Children of Everlasting Fire

Structure

Those who hold named places in the order are mostly Flame-tenders, and are charged with the care and monitoring of the sacred flames. Initiates and those with specialized tasks often have their own titles, such as Ash-raker and Dancer-on-the-Coals. The Smoke-breathers are diviners (the breathing-in of smoke) as well as professors of holy texts (the breathing-out of smoke) and are chosen by the fire instead of having to learn their craft. At the head of every individual temple is the Keeper of Embers, the sole protector and handler of the holy embers that must never be extinguished.

Culture

Being that they truly do view themselves as the children of fire, the order does not being in new members, only growing like slow-moving flame as the Children spread. Marriage and adoption are the exceptions to the rule, but even they aren't considered full-fledged members. The only way to truly call yourself a Child of Everlasting Flame is to have its blood in your veins, able to trace a line from yourself directly back to the original fiery mountain that first birthed the Children. To be considered a true Child of Everlasting fire, there needs to be the truth that you could have been born as one of the Flame-touched, and the chance that any children you might have could potentially turn out to be one.
The Children are all Dwarves from one or two bloodlines originating from the same magma-spewing mountain where they were first "blessed" by flame, with the exception of the exceptionally rare and revered children who are born as Flame-touched, which is to say, fire Genasi.
The birth of a Flame-touched child is cause for immense celebration, and as that child is transitioning to adulthood, they are encouraged (strongly) to make the journal back to the fiery home-mountain of their family, to take their rightful place as a leading figure in the order, and take on the blessed task of creating new members of the line.

History

The Dwarvish clans of Whiteash and Deepwell (later changed to Neverburn) had made their home in the same mountain known for being riddled with magma-filled tunnels and caverns. Life in the fiery mountain was just as lucrative as it was dangerous, and the two clans outlasted others who had tried to set up home there, both taking to the location with surprising ease. Accounts differ on whether the Dwarves encountered something while digging too deeply, or had such a natural inclination toward the mountain that they drew the attention and were blessed by a being of neverending flame, but the two clans were irrevocably changed in either case.
The Dwarves were awestruck by the great being, immediately treating her with deep respect and reverence, and she in turn tested their devotion with trials of fire. Those who survived and remained unbreakingly loyal were touched with some of her power. She entrusted them with the care and keeping of embers pulled from her own body, saying that as long as they tended this fire and kept it burning, she would continue to bless their bloodline.
Reflecting the blessing that they have been given, Whiteash and Neverburn Dwarves tend to have hair in shades of gold, orange, or red, though the occasional coal-black and white tinged with blue can be found. Whiteash Dwarves tend to have deep, warm bronze tones to their skin, while Neverburn Dwarves often have skin in shades of grey, deep red, and black.

From embers to ashes; only fire remains

Type

Religious, Other

Alternative Names

Children of the Flame, Fire-worshipers

Demonym

Child of Everlasting Fire