Faith of the Heavens
The Faith of the Heavens is a very large and complex religion worshiping all the major deities of the world of Zalastor. It is spread throughout the lands of the world and is seen as the biggest religion within the world. It is mainly centered on the worship of the god Tarsen and his wife the goddess Alari as the chief deities of the twelve main gods of the world.
Divine Origins
The religion is believed to be one of the oldest within the known world. It is said to get its start with the old Kingdom of Sincara that use to occupy much of the Western Plains on the continent of Zalas. Its founders names have been lost to time but scholars believe they were a group of Sea Elves. It took a while to fully form, but once it did it spread like wildfire throughout the old kingdom, now the territory of the Listuroni Sultanate. It spread far around the world making its way to the lands of the Tangir Sultanate, Kingdom of Sildra-Tor, and Free Cities as well.
Cosmological Views
The Faith believes that the world of Zalastor was created almost entirely by the god Tarsen and his wife the goddess Alari. It is believed that they together created the land and seas of the world. After created the mass of the world they together again created the other gods of the world to assist them in ruling over their creation. After the gods they created what the faith believes is their most prized creation that being the different life of the world. They created the animals and plants and the many different sentient species. The Faith believes that venerating the gods brings good fortune and grace.
Priesthood
The priests of the faith are more complex than that of some single nation religions due to their presence throughout so much of the world. The large distance between some sects of the faith lead to difficulties in communication and centralization. Thus, the faith has organized itself into differing sects according to the nation they reside within. The general structure of the faith is that of priests, ministers and high priests all led by an apostle who lead their particular sect of the faith. The faith does not have one central figure who leads all sects and instead chooses to keep the differing sects largely independent of each other. Official figures of the faith tend to be extremely easy to identify to their quite colorful garb. Official members tend to wear an outfit with twelve main colors on it, one color for each of the different gods of the world. They tend to preside over churches but the actual names of the buildings they worship in can differ from nation to nation. There are also a special separate group of official figures within the faith called wardens. These wardens are the officials in charge of the different holy orders that the faith controls. They only are responsible to the apostle of whatever nation they preside within and thus, they are largely independent from the main body of the faith.
Political Influence & Intrigue
The Faith does not hold any political power in the nations of the world, at least in an official capacity. In reality the faith has spread itself so deeply into the different peoples of the world that a large portion of the officials in the nations where the faith is present call themselves worshippers. It is present in four of the eight major nations of the world and this presence has led the faith to becoming very wealthy and powerful. It has official sects within the lands of the Kingdom of Sildra-Tor, Listuroni Sultanate, Tangir Sultanate, and the Free Cities. The faith even has its own holy orders that it maintains and controls that are independent of any nations government although they tend to at least nominally follow a nations laws.
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