to do so. The only thing he was thinking about was what would help him keep his place.

***

A wide gray stone. Dust and dim light all around. And turns that don't end.

This is the way to the cells of the Inquisition, where suspects, convicts, and anyone else who had anything to do with breaking the rules of Silan Zhah await their time.

Tomorous senseless footsteps and the same face. This is Metropolitan Priest Guzoh

(120th degree) of the Sacred Seim. In his phase, the Inquisition dealt with the middle ranks of the Empire – laborers mostly. Strangely enough, heretics and sorcerers were the least among them in percentage terms. This consequence came primarily from the fact that the peculiarities of their labor did not allow for a "week of repentance".

"Penitential Week" was a period declared after the arrival of the inquisitor, for voluntary confession of heresy. During it, informers also came forward, pointing out a particular plague. The informer had two options: repentance and accusation. More often the first option was chosen, because in case the plague was acquitted (and this could happen if he had connections, including with the church, for example, if he himself had previously successfully denounced), the denouncer himself was subjected to investigation.

Guzoh had moved closer to the cameras and could now hear the moans coming from there. The large number of turns was necessary for this very reason – to drown out the sound.

A black-robed guard, impressive even for a plague, stood at the entrance. His eyes were devoid of anything that could be called emotion, and his ears no longer discriminated between painful cries and the sound of footsteps; to him, everything was the same and differed only in volume. He bowed slowly and dryly.

Behind him were two rows of cells, where they sat long and hard before what they were about to undergo. After that was the torture chamber itself.

No one looked at the one who entered that room – all three of them: the inquisitor, the suspect and the notary lived in "their" worlds.

The Inquisitor, an old plague Katankhr, had not been able to be in this room for a long time. The acrid stench all around, the same questions that not many answered at all and even fewer answered positively. But though he dreamed of being an inquisitor for the Week of Repentance, this job seemed just as important to him.

Suspect Tishinhr, a worker at the arms factory, realized that no matter what he did, the life he had before his denunciation would never be the same again. He didn't understand why plagues like him were allowed to say where the truth was and where it wasn't, why they called

themselves "saints" and why one had to agree with them. He believed in the Zhah, prayed every day, asking for strength from the Black Stone, and believed that it was up to the chum himself to do the work of faith. Tishinhr knew. That if he confessed, they would let him live, but he could not do that: he would be caught a second time and the result would be the same.

Notary Uninhr, a longtime law school graduate, saw the whole arrangement. If a suspect confessed, the least he could face was public shame followed by "forgiveness". The so-called "pardon" among the church bureaucracy consisted in the fact that on specified days, which were usually about a hundred a year, for three to seven years the plague was required to attend church and participate in special processions, seeking reconciliation with the ecclesiastical authority.

And if he doesn't confess, he will continue to be tortured and burned at the stake tomorrow.

The suspect was lifted up a meter, then released and caught near the ground. The ropes tied to his paws dug into his skin. Inside, everything jumped. Consciousness blurred. And began to feel a little nauseous.

Guzoh looked around: blackness and emptiness, the acrid smell of malice and fear, two torches illuminating the chamber so that only a few glints reflected in his eyes.

"And that's us, the Inquisition," Guzoch thought. – Only the devil is not afraid of us…"