The Great Church
Members of the Great Church worship the gods equally as a family, so the organization occupies a broad and nebulous place in the world. As a group, the gods are called the Lords of Good for a reason: they are associated with all that is holy and sacred. Together they represent life, its many wonders, and its prolific disappointments. The Church recognizes three groups of gods: the old gods, the treeborn gods, and the young gods.
The old gods are associated with the fundamental elements that are everywhere, with or without the interference of the mortal hand or mind (rocks, oceans, stars). Scholars sometimes call these the "chthonic" gods. The treeborn gods represent the individual, with Terak being the body, Tinel the mind, Morwyn the spirit, Zheenkeef the emotions and dreams, and Mormekar the body's ultimate failure, death. Finally, the young gods represent the concepts of society, or groups of individuals: nobility, forging, diplomacy, love, and woodcraft. The Great Church, therefore, ministers to everything that lives and thrives in the world as personified by the Gods of the Tree, from the smallest monetary transaction to the unfathomable workings of the heavens.
The Great Church represents the gods with icons, showing them seated in a semi-circle on thrones of gold. Each god appears in his or her common likeness. The symbolic representation of the Lords of Heaven is a white tree with five golden fruits growing on it. A cleric of the Great Church's holy symbol is usually a tree crafted from white gold with five yellow-gold fruits.
The gods are predominately neutral good. Although the pantheon is divided quite strongly between the chaotic-tending gods and the lawful ones (necessitating the Compact), they are united in their opposition to the works of evil—slaughtering infants, slavery, making bargains with devils, and other, darker deeds.
Structure
The Great Church has three powerful holy orders: the Clergy, the Templar, and the Deacons. Of these orders, the clergy are dominant and they decide the direction of the faith. The Templar are important and influential, but operate almost entirely apart from the Church. The deacons, however, are the Church's greatest strength: while they are officially referred to as "teachers," they are dedicated to influencing the secular leaders and steering the course of history in the world. The deaconry is made up of Church members skilled in political matters, and secular leaders who've been given status in the Church to seal their loyalty.
Public Agenda
The Great Church, whose members simply call themselves "the Faithful" is an enormous organization spanning nations. Its primary goal is to ensure every population center in the world has a church dedicated to all of the gods, that performs their holy work. Its secondary goal is to make the worship of the gods accessible to everyone. Thus, one can find a church dedicated to the entire pantheon in almost every city. In communities with large Great Church structures, other churches sometimes set up shrines within the Great Church's halls, to make it a central gathering place for members of any faith.
Mythology & Lore
First Thunder
In midsummer, eons ago, Zheenkeef hit upon a cure for her boredom. She would enchant a lump of normal marble so that whosoever beheld it would swear the rock was a statue in the likeness of the beholder. Her enchantment would be so powerful that to look at the rock would be to become utterly convinced it was a statue. Such a thing would reveal the vanity of all around her, for every member of her family, all the Lords of Heaven, would look upon her creation and believe it was a monument in his own honor and preen and strut at the sight of it. When she had crafted this glorious work of mockery, Zheenkeef put the statue in the middle of the great hall of the Holy Ones. That night, when the Gods of the Tree assembled for their dinner, each one came upon the rock and gazed in wonder. "Who has put this statue of me in the middle of the hall?" shouted Terak with a great laugh, so delighted was he at its workmanship. "Was it you, Korak, my loving son?" Korak thought perhaps his father had gone mad, or played him a trick, for he started quite plainly at his own face hewn in the marble. He was about to respond when Tinel called out, "Why do you always spread your lies, brother? Can you not stand even one statue of me, that you must demean it by calling it your own?" It was not long before the argument of the gods reached such a volume that Urian shook and Thunder was born. Whenever the gods argue to the exclusion of all else, Urian shakes and rumbles so that all the world might hear.
