The Radiant Sodality

The Radiant Sodality (also known as the Sodality) is a society of hyper-devout, ultra-conservative clerics and paladins headquartered in the pantheon. The members of the Sodality believe it is their duty to protect the pantheon and the scriptures it represents. To this end, the founders of the order claimed that the Radiant Sodality would not be beholden to any mortal nation and would conduct itself purely as defenders of the faith. Although the Sodality supposedly transcends any obligation to Lustria, the order has ever stood by its side in international conflicts. Over the years, the bond between Lustria and the Sodality has only grown stronger; there are very few members from other nations anymore and officers in the Sodality often hold political or military positions (or both) in Lustria.

The Founding

The Radiant Sodality was founded by Saint Genevieve of Ermont and Saint Benoit the Pilgrim, neither of which were saints at the time, shortly before the Pantheon finished completion. Genevieve was a cleric of Demeter who spent her life up until that point travelling across Lustria, aiding in the civic organization of villages, towns, and cities. She founded hospitals, schools, and nurtured the growth of a just local government. In her middle ages she found herself in an extended stay in Amia. At that time, Athena's Eye was a pilgrimage site in Gods' Lake, but nothing stood on it but nature. She and some other like-minded individuals decided that a true monument to the gods should be built on the island and so she planned and partially funded the creation of the pantheon. As it neared completion, she met Benoit by chance and the two discussed the founding of a global religious organization.
Benoit was a soldier in the Lustrian army in his youth. During a horrible defeat, Benoit was struck down by an enemy soldier and apparently thought dead. He awoke some time later in a field of unburied Lustrian bodies. He claims that while he was "dead" he heard the voice of Hades, telling him that he was being chosen to give his fellow soldiers a proper burial, and after that, he would continue to live so long as he led a virtuous life. According to the legend, Benoit rose from the grave and spent the next week tirelessly digging graves for his fallen comrades, stopping only to eat and sleep, despite his wounds; he claimed he was granted strength and endurance by the gods for this task. After he finished, cut off from his allies in enemy territory, he expected to die, but true to his word, Hades granted him safe passage back to his homeland. Once there he took up the life of a pilgrim and a protector for other pilgrims. He made the entire circuit to every pilgrimage site and when he returned to his home city of Amia, the pantheon was being built. As it neared completion, he met Genevieve by chance and the two discussed the founding of a global religious organization.

The Tenets

The founding tenets of the Radiant Sodality are fairly simple for such a rigid organization. They read:

To live only under the laws of the gods
To uphold the true faith of the gods
To live in the good graces of the gods
To encourage proper worship among all kith
To visit holy sites whenever possible

The Radiant Sodality Today

After hundreds of years the Sodality has changed its values, though not so far as to be directly in conflict with the founding tenets. For instance, it now stands as an unofficial wing of the Lustrian government, despite the call to live only under the laws of the gods. The founders apparently intended this to mean that the Sodality was an international organization whose actions were governed only by a higher power, however future heads of the society decided that Lustria's laws were compatible with the laws of the gods, as set forth in the scriptures, and therefore it was okay to officially-unofficially join with the Lustrian state.
The Sodality has essentially become a part of Lustria - the Sodality has acted as elite soldiers in every major conflict involving Lustria in the last couple hundred years, and many members of the Sodality hold positions in the Lustrian army and the Lustrian government. Besides being an active military force, the Radiant Sodality trains cantors, priests and clerics who memorize and sing the scripture in order to maintain the true faith - both of those who hear it and those who sing it. The Sodality has no official status in Lustria, but its opinion is given enormous unofficial weight in deciding both city and national projects. Many look to it as a beacon of purity, but others claim knowledge of corruption within the ranks.