The Spread Of Trinitism

During the Second Great Surge, a baby was born in Histria. As magic shone in the sky, his parents, knowing that he was the most special child in the world named him Primus. He was the son of a Palace Guardsman and a weaver, he was Primus Horatius. As a boy, word of his unique birth followed him like a shadow. Most in the area claimed he was blessed to be the chosen of the Gods, or perhaps even the son of the Gods. These rumors only strengthened as it became clear the young boy had raw magical talent. According to the Divine Record, he had master the Basic Forms by age 5, though this is most definitely not true. Primus did not much care for his position as a would-be prophet and simply wanted a simple life. He dreamed of being a soldier alongside his best friend, Lucius Milonius, the son of a local noble, although the constant whispers about his divinity did give him a bit of an ego.   Indeed, because his father was a member of the Aurelian Emperor's elite guard, Primus lived a good life. During his early days, the Empire was ruled by Emperor Nicobulus. He was notably corrupt, winning the Imperial Election by only a few noble votes, and those that did not vote for him despised him for his arrogance and selfish pursuit of grandeur. As fate would have it, Primus' father, Pleusicles Horatius, would be caught up in a scheme to assassinate the Emperor, quickly becoming the ring leader. However, there was a rat, and in the middle of the night, Imperial soldiers burst into the Horatius house. Primus, who at this point was only 14, was restrained as his mother and father were dragged out of the house and beaten to death in the middle of the street. As he watched, he realized something: that this was a test. He really was the chosen of the Gods, he had simply ignored it too long. This was a punishment for his insolence, a way to teach him humility. Once the bodies of his parents, broken and bloodied, became limp, he stopped his crying and simply went along with the soldiers. He was not mad, no. He was simply in awe of the power of the divine.   The shell-shocked boy was sent out into the countryside to live with a friend of his family, who as luck would have it, was a skilled Wizard. The Wizard would treat Primus like a son and he was more than happy to feed the teenager's love for theology, military tactics, and magic. By his 15th year, he had mastered the Basic Forms as well as the Sorceror Forms, becoming a skilled Wizard in his own right. Soon after his 16th birthday, when his best friend Lucius Milonius was over for a visit, Primus would connect with a bit of light and cause it to move around. Lucius fell to the ground in reverence of his divine power and Primus could not help but laugh. This was Luxomancy, something never yet performed before, and the Gods had given it to him as a message to go out into the world and spread their holy word. While it is almost certain Primus was able to perform Luxomancy at a young age, Commonalist scholars deny that he was the first Luxomancer and deny even more fervently that this was a gift from the Trinity.   Soon after discovering his power, the 16-year-old Primus would set out with Lucius by his side to spread the one true faith. They went from village to village, telling their story of how Primus was born under the shining sky of the Great Surge, and how he was called to spread the word of the Cult of the Trinity. The people were regaled with sermons by both Primus and Lucius, who said that if they prayed, they would be given riches and a place in the afterlife. If they sin, which they all have, they have to atone and humble themselves through fasting and prayer. While most were skeptical or even got violent at the thought of turning away from the Imperial Faith (which was, according to the Divine Record and some archeological evidence, a faith-based upon sacrificial rites, although most were not of living animals), they all fell to their knees in reverence as Primus showed off his magical power. Decade after decade, the two went from village to village, converting the population of the Aurelian Empire by sprinkling dirt upon their foreheads to make them anew. Some of the faithful would even join him in his travels, becoming Apostles. Primus loved the attention that it brought and often got violently angry when his theology was questioned in private, but he was not a truly bad man. He and his Apostles fed the poor and helped all they could help, even working with those from the Aurelian government who sought to convert. Indeed, the private writings of the Apostles suggest that he bore no ill will towards the Empire, and even supported Emperor Nicobulus's actions, as they sent him on the right path.   Around the year 44 E.D., the wandering prophet and his apostles met a caravan of Dwarven Clerics who had come to the Aurelian Empire to proselytize. Those beyond the Tandzut River did not know much about the Prophet, other than what Trinitist merchants from the Empire had told them. The lead Dwarf, whose name was Khosrov Arscan, sat down with Primus Horatius and discussed the Gods. Arscan fervently believed that the Gods were the manifestations of the magical elements, as did his people, but Primus simply shook his head. He explained to the Dwarf that while the origin of the Gods is unknowable, their effect on the mortal realm is all that matters. For hours they debated, but at the end of the day, Arscan renounced his faith and declared his intention to return to his homeland of Chambadzor and spread the Cult there.   Slowly but surely, the Humans, Vampires, Dwarves, Gnomes, Nereids, Centaurs, and even some Elves heard the stories of Primus, the wandering prophet, the chosen of the Gods, and converted. By the time Primus was well into his 60s, almost half the world was devoutly Trinitist, with modern scholars suggesting that the spread of the faith was so rapid due to both Primus' magic powers and easy to understand philosophy in a time where organized religion was shaken to its core by the Birth of the Gods. However, the new Emperor of Aurelia, Citrio, believed that the Trinitists were a threat, as they could very well organize and threaten the long-standing Imperial institutions and replace them with ones more friendly to their cause, a fear many more traditional nobles had. Once word came that some Imperial Nobles had publically converted to the Cult of the Trinity, he gathered his armies for a fight. If he did not cut the head off of this snake, the glorious Empire would fall to a rambling madman with delusions of divinity.