Founding the Great Church
The statue was never forgotten by any of the Holy Ones. Though they put aside arguing about it for a time, hiding it under Terak's great chair, occasionally one of the Lords of Good would mention it and the shouting would begin anew. After some time of this, Darmon grew tired of the ceaseless arguing. "It is quite clear that we will never agree on what this statue represents. Clearly, it is important that we decide this matter, or Heaven shall be sundered over a lump of rock." Darmon had ever a honeyed tongue and the gods could not help but agree with him. "What does my clever brother suggest?" Aymara asked. Darmon suggested the statue be destroyed, which was not a popular notion. Each of the gods presented a different way to resolve the problem, each more ludicrous than the last, until at last Anwyn, the gentle little sister, suggested that the gods pluck a lowly mortal from the world and have him tell them what he saw. He would be beyond guile and other such problems, for he would be the simplest fellow they could find. And so Darmon set out to tour the mortal sphere and find such a mortal. One day he stumbled on a drunken shepherd asleep in his pasture after a night of long drinking. He grabbed this fellow by the collar and shouted at him, "Awake, shepherd! For you have much to do! You must resolve a great dispute among my family." And he took the shepherd to the Celestial Palace. As would soon become apparent, this drunken shepherd was in fact a religious scholar. Named Hefasten (HEH-fuh-stun) the Wise, he had been exiled by the king of his country, for the monarch was jealous of his wisdom and influence. At the time, each of the gods had a church dedicated to his or her honor, but faith in all the Gods of the Tree had never been unified. Hefasten, a scholar and faithful member of Morwyn's Healing Halls, was known as a peacemaker and had negotiated settlements in many conflicts between churches. Despondent at his exile, Hefasten found shelter with a poor family in a neighboring land. After four years of drunken ostracism, the wise man found himself taken by Darmon to an opulent house. There he was surrounded by a large family of the most beautiful people he had ever beheld. It took him only a moment to realize he stood before the gods in their mortal guises, but before he could prostrate himself and make proper obeisance, the woman at the head of the family spoke: "What is your name, simple shepherd?" "My name is Hefasten, who was once Hefasten the Wise, and is now Hefasten the Drunk, milady Morwyn, the compassionate." So saying, he fell to his knees and touched his forehead to the ground three times, as is fitting. This was precisely what the gods had not wanted. Instead of a simple peasant, they had a religious leader, and one who had sworn himself to Morwyn. The Holy Ones began to argue once more, and thunder shook the heavens. At last, they came to a solution: "Hefasten, who was once the Wise, we would ask this of you: help us solve a riddle," Tinel said to the blessed shepherd. "But before we ask for your aid, we ask that you cast aside your worship of my sister, Morwyn. We ask that instead you swear that you will give homage to each of us equally, and swear to obey us all when we have need of your service." To this Hefasten agreed. Once had had done so, the gods asked him what he saw when he looked at the statue. And when he gazed at it, he beheld the likenesses of all the Lords of Heaven standing before him. When he said so, "I see all of you," the argument was resolved. For indeed it was a statue of them all. They gave Hefasten the statue and returned him to his flock. The scholar journeyed back to his homeland with the lump of marble upon a cart, and he went about the land preaching the worship of the Lords of Good together, without exclusion. The king who had exiled him was converted upon beholding the statue—which seemed to him a magnificent statue in his own likeness—and, when he heard it was a gift from the gods, he built for Hefasten the Wise a great cathedral in which to house it. It rests there today, the central cathedral of the Great Church.
Cosmological Views
Heaven
In the fourth epoch, the gods set themselves apart from the world, building for themselves a magnificent home outside the Material Plane. Heaven is a great mountain with seven shining cities. Six array themselves before you as you ascend—one on each great slope. An archangel watches over each city. The spire of the mountain is where the seventh city can be found, and though it is at the top of the mountain, it is said to be infinite. This is the city of the gods. At the center of the city stands a great hall, where the gods sit on their thrones to debate with each other, and watch the Material Plane.Elysium
To follow the Compact it was necessary to observe the good and bad deeds of all mortals. The gods created Elysium, where a "light shadow" of every living mortal walks about. These likenesses are constantly observed by the guardian angels of Elysium, who record their good deeds, great and small, in enormous ledgers that they deliver to Maal's kingdom when each likeness' corresponding mortal dies.The Dark River
With the Compact, it became necessary for souls to travel from plane to plane, sometimes without guidance. Thus, the gods created the Dark River, which flows through every plane of the sphere, and is even said to have a source in the Material Plane. Although the Dark River gets its name because the waters appear black as moonless nights to most travelers, it begins to shine as it approaches Elysium and the mountain of Heaven and eventually transforms into a bright river of light.The Great Sphere
The Nameless One formed the four pillars and then placed the Great Sphere on top of them. When he created it, it was filled with emptiness in the form of ether and shadow. He pushed these into the center of the Great Sphere and created the Material Plane among them. He filled the rest of the Sphere with energy, ideas, images and sounds: the Astral Plane. Outside the Great Sphere, the infinite void stands apart from creation. Besides mystics and sages, few people discuss the Great Sphere as anything other than a container for the Material Plane. Indeed, "the Sphere" is mostly used as a synonym for the Material, even though it is a distinct realm that contains multiple planes.The Astral Plane
When the Nameless One first created the Material Plane and bound Shadow and Ether, he left the rest of the Great Sphere filled with the energy that was most like him: a stillness thrumming with the power of possibility. This energy has no substance, but forms the great expanse that is found between the planes of existence. This is the vast emptiness of the Astral Plane, filled with light, sound, and strange phenomena.The Four Pillars
