| abstract | - The Cabal Archipelago was a theocracy centered around The One God. Cabal was an archipelago for the most part, with its mainland holdings located on the sides of sheer cliffs, a stretch of coast that was severely mountainous. Just like the Nameless Ones, they came from the First Empire. There were 3,012 sects among the people of Cabal, one and all devoted to The One God. Civil wars used to plague the islands of Cabal, as each sect fought for domination of both secular and spiritual matters. The Grand Synod of New Year One secured peace and formed the Unified Sects of Cabal. The solution to the endless conflicts was "Belief in The One God occludes all other concerns."' The reason for the large number of sects all devoted to the same god was that The One God wrote nothing down, and so the The One God's desires were recorded by mortal hands and interpreted by mortal minds. Since every citizen of Cabal received extensive education, there were once tens of thousands of sects resulting from all of the different interpretations. Since New Year One, there were only 3,012 sects, with only one college per sect, wherein doctrine was formalized. Since then, Cabal had known twenty-three months of uninterrupted peace. One of these sects was that of the Mockers. They believed that The One God helped no-one. "Should it help one then it must help all, and such potentially universal assistance would inevitably lead to irreconcilable conflict, which in turn would without question drive the One God mad. [...] Should every mortal achieve clarity of thought and a cogent regard of morality, and so acquire aprofound humility and respect for all others and for the world in which they live, then the imbalance will be redressed, and sanity will return once more to the One God." They had a tradition of delivering hostages to fend off potential enemies. "She walked through the shrouds of duskAnd came to repastAt the Gates of Madness.Where the living gamed with death And crowed triumphant At the Gates of Madness.Where the dead mocked the living And told tales of futility At the Gates of Madness.She came to set down her new child There on the stained altar At the Gates of Madness.'This,' said she, 'is what we must do, In hope and humility At the Gates of Madness.'And the child did cry in the night To announce bold arrival At the Gates of Madness.Have we dreamed this enough now? Our promise of suffering At the Gates of Madness?Will you look down upon its new face And whisper songs of anguish At the Gates of Madness?Taking the sawtoothed key in hand To let loose a broken future At the Gates of Madness?Tell then your tale of futility to the child All your games with death At the Gates of Madness.We who stand here have heard it before On this the other side Of the Gates of Madness. " ―Prayer of Child, The Masked Monks of Cabal
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