Priesthood of Athtica

The Triad of the Adrakian Empire divided Soplas into thirds by the height of their expanse. Kotzuiyrn, the Razing ruled the northern expanses, Kaygys, the Jealous the central and south-east, and Athtica, the Unfettered Gear. perused, uninterrupted, the south and the southern World Spine Mountains for knowledge about seemingly anything and everything.

In the depictions left behind, Athtica had preferred to surrounded herself with the intellects of the Empire to assist her in her varying topics of research, and encouraged her religious followers to study what interests them. It has been suggested the University of Tormyra is based on the priesthood's practices of gathering promising youths and offering education and the potential for power to them. Mages are believed to make up the majority of the order, explaining how some of the ruined structures maintained gardens of lower elevation plants.

History and Origin

Where the other priesthoods of The Adrakian Empire eventually grew into their roles, the followers of Athtica gathered for the opportunity to learn. In their persuit of knowledge, and some of the conflicts ensuing, they pushed for Kaygys to negotiate common laws for all the follow.

Once the laws were negotiated, according to records, the followers of Athtica became judges when the Priesthood of Kotzuiyrn came before them with law enforcement cases, while the Priesthood of Kaygys would determine the sentencing based on each crime's situation.

Modern Beliefs

Tormians have a less zealous hatred for anything Adrakian, and have reused the buildings of the Empire for their own uses. Some of the old libraries have been expanded and given an updated collection, but their oldest entries include a description of a massive library kept by the Priesthood for Athtica's purposes. Within the surviving structures, copper molds of dragon skulls were found on walls or tables.

Leader

Athtica the Unfettered Gear

Parent Organization

Adrakian Pantheon

Deities

• Athtica the Unfettered Gear

Location

Soplas

Notable Members

• Former High Priest of Athtica

Related Ethnicities

• Adrakians

Due to the more tolerable views towards the Empire, some people have suggested the dragon worshipped by the Empire was an incarnation of Champion of Nyche in dragon-form before being punished for her hubris in taking the place of the Holy Trinity of Tormyra with the other two. Others speculate she was a goddess of Magic for the Adrakians.

The belief Athtica was a Champion has some groups believing she is still a figure to revere, or to worship. These groups are small in number and often routed from wherever they are removed by other religious groups for their heresy, a term not often used by Tormians.

"Athtica sought wisdom and knowledge, as Nyche, the Blue Goddess teaches us to."

"She wanted to erase the memory of our gods, leaving only her and the other two."

"Then why would she preserve our oldest writings about our gods?"

The Great Library

It's a child's tale of dreams and imaginings, not a real place.

Records claim Athtica kept her followers looking to the stars and above the clouds. Most of the buildings associated with the priesthood were on the mountains or among the foothills, leading explorers to search them for the Great Library. Within the Great Library, there are claims of an object mapping the world and every plane of the universe and its continual updates under the guidance of surviving priests, and the evergrowing library supposedly contains every book ever written and every book that will ever be written.

The Last Active Shrine

We are the last, and we can not lead.

Within the Last Shrine of Athtica , Life Forged were found maintaining the structure and its defenses. Upon learning the explorers were not seeking their destruction, the living statues and armor said they had willingly chosen to become Life Forged, even after the practice was banned, because they were lower-ranked priests who wanted to dedicate themselves to the continued research of their goddess's interests. In the back of the shrine's library was a broken circular structure on the ground the priests had reassembled.

The Gate is hers, we will answer to none but her High Priest or her directly.

Priests

In interviews, the surviving Life Forged priests have described the daily routine as one of research, though when asked about others becoming Life Forged, the interviewees were generally met with confusion. The Life Forged were made of lower ranked priests, ones who struggled to meet with their potential due to their lifespans being less than the time needed to reach it. The opportunity to become a Life Forged was a priviledge one had to petition and debate that the research topic needed to have a dedicated mind and the petitioner was the only one who could learn everything there was to know on the topic.

The organization structure consisted of several priests working on a task under a PriestOfLowMidRankNameHere while that priest worked on an aspect of a project for a YetHigherRankPriest. This pyramid of knowledge would flow information upwards to the High Priest who in turn would deliver the learnings to Athtica herself. From time to time, she would disrupt the transfer and interact with lower ranks for information, context, or opinions on the topic or some small aspect, though her ability to travel across the mountains has gone unrecorded.