The next notable schism in the Cabal took place in a time that most Stygians cannot remember all that well. And, as a result of it, a practice that has guided our hands to this day has come about. One you would do well to remember, and one I wish many of our Cabal would do as well...

Tell me... when you were amongst the sheep, did you ever hear them speak much at all of the Fourth Great Maelstrom, or was it just notable only for being the second-to-last?

Yes? I thought as much: that means that the Mnemoi have done their task well enough. I still wonder how long that effect might last...

Oh. Yes, I suppose you would be puzzled. An official task for the Mnemoi? Were they not the quintessence of evil? The ones who are feared even more than ourselves, to hear the Hierarchy tell it?

The Hierarchy tells lies, my dear. The entire banishment of the Mnemoi has been a deception, from start to finish. The truth is somewhat more terrible, and yet inspiring. And it is only because we have bent some of the Mnemoi to our will over the ages that we even know of it, so effective has Charon's policing of information been...

Yes: Information. They say that souls are power, here, but that is only a half-truth. Information is the true power, and who controls it controls souls, armies, the populace... everything.

It all comes back to the Emperor, Charon. As you have seen, the Emperor went through several different swings of mood over the ages, and as he as done so, our estimation of him has changed. At first, he was a duped slave who sought only to serve, and whom we sought only to destroy. But over time, as he became more sensible, he started to understand that the Empire was not the means to an end, but the end itself. And once he understood that, he understood that the Empire needed to be preserved at all costs.

So, of course, in order to preserve that Empire, things needed to be done. Information is power, we have said, so he needed the information to be truly his information. In other words, he needed someone to adjust the truth for him from time to time.

And when I say adjust, I mean that quite literally: the Mnemoi can do just that. It is for this that they are rightly feared. And who knows how often the truth may have been adjusted in antiquity, or even now? So much for the Lux Veritatis, eh?

Yes... at some point, early in Charon's reign, there came a time that the Emperor began to achieve a state of total awareness... which is to say total paranoia, perhaps. But there is little wrong with that so long as it is tempered by the will, and not allowed to usurp it. He realized that the tricks he used on others could just as easily be used on himself. It was a bit late in coming, I suppose, but better late than never.

So Charon decided that he no longer wished to have any other august Wraiths using his own memory trick against him. He ordered the leader and founder of the Mnemoi - King Minos, whom some say was a living contemporary of Charon, himself - to create an elaborate ruse to drive his own people underground. No one would dare approach the Mnemoi out of fear of what they could do to them, and so the Emperor's truthmakers would work for none but him.

The ruse was a fairly simple matter. Minos made it seem as though what was whispered in Stygia - the Mnemoi taking bribes to alter the memories of those who stood trial - was the actual truth. And then he set up a few troublemakers to taste the Soulfire in order to give the fall the flavor of authenticity.

It was a messy fall, though: we understand that far too many of their number were needlessly culled. We also understand that the ruse worked too well, and that Charon's men continued to root them out with no let or hindrance, and the group was all but decimated as a result. Still, Minos was rewarded for his trouble and sacrifice, as were all the upper echelon of that Guild, and they were all hidden well for when Charon needed their aid.

Such a time came during the 4th Great Maelstrom, when Charon took one of his many "long walks" without bothering to tell anyone where it was he was going. After a while, one of his Deathlords decided not to wait at the door, anymore, and instead placed himself on the throne.

Thus began a terrible period when the Legion of the Grim enslaved the leaders of the other Legions, and tried to take hold of the whole matter. It was called The Insurrection, which is exactly what it was. And we were caught quite unprepared by it. We knew the Smiling Lord was an ambitious fellow, and we knew just how deep it ran, but we had no idea how reckless he was willing to be...

So, of course, the usual arguments bubbled forth. Should we back the Smiling Lord, or the other Deathlords? Should we back Charon, if he was not, indeed, lost to the Maelstrom as the Smiling Lord claimed him to be? Should we urge the Guilds to take over the entire thing, like they tried to do so long ago? And what of the Renegades?

Just as we were during the Revolt of the Guilds, ours was a house divided upon itself. It is well the situation was resolved without much help or hindrance from us! Charon came back to power, the Maelstrom was fought off, the Smiling Lord dealt with for his perfidy, and then - as he had done in the past - Charon went to King Minos to adjust the truth.

Oh yes... the truth of there ever having been an Insurrection was leached from the minds of every Stygian Wraith, cleaned away just like the Quick might use a towel to clean a spilled drop of wine. Charon decided it must be this way, in order to let the Empire heal. And Minos, being the servant that he was, did it.

It was quite an amazing project! We, too, might have been affected had we not been warned in advance by our all-too-tractable Mnemoi friends. In the space of only a few months, every last Wraith who'd taken part in the mess found themselves forgetting large periods of what they'd done during the 4th Great Maelstrom. Yes... an amazing thing. Impressive.

It was also a lesson to be learned from. We saw, then, that Charon was the strongest and most worthy leader the Hierarchy could ever hope to have. We might not have liked him, nor truly called him a friend or ally, but a man who would go to such a lengths to make certain that the Empire would stay together was a man you could respect. Not like, nor love, but respect.

From that point onwards, the Center bade us take steps to make certain that Charon remained in power... at least, until Desire had no further use for him. We reinfiltrated the Hierarchy as best we could, making certain the Empire was maintained from within and putting down any and all serious rebellions that we could. We were not always successful, and we were not always unified in this, but as a whole you can say that Charon had us to thank for helping maintain the Empire.

Even if Charon, himself, no longer exists to sit upon its throne...