Bibliocracy

The Bibliocracy refers to either a historical social order in West Borea where the Tastanic ecclesiarchy became a preeminent authority in society, or the historical period where the arrangement was present, typically dated from the late 8th or early 9th centuries to the late 11th century.

During the Bibliocracy, the Tastanic church held political authority and influence that eclipsed the throne of the Neo-Sepcan Empire, by then already faltering in power as sualnic estates expanded their power at expense of the central court. As Tastanism was the religion of the continent, the church's authority was one of the few, and perhaps the sole one, to be respected across these conflicting domains. This status was assisted by the buildup of ecclesiastical property and military in previous years, that arguably began with the Pantocracy period with the actions of the Sigilbearers, which provided a support for the church's power. At a social level, the church was able to influence opinions, suppress dissenting, 'heretical' ideas, and rival the power of nobles and bureaucrats, making their dominance bitterly resented. In general, churches became powerful bodies, having great says in local politics, while possessing extensive estates in terms of wealth. In some areas, nobles were deprived of power entirely and replaced by rule by clergymen at all levels of society. Ecclesiastical power became intertwined with political and economic dynamics of the day.

The Panoles plague unravelled much of West Borean social order, and indignated by ecclesiastical power for a long time, peasants and nobles alike rose up in rebellion to crush the institutions that characterized the Bibliocracy enthusiastically, while converting to the insurgent religion of Costeny, initiating the Cositene expansion. The church was rapidly dethroned alongside its religion. Tastanism still held out in the southeastern area of West Borea, however after the chaos of the 11th century church dominance had receded even here, where local nobility reasserted their dominance in the time before the region's eventual conquest and conversion to Costeny as well.