Order of the Golden Trident

The **Order of the Golden Trident** is a military-religious order and cult that has sought to restore world peace through the convergance of the world's religions and cultures. As of 2022, its ideology has shifted towards keeping nationalism at bay and promoting a globalised economy.

It is a democratic organisation that does not have a formal leader. It traces its origins to the Black Sun Cult from Palus Urbem (regarding religious affairs) and to the NRSP political party from Volovna (regarding political and military affairs). These two main arms of the order converged in Petrodis during the overthrow of the Crown of Great Thornia and quickly took over the government of Great Thornia as a provisional government. The Order briefly lost control of the country after a civil war, but has sinced indirectly regained control through the Reformist Party.

The Knights of the Golden Trident served as the order's de facto private army, and had almost completely subsumed the Thornian Army in the aftermath of the Massacre of Elysia. The over-stretching of the Thornian Army across the entire east coast of the continent led to the Knights' disbanding and integrating into the Thornian Army's own structure. Ironically, they partook in the nationalist in-fighting within the army that led to the Thornian Civil War. This led to the Order abandoning any notions of maintaining a standing army. It has since used its influence to fund the intelligence operations of the Armed Forces of Thornia-Aphthonis.

## History

### Origin

The order can trace its origins to at least three separate movements across Great Thornia's three metropolises of Palus Urbem, Elysia, and Volovna.

#### Black Sun Cult

The first of the three ancestor movements was the Black Sun Cult from Palus Urbem. It formed around the same time as the beginning of the Thornian nationalist movement (when what was then called *Thornica* broke away from the Umic state). The cult was a branch of the Faith of Aiwa which opposed the decadence of Aiwanism in the mother city of Ume, where massive monuments were built to the goddess Aiwa.

Thornian colonists felt that being forced to follow such practices would be a waste of resources in the pragmatist-minded colony. Thus, the cult grew out of several private gatherings in homes in the colonial settlement. The 'Black Sun' name refers to solar eclipses, with early cult members clarifying that the sun (meaning Aiwa) being eclipsed by the moon (representing truth and humility) allowed one to truly understand the importance of the sun's light and warmth. They argued that merely embracing the sun and taking it for granted meant not truly appreciating it.

The cycle of light and dark caused by eclipses and the cycle of day and night also symbolised another important pillar of the cult - the acceptance of mortality. In comparison, Orthodox Aiwanism believes in eternal light.

#### Thornian folk religions

The folk religions popular amongst the native populations of Goruid and Aphthonis (prior to Umic Thornian colonisation) were almost always polytheistic. Deities representing different aspects of nature and life were worshipped, with each village or town having a different set of deities. Umic Thornian colonists slowly absorbed these deities into their belief system, but still worshipped Aiwa as a 'main' deity.

The Black Sun Cult's arrival in Thornia, via Elysia, did not deter the already existent practices. Instead, the cult merged with the local form of Aiwanism and even spread it back to Palus Urbem. During the reign of the Thornian monarchy, the terminology for places of worshipped changed from 'temples' to 'churches'. The hybrid faith also reversed the reactionary iconoclastic stance of the Black Sun Cult and built these churches with exotic materials in ornamental styles.

#### Northern Revolutionary Socialist Party

The monarchy's push to reverse iconoclastic practices and to spend much more liberally led to the formation of a socialist movement in the mining town of Volovna. The movement coalesced into a political party in the form of the Northern Revolutionary Socialist Party (or NRSP) and quickly spread beyond northern Goruid to south west Aphthonis (where a burgeoning political elite was forming around the colonial towns of Petrodis and Sabara). A bloodless revolt by the elite and populace of these wealthy colonies and towns led to the monarchy stepping aside to make way for NRSP rule.

The NRSP reorganised the finances of the state and passed laws to make way for immigration from around the world (though it has not been picked up as a popular practice). The NRSP eventually compromised with the claimant to the throne to return as head of state. Early NRSP rule advocated for fairness whilst its later rule in conjunction with the monarchy sought balance between old and new, and also focused on stability. These principles formed the backbone of the order's political views, although its source of inspiration ultimately failed to fully carry out its agenda.

