Gnostic Movement

The was a movement during the Mage Imperium that was opposed to the strict orthodoxy of the Seer Council.
== Ideology ==
The Gnostics push back against the edicts of the Council of Oracles and want the right to associate with other schools of thought and even other gods. Some more extreme Gnostics have even defected to other empires or actively oppose the idea of an Imperium in the first place.
The Episurian War happened because a splinter faction of Gnostics began to provide the Dwarves of the Episurian Empire with Imperial technology. The Imperium demanded that these men and women be extradited for treason; when the dwarves refused, an Imperial ship attempted to block a dwarven trade convoy in Episurian space. A dwarven warship engaged the Imperial vessel and destroyed it, to the shock and horror of the Imperium. This led to the Reactionaries gaining a significant role in the Diet of Princes and on the Council of Oracles.
As the war began to escalate, with a few more humiliating defeats for the Imperium, the Imperial Navy was given a license for total war. The Council decided to make an example of Kartak, the capital of Episur, bombing its cities to ash and killing or enslaving the population. The Gnostics involved either went into hiding or were executed.
The Episurian War was an attempt to preserve Imperial prestige, but it resulted in genocide and became something of a black mark. Officers like Lady Keith have been alternately hailed as heroes of the war or as war criminals.
== The Traditionalists ==
The Traditionalists (who also contain the far more authoritarian and violent Reactionaries) basically want to preserve the Status Quo and maintain the authority of the Council of Oracles and the will of Adalna. Within this group, there are some who oppose the authority of the Council but generally agree with the idea of keeping The Adalnan Order as a pillar of the Imperium. These Anti-Council Traditionalists tend to be a minority, though.
The Traditionalists are the major faction for the time being.
== The Reactionaries ==
== The Ascensionists ==
The Ascensionists essentially want to supplant the gods by becoming deities themselves and are treated as some sort of boogeyman.
Category:Religious Movements and Councils
Category:Political Movements