by Max Barry

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Sect of the Peacock


THE SECT OF THE PEACOCK
An overview and brief analysis of the Azradis, their demographics, traditions, and rituals.

"The terrors of the night, and the evils of creation, and those that stand watch at the secret exit that it is known each grave has, and thrive on that which grows out of the tenants thereof; these are lesser powers than he who guards the Gateway, and offers to guide the unwary into the realm beyond this world and all its unnamed and unnameable Devourers."
- Kitab al-Azif, Abd al-Azrad


A highly secretive and guarded sect, the Azradis are said to have refined the arts of taqiyya towards an incomprehensible complexity. Their extensive ranks of missionaries, spreading in large number not only across the realspace but also within the networks of the Noosphere, are said to employ a gaslighting network known as Deceivers. Utilizing state-of-the-art memetics, Deceivers distribute rumors that purport secret knowledge regarding Azradi rituals, doctrines, and present operations, infiltrating subcultures where brewing resentment against the wealthy sect fuels obsessive search of defectors willing to divulge hidden degeneracies and perversions within the sect's peacock-adorned shrines and mosques. They dissolve the boundaries between truth and falsehoods, presenting contradictory factoids and retracting them just as rapidly, revealing and denouncing one another as fraudsters, stacking up claims each more outrageous than the ones before, concocting false stories and inventing conspiracy theories that spiral down into lunatic idiocy, discrediting genuine dissenters and driving truth-seekers into madness.

Whether they actually exist is unknown - again, the information regarding their activity is based on rumors that ravaged the Noosphere, and the proliferation of these rumors would have served the Azradi interests just as much through weakening trust of any unverified information regarding their activities, that their actual existence seemed unnecessary. Perhaps the Deceivers, or at least rumors surrounding them, are part of a much deeper, more sinister and comprehensive psychological operation that the Azradis waged covertly in the Noosphere. But these rumors do highlight the extent the Azradis would go to maintain the secrecy of their internal doctrines even in the age where information travels at lightspeed. This is manifested in the great difficulty experienced by the authors for the compilation of this brief overview alone - informations present here are most accurate gauged only by the authors' own heuristics and are perfectly possible to be completely inaccurate fabrication. It also casts the disproportionate Azradi patronage in Linkgenerative media technology in a newer, if also darker, light. The Information Age is their epoch: the age where reality ends.

ORIGIN

The origin of the Azradis, like everything else regarding them, is shrouded in mystery. They traditionally claimed spiritual descent from a 9th century Islamic mystic by the name of Abd al-Azrad, a name which is literally translated to "Servant of He Who Devours", which he adopted after his mystical experience in the southern desert of the Darhah. He authored a religious treatise known as Kitab al-Azif, a portion of which was translated two centuries later by Theodoros Philetas, a foreign scribe, as the Necronomicon. As befitting to its author's epithet, the "Mad Arab", al-Azif is an indecipherable, incomprehensible tome, a grimoire as much as a theological work, but the Azradi clergy to this day maintain that they hold its definite interpretation, said to be whispered by the Mad Arab to his slave Tawush, who then proceeded to spread his teachings throughout Mesovalkia. Despite their claim of well-recorded Linkspiritual chain dating back to the Prophet Beyond the Ocean, many of their rituals and symbols predate the birth of the Prophet, likely originating from native cults of the merchant-peoples. The ruins of a temple once maintained by peripatetic Arati people found in North Lander coasts, for example, are decorated with engravings of peacock feathers and locks - both notable symbols of Tawil al-'Umr, the demiurge of Azradi cosmology.

Numerous heterodox, antinomian sects flourished in the western Mesovalkian seaboard between 12th-15th century CE, spreading mainly among mercantile ethnic groups weary of the authority of the feudal caliphs in their inland court of al-Mada'in. It's commonly thought that some of these sects consolidated into the Mejlis of Sher-Dor, the present-day Azradi religious authority. They are referred in caliphal records as Linkghulāt, Exaggerators, and invariably declared in fatwas issued from al-Mada'in as "heretics" or "apostates". Lurid Azradi tales (and historical caliphal records) recounted of many Azradi martyrs, and even several Azradi Imams themselves were martyred to the old caliphate. While there were also frequent polemics issued against them by other religious dissenters such as the Tahiris, it was obvious that by the eve of the Scarlet Plague in late-15th century, most if not all relevant dissenter groups had congregated into a single faction, presided over by a spiritual leader hailed from one of the wealthiest and most prominent patron of the Exaggerators: the Ma'adids.

DOCTRINES

Azradis practice taqiyya or dissimulation of teachings and beliefs. The dissimulation goes not only between the Azradi and the outsider but also between the Azradis' own ranks. Lay believers are given certain interpretations on Islamic doctrines and teachings of al-Azif, which subtly changed as one ascended the ranks of esoteric knowledge. It is said that the interpretation became increasingly heterodox, heretical, and blasphemous as the rank rose, until at the position slightly beneath the highest ranks in Azradi hierarchy, at which point the blasphemous doctrines "converge with divine truth", i.e reconciled with the fundamental truths of Islam, and one "sees the light of God's words". Polemicists charged that this is merely an excuse used by Azradi leaders to justify their degenerate perversions of God's scripture, by insisting that the "hidden truths" will eventually converge to the fold of orthodoxy.

