While the political structures of the Golden Age of Tympania were mostly swept away by the Andarean Invasion, the hierarchy of the Holy Church remained mainly intact, and under the Andar the Church was to have a far greater political influence than it had ever before enjoyed. In part this was due to the status of the Andar as recent converts to the Church: accustomed to a priesthood which both demanded and received deference, the Andareans allowed members of the Church hierarchy rights and privileges they had never known under the Kings of Tympania. The Church also, however, derived a great deal of power from the monastic tradition which spread through Tympanian lands in the early third century.
In 229, a group of religious ascetics led by the scholar Aegidius (later canonized) were granted land in the foothills of the Black Mountains by the Duke Lorencia. There they built a covenant, a retreat from the world where they might pray and study in peaceful contemplation. The monks of Covenant Lapidis lived simply, producing only enough to support themselves and to trade for the few items they could not provide for themselves; their lives were organized around prayer, meditation, study and manual labor.
The philosophy of the Aegidian Order was published in 287 as "The Aegidian Code," a treatise which not only described the requisite behavior of a follower of Aegidius, but also included reams of practical advise on exactly how an Aegidian Covenant ought be organized. Widely distributed and read, the Aegidian Code inspired many to follow the example of Covenant Lapidis. By 300, Aegidian Covenants were popping up all over Tyrrhonia, as were those of the Melian Order, the female adjunct to the Aegidian Order.
New religious Orders proliferated throughout the early part of the fourth century, and by 350, their covenants had become an important part of the social structure of both Tyrrhonia and Ventria. Some of the Covenants became extremely wealthy and powerful in this time: their leaders were on a par with many of the Andar lords, and it was not uncommon for the covenants to maintain their own military units. Members of the normal Church hierarchy encouraged this trend, and by the middle of the century, the Lords of Tyrrhonia had to contend not only with one another, but also with a worldly and powerful branch of the Church.
