Menkirafed

Menkirafed (c.110-72 BME) was a political radical, anti-theist and apostate who was executed in the latter days of the Empire of Dor-en-Sann. His disciples founded a new sect, the Menkirians - more often called the Cult of the Hanged Man.

Little is known of his personal history, but he was born somewhere between the cities of Delan and Seqal, around 110 BMEplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigBME (Before Modern Epoch)

Used to date years Before the Modern Epoch.. At a young age he joined an extreme desert cult living on the salt flats near Dowait, in the Mangasor desert, where the Great Lake arises to flood the land once every decade.

He experienced their mysteries and religious ecstasies, brought about by certain rock funghi, and studied hundreds of religious texts from all faiths of the EnSanni Empire. Despite this religious indoctrination, rather became a zealot, he became increasingly disillusioned and critical of the desert hermits. Their credulous religious hysteria led to him rejecting their beliefs altogether, and he instead came to believe that deities were in fact the creations of society and the imagination.

He preached throughout the towns and cities of northern Deltirot that there was in fact no true God or Goddess. He preached that there were indeed spirits in the world, but they were morally and intellectually inferior to Man and not deserving of worship. All deities that demand worship from Man, he preached, were merely selfish and self-serving spirits. Mankind was better served by ignoring their petty demands, so that they would wither away to leave a world of reason. (In this respect he shared common beliefs with the Oughtists of Anrel, and with the ancient Miyarrain.)

Instead, he preached a pantheist philosophy of universal human divinity, based on a code of ethics that promoted humility, self-effacement, charity and non-violence. His followers in Deltirot in particular stirred up political opposition to their recent submission to the Empire. He was held up as an ideal of rationalism in the face of EnSanni superstition and commercial idolatry.

In the 70s BME, temples were smashed and burned in his name. He personally preached opposition to violence and condemned those who took violent action. This condemnation was perhaps the reason his supporters did not rush to his aid when he was finally arrested by the authorities in 72 BME.

He was imprisoned, and after a brief show-trial in which he was given little opportunity to speak, he was condemned to death by slow hanging, particularly cruel and protracted death.

Following his execution, there are several conflicting stories, which have led to myths and ceremonies upon which his modern cult is based. According to the first account, after his body was cut down he was dismembered by the authorities in front of a baying crowd. The crowd tore his body into scraps, and some even devoured his flesh in their crazed intensity. This story was circulated by the EnSanni, as an example of the punishment meted out to heretics.

The most famous legend, enshrined in cult texts, is that after his trial and execution, in which his followers had made little attempts to defend him, his closest adherents were all arrested. Ten of them were locked in a room, with the torn and rotting corpse; an act which the authorities meant to terrorise them and demonstrate the horrors to come. The authorities intended parading it in victory around cities where the Cult had gained a hold, as an example to others.

The followers were desperate to prevent this, but had no means of protecting the body of their fallen leader. So, with great horror and solemnity, they devoured the flesh of their leader, so that there would be no remains for the authorities to exploit.