Muliners

Muliners (or Whirlers) are members of the Messanic Society of Pious Believers, a millenarian restorationist Messanic church founded in the 13th century in Lomarre. They were initially known as "Mulinelli" (Whirlers) because their ecstatic meditation practices during worship services. As early as 1288, women assumed leadership roles within the sect, notably Anna Incontrada, Mara Arcuri, Mamma Mazzini, and Mamma Ferrari. Facing intolerance at home, members of the society settled in Skathia and Avidna, with initial settlements in Gynavae, Bisica, Trinitas and Barboa, Sequoia, and Batavia. They practice a strict and communal lifestyle, pacifism, and their model of equality of the sexes, which they institutionalized in their society in the 1310s. They are also known for their simple living, ritual dances, and architecture.

As its peak in the early early-13th century, there were 1 million Muliners. However, divisions in the community and demographic changes caused a decline in the movement by late-13th century, and there are only currently about 200,000-400,000 members of the society, most of them living in Khibland.

Members of the Muliner movement are all united in a belief in the ability of each human being to experientially access "that of God in every person", and therefore they profess the priesthood of all believers. The movement started as a Daienist-inspired religious movement, breaking away from the established Sentric Church. The Muliners, especially the ones known as the Devota Cinquanta, attempted to convert others to their understanding of Messanism, travelling both throughout the Kingdom of Lomarre and other countries, preaching the gospel of Messan. Some of those early Muliner ministers were women. They based their message on the religious belief that "Messan has come to teach his people himself", stressing the importance of a direct relationship with God and a religious belief in the priesthood of all believers. They emphasized a personal and direct religious experience of God, acquired both direct religious experience and the reading and studying of the "Saga of Math". Muliners focus their private life on developing behaviour and speech reflecting emotional purity and the light of God.

In the past, Muliners were known for their use of ascetic way of life, refusal to participate in war, plain dress, refusal to swear oaths, opposition to slavery and absolute monarchy, and teetotalism. Described as "ascetic capitalists", some members of the society founded banks and financial institutions, manufacturing and insurance companies, and philanthropic efforts, such as abolition of serfdom, prison reform, and social justice projects.

Terminology

The name Muliner cames from the Lomarren word Mulinello (to whirl), and derives from a dance ritual developed by the early Messanic Society of Pious Believers to acquire ectasis and religious revelation through meditation. They were initially known as Mulinelli, but the term Muliner became popular in 14th century Khibland, and it is used widely nowadays. In the Florinthian-speaking world, they are usually known as Whirlers.

The community itself rejects such names, though, and prefer to be known with the official name of Messanic Society of Pious Belivers, sometimes shortened to Pious Society.

History

Beginnings in Lomarre

During the mid-13th century, many dissenting Messanic groups emerged in the Kingdom of Lomarre, most of them inspired by the Avalsyanist doctrine, which was experienced a renaissance in the southern Brigidnan country after failed attempts in the 10th and 11th century. By 1256, Daenist churches were being created in Ruggio, San Gaimo, Sforza, and La Tortusa. A young man named Pietro Bonaventura was dissastisfied with the teachings of the Sentric Church and ordinary Daenist reformers. He had a revelation and became convinced that it was possible to have a direct experience of Messan without the aid of an ordained clergy. He had a vision in Villa Trentano, nearby La Tortusa, Lomarre, in which he believed that "God let me see in what places he had a great people to be gathered". Following this he travelled around Lomarre, Castleon, Eskkya, Valland, Aurentine, and Sequoia, preaching and teaching with the aim of converting new adherents to his faith. The central theme of his preaching was that Messan was going to come to teach his people himself. His followers considered themselves to be the restoration of the true Messanic church, after centuries of apostasy in the Sentric churches.

In 1262, Bonaventura was arrested on a charge of religious blasphemy. The magistrates forced Bonaventura to whirl as in a meditation ritual used by a small messanic community nearby the village of Montagna, founded by some of his followers. Thus, the name Mulinelli was born as a way of ridiculing Bonaventura's teachings. Bonaventura spent four years in jail accused of insulting the monarchy, and the persecutions of these years hardened Bonaventura's opinions of traditional religious and social practices. The Society became increasingly organized towards the end of the decade. Large meetings were held, and members of the society travelled around the country collecting the testimonies of imprisoned Muliners, as evidence of their persecution.