The most accurate account of the Azradis' "surface-level" teachings, ones that are neither clouded by the mists of taqiyya yet not elaborately philosophical that it is known only by the highest of initiates, could perhaps be found written by 17th century polemicist Feroz of Chittagong, one of the founders of the present-day Association of the Courts of Tradition, one of the remnants of Darussalam's old Islamic orthodoxy. Feroz charged the Azradis of "three crimes of deviation from Islam": tanāsukh or belief in transmigration of souls after death, ḥulūl or belief of divine abode or possession in the corpus of their spiritual leaders, and ibāḥa, dismissal of exoteric Islamic laws or shari'a as obligatory, a form of antinomianism. All these doctrines have been variously refuted and affirmed by different Azradi sources overtime. Uninitiated lay believers are taught to regard these as "divine mysteries".

Highly important - indeed a key scripture - in Azradi theology is Kitab al-Azif or the Necronomicon, often regarded as the second holiest book only next to the Qur'an itself, if not even more important. An incomprehensible tome annotated with thousands of pages of commentaries and interpretations by centuries of Azradite clerics, its title refers to the nocturnal buzz of insects that haunted Abd al-Azrad's nightmares during his wandering in the desert. As interpreted in Azradi doctrines, the essence of al-Azif is the terror of existence untethered from God and instruction to ascend into new "existence", "reality", or "knowledge", well beyond one's comprehension, sanity, or existence. Abd al-Azrad himself accomplished this when, according to Azradi myth, Linkhe was devoured by unseen being in the middle of the bazaar during the mid-day, to the horror of the onlookers.

Azradis call themselves muwaḥḥidūn, or the Monotheists, an assertion that they were the only people who legitimately upheld the creed of Linktawhid. The Azradi conception of monotheism, also present in many other Muslim subgroups, is known as waḥdat al-wujūd or "Unity of Existence", more akin to Linkpanentheism in principle. The supreme god of Azradi sect is generally described either in negation or affirmation of all attributes: He's simultaneously called the Void (al-ghayb) and the Existence (al-wujud). Al-Fayrūzabādī, an Azradi scholar and mystic summarized the view by declaring that "nothing exists, but God, and yet His true essence incarnates in universal annihilation". Universal annihilation, a larger-scaled event of Linkfana, generally interpreted as annihilation of the barrier or distinction between reality and the Godhead as both unify into Linka single Linkseamless existence, is an important aspect in Azradi eschatology, an event described in al-Azif as the Yog-Sothoth, yaji ash-shuthath or "Arrival of the Strange One", as this harkened the birth of God into reality, His revelation from the "Linkveils of light and darkness" that previously shrouded Him.

Another exceptionally peculiar aspect of Azradi sect, also present in many other Darussalami Islamic sects (but strangely absent from foreign ones), is the belief in presence and influence exerted by an angel by the name of Tawil al-'Umr.

The Azradi God is a distant, incomprehensible entity, beyond the "bounds of existence and nonexistence" and yet encompassing all of them, an esoteric god for whom the prayers and obeisance of His worshipers are mere part of His machinations, network of schemes extending from His "incarnation" in the eschaton future to the distant past. His distance and incomprehension necessitates the existence of a demiurgic figure that provides the presence of a "legible god", and it is in this context that Tawil al-'Umr ("the Prolonged of Age") enters the picture. Tawil al-'Umr is the angel that safeguards LinkSidrat al-Muntaha, the closest boundary to the throne of God, often depicted as a peacock or nightingale perched on a lote tree. In the Azradi doctrine, which interpreted reality as layered existence which when unraveled in entirety will reveal God, Tawil al-'Umr serves as the last veil of God, Angel of Linkthe Gate of the Silver Key, beyond which lies the end of one's sanity and cessation of one's existence.

Tawil al-'Umr frequently appeared in traditional Islamic lores as told by Azradis and other Mainline Darussalami Muslims. When the Prophet ascended to the Seventh Heaven during the LinkMi'raj, he held audience with the prophets preceding him, successively incarnating themselves as later and later prophets until finally they completely unraveled as the Angel of the Gate, who then instructed him with the command of prayer. He was frequently invoked as the de facto patron angel of the Imperial Durbar and thus Darussalam, bestowing the realm with his protection and mandate. Engraved on the banners that represented the caliphal Ma'adid dynasty is a peacock, the esoteric symbol of Tawil al-'Umr, and it was on the Peacock Throne that the caliphs are enthroned until today.

SYMBOL

As mentioned before, peacocks or the quill feathers of their trains are the most prominent and visible symbol of the Azradis. Many disagreed on the nature of the symbolism of the peacock, although most simply asserted that it derived from the name of Abd al-Azrad's slave and founder of the Azradi sect: Tawush ibn Kaikhusrow, as "Tawush" translates to "peacock". Nevertheless, medieval polemicists have constructed more ominous stories surrounding the symbolism of the peacock: the peacock was the one who assisted Satan in entering the gardens of paradise and seduce Eve, and thus cast down to the earth. It was thus a symbol of the antinomians, the exaggerators, the gnostics - all those who deviated from the fold of Islam, and thus adopted as the Azradi symbol as they merged.

