Midanism

Midianism
Type	Philosophy
Leader	Grand Treasurer
Headquarters	Iareios, Eretrebus
Goals	Accumulation of wealth
Scope	Primarily within Eretrebus
Structure	Hierarchical, with the Grand Treasurer leading the Tellers of the Bank-Temples
Members	Eretreban merchants and nobles

Midas
Ancestry	Human
Gender	Male
Homeland	Mount Kedros, Eretrebus

Gold is an exceedingly malleable material. With the right application of force, one can always get the desired results.

—Midas, The Transcendence of Wealth

Midianism is a philosophy prevalent mostly within the Kingdom of Eretrebus.

History

The name Midianism originated as an homage to Midas, the Eretreban noble whose collected writings shaped the philosophy.

Born in Y5996, Midas had a reputation in his early life as a somewhat idiosyncratic individual. Following in the footsteps of his family, he was a moderately successful merchant, even if he attracted a reputation for creating contracts that were oddly specific and carefully worded to his advantage. Despite his wealth, Midas spent most of his life within his estate on Mount Kedros. He left effectively the entire mountain to rewild, even as returned wildlife encroached onto the grounds. In his early adulthood, after an extended years-long period of seclusion on his estate, Midas returned to Eretreban high society with the miraculous ability to magically transmute touched objects to gold.

For the next few years, Midas enjoyed a position of almost absurd wealth. However, it did not take long before he slowly began to retreat back to his seclusion, eventually refusing almost all visitors and isolating himself on Mount Kedros. When a curious family member attempted to locate Midas in Y6040, they reportedly found him deceased, apparently for years at that point.

After his death, Midas' reputation became that of a clever alchemist, eventually becoming more of a slowly waning Eretreban legend. Almost two hundred years later, in Y6233, a collection of writings purportedly by Midas was published by an unknown benefactor in Iareios. A remarkably brief volume, this book contained letters and short musings in which Midas explained his philosophies, beliefs, and understanding of magic. The Transcendence of Wealth, as the book was titled, was initially regarded by most as only a curiosity, a collection of notes on matters of trade and lifestyle. A small circle of Eretreban merchants, however, saw something more in Midas' writings - they saw hints and clues in how to achieve a form of immortality.

One of the last letters in The Transcendence of Wealth, addressed to an unnamed recipient, obliquely mentions a method of using vast amounts of riches to preserve the body and soul after death. The initial Midianites, as they came to call themselves, seized upon this fragment of information and believed they could complete Midas' notes. Though they initially attempted to maintain secrecy, they were unable to contain the news when one of their members, Adrastus, determined the missing steps and underwent the process himself, preserving his body with molten gold and casting his soul into a private demiplane.

With their activities surfaced to the broader world, many of the wealthy on Eretrebus flocked to the new philosophy. While they faced significant resistance from traditional religious institutions and figures, especially the faithful of Pharasma, the Midianites grew rapidly. Over time, Midianism crystallized into a strongly hierarchical set of beliefs as well.

In a process known as the Midian Transformation, by the middle of the seventh millennia Midianites were influential and powerful enough that effectively all of Eretrebus was at their command, at least indirectly. The monarchy of Eretrebus had become vestigial, with the newly established position of Grand Treasurer functionally controlling the kingdom.