Etamps-La-Sainte
Etamps-La-Sainte, or the Holy City (la Ville sainte), is a city in western Brex-Sarre which serves as the nerve center of Cairony, its holiest city with the densest collection of places of worship and sanctuaries. It is nicknamed the City of a Thousand Beacons (la ville aux mil flèches), due to the multiple beacons that dot its skyline. Etamps sits at the confluence of the Sarrel and Coudon rivers, in the region of Sarre, on a slight promontory (a distant projection of the Galban Massif); the pre-modern city is entirely located on the eastern bank, but urban sprawl in the last century has expanded on the western bank, in the territory of Saint-Calvin, creating the modern towns of Etamps-Ouest and Toussaint, which are frequently included with Etamps proper for statistical purposes. The population of the combined urban area is close to 1.2 million.
| Etamps-La-Sainte The Holy City | ||
|---|---|---|
 The Sagittae Templum, one of Etamps' most iconic building | ||
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| Nickname(s): The City of a Thousand Beacons | ||
| Country |  Brex-Sarre | |
| Government | ||
| • Type | Extraterritorial Argan-city | |
| • Holy Mother in Urbe | X | |
| • Metropolitan | Severine de Cholet | |
| • Cathedral Prefect | Z | |
| Population (2015) | ||
| • Metro | 1.2 million | |
The city was originally known as Etamps (Old Sabamic Stampae), or the Sanctuary of Etamps, in local vernacular languages, with the Holy City (Urb Sacer) designation retained in Sabamic and Late Sabamic. The full name Etamps-La-Sainte emerged over time after the 17th century and the evolution of the modern Savamese language, which replaced Sabamic for liturgical purposes.
History
Early history
The history of Etamps-La-Sainte is inextricably bound up with that of Cairony, as well as that of its predecessor Senuminism, to such an extent as to give what is still a relatively small provincial city an importance far in excess of its size. This is visible even as far back as the eleventh century BCE, when records show some substantial donations by the Sabāmani emperor Antovus to the sanctuary of the Infinite Architect in Stampae. It has been suggested that the favour shown by the emperor helped to elevate the cult of the Architect above those of other Senuminist deities as the faith matured; however, this was not always respected by Antovus’ successors, with several clashes between imperial officials and Architect cultists in the 860s BCE, culminating in the siege of the Architect’s sanctuary in 861 BCE.
Barely fifty years later, Etamps would be thrust back into the mainstream of religious thought, as six of the senior priestesses of the Architect’s cult began to push for change in the established order, claiming that the chaos let loose on the world after the Hilima Eruption and the later First Great Invasions was a divine punishment and a warning by the Architect – whom they now claimed to be the sole divine entity – that mankind must attend to the restoration of the world’s spiritual fabric and the soulstuff of which it was made, which they named cairon. The message of the women known today as the Six Holy Sisters found a ready purchase across the Sabamic world, and was set down in written form as the Books of Examples, the core texts of Cairony. (The original manuscripts of the Books are still held in the Librarium Sanctuary in Etamps, although these incredibly rare and sanctified documents are not available to public access.)
Although Etamps retained a prominence as Senuminism gradually yielded to the Sisters’ new Cairony, its status as a centre for the faith would be cemented further by the emergence there of the woman whom the world today knows as the Glorious Prophetess. Initially a spiritual and political leader in Etamps and its surrounds, and the author of the Great Semita, one of the key texts of modern Cairony, she would make the leap to becoming a war-leader in the last decade of the pre-Common Era, leading a combined Cairan and Verbian force to victory at Lescosium in 7 BCE and laying siege to Etamps, capturing the city late in 1 BCE – an event of such pivotal importance in the Sabamic world that, several centuries later, the astronomer Florentia Sirmiensis would use it as the datum point for her newly-developed calendar, now used world-wide and, to some extent, even beyond the Cairan world.
Antiquity and the Secote period
Although Etamps was sacked and sustained significant damage by nomadic invaders in 67 CE during the Second Great Invasions, its status by now was such that it was never abandoned, but was rebuilt in stronger form. It became an important way-station as Cairan proselytisers followed the expanding Third Sabāmani Empire south into modern Elland and Zeppengeran, and voyaged westward into the Dael lands. In the days before equivalence became the leading philosophy, rituals performed there (in Urbe) had a special significance, particularly at a time in which cairon channeling rituals were confined to the clerisy, with the Holy City being Cairony’s most important nexus-sanctuary.
