Adamantine Ministry

*For the Ministry headquartered out of the Grand Temple in Ducailles, see Maudesian Ministry.
For general information about the religion, see Sibyllism.*

## Adamantine Ministry

### Headquarters

Argent Tower, City of Adamantium, Adamantine Imperium

### Ranks

Patron
Grand Cleric
Revered Father/Mother
Father/Mother
Brother/Sister

The **Adamantine Ministry**, also informally known as the **Red Ministry**, is a denomination of Sibyllism centered in the Adamantium. The Adamantine Ministry does not recognize the Matron of the Maudesian Ministry, instead electing its own head: the Patron, who is always male, as well as a member of one of Adamantium's Institutions of Magic. The Adamantine Ministry's headquarters are located in the Argent Tower in the City of Adamantium.

In contrast to the Maudesian Ministry, the Adamantine Ministry allows men into the priesthood and embraces magic.

## History

Ten years to the day after Sibylla's death, Archon Janerius converted to the Holy Tome, claiming that he had heard the voice of the Watcher when his blade touched Sibylla. The beginnings of the religion took root as he declared the Watcher the one true god, made Sibyllism the religion of the Adamantium (i.e., the Adamantine Ministry), and publicly revealed Thetsoll's betrayal. Most of the high-ranking clergy, including nearly all of the ruling Altus magisters, refused to stop worshipping the High Pantheon, but the non-mage Soporatus class overwhelmingly supported Janerius, beginning a period known as the Transfiguration. With the Seven Apostles dead, Janerius repurposed the High Pantheon temples into schools for mages.

When Emperor Caecilius Volantus I of Maudet appointed Matron Augora I as the head of the Maudesian Ministry, it greatly upset the Adamantines, who had been organizing Sibyllism long before Maudet had begun their campaign of religious unification, and believed their country to be the Holy Land, as Sibylla had lived and died there. In an effort to appease Maudet, authority over the faith of the Adamantine Ministry was transferred from the Archon to the grand clerics of the Adamantium. However, despite repeated petitions, the Maudesian Ministry refused to recognize the Admantine grand clerics, on the grounds that they allowed men into the priesthood, whom the Maudesian Ministry judged unfit for the priesthood due to Thetsoll's betrayal. At the time, the presence of multiple mages within the ranks of the Adamantine clergy had been unknown to their Maudesian counterparts.

Tensions escalated when the Maudesian Ministry called for a Crusade on Alepool in **2A80** to free the city-state from Adamantine rule and prevent the Adamantium from regaining power and influence in the region. After the Third Scourge, in the Third Age, the Maudesian Ministry also started to promote the story that ancient magisters of the Adamantium had caused the Scourges through their heresy, stoking anti-adamantine sentiment and widening the divide between the two Ministries.

The greatest source of conflict ultimately arose from a verse in the Chronicle of Erudition of the Holy Tome: "magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him". In the Adamantium, where magic had long been a valued trait, prized and nurtured through selective breeding in the upper classes, the clerics preached that magic must serve the greater good and not be used to control the minds of others, which they believed was best accomplished by allowing mages to take part in government. When the Maudesian Ministry finally learned of this in **3A87**, Matron Amara II demanded they conform to Maudesian teachings. The Adamantium refused, claiming corruption within Ducailles. Matron Amara II declared them all heretics, leading the Archon to appoint Grand Cleric Severian, a man and mage of the Institute, to the position of Patron.

The Patron declared a national holiday to celebrate the death of Matron Amara II in **3A99**. The north began to refer to the Adamantine Ministry as the "Red Ministry", in reference to blood, and the perceived corruption in the Adamantium. Four Crusades, dubbed the "Red Crusades" were called between **4A40** and **5A10** to bring the heretics back into the fold. However, the Adamantium withstood all attempted invasions. All four Crusades failed to take the City of Adamantium, or force the Adamantine Ministry to surrende, as the Adamantium, further bolstered by foreign mages seeking refuge in the Adamantium, unleashed its full magical might against its invaders, causing massive casualties among their forces. The Crusades only came to an end with the outbreak of the Fourth Scourge; the Adamantium correspondingly refused to aid Netheren and the Freemarks against the fiendish hordes in retaliation for the Crusades.

Ultimately, the unsuccessful Crusades only cemented the divide between Ducailles and the City of Adamantium. To this day the Matron and Patron both refuse to recognize the legitimacy and authority of the other, though they cooperated during the Orsimer Crusades to face the invading Orcimar.

In **9A27**, Magister Urien Hireceles led a coup against the Patron, arresting him as well as five other high-ranking magisters in a single night. After their trial, Urien assumed the title of Patron, and led a violent purge of the Adamantine Ministry.

## Teachings

The principal teaching of the Adamantine Ministry, and the one which led to the schism with the Maudesian Ministry, is their interpretation of the words, "magic exists to serve man, and never to rule over him." The magisters interpret this to mean that magic must serve the greater good, which they claim to be accomplished through the rule of the magisters. The Adamantine priests altered the Holy Tome to reflect that magic must be used in the service of all mankind for their prosperity. This allowed the magisters to reclaim their ancient authority and once again rule the Adamantium. Meanwhile, the Ministry in Maudet remains firm in its belief that magic is a corrupting influence, and that mages should therefore be controlled. Both Ministries condemn each other's views on magic.

While the Ministry of Maudet believes that Sibylla was divine, and was taken up to stand beside the Watcher when she died, the Adamantine Ministry maintains she was just a mortal prophet with considerable magical talent. And while the Adamantine Ministry still respects and honors Sibylla considerably, they forbid the worship of her that is practiced in the Maudesian Ministry, instead focusing on worshipping only the Watcher.

Furthermore, while the Maudesian Ministry blames mortal pride for the Second Sin, the subsequent creation of fiends, and the start of the Scourges, the Adamantine Ministry blames the Deceivers for mankind's corruption rather than an inherent flaw in human nature.

In the Maudesian Ministry, only women may attain a rank beyond that of sister; men may only be ordained as brothers. However, in the Adamantine Ministry, men have access to all levels of rank. In fact, the head has always been male. Furthermore, while Maudesian Ministry priests are expected to remain celibate, nearly all priests in the Adamantium marry, and work in the clergy tends to run in families.

Although all temples in Morgaea have an Eternal Flame which is kept burning by magic, in the Adamantium, the day a spell is cast to renew it is a religious holiday. Magic is openly performed in the Adamantine Ministry during all services.

There is an additional feast day for the "Visitations", celebrating the purported appearance of Blessed Sibylla in the dreams to Adamantine mages as she crossed through the Dreaming.

The anniversary of the death of Archon Janerius is also a religious holiday. He is considered the most important of Sibylla's disciples, and is more revered in the Adamantium than anywhere else in Morgaea, much like Caecilius Volantus I is revered in Maudet.