In days of old, our people were flesh and blood, as unbelievable as it may now seem.  It was a great tide of events that turned us into the bodyless beings that now we are.  These events have been chronicled to the point of repetitiousness in other volumes, and it is not the author’s intention to repeat them once more.  Rather we wish to provide a simple and brief overview of the contents contained within this work, so others may read at your leisure.

Al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya

The phrase al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya is taken from an ancient manuscript that found its way to our planet many moons ago.  Its history is long and patchy, and something that has been reserved indeed for the pages in which it was translated.  This title is best translated as “The Precepts of Governance”, and as such is the first book of its type that we have come across.  It details the governing systems of an imaginary state founded in religion, and ruled by one body, holding absolute power over the others.

This is an idea that came to obsess the people at large, and, gradually, with Aya, we brought this scheme to fruition, although highly modified for our own social needs.  It does not appear that the authors of this work were Force Wielders, and thus many parts were changed, and indeed much of our own work was added.

It is our own version of the Ahkam that is detailed herein, and our own version of a Holy Book.  We began to form the basis of religion, and, thereby, the basis of government itself.

The History of Al-Ahkam

It was Aya who had the idea.  A fearsome Force Wielder, stronger than even her teachers, it was she who first dreamed of ultimate power.  When the Ahkam came to our world, she seized upon its principles, devouring them.  Not long after this, she began to go off in search of other books from the same time and place as this one.  She hid what she found from us, and so gained in knowledge that we had not.

It was she who scripted the modern day al-Ahkam al-Sultaniyya, retaining the old title to make it seem less threatening to the people at large.  When it was realised what she intended with this book, the people tried to fight, but her followers and adherents were many.

The War of the Great Heresy was fought on our plains, and the blood of innocents turned the land outside our temple to swamp.  Aya had won, and ruled from this temple with despotic power.

However, as she grew near the end of her natural lifespan, she began to hunt for ways of prolonging her life.  Having founded her religion along with her religious state, she had herself come to believe in it profoundly, and was afraid to meet the Mother Goddess and be taken to account for her wrong-doings.

She sought for many moons, and finally she found the answer.  This answer is detailed in the final Book of the Ahkam, which is an addition made by the author.  All the other Books contained herein are gathered together from Aya’s writings themselves, and compiled into a semblance of order that her work had always lacked.