The Urapi were no strangers to theocratic leadership. Their very first towns built millennia before had been ruled by Diarchs, said to be blessed representatives of Baal and Kali. When they had fled to Urapital from Urapivarta they were again lead by priests, though this time those of Topal who came to prominence by virtue of their regulation of trade. This was followed by a period of fighting between the Khanite theocrats and the Alesians theocrats, and then they had fallen under the sway of the Sharite shamans and Lawgivers.

This latter arrangement had been quite informal, however. The Sharite shamans did not have any exact portfolio of power, but instead influenced Urapi society according to their theological verdicts and the agreements they had with the Lawgivers of Edinn. The Lawgiver was himself something of a theocrat, attaining position through being the reincarnation of the Ural who lead the Urapi away from Lydia's conquest of Urapital and united them in the Sharite faith, whereas previously many had been Khanites or Alesians.

The Lawgiver was no more, however, the last having died in a final stand against the Lydians. No other would be reincarnated - Ural's soul had doubtless joined the cosmic war in heaven by now. And so in the wake of the migration there was a power vacuum. Or rather there would have been, were it not implicitly understood by all that the shamans were to take over.

It was quite natural, really. It was the shamans that had collected the migrants to begin with, and promised to lead them to a new life. It was the shamans who had discovered the nature of the world, that really it was just another theatre of the cosmic war between Shar and The Black Sun. It was they who ensured the Urapi did not meet with total doom, they who gave purpose and meaning to the Urapi that yet remained. They who found solutions to problems that rotted the soul..

Official shamanic rule began with the consecration of Turkum, Sacred Earth ringing the city and being used as the foundation upon which a modest ziggurat was constructed. Turkum made holy, the Erda Tupar (Conclave of the Flame) then proclaimed that it would be the seat of their governance, and that the law of the land was to flow through them.

The Erdai (High Shamans/Government officials) were to rule as a council of thirteen (for that was how many they numbered when they were founded), with terms for life and new inductees to be agreed upon by those that yet lived. In order to be eligible to serve, an individual had to have been on kharubbal to Varipal and been inducted into the Rights of Flame, a process of rigorous theological study for which one earned tattoos of red, yellow and orange and which permitted one to attend to Eternal Flames.

Though this was the minimum, most Erdai inductees were also Branded, an honour which was afforded to individuals who had provably contributed to the temporal war against The Black Sun. To be Branded was to literally carry around a symbol of one's success on their flesh, a white scar of burnt flesh on the upper right arm. Most such Branded were military men who had demonstrated courage and prowess against mudborn, though some were great artists, writers or tradesmen who expanded Varic cultural reach or strengthened the Varic cause.

Though being Branded did not necessarily carry duties with it, the Erda Tupar worked almost exclusively through Branded Agents - their personal guards, tax collectors, diplomats, temple traders and quarry masters were all Branded. Being Branded was a social rank in its own right, distinct from concerns of class or dynastics. As such, many of the poorest strove to earn a Brand such that they might attain for themselves better economic opportunities. This applied even to the Rimanites that the Urapi now ruled over, as to be Branded was to effectively be an honorary Varic. Though disproportionately few such Rimanites actually earned a Brand, that any existed at all gave many of the conquered people hope for advancement and thus tied them more closely to the interests of the state.