Unsurprisingly, the Velvet Chamber Debates are the most famous event associated with the Esoteric and Religious Groups Committee. As one of the most enduring and vibrant images of the Revolution that can either be considered as the event or the catalyst for the events that moved the Revolution into a new phase, this is not surprising. But it is important for the historian to remember that the Debates did not begin until nine months into the Committee’s existence. While much of the context in the runup to the Debates has been discussed in previous chapters, this chapter will focus on the runup within the Committee itself.
Of the group assigned to the Committee, none were well known. This narrative has made readers the most familiar with Ghale Thusif, but it is important to remember that he was a veritable nobody within the rest of the Constitutional Chamber, let alone the Empire. The two other figures of the Committee who would rise to dizzying prominence, Veldrick Skeinheld and Ochre, were even less known, much less so in Ochre’s case.
Veldrick Skeinheld, born in 11203 on Hurisc, was a representative sample of many of the core at what would be called the “Binders.” Raised his entire life preparing to enter into research and was given the honor of leading a research expedition into dark ice veins of Boreal )(. He was still there when Imperial Decree #4 was issued, and as the leader of a tiny, one hundred person expeditionary-colonization force, he easily declared himself as delegate. Records are spotty, but he may have been the delegate representing the fewest people. Upon arriving at the Vaird he played a role opposing Vestin Vestowski no larger than voting against him and did nothing of note prior to joining the Esoteric and Religious Groups Committee.
Ochre was, in some ways, also a representative sample of many at the core of the “Splinter” movement, in that it is impossible to say anything about him that is not shrouded in questions. It is unknown how old he is, although most contemporaries thought him to be similar in age to Thusif (of course, there are also a couple who thought him to be older, only looking younger. Some preposterous stories, likely embellishments that came as Ochre’s legend grew within the esoteric cults, claim that he was as old as the Emperor themselves). His home planet is totally unknown as well as how he arrived or what he was doing on Lynnys, the planet he was the representative of. In fact, even how he was nominated as Lynnys’ delegate is shrouded in mystery that has been exaggerated and mythologized with time. Dozens of monographs have been written trying to understand the event, a debate we do not have to go into here, but what every historian agrees is that there was a point in Lynnys’ elaborate pseudo-democratic mystical journey to select a delegate during which Ochre convinced a conclave of sect leaders in communion with half of Lynnys’ legislative organs (Lynnysian government is too complex, and by its nature resistant to the sort of exoteric discussion historians engage in, to explain here) to nominate him. The first time Ochre appears in the pages of history is a note that he arrived at the Vaird. The second time is his placement on the Esoteric and Religious Groups Committee.
Despite its name, the “Esoteric and Religious Groups Committee” would have very little impact on the few practitioners of traditional religion. Its main task would be alternatively reigning in or providing a space for the growth of the esoteric cults that had been so influential in the history of the late Empire, depending on the delegate’s preferences. It’s important to note that at this point, the “Binders,” or those who supported reigning in the power of the cults, were a much less organized bloc than the Splinters were. While using both titles at this point is an anachronism, the pro-esoteric delegates had formed a much more coordinated structure and culture through the Lynnys Concordium and Esotericist Wars (whether “pro-esoteric” is really an accurate description is doubtful. Truly radical anti-esoteric thought only formed in response to the Velvet Chamber Debates, at this point factions were all pro-esoteric in the broad sense, it was the relationship of esoteric cults to the state that was at issue).
The first six months of the Committee’s operations proceeded without note. All involved agreed that due to the highly sensitive nature of their subject matter, the Committee should begin with a period solely focused on data collection and fact finding prior to even thinking about prescriptions. While they engaged in this however, the delegates became familiar with each other and the blocs that would dominate the future history of the Committee began to form, albeit in a very loose manner around Skeinheld and Ochre. From the records we have, neither Ghale Thusif nor Leaf Rivers, whose relationship with Thusif will be the subject of a future chapter, were drawn to one side or the other. This neutrality would prove critical for Thusif’s role in the Velvet Chamber, but makes him an uninteresting subject for the moment. The lack of documentation from the early Esoteric Committee (contrasted with the breadth of documentation for the later Committee) makes it difficult to even interpret his neutrality, whether it came from a place of indecisiveness, ignorance, or ataraxia.
Difficulties started over a measure of whether to pursue an enquiry into the state of Lynnys. The First Esotericist War was sparked by a small council of cults pronouncing Lynnys a “safe haven” for persecuted esoteric groups of all kinds in a document known as the Lynnys Concordium. The war, which officially lasted ten years, occurred on a very low scale for the first eight years. The Lynnys government, in that period a personal dictatorship of a decrepit family, attempted to revoke the Concordium but found itself incapable of resisting the cults, collapsing the family. The Imperial army halfheartedly propped up a cadet branch of the family that only maintained control of the immediate area around the royal palace while millions of esoteric cults emigrated to Lynnys over the eight year span (the Empire’s inaction has been explained by historians as a result of one of the Emperor’s periodic disappearances and an abnormally corrupt group of generals). When the Emperor finally turned their attention to what was happening on Lynnys, they reacted rapidly and with horror, sending in forces from across the galaxy to blockade Lynnys and essentially starve the planet into submission. The cults officially rejected the Lynnys Concordium, the planet was occupied, and heavy restrictions were placed on esoteric activities.
