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Berniecoma is a cult group of female science practitioners in the southern region of Great Glizeleum. The seeds of it were planted when a woman named Berni Coma was expelled from Guramala city for violating the Beard law.
Under this law women were banned from the academic studies of sciences in the city. Those who were caught studying were forced out of the city premises. Prior to when this rule was put in place Bernie was already studying the sciences and was pretty good at it. So when this law was put in place Bernie continued to study in secrecy. Fortunately her professor Junthal supported her.
The secret didn’t last long as she was caught surrounded with books and was expelled from the city. Bernie didn’t resist. After this incident she settled in a nearby forest, south of the city. There she continued to study the sciences with constant support of her professor.
As more women were forced out, they followed in her footsteps and started living with Bernie in the forest. In time the Gurmala city encroached over more forest area forcing these women to move away from the houses they built for themselves.
So moving farther south they sought shelter in the group of villages in exchange for teaching the villagers neat scientific tricks they learned over the many decades of study. Since their knowledge was so advanced in compared to those villagers, these women were considered as witches and their tricks were considered magic. One example for that being, these women knew how to harness electricity many centuries prior to when the application of electricity was made public.
As a general style these women maintained a long hair that was either openly flowing or tied in a bun. This gave them the title of ‘Long Haired Witches’.
These women were respected a lot for their knowledge and wisdom. They were given the highest administrative position in these villages to decide the way of life. Usually there was one witch per village and every week they gather in a dedicated temple to discuss science.
These women made several attempts to teach the villagers their scientific knowledge but they refused saying, “We are not gifted as you are.” Hence for many centuries this cult group continued. That is until the villagers started growing their scientific awareness and soon there was no need for Berniecoma cult.