The Assembly (pt. 1)

The great powers share something between them, be it a splinter or dissident path. It still informs the game of politics between powers, even in the colonies, where such issues of importance have, until recently, not normally reached. In the Colony, the Vice-Regent and great landowners may hold the titles to it, but they all pay their respect to the Universal Assembly.

A Jesuit from Brazil, 18th Century. (I have not found any further info, save for a note that it’s public domain.)

When first explorers arrived upon new shores, they carried with them members of the official structures of the Assembly, and likewise they accompanied the conquerors on their inland raids, soon moving from merely administering to their fellows to spreading their message to the native inhabitants, willing or not were they to listen. It is no surprise that when the City rose, the cathedral was among the first stone buildings to rise. Ever since, the Assembly remains looming over colonial society.

A drawing of the ruins of the church of Holy Trinity in Caracas, by Ferdinand Bellermann (ca. 1842-1845). The church was destroyed in the infamous earthquake of 1812 and replaced in the 1870s by the National Pantheon of Venezuela, which is also a nice example of the kind of Spanish colonial or Spanish colonial-derived architecture which I imagine.

The Assembly’s missions and monasteries guide the daily life of many native settlements and outlying towns, in a manner which, at times, can be more literal than not. Its cathedrals dominate the cityscape. Its ecclesiarchs remain an important voice among colonials even when surrounded by their lay siblings and cousins, who just as well know the game of politics and court posts, for even if the hierarchy is settled by money and influence they speak with authority beyond their personal importance. Others, lower in their standing, see themselves primarily as tenders to those under their care, and are among the few who will stand up in their name to powers that be. The quest for enlightenment is, for them, not a personal calling but foremostly a mission to serve.

But the game of politics is not what the Assembly, whatever its members may, has on its mind as a whole, for it is bound to concerns beyond the mundane. The lords may rule the bodies of the colonial folk, but the Assembly holds sway over the minds. To those who wish for a change, it may as likely be an ally as the most vehement enemy.

A portrait of Cipriano de Medina y Vega, by an unknown artist (1628). Cipriano was a clergyman from colonial Peru whom I wished to include on the basis of how he gazes at you from this portrait. Behold the ecclesiarch staring into your soul, you infidel.