The Divine Accord
Structure
Local Chapels & Shrines: Towns typically maintain small chapels devoted to multiple Aeons under one roof.
Regional Basilicas: Major cities host large basilicas that serve as centers of worship, learning, and community gatherings.
Central Synod: Representatives from each sect meet regularly to discuss doctrine, solve regional disputes, and maintain unity across The Divine Accord.
Three High Oracles: At the very peak, a triumvirate embodies the faith’s guiding voice. Each High Oracle is aligned with a primary Greater Aeon, representing one of the core sects.
The Three High Oracles
High Oracle Faelanar Torwynn (Primeval Accord)
Heritage: A Goldvale Elf of considerable age, his skin bears a sun-kissed hue and faintly glowing filigree-like markings reminiscent of delicate vines.
Demeanor & Role:
Calm, patient, and deeply attuned to natural cycles.
Oversees rituals linked to growth, seasons, and elemental harmony.
Acts as a mediator when conflicts arise over land use, resource distribution, or agricultural disputes.
Appearance:
Wears robes of leaf-green and autumn gold, embroidered with motifs of vines and swirling leaves.
Often carries a gnarled wooden staff crowned with a living Aether crystal that glows with soft emerald light.
High Oracle Kel’ohma Somnir (Pillars of Dawn)
Heritage: A Felathil (a sloth-like people) known for their slow, deliberate movements and gentle disposition.
Demeanor & Role:
Benevolent and methodical, Kel’ohma’s measured speech commands respect.
Upholds virtues of justice, protection, and diligent craft—hallmarks of the Law Bearer’s domain.
Guides a network of knightly orders and civic guardians in times of moral or ethical crisis.
Appearance:
Draped in layered, sunlit-orange robes featuring stylized symbols of the sun.
A thick cowl frames her broad face, and she often leans on an ornate staff etched with the radiant sun crest of the Law Bearer.
High Oracle Rahsaad Haroun (Umbral Assembly)
Heritage: A Rahki Human, his tanned skin reflecting the warmth of desert origins; short, dark hair and subtle scarring across his hands.
Demeanor & Role:
Quietly intense, with an air of mystery befitting the Night Mother’s domain.
Oversees rites of twilight, dreams, and the safe passage of souls.
Offers solace to those who fear death, guiding them to accept the cycles of night and renewal.
Appearance:
Typically seen in midnight-blue robes trimmed with silver crescents.
Wears a thin silver mask or half-mask during formal ceremonies, evoking the Night Mother’s symbolic visage.
These three High Oracles govern The Divine Accord in unity, ensuring no single domain eclipses the others. They meet in council to address faith-wide concerns, theological disputes, or threats to Veth’arden’s cosmic balance.
Culture
Inclusive Ethos: Town gatherings often center around the local temple, hosting communal feasts and charity events.
Temples as Sanctuaries: Architecture blends motifs from each sect—towering pillars, softly lit corridors, and living vines weaving through courtyards.
Education & Charity: Many Accord sites sponsor schools, orphanages, and hospitals, emphasizing the moral principle that a healthy society honors the gods.
Diplomatic Reach: Many rulers look to the High Oracles as moral arbiters, seeking their endorsement or guidance to legitimize new laws or treaties.
Public Agenda
Maintain Cosmic Equilibrium: Champion balanced worship and discourage extremist cults, especially those venerating the Shadows of Sin.
Preserve Sacred Knowledge: Continue copying the Accord Chronicles, safeguarding relics, and hosting scriptoriums.
Advance the Common Good: Through charity, community projects, and interfaith diplomacy, ensure the prosperity of all who dwell in Veth’arden.
Protect Devotees from Corruption: Monitor for signs of undue influence by Kalenroth’s lesser Aeons, intervening where necessary.
History
Multiple early prophets, scribes, and spiritual leaders compiled the texts now known as the Chronicles of Veth'Arden. Scribed piecemeal in the Age of Severance and preserved by countless copyists, these documents were eventually consolidated and hidden away. Preserved in hidden vaults, the Chronicles are beyond value, both monetarily and symbolically. Only the High Oracles (and a select circle of archivists) have full access to the Chronicles, which are said to contain revelations from the Aeons themselves.
Divine Origins
Scholars trace the earliest mentions of The Divine Accord back to the Age of Severance, when mortal societies sought unity in the absence of direct Aeon guidance. Fragments of sacred texts discovered within hidden vaults hint that priests of old convened to compile a single faith honoring all Aeons equally, each recognized for their domains and roles in shaping the world. Over millennia, The Divine Accord has evolved into an official, supported religion in many regions of Veth’arden.
