Purashran Church

Ashra's Chosen

The Purashran Church is the religious and governing power on the island of Deusolom. The Church is known worldwide for its unparalleled devotion to the Sun Ashra , God of Law, and for its ruthless adherence to the principle of Law itself. Many Cynosians consider the Purashran Church to be an extremist organization—which may be true. However, of all religious groups on the planet, they are the one with the most accurate interpretation of Ashra's will. Their unwavering devotion has earned them unique blessings from Ashra that allowed their people to survive The Impact more easily than any other nation. Among other things, they are recognized for their rejection of The Divine Concordat, citing that its policies are too soft on unlawful activity and that they allow for the blasphemous worship of false gods.

Divine Origins

The Purashran Church was founded in the year 9050 BDB by the Ashraeli prophet Sosem Peregrin, later recognized as Saint Peregrin. Peregrin, a humble Ashraeli priest, had been shown visions of angelic nature that revealed to him a promised land; a holy island where Ashra's light shines most brightly. He and his followers set sail from their homeland of Intaria, crossing the Sunlit Sea and arriving at the then-undiscovered island they would name Deusolom. Peregrin would preach to his disciples atop a coastal cliff that was bathed golden in Ashra's glow. There, they would build the church that would eventually grow into the world-renowned Reverential Palace. Word spread of their enlightened practice, and others of like mind journeyed across the sea to join Peregrin's congregation. Within the decade, a settlement was built there that would eventually expand into the colossal city of Castradeus, and over the next few centuries, settlers ventured out to colonize other regions of Deusolom in the name of the Church.

Cosmological Views

The Purashran interpretation of the cosmos is the most accurate of any religious belief held on Cynos. The completeness of its understanding of the Universe is second only to The Espial Arcanum's accepted star map of The Astral Sea. The Purashran Church recognizes the Sun Ashra as their one true deity, and consider the Moon Boda a representation of all things sinful. Their holy book, the Cartus Astrum, details true events about the origins of the Universe and the creation of Cynos—at least, from Ashra's perspective.

Tenets of Faith

At its simplest, the decree of the Purashran Church is to be Lawful in all ways at all times. To better guide his followers, Father Peregrin scribed five tenets on behalf of Ashra that encompass all of the divine virtues:

Life is inherently precious to Ashra, and should be treated as such. It is a sin to be callous.
The Light of Ashra reveals all, banishing darkness and deceit alike. It is a sin to be dishonest.
To Create is to follow in Ashra's very footsteps, and it is holy to do so. It is a sin to be slothful.
A Tempest can only be when every gust, gale, drop and cloud knows its place. It is a sin to be prideful.
The War against chaos is fought at all times, in all places, by all of Ashra's children. It is a sin to be anarchic.

Ethics

For the most part, the Purashran Church considers the term "ethical" to be synonymous with the word "lawful". In nearly all cases, the moral virtue of a person or their actions is directly evaluated based on how much they do or don't adhere to the law. Likewise, punishment is distributed indiscriminately, and exceptions to this are extremely rare. With only one exception (detailed below), punishment is reserved for those who commit unlawful actions; it would be considered callous (and therefore sinful) to prosecute any being for something outside of their control, such as their race or sex. However, the Church and its followers do display a strong amount of prejudice toward individuals born outside of Ashra's influence, believing that the onus is on them to atone for the unholy nature of their birth. For instance, males are held in higher regard than females, because Ashra is male and his "evil" sister Boda is female. Tieflings, whose devil-blood can give them an outwardly hellish or impish appearance, are recognized as still belonging to Ashra's domain, but are assumed to be descended from sinners who were punished by Ashra. The most harshly treated are all kinds of elves, and even half-elves, since fae ancestry is believed to trace directly back to Boda's magic. The previously-mentioned exception to this practice has to do with the Moon-Touched; mortals of any race that are born with inherent magical powers. The Church believes that these beings are cursed by Boda, and that the only cleansing ritual strong enough to purify their soul is death by radiant fire. Any newborn in all of Deusolom that is found to be Moon-Touched is brought to the capital by The Inquisition: a sanctioned subgroup of The Order of the Golden Sun that exists specifically to find and seize Moon-Touched individuals. Once there, the Moon-Touched being is ceremoniously cremated alive. Furthermore, anyone caught trying to hide a Moon-Touched person of any age from the Inquisition is charged with reckless endangerment of the innocent and punished accordingly.

