The Concord of Peace was a pacifist protest movement within the Church of Humanity, Repentant, formed in June 3200 in Cabina's capital of Lux Gravare, following the CHR's entry into the Sector Trade Organization and ACRE's attacks on Diomikato.
History and Formation[]
Idealist Subfaction Logo
See article here: Concord of Peace News Item (Twitter link)
In June 3200, while the sector still reeled from the news of the ACRE CORE assault on Diomikato, one of the Church of Humanity, Repenetant’s twenty-two High Exarchs called in an extraordinary emergency session of the Council of Exarchs of the CHR. During this session, investigators from the CHR’s Department of Special Circumstances presented evidence to the gathered Exarchs and High Exarchs that several of their members, including at least one High Exarch, has been collaborating with the High Church to oppose the CHR’s new allies in the Sector Trade Organization, and thus the CHR itself.
The accused exarchs were all leading members of the so-called Idealist faction within the CHR, whose opposition to accession to the STO was well known, but news of these subversive efforts shocked the assembly. In a contentious vote, the assembly passed a motion by the High Exarch of the Department of Special Circumstances for the immediate apprehension and house arrest of the accused.
As the Council of Exarchs proceeded to pass motions for the detainment-until-further-notice of the most compromised Exarchs, as well as the expulsion from Cabina of a dozen more, the Idealist faction in the assembly refused to accept the council’s decisions. After a final declamatory speech, at least fifty Exarchs departed the assembly chamber in protest, declaring, "If you will not have our counsel, then we will not have this council!"
Occupation of Zkaat-kit-t Memorial Plaza[]
After the walk-out of the Exarchs, Zkaat-kit-t Memorial Plaza, where the CHR’s main government buildings are located, became the site of a permanent protest. A growing crowd of lay people and clergy, serfs and nobles, rich and poor, joined the self-exiled Idealist Exarchs, and together styled themselves the "Concord of Peace." The protest expanded daily and grew to include drum circles, groups of people attending impromptu sermons or engaged in debates, a library, and even a small parliament attended by the 50 or so remaining Idealist Exarchs.
The Idealist Exarchs reiterated their refusal to partake in the CHR’s Council of Exarchs until it reinstated the arrested Idealist leaders and unequivocally condemned the violence perpetrated by ACRE. While riot police kept close watch over the growing assembly, the Council of Exarchs, now dominated by moderates of the Balance faction and the militants of the Liberator faction, refrained from any action to clear the plaza. In the weeks that followed, Balance and Liberator exarchs instead made their way daily to the assembly building escorted by DSC agents, to the jeers and slogans of the surrounding protestors.
Response to Attacks on Orpheus[]
In the summer of 3200, following rumors of war crimes committed by the Shrouded Maiden on Orpheus, the Concord of Peace reiterated its denouncement of CHR involvement in the war. In addition, they pooled resources to offer payment and bounty for the Maiden's apprehension and return to Cabina, so that she could stand trial before the Concord of Peace.
Post-STO Division[]
In the autumn of 3200, following the announcement of ACRE’s pending surrender to House Eridanus, the High Church, and Empire, and among swirling rumors that the Church of Humanity, Repentant, was also withdrawing from the Sector Trade Organization, a division arose among members of the Concord. Several of the self-exiled Exarchs considered the apparent end of the war an opportunity to rejoin the Council of Exarchs and re-engage their siblings, and others rejected that option.
Members who re-joined the council pushed for acts of restitution and reparation to Orpheus and House Lyra, and largely abstained from votes regarding surrender to the High Church and Empire.
Later, following news of High Church concentration of presence on Yakiyah, in near range of Cabina, the Council of Exarchs dispatched a diplomat to the High Church to ascertain Imperial intentions regarding the CHR, Yakiyah, and Cabina. Upon hearing the news brought back by the diplomat (none of it good), the Idealist Exarchs who had rejoined the Council of Exarchs entered heated debates with the Temperance and Liberatory Coalitions. They urged the CHR to continue discussions with the High Church and Empire, and to commit to any terms of surrender necessary to protect and preserve the sects of the Repentant faith, the Cah-Binn on Cabina, Repentant adherents throughout the sector, and the network of synth support and protection covertly supported by the church.
After discussions and votes stalled, Daniel Silverlock Patel, of the Temperance Coalition, approached the Interim Parliament of the Concord of Peace. He communicated the matter under discussion to the still-protesting former Exarchs, and urged them to again return to the assembly and add their voice and votes to the proceedings. After considering the matter, the Idealist exarchs returned to the Council Hall, and cast one final vote in favor of continued exploration of peace and surrender, before again departing the assembly.
Dispersal[]
Following this final vote by its members, the Concord of Peace disbanded. Seemingly overnight, the individuals who had participated in it for months quietly dispersed, returning to their families, communities, and sects.
Theories as to why this happened remain mixed, as those involved offered little explanation. Some argue it was because the leaders and participants of the protest decided they had achieved as much as they could expect to achieve, between their protest and their final vote for non-violent resolution. There was increasing disillusionment among those in the Concord of Peace about the institutional structure of CHR, and increased resignation that individuals with militant interpretations of the faith were likely to always be counted among the Council's members-in-good-standing. Many members of the Concord of Peace had also voiced the opinion that they would only ever again rejoin Council of Exarchs if it were to cast a final vote for the CHR's dissolvement.
Others believe the dispersal had more to do with warnings from various Exarchs who had attended the meeting. These Exarchs predicted rapidly approaching upheaval for both Cabina and the Repentant faith as a whole, as a result of the vote, and exhorted the protesting individuals to return to their families, communities, and sects to prepare them for the coming change. They argued that one's attention and presence would be more needed and more effective there, in the coming months, than in continued public protest outside the Council halls.
