As we were reduced to near savagery and our meager medications depleted, she, at the risk of her own life, searched the forests and grasslands for useful plants. Often she tested her discoveries on her own body! One of these is the plant upon the table before you.
“When she ingested this plant she made a great discovery; however, she did not at first reveal her results. Over time she refined the active ingredient and in so doing became an amazing healer. The Lysis still serves our doctors in that capacity today. It was as if she could reach into a person’s body so that treatments were more effective. It seemed that she could salve the mind of one oppressed with fear or mental problems. In fact, this is exactly what happened. She became a kinetic telepath who could even control a person’s behavior, so powerful she could make them act against their own will.”
“Ah ha! A Dictator then!” exclaimed Senator Hassan.
“Mind control!” stammered Sub-Speaker Sun.
“Dictator? No! Mind control, yes!” said Reyard. “However, she was a most ethical person and could not bring herself to totally destroy free will. Moreover, alone she not “see” more than a few minds at a time, much less control them if they were bent on violence. So she worked in secret, carefully and behind the scenes. She disavowed any participation in government or management, but she did prohibit one thing and opposed those bent upon it.”
“Violence! Of course!” exalted Senator Moxman.
“Yes,” Said Reyard.
“What was to keep someone else from learning the secret and then becoming a dictator?” asked Senator Bandt.
“She feared this and so came about the Sisterhood of Lysis from which each succeeding Lysis has been elected. For you see, the drug has no effect on men. Well before her death she enlisted the women who became the core of a Sisterhood of entwined minds powerful enough to monitor an unlimited number of mens minds and control any individual no matter how strong. The Lysis herself is but the fountainhead of their power. It is why the office is limited to about twenty years, if they live that long. It is a terrible strain on the one who is chosen.”
“My God!” exclaimed Bishop Vess, “So that’s the secret!”
“Hardly all of it I think,” said General Wellens. What of the ‘Flints’, Reyard?”
“Yes, and for that matter, your costume?” queried Senator Stamert.
“My dress is but a matter of tradition, lest we forget our state at the beginning. It is a reminder of how close we came to staying at this level of being. That is why only the Herald of The Lysis may wear it. It is a great honor to be the one who makes known the coming of The Lysis to all.”
“And the flints, Reyard?” queried the General.
“Ah, yes… I did not forget them sir. It is now time to explain that part of the tradition. You see, General, The Lysis cannot see the minds of women who have not taken the drug. They can’t be controlled as can men. Most women, however, are not violent and it is not a great problem. Of course, if they do ingest the drug they join the common mind and need no control. So there it is: it’s the men!
“As I said, the genesis of all of this was an attempt to solve some of our medical problems and thus the lone doctor was taken into the confidence of the First Lysis. It was particularly convenient to do so since he was also her husband. It was he who suggested the Flints as a symbol of the consequences of violence. At first, the Flint was given to a man who was then compelled by The Lysis to shave a small patch of his pubic hair so he might contemplate further possible effects of the blade. He was given the blade to wear as a reminder of his obligation to The Lysis and our people. Today, only a lock of hair is taken from the head. It is given to The Lysis as a Token of Understanding of the price of violating the pact.”