The Healer Cult of Rudvite
In this horrible world, one can be forgiven for believing that compassion and kindness is long since dead. While the current age is dark and filled with peril, that does not mean that our world is one of total bleak twilight. None perhaps embody this more than The Healer Cult of Rudvite. Perhaps one of the oldest faiths in the continent of Nilush, the first cults started out as small sects of healers, worshipping the Weeping Woman for midwifery and relieaving pain. When the faith in the Flame came about with the founding of Ashenfeld, the Church saw an orginization that would do more good if brought to the fold instead of getting rid of it ike the many pagan faiths. So it was that the Weeping Woman was cannonized as a child of the Flame, and it was revealed that her true name is Rudvite. With this, the scatterted creeds would become the Healer Cult of Rudvite.
The cult is argueably even more widely well known than the Flame in modern day, with most villages and cities at least having a small temple to the Weeping Goddess Rudvite. The temples are typically quaint and simply decorated, with most of the money gifted via donations spent in aqquiring healing supplies. A few churches however have taken to displaying holy artifacts and jewels decorated around the church, though far less than the more financially motivated orginizations. The largest rooms in these temples are for the purpose of medical affairs, both mundane and magical. These temples are a common sight for those seeking comfort and aid, though typically they dislike people sleepin in the temples unless they are patients and petitioners.
The most common sight of the cult is the Nun. The cult does not exclusively hire those of a more feminine perssuasion, but it is a fact that a good majority of them are. Their robes are typically black and white, white cloth for the healing they provide, and black cloth for the mourning of the pain and suffering people endure. Being the goddess of mercy, they are primarily focused on suffering and relieving such, some even take to wearing thorned crowns and veils so that their suffering brings them spiritually closer to their patronness. Some variations of course are present, but by and large their uniforms are easy to wash and hard wearing so that they can clean off quickly after being splatterted in blood and other such unpleasent fluids. While primarily focused on healing, many of the nuns take to studying other such practices to pass the time, making them popular as teachers for the young children of the towns and villages.
Another common though sometimes curious sight is the wandering nuns. These nuns are typically simply clothed and armed, though some also wear armor. While it may seem strange for a neutral healing priestess to wander around with knives and blades, in truth it is tottally in line with their teachings and patronness. Their mission is to relieve the suffering of the sick and dying, of those who live as we mortals do. Monsters and beasts are causes of suffering, and as such while not the primary concern of the cult, some sisters take it upon themselves to wander and right wrongs. Many such sisters are holy paladins, though they hardly rise in the ranks of the cult (what little ranks there are to begin with). Bloodshed against mortals is acceptable, as sometimes the best way to save a life is to take a hostile one, but it is to be an absolute last resort, and it is expected to weep for these lost lives in nightly prayer. With the civil war, life has become more complicated, as when groups of nuns heal the war wounded, what hapens when the enemy attempts to kill the injured? Is fighting to protect the patient considered taking a side in the conflict? These questions and more have begun to spread admist the cult, and only time will tell what the answer will be.
Worship
Worship is typically begun early in the morning, where the sisters all get dressed and gather into the main prayer area of the temple to sit in contemplation for an hour. After that, most of their time is either spent praying privately, practicing and studying, or busy healing to the bloody patients that come stumbling into their doors.
Priesthood
The initiates are the lowest rank, who typically begin their training at a young age. After training for a number of years ranging from 8-12 years, they become a nun, commonly reffered to as Sisters. Above them are the Sister Superioes, or Mistress. These Mistresses typically are in charge of a temple and the sisters working there. Then these Sister Superiors meet together with the Matriarch, the woman considered the leader of the cult. The cult preffers a largely independent, light form of orginization, and as such there is not many ranks to advance up in. The nuns who journey out into the world are typically of the Sister rank, and typically undergo trials to test their fortitude of both body and spirt before they are allowed to wander on their own or in a group.
Granted Divine Powers
The most common magical powers those blessed with the ability to use such are of healing nature. Other such powers involve comforting pain, curing sickness, and lighting up dark places
Political Influence & Intrigue
Unsurprisingly, the Nuns of Rudvite are some of the most widely recognized and respected orginizations in the world. There typical neutral attitude means they primarily rely on charity to keep the finances of running their churches in check. Often times, people do gift gold and valuables to the healers for saving their lives, which the cult typically refuses until pressed further. In fact, there is a phenomena where many people end up falling in love with the nuns that healed them, a condition jokingly reffered to as "dove chasing". While not necessarily a problem, and in truth the nuns of Rudvite are not required to swear vows of chastity, some do see it as unprofessional. However, this also leads into their widespread popularity as mentors and teachers as well as healers, and it is not uncommon for a sister of the cult to be taken on by a noble house to instruct their children and raise them.
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
Deities
