The Order of Searing Light

Overview

Among all the servants of Lumenor, there exists a sacred and dreadful caste known as The Penitents of the Searing Light, or more commonly, The Searing Order. These are not mere monks or clerics—they are the broken, the burned, the chosen. Through flesh, they seek purity. Through agony, absolution.

The Rite of Transcendent Wounding

The most esoteric and feared rite within the faith of Lumenor is known as The Rite of Transcendent Wounding, a sacrament of brutal devotion reserved for the most penitent, faithful, or guilt-ridden of his followers.
In this sacred ritual, the supplicant voluntarily sacrifices a part of their own body—an eye, a hand, a leg, even, in the rarest and most harrowing cases, the heart. This act is performed in ritual silence, often before a searing flame that represents Lumenor’s gaze. A priest of the House of Light officiates, though many of them tremble to witness it. If the supplicant is found worthy, Lumenor himself manifests his favor, replacing the missing flesh with a Divine Aspect of Light—a glowing limb, an eye that sees only truth, a heart that beats with holy fire. These transformed are called Luminaries, also referred to in more whispered tones as The Wounded Saints.
“We must bleed to burn. We must burn to shine. We must shine until we are no more.”

—Scripture of the Third Flame, attributed to Saint Thamriel, the Heartless Beacon

Examples of Divine Aspects

Eye of Judgement: Sees the moral state of any soul it gazes upon. Can blind sinners through light alone.
Hand of the Dawn: Glows with searing intensity, burns evil on touch, and heals the righteous.
Heart of the Flame: Emits radiant warmth, bolstering allies, purging corruption nearby, and making the bearer immune to fear.
Tongue of Silence: For those who take a vow never to speak again. Their presence alone induces awe, and their written words glow with divine command.

Alternative Torments and Lifelong Penance

Not all who seek purification are deemed worthy of the divine replacement. Others choose—or are bound to—Symbolic Torments that they carry for life:
Vow of Silence: Often taken by those whose words once caused great harm. Some never speak again, communicating only through radiant signs or hymns.
Barbed Vestments: Coils of sunsteel wire worn beneath clothing, ever-tearing the flesh—a reminder of sin’s grip.
Ashbound Chains: Shackles infused with sacred ash, worn always, symbolizing servitude to divine will.
The Ever-Walk: Pilgrims who must never stop moving. If they rest, it is only in sunlight. They wander the world, spreading judgment and mercy in equal measure.
These acts of penitence are often undertaken in pursuit of absolution—either for past sins or to draw closer to Lumenor’s perfect radiance.

A Named Luminary: Saint Thamriel, the Heartless Beacon

Saint Thamriel was once a war-priest in the Solar Host, known for his ferocity and unwavering sense of justice. But after leading a campaign that resulted in the death of innocent villagers caught in a siege against undead forces, he was consumed by guilt.
To atone, he performed the Rite of Transcendent Wounding and offered his living heart on an altar at the Sanctum of the Dawnstar.
"My heart judged wrongly. Let it beat no more.”
In a miracle witnessed by dozens, a blazing sphere of golden light formed in his chest cavity—his new Heart of the Flame, which radiates warmth, courage, and unwavering purpose. It can ignite the courage in allies, dispel fear, and inflict burning pain upon the unrepentant simply through proximity.
He now wanders the realms as a beacon of penitence, always glowing, never resting, offering healing, judgment, or destruction where it is deserved. Despite his sanctity, he refuses worship and claims, "I am not holy. I am merely forgiven."

Power and Danger

Those who survive the Rite—or their chosen torment—are transformed in body and spirit. They gain powers far beyond ordinary clerics or paladins. Their mere presence burns away lies. Their voices (when used) carry divine weight. Their touch heals, judges, or destroys.
But with power comes a terrible risk.

The Oathbreakers

On rare and tragic occasions, a Luminary falls. They break their sacred vows—through pride, resentment, or temptation. These beings, once touched by Lumenor, become Blasphemies of the Light, their divine aspects corrupted into weapons of ruin.
These fallen are known as Ashlords, Lightbanes, or The Black Radiant. To the faithful, they are abominations worse than demons—for they were once divine.
“The brightest flame casts the darkest shadow when turned from its source.”
Entire chapters of the Solar Host exist only to hunt them down, for an oathbroken Luminary may single-handedly annihilate villages or twist congregations into fanatical cults of false light.

A Named Oathbreaker: Seraphine the Black Radiant

Once called Seraphine of Auravarn, she was the youngest person to survive the Rite, giving up both her eyes in exchange for the Eyes of the Dawn—radiant orbs that saw all moral truth. But Seraphine grew arrogant, convinced her perfect sight made her infallible. She began executing innocents for what she believed were impure thoughts or future sins, claiming she was “burning the rot before it blooms.” When the House of Light attempted to restrain her, she turned against them, incinerating an entire monastery. Her radiant eyes blackened, and she vanished into the Wastes. Now known as The Black Radiant, she leads a heretical sect of fanatics called The Eclipse Covenant, seeking to replace Lumenor's mercy with total, pre-emptive eradication of sin—even unborn. She is hunted endlessly by the Legion of the Solar Storm, but her powers are immense, and her corruption dangerously persuasive. Rumors say, Seraphine maintains influence over a big part of Heretic cults and she manipulates the "Umbrafervents" — a schism of Lumenor's faith most prevelant within the Gilded Plains — in whose ranks she hides under a guise and preaches the infamous Black Sun Doctrine.

Cultural and Religious Impact

Artistic depictions of Luminaries show radiant, hollow-eyed saints with glowing wounds, surrounded by weeping penitents.

• Children's cautionary tales speak of the Ashlords as warnings: “Keep your vow, or be the light that burns the world.”


• The House of Light venerates the Luminaries as living saints, but guards them carefully—each is a potential salvation or catastrophe.


• Festivals sometimes feature mock-rites where the faithful wear glowing prosthetics or barbed sashes to symbolically “share the pain.”

Let no lie survive the dawn.

Type

Religious, Monastic Order

Ruling Organization

The Faith of Lumenor, the Lord of Light

Deities

• Lumenor, The Lord of Light