So you want to become an Eilisian priest. Gods, you're in for a ride. You might want to call on
Uphion now, before your teachers do it for you. But I suppose if you're really serious about this...
Meros preserve you.
The first step is to decide if you really want to go through with this. There's still time to back out.
I'm just trying to help you, here. The path to becoming a priest (or priestess) is a hard one, and it's certainly not for the faint of heart. Gods, I barely made it through myself and I was gifted—or cursed, depending on who you ask—with
Vybris's stubborn streak.
My mother has threatened to throw me out of the house for my refusal to do the dishes, which I'd wash if only she'd stop demanding that I do so.
...Perhaps she's right that I choose more battles than are reasonable. — Chandar 23, 1625
If you want to become a priest, you'd better be as sure as
Katris's chariot about your devotion to the gods. If you have even the tiniest inkling of doubt... Well, at least keep it to yourself. The priests don't want to hear about it. And I mean
really don't want to hear about it.
Shireen was discussing the First Plague yesterday and raised the question of whether our magic was truly given by the gods or if it might have been somehow related to the plague itself. It seems like a doubtful theory, but she made some interesting points.
Today, she was stoned outside the temple.
I didn't know her well, but she seemed like a promising student and a kind person. It still makes me sick to think of how she looked...
I'm not sure if I can keep my mouth shut for as long as I must. — Shiqima 14, 1627
If you're still here and you haven't run away screaming like a little girl—which would be entirely reasonable of you—then the next step is to get in touch with a priest. A priest of Ydar would be ideal, seeing as he's the sovereign of all this snobbery, but Mytia will do in a pinch. This is a touchy step, so be sure you're prepared. Take a gift, be as serious as Uphion's Chasm, maybe grovel a little.
Step three: If the priests decide your interest isn't too suspicious, they’ll have to cleanse you. So you’ll take a trip to the Mytia Oasis and bathe in the holy waters there. Clouds of Ydar help you if there are Algerans at the oasis. You’ll be no better than a Veldani as your priestly escorts threaten to stone the Algerans and chase them off. And if the Algerans win, well… better luck next time, I guess. Then you'll
really be no better than a Veldani as you spend at least one night in their slave quarters. Take it from me, that is not a fun place to be. At least the Veldani are a lot nicer. More humble. Just… make sure they don’t convert you to a belief in
Arba or else you’ll truly be headed to a meeting with Uphion.
I had to stay in the Veldani slave quarters tonight, after a squabble between the priests and the Algerans who were invading Mytia's oasis again. They don't have a room for me in the academy yet, so I was relegated to the disgusting slave quarters. They smelled like I imagine a Musgovi must. The Veldani themselves were surprisingly pleasant, though. Smelly as their space, of course, but not unkind.
They spoke to me in Eilisian, but to one another in their native language, which is smoother than I would expect of a slave tongue. I enjoyed listening to them speak, though I couldn't understand. They seemed to be exchanging stories more than conversation.
The night was cold in the sparse rooms, and I pray to Ydar that the academy rooms are better equipped, but the evening wasn't altogether unpleasant.
Gods, I pray the priests never discover my journal. I could be stoned for even considering sympathy for the slaves. — Shiqima 9, 1627
Once you're finally cleansed without Algeran interruption (or if your first trip goes well, which would be as much a miracle as Ydar's priests having mercy on a heretic), you'll arrive at step four: Three years of cloistered study of the same Eilisian religion that you've been brought up in from infancy. You would think that your lifelong familiarity with the gods would be enough to get you through, but you'd be grossly mistaken. You would never guess how much Musgovi boot the priests manage to cram into those libraries.
Those three years are the most miserable three years you will ever experience. Those of you who see Nimasis in everything, I can hear you saying that "at least there can't be any worse years after those three." I assure you, you will no longer see Nimasis when those three years are over.
No relationships, even friendships, with the opposite sex; no access to the world outside the temple; no free time; no music. Just studying for hours and hours on end each day until they decide you’ve qualified to graduate. Oh, and you also have to learn to read and write in Eilisian, if you haven’t already. (I know that doesn't apply to you purebloods, but some of us aren't so lucky.) And no questioning the guidelines of the religion or their interpretations. At best, you’ll be sentenced to a week of isolation and forced fasting. At worst… Well, unless you were born yesterday or you came from someplace outside of Eilis, you know what the worst is.
