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priesthood, which in all probability would have destroyed angarak
in the convulsions of civil war.
. It was at this point, however, that Torak roused himself
sufficiently to reassert his authority' During the period of his illness
(perhaps a century or so) pthe military had become dominant in
'Angarak society, and much to the chagrin of the Grolim priesthood,
..the awakening God made no effort to re-establish their ascendancy.
Instead of establishing himself at either Mal Zeth or at the
ecclesiastical capital at Mal Yaska, however, Torak marched northwest to
establish the holy city at Cthol Mishrak on the northern edge of the
,District of Camat. It should be pointed out here that the religious
,writings of the period do not reveal the entire story. The Book of Torak
states that the Dragon God took his people to Cthol Mishrak and
caused them to build the city following his maiming by
Cthrag Yaska. The scriptures blur over the hundred year interval during
-,which the Angaraks spread out over the northwestern quadrant of
Mallorea and implies that those who followed the maimed God
comprised all of Angarak. Civil records of the period, however,
reveal that scarcely more than a quarter of the Angarak people
followed Torak to Cthol Mishrak. Pleading the necessity of
administering and protecting the rest of the nation, the military remained in
place at Mal Zeth; and similarly, the Grolim hierarchy, with the
equally plausible excuse of the need for overseeing the spiritual
requirements of a growing and wide-spread population, continued
to occupy Mal Yaska, from which they jealously guarded church
interests against military encroachment. Torak, almost totally absorbed
in his effort to gain control of the Orb, seemed oblivious to the fact
that the majority of the Angarak peoples were becoming
secularized. Those who followed him to Cthol Mishrak were, by and
large, the often hysterical fringe of religious fanatics which are to be
found in any society. Since Torak's attention was almost totally
focused upon the Orb, the administration of day to day life in Cthol
Mishrak fell to his three Disciples, Ctuchik, Urvon and later, Zedar.
This trio, with the zeal which usually marks the Disciple, rigidly
maintained the older forms and customs, in effect petrifying the
society of Cthol Mishrak in that somewhat pastoral form which
had obtained in the Angarak culture prior to the migration to
Mallorea. As a result, the rest of Angarak changed in response to
external pressures and their new environment, while the society at
Cthol Mishrak and environs remained static. It was precisely this
divergence which ultimately led to the friction which divides Cthol
Murgos and modern Mallorea.
The Grolim hierarchy at Mal Yaska, chafing at what they felt was
the usurpation of power by the military, began to take certain steps
which once again brought Mallorea to the brink of civil war. While
their campaign was scrupulously theological, it was nonetheless
quite obviously directed at the military chain of command. The
practice of human sacrifice had fallen into a certain disuse during
the protracted filness of the Dragon God, but it was now reinstituted
with unusual fervor. By carefully manipulating the drawing of lots
which selected the sacrificial victims, the Grolims began to
systematically exterminate the lower echelons of the officer corps.
The situation soon grew intolerable to the military commanders
at Mal Zeth, and they retaliated by leveling fraudulent criminal
charges at every Grolim unlucky enough to fall into their hands.
Despite the howls of protest from Mal Yaska, where the hierarchy
strenuously maintained that the priesthood was exempt from civil
prosecution, these 'criminals' were all summarily executed.