### Formation of the Order (April 2020 - August 2020)

Disgruntled members of the NRSP, intellectual members of the royal court, the Thornian Aiwanist clergy, and the merchant class frequently met across the cities of Thornia to discuss the future of the national political situation as it was clear that the hybrid royalist-NRSP regime continued to fail in its mission to embrace the rest of the world and to encourage more trade and migration.

These disgruntled members of society formed the order around the start of The Great Plague as fear spread that the domino effect of governments collapsing will spread beyond the Ume-Tyavyli-Xandu region. The order also recruited large numbers in the military shortly before the recapture of Xandu.

### Gaining control of Thornia (August 2020 - Present)

The botched humanitarian mission in Tyavyli and Umia led to thousands in the army getting infected with the plague and the local populace of those regions rejecting Thornian help. The bloody recapture of Xandu via Shanjing occurred shortly after. These two missions faced lukewarm reception back in Thornia, leading to a military coup at the Palace of Petrodis.

The monarch agreed to step aside and allow a Transitional Council to rule. This council was seemingly made up of members of various important sectors of society, the economy, and the military. However the reality was that it was entirely made up of members of the order.

On 29 August 2020, the Massacre of Elysia saw 80% of Elysia's populace killed by the largest pillager force ever assembled. The Thornian Army was also severely damaged by the armed engagement as a majority of its iron golems were killed as well. The council was quickly replaced by the order itself to govern the nation. With much of the military wiped out, the order has begun reassembling the army under its wing.

The subsequent Second Pillager War and the almost apocalyptic aftershocks of The Great Plague saw the Order lead the country through near-collapse. It was eventually removed from power by the former monarchy, which itself was overthrown by Aphthonic nationalist legions of the Thornian Army. The Order realigned itself with the overthrown monarchy and helped to bring it back to power briefly after the war. The exhausted royal family stepped aside and handed over control of the country to the Reformist Party, which is under the patronage of the Order.

## Power structure

The order does not have a single leader. It is largely led by an assembly of members drawn from elite members of Thornian society (of which they are from various sectors such as commerce and the military).

### Knights of the Golden Trident

In the aftermath of the Massacre of Elysia and the near-destruction of the Thornian Army, the remaining members of the order drawn from the army have formed the *Knights of the Golden Trident* as the de facto army of both the order and the state.

## Belief system

The order's belief system's origins in the Black Sun Cult of Aiwanism (from Palus Urbem and popular in Elysia) means it inherits the fatalistic view of the world from the cult. It also incorporates the polytheistic nature of the Thornian-Goruidian and Thornian-Aphthonic folk religions.

Despite the Aiwa-centrism of the Black Sun and the Thornified folk religions, the Sea God (sometimes called *Tridus*) is the main deity worshiped by the order. The Sea God emerged in northern Goruid and the southern coastal settlements of Aphthonis as naval activity became the main way of life and fishing became the main method of obtaining food.

Thornia's occupation of Xandu has seen Xandunese Kebabism being incorporated into the order's belief system. This has seen the *Great Skewer* being appropriated as the new deity *Khaba* who represents meat and festivals.

### Deities

The name(s) of deities are somewhat consistent with Thornian folk religion, though it diverges from it when it comes to what they represent.

 Aiwa *or* Aegadaia *or* Aega
 Marenai
 Aphilion *or* Afili
 Naemu *or* Nerasus
 Pypas
 Khaba
 Ghiras
 Apras *or* Netharus

## Symbols

The trident is the foremost symbol of the order, first appearing in Volovna as the city's symbol and appearing in the provincial banner. The Black Sun Cult (the precursor to the order) adopted the trident as its new symbol as Tridus replaced Aiwa as the primary deity of their cult, and thus a new banner with a golden trident over a black field became the cult's banner.

In late August 2020, after the order used a banner with an inverted colour scheme as its main banner as the Thornian populace found the original dark banner too menacing in appearance.