Cult of the Fallen
The Cult of the Fallen is a large religion mainly centered in the southeast of the continent of Zalas within the domain of The Dread Lords. They practice the worship of the god Bruva above all the other gods of the world. The religion is one of morbidity obsessed with death and the process of it especially in regards with ways to avoid death as through vampirism or similar means such as lichdom.
Divine Origins
The religion is thought to have gotten its start with the vampires that took over the Kingdom of Rumelia. It is believed by scholars that the vampires originally worshiped the god of death in a sort of unholy love as they themselves could not die from age. Once the undead lords took over the old kingdom they enforced their faith on their populace and everyone in the new nation had to at least nominally worship Bruva as their main god. Over time however this nominal worship has turned to real faith and worship for many of the citizens of the nation leading to whole sects of believers practicing without any enforcement by their undead rulers.
Cosmological Views
The cult does still believe in the general truth of the god Tarsen creating the world and his wife Alari and the two of them finishing creating the world, the rest of the gods, and most of the species of the world. However, the cult believes that once Bruva was created that he came to be independent of the other gods and that the power that the god Tarsen is typically seen as having over the other gods is not extended over Bruva. They believe that Bruva takes pride in those who find a solution to death through some form. They believe that is was he who gave the secrets of lichdom to the first peoples of the world and him who created the first vampire. It is thought by the cult that the ultimate form of worship is to never die whether that be by vampirism, lichdom, immortality or some other method. They believe that he cares not how one avoids death and almost seems to relish in the more clever ways people have tried and succeeded in putting off death.
Priesthood
Leaders of the cult are typically broken into a hierarchy of ranks. In order from lowest to highest it goes from priests, bishops, archbishops, high bishop, and finally the vampires themselves. Priests typically oversee smaller churches in villages or towns or serve under a higher ranked member of clergy in a large church. They typically are adorned in simple black robes without any sort of jewelry or accessories. Bishops tend to oversee either a larger church in a large town or oversee several smaller churches whose priests they direct. They tend to wear the same black robes of the priests but they are identified by a large purple raven crest on the robes. Archbishops tend to oversee the biggest churches or cathedrals in the biggest cities and there are only a handful of this rank. They are identified by wearing ornate black and purple robes with silver pedigree along with wearing a headpiece that resembles a raven. The high bishop of which there is only ever one at a time is the utmost leader of the cult aside from the vampires themselves and leads the faith in the capital city of Sibiu. He is identified by his extremely ornate purple and black robes along with lavish jewelry adorning his body, as well as a large ornate headpiece in the shape of a raven and a contraption of feathers on his back made to look like wings. The vampires are the undead rulers of the nation being the dukes of the different duchies and are seen in the cult as mythical figures and as being the very children of Bruva, thus their word is law within the faith.
Political Influence & Intrigue
The cult has essentially permeated through all levels of government within the domain of The Dread Lords. The faith essentially runs the government of most of the lands as the dukes in charge are all undead vampires who for the most part are fervent worshippers of Bruva. Because of this the mandatory worship of Bruva is enforced on all the nations citizens and worship of the god has seeped into all levels of society.
Death is but One End
Founding Date
1287 AC
Type
Religious, Organised Religion
Alternative Names
The Cult of the Dead
Demonym
Deathgivers
Leader Title
Permeated Organizations
Deities
Divines
Location
Comments