The Unity
The Unity is a gentle, peaceful religion. It teaches its followers to honor the Twins and the Unbound God, to work hard, to be close to nature. It encourages people to have children, for the glory of the Twins. It keeps life simple, encouraging people to focus on living rather than learning. Hard work is good for the soul. Material wealth corrupts. Alcohol and drugs damage the connection to nature and the Twins. Violence offends the Unbound God. People from outside Freehold are misguided, lost, and violently opposed to the gentle faithful of the Unity.
And yet, the Unity has a long history of sending out its army of Peacekeepers to conquer outsiders, a fact unknown to the general population of Freehold. Once a person is summoned to serve at Highkeep, they are rarely seen again, so the relatives and friends have no knowledge whether the person has become a priest or anything else. Freeholders don't write, count, or travel, so they don't realize just how many young people have disappeared off to Highkeep. They consider it an honor to have a family member summoned, and ask no questions, for fear of offending the Twins.
The Unity outside Freehold has changed, due to the realities of life outside the Living Wall. The priests outside have learned to adapt to the ways of the real world, where they do not hold complete sway over every single soul. They have nearly become a separate religion, away from the full control of Highkeep, paradoxically closer to the ideals of the religion than the central leadership.
Followers of the Unity had made a great migration into the unknown shortly after the ascension of the Unbound God. Pursued by Iskander and his heretics, they'd fled across an entire continent, then taken ship in a leap of faith. The Unbound God had visited the Disciples in their dreams, all thirteen at once, and told them of a land where they could live free of persecution, if they had faith in his guidance. The dream led the Disciples straight to Freehold, where they'd landed and established the earliest fort that became Highkeep, then sent their ship and crew back to the mainland to show the followers the way to their new home.
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
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