High Ward

The office of High Ward is a high position within the Maninist Faith and the Aelonist branch of Aitahism.
===The Maninist High Ward===
For the entirety of Maninism's recorded existence the High Ward has been the preeminent leader of the religion, and has for extended periods exercised considerable political power as well. As with so much else in Maninism, the Immolation is a sharp demarcation in the history of the High Ward. Prior to the Immolation, the High Ward had been for ages based in Gallasa, from where he exercised wide-ranging authority over the various Wards throughout the Maninist world, participated fiercely in Gallatene politics, and was the final authority on doctrinal disputes. After the Immolation the High Wards left the ruined city of Gallasa for Sirasona, where they have resided ever since. The raw power exercised by the High Wards over the Faith has been in decline for centuries: the inexorable rise of the Orders gradually removed most of the Maninist religious establishment from the High Ward's direct control, the Synods provided an alternate means of solving doctrinal disputes, and the dissolution of secular authority eliminated that traditional arena of political expression. Paradoxically, the potential power of the office has never been greater, for the High Ward is still the head of a vast and complex network of Orders, in sum possessed of resources rivalled by only the greatest of the world's empires, if only he can persuade the Concourse to use them. And of course the High Ward remains the only figure with the authority and prestige to potentially mobilize the entire vast edifice of Maninist power. Outside the Maninist oikoumene the High Ward still retains direct power over the Faith's activities, by virtue of the office's control of both the Faith's missionary Acolytes and the Eskarite Order, and consequently plays a key role in managing relations between the Halyrate and the surrounding region-states. 
===The Aelonist High Ward===
[some more for Lucky to do]
Category:Maninism
Category:Gallat
Category:Aitahism
Category:Titles
Category:Cyve