The elemental planes exist as pillars supporting the Great Sphere, and even the gods who hold sway over the elements in the Prime Material do not control these pillars. Each one contains the purest form of the elemental energy it represents.Hell
The nine circles of Hell were built as a prison for the creatures called demons. It is now ruled over by Asmodeus, once the god of fire, and now the king of deception and lord of Hell.Gehenna
Created by the gods on top of a battleground of demons and devils, Gehenna is the place of observation. Just as every person casts a light shadow of herself into Elysium to be seen by guardian angels, so too does she cast a dark shadow into Gehenna, where the daemons watch her, whisper vile little temptations in her ear, and record her crimes in dark ledgers. This is where demons and devils often do battle.The Abyss
The most powerful demons, the qlippoth, are like dark shadows of the gods, and pure beings of Corpus Infernus. Using their incredible might, they long ago burrowed through the Great Sphere, and out into the void. Thus, the Abyss in which the demons reside is infinite, stretching out forever until it mingles with nothingness. They build themselves strange dark citadels there, and from them launch forces against Hell, marching across Gehenna and through planar gates.The Land of the Dead
Originally found at the center of the earth in the Material Plane, the Land of the Dead was set apart as its own plane when the gods formed their Compact. This is where Maal rules, judging all souls based on the great ledgers kept by the guardian angels and the daemons. Upon death, most mortals live here for all eternity. A rare few are sent to Heaven to be with their gods, and some return to the Material Plane after a time and another chance to find the afterlife by their mortal deeds. From time to time, Maal's half-brother Korak comes to the Land of the Dead to "reforge" a soul, hammering out all of its flaws and sending it back to earth. It is believed that only members of the five mortal races stand before Maal to be judged, and that other races lack the souls necessary to be sent to such destinies.Tenets of Faith
"If the people shall not come to the gods, verily, verily, we shall bring the gods to the people."The doctrine of the Great Church can most easily be described as pure good. One should strive to give, not take; to love, not hate; to befriend, never shun. It is the moral imperative of every mortal to try and do as the gods have done, offering shelter to the weak, raging against the terrible wrongs, and protecting their families. Of course, the Church knows the world is filled with fallible people and believes if mortals ask for forgiveness, the gods will forgive them as they once forgave each other for great wrongs. The Church also believes, however, there are sins that cannot be forgiven: trying to topple the gods as Kador did, making bargains with devils or demons, and giving up one's soul for any reason. These behaviors take one outside the realm of forgiveness, and offenders become as demons in the eyes of the faithful. All else, including the most heinous of crimes against another person, can be forgiven by the gods, though likely not by the law. It is in this that the Church's lawful side is seen, for while its faith in the gods if one of pure good, the Church professes a very legalistic worship of the gods. The clergy discusses the laws and commandments of the gods that all people should obey. The Church sees itself as bringing the rule of the gods to the uniformed. The Great Church has two great schools of thought in approaching this doctrine, and while they usually operate in harmony among church elders, they are occasionally drawn into conflict.— From Saint Hefasten's A People, A Doctrine, A Faith
God's Work
The first philosophy, one adhered to by both the clergy and the deacons, is the ministry of the gods' work. According to this school of thought, the Great Church exists to spread the legends and worship of the gods, particularly to foreign and barbaric lands with different faiths. Part and parcel with this is the Church's goal to consolidate its power base and make sure the lands where the gods are worshiped never lose sight of the faith. This involves making sure the Church has many chapels and cathedrals throughout the land. One of the many reasons the Church puts such a focus on secular matters is that it serves the Church's goals to have close relations with the nobles who own the land and run the nations. This push for expansion began with Hefasten, the first Supreme Patriarch. At the core of Hefasten's teachings is the notion that every person's life is bettered when she comes to pay proper homage to the gods. When Hefasten was writing his earliest screeds, most people had no idea how to pray or pay proper respect to the gods; instead, they let their priests do it for them. Hefasten believed in the democratization of faith, and it is still important to the Great Church that the ways of worship be made understandable to anyone, so everyone can pray to the gods themselves.Oppose Evil
The second major branch of Church philosophy states that the Church's mission is to tirelessly oppose all forms of evil. One can see this requires a very different mindset than actively spreading religion, and over the years, the two doctrines have led to the creation of an entirely new holy order. While most focus on the strengthening of the Church and the spread of the faith, a core group of clerics seek simply to do good in the world in the name of the Gods. Supporting this group of "good works" clergy is an entire holy order dedicated to fighting the good fight: the Templar.Worship
The Church's congregations are generally made up of those who do not have the time or inclination to worship one god in particular. Religion is an important part of nearly everyone's life, but the average person has no real reason to worship a specific god constantly. When crops fail, a farmer goes to the Great Church and prays to Rontra. When heavy with child, she goes to the same church and prays to Morwyn. In the Great Church, she sets aside some worship for the other gods as well. This is done for simplicity's sake, and to avoid offending the other gods. Legends are quite explicit: if you pray to all the gods and accidentally leave one off, that god will grow angry and might seek vengeance against you. The Great Church takes these sorts of concerns out of the common person's hands and provides complete, non-mysterious ceremonies for all occasions, making religion far more accessible to the average peasant or layperson. Its popularity with the common folk also helps account for its wealth, as a tithe to the church is customary, swelling the church's coffers as its congregations grow.