All of this would be as nothing, though, when the first waves of invasion swept across the Sabamic lands from the east. The irresistible tide created by the Secote invaders swept away large parts of everyday life in the region; and while the new overlords were not unduly threatened by the tenets of Cairony, they recognised that the structure of the church could be used to focus resistance to their rule. Furthermore, the mere existence of an exclusively-female clergy was a standing affront to a fiercely patriarchal society which largely regarded women as of little real importance. As the argan was forced underground, the significance of Etamps likewise fell into shadow during more than three centuries of Secote domination.
The post-Secote rebound
The Secote Empire, however, was always a fragile construct for all its apparent power; and its collapse in the early twelfth century allowed Cairony’s old ways to re-emerge, perhaps stronger for their long period of suppression. In the wake of the Secote retreat, successive generations of Cairan clergy cannily built on Etamps’ religious prestige, winning for it widespread secular importance; and with the submission of the County of Sarre to the Old Savamese Argan in 1332 the city became the capital of the Arganite States. This attempt to revive the significance of the Ecclesiarchy of Sabamic antiquity enjoyed clear success in the remainder of the 14th century; but it was beset by stress for much of its later life, and, with the collapse of the States at the hands of Dordanie in 1498, Etamps gave up much of its worldly status as it reverted to being merely a domain of the prince of Sarre.
The city nonetheless remained an important centre of learning and philosophy alongside its churchly significance; and while most Holy Mothers took care to remain officially outside the secular decision-making process, the argan remained important as a neutral arbiter, as in 1607, when the Etamps-La-Sainte Mediation saw a brokered end to the Dordanian succession dispute which allowed Édith to accede as queen.
The Reform Wars and after
As the home of Cairony, Etamps became a focal point for conflict and intrigue as the fracture between Orthodox and Reform Cairony widened into a chasm. In Sation 1759 the Infame Raid saw the city fall into Reformer hands, with Holy Mother Téodora de Beldopoule effectively becoming a hostage. Her pamphlet, De Fragilitatis Facies Corporibus (“On the Fragility of the Physical Facet”), written during her captivity and smuggled out of Etamps for wider copying and distribution, served only to fan the flames even more, with Henry III of Elland leading a concerted attack by the forces of the Orthodoxy against the reformers. Henry’s leading general the Earl of Biden besieged Etamps in early 1765 and forced its surrender in Fabricad of that year; and on 21 Conservene – the day of the winter solstice, and a traditional Cairan high holiday – Henry was crowned as Henri I of the Cairan Empire amid suitably imperial splendour in the heart of the Holy City. However, Etamps’ new status at the heart of this new Cairan Empire would not last; concerted reformer attacks drove Henry and his armies back, and their defeat at Lapetrelle in 1769 broke their defensive lines and opened the way for Etamps to be recaptured later in that year.
In the later 18th century momentum developed across the Savamese lands for a formal union of the territories; and the symbolic status of Etamps made it a logical choice of location for the monarchs of these states to sink their differences in the Agreement on Imperialism, the treaty which sublimated their separate existences into the new Savamese Empire; and Savamese statesmen would return to Etamps in 1867 after the end of the Great Verborian War to place their names to the Settlement of Etamps-La-Sainte. This agreement would mark the point of maximum expansion for the empire in Messenia – something which later generations would look back upon fondly as Savam found the tide turning against it.
The modern era
The Embute War, which began in 1889, had been for many an expression of Savamese arrogance, for which the scratchbuilt Grand Alliance sought to punish them. As Savamese forces retreated, Etamps now came under direct threat; and with the Savamese turned at the Battle of Husson, Ellish forces encircled the Holy City on 7 Metrial 1892. The Earl of Meiriston, leading the attack, hesitated to press his advantage out of respect for the city and its significance to his faith (he had stayed his hand earlier at Pont d’Chélîn for not dissimilar reasons); the delay allowed Holy Mother Faustine de Maupressons the chance to negotiate an ordered withdrawal of Savamese forces and preserve the city’s irreplaceable architectural heritage.
With the war lost, Savam could only stand and watch as the victors claimed their spoils; as part of this process, Sarre was detached from Savam and joined with the principality of Brex to its south. The king of the new Brex-Sarre received the title of urbis defensor – removing the city from the protection of the Emperor of Savam had been a clear, if largely unstated, war aim for both Odann and Elland – and the Holy Mother of Brex-Sarre assumed the title of Holy Mother in Urbe.
