The Sacred Order of The Bringers of Holy Light

After the Covenant's discovery of Ketesh, there was a brief moment of panic among the Covenant hierarchy. The Sangheili military commanders worried that they would be forced to wage a brutal military campaign their "unenlightened" brethren. The Prophets feared that the new planet had already been stripped of artefacts, and that they inhabitants would reject the Covenant faith. Neither fear proved true, though not for lack of trying on the part of the Cult of Quenyathar.
Though called a "Cult" by most, its true name is "The Sacred Order of The Bringers of Holy Light," and was once the dominant religion of the continent. The Bringers of Holy Light have been responsible for some of the most important innovations and discoveries in Kaaranese history - the discovery of the Quenyathar ruins, the development of Voltakran alchemy, and the unification of the continent in a single religion venerating the Forerunners. After the planet joined the Covenant, it was brutally hunted down by local Prophet regional governors, its members persecuted as heretics, its spiritual leaders forced into exile. After the Schism, the Order returned to prominence, casting off the ways of the Prophets, once again restoring the ancient religion to the continent.
==History==
===Foundation===
After the destruction of the Keltash Empire in 400 BC, the survivors were forced to flee across the Futharq Straits to start again in Kaaran. Though many of the acolytes of Thoth 'Keltam went with them, Thoth himself never set foot upon the continent - his legacy endured only in his one hundred and eleven journals carried secretly by the acolytes to Kaaran.
As the Sangheili rebuilt their civilisation from scratch, the journals played a significant effect - if not for them, much of Keltash's scientific and technical knowledge would have been lost forever. What truely distinguished them, however, was their descriptions of Forerunner ruins, artefacts, and what little history Thoth was able to piece together of their makers - though elaborately woven amongst the journals as a whole, even the initial efforts provided a rich background for the basis of a new religion, venerating the Forerunners as divine spirits.
===Quenyathar===
For a long time, the only evidence the new Order possessed of their objects of veneration. As the Sangheili spread across the continent, settlers occupied the Quenyathar Valley - and prospectors accidentally uncovered the Quenyathar Ruins.
From the remains discovered by later, and more careful, explorers, at least a few of the early settlers attempted to become grave robbers, searching the catacombs for scavengable material - their remains, discovered centuries later by the Order's own explorers, were largely vaporised by directed energy weapons, a still-operating security system. As members of the Order arrived, seeking perhaps to interest some of the settlers in their religion, they realised the significance of the ruins, and established a small monastary outside, restricting, but not denying, access to it for safety reasons. Over the years, the Monastary grew to encompass the entire settlement - and the valley became the centre of the Order's influence.
===Morhekan Invasion===
Although Morheka the Great had left his throne to his son in 11 BC, he never intended for the institution to become hereditary. Nevertheless, a succession of his descendants ruled the nation for several centuries, some with largely benevolent, while others, such as Morhek II and Tano 'Morheka, were extremely brutal. Morhek II began an aggressive expansionist policy that was dropped his his successor, his sister Kara, and brought back into effect by his son, Tano. During this era, many territories that had been settled by early Kaaranese settlers were conquered by the armies of the Morhekan Empire, some easily and others less so. The conquest of Quenyathar is remembered as perhaps the defining moment of this period.
During the reign of Morhek III, soldiers passed through on their way to the frontlines, demanding room and food during their stay. While the monks proved hospitable hosts, they nevertheless were glad to see the back of them. It thus came as a horrible surprise when more troops arrived, apparently under the impression that Quenyathar had surrendered, and attempted to establish a permanent military presence.
While the monks were devoted to a life of peace and prayer, they were certainly not pushovers, and the warrior class swiftly ejected the soldiers in a day, disarming them and escorting them to the border, ensuring that they were safe the entire time - the seemingly bloodless method of their ejection added to the humiliation of Morhek III, and he demanded the monks surrender, surrounding the valley with his best legions.
