The Church of Creation
The largest of the myriad churches across Unorrea, and arguably the only one to truly reach global status (although several have reached international status) is the Church of Creation. Headquartered in the holy City of Light in Edane, the Church of Creation has thousands of locations of worship world wide ranging from roadside shrines to small town chapels to huge temples like those found in the City of Light and Amaranthine.
Structure
The Church is lead by the High Creator, a title given to the most senior of the High Priests of Solun. Each temple is managed by a High Priest, with the various chapels and parishes being under the purview of a single cleric.
Public Agenda
The Church exists to spread the light and knowledge of Solun and his Forces of Creation to all the world in preparation for Solun's return to his creations. While most of the world recognizes and believes in the Forces as gods, more than a millennium into the Age of Peace, church membership globally is at an all time low and faith in the Forces is more of a tradition now-a-days than an actual lifestyle. The majority of the clergy of the Church of Creation seek to improve these numbers and boost faith in their creator and Unorrea’s creators.
Values
The Values of the Church of Creation are summarized as follows:- All life is sacred to Solun
- Each and every one of Solun’s children is permitted to worship him and his Forces in their own way (stated often, practiced rarely)
- They believe that the Gods are not gone, but that they no longer interfere and communicate with mankind except through the High Priesthood
Assets
Although church membership may be at its lowest in recorded history, the church still has nearly a million members world wide who contrubute tithes and offerings to the church on a regular basis. Being a religion, the church is exempt from Imperial and state taxes so there exists no exact measure of the church's wealth, but its expected to be considerable considering the hundreds of charities it funds, the thousands of buildings it operates and the astronomical hiring budget for outsourcing help beyond the church's capabilities.
History
The High Creator's have constantly claimed that the church was founded by Solun himself at the dawn of the world and the church has existed in perpetuity since that time. While no one has ever disputed that, it does bear noting that records from that time are very rare and those few that we do have do not necessarily make mention of the Church of Creation itself.
Divine Origins
The Church claims that its origins began with the dawn of the world. After the Forces of Creation formed the world according to Solun's vision, and mortality was placed on the earth, mortals begged the Forces for a way to worship their god's and communicate with them. Thus it was that the Forces constructed temples to Solun where, blessed with the divine magic of creation, any mortal could pray to Solun or the Forces and be heard.
During the Age of Conflagrations, when Maferath waged his great and bloody war against the the children of Solun, Disoi used her magic to institute the power of prayer. This gave each and every mortal a magical connection with their Gods and, by uttering the intended God's name, any mortal could communicate with any God at any time and in any place.
In time, the children of Solun grew to be many, and the prayers coming to the Gods were too many to answer. And so individuals were called to serve as the God's instructors and mouth pieces and, when needed, they were given the ability to act in the name of the Forces and utilize their divine power to aid the children of Solun.
The Church itself grew around these individuals as they contructed more an more places of worship and offered miracles, teachings and blessings from the gods.
Cosmological Views
The Tome of Solun has long taught that there is not one universe, but a multiverse and that Unorrea is only one mall plane in a vast, cosmic ocean of material worlds. This is supported by the historical event known as the Concurrence, where all of the material planes in the multiverse aligned and the barriers between those worlds became almost non-existent allowing free travel between the planes. It was through the Concurrence that certain races and species not native to this world such as Tabaxi, Gnomes, Haflings and many others came to call Unorrea their home.
Every denizen of Unorrea is well aware of the multiverse, though that is not to say that they are particularly interested in it. Sure, there are many member of the Conclave Arcanus who have spent their entire lives studying the multiverse, but for the most part people are content with their existence on Unorrea and have no desire to visit or are even curious about the other planes.
Tenets of Faith
The Tome teaches us that all things in this world, whether they be for good or evil, will be made to serve Solun's purposes in the end. As such, the Tome does not outline any specific commandments for his children to follow, it is said that any guidance Solun has for his children will be given to the High Creator who should then pass his word on to the people. Even the other organized religions around the world accept this reality.
