KNIGHT COMMANDER ANNOUNCES ARDA TULUVAN COMMUNITY TO GET OWN BISHOP The Knight Commander, Hugo Lascelles, today announced that the Arda Tuluvan community residing within Mountjoy will be granted a position at the Round Table. The announcement also confirmed Nereruo Alassėandimė as the first Bishop to the Tuluvan community thus expanding the number of Bishops on the body to six. The Knight Commander, along with the Community Bishops, one representing the Latin, Nordic, Celtic, Black, Germanic and now Tuluvan communities are joined by 26 elected representatives as the nations highest legislative body. Bishop Alassėandimė joined the Knight Commander on the steps of the citadel when the announcement was made by Lascelles who said.
"At the beginning of the Crusades a large number of Tuluvan Christians were brought here after witnessing their families being wiped out. They were treated as slaves and entered into the service of the Order of Mountjoy, texts from the time talk of them being disfigured by their former countrymen because of their faith. Around 1,000 of these men joined the Order and served honourably, to this day there is a visible but small community of their descendents, often joined by newer arrivals, that form a distinctive and valued community here in Mountjoy. It is therefore only right and fitting that this community is rewarded for its faithful and loyal service to the Order, it's people and Christianity. It is my hope that Bishop Alassėandimė accept the apology of The Order on behalf of his people both present and past in that it has taken nearly 1000 years for their lack of spiritual representation be put right. I look forward to working with him and believe his input can only make the Order and our nation stronger."
Bishop Alassėandimė is not the only Tuluvan descendent to currently sit at the round table, the Representative for the town of Bethlehem
[1] is Chief Knight Erucolin Halatirno who has been a member of the Round Table for three years. The 42 year old former teacher said, "I'm grateful that Hugo has corrected what I see as a centuries long mistake. Our people came here at first under duress in the worst circumstances that can be imagined, now we are as much part of Mountjoy as the Latin Knights who started the Order here. Bishop Alassėandimė is an excellent choice and I look forward to his first mass in his new role." Chief Knight Halatirno was also granted the priveledge of inducting the new Bishop into the Round Table when she presented him with his ceremonial key to the council chamber.
The new Bishop spoke after the private ceremony saying, "I am thankful that at this time of year when we celebrate the miracle of Christ that our communities efforts to spread his love have not been forgotten. I see this appointment not as an honour for me but as a recognition of my ancestors dedication to the faith and the steadfastness with which we have stuck to the one true word of God through all the hardships. We however stand as one part of a larger Order, one that we serve as proudly today as the first press ganged Tuluvan's did at the time of the Crusades. They saw before them a great task to do Gods work, and it should be the mission of every Christian to leave their community in a better place than they found it, our ancestors certainly did that and now it is our turn to pick up their banner and carry it forward."
Stories tell how a city known as " Ebou Dar" was attacked for being Christian and once defeated all its holy men and women crucified, women murdered and men marched into the service of the Order of Mountjoy. There has been talk for many decades now about the Tuluvan community in Mountjoy seeking to have some kind of memorial erected at the site to the event, something it is likely Bishop Halatirno may now approach Knight Commander Lascelles to bring up in any future diplomatic meetings between the two nations.