It was also a growing opinion among many in the Concord of Peace that the goals of their Repentant communities might be better served by a fullscale break from the Church of Humanity, Repentant, than by continued attempts to reform the institution. Sects with an affinity for Idealist ideology were among the first to leave when Repentant sects began officially disassociating from the CHR, and it is believed these departing individuals from the Concord were influential in laying the groundwork for this change.
Quotes[]
“We will not support this Council’s acquiescence to violence and civil war. We will not support this Council’s acceptance of the lies and slander of our own. And most importantly of all, we will not be silenced! If you will not have our counsel, then we will not have this council!” - Final speech of an Idealist High Exarch, before leading the protesting Exarchs from the Assembly
“No Justice without Peace; No Peace without Justice” - Protest sign observed in Zkaat-kit-t Memorial Plaza
“Remember the Second Tenet” - Protest sign observed in Zkaat-kit-t Memorial Plaza
"We do not endorse the Church’s participation in this war. We could never endorse this Shrouded Maiden, for what she has inflicted upon the people of Orpheus is everything we stand against. The act of a soul turning toward repentance is a choice, and it cannot be demanded at the barrel of a gun. If our own Church cannot resist the dark draw of violence, when confronted with a situation it finds intractable and impossible, then what hope have we of asking the rest of Humanity to do the same? We call for the Shrouded Maiden to return to Cabina, so she may account for her crimes at the Concord of Peace. Moreover, before any reconciliation with our siblings may take place, we call for an act of Repentance from the Church of Humanity and its Exarchs. They will unveil their complicity in these efforts, and answer for the betrayal of our ideals.”
- Brother Zijeck Wier, Spokesperson of the Concord of Peace, Summer 3200
"We were wrong - colossally wrong. All change built on bloody foundations will encourage further bloodshed in the future. These extremists who have taken up residence within the Hall of Exarchs must be ousted and their cowardly terrorism brought to an end. We owe it not only to the victims but to our own souls to make amends for these crimes and prevent ongoing hostility. We should begin by committing to disaster relief efforts and goodwill disarmament in the name of preserving whatever tenuous strand of peace and prosperity still exists, in the hope that we have not murdered our dream of a utopian future. We no longer have the right to preach justice in the face of our sacrilege. Though anyone can be redeemed, we will have to work tirelessly to return to where we began. We saw the quick path to paradise and tried to build our Eden on the sand, only to have the tide return to wash it all away. Our dream must be built upon good works not only so that it weathers the storm, but also so that one day we may deserve it.”
- Dr. Δ MacNamara Pietro, Late Summer 3200
“If the war is over, if the sector is once again at peace, and if our Church is withdrawing from the STO - what does this mean for us? Does this mean we, the Concord, have succeeded? My own answer is “no.” For it was not our counsel that ended this war. It is to our Church’s everlasting shame it was not we who took the first steps toward this peace, but rather the members of the House Eridanus. We recognize that the political situation, as it stands, makes it nearly impossible for the noble houses to offer any public support of our faith. Yet if anyone from House Eridanus is listening: We thank them for the courage it took to be the first to step forward, to open talks with the ACRE corporation, and to thread the needle toward an opportunity of reconciliation and peace.”
- Brother Zijeck Wier, Spokesperson of the Concord of Peace, Autumn 3200
Many Rethinkers say Pride is a sin, and this day I begin to understand. The serfs of this Empire suffer. The synthetic suffers. The alien suffers. The downtrodden of the empire struggle under both law and custom. Who in this day and age will be left to intercede or interfere for the voiceless? If Yakiyah falls, and if our Church, too, the last to hold the flame, is erased from this sector, who then will try?
Those who came before us made injudicious and immoral choices this past year which have led us to our current end. And this, it seems, is part of our Church’s just Judgment and our Repentance. We must not leave Cabina, nor the Cah-Binn, nor the synth, nor alien nor serf, abandoned to their peril. We must not seek the prideful coward’s escape. We ought to bend our knee, this day, and find some way to do what is demanded, and say what is demanded, so that we may yet live to place some stay upon the machinery of oppression. We ought to surrender ourselves this day so that actions may continue to be taken in the face of injustice. As long as we believe our presence in this sector may do more good than ill -- that what we surrender and what we say will do less harm, than the good we do and the harm we will prevent by our continued lives -- as long as we believe this, then we must choose to live.
It is easy to die for a cause. It is the harder choice to live for one.
- Exarch Orchard Coda, Late Autumn 3200, urging the Council of Exarchs to consider surrender negotiations with the High Church and Empire
Publications[]
- Concerning Rumors & War: Responses to Rumors from Orpheus (Twitter link) - Summer 3200
- The Empire and Faith Repentant (Twitter link) - Summer 3200
- Letter to the Repentant of Acheron Rho: Idealist (Twitter link) - Winter 3200
Mentions in the News[]
- Concord of Peace News Item (Twitter link)
- Formation of the Concord of Peace, June 3200.
- Cabina NEWS! War's Over? Discord at the Concord! (Twitter link)
- Members of the Concord of Peace disagree about whether to rejoin the Council of Exarchs.
- SPECIAL REPORT! Leaked Recordings of the Autumn 3200 Proceedings of the Council of Exarchs! (Twitter link)
- Response to ACRE's surrender.
- SPECIAL REPORT! EMERGENCY SESSION of the Council of Exarchs! (Twitter link)
- Response to High Church presence on Yakiyah.
- BREAKING NEWS: SCHISM! (Twitter link)
- Deepening conflict in the CHR over how to respond to STO defeat, High Church hegemony, and a changing sector leads a schism of its governing body. Idealist Exarchs enter for a final vote; Concord of Peace dissolves.