Church of Taiia Organization in Icarus | World Anvil
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Church of Taiia

Taiia's temple is a large white stone cathedral with tall arched stained-glass windows, flying buttresses and intricately carved masonry. The large double doors lead to a beautiful 3-story tall chancel with rows of white wooden benches and a central aisle leading up to a white stone altar, with a beautifully back-lit rose window behind it. Braziers line the walls, and ample sunlight flows through the large windows. White banners with Taiia's symbol hang from the ceiling, stretching all the way down to the floor.

Mythology & Lore

Forgotten Realms is a fantasy world setting, described as a world of strange lands, dangerous creatures, and mighty deities, where magic and supernatural phenomena are quite real. The premise is that, long ago, planet Earth and the world of the Forgotten Realms were more closely connected.

Cosmological Views

The Faith of the Sun is a monotheistic religion with Taiia at its front. She is a sun deity with two aspects: she is the Creator and the Destroyer of the universe, The sun's rising every morning is a reminder of her favor and life-giving and sustaining properties. The sun's setting and absence through the night is a taste of her wrath, promised to those who do not follow her.

Tenets of Faith

The religion of Taiia denies not only the potency but even the existence of other gods, and therefore it prohibits the worship of any other deity. Taiia's followers hope to be joined with her after death, their souls consumed to feed her eternal flames. Those she does not favor, for whatever reason, are condemned to remain in darkness, apart from her, for eternity.

Sects

The church of Taiia is made up of a number of different sects, falling generally into the categories of Creator-focused and Destroyer-focused. The church has no central authority to establish certain sects as "orthodox" and others as "heretical," so the sects manage to coexist—sometimes cooperating and sometimes warring upon each other.

Clergy of any sect are easily recognized by their shaved heads and the holy symbols they wear prominently. While each sect has its own symbol, all incorporate the image of the three-eyed solar disk. The Blind Mendicants' symbol shows the disk with two of its eyes closed, while the Purifying Flame sect's disk also has four arms, wielding Taiia's favored weapons. The roles and mission of clergy varies depending on their sect.

Clerics in a Creator-focused sect have access to the domains of Taiia's Creator aspect and must be of Good or Neutral alignment (LG, NG, CG, LN, N, CN). Likewise, clerics of a Destroyer-focused sect access the domains of the Destroyer aspect and must be Evil or Neutral (LE, NE, CE, LN, N, CN).

The Faith of the Sun includes a number of smaller sects.

Blind Mendicants: This Creator-focused sect is highly mystical, emphasizing ascetic practice (including wearing a blindfold or even self-blinding, poverty, and fasting) and long hours of contemplative prayer. Through these practices, the Blind Mendicants (both clerics and laity) hope to achieve a state of heightened awareness of Taiia's presence and power, experiencing the purifying power of her flames and the bliss of her favor.

Purifying Flame: "The purifying power of her flames" means something rather different to this Destroyer-focused sect. Its members share a twin focus: prophecy and judgment. Members of the Purifying Flame cultivate an oracular gift, believing that Taiia grants them visions and insight into her will and her favor. Emphasizing her dark aspect, however, these prophecies usually involve her judgment on a world that does not follow her adequately. They carry out her judgments among mortals—through systems of justice when possible or by extraordinary means including assassination and war.

Sun's Path: This Creator-focused sect is characterized by devotional worship, cultivating not the mystical experience of Taiia's presence, but the believer's love of the deity and devotion to her faith. No extraordinary acts of asceticism or prayer are demanded, but members of the Sun's Path sect meet regularly to worship through joyful singing and whirling dances that symbolize the sun's arc through the sky (hence the sect's name).

Darkened Penitents: This Destroyer-focused sect resembles the Purifying Flame in that it emphasizes Taiia's judgment on a sinful world. Rather than carrying out her punishments on the rest of the world, the sect's members carry the weight of sin themselves. By voluntarily accepting Taiia's rejection—often meeting in rooms swathed in magical darkness—the Darkened Penitents believe they can avert Taiia's wrath upon the rest of the world, while finding their own salvation through their selfless acts.

Type
Religious, Temple

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