The Church of the One
The most common faith in the realm is the Church of the One. Its believers are known as Uniters and their faith the Unitary Church. The Church remains dedicated to revering the absent Creator and adhering to the sacred books of their prophets and saints. It is organized by nation, each country’s church under the oversight of a patriarch or matriarch, under which are bishops for each episcopacy and priests for serving individual churches within a bishop’s see. Ascetic monks
and nuns can be found in monasteries and nunneries, seeking service to the One through prayer and private labor, though some go out into the world to provide hospices and preaching. In theory, the united patriarchal council may nominate a Great Father or Great Mother to command the entire church in a time of dire need, but this has not happened for centuries.
The Church of the One in each nation supports itself on the tithes of the faithful, the profits of the land they lease out to farmers, and the burial-fees they charge to believers. Custom has set the price of burial rites at a tenth of the deceased’s worldly wealth, with children and other minors charged at a twentieth of their parents’ possessions, or a much smaller fee for infants who die before their second birthday. Those who pay accordingly are given prayers and rituals to assure their dreamless repose and safety from the torments of Hell. The Church teaches that when the One returns, the righteous dead will be redeemed into paradise, while the wicked will be left to burn forever in Hell.
The moral teachings of the Church are firm in the larger points, but vary from nation to nation. Murder, theft, sexual impurity, violence against the innocent, indulgence of cruelty or greed, and rebellion against lawful authority are almost always condemned. Other beliefs tend to conform to the habits of the nation; the Patrian Church is entirely in favor of slavery as a means of spiritual refinement, and even has a caste of slave priests, while the Bright Republic’s Church condemns it as barbaric and inhumane. Conversely, the faithful of the Bright Republic are notably less interested in preaching the sharing of goods and shunning of greed than the clergy of impoverished Raktia. Adultery is universally considered a serious sin, though Patrian Uniters question whether slave concubines fall under that prohibition. Sex outside of wedlock is also deplored, albeit not so severely. Doctrine on homosexuality and homosexual marriage varies by nation, with the Bright Republic accepting it without concern, Nezdohva and Raktia categorically rejecting it, and the Patrians and Vissians accepting homosexual relationships but denying them formal marriage rights. The Church of the One is dominant in the Patrian Empire, the Bright Republic, Vissio, Nezdohva, and what was once Ancalia. It has smaller, weaker branches in all the other nations save for the Atheocracy of Lom, the Thousand Gods, and the Ulstang Skerries. Attempts to send missionary priests and devout monks to those lands have ended in bloody failure, though rumors persist of secret cells of Uniters working among the common people.
The priests of the Church rarely have magical powers, but certain cathedrals, churches, and shrines are constructed on places of great spiritual significance, where properly-trained priests can evoke miracles to bless pilgrims and petitioners. Notably, the One remains decidedly silent to the Uniters. There are no true sorceries that can evoke the One or discern the divine will, though charlatans and false prophets are sometimes known to fake a divine visitation. Player character priests of the One belong to a particular national church and are theoretically subject to the authority of their bishop, and above them their patriarch or matriarch. Some nations only allow clergy of a particular sex, though most allow both men and women. Celibacy is the norm for clergy, albeit Raktia and Nezdohva allow priests to wed, though not monks, nuns, or higher ranks of clergy. Priests are usually attached to particular churches, though some are sent forth by their bishop to preach the truth of the One, the Creator’s eventual return, and the graces of the sacred scriptures. Others are charged with grimmer work, holy priest-knights and inquisitors sent to root out monsters and spiritual evils from a community. Such itinerant clergy have a great deal of independence, though their authority is limited to whatever the Church grants them and the local government allows.
The Church of the One in each nation supports itself on the tithes of the faithful, the profits of the land they lease out to farmers, and the burial-fees they charge to believers. Custom has set the price of burial rites at a tenth of the deceased’s worldly wealth, with children and other minors charged at a twentieth of their parents’ possessions, or a much smaller fee for infants who die before their second birthday. Those who pay accordingly are given prayers and rituals to assure their dreamless repose and safety from the torments of Hell. The Church teaches that when the One returns, the righteous dead will be redeemed into paradise, while the wicked will be left to burn forever in Hell.
The moral teachings of the Church are firm in the larger points, but vary from nation to nation. Murder, theft, sexual impurity, violence against the innocent, indulgence of cruelty or greed, and rebellion against lawful authority are almost always condemned. Other beliefs tend to conform to the habits of the nation; the Patrian Church is entirely in favor of slavery as a means of spiritual refinement, and even has a caste of slave priests, while the Bright Republic’s Church condemns it as barbaric and inhumane. Conversely, the faithful of the Bright Republic are notably less interested in preaching the sharing of goods and shunning of greed than the clergy of impoverished Raktia. Adultery is universally considered a serious sin, though Patrian Uniters question whether slave concubines fall under that prohibition. Sex outside of wedlock is also deplored, albeit not so severely. Doctrine on homosexuality and homosexual marriage varies by nation, with the Bright Republic accepting it without concern, Nezdohva and Raktia categorically rejecting it, and the Patrians and Vissians accepting homosexual relationships but denying them formal marriage rights. The Church of the One is dominant in the Patrian Empire, the Bright Republic, Vissio, Nezdohva, and what was once Ancalia. It has smaller, weaker branches in all the other nations save for the Atheocracy of Lom, the Thousand Gods, and the Ulstang Skerries. Attempts to send missionary priests and devout monks to those lands have ended in bloody failure, though rumors persist of secret cells of Uniters working among the common people.
The priests of the Church rarely have magical powers, but certain cathedrals, churches, and shrines are constructed on places of great spiritual significance, where properly-trained priests can evoke miracles to bless pilgrims and petitioners. Notably, the One remains decidedly silent to the Uniters. There are no true sorceries that can evoke the One or discern the divine will, though charlatans and false prophets are sometimes known to fake a divine visitation. Player character priests of the One belong to a particular national church and are theoretically subject to the authority of their bishop, and above them their patriarch or matriarch. Some nations only allow clergy of a particular sex, though most allow both men and women. Celibacy is the norm for clergy, albeit Raktia and Nezdohva allow priests to wed, though not monks, nuns, or higher ranks of clergy. Priests are usually attached to particular churches, though some are sent forth by their bishop to preach the truth of the One, the Creator’s eventual return, and the graces of the sacred scriptures. Others are charged with grimmer work, holy priest-knights and inquisitors sent to root out monsters and spiritual evils from a community. Such itinerant clergy have a great deal of independence, though their authority is limited to whatever the Church grants them and the local government allows.
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