Ecclesiarchy of Katuva

Praise Aetherion! Praise the Brightstar!

In Katuva it is said the state cannot exist without the church, however if the state should fall the peoples faith shall persist. Praise Aetherion! Praise the Brightstar!

-High Soul Paeon

The Katuvan ecclesiarchy is the preeminent power leading over the Holy nation, engrained deep into the state's political affairs and its people's daily lives. It has existed since even before the nation's very founding, being the literal roots upon which it was built with humble beginnings as a small knighthood their reach is felt throughout Katuva and beyond... literally.

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History

Founding

The ecclesiarchy began as a knighthood known at the time as the Order of Sacred Souls upon which the current Knights of Sacred Souls stem, during the years when the cataclysm known in Katuva as the Deluge of Frost, a cataclysm affecting the very northern fringes of Saera thought to have been caused by a Wicked Moon, which had turned the northern continent of Brenia into an inhospitable, frozen wasteland, a group of refugees sought safety pass the Epcana mountains where they would eventually encounter an Eidol or Eidolon known as Solus.
They would find that the Eidols' domain was unaffected by the frost and choose to subject themselves to it in exchange for solace. Warriors from among the medley band of refugees would pledge themselves as the first knights of the new Order of Sacred Souls and receive the warmth of the sun from their Eidol. These knights would therefore go on to lead more of their fellow refugees to safety and eventually establish a sanctuary, the now city of Talorn home to the Orders' knighthood till this day.

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Following The Light

The Sacred Souls began a campaign thenceforth from founding their order to help those lost by the ravages of the deluge, guiding fellow refugees through vicious blizzards and defending them from migrating hordes of ravenous creatures. The rescued people were given new homes beacons made by the knights, and minor freeholds of Solus' domain that kept the frost back...for a time.
These actions saw the Order become a beacon of hope to the fleeing Brenic peoples and essentially deify Solus. A cult had formed around him worshipping him as a demi-god and many came to see the sun itself as a god in its own right and, in the middle of all of this was the Order itself. In time they would embrace the idea of worshipping Solus and ultimately develop into a martial priesthood but, their followers were not united as a people, separated into scattered freeholds the disparate Brenic followers of Solus needed a true beacon to rally under, and an end to their plight, the ever-raging deluge.

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Praise Aetherion

by EmperorDrako via Playground AI

After decades of planning the Holy Order would, with the guidance of Solus and their Ascendant, set forth an event thought unimaginable by most something that would be felt across the world even as far as Vaaria, they would conjure a small projection of Saeras' sun Aetherion at Miraan of the lake, a Weytower.
The first flares scorched the immediate land around the tower turning it into a barren desert, but once Solus' Ascendant was able to control the flares a gentle warmth was set to overturn the biting cold and allow the once-lost verdant reaches of Brenia to recover from almost two centuries of permafrost and turn Katuva into a nation of perpetual day.
A city would be built around the tower above which the Brightstar still floats today seen from as far as the northern shores of Drakania its false sunset even brims the peaks of the Brenmaar. That city would become the holy capital of Sunhold, the city that holds a star, the home of Solus, their ascendant, and the grand cathedral of Katuva in Miraan.

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Agenda

In the eyes of the public, the Eccleisarchy handles basic priestly duties such as religious rites specifically spreading Solus' teachings through scriptures to the common folk but on a more major scale "guiding" the souls of the dead to Aetherion and rooting out any fallen (See The Scouring of Souls). In Katuva the dead are not buried their bodies are burned and their souls are cleansed in the Brightstar.
Either by a failed understanding of Solus' purpose or intentional distortion, the Order seems to believe that "igniting" the other Weytowers will bring about some sort of greater good. The order handles the branding of mages since magic in "most" forms is seen as blasphemous, a stance seen by most outsiders as contradictory because the powers bestowed upon their esteemed knights are magically sourced from Solus.

