The Festival of Martyrs Kicks Off, As Does the Political Campaign Season
Mar'si, Holy Marsh- Marshites celebrate the Festival of Martyrs this week, the longest holiday of the year for members of the faith. In the Matriarchy, it is the only break from work or school that Marshites receive aside from sabbath days and is marked by a number of parties, feasts, and activities. Most sports leagues finalize their year with championship games, while television stations play for attention with season finales and big premieres. Parties and feasts aplenty dot the cities, while every Shrine puts their own spin on the celebration. Primitive Shrine members imbibe substances that allow them to speak with their fallen ancestors, spending days at a time in trances. The Warrior Shrine stages elaborate and deadly reenactments of famous battles. The Assassin Shrine honors their fallen by announcing all the targets slain by membership in the past year, as well as distributing new targets for the upcoming year. The variations are endless; the key being that for a week, much of the nation takes a step back and relaxes.
Of course, certain facets do not. The military and security forces at large commit to celebrations that do not lower their readiness, while AI Citizenship has largely taken the reins of manufacturing and transportation. A wide range of people choose to work for any number of causes, usually in shifts with others. The seven-day holiday tends to be around five for the average Marshite, but on the whole it is still a time of relative laxity. The Arch-Bishop's daily morning service is viewed as a barometer for the health of Marshite viewing. It averages between 1.4 and 1.6 billion from inside the Matriarchy and around that same number outside, not including repeats for timezones and the Night of the Matriarchy. Numbers released yesterday show more than 9 billion from inside Holy Marsh watched just today, and that number, in general, fluctuates only a little over the week.
While the Arch-Bishop gets the most eyes on her, many Shrines use this as a time to pitch new ideas, political moves, and defenses against both. For much of the year Marshites tend to spend what little time they have with media on religious or news-related programs, with sports taking up the majority of the rest of viewing time. The Festival of Martyrs is thus the one time a year most Shrines are able to communicate in-depth agendas to their membership. "It is easily the most important time in the entire political calendar of the Shrines," states Dr. Heleia Asweur, a Marshite doctor of media from a prestigious Romani university. "Opinions and stances will be formed over the following few days that will remain largely unchanged the rest of the year, with only minor movement. A well-argued case that runs against a poorly-executed defense can leave the Shrine that made the case ascendant in political power for the next year."
Most of the time, "the agendas at play aren't really all that difficult or substantial. While there are many differences between Shrines, they are often kept in check by the Arch-Bishop, and always kept in check by the Marshite populace. Disunity among the Shrines is something Marshites by and large do not tolerate. As such, most politics at play tend to involve fringe matters and small engagements that both sides tend to see as relatively insignificant.
Not this year.
From the start of the festival, many of the largest Shrines have coordinated a message in support of a modified version of the legendary, and controversial, Kraksi Proposal. Hailing from 1761 LW, it postulated that while every Shrine had merit, certain Shrines that had greater influence are foundational to the success of the nation and should hold a special place. They were to be called Major Shrines, and they would sponsor the minor ones to operate within their sphere of influence. It was dead on arrival then and has often been dredged up as a warning whenever one Shrine or another has gained too much power.
Now, however, the largest Shrines have started to argue in favor of it. They have coordinated it well- dominating the airwaves on the more neutral networks while using their own networks to supplement one another's arguments. Smaller Shrines who stand in opposition have been numerous, but were caught off guard and have not created a single unified argument against it. As such, there is a growing belief that the controversial plan may have some hope of succeeding.
As detailed, the current proposal has been named the Martyr Lainika Amendment. A number of Shrines, based on criteria determined by the Arch-Bishop, would be declared the Favored Shrines of Marshism. They would hold the Cardinal Council positions and determine the makeup of the Bishop Council, with specially elected representatives from the Sponsored Shrines (all other Shrines), serving on the Cardinal Council at the behest of the Favored Shrine. Each Favored Shrine would be allowed to sponsor another Shrine and make it a Sponsored Shrine. Following a relatively quick time period, Shrines not Favored or Supported would automatically be considered for Erasure, as their beliefs would be too alien to Marshism to survive in such a climate.
Proponents argue that this has three main advantages. The first is that it would allow the Faith's leadership to more accurately reflect the overwhelming will of the Faithful while still respecting the smaller Shrines and the special relationships that already exist between the major and minor shrines. Indeed, many of the smaller Shrines act in concert with larger Shrines whom share a similar general view. An example would be the Singularity, Space, Tamaranean, and Knowledge Shrines, who work closely with the larger Science Shrine in many aspects of Shrine politics, a system seen as broadly favorable to smaller Shrines who can wield the influence of larger allies more effectively than the opposite. By formalising this relationship it would allow the Favored Shrines to benefit from this relationship in ways they cannot currently do so. Politically, this would simplify a great deal of matters and would ensure a more effective deployment of the Arch-Bishop's will.
Critics argue that in effect this would turn the Theocratic Matriarchy into a state dominated by only a handful of the most powerful Shrines, eliminating opportunities for smaller Shrines to grow or achieve such high offices as the Arch-Bishop. They go on to claim that the proposal goes against the Marshite belief that all Shrines are valid interpretations of holy scripture by creating layers of equality to that statement. This has been a cornerstone of Marshite growth- the understanding that every Shrine had a valid interpretation and all could be correct. "It is a dangerous statement to make, that some are greater than others in the name of the Holy Marsh," said Brother-Champion Corvad Crocia of the Combat Shrine, "and one we do not intend to allow to grow unchecked in the consciousness of the people."
As the debate goes back and forth on the airwaves over the Festival of Martyrs, battle lines are being drawn and there is a growing belief that the next year will see movement on the topic. Whether it will take the form of a public vote- something Luboski has increasingly promoted during topics of import- or an internal one, there seems to be growing acceptance from all players that it will not remain organizational fiction to be bandied about any longer. Instead, one way or another, there will be a decisive movement that may portend a foundational change in Shrine politics.