Certainly, things did not look good for the monastary. While secret tunnels allowed them to resupply from nearby towns who were sympathetic, it seemed certain that they would all be slaughtered in a fit of rage by Morhek. His sudden death came as a pleasant surprise to the whole continent - poisoned by courtiers, it was only through the loyalty of the military that a coup by the Thenaqwe was averted, keeping the line of sucession to the Morheka clan.
With Tano only an infant, Morhek's sister, Kara, was given the throne. Under her rule, many of Morheks most damaging policies were reversed - territories were returned their sovereignty, allies that were ignored by Morhek were once again entreated, and it seemed like peace would once againr return to the continent. The monastary became an important pilgramage, in part because of the ruins, but for a large part because it was a symbol of defiance against the seemingly invincible armies of Morhek the Conqueror. Indeed, Kara herself visited the valley, and a small temple was consecrated in her honour, seemingly putting an end to any hostilities between Quenyathar and Morheka.
That all changed upon her death. Leaving behind no children of her own, the throne once again reverted to Tano, now fully grown - and eager to return Morheka to its state of supremacy. The armies of Morheka once again poured forth, engulfing the weaker territories and leaving any who resisted in devastation. The first target of Tano's campaign was Quenyathar - seeing this as the epitome of his father's humiliating defeat, he believed that if he stamped it out he would be preventing worse resistance.
The R'runu Legion was dispatch, and arrived to a warm reception. Confused as to the nature of their welcome, the military commander enquired with the head monks as to why they simply didn't surrender, asking why they didn't simply accept Tano's demands while keeping their freedom. The reply has become legend amongst the Kaaranese:
Almost as one, the entire legion vowed to defend the valley, abandoning the military and preparing to fight against their former compatriots. Most of the monks themselves were alarmed at this turn of events, though they lend their own support, their warriors joining with the legion's own. As they waited for reinforcements, they even managed to educate the legion on the nature of the Order, with some exchange - some monks joined the legion, hoping to be of some use in the coming battle, while some soldiers joined the monks, hoping to learn of the secrets of enlightenment.
Eventually, after a month, the Kr'Rana and Torgu Legions arrived, sending messengers ahead of them. The R'runu Legion conveyed its position, along with the reasons for their betrayal, and their apologies. In turn, the Kr'Rana offered a day for the inhabitants to evacuate, seeing it as more honourable than burning such a peaceful place to the ground. Unfortunately, the overeager commander of the Torgu Legion attacked before the messages arrived, catching the defenders unprepared. A stout defence was made, the defenders compensating for their unpreparedness with blood, allowing many of the monks to flee through the tunnels through the mountains. As the sun set, the last pockets of resistance were finished off by the Torgu warriors. Disgusted by his "comrade's" zealotry, the commander of the Kr'Rana Legion asked to meet with him - and executed him for the dishonour, merging the two legions into one. The only survivors of the R'runu defenders had escaped, unwillingly, with the monks, guarding them against spies and assassins as they fled into exile.
During the exile of the Order, nobody set foot into the ruins. Tano himself ordered a search party to explore the catacombs, perhaps hping to find the secret that made the monks stop there in the first place, but the searchers refused to enter the structure. Wisely so, it would seem - legends of the hideous deaths of tomb robbers seem to have been an effective defence in themselves.
===Voltakra===
Though Tano's reign would be a short one, soon to be assassinated by political rivals and the throne would go to the more tolerant Mata 'Morhek, the Order would never again have as much influence in Morheka, even after reestablishing the monastary at Quenyathar. The survivors, and their R'runu protectors, fled east to Voltakra, which as yet remained untouched by the conflict, its distance protecting it somewhat from past imperial ambitions.
In Voltakra, the Order would slowly rebuild its strength, once again become a major political force on the continent, establishing the Universities of Teltaq, Fuqum and Pragna. While there would be many splinter-groups, all were united under the Order, and a small group of theologians began the early studies of what would become Voltakran alchemy. Though crude when compared to the scientific hub it would later become, Voltakra soon gained a reputation as a place of learning, its universities taking in students from as far as Mopada or Morheka, and the neighbouring nations of Soitnam and Slaitan.