As a political entity, the Order tries to keep a cordial stance with most human nations, Exileon and the Northern Kingdoms in particular, however, this is all just a guise to covet favor and gain access to the Weytowers in their possession.
They seek to spread their beliefs to the West like any other religious order having made the Sect of Solus the second most followed religion in the Northern kingdoms, the Order has a major interest in the Grand Duchy of Doree as much of its populace has converted to the faith in recent decades, going so far as to even meddle in the states political affairs. Ever since Archsoul Veran had been invited to crown the 6th Duke of Doree in 2A 1743, it has become a tradition for the Archsoul to crown the nation's rulers an act symbolizing the passage of authority from the Archsoul to a new ruler.
The ecclesiarchy commonly finds itself in the internal affairs of both the Northern Kingdoms Union and The Empire of Exileon, turning to play both sides in the advent of conflict to maximize any leverage or influence they can gain. In particular, the Order has manipulated the two entities into recolonizing the frontiers of Brenia in an effort to indirectly expand the holy diocese and promote infrastructure in the region. This has put them and other Western nations at odds with the Drakonis who view the continent as their ancient homeland.

The Order's knights still keep to their core defending pilgrims on their path to the Holy Land through the wilds of Brenia be it from hostile fauna or opportunistic settlers, they are also the premier military force of the Katuvan nation as a whole called upon in situations most dire.
There is a chapter of the knighthood in the Kingdom of Dail under the name of the Order of the Lantern, their entire purpose is to garner favor with the elves in Lirlyn, a close ally of Dail, to gain access to the Green Tower Vedasylve.
All priests of the order once served or still do serve as knights and handle tasks such as cleansing fallen and hunting down mages as both are seen as abominations by the church.

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Holding the Sun

by EmperorDrako via Playground AI

One task that is crucial to the Order is keeping the star above Sunhold alight to keep the deluge at bay and prevent any potential attacks from dark creatures that control Daelnor to the south. The responsibility to hold "the sun" rests on the shoulders of whoever may be Solus' current Empyrean and is an endeavor that is essentially a sacrifice of giving their life to power the Brightstar, this means that Katuvas only Empyrean cannot be used in the advent of war to attack an opposing nation subjecting them to relying on the Brightstar to repel the mostly undead hordes from Daelnor should they show any aggression, annihilating them with its holy light and flame.
This is why they rely on alliances with nations like Exileon and even Drakania to fight their wars, even though they disdain the Drakonic rulers the legions they provide are invaluable.

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Structure

• Bright-Soul - This is an honorary title given to Solus' Empyrean, while the highest rank in the order there is relatively no responsibility or authoritative power associated with the role as the Ascendant focuses their full attention on maintaining the Brightstar.
• Arch-Soul - the highest administrative role of the order and leader of the church, the Arch-Soul rules the Katuvan state directly from the city of Sunhold, they hold almost absolute power over the affairs of the church and knighthood.
• Eveningstar - the highest rank in the knighthood bestowed upon the wisest and/or most powerful of the eldest knights, they manage the day-to-day affairs of the Orders knights and serve as marshals during wartime.
• High-Soul - The hands of the Arch-soul, they manage the dioceses of the Katuvan nation as well as act as advisors to the Arch-soul. In a diocese operated in a foreign nation, they hold little administrative power (at least directly) serving mainly as pastoral governors, although they do hold a major influence in the political affairs of areas where many of Solus' faithful arrive.
• Sacred-Soul - The most numerous rank shared by both priests and knights of the order.

Praise Aetherion! Praise the Brightstar!

Solus, The Radiant

by EmperorDrako via Playground AI

Solus is an Eidol, beings created by the god Valutar to serve as guardians of Saera and her Weytowers, they are very powerful and revered as the most deadly creatures on Saera even akin to something on the level of an ancient dragon, and many have full sentience. Most Eidols are animal-like, but a few like Solus are humanoid, Solus appears as an androgynous human-like entity that shines with a brilliant glow, Solus is colossal, as are most Eidols, standing at almost 100ft tall.
Solus taught the first Katuvans that the sun Aetherion was a sacred vessel responsible for cleansing mortal souls and giving life to the world, he also made the first knights of the order his Numen, mortals blessed with an Eidols power either by blood or through pacts, allowing them to persist through the ravages of the Deluge of frost.
Solus isn't so virtuous as the Katuvans make it seem as it also taught them that the Weytowers are something that only the most worthy should possess, a statement not taken literally as that is what the word Eidol means, those who are worthy. The church has come to take it as meaning those who follow Solus are worthy of controlling the towers, a stance that the Eidol fully embraces. Its teachings also fail to clarify the nature of mages noting that their souls are "stained" which has caused the church to believe mages are an existence to be purged, whether by shortsightedness or intent allowing the mass genocide or enslavement of mages is a very controversial topic and one that doesn't bode well for Solus "bright" image. An Even further blunder on the Eidols' part is the ignition of the Brightstar itself, while its intentions were good the sacrifices made in the process were numerous, and the ecological effects devastating, but as it is Solus will forever remain Katuvas Radiant Eidol.

