Ahl-i-Batin

*Being everywhere yet nowhere is the key to hiding in plain sight.*

All things are connected, for all things are One. Though this world appears to be a rich pageant of people, places, creatures, and thoughts, those myriad elements are but mirrors and reflections of a greater Unity. When one realizes this fundamental truth, the Tapestry unfolds, responding to one’s will. That Will and the Tapestry become One. This truth the Ahl-i-Batin have known since their beginnings on the legendary Night of Fana, when, in the midst of a terrible war, a faction of Akashayana came upon a group of Darwushim – dervishes – who were dancing and whirling in the moonlit night. On that night, the Brothers and the Darwushim danced together, forming a great mandala… and in the midst of that dance, an ancient consciousness Awakened.

Called the Entelechy by certain scholars, this consciousness was said to be comprised of the Ascended souls of mages who lived in an age before this one, mages who hoped to bring humanity into harmonious unity with the cosmos. As the Entelechy manifested into our chaotic world, it fragmented and dissolved. In so doing, it caused the Akashayana and the Darwushim dancing in the center to become a single entity that was neither one man nor the other. This was the Kwajahal-Akbar, and as it spoke its mighty prophecy, those who danced around it were enlightened. Time ceased to be. Everyone upon that field became one with their partners in the dance – united in mind, body, and spirit.

When the Fana ended, all those who had been joined became individuals once again, forever transformed by their experience. Of what use were names? Of what importance country or kingdom when one understood the Unity of all things? The story of that night ends with these newborn souls forming a circle and dancing a spiral into its center, where, one by one, they disappeared. When these Ahl-i-Batin (“Subtle” or “Interior” Ones) re-emerged, their sole purpose was to continue the legacy of the great consciousness that now spoke in the voices of their Avatars. From the humblest hut to the grandest palaces, these mages used their Awakened magicks to bring about Unity for all mankind.

These are the myths surrounding the Batini. Such tales recall that once, not long ago, the Ahl-i-Batin sat upon the Council of Nine Traditions, occupying the Seat of Connection, as Correspondence was then called. People have said that the rise of the Technocratic Union spelled the end of the Subtle Ones, forcing them all into exile – hiding in the mysterious Realm of Mount Qaf, lost to time and obscurity. Everyone knows that.

And what everyone knows is false.

The Ahl-i-Batin never went anywhere. Rather, they went everywhere, leaving the turmoil of the Technocratic pogroms in the Middle East to emerge in Europe, Asia, the Americas, Central and South Africa… always gently and softly bringing the world into Oneness – one whisper, one sigh, one leaf-fall at a time

But although Batini ideals focus on Oneness and light, their methods, in practice, often take on the darker, bloodier cast of war – particularly with regards to their ancient fight against the Nephandi. It has been said that no one knows the ways of the Dark Mirrors, or battles them as assiduously, as the Batini do. It was Batini scholars, after all, who compiled the dreaded Sebil-el-Mafouh Whash that first detailed the Nephandi, and it was Batini Masters who drove the Devil Kings from the Middle East. Unfortunately, their deep connection to the Fallen also leaves the Subtle Ones far more susceptible to Nephandic corruption than they might be otherwise. Both groups could indeed be seen as opposite reflections of the same principle: all things are Unified, and thus all things remain bound… even light to darkness and oblivion to hope.

## Organization

Unity emerges from structure; therefore, the Batini value order in their organization. There are five khanates in different parts of the world, each one presided over by a Master Murshid called a Qtub, or “pole.” Each khanate is made up of about a dozen or so cabals composed of a few Murshids, several Murids, and 10 to 20 initiates. Each cabal knows that the others exist, but they rarely have contact with other Ahl-i-Batin outside their own immediate circle.

## Initiation

Joining this sect requires equal amounts of secrecy and patience. Often, a candidate for initiation is observed for years before she’s ever approached by a Murid. If the candidate expresses an interest in the Ahl-i-Batin, she undergoes a slow and steady process of removing herself from the world (and from the possessions and luxuries inherent therein) and adopting stringent levels of asceticism. This successive removal of distractions and temptations separates the initiate from ego and attachments, preparing her to embrace the greater freedom of Unity.

## Affinity Sphere

Correspondence or Mind – but never Entropy.

## Focus

As their name declares, the Batini remain subtle. The phrase “leave no trace” holds a particularly significance in everything they do. A Batini mage often spends weeks, months, even years observing, considering, and contemplating a situation before she finally uses her Arts to nudge things in the desired direction.

Faith is an essential element of Batini practices, with a core belief in Divine Order and Earthly Chaos. Certain Batini assert that It’s All Good, and others hold the bleak conviction that Everything’s an Illusion. Crazy wisdom, alchemy, and High Ritual Magick maintain their traditional places in Batini Arts, with yoga, gutter magick, reality hacking, and even chaos magick appearing in the practices of certain devotees.

Despite their mystic acumen, Batini cannot learn the Entropy Arts at all. This mystic blind spot presents an interesting conundrum: if all things are Unified, then surely even decay has a place in that sacred order? That’s a question the sect has not yet answered.

## Glossary

The Ahl-i-Batin take their sobriquet "The Subtle Ones" extremely seriously. They do not create whole new vocabularies or use exotic words. Most Batini are from Middle Eastern cultures, typically Arabic or Semitic peoples, and most of their nomenclature derives from the languages of those people and places. They utilize the language of the culture around them and imbue certain words with mystical or esoteric meaning that they may or may not have in quotidian usage. An Ahl-i-Batin mage in America is likely to use words that are relatively common in American parlance, and make limited, if any, use of these terms which would be considered "rude" or "blatant" by most Batini

* **Ahl al-'adl wa 'l-tawhad:** "The People of Justice and Divine Unity." The Ahl-i-Batin's highly formal internal name for themselves, used rarely and only in highly ceremonial settings, like a murid's becoming a murshid or a formal decree of hostility against an enemy of the Tradition (i.e., the official assignment of assassins to kill said enemy).

