Dear Delegates,

 

As Director of The Occult Temple of Iscariot and Deputy Secretary General, I extend a warm welcome to all delegates participating in this year's edition of the Cathedral Model United Nations. While most delegates will be looking to add to their extensive list of achievements, some may be participating in their first ever conference. I would like to assure you that, regardless of your experience, this committee will both test you and teach you. However, while most committees demand that you debate the state of the world, this one asks that you inherit it, and mold it as you see fit.

 

I must warn you. This committee will ask things of you that ordinary committees do not. You will be required to argue, sincerely and well, for positions that most reasonable people in 2026 would find indefensible. You will negotiate with supernatural elements as if they were ordinary delegates sitting beside you. What is decided in this room will not be reviewed by a secretariat, ratified by a state, or undone by an election. It will simply be true, in the way that most things decided by people with sufficient conviction tend to become true. The outcome of your efforts will not only determine your place in history books but shape the future of religion as we know it. 

 

Needless to say, you will be expected to display your tenacity every step of the way - from the position paper that you will submit, to the manner in which you lobby, tackle rapid crises, and present and defend your stance on the floor of committee. A perusal of this Study Guide is meant to be a mere commencement of the efforts delegates must take to shine in this committee. It is a tool to familiarise you with key concepts relating to the agenda, you must expand your research beyond this document until you attain a firm grasp upon the stance you will put forth for your portfolio. The Executive Board has spent a great deal of time on what awaits you in August. We are looking forward, with some impatience, to seeing what you make of it.

 

As you prepare, understand that there are pieces of this committee that have been withheld from this document, and are, at the time of writing, hidden in places you have not yet thought to look. Look for them…

 

Until August, read carefully, arrive alone, and bring no written records.

 

The dead write the rules of this committee,  you must respond.

 

Aditya Merchant,

Director of The Occult Temple of Iscariot,

Deputy Secretary General,

Cathedral Model United Nations, 2026