The Faithless Vulture

The Faithless Vulture, subtitled “A comedy of tragic ends”, is an opera written by the last Ensanni Emperor, Ollilontan. It is his longest and most controversial work, a thinly veiled parody of the rise of Therion, the Great Prophet of the Therist religion. To modern Ororrans and followers of the Therist faith, it is a despicable and blasphemous collection of bawdy drinking songs with no literary or musical merit.

It was first produced in 50 ME but closed after three weeks. The opera so enraged the Mother Army that it was cited as a reason for utterly burning the imperial city of Gaalkedch to the ground.

Its revival in Harthera in the last century proved popular, particularly for its blasphemous satire of Ororran religion.

Chikora Pastoois in Old Imperial Doroun has the double meaning of “The Faithless Vulture”, and “(It works) Better Without Faith”.

Act 1: Lishoma (meaning “little bear”, a play on the name Therion, meaning wild animal) is a juggler and street magician in an Occidental port, doing simple magicplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigMagic

In common terms, magic is the art of producing a desired outcome through occult means. Various arts are described as magical, from common street illusionists, village herbalists, and rituals for the intercession of deities. However, true magic is the art and science of elemental mastery, harnessing elemental creatures and instructing them to perform simple or complex tasks. tricks to impress the girls of his town and cheat sailors of their loose change. Barbarian tribes attack the city, and he hides under his mother's skirts. When caught by the soldiers and presented to the Chief Tuanga (implying “simple minded”), he begs for his life and amuses them by showing them his tricks. Tuanga is so impressed the soldiers throw him above their heads and declare him sent by their goddess, the Drort Mother (drort being simple, comic beasts of burden, a parody of the Mother Goddess).

Act 2: Lishoma travels with the barbarians east over the cold mountains. The going is hard but he raises their spirits with songs and tricks, and his “magical” ability to keep a lamp lit even in the dark and wind. When Tuanga and the others fear they will die in the cold (“We long for the suns of the desert”) he comes to believe in himself and urges them onward to the east (“What do men fight for”). He stands at the top of the hill and makes a light from a candle he has hidden, saying it is the Mother showing them the way.

Act 3: The horde see the beautiful city of Initerer on the lake, defended by a line of philosophers who try to deter them with confusing solipsisms. The horde sweep them aside and sack the city. Lishoma is sickened at this violence and intervenes with Tuanga, calming his men. Tuanga argues (“War is the way of man”) that war has always happened, and the states they have conquered are just as savage and ruthless as each other. Lishoma declares it is their purpose is to unite the world in peace, to which the barbarians laugh. The mayor of the city grovels in obeisance and declares Lishoma a great Prophet of Peace (“There shall be law”).

Act 4: The horde travel east to the first great city of the empire, Remel, rich with temples and strong with walls. After some comic attempts to break into the city (“Like a nut shall we crack”), Lishoma comes up with a trick. His followers carve a wooden replica of the Great Idol of the mother, and sneak into the city's holiest temple. At dawn they break open the doors and out steps a huge statue of the goddess which awes all the people. They bow down and throw open the doors. The “goddess” falls down and Lishoma springs forth and proclaims his new “union of man”. The people declare him Prophet.

Act 5: The army have besieged Toborr for many months, and Tuanga is angry and threatens to kill Lishoma if the city doesn't fall. Accompanied by a corps of Tuanga's most inept soldiers and some baudy camp followers, Lishoma hatches a plan to crawl through the city's sewers. The whores entice the guards away, and Lishoma throws open a side gate to welcome the army, covered in dung. He is declared the King of Shit. A cheap crown is thrown upon his head with some gaudy robes, and he is paraded around by the barbarians.

Act 6: Tuanga's horde rape the city (Blood, lust and gold). Lishoma, now dressed in rich robes, his head and neck adorned with jewels and gold chains, cries to himself that he has not had his due reward. Lishoma confronts Tuanga, declaring him an uncouth and uncivilised barbarian, and that the wealth rightly belongs to him and should be shared amongst Tuanga's men. Angered, Tuanga seizes Lishoma at night and confines him to a tower, the mouth of the Roaring Man. He tells him to pray for release, and that if he returns in the morning and finds him still there, he will put the whole city to the sword, (“Babes from the sleeping wombs I'll cut”). In a duet, Tuanga below tells the people how the Prophet has finally left for the peace of the desert (“Suns of the desert”, refrain), while high above Lishoma rages with anger at his confinement.

He considers his position remembering his mother, his low birth, and how he hoped to bring peace while creating bloodshed. He prays to the Mother for forgiveness for his blasphemy and asks for herplugin-autotooltip__small plugin-autotooltip_bigHerbs

Herbs are usually green plants cultivated and used for use in medicine, cooking or for other purposes.

Herblore is the traditional practice of making decoctions, extracts, powders and other preparations from the roots, leaves, seeds, bark and fruit of plants found across the world.greengreenAnásthiasAnásthiasgreenMunatangreengreen deliverance. Lishoma sees the first rays of the sun rising and first has hope, then the red light reminds him of the bloodshed if he does not act (“Hope, fail hope”). Finally Lishoma realises he needs to commit his first and last selfless act: he falls from the tower with a great cry, into the churning sea below.

The opera's first and only contemporary production was in 40 ME in the second week of storm tide season, an inauspicious time for any new venture. Its first night was beset by technical problems, particularly the wooden Goddess figure which was clumsy and more laughable than intended. Audiences were also rightly afraid of the blasphemy against the Mother Church which had conquered much of the empire, with the armies a mere 400 km from the city. However, houses in the first week were full.

On its 15th performance, in the final scene the baritone playing Lishoma fell as usual into the large pit trap below, filled with a feather-stuffed silk to cushion his fall. However his final cry was broken off with a sharp crack: the actor had struck his chin on the edge of the trap door, snapping his neck. Audiences thought it part of the performance and the orchestra played on until the end and the performers took their bows, but when Lishoma did not appear a great cry went out amongst the crowd.

There were a further seven performances with dwindling audiences, while the actor lay in a coma, his jaw crushed and his neck broken. His replacement refused to take the final jump, and instead there was a simple blackout. After the seventh performance the original actor died of his injuries, and out of respect the show closed. It never reopened.

The Faithless Vulture was utterly banned by the Therist church, given as an example of the depravity of the old regime. All copies of it, and other published works by Ollilontan were traced and destroyed.

However in 1017 a smuggled copy of the opera, said to be in Ollilontan's own hand was discovered by an antiquarian book dealer in Harlon, apparently in the private collection of a Besoan noble. The work was heralded as a masterpiece of Occidental rationality, with productions of it considered in opera houses throughout Harthera. The Ororran government expressed their outrage, and that the work was a fraud.