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Hello and welcome to the history of China.

Episode 327, The Heavenly Kingdom.

Heaven sees as the people see. Heaven hears as the people hear.

Mencius, book five.

And thou, Melkor, shall see that no theme may be played that hath not its uttermost source

in me, nor can any alter the music in my despite.

For he that attempteth this shall prove but mine instrument in the devising of things more wonderful, which he himself hath not imagined.

J.R. R. Tolkien, the Silmarillion, I. Nulindale.

Pressure is a funny thing. It can crush. It can shatter, it can rend bone and flesh, nations, and ideas apart.

But given the right mixture of materials to work with, enough time and pressure can transform, fuse,

and temper raw elements into structures and alloys that could have never existed without it.

It produces rifts and rubble, yes, but also marble, steel, and diamond.

The greatest forges in the universe, after all, are in the very hearts of dying stars.

We left off last time with the god-worshippers of Thistle Mountain, having survived their first

serious test. Arrest, deportation, militia assaults, even the temporary loss of both of its founders,

and having come out of that crucible, reforged. New prophets had emerged, new voices claiming to speak for heaven. The movement had been

pressed, and instead of breaking, it had hardened into something that even its own leaders

...