The Greymen

The Greymen were a religious movement in eastern Munatanplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigMunatan

Munatan [Moo-Nah-Tahn] is the southernmost region of Anásthias, south of the Dun Trisan mountains. The name possibly derives from a ancient Thalsic, meaning “Land of One Sun”, since the daystar is not visible in the southern hemisphere. Or it may be a reference to the Manthi people who were once the majority population of western Munatan. The term is an OrorrOrorrOrorrHartheraHartheraOrorrOrorrOrorrHartheraHarthera, an offshoot of, or reaction to the Dromeist philosophy of change. They became infamous in Biinmos in the 10th century, where a fundamentalist cult caused the Greymen Holocaust.

They believed that the drome, rather than being a natural law, was in fact an illusion, a trap. Mankind, alone in the pattern, has conscious thought and is not merely subject to the constant cycle of change. Therefore the purpose of human awareness is to elude and transcend this cycle, through pursuit of stillness and calm.

The philosophy erected communes, or monasteries, in the mountains and places isolated from the world, stripped of all ornamentation and external stimuli. Monks gave up all their worldly connections, wore grey robes and spent time in deep meditation. Some sects practiced voluntary castration, blinding, cauterisation of the nasal passages and other means of sensory deprivation to rid themselves of worldy distractions.

In Biinmos, Greymen ideology became the foundation of a short-lived Messianic cult. With the climatic instability that heralded the Little Ice Age, Greyman zealots prophesied that the world was beginning a new cycle. The world would change from a world of heat lit by the hot sun, to a frozen waste lit only by the Son, the night star. These prophesies were intended to recruit new members to the cult but instead made messiahs of certain crazed prophets preaching the end of the world in which millions would die, backed up by myths and actual histories of civilisations like Miyarrisplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigMiyarris

Miyarris [mee-YA-riss], (also Miarris, from Mayápo Mayarous) was a hugely influential ancient civilisation located which flourished during the Celadon Epoch, from 4000-3000 BME. It is considered the first great civilisation in history since the the mythic Godmen.

Ancient Miyarris

BMElanguagelanguagelanguagelanguagelanguage, wiped out by flood. Thousands converted to this Greyman Antidromianism, whose prophets competed in wild claims to be able to save them. It culminated in promises of 'escape' from the dark world to come, in mass suicide.

News of the insane atrocity spread around the world, and in the north it forever associated Dromeism with insane murder and extremism. Wild tales told of entire regions being depopulated in insane religious fervour. Thousands did indeed die, but nowhere near the exaggerated claims of Ororrans.

This negative propaganda led to Dromeian writings being banned and burned, and they have been viewed with suspicion ever since, despite the technical revolutions they may have otherwise engendered.