Finding similarities between the historical Cathars persecuted by the Medieval Inquisition and practices of Zhakata's presented in the Children of the Night Ancient Dead thread and since there was never an analysis of what exactly the Church of Zhakata preaches and what the Provider Heresy I thought of compiling the following. I am also thinking of making an article for next years QtR issue about it inspired by the similarities between Zhakata and the beliefs and practises of the Cathars.IanFordam wrote: ↑Fri Dec 23, 2022 1:49 pmThat is an amazingly apt comparison to make... amazing and disturbing.Mephisto of the FoS wrote: ↑Fri Dec 23, 2022 7:33 am The Cathars ... bla bla bla [found in Children of the Night Ancient Dead thread]...
Long live Zhakata!!! ... the Devourer...
The Cathars (from the Greek word καθαροί, romanized: katharoi, meaning "the pure ones") was a dualistic Gnostic movement, probably deriving from eastern religious concepts as the reincarnation. The majority believed in an absolute dualism, where the two gods were twin entities of the same power and importance, as reflected on the Book of the Two Principles. They believed that matter and the material world was created by an evil god, often called Rex Mundi ("King of the World") and who was supposed to be the god from the Old Testament who the Cathars identified with Satan and there was another beneficial god, the one from the New Testament, the creator of the spiritual realm.
This can be changed as it is obvious between Zhakata the Devourer and Zhakata the Provider.
Some communities might have believed in the existence of a spirit realm created by the good God, the "Land of the Living", whose history and geography would have served as the basis for the evil god's corrupt creation. Under this view, the history of Jesus would have happened roughly as told, only in the spirit realm. The physical Jesus from the material world would have been evil, a false messiah and a lustful lover of the material Mary Magdalene. However, the true Jesus would have influenced the physical world in a way similar to the Harrowing of Hell or Descent into Hell.
The Old Testament view of the afterlife was that all people when they died, whether righteous or unrighteous, went to Sheol, a dark, still place. Several works from the Second Temple period elaborate the concept of Sheol, dividing it into sections based on the righteousness or unrighteousness of those who have died.
The New Testament maintains a distinction between Sheol, the common "place of the dead", and the eternal destiny of those condemned at the Final Judgment, variously described as Gehenna, "the outer darkness," or a lake of eternal fire.
In Jewish rabbinic literature, Gehinnom became associated with divine punishment in Jewish Apocalypticism as the destination of the wicked. It is different from the more neutral term Sheol, the abode of the dead. The King James Version of the Bible translates both with the Anglo-Saxon word hell.
The official Church of Zhakata probably believe that their world is Hell, this concept can be blend with the worshipping of Ezra to create yet another Ezran heresy in the region of the House of Sages. Similar to the Second Coming of Christ the heretics of the Provider believe the coming of Zhakatath Provider will be the final and eternal judgment of the people resulting in the glorification of some and the punishment of others. They may believe that this time is at hand making similarities of Yagno Petrovna the Grand Conjunction or even better Malistroi and the coming of the Antichrist in Christian eschatology right before the Second Coming.
Cathars believed that all visible matter, including the human body, was created or crafted by the Rex Mundi; matter was therefore tainted with sin. Under this view, humans were actually angels seduced by Satan before a war in heaven against the army of Michael, after which they would have been forced to spend an eternity trapped in the evil God's material realm. The human spirits were the sexless spirits of angels trapped in the material realm of the evil god, destined to be reincarnated until they achieved salvation through renouncing the material self completely, the pleasures of life were a seduction away from attaining perfection. The consolamentum, a form of baptism performed when death is imminent, when they would return to the good God as "Perfect".
The concept of reincarnation for Zhakata's religion could be used probably for the Provider heresy, also tying the domain with it's Tibetan like inspiration of how the priests dress as well as the Pamir alpine desert and tundra inspired ecosystem (part of the Tibetan Tundra).
The Catholic Church denounced Cathar practices, particularly the consolamentum ritual. From the beginning of his reign, Pope Innocent III attempted to end Catharism by sending missionaries and persuading the local authorities to act against them. In 1208, Pierre de Castelnau, Innocent's papal legate, was murdered while returning to Rome after excommunicating Count Raymond VI of Toulouse, who, in his view, was too lenient with the Cathars.[8] Pope Innocent III then abandoned sending Catholic missionaries and jurists, declared Pierre de Castelnau a martyr and launched the Albigensian Crusade in 1209.
This can off course be changed to the Zhakatan Inquisition hunting PRovider heretics and Jugo Hesketh taking the role of Pierre de Castelnau.
The lack of any central organization among Cathars, regional differences in beliefs and practices.
This suits the Provider heresy being non centralised but rather small cells of heretics.
Cathars venerated Jesus Christ and followed what they considered to be his true teachings, labelling themselves as "Good Christians".However, they denied his physical incarnation.
This could be tied to the summoning of Malistroi.
Catharism has been seen as giving women the greatest opportunities for independent action, since women were found as being believers as well as Perfecti, who were able to administer the sacrament of the consolamentum.