Empyreans

Empyreans are for Eidols akin to what an avatar or herald is for a god in mortal flesh, they are the holders of the greatest powers of the Eidol to which they are bound this position is typically held by one individual usually those with the closest connection to their Eidol.
The amount of Empyreans a nation can muster is crucial to its power projection on average numbering only a handful of individuals, Empyreans are a critical military asset on the level of mages and Titans. Even Drakania a nation known to hold many Empyreans only has a dozen or so of them and less than half of which they can reliably call upon. Because of Solus' capricious and prideful personality, they have not allowed other Eidols to reside in Katuva restricting the nation to one possible Empyrean.
Solus' first Empyrean Arian Falker, was a renowned swordsman credited for defending the early beacons from fleeing dragons from the north specifically the Great Wyrm Rhode having failed to slay the beast, but gravely injured it, he had put its reign of terror to a halt in the region earning him the title the Evenings Rest. However, Rhode still lives on his island to this day an area under the authority of the nation of Askela and he's had enough time to lick his wounds.
Zarael, The Firstsun, Solus' 7th Empyrean was responsible for igniting the Brightstar and is immortalized in most iconography in Katuva he is even seen on the current sigil of the Ecclesiarchy.
Remiel, is Solus' current Empyrean, a young girl who has not yet undergone her trial to hold the Brightstar.

Weytowers

 Miraan-of-the-Lake and Vedasylve the Green are Weytowers along with, Irkna-of-the-Sea, Braukus the Rock, Phaenir the Red, Orais-of-the-Isles, Sural-of-the-Sands and many more dotted across Saera. These towers are the intersections of Weylines and are in essence greatly concentrated zones of Arda (see Magic), they were for most of Saeras history thought to be impossible to approach.
 Countless stories have spread over generations of how the towers "handle" would-be explorers some may wipe the memory or control the mind of an approaching adventurer, and others might outright destroy any outsiders such as Phaenir the Red which is known to incinerate those who get too close or Irkna where many accounts of sunken ships have arisen over millennia.
 However, somehow the Katuvans were able to not just approach, but enter Miraan, albeit with the help of an Eidol, an act that beforehand was unprecedented.

Deluge of Frost

Known by many names Mekhars Spite, Blight of Man, and the Creeping White, the Deluge of Frost was a cataclysm that suddenly and violently froze the northern fringes of Saera ushering it into a sudden ice age. It caused many human tribes to migrate out of Brenia into the mainly elven-controlled lands of the south, it was one of the leading reasons the Drakonis clans invaded old Mytheasia. Many scholars believe the cataclysm was a result of a Wicked Moon, a sporadic disaster caused by Saeras' moon Mekhar.

Founding Date

Circa late Migration era

Type

Religious, Holy Order

Alternative Names

Order of Sacred Souls

Renown Arch-Souls

Iriel

 Arch-Soul Iriel, the Burning Wrath is credited for leading a crusade against Daelnor in 2A 849 in response to their war with Drakania, seeing it as the perfect opportunity to gain access to the tower Phaenir. While effective at first the crusade would come to a grinding halt when Daelnor signed the Treaty of Bela ending their war with Drakania, now focusing their full attention on the Katuvans the Daelnori would crush the crusade in its steps leaving few survivors. Iriel would die not on the field of battle but by trying to gain entry into Phaenir which is said to have incinerated him. Even though the crusade was a failure it did however give the Drakonis breathing room from the onslaught of Daelnor.

Veran

Veran, The Pious by EmperorDrako via Playground Ai

 Arch-Soul Veran, the Pious led the major spread of the Sept of Solus to the Northern kingdoms and was personally responsible for converting Dorees rulers to the faith and crowning its 6th Grand Duke. He also promoted the recolonizing of Brenia after many centuries of ecological devastation.