Yambor, Universal Prophet
Yambor Molodai (Lacrean: ꧁ⰏⰑⰎⰑⰄⰀⰉ ⰊⰡⰏⰁⰑⰓ꧂, Molodai Jāmbor; 13 Floridy 1713 – 20 Metrial 1797) was a Lacrean Scholar, statesman, and neocratist who served as Universal Prophet from 1783 to 1797, at the height of the Lacrean Ascendancy. A neo-Chotarianist and anti-Neritsovid historian, as Universal Prophet he was responsible for formulating the modern doctrine of foreshadowing transcension. During his tenure at the Prophetic seat, Molodai fought against the Great Doubt and secured wide acceptance for neocratic ideas among the highest circles of Vaestdom even as the neocracy itself disintegrated. He became a figure of hate for many of the Dubitant charismatics and was at the time accused of worsening tensions by persecuting prominent Dubitants for heresy. However, he is now widely believed to have provoked many of the excesses of the Great Doubt intentionally in order to discredit the movement as a whole, and he played an important role in nurturing the early internalists by funding their work and furnishing appointments to the Prysostaia. He became a personal friend of Krasimir II of Terophan, spurring Krasimir's adoption of neocratic policies in the latter part of his reign.
 ꧁ⰊⰡⰏⰁⰑⰓ꧂
Yambor | |
|---|---|
| Universal Prophet | |
 | |
| Reign | 30 Conservene 1783 – 18 Dominy 1797 (13 years) |
| Period | Post-Neritsovid |
| Election | 30 Conservene 1783 |
| Born | 13 Floridy 1713 |
| Birthplace | Alvoṇ, Graviate of Lacre |
| Died | 18 Dominy 1797 |
| Place of death | Prysostaic Citadel |
| Predecessor | Zafuvniprourkah |
| Successor | Hanzar |
Among his best-known works are his Commentary on the History of the Vaestic Empire, a critical recounting of the history of Vaestdom from the Prophetic Marshals to the fall of Neritsia which also served to legitimise the recent independence of Lacre; the Commentary on the Middle Annals, a gloss on the Chotarian Middle Annals recounting the history of the Equinox era and recapitulating Peribolast arguments from a Vaestic perspective; and the Pragmata on the Arcane Elements of Imperial Rule.
Works
Pragmata on the Arcane Elements of Imperial Rule
In his Arcane Elements, written over a five-year period from 1763 to 1768, Molodai came perhaps closer than any other of the neocratists to formulating a systematic mode of analysis. In this work, composed largely during the First Lacrean Civil War and ultimately—though in all likelihood not originally—addressed to Mātolči Oktār, he proposed to recount the means by which a ruler should govern, what he called the 'art of mystery'.
Molodai portrays rulership as the management of secrets, of manipulating layers within layers. First, to ensure the reliability of the advisers in his innermost circles, the ruler should see to it that his plans and intentions remain perpetually unknown, so that no one can attempt to pass flattery for good counsel. Second, the ruler should act always in the shadows: the business of government cannot be revealed to his subjects. Publicly, he should 'allow the grandeur of [his] Knowledge to radiate awe and terror', presenting a façade of total and uncompromising righteousness. In private, he should take whatever actions are needed to secure the stability of his authority, since 'holiness is nothing if it cannot discipline'. Finally, the ruler should pose total uncertainty to those rivals outside the sway of his sceptre.
Though Molodai disavowed ultragnosis, in part because of his profound antipathy towards the Neritsovids, the Arcane Elements contained a clear ultragnostic strand. This was ultragnosis reduced to a political tool, however: despite his constant deference to his nominal addressee, whom indeed he addressed as 'Emperor' despite the fact that Mātolči would not claim that title explicitly until 1769, the ruler of the Arcane Elements is ultimately a human figure charged with projecting superhuman authority.
In keeping with the doctrine expressed therein, the Arcane Elements was not formally published until 1816, some two decades after his death. Instead, manuscripts of the work—and portions thereof—circulated among Lacrean aristocrats and the intellectuals of the neocracy; indeed, as Universal Prophet Molodai actively worked to prevent it from spreading.
Commentary on the History of the Vaestic Empire
Compared to the Arcane Elements, the Commentary on the History of the Vaestic Empire is much more extensive; hence it was composed over a much lengthier period of time. Molodai had already mentioned his intention to write such a work in 1746, and the first volume was completed some time later in 1754. Molodai's increasing political responsibilities in the later 1760s and 70s interfered with his writing, and the History was ultimately finished only in 1780—its composition thus spanning over thirty years. The Commentary begins with the rule of the Prophetic Marshals and concludes with the Lethpol Covenant, which had sundered the titles of Emperor of the Vesnites and Universal Prophet.
Quotations
- "You, my Emperor, are a higher man, / closest indeed to transcension. / Therefore I know that you remember well the purpose of rulership. / Rulership is the domination of lower men / in order to raise them unrelentingly, through iron law, / like a father unto his children. / My Emperor, if your will is transparent / then it can be resisted. / Your practice must then be a secret; / your intentions must then be unbetrayed. / This you Know.— / But I beseech you to indulge my insolence / in explaining to you the art of mystery." – Pragmata on the Arcane Elements of Imperial Rule, 1:59–72.
- "... I am not concerned by the extent of their righteousness, / but by the extent of their ability to be righteous at all." – Commentary on the History of the Vaestic Empire, 4:2–3.
- "[The Chotarian Tetrarchy] was the tribunal and slaughterhouse of failed human rulers, the forge that foreshadowed the terrible imperial path of righteousness." – Commentary on the Middle Annals, 10:2.
- "To guide the hand of rulership is more glorious than to rule." – Attributed.