Biraist Homaitists

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The Biraist Homaitists were a short-lived sect of religious Homaitists who spun themselves off from the Old Homaitists after the two Homaitist groups had a falling out in 1831. One of the few historical delegations of Right-wing Homaitism, the Biraist Homaitists believed that Homaitism should be practiced alongside religion, and thus members of this delegation moved themselves into the rural Adborthos-Yolatho Republic and established a political commune known as Birahia. Very quickly, the Biraist Homaitists ran into difficulty with both the settlement they established and with the other Homaitist groups which existed at the time–open conflict often occurred between the parties, leading to general animosity. A failure to grow crops led to food shortages during the 1831-32 winter and necessitated the hospitalization of several of the Biraists. One Biraist died of a horrific bout of food poisoning that same season. Not long after, a particularly bad conflict with the Old Homaitists led to the the Biraist Homaitists being ejected from the Worldwide Homaitist Union, and effectively excommunicated from Homaitism entirely. Subsequently the group fell into disarray, split into factions, and eventually disintegrated before the summer of 1832.

The Biraist Homaitists believed in religion before Homaitism, but practiced a mixture of the two. The "leader" of the movement, Sarhe Phalyon, thought that living in a Homaitist style would bring the group closer to Bira, and thus earn them good graces with her. Strictly speaking, the Biraists were right-wing (as are most Religious Homaitist groups), although they followed a very left-wing ideology. Functionally, however, the Biraists were more right-of-center than anything. Ultimately, however, the group's ideas and its ideological bent was seen as so odd by most of the members of the WHU that it was thought the group was either delusional or an active cult. Hindsight would likely drop it into the latter category.

Although the Biraist Homaitists collapsed relatively quickly, they essentially inspired Religious Homaitism as an ideology and once again introduced members of the right-wing in the Adborthos-Yolatho Republic to an ideology they had long ceased to consider. In 1839, the still-active RHBH was founded in Ratinethos, and since then there has always been at least one active Religious Homaitist organization in the Adborthos Republic. Today, Religious Homaitists are represented by the Homaite Party's "Right Wing Bloc," a group of prospective and extant MPs who seek to spread the ideology to the right-wing and make Homaitism a less partisan ideology.

See also