Another frequently-overlooked symbol of the Azradi community is a silver key, a key, a keyhole, or a lock. Symbolizing Tawil al-'Umr and His guardianship of the last veil of God, it is sometimes combined with the peacock feather symbol.

HIERARCHY

The Azradis are said to organize themselves in two parallel hierarchies: Zahir or the manifest, and Batin or the hidden. This duality extends to the highest ranks, al-martabat al-malakiyya (literally "the rank of the angels"), comprised of the Imam of the Zahir, also known as the natiq ("the Speaking One") and the Imam of the Batin or the samit ("the Silent One"). The former is (was?) known as the Caliph on the Peacock Throne, the latter is unknown to all but the innermost ring of the initiated Azradis, or perhaps not even them. Both of them, while not necessarily outright worshiped as gods, nevertheless enjoy near-divine status per the doctrine of Linkḥulūl, reflecting God's outward emanation and hidden essence respectively.

The internal organization of information dissimulation within Azradi hierarchy further down remains opaque until today. The existence of the Mejlis of Sher-Dor is known as representative of the Zahir hierarchy, but from a wide assortment of its members - clergy and spiritual leaders, religious and secular scholars, even representatives from ancient Azradi merchant houses and businessmen - it is difficult to ascertain its purpose or position in the hierarchy. Two public Sufi religious Linktariqas and part of the mainline Seven Orders, the Ikhshid-khani and Narshakhi, are known to be associated with the Azradis if not their outright front societies. More lurid analysts associate some secular ranks in the Imperial Durbar and Harem as essentially parallel equivalents of the internal Azradi spiritual ranks, bestowed upon the same individuals as per the practice of dissimulation and deception.

DEMOGRAPHICS

The Durbar-unrecognized, de facto illegal Federation of Islamic Community, an Islamist courts' association based in the suburbs of Sonargaon, Sindhu Basin, estimated a total of a hundred and ten million of Azradis both discreet and non-discreet, less than half of Mainline Muslims, less than a sixth of Darussalami Muslims, and almost eight percent of Darussalamis in total. This is perhaps the most accurate estimation of Azradis' number, but the nature of the Azradis themselves has rendered any accurate census as nearly impossible. Census records by the Durbar or other Durbar-sanctioned organizations have the primary function to determine an individual's legal purview or insurance status: in other words, which baradari or jagirdar they're affiliated to. Other, miscellaneous informations are optional, negligible, and frequently opted out, unless if gathered by the insurer themselves. Unlike many other Muslim sects, Azradis lack any centralized legal organizational structure, distributed instead among (many Azradi-dominated) religious orders, insurance companies, kin networks, and other social organizations, thereby obscuring the extent of their spread. The two Azradi religious orders, Ikhshid-Khanis and Narshakhis, together comprised over sixty million constituent members, setting a floor for the Azradi population estimate. There are many Azradis outside the fold of these formal, public orders, many of whom refused formal identification outright.

One thing was obvious: despite merely numbering somewhere between four to ten percent of Darussalamis, the Azradis exercise a disproportionately influential role through the realm's economy, cultural production, and sociopolitical hierarchy. One of the possible reasons is their large presence in wealthier, more productive regions such as the Simurgh Area, where they along with the rest of Mainline Muslims comprised a plurality of the population. An antinomian group, they have established themselves as a white-collar, moneylending Linkmiddleman minority since their inception, their financial and commercial network spreading throughout Valkia. Azradi burghers in 19th century pioneered Darussalam's earliest industries, and until today many old money Azradi families such as Afshinids or Haftvadids retained control of massive karkhanehs or conglomerate groups. The Harem remained overwhelmingly Azradi and largely dedicated for Azradi interests in its promotion of charity works and public projects. At least a third of the Durbar's official ranked courtiers, as well as the majority of its innermost ring, are openly Azradis (over half are Mainline Darussalami Muslims and thus Azradi-affiliated).

Critics charged that the Seven Orders and the rest of the Mainline groups as associated in the Ibādat Khāna, comprised of fifty-two distinct religious orders, schools of jurisprudence, and congregations that recognized the spiritual authority of the Ma'adid caliph, together accounting for around two hundred eighty million adherents, are practically "Azradi in dissimulation". Conspiracy theorists have speculated of a vast scheme dating centuries back to design a big-tent "national religion" amiable to the secret heretical doctrines of the new ruling elite through covert subversion of centralized, established Islam of old caliphal Darussalam into newly reformed, atomistic, individualistic, "libertarian" Islam of the Tahiris and Sibghatis, and then the latter's subversion into doctrines familiar to the Azradis. The prevalence of Tawil al-'Umr cult even throughout even more conservative or orthodox Muslim groups in Darussalam serves as the primary proof of this conspiracy theory.

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