Nek-Mo-Tih/Thought-leader

To be a Nek-Mo-Tih is an eight-year apprenticeship to three different teachers. First is the lower temple initiate master, then the middle temple initiate master, and then one is summoned to a major temple. The most fortunate are summoned to the four leading temples of Chalant, Traught, Whelmed and Concerted, where they become basicallly political clerks, leading others in thought through religion.

Once one is selected among lower temple initiates, one is selected for progressively harder tasks, testing for eligibility, for ability to perform hard choices, pets, siblings, are all choices that are under great scrutiny until one reaches the middle temple. In the middle temple, one is evaluated on the ability of character: "character is what you are in the dark".

Middle temple initiates are never unobserved, but they usually don't now how well, or how much. After a suitable period, one is called by a sponsor in one of the major/upper temples. To have a sponsor from one of the leading temples is a life changing event, probably equivalent on our earth to getting a full-ride scholarship to the Sorbonne, Tokyo University, MIT, Harvard or the like.

One becomes the creature of one of the four most powerful Nek-Mo-Tih in existence, because each temple can only speak with one voice, so each student chosen by a leading temple is chosen by its leader. Any chosen by a lesser Nek-Mo-Tih is drafted into a lower temple, to prevent confusion.

Nek-Mo-Tih do not use money as we understand it, having a communal state of social being.

Each member of the community is contributing to the level it can, and each accepted member of the community's contributions are valued. If one is underperforming, one can be exiled, cast out, but that is extremely rare.

The four temples are basically the leaders of the Tih, getting around the culturocracy restrictions of the Coalition by restricting their main art form only to initiates of the temples: miming. Their rules for mimes are so intricate, and the mime choreography so intense, they're usually classified with interpretative dance.

To be invited to a presentation of traditional mime by thought leaders is a great honour and privilege, only afforded a few, who are never allowed to forget just how lucky they are. It's usually a medium of exchange: you gained much prestige watching the mimes, now we expect something in return.

Approximately 1.2% of the population is an initiate of one of temples.

Approximately 0.4% is an initiate of a leading temple. The planet is very sparsely populated, being more of a deathworld than a garden. The temple initiates routinely save the lives of their followers by predicting future monster attacks, and how to avoid them.

Each temple is led by a council of five, whose president is de-facto leader, by personal force of will and influence.

• Keep the most of your followers alive, they can't follow you dead

• You have to be with your followers to save them, you can be caught by the attack you're trying to save them from.