While of lesser significance on the political level, the decision in 1924 by the Argan of Brex-Sarre to move from the Orthodox to the Reform interpretation was a matter of critical importance to Reform and Orthodox adherents alike. The shift was the first such to take place since the end of the Reform Wars, and was met with outcry in Elland and Odann – the more since the creation of Brex-Sarre had been intended, in large part, to keep Etamps out of Reformer hands. The decision broke the remaining physical ties of the Orthodoxists to the city, with their Ecumenical Sorority decamping for Cairn, in Odann.
The significance of Etamps in the Cairan mind continues to lend it significance beyond its size and temporal importance. In 1982, as Odann sought to mend fences with its neighbours (Reform and Orthodox alike), the city played host to a remarkable summit meeting between Marguerite de Morlet, Holy Mother of the Argan of Savam, and her Odannach counterpart Máirín ní Thuathail. Both women were seen as moderate voices in their own communities, and hopes were high for some form of mutual understanding and respect; but while there was some notable rapprochement in the next few years, political changes, particularly in Odann under Ultan II, mitigated against anything more lasting.
Extraterritorial status
Etamps-La-Sainte is officially located on the territory of the kingdom of Brex-Sarre, the military of which is tasked with its protection; due to this, the King of Brex-Sarre holds the honorary title of urbis defensor, and the country is entitled to the epithet Most Blessed. However, the city actually has extraterritoriality, and enforces its own legislation in all domains. For example, the Brexo-Sarrois army is tasked with protecting the city, but only outside its limits; within the city, border defence and law enforcement are the responsibility of the Cathedral Guard (Garde cathédrale).
The day-to-day government of the city is the shared responsibility of the Metropolitan (Métropolitaine), a clergywoman of archmatronal rank, and the Cathedral Prefect, a lay official, traditionally male, who is charged with law-and-order matters, organising the secular political life of the city, as well as preserving the peace between the representatives of the different argans present in the city. The governance of the Holy City is heavily draped in tradition, and still operates much as it did during ancient and medieval times.
Cairan law is the ultimate source of all law in Etamps, including more mundane subjects; strong prescriptions and restrictions associated with proper Cairan practice are enforced in the city (the Cathedral Guard is sometimes accused of functioning as a moral police). There is a long history of people in flight from the law from surrounding countries taking refuge in Etamps; anyone can enter the city without documents, although non-Brexo-Sarrois still need to enter Brex-Sarre legally to reach Etamps.
The significance of Etamps within the Orthodox interpretation of Cairony has led to numerous clashes between city authorities, the King of Brex-Sarre in his capacity as urbis defensor, and church and state authorities in the Orthodox states, concerning access by Orthodox Cairans to what is still to them the “Holy City” of Cairony. This has been particularly strong in the case of Odann, where the argan sees itself as defender-in-chief of the proper forms and has remained distrustful of its Brex-Sarre counterpart since the latter decamped for the Reform sphere in 1924. However, the most notorious dispute was probably that which took place in 1940, when Lucien II of Emilia – officially a Reformer, but with known and worrying Orthodox sympathies – gave Cliément of Brex-Sarre a semi-public dressing-down on the subject during a state visit by the canossier to the city. The incident was the tipping point for sympathies against Lucien, and marked the beginning of the Declaration Crisis in Emilia.
Notable landmarks
Notable Cairan temples and sanctuaries in Etamps:
- the Cellarum complex -- the core of the ancient nexus-sanctuary to Aedif, still circled by its pre-CE walls
- Vetulae Sanctum -- the oldest part of the Cellarum complex
- Librarium Sanctuary
- Sagittae Templum -- the tallest building in the city with a 142-m beacon, once the tallest edifice in Messenia
- Grand Temple of the Bonne Mère -- the largest Cairan temple in the World, built in the 17th Century (Triumphalist style)
- the Amadeorarium
- the Obsecrationarium
- the Spiritarium
- the Focarium-in-urbe -- where the Eternal Flame of Etamps-la-Sainte is located
- Sanctuary of Saint-Viola-in-urbe
- Aula Rotundae Temple -- which hosts the reformer Ecumenical Sorority
- Domus Catholicae -- the residence of the Holy Mother in Urbe
- Sanctuary of the Apparition
- Tomb of the Good Mother