The Monastery of Biara Berhala, about 50 miles north of (and a mile above!) Merah, was founded a few years after the original monastery of Biara Palajar, which was founded by a group of religious outcasts from Cantik and, particularly, the Twin cities of Kemih and Silakhan. Although followers of Loyismos they claimed that the work of the Great God was not only knowable but that acquiring such knowledge was a Holy calling handed down by Loyismos himself to the first twenty members of the Kolese Palajar, the scholar’s college. This all happened quite a long time, about 200 years, but the people of Merah are still regarded as misguided heretics by the people of the Twin Cities. In turn the scholars of Merah are biased against the people of the Twin Cities; that is one of the reasons they were so keen to embrace the Red Brigade when the were seeking employment.

Since the Northern religions have settled down considerably over the last fifty years the religious division is no longer considered grounds for bloodshed. Both sides have simultaneously come up with the argument that if the other side were totally misguided the great god would surely have manifested to put them right, and since that has demonstrably not happened (except in the minds of a few dangerous fanatics) there must be some truth in the other’s point of view.

Biara Palajar gradually grew from an isolated cloister into a small town; with the discovery of tin in the Gunang Lenyap the town expanded considerably and has thrived on trading tin and other commodities (notably wood) ever since. Some twenty years after the original founding there was little left of the isolated retreat that had been Biara Palajar- the bustling trade town of Merah had swallowed it up. The original monks and scholars split into two groups. By far the larger group, led by Tuan Palajar Denyat and Tuan Palajar Selau, opted for the pragmatic route that trade existed to furnish the hard cash necessary to pursue their scholarly mission. The smaller group, led by Tuan Palajar Tangan, decided that they couldn’t live with the distraction and disturbance of the new city of Merah and headed for the hills.

This second group founded the monastery of Biara Berhala and made into the place that Biara Palajar was originally intended to be. The monks there have vowed to pursue their studies into the creation of the Great God undistracted by the concerns of the outside world. The colleges in Merah regard it as a sacred duty to ensure that the monastery is supported so necessary supplies which cannot be obtained locally (principally paper, ink, delicate apparatus, copies of books and fuel and food for the winter) are hauled laborious by donkey and by hand up the steep and winding path that winds precipitously up the great valley of the Sungai Sekarang to the great cliffs that lie at the foot of the great Puncak Berhala. Taking supplies to the monastery is the primary act of contrition or punishment for errant scholars; in general, only scholars go there although anyone who wishes to speak to the monks is free to do so.

The ultimate act of contrition for wrongs committed by a scholar is to devote himself to monastic study. No-one who has once been admitted to the order has ever left and if anyone were to attempt it they would be hunted down and slain by the colleges of Merah. Generally, only a meeting of the Kolese Palajar is empowered to condemn a scholar to the monastery, and even they are obliged to offer death as an alternative. In practice even the threat of convening the whole Kolese Palajar is generally enough to convince a man that he has lost and had better go gracefully before he is humiliated in public. "Gone to the monastery to concentrate on his studies" is a euphemism for any manner of crimes having been found out.

In fact there are many monks who go there voluntarily, usually when they are approaching middle age and have had enough of the hustle and bustle of Merah. About ten people per year are taken in by the order; two or three of the volunteers will be rejected (although many of these are told to come back when seven years and seven days have passed, having put their lives in order). Perhaps a dozen scholars each year commit serious enough indiscretions that they are made to perform the hauling of supplies to the monastery; for the less physically robust this can be equivalent to a death sentence because of the rigours of the road, so it is generally imposed only on younger (and fitter) scholars. If there are not enough scholars to carry all the supplies, offenders in the civil courts will be drafted in. If that fails, a call will go out to the faithful to assist. This is worth a fair few religious brownie points so there is usually quite a rush. This happens about one year in ten; this year may be one of them because of the effects of the war on the younger generation who are working their excess aggression off on the field of battle rather than on the streets of Merah. In all cases, there is considerable cachet from having "been a monastery mule" and it is a badge of pride amongst the younger scholars to have done something outrageous enough to be condemned to perform it.

To summarise: Biara Berhala is well documented in the library of Merah and serves as a religious retreat for scholars as well as an exile for the disgraced.

Biara Insuler in contrast is mentioned only twice in the library, in contradictory ways. The first of these books, the Kertas Mengatur of Tuan Palajar Denyat which catalogues the settlements around Merah as they were when Merah city proper was created, says that:

"In the Gunang Lenyap there the Jewel mines of Zamruz and Batiku Delima; the other side of the Sungai Serang lies of course the Biara Perhala. It is said that an ancient road runs along the foot of the great Karang Batu Curam that leads deeper into the mountains and to the ancient refuge of the Biara Insuler."

The second mention is in the Pertanda of Tuan Palajar Keserasian, a scholar of the previous generation who compiled a list of some of the forms that a soul can inhabit whilst manifested as a knot in this part of the great weave of life. She noted that:

"The creatures who haunt the ruins and whose masters dwell in the highest reaches of the air bear no soul whatever of this world and as such are imprisoned here, caught within the weave yet not of it, as a stray strand. Such were the creatures who originally inhabited the great valleys above the Sungai Tiga and such were the creatures who were driven out by Tuan Palajar Mengerikan when he founded the second great monastery that lies along the Karang Batu Curam from Biara Berhala."