The occupation would last twelve years, but the Emperor’s attempt to de-estoericize the planet quickly ran into difficulties. The practices of many cults made it difficult to identify where the esotericists had moved from and hindered interrogation techniques, making any attempt at deportation challenging. The logisitcal difficulties in doing so alone made the taks impossible beyond the most obviously dangerous subjects. More ominously, many of the garrison soldiers became caught up in the cults themselves. It is estimated that by the outbreak of the Second Esotericist War, up to 70% of the garrison held some degree of esoteric beliefs themselves, with approximately 20% holding a strong version of those beliefs.
This all came to a head when a cabal of some of the largest cults came together and collectively renounced the Empire’s occupation of Lynnys, reinstating the Lynnys Concordium. The resulting mutiny on Lynnys and subsequent military history of the Second Esotericist War was much more complex, expensive, and brutal than the First, as well as being far beyond the scope of this book. It is sufficient to conclude that neither side was able to fully suppress the other and that a compromise was reached. Lynnys was allowed to act as a safe harbor planet for esotericists, holding cults that other planets would not permit. Lynnys would be allocated a larger planetary garrison than usual, but this garrison would be half composed of practicing esotericists. The Imperial government would directly govern Lynnys, but it agreed to do so in consultation with the sects. Additionally, the cults would not be formally allowed to advertise their presence outside of Lynnys.
The Lynnys Accords successfully ended the Esotericist Wars (unless one subscribes to the belief, waning in popularity among modern historians, that the Morroth Rebellion was functionally a Third Esotericist War) They did not solve the underlying issue. Esoteric sects remained deeply appealing to many individuals, who would continue to flock to Lynnys in hopes of gaining spiritual enlightenment. In the last hundred years of the Empire, Lynnys would become the sole planet where one can truly say culture was being created, regardless of one's opinions on the quality of that culture. This made it powerful and appealing, but also subversive both to the Empire and other sources of ultimate knowledge. The Lynnys University and the planetary laboratories were shut down, declared as “out of conduct with the will of the stars.” The budget for public education was severely curtailed, as sects took charge of education themselves. How well these schools served their pupils, and indeed how well a government-by-cult served the citizens of Lynnys, were highly controvertial and often subjects of concern for even some sympathetic to the sects.
The proposal to begin collecting data on the quality of education on Lynnys came from none other than Veldrick Skeinheld, which has been used by critics ever since as proof that he intended to attack esotericism from the start. While this cannot be ruled out, such planned malice seems more likely. As we shall see, Skeinheld had plenty of reasonable opportunities to make his positions more radical. It seems much more likely that Skeinheld had no idea the fury he was about to unleash. Most of the rest of the table did not either it seems, as even those close to Ochre expressed initial support for the resolution. Crucially though, Ochre did not. He described the issue as “deeply personal” to many sects and requested that they get opinions from Lyssysians before invading their schools. With a bit of grumbling from Skeinheld’s part, Ochre’s argument convinced the rest of the Committee to agree to this.
What exactly was sent back to Lynnys as a question is up for debate, because the corresponding reaction seems to some historians to be disproportionate. Rumors have persisted to the present day that in transmitting the request to investigate Lynnys’ sect schools, Ochre also sent instructions to certain cults he was involved in on how to best exploit the crisis. However, no such instructions have ever turned up and nobody has ever claimed to have received such instructions, making an organized campaign from the top in that manner unlikely. Much more likely is that the sects had been educating their own since the end of the Second Esotericist War to be distrustful of the Empire. A “Culture of Distrust,” as Seymeyer I’s book on the subject is aptly titled, had taken hold of Lynnys. Unbeknownst to the delegates of the Vaird, and to the Imperial administration, any action that the Empire took on Lynnys was being heavily scrutinized. A “request” to investigate one of the hearts of their society was practically taken as the opening volley of a new war.
The cults responded as such. Rather than the polite acquiescence they expected to receive, the Committee was greeted by massive protests in the streets of Lynnys. The protests for the moment remained mostly peaceful, but all of this was happening at about the same time as the Revolutionary Wave (which failed to take in Lynnys because they were already in revolt over issues totally distinct from the Wave), which made many of the delegates of the Committee uneasy. Debate over what to do in response turned acrimonious. At one point, Skeinheld described the response on Lynnys as “irrational rebellion,” to which one of Ochre’s allies bitingly urged him to not “judge as a scientist the actions of a miracle.”
This is the moment where Thusif stepped in. After long nights of discussion with Leaf Rivers, he had come to the conclusion that the issue with the request was that the Lynnysians had not been included enough in the process. Their anger, while taken too far in some instances, was not unreasonable. Many on the Committee really were planning to enforce changes on the education system of a planet they had never visited. Thusif’s suggestion, which was supported by some outside the Committee like Strawberry Singh, was to hold a public debate on the matter that anyone in the Imperium could join. As this debate would most directly impact Lynnys, he proposed that they hold it somewhere much closer to Lynnys – possibly even on the planet itself – so that the communication lag would be less significant. With some cajoling, the Committee agreed and voted to enact the proposal. Ghale Thusif was chosen as the moderator of the debates. The chosen site: a small station orbiting Lynnys, chosen due to the economical price. Its previous owners had, in a fit of corsic induced delirium, painted the entire thing bright red.