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Marrishland has a long and violent history. Several civilizations have risen and fallen, here, and the book tells about events during one of the most turbulant periods - a period whose events determine whether a civilization survives or dies.

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Cult of Marrish (ca. 1700 - 2000 I.D.)

Even before Weard Darflaem discovered magic (ca. 2000 I.D.), most Mar worshipped the pantheon of gods and goddesses described in Vangard's Rules of Governance. It is not clear how the Mar came to believe in Vangard's version of the Hundred Tribes' pantheon with such fierceness. It is known that the wints of the Hundred Tribes regarded the Cult of Marrish with caution, because its members seemed as devoted as a tribesman. The Kalkorae apparently regarded the cult as enough of a threat to monitor, banish, and occasionally execute its members.

Traditionally, Esgil Erseld (whose name means "first hero") had a vision in which Marrish told him that if the Mar made enough sacrifices to the Lord of Wind and Fire, he would grant their mundane race a magical power greater than that of any other people in the world. Esgil did not hesitate to make the will of Marrish known to the Mar. He endured great trials, evading the Kalkoraen rulers whose enmity he swiftly earned. His labor of words was not wasted, for eventually every Mar on the subcontinent was converted to the worship of Marrish as defined in Vangard's Laws of Governance. For his service to the gods, Esgil was made a star in the constellation of the Hero. His star is Klar Výtes (meaning "loud prophet").

Many scholars now suspect the Domus Palus Kalkorae preached respect for magic-users in a poorly veiled attempt to control the swelling population of Mar. This apparently backfired when worshippers began to believe they could earn the blessing of Marrish through evangelism and sacrifice – so much so the Kalkorae felt compelled to destroy the cult. By the time the Kalkorae set out to stamp out the cultists, the Cult of Marrish had become too widespread to completely eliminate. A few scholars even go so far as to suggest the Cult of Marrish in Domus Palus rebelled against the Kalkorae and drove them out of the city, but it seems unlikely that even a massed army of mundane Mar could have accomplished this task. The sheer number of acts of sabotage necessary to disrupt Kalkoraen infrastructure would have required a degree of coordination on par with that of the wints of the Hundred Tribes.

While the cultists shared a belief in Vangard's Rules of Governance and in the mutual goal of earning Marrish's blessing, individual cells and sects had very different ideas of how to achieve that goal. Most of these sects are lost to historians, but several managed to leave an impression in history.

The Veravenaton believed Vangard's Rules of Governance were the key to understanding Marrish's will. They regarded this text as perfect and sacred and spent much time and energy trying to find the perfect version of this work. Despite their devotion to the text, they refused to dilute its purity by translating it from Medien.

Bera Branehilde and her disciples also held Vangard's Rules of Governance in high regard, but they believed the Mar could not obey that which they could not understand. Her translation of the text into Mar began a legacy of translation and reinterpretation that has spanned thousands of years. Her star in the Hero constellation is Lejó Donó (meaning "give the law").

The Oper focused their attention on those sections of Vangard's Rules that described the proper way to honor the gods. In particular, they practiced worship by means of sacrifice. They believed that by offering enough sacrifices, they could move Marrish to grant them the gift of magic. Early Oper made act of faith sacrifices of food, and many died of starvation after destroying all their food too often.

Later, most Oper congregations performed less dangerous sacrifices of food. Libations were common in daily life. A group of Oper who gathered together usually shared a meal of cooked animal sacrifices, reinforcing bonds of community. It was almost unknown for any Oper to die for lack of food, because the larger congregation never allowed one of their own to starve.

The Opebut, an offshoot of the Oper, earned a gruesome reputation for human sacrifice. The Kalkorae worked hard to stamp out this subculture within the larger cult even when the Opebut were only sacrificing willing members of faithful. The similarities between the Opebut and the Totanbeni demanded no less than eradication. The Opebut proved difficult to annihilate, however, though their loss of members to Kalkoraen authorities soon drove them to sacrifice their children. The Kalkorae eventually declared the Opebut a dead religious movement, but rumors of Mar cultists kidnapping and sacrificing wint and mede victims persisted until the Kalkorae civilization collapsed several centuries later.

Not all Cultists of Marrish centered their attention on Vangard's Rules of Governance. Many groups set out to understand magic in hopes of uncovering the key that would unlock the magical potential of the Mar. It is known that mystics from the cult spent time among any magic-wielders and magical devices they could. The most famous of these movements was the Fulemon, who sought enlightenment through proximity to the Kalkoraen library in Domus Palus.

In the end, though, it was the largely derided Perkeron (meaning "clean minds") that discovered torutsen and made the discovery of Mar magic possible. The Perkeron sought magic through mind-altering drugs ranging from mild stimulant to deadly poisons, taking their inspiration from the Zeden – a tribe whose patron later came to be known as Cedar.

(Contributed by Weard Olga Fydelis)