In working out what mental gymnastics Weft needs to go through in order to reply to a question, I got down to first principles. Here’s the first draft of my workings. St Benedict, that old advocate of whipping young boys, was a little helpful in this case, though my general reading and absorption over the last few years working in religion was probably moreso. The Mercies have a lot of (the sensible bits of!) Islamic attitude in the mix, and even some ideas from religions of more recent mainstream recognition.

The question is a pretty simple one. Anke’s Nico, who has a monk accompanying her, offered to buy him something to eat.

The issues involved are horribly complicated yet logical to me, probably just horribly complicated to everyone outside, and perfectly straightforward to the monks in question.

First, a note on relations

One of the prime concerns of a monk is to maintain ‘relations’ between his order and the outside world (to make sure the order’s nature and purposes are not misunderstood, that it is taken seriously, respected, not mocked, not feared, not hated, not viewed with suspicion, and that its monks are treated correctly, not as individuals but as interchangeable servants of the city and the divine). This concern is so important that some monks’ entire working lives are taken up in maintaining relations.

I will without doubt come up with an Instarrian religious dialect term for it at some point, because anyone who gets to know the monks will be coming across it a lot.

Some rules have “unless this would damage relations” written into them. For rules that don’t (except certain crucial rules that must be maintained even if it causes the monk’s death), given the choice between damaging relations or breaking the rule, a monk MUST break the rule and undergo discipline for it rather than damage relations. A monk making this sort of judgement call will expect to have his decisions scrutinised. If ordered by a legitimate authority to break a rule, a monk can (and indeed MUST) do so without being punished.

Monastic rules on receiving things from clients

• Monks MUST not accept gifts unless a refusal will damage relations
• If pressured in this way into accepting a gift, the monk MUST NOT show effusive gratitude
• If pressured in this way into accepting a gift, the gift MUST be given charitably (to the poor, or handed to the order to distribute to the poor)
• Monks MAY accept things if they are given with the express purpose of distributing to the poor
• Items given in this way are not tax-deductible
• Monks SHOULD NOT be fed by a client. (Examples of permissible situations: if with a client 24/7, which is rare and generally only happens on journeys outside the city, or attending a meal where refusal to eat would damage relations)
• Monks MUST NOT be fed by a client if this will cause anyone extra work
• If fed by a client, a monk MUST be fed only as well as the client’s most lowly servants, and if this is too luxurious the monk MUST eat more simply WITHOUT causing anyone extra work
• Monks MUST NOT perform tricks for food