Language studies were grueling today. I'd like to burn down the library and never see another Eilisian character. This journal is a well-needed break from proper writing, though my hand still cramps from holding a pen. Ydar take Priestess Zarina.
It is some consolation that Hazem and I were both able to sneak out for a meeting in the gardens. We had only a half-bell, but even a half-bell is a divine blessing when you're locked away by the priesthood. Thank Ritia for our time. Hazem's lips...
I shouldn't write any further. Best not to give the priesthood any more reason to want me stoned if they ever find this journal. Not that I have much hope if they do. But if they do, at least I'll meet Uphion honestly. — Sonabh 12, 1627
Priestess Zarina caught me sneaking out. I hadn't quite reached the gardens, so she doesn't know about Hazem and he'll at least get by. But I couldn't keep my big mouth shut, and I expressed my disagreement with the policy of no outside contact.
I've just survived a week of guarded isolation. The room was dark and cold—worse than the slave quarters—and there would have been no way for me to sneak out of it. The fasting made it all the more awful. They gave me the evening meal, gods be thanked, but the hunger was terrible for most of every day. My knees are still weak, and I expect I'll eat more than my usual portion as I go back to regular academy meals.
Remind me never to do something this stupid again.
Who am I kidding? I'll be sneaking out again before the week is out. — Sonabh 32, 1627
With step five, there's finally a light dawning. Of course... that also means that the stars are winking out. But if you've gotten this far, I commend you to Mytia. Now you just have to pass a long and comprehensive knowledge exam. It will take you all day. You’re allowed only a dozen mistakes; any more than that and you’ll be considered a heathen. They’ll at least allow you to leave, though, and find a home elsewhere, or occasionally they’ll even be so lenient as to let you remain in Eilis as a member of the lower class. They won't stone you unless you express interest or belief in a different religion or you question the interpretation of this one.
Oh, and did I mention this test is administered during a full-day fast? Obviously, food would be a distraction and break your focus.
Should you pass your test, I commend you once more to Mytia! You are now one of them. One of us, I suppose. Pretentious and narrow-minded, thinking only of our next service... But this is what you asked for, isn't it? You said you were up for it.
Eleven mistakes. One more and I would have been thrown out, but by some miracle of Mytia I passed. The fasting made my head swim so badly it's a wonder I could even see the page for the latter half of the exam.
If only Nisha had been so fortunate to pass. Or Shireen...
Regardless, I've passed! I'm a priestess. Perhaps my mother will finally be proud.
And I must pray that Hazem passes as well, or else the priesthood will do everything they can to separate us. Not that they've ever been able to stop us for long before.
This is it... I'm a full-fledged priestess... — Shiqima 13, 1630
Oh, you thought that meant you’re done? No, no. You still have step six: Complete a full year of temple service to a god of your choice. Make no mistakes, do not question the status quo, say all your prayers and do all of your studies, and maybe flatter your superior a little. Only after all of this may you finally be considered for priesthood. And if you don’t qualify… well… you’ll be stuck in the lower class your entire life and looked down upon by everyone in the priesthood.
So much for being a "full-fledged priestess." They started me on temple service today. Maybe I should have chosen to serve Mytia for the last of my training, since she's my true patron goddess, but Ritia allows me more freedom to see Hazem. We've arranged to serve in the same temple, though Ydar would have been his preference if not for me.
I don't relish the next year of service, of continued silencing of my thoughts... Maybe I should have chosen a different path. But if today has been any indication, Hazem's company will make this year much more bearable. We'll make it through together, with or without the gods' favor. — Shiqima 15, 1630
I should have mentioned this earlier... slight oversight on my part... it’s extremely difficult to even pass the years of schooling and the exam if you don’t have magic, since the game is rigged in the purebloods’ favor, so you’re likely to end up in the lower class anyway. Oops?
Fortunately, my cousin Nisha has written a codex to preserve those of you who are cast into the lower class, and the rest of this codex is here for those of you who make it into the priesthood, to (hopefully) keep you from getting yourself stoned in your first year.
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