“Psst! The 8th prophet is nigh, and the great god, Om, will manifest himself soon.”


And an old man with a broom is sent from high in the mountains from the monastery of the History Monks.
Lu-Tze takes his time to arrive in Omnia.

An eagle soaring high over Omnia drops a tortoise, which fortuitously lands on a compost heap near novice Brother Brutha. He speaks to Brutha, introducing himself as Om. Brutha is disturbed that he can hear voices. Brutha`s supervisor thinks it is temptation speaking to Brutha, probably caused by his work in the melon patch. Eventually though the tortoise convinces Brutha that he is indeed Om, disppointed at being tortoise and not a huge golden bull with long horns. Because of this he is a rather bad tempered god, frequently cursing. Brutha has led a sheltered life, uneducated, and seemingly simple. But he has an amazing memory. He can recall everything that has happened to him though out his life. He also has a fanatical belief in Om, and can quote the scriptures. Om often denies ever saying what he is quoted as saying, or making the rules followed by the church.
Omnian one Obal stamp with the                                                                                                                       One of the postal labels for
Golden Bull. Obal is mis-spelt;                                                                                                                          believers to use on their letters
it should be Obol

Archdeacon Vorbis heads the Quisition, which can get confessions of heresy out of anybody before they die. A good inquisitor is one who can prolong that death. The big heresy is a movement that believes that the world is carried on the back of four elephants on top of a giant turtle that flies through space, when the church knows that the world is spherical. The heretics call themselves The Turtle Moves. Vorbis is also one of life`s plotters. He plans a trip to Ephebe to sign a peace treaty ostensibly. Hearing of Brutha`s talents he arranges for him to join the party. Brutha takes Om with him. They set off on camels with a small military contingent. under Sgt Simony, to the coast, though Brutha can see more soldiers heading off into the desert. They then sail to the port at Ephebe, noted for its lighthouse.

Patina is the (small) goddess of wisdom.
She should be holding an owl, but an artist
got it wrong long ago and so the penguin stuck

        
The One Obol Quisition stamp       One of a strip of seven stamps entitled The   The Great Lighthouse of Ephebe
reminds Omians to expect the   Turtle Moves issued for the 25th Anniversary  from the Wonders of the World
unexpected. The currency units           of Discworld novels by Sir Terry             minisheet series, with the sun mirror
are now correctly spelled.                                                                                           behind on the hillside

Ephebe is a land of philosophers and free thinkers, something that the Church of Om has strong feelings against. The Omnian party is led through the heavily booby-trapped labyrinth into the citadel where their quarters are. That evening Brutha has no problem navigating his way back through the labyrinth into the city, where he meets a group of philosophers in a bar. He is rather impressed with their ways of thinking - freedom of thought. Against this, he is shocked that they have so many gods and goddeses, when there is only one true god, Om. Statues of the gods line the road, and Brutha does notice that of Petulia, the goddess of negotiable affection. Next day Vorbis`s party meet the Tyrant of Ephebe to sign the peace treaty. An Omnian missionary to Ephebe was killed and so the Omian fleet attacked Ephebe. However, a parabolic mirror reflecting and concentrating the rays of the sun destroyed the fleet. Brutha is even more impressed when he meets Didactylos, a blind philosopher and his nephew Urn, who show him the library.
But Vorbis is not there to sign anything. The missionary was only mocked in Ephebe, and actually died in mysterious circumstances back home. Brutha leads the Omnian delegation back into the city. The soldiers who were spotted by Brutha have crossed the desert using well planned water caches, and unexpectedly arrive at the city gates. Ephebe is quickly subdued and is declared a diocese of Omnia. Vorbis orders Brutha to have the library burned down, but before the fire he memorises every one of the 700 or so books there. Due to L-space an orangutan appears and has time to gather up a sackful of books and scrolls too. Didactylaos admits it was he who wrote the De Chelonian Mobile tract.                                                                     Petulia has been celebrated on a cover from the Ankh-Morpork Guild of                                                                                                                  Seamstresses. This uses the Four-penny Horizontal and the Penny Violet.

Brutha is now in league with Ephebe. Didactylos , Urn, and surprisingly Sgt Simony. They take Brutha to the harbour where Urn has invented a steam powered boat. The Omnian ship chases after them, but both are caught in a hurricane. Om did a deal with the sea goddess to save Brutha, and instructs him to jump overboard - a bit too early because the goddess turns her attention to the chasing ship instead

Brutha wakes up on a beach with Om. Nearby is a seriously injured Vorbis. Brutha determines to take him back to Omnia across the desert. In a cave Om meets the small gods - all those gods who were previously worshiped but lost their followers

No matter how important the gods once were, without belief they become invisible, ephemeral, and lost in the deserts. Om is a tortoise because he only has one true believer, Brutha. The rest of his followers merely do what they are told or are in fear of the church. He is now a wiser god. Vorbis though has recovered and knocks Brutha out when they are in sight of Omnia. Om is left in the desert, and Brutha wakes up in Omnia to find himself promoted to archbishop and Vorbis claiming to be the eighth prophet and head of the church. The philosophers have also landed and have gathered up a large body of dissenters, but their attack on the city does not go to plan. Brutha tries to speak out against Vorbis and taken and is strapped to a large bronze disc over a fire. Om, struggling to get back to Brutha, tries a one in a million chance. He exposes himself to an eagle who swoops down and picks him up. Om directs the eagle to fly over Vorbis and drop him directly onto Vorbis`s head from a great height. Exit Vorbis.

Brutha is proclaimed the eighth prophet, but first has to single handedly negotiate with a combined fleet from Klatch, Djelibeybi and Tsort - Omnia`s neighbours who are fed up with Omnian plots and aggression. One hundred years of peace follows, until Brutha finally meets Death. Lu-Tze returns home having ensured that all has gone to his plan.

Special stamp marking the elevation
of Brutha to Eighth prophet

    
Stamps from the neighbouring states that had formed an alliance against Omnia