Darkening of the Light (Lorica)

Darkening of the Light
The tragic fall of Luminarism was a lengthy process that had its roots in the early priesthood of Luminarism. Though it did not have any specific beginning or end, it ultimately resulted in the "darkening of the light" that was early-age Luminarism, and the spread of very long shadows that stretched across the land, blanketing the world in intellectual darkness and plunging the world into a dark age.

The Corruption of the Mage-Priests
As the religion of Luminarism grew, so did the bureaucracy of their mage-priests. While the original few centuries of mage-priests were by and large inquisitive and innovative, in the centuries thereafter the ranks of mage-priests became co-opted by those who were less curious and politically more conniving, for as the power and influence of the mage-priests grew, so did the tendency for those seeking power to enter their system, thereby slowly but inexorably corrupting it. These incompetent latter-generation mage-priests did not make fabulous discoveries of their own, but under the pressure of a system that extolled the virtues of discovery, they proclaimed false discoveries.

The Circle of Inquirers
As is in the nature of scientific inquiry, these false discoveries did not remain accepted for long. When several such false discoveries came to light as a result of tests by other mage-priests, these false mage-priests became defensive, and accused the latter of intentionally trying to ruin them, and attacked them for being jealous of the former's accomplishments. This caused the priesthood to lose face in front of the masses, resulting in a crisis of confidence. Many among the priesthood proclaimed that this crisis would result in the unraveling of the priesthood and that their golden era would therefore come swiftly to an end; those who challenged that claim were attacked, implied to be agents of the destruction of the priesthood.

As a result of this political maneuvering within the bureaucracy, and the stated urgent need to restore the masses' faith, it was declared that none may publicly challenge the proclaimed discoveries of any mage-priest. Instead, such accusations could be brought forth to a panel of only five members, called the Circa Incuira, or the Circle of Inquirers, whose task it was to determine whether or not these allegations were factual, by performing tests of their own to verify the truth. In the meanwhile, the accuser could not let anyone else know of these allegations. Established in 621 AL, the Circle was made small so that few would have access to the potentially disruptive information and to lessen the chances of such accusations leaking out. And when the Circle found the accused guilty of fabricating a discovery, it was promulgated that the accused would be punished in secret, by removing them from their role in the priesthood and to lock them away in a dungeon to rot away. In this way, it was reasoned, the priesthood would not be doubted by the populace.