Church of Cother

The Church of Cother is the primary religious organization dedicated to the worship and and service to the god of the dead, Cother. It is primarily composed of clerics and paladins, although monks and rogues are sometimes drawn into service.

Structure

Initiation - The church dedicated to Cother attracts the merciful, particularly those who have experienced death and despair in their lives and desire a way to reconcile their past.
Titles - The following titles are used by the church:

• Scythe - Comprised of eight mortals chosen by Cother himself to serve as guides for passage into Umbra and the afterlife. Blessed with abilities pertaining to both domains in his sphere.
• Shadow Guide - Leaders of individual temples, typically with adjoining cemeteries and mausoleums. Their responsibility is to aid the local community by educating them on death and the beyond.
• Shadow Acolyte - Title of initiates into the church. Comprised of clergy learning and performing last rites on the dying, as well as learning about Umbra, the plane of shadows.

Priestly Orders

• Order of the Crypt - A holy order which specializes in burial rites and maintaining crypts and mausoleums in cemeteries across the continent. They have the ability to speak with the dead, and claim to know more about the history of the world than some scholars. Although primarily made up of clerics, they also invite rogues into their order who have shown a particular connection to death itself.

Monastic Orders

• Order of Mercy - An order that appeals primarily to monks who have committed to the monastic tradition of mercy, administering to the needy in the name of Cother. They are not always seen as healers, but sometimes as grim reminders of the realities of death. They tend to wear masks of silver, maintaining an expressionless visage to those they are healing.

Knightly Orders

• Knights of Gloom - Paladins who serve as protectors and guardians of the plane of shadow, including knowledge of its affect on arcane wellsprings. They constantly patrol the border between planes, preventing the living from entering Umbra and the dead to leave. When tasked with a mission on Unum, they travel discreetly and favor the darkness.
• Knights of the Final Judgement - Knights and paladins who console the dying and guide them through a strict code to pass the final judgement. As shepherds of souls, they are in a constant state of war with Zantyr and his followers for their ultimate destination. They engross themselves in eradicating necromancy and undeath in all its forms, in order to bring a measure of peace and order to the world.

Tenets of Faith

Unlike followers of Zantyr, Cotherians do not seek to wreak devastation and spread death but instead embrace it as a beginning instead of an end. It should not be seen as a punishment, but rather step forward in a revered journey. Followers of Cother must oppose those who extend their lifespans beyond what is natural by using necromancy and other magic.

• Death is but part of life: fear it not, evade it not, and view it not as evil
• Die with dignity, neither raging nor seeking to embrace undeath
• Honor the dead, and remember they are why we are now

Priesthood

The Church of Cother is organized into two distinct domains, representative in grave and twilight clerics. The grave domain clerics seek to put restless spirits to rest, destroy the undead wherever they find them, and ease the suffering of dying creatures. Clerics serving the twilight domain act as guides into the afterlife, leading those into the encroaching darkness to ensure that the dark is a comfort, not a terror. Many of the twilight clerics have responsibilities on Unum as well as Umbra.
Because of their different roles within the church, their vestment color is distinguished based on domain. Garb tends to be elaborate and embellished for those performing the last rites for the sick and dying, while the clerics who work in graveyards and mortuaries wear more practical clothing.
Grave

• Scythe -Dimgrey
• Shadow Guide -Darkgrey
• Shadow Acolyte - Lightgrey

Twilight

• Scythe - Dark Purple
• Shadow Guide - Purple
• Shadow Acolyte - Pomp

Founding Date

805 BR

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Demonym

Cotherian

Permeated Organizations

• Ebon Ascendancy

Divines

• Cother