Tenets of Faith
Reverence of All (Recognized) Aeons
Each Greater Aeon, along with their Lesser Aeons, receives due worship and respect. Worshipers honor different deities for guidance in specific endeavors—e.g., petitioning the Verdant Warden for a bountiful harvest or the Night Mother for protection in times of darkness.
Balance and Harmony
The faithful believe that the Aeons’ diverse domains must be kept in balance. Excess in one area (e.g., unbridled aggression or unfettered greed) risks chaos, while respecting each domain’s boundaries fosters harmony.
Communal Well-Being
The Divine Accord preaches that aiding others, building just societies, and embracing community virtues reflect the gods’ unity. A flourishing community honors the pantheon through collective goodwill.
Respect for Cosmic Order
Mortal life and the natural world are considered reflections of divine influence. Adherents must uphold the order that the Aeons established—protecting life, promoting growth, and combating forces that imperil Veth’arden.
Guided Yet Free
Worshipers are free to devote more attention to certain Aeons who resonate with personal callings, so long as respect for the broader pantheon remains intact.
Ethics
Ethical teachings revolve around balance—urging moderation, compassion, and responsibility. Willful disruption of this balance (e.g., unnecessary violence, cruelty, rampant greed) is considered a sin against the pantheon as a whole. Redemption often involves acts of service, piety, or pilgrimage to holy sites devoted to the relevant Aeon.
Worship
Daily Devotions: Believers frequently offer brief morning and evening prayers, lighting candles or incense at small household shrines.
Seasonal Festivals: Large public rites honor pivotal domains—harvest celebrations for the Verdant Warden, dawn processions for the Law Bearer, twilight vigils for the Night Mother, etc.
Personal Rites: From weddings to rites for the deceased, The Divine Accord frames life events with blessings from appropriate Aeons. A wedding might invoke Ferrum, The Smith (creation/bonds), and Valora, The Guardian (protection), while funerary rites call upon Morthal, The Reaper, and The Night Mother.
Priesthood
Guides of the Faithful: Priests, often called Attendants of Accord, oversee daily rituals, provide counsel, and mediate disputes under the auspices of the pantheon.
Appointment & Training: Initiates spend years studying foundational doctrines. They pledge themselves to the collective worship of the Aeons rather than a single deity.
Vestments & Symbols: The priesthood commonly wears ceremonial stoles adorned with multiple iconographic motifs—a sun insignia for the Law Bearer, a crescent for the Night Mother, leaf or vine patterns for the Verdant Warden, etc. Senior clergy bear silver or gold filigree indicating higher station.
Distinction from the Order: While all devout worshipers within The Divine Accord belong to the broader “Order of the Accord,” the priesthood itself is recognized by a special rite of consecration. They serve as spiritual leaders, officiants of major festivals, and keepers of sacred texts.
Sects
Though unified in overall doctrine, different sub-traditions focus on specific Greater Aeons and their Lesser Aeons:
Pillars of Dawn (Law Bearer)
Worshipers highlight justice, protection, and crafting. Their temples often serve as judicial centers and training grounds for righteous knights or city guards.
Umbral Assembly (Night Mother)
A more introspective sect, devoted to mysteries, dreams, and the passage of souls. Rituals are often conducted by moonlight, and devotees emphasize humility before the unknown.
Primeval Accord (Verdant Warden)
Dedicated to natural cycles—storms, winds, earth, growth. Druids and farmers commonly revere this sect, seeing in it the breath of life sustaining all creatures.
Shadows of Sin (Kalenroth’s Three Lesser Aeons)
Although newly formed (within the last twenty years), these dark deities—Malleus, Varena, and Drallen—are explicitly barred from worship within official Accord temples. Individual cults to these “Shadows of Sin” are banned, though rumors persist of clandestine gatherings in remote places.
“In all domains shines the divine; by many paths, the Aeons guide us home.”
Founding Date
There is no definitive founding date; records suggest that the religion’s earliest formation occurred during the Age of Severance. Over millennia, its doctrines crystallized into a cohesive system of worship.
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
Alternative Names
"The Aeonic Faith" , "The Unified Pantheon" , "The Great Congregation"
Demonym
Faithful of the Accord
Ruling Organization
Leader Title
Permeated Organizations
Deities
- Aurelius, The Sun Knight
- Feloria, The Fallen Star
- Ferrum, The Smith
- Fulmentas, The Lord of Storms
- Morthal, The Reaper
- Noxara, The Shadow Maiden
- Sylphara, The Wind Dancer
- Terranus, The Earth Shaper
- The Law Bearer: The Gilded King
- The Night Mother
- The Verdant Warden: The Stag Lord/Lady
- Valora, The Guardian
