The Covenant

History

The Covenant was created in the year 180bc, by a by a group of soulbound mages, including a few Choranian clergy members in the province of Saramen of the western Esnian Empire Timeline. During that time, Sokralism was spreading their terror across Enaskia, making mages feel unsafe and angry at the imperial autorities. Many believed that the problem was that they weren't in charge.   Around the same time, discontent was reaching a boiling point across the Narrow sea, in Arros. In 167bc, a rebelion erupted in the province of Gysia, and it quickly spread to most regions of Eastern Esnia. The Covenant participated in the revolt, and sucessfuly shifted it's focus from getting more rights and protection from the imperial autorities, to getting those themselves, by force. The rebels overthrew the current Eastern Emperor, and a powerful mage leader of the rebelion, someone who strongly believed in the Covenant's ideology, ascended the eastern throne in Tareghasi, and ruled for the next decade.   The Covenant's version of Choranism became more popular in the region during that time. Some suriats, especialy in provinces such as Shorai and Torrenia, converted to the sect. However, it still found a lot of resistance not only from humans, but also from elemental and soulbound mages themselves, as many either did not want to take up leadership roles, or didn't want to do it violently. Nonetheless, this represents the apex of the group's influence.   Following the collapse of the Mage-ruled Eastern Empire in 133bc, the group quickly lost most of its influence. Leaders of the Covenant were forced to scatter and hide, as the newly restored Eastern Esnian empire was quick to purge anyting related to the young religious sect, including their books and their most prominent Suriats in Sirok and Tareghasi. This would lead to the near extinction of the Sect during the following century, but it would later be revived by the war against The Rekyans , during the later years of the Second Age.   During, and after the war against the Rekyans, the Covenant claimed that Eremir the Great, the famous Archmage hero that lead humanity to victory in Arros against The Blight, was a strong believer of their ideology, something that he, and his close friends all denied at the time. However, it is true that he, and his guild, The Copper Cloaks, worked with the Covenant, mainly to recruit mage warriors to fight by their side. Their association with Eremir would contribute to the sect's revival during the first century of the Third Age.   Following the war, the Covenant was becoming more popular again in some regions of the continent, notably in the kingdom of Alvaros and Paxolia. In fact, folowing the ascension of a new king, the kingdom of Paxolia briefly converted to this sect of Choranism for a period of 3 years, from 74 to 77 ac, until the new king was ousted and killed, and a new dynasty, supported by the old religious establishment took charge there, bringing the kingdom back into the fold.   In other places, acts of religious rebelion were similarly clamped down upon by the established choranian clergy. Many Heralds since then have pressured these country to root out the sect's members to stop its spread, citing social cohesion and moral decay as reasons for their percecution. This effort largely worked, as altought the Covenant is still around and active, its influence remains very marginal ever since.