To the west, the Duashe'era Hegemony had begun its own military campaign of conquest, and now set its sights on Voltakra, hoping to exploit its places of learning for its own use. Seeing the aggression of Duashe'era, it took little imagination to see that they would soon be the next target, and the Order seruptitiously moved the majority of its bodies of knowledge to monastaries to the north, closer to the stronger nations of the Trinity of Light. As the Duashe'erans invaded, they found empty libraries and abandoned halls, their occupants moving north to escape the bloodshed that would have ensued. What they did find were traps - learning from the Quenyathar ruins as an example, they set lethal hidden traps, sometimes merely concealed barbs, others resulting in drops into unescapable pits. The Order's libraries and temples soon gained a fearsome reputation, and were generally avoided, the soldiers too afraid even to demolish them - the only attempt, on the Naninanoqe Shrine, resulted in a thick billowing cloud of deadly toxins that engulfed the work party. When the Duashe'erans were driven out forty years later, with some aid from the Order, the basic infrastructure was still there, and was restored by the returning monks.
===Persecution===
The arrival of the Covenant changed many things. All Kaaranese technology was suddenly rendered obsolete, pathetic playthings compared to that of the Covenant. Likewise, the discovery that Sangheili existed on other planets, and that Ketesh was not their true homeworld, threw philosophers into chaos, going over and revising their history. But nothing was changed more than the Kaaranese religion.
When the initial Prophet emissaries arrived, they discovered that the local people were already in the practice of venerating Forerunner structures and technologies as holy. Given their aims for converting them to their own faith, this was convenient, and they anticipated swift conversion. What they did not anticipate was how deeply entrenched the Order was in Kaaranese culture - more than two thousand years of history would not simply be swept away as easily as that. In the initial months, the Prophets found it difficult to get the Kaaranese to accept their teachings, and some were even impressed by the Order's scholars and teachers. However, as with anything they put themselves to, the Prophets resolved to defeat their rivals as utterly as possible - putting the full might of the Covenant to work, they combined political and diplomatic guile and tact with military operations, raiding the monastaries and temples too swiftly for the monks to react, claiming that they were secessionists trying to throw off Prophet influence from the planet. The fact that the Order had profited more than anyone from the Covenant's coming, their beliefs finally supported by another outside group, was ignored, and in the ensuing centuries the Order was systematically destroyed. The temples, once the centres of learning on Ketesh, were ransacked, the universities purged of all "heretical" texts. The few adherents that refused to renounce their previous "transgressions" were forced to flee south, where the harsh Nartecan Desert allowed them to disappear. Though many attempts have been made by the Prophets to find their settlements, all have failed - sometimes with unintended help from the native Nartecans, fiercely territorial, repelling all attempts at intrusion with force. For centuries, the Order dwelt between a rock and a hard place - the Covenant's refusal to accept them as a legitimate institution, and the Nartecans who refused to allow them refuge in their own settlements, though tolerated their presence on the borders.
===Schism Revolution===
While the Prophets ruled the north of the continent, the Order was not entirely helpless. Through sympathisers and other contacts, they built up an impressive store of weapons, hoping someday to stage a retaking of their planet from the Prophets. Perhaps a false hope, but it allowed them to exploit the chaos that came during the Great Schism.
As the Prophets renounced the Sangheili, replacing them with the Jiralhanae, many Sangheili warriors found themselves suddenly disenfranchised. Worse, their mortal enemies, the Jiralhanae, had taken their place. Lacking the support the Sangheili-led Covenant military had once held, it did not take long for tension to brew - a routine Jiralhanae patrol accidentally sparked the conflict by trying to arrest a beggar. Seeing the poor treatment, citizens came to his aid - and were cut down by the plasma rifles of the panicking Jiralhanae. Within a day, a massive and widespread uprising was taking place. The Order was not the only group that had prepared for such a day - a myriad of other organisations and government revealed secret stockpiles of weapons, organising militias, and setting about retaking their planet. In the ensuing battle, the Order lent its own warriors, for which they were once again granted their ancestral home of Quenyathar by current Kaidon Qur'a 'Morhek.