Bonaventura hoped that the movement would become the major church in the Kingdom of Lomarre. Disagreements, personal conflicts and persecution, however, led Bonaventura to suffer from a severe depression, which left him deeply troubled at Salermo, Ruggia, for ten weeks in 1269. In 1270, he met Mara Arcuri, the daughter of a shoemaker from San Gaimo, and they married in an unofficial ceremony. In 1272, they couple, along a group followers, moved shortly to Valland, and from there they travelled to the Skathian continent. Bonaventura preaching led to the creation of several religious communities in the Gulf of Sequoia. He remained in Sequoia from 1274 to 1277. From there, Bonaventura wrote an epistle to the Society in Lomarre spelling out the role of women's meetings in the Society marriage ceremony, a point of controversy when he returned home. One of his proposals suggested that the prospective couple should be interviewed by an all-female meeting prior to the marriage to determine whether there were any financial or other impediments. Though women's meetings had been held in eastern Lomarre for the last ten years, this was an innovation in southern Lomarre and northern Castleon, which many there felt went too far.

Bonaventura returned back to Lomarre in early 1277, confident that his movement was firmly established there. Back in the Kingdom of Lomarre, though, he found his movement sharply divided among regional communities, many of who resisted establishment of women's meetings and the power of those who resided in or near Trivenze. In the midst of the dispute, Bonaventura was imprisoned again for refusing to swear oaths after being captured in San Demesca. Lomarren writer Leonardo Piedimonte petitioned King Pietro II for his realese, which was granted. Once released, Bonaventura announced his followed he had experienced a second revelation while in jail, and wrote an open letter to the communities of the society, advocating them to introduce important organizational refoms. With Antonio Lombardini from Ruggio and Marco Massi from San Gaimo, two prominent members of the society, the challenge to Bonaventura's leadership was put down. However, Bonaventura's health began to suffer after his last stay in prison.

He visited Syonna, Syorid, where several communities of the society had been established. Meanwhile, Bonaventura was participating in a dispute among members of the society in Lomarre over the role of women in meeting, a struggle which took much of his energy and left him exhausted. Returning to the Kingdom of Lomarre, he stayed in the south in order to try to end the disputed. Persecution continued, with Bonaventura arrrested briefly in late 1279. His health was becoming worse, but he continued his activities -writing to communities in Valland, Lanlania, Nyland, Florinthus, Oslanburg, and elsewhere about his beliefs, and the situation of the society in Lomarre. In Quartyr 1280, Bonaventura fainted while preaching nearby Seklam. During his convalescence, he had a third and last revelation, in which Bonaventura declared that God had announced him that the second coming of the Messan, the terrestrial embodiment of Rune, was coming close, and that this time the Messan will be sent as a woman.

Together with Claudia Mazzini, the wife of Antonio Lombardini, Bonaventura developed a new conception of family and community that emphasized "pious living": speech and behavior that reflected piety, faith, and love. With the restructuring of the family and household came new roles for women; they viewed the Messanic mother as essential to developing a "religious conversation" with her children and husband. Women in the movement were also responsible for the spirituality of the larger community, coming together in meetings that regulated marriage and domestic behavior.

Bonaventura died on 11 Fein 1282, while preaching nearby Sforza. Despite Bonaventura's death, the movement expanded and gained a considerable following in southern and eastern Lomarre, and the numbers increased to a peak of 40,000 in Lomarre and Castleon by 1280. The Society became much more confrontational, and the leaders of the movement counseled their followers to openly violate laws that attempted to supress the movement, and declared the Lomarren monarchy as an anti-Messanic force. Many members of the society, including women and children, were jailed over the next two decades. Even Daenist reformers and liberal writers, such as Leonardo Piedimonte, started denouncing the Society, who they deemed as too radical and dogmatic. The movement started to have deep internal divisions, and some communties broke with the Society and created their own small churches.

Many members start to leaving the Kingdom of Lomarre, in order to fleeing from persecution and preaching the movement's ideas. Bonaventura's widow, Mara Arcuri, became one of the main leaders of the movement. In 1292, she left Lomarre and moved to the Mandavine Islands. She helped to establish a community in Bisica, where she died, in 1295. 50 years after the death of Bonaventura, there were only a few thousands remaining members of the Society in the Lomarre. By early 15th century, the movement had mostly disappeared.

