The Monastery

As the Twilonians of T*he Wasted Swathes* watched *The City of Voldodicus* prosper and grow, they came to see the *Affluosa* who lived there as something similar to living Gods, or celebrities, a culture they were desperate to be a part of. Under the leadership of one, a cave-dwelling man called **P’alvin Fwit,** many Twilonians came together to build the very first stone-structure to ever sit in *The Wasted Swathes*: a building they called ***The Beacon of Devotion.*** The grandiose and opulent structure would stand tall and proud, a message to The Affluosa of how loved they were by the other humans. Many would come, from all across The Wasted Swathes, to gather in ***The Beacon of Devotion***- where they would pray to one day be welcomed into *The City of Voldodicus*, to join The Affluosa. They never were…

As The *Affluosa* died out, and hordes of squatters migrated from across *Twilow* to settle in *Voldodicus* and claim it as their own, the residents of ***The Beacon of Devotion*** moved with them- abandoning The ***Beacon*** to the elements. For almost two eras it was totally uninhabited. Harsh winds battered its walls. Heavy rain caved in its roof. The walls weakened and the foundations softened. Rats and mold ran rampant.

In *Voldodicus*, **Thaydos**’ dream had become a reality. *The Dreamers* had just won the Battle for a Better Tomorrow and **Abarella** was now the leader of all who lived there. As she renamed the city Galdos, and it shifted from lawlessness to an authoritarian regime, key to her plans to “keep people behaving” was to always remind them of what a better life The *Affluosa* had, and how they should all aspire to be like them.

Having been a descendent of one of the migrants from the ***The Beacon of Devotion***, she knew of the decrepit old structure and felt now was the right time to return it to its former glory- to celebrate The Affluosa once more. At her commission, and over many decades, several hard working Dreamers worked tirelessly to renovate ***The Beacon of Devotion*** into an all-new structure dedicated to celebrating, and worshipping, The *Affluosa*: a building that would come to be known simply as ***The Monastery.*** One of these *Dreamers, a* man called **Trejin Yurn,** willingly took the role of living in ***The Monastery*** and managing its day-to-day maintenance, upon its opening, with the help of many volunteers. The Monastery was a wonderful and peaceful place where citizens of *Twilow* would come to hear **Trejin**, or one of her volunteers, tell heart-warming stories of the perfect lives The *Affluosa* led- and to feel inspired in making their own lives better and more zen.

Soon, the gatherings at ***The Monastery*** grew and grew in number. Attendance for the readings reached incredible sizes. And all Twilonians, no matter where they lived or how much gold they had, grew to take The Stories of the *Affluosa* incredibly seriously. In a few decades the readings shifted into a full blown religion, the only religion of Twilow,: ***Affluosity***.

**Yessika’s** successor, her son **King Filsior**, happily embraced not working to improve the lives of the Twilowninans. So long as HE and his fellow Royals and aristocrats had a good life, the peasants could live in squalor for all he cared- especially given how they had been fooled, by their religion, to think living in devastating poverty would guarantee them a longer life.

Over the passing decades, as the City of Galdos grew stricter and stricter under each successive King and/or Queen, ***The Monastery*** grew to match the tone of the monarchy: moving away from the kind and loving religion it had once been to something far more aggressive, built on fear and manipulation. With time the stories the volunteers, now known as Monks, told of The Affluosa became naturally warped and twisted until there was no guarantee they were true anymore, though the Monks believed they were. The Stories of the Affluosa existed purely to scare the Twilonians into knowing their place. Over the years eight notorious individuals, who were sentenced to death by the King for their crimes, tried to pay their way out of it- but were denied. As the years rolled by time took its toll and ***The Monastery*** was in-need of urgent repairs again. While letting Galdos fall into destitution and disrepair was fine in the eyes of the Royal Family, ***The Monastery*** was supposed to be a “love letter” to the fallen Affluosa: preserving it was more important than preserving the living conditions of actual Twilonians.

Signs of the Monastery’s age and makeshift development were beginning to become clear. They needed money and they needed it now. Aware Galdos was having problems with “too many criminals'', the then *Lead Monk of the Monastery* (a man named **Hiltdrai Runekof)** visited the then King of Galdos with a proposal: What if the wealthiest criminals WERE allowed to pay their way out of being tortured for their crimes? What if that money went to the Monastery, to aid in its redevelopment? What if those who paid their way out of punishment instead worked at the Monastery as penance- aiding in the development? The then-King of Galdos needed less dead bodies around the City. But he could not just let the rich pay their way out of crime in case it angered the poor and they rose up. And he needed the Monastery to become bigger and better than ever- to prove his investment in respecting the Affluosa to the masses. Hiltdrai’s proposal solved all problems. The then-King accepted the offer instantly.

The eight rich-people who had tried, and failed, to pay their way out of being killed for their crimes prior to The Monastery’s existence were retroactively “declared innocent” in a statement by the King- as under the “new way” they would have lived to work at The Monastery. Their bodies were taken down from their hanging spots around Galdos and given proper burials. They were then forever known as “***The Forgiven Eight”***.