Worship

Worship services are held three times each day: sunrise, midday, and sunset. Every Church on Deusolom participates, and sermons are delivered by the church's cardinal priest. The distribution of food is also attached to these services; once the worship is complete, the congregation approaches the clergy and proclaims the manner in which they have honoured Ashra since their last meal before being given their next. Additionally, a weekly service is held every Dedas to cremate the bodies of the deceased and bless their souls for their journey to the afterlife. An extra level of ceremony surrounds the Pontiff, who is to be honoured as Ashra's chosen champion. It is considered disrespectful to look directly at the Pontiff, just as one would not look directly at the Sun. Instead, one is expected to avert their gaze when addressing the Pontiff.

Priesthood

The Purashran Church is lead by an assemblage of cardinal priests called the Conclave. The Conclave is ruled by a Pontiff, who wields supreme governing power over both the Church and the country of Deusolom. Below the Pontiff, there are three levels of authority within the Conclave: cardinal bishops, cardinal priests, and cardinal deacons, in descending rank. Only males are permitted to join the Conclave, for reasons aforementioned. Cardinal bishops answer directly to the Pontiff, but are otherwise each the highest-ranking authority on one of Ashra's five divine domains: Life, Light, Creation, Tempest and War. As such, there are only ever five cardinal bishops at a time. Each bishop presides over a temple devoted to their domain, and also carries responsibilities unique to that domain; for instance, the Bishop of War is also the Chief Commander of the Golden Sun, and the Bishop of Life conducts the service before the weekly lighting of the funeral pyre at Cor Sol. Cardinal priests are the greatest in number and make up the bulk of the Conclave. Each cardinal priest is responsible for a church and leads the tridaily services. Dozens of these churches are located within the walls of Castradeus, but many more are spread out across Deusolom's other villages. In these smaller settlements, the cardinal priest is also considered responsible for the village itself, akin to a mayor. A cardinal priest is typically attended to by a clergy of lesser priests and acolytes—positions that can be filled by any gender, not just males. Cardinal deacons, though not as often seen by the public, hold the vital responsibility of tending to Castradeus's many religious buildings and monuments. Structures like Cor Sol, the Eternal Pyre and even the Reverential Palace fall under the care of dedicated deacons. Even though cardinal deacons fall below all other cardinals in the hierarchy, it is universally accepted that within the building under care of a deacon, that deacon's authority surpasses anyone's but the Pontiff's.

Granted Divine Powers

In return for the Purashran Church's devotion, Ashra has granted certain boons to the people of Castradeus, as well as the city itself. Most notable of all is the never-ending Daylight effect that shines down from the cliff-top lighthouse at all times. It illuminates and warms the city with such potency that, even after the Impact, the people of Castradeus are still able to grow crops and raise livestock using conventional methods; a feat unattained by any other nation in all of Cynos. Similarly, albeit on a smaller scale, Ashra's favour allows certain divine effects that ought to be temporary to exist in perpetuity, such as the permanent Zone of Truth effects that surround every church.

Political Influence & Intrigue

The Purashran Church exists and governs completely independently of any other nation on Cynos, and aside from occasionally being raided by Fånga reavers from Orri, Deusolom rarely engages with anyone from the outside world. That said, their reputation is known worldwide, and they are often considered by outsiders to be religious extremists. Most notable is their refusal to join The Divine Concordat; since it is an organization devoted to peaceful coexistence between religious orders, opting-out is considered by some to be standoff-ish and even threatening.

Sects

The only factions that exist within the Purashran Church are the Order of the Golden Sun and its sub-group, the Inquisition. The Golden Sun serves as Castradeus's guard and military, ever-ready to defend it and its citizens from danger. There are Golden Sun outposts scattered around Deusolom to watch over the smaller villages, and in the rare cases that the Purashran Church deems it necessary to send agents to foreign lands, it is most often Golden Sun knights that are chosen to do so. The Order of the Golden Sun operates under the command of the current Bishop of War. As aforementioned, the Inquisition exists solely to find and apprehend any being who is born Moon-Touched on Deusolom. The Inquisition is permitted to enter anybody's home without notice or consent, and it wields the authority to arrest any person who intervenes with their investigations.