Today, the valley has been set up as a museum to the Order's endurance, with artefacts from every era of its existence - the original Journals of Thoth 'Keltam are kept on display, as well as weapons and bones recovered from the nearby battlefield, transported architecture from Voltakra, some equipment used in Narteca, and other artefacts from elsewhere around the continent. Access to the Quenyathar ruins was once again opened up, though only the Order's own scholars were granted access to its tunnels and chambers. Today, the Quenyathar Valley has once again become an important pilgrimage site, as the Kaaranese set about reclaiming their lost culture and history.
==Organisation==
=== Locations ===
Though the Order has roots stretching back to the Keltash Empire and Thoth 'Keltam, they only became a distinct group after the Second Exile on Kaaran. Arriving in pre-Morheka, the Order had to compete fiercely against the old and new beliefs as various cults and religious institutions struggled to gain control of the people's own views. Travelling east, the valley of Quenyathar would become their stronghold for the next eight four hundred years, until the Morhekan Purge forced the monks to flee and destroyed the monastary.
Afterwards, the Order would travel even further east, establishing themselves again in Voltakra and various other nations along the eastern coast, becoming the cultural and scientific centre of advancement for the continent. When Duashe'era invaded in
=== Ranks ===
#Trenqwe - Novice
#Trendra - Acolyte
#Krutta - Monastical Heads of the Order
#Jershala - Local Heads of the Order
#Ruatua - Metropolitan Heads of the Order
#Hratua - Regional Heads of the Order
#Grathkan - National Heads of the Order
#Brut'ha - Head of the Order
=== Recruitment ===
In many rural areas, where education is something you get throught he course of your life rather than in one heaped helping in school, the Order was regarded as the best means for struggling learners to perfect their craft. Most peasants held the belief that the Order were practitioners of important but dangerous sorcery, and the Order did nothing to dispell those ideas - a small amount of fear and respect is a useful commodity in regions where logic cannot penetrate superstitious belief. Order members would annually travel through the rural areas, parents presenting their children for an "education", what they presume to mean "being taught the dark arts so we can burn the neighbour'shouse down." Many families tried to instill an amount of religious zeal into their children, hoping for them to be chosen. The Order actively looked out for such people, with the intent of rejecting them offhand - while zeal is admirable, unquestioning belief blinds observers to alternative explanations, and hinders the scientific method. Those who still maintained some level of scepticism were a rarity, and therefore a precious resource.
In pre-Covenant Kaaran, the Order would send recruits to the universities in Morheka or Voltakra, the learning centres of the continent. The cities themselves were scoured for recruits of the right calibre, with many rejected. Familial ties, extortion and bribery were common tools to gain entry, and though harshly punished when found, continued to influence selections. Once at the universities, recruits spent the next ten years studying various subjects - chemistry, philosophy, mathematics, astronomy, economics, and history. Recruits were also trained in the art of war, with lessons on tactics and strategy, and taught rigorous martial art styles. Those that dropped out, unable to continue, often found successful carreers in their homeland's military. Those that stuck with the training would become some of the finest scientists, mathematicians and philosophers on the planet, and would shape Kaaranese history.
==Beliefs==
==Quotes==
* "The Cult was driven into hiding by the Prophets - ironic, since it only turned them into martyrs, and the perfect recruitment tool for those who opposed the lies of the Prophets. And there were many recruits to be had."
* "We never intended to create such a force of power. When we returned, we thought only of bringing the holy light of the Forerunners' wisdom back to our kin, as our ancestors did. We never expected to be adopted across so many worlds!"
* "Some of it sounds very buddhist, other bits sound very like the more peaceful parts of Islam and christianity. Then just mix in some Bushido, and you have the Kaaranese Sangheili religion."
* "The Shrine at Quenyathar stood for a long time as the only public remnant of the Cult. The San'Shyuum never understood why it was that so many people left small gifts and offerings - in fact, they thought they were meant for them. Such arrogance."