The Tome also teaches us that in general Solun's goal is to return to Unorrea in time and live among his children in peace and harmony, making the world he created his knew home and a heaven for his children. The faithful have taken this, and the High Creator agrees, to mean that it is their responsibility to prepare the world for Solun's return. Of course a pure God of creation cannot dwell in an unholy world, so the faithful work unceasingly to sanctify this world by sharing the Light of Solun and the Forces and opposing evil and wickedness wherever they can find it.
Ethics
In all aspects of life the faithful are encouraged to follow the examples provided to them of the Forces in the Tome of Solun. Throughout the Tome one can learn of the different personalities of the Forces and the attributes that were common among all of them such as: loyalty, compassion, courage faithfulness, long suffering and so on. When Maferath rose to destroy the children of Solun, the Forces expended their might to protect them. So too should all the faithful be willing to give up everything, even their very lives in defense of another person.
Likewise, any act or behavior that is indicative of the attributes of Maferath such as arrogance, selfishness, unkindness or brutality are all considered to be acting contrary to Solun's wishes. Extending even further beyond personal behaviors, any action that outright impedes or deters the church's goal of preparing the world for Solun's return is considered damning by just about everyone, faithful or not.
Worship
Worship in the Church of Creation is, for the most part, a very personal experience. There are organized meetings held every twelve days in honor of the twelves Forces and their Creations, but the chapels and temples remain open throughout the week for parishioners to come and offer their supplications, offerings, prayers and faith to the Forces in their own time and in their own way.
While most chapels only have one or possibly two clerics serving there, the temples often have several clerics in addition to the high priest present. The clergy are ever present, many of them living in the structure itself, to hear the confessions of the faithful and offer guidance and absolution.
Priesthood
The Church us run and operated by the High Creator, a position and title always held by the senior most member of the Order of the High Priests of Solun. The high priests are selected by the clergy through a process of prayer, seeking inspiration and direction from Solun himself they choose the High Priests who serve in their positions for life. When one passes, another is chosen.
The day to day routines of the church, and the operation of the many parishes and chapels around the world then fall to the purview of clerics. Clerics are men or women of all races who have been called in one way or the other by the Forces of Creation to serve them as a minister to mortals on behalf of the Forces.
In ancient times, when the children of Solun are threatened by a great evil, the Forces will imbue a mortal with their power and transform that mortal into and Avatar of creation. While no-one has seen or heard from a true avatar in centuries, the Faithful still have hope that they are called to attention when needed. Interesting enough the Church of Creation denounces any claims that Avatars are still called to this day, instead they urge the people to put their faith in the Order of the Paladins that the church has created to be defenders of the faithful and the militant arm of the church when necessary.
Granted Divine Powers
While the exact extend of their abilities or divine powers in not known by the general public, it is generally accepted that those called by the Forces of Creation or Solun are given the powers and abilities needed to perform the needed duties of their office. This translates to the ability to heal wounds and perform minor miracles for the Clergy, the ability to call upon divine magic and strength to smite evil for the Paladins and the ability to act in the name of the Force they serve for the Avatars.
This is, of course, all depending on their faithfulness. For those who abuse their holy calling, or betray their sacred oaths, their powers are stripped from them and they are left with empty shells where their holy powers once were.
Political Influence & Intrigue
Each kingdom and principality has its own disposition towards the church. While almost unanimously the church is respected and its priesthood considered valuable advisers, not every kingdom involves the church in politics as much as some others.
In Imperial Edane, for example, the church has always been a major part of the political scene. The High Creator's home and office are not only within the city, but the imperial palace as well and it is said that he sits in on every major decision the emperor makes. Likewise in Amaranthine, the high priest of the Temple of the Lady is considered a valuable adviser by the king and his guidance is often sought out regularly by the royal family. But in Ihaton, the church and state are almost completely separate and even at times at odds with one another.
None
Founding Date
Unknown
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
Demonym
None
Leader
Permeated Organizations
Location
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