6:30 AM, 1 April 1234
Grand Theft of the Ricohedron: Details Emerge
MELERJUSA - More details have emerged on the theft of the Ricohedron from the Sacred Temple.
Neptelisa has now raised questions about the involvement of Princess Carmeana of Bowtudgel. The Princess's presence on the island of Melerjusa shortly before the theft was originally thought to be a coincidence, as she was travelling back to Bowtudgel at the time the theft occurred.
But Neptelisan officals now say that she hadn't actually left the island. Instead, breaking with her itinerary, she demanded passage to the Sacred Temple. Neptelisan officials say they did conduct her there in accordance with their policy to give passage to all Pilgrims of the Ricohedron. But they say she never returned from the Temple. They claim that instead, the Princess and the three missing sajes climbed down the far side of the mountain to Silera with the Ricohedron, in an attempt to provoke a war and give the Kingdom of Bowtudgel an excuse to occupy the strait.
Sileran Prime Minister Mark Gellar called this claim, "a load of rubbish," pointing out that the Kingdom of Bowtudgel is largely in favor of the status quo, but that the ally of Neptelisa, the House of Khennora, does openly desire control of the strait. "If anyone had a reason to provoke a war," he said, "It was them."
Unfortunately, there are no known eyewitnesses to the disappearance of the Ricohedron, the missing sajes, or the Princess. The four remaining sajes and the Sacred Temple's staff all claim to have been inside the Temple when the disappearance occurred. The Ricohedron is on the Temple's roof, and it not visible from inside.
Saj Urooban's thieving past
Other details emerged about one of the three missing sajes, Saj Urooban. The Imperial Times has recently obtained a copy of his prison records from the Province of Odureg in South Silattan. The Odureg Hills were considered a strategically important frontier during the Last Barbarian wars. Because of the chaos that surrounded the area, banditry was common and travel to and form Odureg City was dangerous without Khennoran military escort.
One of the most notorious bandit leaders, and the only one unafraid to attack travellers under heavy guard, was a young man named Sal Urooban. Urooban complicated Khennoran plans for the province for years; travel in the province required increasingly heavy escorts and people were reluctant to settle there despite incentives.
At last the war ended, and Khennora was able to send sufficient troops to sweep the forests of bandits. Urooban was captured and imprisoned for 20 years.
Records from his imprisonment include work records, punishment records, and health records, as well as a journal he kept. It was a difficult prison life. He was forced to endure hard toil, diseases including malaria, and frequent lashings. In his journal, he writes that in the midst of this suffering he discovered Riconism.
Riconism, he said, gave him hope of a worldview he could accept: that of "imperfect perfection". He writes that over time he let go of his bitterness over his treatment, renounced his past, and forgave the Khennorans for their actions. Eventually his 30-year sentence was commuted to 20 years, and upon release he headed straight to the the Riconist Seminary in Melerjusa, joined the Sacred Temple and eventually reached the rank of saj.
Questions have been raised over the sincerity of Urooban's forgiveness of his captors, however. The journal he wrote in was inspected regularly (it even contains notes, warnings, and occasional grammatical corrections from inspectors), and some have suggested that he was only writing what his captors wanted to read.
However, the Sacred Temple has vouched for Urooban's neutrality. According to another saj, Saj Ainurad, Urooban was the Sacred Temple's liason for political relations, and was given that responsibility precisely because his judgment and fairness in the matter was most trusted. It is the reason he was part of the delegation to meet Princess Carmeana, rather than the most senior saj, Saj Adlez.
About the Ricohedron
The Ricohedreon is a ancient relic, said to have both extraordinary powers and extraordinary danger. Its origins are obscure, but we do know that it is connected to a group of mystics known as Atelionists.
The Atelionists were a mathematically-oriented cult based in the Middle East. It was an early example of universalist pantheism, and had adherents among many major religions. According to legend, there was a prophesy among the Atelionists that a great and powerful item would be discovered on the continent of Silattan, in an area now known as Neroka, after a great upheaval.
That upheaval, according to them, turned out to be the powerful Umayyad dynasty, who saw Atelionism as subversive to Islam. Atelionists (which, it should be noted, had many Muslim adherents) saw this as the prophesied upheaval, and many of their ranks set out for Silattan. There, it is said, they discovered the Ricohedron, exactly according to the prophesy.
Those Atelionists, who now called themselves the Riconists, eventually settled on the island of Melerjusa, in the straight of Silattan, and built a temple for the Ricohedron on the highest mountain of that island. In time, as commerce flourished, the island's wealth grew since it controlled passage through the strait. Riconists considered this prosperity to come from the power of the Ricohedron.
But all was not well. In 1059, Riconism had a major split over a proposed mathematical doctrine known as the Axiom of Choice. The Sileran sect, from the northern part of the island, rejected the Axiom of Choice, calling it non-constructive. This led to bitterness, conflict, and eventually civil war, which has erupted multiple times over the past two centuries.
However, the Sacred Temple of the Ricohedron has remained neutral and accessible to all followers of Riconism. In spite of the continuous conflict, neither side ever tried to claim the Ricohedron. Until, possibly, three days ago.