The Great Uzdamalian Church of State was a generally uppity institution that frowned on teenagers and noise-makers in general.  Historically, it has been easy to focus on The Great Uzdamalian Church of State's many intolerances: horseback riding, adventurous face-painting (see Make-up and Cosmetics), intergenerational spooning, mixed seances, etc.  But a true understanding of the complexities of the Great Church lie in understanding the story behind it's founding.

The Great Church was founded during the pre-Imperial period.  There were three faceless drifters who came into town.  Each stood with one leg swung one up onto the hip of the next, so that they were locked in a triangle, and each had one remaining leg to hop on. Their heads were all bowed, and each clasped his hands upon one of the ears of each of the other two.

It so happened that as they hopped into town, they came across an Uzda in crisis. The great Queen Azmandi had dreamt that her legendary infertility had been miraculously cured. The dream went that she'd learned of her reversal of fertility by the rude discovery that she was pregnant with a whole litter of children, one from each of her many adulturous partners. She was a randy lady.

She'd awoken, in a panic, feeling that her card was punched. She was certain that a horrible fate would befall her at any moment, and balance the cosmic scales for her amorous treachery.

When the three drifters were announced, Queen Azmandi pounced on them.  Beside herself, she pulled them into a room and poured her heart out. They soothed her and councilled that she ought to divorce the King, and allow both herself and King Harrat the opportunity to find true love.  Queen Azmandi found the compassion regenerative, and followed the advice at once. 

She then commissioned the three faceless drifters to compose the Book Of Advice, which they did, and then they died. Within hours of presenting the Queen with their tome, they each toppled over in frighteningly synchronized cardiac arrest.

The Book of Advice became the cornerstone of the Great Uzdumalian Church of State. Like the faceless drifters, it was an odd mixture of ludicrous rigidity and genuine compassion.  In the same vein as the locked legs, the book described rituals such as eating only the stem of an apple, or never touching a cat's hindquarters.  Echoing the kind advice bestowed on the Queen, the book recommended a loving, tolerant acceptance of others, and respect for self-discovery.

This was to be the fundamental tension of the religion: does one exhibit rigid adherence to ritual and rules at the expense of love and servitude? Or does one express love and servitude at the expense of a precise, formulaic robotic adherence to ritual and rules?

Excellent teachers preached on both sides of the conflict, succinctly called "Love the rule or love the fool?" Most practitioners found themselves walking a balance between the two forces. Churches were generally labelled "Rule-based" or "Fool-based" as shorthand for their general stance on the issues.  In the Last Period, the Rule-based churches enjoyed a greater following than the Fool-based churches, although both were pretty far removed from the original Book of Advice by that point. This eventually came to a tipping point in The Scientists Revolt. As we all know.

For related information, see

Early Targhandism

Make-up and Cosmetics

The Scientists Revolt