Church of Ascension

Under his watchful eye, no harm shall come to the peace of our world. May his kingdom last forevermore.

— Cs. Otis Jakron II

The Church of Ascension is the only legal religion in the empire. It reveres The Ascended as its deity, and has a great deal of power throughout the empire. It is required that any official business or event be seen by an Eye of Ascension, or it might as well not have occurred.

Mythology & Lore

The Church of Ascension focuses on the worship of The Ascended. The teachings tell that he was once a mortal, though his coming had been prophesied. Leading the armies of those he conquered into battle, he defeated a terrible threat, a dark god known as Ithanil. The defeat of Ithanil cost the Lord his life. However as had been prophesied, his true self, God, allowed him to ascend to heaven and rule beside him over paradise. Yet he chose to leave behind a life of heavenly majesty to return to the realm of his birth and bring paradise to the mortal world.
There are several other aspects to the faith such as a creation myth detailing the struggle between God and Ithanil to form the world. Curiously however, information about the time before the Ascension has been destroyed and is largely unknown.

Worship

Every Dawnday a service is held in which a Tasen or equivalent preaches to the gathered people. This is usually held in churches or cathedrals, which are intricately carved and built high into the sky. Additionally, there are a few holidays associated with the church, the most important being the week of blessing, which commemorates the ascension and return of The Ascended.
While travel is generally forbidden for the Frese, before becoming a High Tasen, one must have seen the Lord Himself with their own eyes. It is also a social expectation that noblemen observe at least one of the Lord's parades every year.

Priesthood

The official head of the church is also its subject of worship. However, as is also the case with the Ministry, the Lord Himself does not touch upon internal church business often. The inner workings of the church, at least in the upper ranks is largely secretive and highly loyal to the Lord Himself.

Ranks

The structure of the church is hierarchical in nature. The possible positions are as follows, from the least powerful to the most powerful:

Tasen

The Tasen are local churchmen. They administer and organize local churches in farming settlements and smaller towns, as well as individual churches within larger cities, given that there are several.

White Tasen

The most junior recruits of the church. Generally, these are teenage boys and girls who chose a life of devotion over plantation work.

Sare Tasen

The Sare Tasen are more trusted members of the local church, often delegated duties such as financial management and overseeing contracts not deemed important enough for higher clerics or Eyes.

High Tasen

The leader of a local church, and assigned all responsibilities which derive therefrom. One of the most important ones being holding the regular service on every 8th day. While attendance is not compulsory, it is commonly preferable to the manual labor otherwise. While most commonly male, some women also hold the position.

Basore

Basore are higher ranking members of the church. They usually act similarly to a High Tasen for a local cathedral in a larger city. In addition, High Tasen of their respective counties report to them.

Cahse Basore

A high Tasen in training to become a Basore. Even during their training they are given many responsibilities. Usually, they act similarly to their own former Sare Tasen, but lighten the load on the Basore's back instead of another Tasen.

Basore

Oversee Cathedrals in larger towns and cities. They are given a degree of political authority which simple Tasen do not have.

Corix Basore

Oversees the main Cathedral or other temple of a Canton city. They are given more political power, and have a great deal of influence over their cantons. There is however no Corix Basore of Sorenel, as that position is held by the acting head of the church, the Lord Axius.

Cissius

The Cissius are a catch-all term for members of the High Clergy in the church. Little is known of them, other that they are highly powerful politically and within the church.

Eyes of Ascension

The Eyes of Ascension, also known simply as the Eyes, are the primary method the church has of acting in the populous. They witness and record any event deemed to be official, and act as an elite policing force of the empire. While their appearance does not directly indicate this, they seem to undergo some kind of change during their recruitment which grants them superhuman abilities. All members of the Eyes have their heads shaven, and a tattoos in an eye pattern the back of their head, on their chest, and backs of their hands.

Eyes of Inquisition

The Eyes of Inquisition are ████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████████.

Granted Divine Powers

Rumor has it higher clerics gain mysterious powers from the Lord Himself. For instance the Eyes of Ascension seem to be superhuman in many ways, not just their sometimes unsettling physical alterations. Some of the most devout clerics are also able to channel their faith into Spellweaving.

His are our Hearts, Minds, and Hands

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Alternative Names

The Church,

Deities

• The Ascended

Related Ranks & Titles

• Eye of Ascension