Immigration to Skathia and Avidna

Mamma Ferrari, born Chiara Ferrari (1356-1432), spiritual leader of the Messanic Society of Pious Believers in the early 15th century.

Communities of Muliners flourished for a while in the northern Skathian coast, with many communities spreading towards today Sequoia, Batavia, Maurnnia and Arianko. A large community of the Society was established nearby Saint Vincent, Sequoia. The persecution of Muliners in Batavia and Sequoia began when missionaries Laura Mazzini and Symphorinne de Valliers began preaching in Drakenberg in 1371. They were considered heretics because of their insistence on individual obedience to the scriptures and the reform of the traditional family. They were imprisoned and banished from the region. Their books were burned, and most of their property was confiscated. They were imprisoned in terrible conditions, then deported. Mazzini, who was the grand-daughter of Mamma Mazzini, one of the leaders of the early movement, died shortly afterwards in Trinitas and Barboa. In 1379, Symphorienne de Villiers was hanged in Nouveau Vannes, Sequoia, for repeatedly defying a law banning Muliners from the colony. She was one of the eleven executed Muliners known as the "new martyrs".

Other Muliner communities were founded in northern Nyland, Khokharsa, Almaniania, and Volta. Grand-Duke Ekkehard Greuthen-Hansen, who became Abdanian King as Ekkehard in 1499, allowed members of the Pious Society to establish in Khibland. The community flourished, attracting other members who fled persecution in Brigidna and Avidna. Chiara Ferrari, known as Mamma Ferrari, created a Muliner settlement, which later developed into Mollberg, today fourth largest town of the Avidnan territory. They founded banks and companies, an campaigned for social reform. In 1502, shortly before his death, Ekkehard abolished slavery in the colonies of the Kingdom of Abdania and Mordvania, which was celebrated by the Muliner community.

Today, about 5% of Khibland population are believers of the Messanic Society of Pious Believers. More than 80-90% of the society adherents live in the Avidnan territory, In recent years, some Muliner communities have been established in Magentina, Caladria, and other Mandavines countries.

Quietism

Early Muliners tolerated boisterous behavior that challenged conventional etiquette and traditional roles, but by 1400, they continued to encourage spontaneity of expression but they no longer supported disruptive and unruly behavior. They became more inward looking spiritually and less active in converting others. Marrying outside the Pious Society is outlawed.

Missions to Near East and Ostara

In early 16th century, Muliner communities started missionary activity overseas. The first missionaries were sent to Wadiyah, in 1522. A Muliner community was established in Frashëri, Qenderi Commonwealth (today Kyrzbekistan). Members of the Pious Society established the Pious International Mission in Nyland in 1536, which sent missionaries to Svarna Surya in 1538, to Ishnalla and Kortoa in 1540, to Tambossa in 1544, and in 1546 they went to Nam Dinh, Hôinôm, an started what was the most successful Muliner mission in Ostara, creating a community of more than 1,200 members. In recent years, the Pious International Mission has opened offices in Mordvania, Nentsia, Sainam, Akitsu, and Goldecia.

Famous Muliners

• Pietro Bonaventura (1233-1282), Messanic preacher and founder of the Pious Society.
• Mara Arcuri (d. 1295), Bonaventura's wife and leader of the movement after Bonaventura's death.
• Antonio Lombardini (d. 1289), leading Pious Society member in the late-12th century.
• Marco Massi (1240-1279), leading early member of the Pious Society, executed in Carpathia in 1279.
• Anna Incontrada (1244-1298), leading early member of the Pious Society.
• Mamma Mazzini (born Claudia Mazzini), leader of the Pious Society in the early 13th century. Married with Antonio Lombardini, they had six children: Sofia, Antonio, Giacomo, Francesco, Monica, Livia.
• Laura Mazzini, Mamma Mazzini's granddaughter (1328-1374), Muliner missionary in Skathia.
• Symphorinne de Valliers (1343-1379), Muliner missionary and martyr.
• Mamma Ferrari (born Chiara Ferrari, 1356-1432), leader of the Pious Society in the early 15th century.
• Cynebaldina Mazzini (1530- ), Khiblander politician, founder of the Progressive Liberal Party and Minister of Foreign Affairs (1574-1580), and First Minister (1580-1581).
• Franz Strozzi (1534- ), Khiblander military officers, one of the plotters of the 1572 coup d'etat, who grew up in a Pious Conservative family.