Who are the Ishraqi?

(Excerpt from Colt's Guide to the World of Dragon Metal)

“Through Shadow, Light. 

Through Death, Eternity.”

Summary: The Ishraqi, One of the Three Great Schools of Magic. Divided into Orders, also called tariqas. Each Order operates as an independent cell with an imam as its leader. However, a council called the Rashidun oversees all Orders. The Rashidun fall under the control of the shah, the “king” of the Ishraqi.

Organization: A single Ishraqi Order will often have the following members: 

• An imam, the leader. 

• A single Qadir, leader of the Qadi, also called Judges, soldiers that enforce justice. 

• One or more Ulama, scientists and researchers. 

• A single Keeper, the Sajjan; a guard to keep members of the Order from running off (reports to the Qadir). 

• Several magi, the “priests” of the Ishraqi. 

Beliefs: 

• Historic: The Ishraqi believe that the Light of Magic is the one true reality, and that the material world is nothing but a veil. The Light flows through everyone and everything, and everyone has the Light inside of them--although that light creates a shadow…light and dark in every soul. 

• Belief of today: The Ishraqi of today venerate the Light. But the world has been severed from the Heavenly Realms--the Magical Source, the Light of Lights--meaning the Light of Magic no longer flows into our realm. So the Ishraqi seek the Light by entering the darkness.  

Symbols and Colors: A diamond-shaped starburst with a crescent moon at the center, typically white against a field of crimson.

Practices: An Ishraqi imam will guide his people through a mental and spiritual process of self-destruction. The people of the Ishraqi seek to annihilate themselves, separate themselves from the material world, and enter into the void of nothingness. Within that void, that darkness, they search for the Light. And once they find it, they “revive” with a new sense of self and new understanding of the Light’s divinity. 

• Historic: The process of annihilation and revival involved chants, songs, vigils, and dance. Music, in particular, was key to the Ishraqi, as sound itself had a magical, transcendent quality that helped to elevate the Ishraqi people. The Ishraqi preferred tambourines, bells and flutes as their instruments for musical ceremonies. 

• Current: The Ishraqi use tactics and practices often associated with cults. They still chant, sing, dance, and gather at vigils, and their imam still lead them on a path of self-destruction and reawakening. But they embrace darkness, for only through the darkest of dark can they find the lightest of light. Violence, cruelty, sexual abuse--all tools to enter the darkness to find the light, to strip away the self and touch the brilliance of magic. 

• Multiple Ishraqi ceremonies involve death and necromancy. Death is viewed as the ultimate darkness, the blackest of black, where the Light can shine the brightest. 

The Stations of the Veil

The Ishraqi’s cultic practices revolve around the Stations of the Veil—six sacred orientations toward death and shadow, each believed to peel back the veil and reveal the hidden Light.

1. Station of Silence — Death through Stillness: Followers practice fasting, sensory deprivation, burial meditations, and ritual mummification. They seek the Light in the hush of the tomb.

2. Station of Ashes — Death through Fire: The body must be consumed by flame to reveal the Light within. Ceremonies involve branding, the burning of blood-soaked incense, and ritual cremation.

3. Station of Chains — Death through Bondage: Suffering is purification. Through whips, flails, shackles, and ritual humiliation, initiates are broken down until the self is nothing but shadow.

4. Station of Shadows — Death through Lies: Truth is a mask; the Light hides beneath deceit. Rituals involve concealment, masks, false identities, and shadow magic, seeking revelation in secrecy.

5. Station of Ecstasy — Death through Pleasure: Ecstasy is annihilation. Through orgiastic frenzy, exhaustion, and excess, the body collapses and the spirit stumbles into the Light.

6. Station of Bones — Death through Necromancy: The corpse is a lantern. By communing with the dead, crafting relics of bone, and raising the fallen as vessels of Light, practitioners claim to walk hand in hand with eternity.

END ENTRY