Ahlam's Temple
"Feet-pounding, hand-waving in praise (of God), exulting in the glory (of God), (and exclaiming), "O our Lord, You have brought us to life!" Rumi on the Sacred practice of dance amongst the Sufi.
nor with the future precipitous¬ly.
Seize for yourself this day’s delights,
for there is no knowing what sunset may bring.
This day is mine! There may be no morrow!
The future is naught but deception.
How could I be so ignorant as to behold
the beauty of this world and not embrace it?
Ahlam's Temple is the bringer of joy, trainer of the greatest Courtesans in the 3rd Horizon and of course secret spies working in their own way to ensure the safety of the people. They were part of the triumvirate that ultimately led the Firstcomer factions in the final assault on the Nazereem's Sacrifice, ending the influence of the First Horizon for good. Historically they draw upon Ecstatic Dancers in the tradition of the Sufi and both Geisha and Great artistic traditions of Omar Khayyam and Oum Kalthoum in Islamic cultures. We know the following about them:
- They have eight great traditions, with a secret ninth committed to the practice of Assassination.
- They produce the greatest artists and courtesans in the Third Horizon.
- They are committed to the defence of the Third Horizon and are willing to use methods not available to other Firstcomer Factions to achieve their outcome.
- They are a subtle faction, far less militaristic than either the Draconites or the Order, and they do not follow a single Icon.
- They have key schools and centres of training on both Mira and Coriolis, and they have used soft influence to achieve their outcomes.
- They have specialised in techniques and technology that allows them to influence the behaviour of both their own followers and others.
- Perhaps most interestingly they are also leaders in Judicial thought, something we will need to return to and not miss.
- They are not followers of a single Icon, preferring a broader church, however, cleary the Dancer has immense importance to the Faction as does the Traveller.
Historical Analogues
The Qiyan
A second historical strand to pull on in out exploration of the Temple is the Qiyan. The Qiyan were female enslaved entertainers, poets, composers and singers who were prevalent in both Al-Andalus (Spain) and the Abbasid Caliphate. These entertainers were respected by the community as a whole. Still, they were enslaved, owned and used by their masters for both prestige and sex. Special training was given to these slaves and some of the greatest and only poetry to survive the fall of the Abbasids was composed by Qiyan. The closest and much more readily accessed analogue for Temple Courtesans is either the Geisha of Japan or perhaps more interestingly the greatest recent singer of Islamic Classical Music Oum Kalthum. Oum Kalthum is worth a listen, a woman of amazing voice and treasured across the entire Islamic world, she is perhaps the perfect template for an Ahlamite Courtesan, aloft and singing of love and loss. Her music is credited with having a massive influence on Egypt just as it struggled for independence. A trained Alhamite Poet or Singer could only dream of having the influence of Oum Kalthoum.
Talent 1 – Singer of souls
You are a trained courtesan of the schools on either Mira or Coriolis, your voice and words have been trained to move the hearts of all who hear your words. Whenever you perform, you may seek to influence the audience to feel either joy or loss through the use of your meme techniques. Add +2 to rolls intended to influence your listener's emotional state. You must have the Talent Factional Standing to take this talent.
Cyphers and communication
In their operations as spies, saboteurs and Assassins, the Temple must communicate in ways that are not readily deciphered by others. Secret messages must be passed along in plain sight, allowing operatives to share information and be given new missions and targets with no one else being the wiser. In the real world, many literary or book cyphers have been developed which could be used as a basis for the temple's communication. Book cyphers work on a substitution principle, the two parties have the same text and use an indexing approach to identify keywords or letters from specific passages. Letter based cyphers are more readily utilised as they do not require the right words to be on the page. As a possible advanced version used by the Temple, its conceivable that dance movements stored in a notation form similar to the below could be used in the same way. Image two Ahlamite spies, one performing in a dance the other observing, as the third movement begins the second spy begins to take down a series of notations in the correct form, giving them the critical message, the next mission and where, who and which movement will contain the next message.
Talent 2 – Cypher Mastery
You are a master of hidden words and double meanings, you can send a message than none may break using only the songs of golden thrush. When you want to pass a hidden message to another initiate of the Temple, you may roll Culture, each success allows you to pass eight words in a hidden language than cannot be broken. This talent requires that the message be contained in creative work. You must have the Talent Factional Standing to take this talent.
Masters of Judgement
Ahalmite practices have been used by both sides of the law to achieve their outcomes. Ahlamites are proud of the use of their techniques to support finding the truth. However, the fight to regain control of the technology the syndicate has stolen from them. Their technology is powerful a way of living the memories of those who have come before and influencing the minds of those who are affected by the use of a well-crafted meme. You can imagine that an Ahlamite would give even one of the Order pause, their ability to influence minds could lead an Order warrior into heresy, a far greater risk than simple death at the hands of their enemies. Ahlamite practices allow individual practitioners to get access to information and influence behaviour. An Ahalamite meme master could readily with a little time convince a person that black is white and up is down it is said within the lower halls of Coriolis.
Talent 3 – Meme Mastery
you may implant an idea or a deep desire into the mind of a person, this takes time and planning and cannot be done on the fly. Roll an opposed Manipulation Roll, for every two successes you may implant a desire in your target, the desire to tell the truth, the desire to go on a pilgrimage etc... The compulsion must not be tied directly to self-harm, or it will automatically fail. You must have the Talent Factional Standing to take this talent.
Links
Ismailism: https://iranicaonline.org/articles/ismailism-1
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