* **Al-Insan al-Kamil:** "The One Who Is Complete," "The Perfect One." A mage who has been raised up to rule the universe as the Unity's agent.

* **Al-Khidr:** "The Green One." A mysterious figure thought to be an Oracle who offers blessings, protection and mystical initiation.

* **Baraka:** The blessings of discipline; generally refers to the ability to perform magic.

* **Batin:** Literally, "Interior."Subtle. Esoteric. Hidden.

* **Fana:** Completion; Extinction. Ending. The Night of Fana refers to the passing away of the powerful and past- ancient Entity known as Ihn Talaqin the Entelechy

* **Faqir:** "Holy ascetic beggar." The common term for Subtle Ones trained as Darwushim in the Baghdad khanate.

* **Ghayba:** "Occultation" or "unbeingness." A state certain extremist Ahl-i-Batin achieve whereby they can- not be sensed by physical, electronic or magical means.

* **Hafiz:** "Guardian" or "keeper." An Ahl-i-Batin scholar who commits an entire sacred text to memory, sometimes with the help of Mind magic. (Plural: hafizi)

* **Hanif:** A pure, non-denominational monotheist. What the Batini strive to be.

* **Iblisi:** Depending on your sources, the Iblisi are either a sect of Ahl-i-Batin who thought themselves immune to Nephandic corruption and entered the Cauls to fight the Nephandi on their own grounds and became barabbi, or they are a group of Ahl-i-Batin double agents operating out of Nephandic labyrinths who make "small sacrifices" in order to provide the Ahl-i-Batin with current information on the actions of the Filthy Ones.

* **Ihram:** A state of ritual purity that Batini prefer to be in before practicing magic.

* **Imam:** "Leader." The most educated member of any given Batini unit and, therefore, the one who reports to the Qutb and maintains discipline. Most commonly used to refer to the leader of a jama'a. (Plural: imami)

* **Isfret:** Chaos, disorder, imbalance.

* **Jabarut:** Divine omnipotence.

* **Jahannum:** Hell.

* **Jama'a:** Literally "community" or "group." A covert cell of Batini scholars and, sometimes, consors living the d together in a zawiya.

* **Kafir:** Infidel.

* **Khanate:** One of the five training schools of the Ahl-i-Batin. Each has its own course of study and is led by its own Murshid.

* **Khilwat:** "Silence." Old Batini term for an Ahl-i- Batin mage, referring to both the silent mind speech that the Batini prefer and to what an enemy hears before a Subtle One strikes. The term is commonly used today to denote a sacred assassin of the Ahl-i-Batin (as opposed to a scholar, an architect or the like).

* **Khwaja al-Akbar:** The entity held by the Ahl-i-Batin to be a divine being, the creator of the Ahl-i-Batin, and the revealer of the Doctrine of Unity.

* **Mahdi:** "Guide" or "leader." Messianic figure who will appear at the end of the world and usher in a new of order. Possibly the Al-Insan al-Kamil; may be the mentioned leader in the Prophecy of the Phoenix.

* **Ma'rifa:** Mystical knowledge, understanding or power. The Batini conceptualization of Quintessence.

* **Mi'raj:** Ascension.

* **Muh'rim:** One who is in the ritual state of ihram.

* **Mutasawwif:** "One who has just begun his way along the path." A Batini who has just Awakened.

* **Mu'jiza:** A "miracle" or magical Effect.

* **Murids:** Relatively inexperienced students of the Tariqa who may have learned the secrets of the Spheres up to the third Rank, but no higher (i.e. Disciples).

* **Murshids:** Those Batini who have achieved Rank 4 or higher in a Sphere and have been fully initiated into the tariqa (i.e. Adepts).

* **Muwahhid:** A believer in the Tenth Sphere of Unity (tawhid)

* **Nabi:** Literally "Prophet." A Batini mage who uses the Sphere of Time to see and foretell future events.

* **Najasa:** Polluting matter; foulness; corruption. Frequently used to refer to the Nephandi or anything they have tainted.

* **Pir:** A spiritual guide or magical teacher.

* **Qutb:** A "pole" in the sense of "Axis mundi;"; also "saint." One of the Masters of the Mind Sphere who served as judges and reference points for what was, essentially, a telepathic network of minds.

* **Silsila:** Literally "chain." The concept that everything is interwoven and connected to the Unity and, therefore, one. Also the Batini term for the Sphere of Correspondence.

* **Tariqa:** The "Way" of the Ahl-i-Batin. Including the doctrine, physical, spiritual and mystical disciplines, specific techniques and Rotes of the Batini. It can also be used to refer to the Tradition as a whole.

* **Tawhid:** Unity.

* **Wahdat al-wujud:** The Arabic term for the Ahl-i- Batin's Doctrine of Unity

* **Zahir:** The opposite of Batin: Obvious, blatant, unsubtle, rude. Some Batini refer disparagingly to the Taftâni as the Ahl-i-Zahir: the Rude Ones. Used in this way, it has connotations both of "obnoxious" and "pathetically undisciplined."

* **Zawiya:** Literally "Corner," as in the corner of a building or temple but commonly referring to a Batini retreat or cloister.

* **Zuhd:** Asceticism.