The Torian Church and The First Man

Academic Note

There can be no question about the vast cultural influences of the Torian Church, both on Caelon and, to no surprise, to the lands in the East where the Seat of the Prime Consul presently resides. Even in the South of Caelon where the Warathi Empire reigns, the ancestral architecture dating back as far as the Second Age still stands tall. Other buildings still stand, scattered through the Caeloni landscape that are relics of the Third Age, that maintain the style of the great designers of the Holy Capital. These buildings date back to the reconquest of the early Warathi tribes, who, if you will recall, shared a brotherhood with the Torians of the time, before the Great Betrayal. Many of the remaining temples and monuments are unperturbed to this day, sealed and unmolested by those greedy of heart. What vast treasures they must possess, if only their secrets could be revealed…

– “Wonders of Ages Past”, Professor Lumo Alcaño, Academia Gelgadongo. 11 Nomenia, 931 A4.

The True Weight of the First Book

The Book of El Tor was written almost entirely by the First Man, the original Prime Consul, known as El Tor, who reigned over the Holy City, now known as Denegaz, from the time of his creation until sometime in the Third Age, prior to the Warathi conquest of Caelon in the Fourth Age.

It is understood that there were once libraries filled with teachings of El Tor and his disciples, but many of these were lost in the Third Age. The Book of El Tor remains to this day as the single holy text of the Torian Church, ministered by each new Prime Consul, the head of the church after the ascension of the First Man during the Third Age. To understand Torians as an outsider, one must consider the words in this text.

Beginning at the end, let us first remark on the last book of the First Book so that we can attempt to understand the depth of the lamentation of the First Man, an important facet of the Torian faith.

23 And lo, we but servants of a greater master, who are we to question to the will of the Ancient One? For man and demon alike now know the power of the Lord of Names, his stewardship eclipsed only by his swift judgment. 24 For great was the sin of man, coveting His power and erecting idols of gleaming ulmium and iron in the image and for the glory of mankind. 25 How vain it was for man to seek the power of Names, forsaking the friendship and forgetting the covenant. O now, in terrible realization, we have witnessed the fall of kings and lords alike. 26 Their houses torn down, their figures twisted, unrecognizable by their brothers, where are their monuments now? Where now are the songs of glory they sang so boldly through the hills? 27 Know that even I, forgetting my charges, would be rendered to less than ash before you.

From El Espanto, the final book contained in The Book of El Tor, circa 15 A3

Everybody who has grown up in the faith knows the words by heart. Of course, the Writer here is reflecting upon the fall of the Great Kingdoms at the start of the Age of Demons or Age of Monsters, as some refer to the Third Age. Looking through today’s lens, we can scarce understand the weight that the First Man must have felt bearing down upon him. I believe Torian followers have become somewhat desensitized by the gravity of it all. He was consul above all across the land, and yet, only those in the Holy City were spared from the Fall. Everyone he loved outside those walls was now gone.

Compare that with this passage from Su Gloria, in which he gives warning, foreshadowing the coming end of civilization:

6 For plentiful are the gifts of man, but all were given in expectation of the covenant being fulfilled by us. Man cannot serve himself and the Lord of Names, for in us He has many expectations. 7 Let us remember always each gift to Him be given back doubly; for those with one gift we return two, for four, eight be offered. Fourteenfold shall I return to Him. 8 As there is no more that I can give, this too must be how you endeavor for the good of the Lord of Names.

From Su Gloria, fifth book of The Book of El Tor, circa 1700 A2

For ages the First Man attempted to guide his people, but in the end mankind’s vanity caused his own downfall. To see everything come crashing down, to have all that power and yet be powerless to prevent it, must have done things to the First Man that nothing on Earth or in the sky above could undo. Oh, if we could only learn the truth of it all. How I wish I could have been an observer to those events, so long ago…