The Forgiven Eight were:

1. ***F’yor Caldassias***
2. ***Yowain Estonivelt***
3. ***Tygrain Ekwind***
4. ***A’los Thickleberry***
5. ***Mystin Velimoss***
6. ***Groline Thickleberry***
7. ***Quiverfield Trover***
8. ***Astallavanta Caldassias***

A large monument was built in honor of ***The Forgiven Eight***, which sits in the middle of T***he Monastery***. At the front of the monument there is an engraved message that reads:

*“In loving memory of The Forgiven Eight.*

*They died criminals,*

*But we now know were they not:*

*F’yor Caldassias - forgiven for cannibalism*

*Yowain Estonivelt - forgiven for theft*

*Tygrain Ekwind - forgiven for arson*

*A’los Thickleberry - forgiven for murder*

*Mystin Velimoss - forgiven for murder*

*Groline Thickleberry - forgiven for theft*

*Quiverfield Trover - forgiven for murder*

*Astallavanta Caldassias - forgiven for cannibalism”*

Those who worked at, and ran, ***The Monastery*** continued to be known as Monks. Those who were “sentenced” to work and live at ***The Monastery*** were denied the right to retain their identity. Their faces were shrouded in long red cloths which were fastened to the skin with rings of sharp metal thorns. They were cursed to a ‘faceless’ life and, if they tried to rip the cloth off, the thorns would shred their face to bloody pieces. All workers in ***The Monastery*** were denied their name, they were not even referred to as ‘humans’. They were known just as The Faceless. If the Monks who run ***The Monastery*** needed to refer to one member of *The Faceless* individually they would call them ‘*You Of The Faceless’ or ‘They Of The Faceless*’. It was common for people from outside ***The Monastery*** to mistakenly refer to EVERYONE who lives at ***The Monastery*** as simply ‘*Monks*.’ The Faceless were tasked with The Monastery’s menial labour, constantly fixing the building up and ensuring it was always in peak condition. *The Monks* would use the gold *The Faceless* spent to escape death to repair, decorate and ‘pimp out’ ***The Monastery***- then humiliate *The Faceless* by forcing them to be the ones who physically handled the repairs and decorations that were only possible because of their money/gold.

By the end of the *Fifth Era of **The** **Monastery** Affluosity, or Devotion to the Affluosa*, had found the rhythms, structures and beliefs that would come to define it for the foreseeable future. The central ideology of Affluosity was that ‘one’ must not be too happy, too peaceful, because that wiped out The Affluosa and, out of respect for them, *Vendirians* must never be too similar to The Affluosa. The collective suffering of the people of Vendir was called ‘*The Great Misery’ and/or ‘The Great Suffering’* by T*he Monks and The Faceless*, and they saw it as their purpose to ensure all the land lives under *The Great Misery/Suffering*. As such, the Monks and the Faceless of ***The Monastery*** have a chant designed to remind the masses to ‘know their place.’:

“*To be hungry is to live.*

*To be poor is to live.*

*To be miserable is to live.*

*To be in suffering is to live.”*

*When saying goodbye to visitors to The Monastery, it was customary for The Monks and The Faceless to say:*

*“May it rain so hard it breaks your neck.”*

The somewhat warped stories *The Monks* tell about The Affluosa have come to be collected in a dusty tome called The Stories of the Affluosa. The stories contained within are once true stories about the lives of the Affluosa that have, with time, become less real and something more akin to propaganda in support of the “you must be miserable” ideology of *Affluosity*.

A cornerstone of the ideology of *Affluosity* is what The Monks call **The Five Embracements.** These are five emotions/feelings/experiences that all Vendirions are expected to “embrace”, at all times, to best honour The Affluosa.

The Five Embracements were:

1. ***You must Embrace a Life of Poverty***
2. ***You Must Embrace a Life of Pain***
3. ***You Must Embrace a Life of Misery***
4. ***You Must Embrace a Life of Anger***
5. ***You Must Embrace a Life of Hunger***

By the end of *The Fifth Era of **the Monastery***, three further monuments were erected within the building. The first was in honour of ‘the chant’, and had the chant carved onto its base. The second was in honour of ***The Five Embracements,*** and had ***The Five Embracements*** carved onto its base. The third was a statue of The Monastery’s first *Lead Monk, Trejin Yurn,* and held in the statue’s hands is the only copy of *The Stories of the Affluosa.*

With Twilow and Olgossu now merged into one great land, **The Kingdom of Vendir,** there were now two religions: ***Affluosity and Iggism.*** At first, in order to respect his new Queen, King Kromptt allowed the two religions to exist side-by-side. But with each passing decade, ***Iggism*** became more-and-more frowned upon by each successive monarch- it’s ‘believers’ associated with a rejection of *The Great Merge.* Even if they weren’t ***Bridgeburners***, ***Iggists*** were always assumed to be by *Devotees to the Church of Affluosity*.

It became common for proud ***Iggists*** to be forcefully brought to ***The Monastery*** for ‘*conversion*.’ This led to many ***Iggists*** and ***Bridgeburners*** keeping their religion a secret moving forward. The Monks came to the conclusion that the only thing that could possibly make someone believe a, to their minds, ‘nonsensical’ religion like ***Iggism*** was “bad ideas in the brain” and those ideas needed to be “washed out.” ***Iggists*** would have their wrists and ankles bound together, and then would be tossed into ***The Monastery’s*** moat to drown: ‘washing them clean’, converting their soul to ***Afflusoity***. To this day the moat is full to top with the skeletons and corpses of ***Iggists*** and ***Bridgeburners*** drowned to death by *the Monks.* Come T*he Eighth Era of the Monastery* the *lead Monk was a man called **Dubon*** who was so devoted to the idea that “*no-living man or woman should be happy*”, he burnt off his own tongue to commit to a life of misery and pain.