Priesthood
The clergy stands at the center of the Great Church's holy orders. From them arise bishops, archbishops, and the Supreme Patriarch. Members of the order focus on missions for the church, spread the faith wherever they go, perform great deeds in the name of the gods. The clergy of the Great Church is vast, and accommodates a range of different beliefs. The Supreme Patriarch, however, determines the order's official attitude, missions, goals, and actions.
Deans
Clerics who prove themselves might lead their own churches. Those who do are called deans. The bishop who oversees the region makes this appointment, usually for political reasons. Ambitious clerics might petition the bishop for the post, but their petitions can be rejected for any reason. Once elevated to the position, deans oversee all the goings-on of their churches, issuing assignments to all the clergy serving them. Deans are addressed as "reverend father" or "reverend mother," and introduced by full title.Bishops
By decree, the Supreme Patriarch divides each nation under the Great Church's protection into regions, and the nation's Archbishop assigns each region to a bishop, whose office is called a bishopric. Advancement occurs only when there's a vacancy. Selections are generally made for political reasons. Bishops oversee large geographic areas and reside at the area's larges church, from which they instruct deans and participate in political affairs of the area. Bishops are addressed as "blessed father" or "blessed mother," and introduced by full title.Archbishops
The Supreme Patriarch alone can elevate a bishop to archbishop of a nation or large region. One cannot petition for this position; the method by which archbishops are chosen is shrouded in mystery, and known only to the Supreme Patriarch. As with bishoprics, and archbishopric is only available when a new region becomes available to the Church, or an existing archbishop dies (or is elevated to Supreme Patriarch). An archbishop is granted control of the Church's presence in an entire nation or other significant political body, and is addressed as "holy father" or "holy mother," and introduced by full title.Supreme Patriarch or Matriarch
An archbishop can be named the Supreme Patriarch or Matriarch only be a unanimous vote of all the archbishops. When the existing Supreme Patriarch dies, the archbishops convene at the Great Cathedral. Together, they determine who among their number might be an appropriate Supreme Patriarch. All such candidates cannot vote on which of them rises to office. One can imagine that this is a very useful political tool for removing dissenting voices, and raising a candidate some of the archbishops might oppose fiercely—and it is a method that has been abused in the past. Each archbishop can only name one appropriate candidate, and no more than half of the deliberating body can be forced to sit out of the decision. One appropriate candidates have been selected, the remaining archbishops must come to a unanimous conclusion to name the new Supreme Patriarch or Matriarch. This process can take months. The Supreme Patriarch is the voice of the Church and commands the clergy and the faithful alike. The Supreme Patriarch is addressed as "Most Reverend Lord/Lady" or "Most Holy Father/Mother," and introduced by full title.Political Influence & Intrigue
The Great Church enjoys good relations with most of the other churches, particularly lawful churches, which is why clergy of individual gods are willing to offer services under the Great Church's roof. These relations appear pleasant, but in many cases they're superficial alliances. Many of the leaders of the other churches are jealous of the Great Church's significant wealth and authority.
Because it is easy to avoid alienating any religious group by supporting the Great Church, many secular leaders give generously to its missions, support its efforts to expand, and otherwise interact with it as the accepted legitimate religion center of power in the world. Furthermore, the leaders of the Great Church are free to involve themselves in politics and other earthly matters. This freedom means many secular leaders have a cleric or templar of the Great Church as an adviser, and members of the of the local Great Church hierarchy are often on town and city councils. In fact, the House of Lords in Cador's Parliament seats several, prominent members of the Church, referred to as Lords Spiritual. All of this amounts to a church that can exert an enormous amount of influence on political affairs.
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
Permeated Organizations
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