Cathars believed that a person would be repeatedly reincarnated until they committed to self-denial of the material world. A man could be reincarnated as a woman and vice versa. The spirit was of utmost importance to the Cathars and was described as being immaterial and sexless.Because of this belief, the Cathars saw women as equally capable of being spiritual leaders.
Unfortunatelly even the Cathar's could not escape the misogyny of their time
Despite women having a role in the growth of the faith, Catharism was not completely equal; for example, the belief that one's last incarnation had to be experienced as a man to break the cycle. This belief was inspired by later French Cathars, who taught that women must be reborn as men in order to achieve salvation. Toward the end of the Cathar movement, Catharism became less equal and started the practice of excluding women Perfects. However, this trend remained limited; for example, later on, Italian Perfects still included women and only those who had been reincarnated into men could end the cycle of their own reincarnation, women had to be reincarnated to men to be able to do so. For this reason Cathars believed that the sexual allure of women impeded a man's ability to reject the material world.
This could be used for G'Hennan women starving themselves to be reincarnated to men and men starving themselves to reach spiritual "freedom" from Zhakata. Also women may be prohibited to become canon priests of Zhakata the Devourer while the heretics of the Provider who are also more appropriate for a PC class can.
The Cathars ate a pescatarian diet. They did not eat cheese, eggs, meat, or milk because these are all by-products of sexual intercourse.The Cathars believed that animals were carriers of reincarnated souls, and forbade the killing of all animal life, apart from fish, which they believed were produced by spontaneous generation
I don't know if this will be useful but it is an idea.
Cathars, in general, formed an anti-sacerdotal party in opposition to the pre-Reformation Catholic Church, protesting against what they perceived to be the moral, spiritual and political corruption of the Church. In contrast, the Cathars had but one central rite, the Consolamentum, or Consolation. This involved a brief spiritual ceremony to remove all sin from the believer and to induct him into the next higher level as a Perfect.
It has been alleged that the Cathar Church of the Languedoc had a relatively flat structure, distinguishing between the baptised Perfecti (a term they did not use; instead, bonhommes) and ordinary unbaptised believers (credentes).
The Perfecti were the spiritual elite, highly respected by many of the local people, leading a life of austerity and charity. In the apostolic fashion, they ministered to the people and travelled in pairs.
This is useful for the Provider heresy having no mediator priests, though heretical priests of the Provider could exist they may not have the status of a priest as it is generally perceived, but rather more as the "Perfecti" of the Cathars.
Travelling in pairs is a nice concept but to much for an adventuring party so I would exclude that.
As the Cathars were anti materialistic opposing all the sacraments of the Church among them that of baptism, as
"they assert that the water is material and corruptible and is therefore the creation of the evil power, and cannot sanctify the spirit, but that the churchmen sell this water out of avarice, just as they sell earth for the burial of the dead, and oil to the sick when they anoint them, and as they sell the confession of sins as made to the priests.
The Provider heresy may be against the accumulation of wealth by the clergy or know that the clergy consume the offerings made to Zahkata.
Killing was abhorrent to the Cathars. Consequently, abstention from all animal food (sometimes exempting fish) was enjoined of the Perfecti. The Perfecti avoided eating anything considered to be a by-product of sexual reproduction.[36] War and capital punishment were also condemned—an abnormality in Medieval Europe. In a world where few could read, their rejection of oath-taking marked them as rebels against social order.
These could be tenets for the Provider heresy, making them actually pacifists.
To the Cathars, reproduction was a moral evil to be avoided, as it continued the chain of reincarnation and suffering in the material world. Such was the situation that a charge of heresy leveled against a suspected Cathar was usually dismissed if the accused could show he was legally married.
I like this
The Massacre at Béziers occurred on 22 July 1209 during the sack of Béziers by crusaders. It was the first major military action of the Albigensian Crusade against the Cathars, commanded by the Papal legate, the Abbot of Citeaux, Arnaud Amalric.
Amalric's own version of the siege, described in his letter to Pope Innocent in August 1209 (col.139), states:
Indeed, because there is no strength nor is there cunning against God, while discussions were still going on with the barons about the release of those in the city who were deemed to be Catholics, the servants and other persons of low rank and unarmed attacked the city without waiting for orders from their leaders. To our amazement, crying "to arms, to arms!", within the space of two or three hours they crossed the ditches and the walls and Béziers was taken. Our men spared no one, irrespective of rank, sex or age, and put to the sword almost 20,000 people. After this great slaughter the whole city was despoiled and burnt, as divine vengeance miraculously raged against it
About 20 years later, Caesarius of Heisterbach relates this story about the massacre:
When they discovered, from the admissions of some of them, that there were Catholics mingled with the heretics they said to the abbot "Sir, what shall we do, for we cannot distinguish between the faithful and the heretics." The abbot, like the others, was afraid that many, in fear of death, would pretend to be Catholics, and after their departure, would return to their heresy, and is said to have replied "Caedite eos. Novit enim Dominus qui sunt eius – Kill them all for the Lord knoweth them that are His" and so countless number in that town were slain.
This can be used for describing the aftermath of Jugo Hesketh's death, maybe a massacre in Dervich
