Post by exasior on Nov 20, 2016 0:41:42 GMT
The Church of The Golden Spear
Virtues and Sins
The Codex Sanctum remains the primary guide for how a good member of the Church should live their life. By the book's standards, virtues include charity, honour, kindness, loyalty, chastity, and patience. A good member of the church will abide by the word of their current Grand Prophet, who offers the "true" interpretation of the mysterious Codex Sanctum.
On the opposite side of the spectrum, the Codex Sanctum, as interpreted by the Council of High Priests, list lechery, envy, decadence, and greed as cardinal sins.
Organisation
The Church has a formal clergy comprised primarily of humans who have dedicated their life to living out the doctrine of God. At the top of the hierarchy is the Grand Vicar of Prophets, he who is believed to be closest to god. The Grand Vicar of Prophets decides the duties and missions that the church must undertake, and can impose new rules for his flock to follow. Directly beneath His Holiness are his bishops, who number fifty, and are in charge with serving as representatives for the church in ordained territories under church influence. Serving the bishops are clerics, and priests. The former are often equipped with cowl and mail, wandering the world in the hopes that by slaying evildoers, they will be granted their place in heaven. Many clerics are ex-criminals seeking redemption, aiming to wash away their sins through this martial service to god. Priests on the other hand primarily reside in monasteries and towns, proselytizing to the masses, conducting marriages, and writing books.
The Afterlife
According to the Codex Sanctum, the church's most holy text, when a person dies their soul wanders the plains of Limbo as their past deeds are weighed. If one has lived a sinful life, they will feel the earth crumble beneath them as they are cast into the fiery brimstone of Hell. However, if they have been pious and lived closely by the teachings of their priest, they will instead ascend to Heaven.
Holy Sites
The Church has two major holy sites to which many faithful will pilgrimage. The first is the City Rhutan, which is notably for being the home of the Grand Vicar of Prophets, and the Golden Spear. The second is The Lord's Spear, a towering 200ft obelisk located in the Goran valley, its origins are unknown, but the Codex Sanctum describes it as the tool used by God when designing the world. Most pilgrims venture to Rhutan, given the difficult journey required to reach the Lord's Spear.
Festivals and Holy Days
Possibly the most popular religious festival celebrated by the followers of the Church is the Day of Renewal, a jovial festival that takes place on the spring solstice. The mythos of the Codex Sanctum says that on the solstice, Grand Vicar Ethelbert lessened tensions between the Averésian and Exedian in the eastern fringes of Aelryth by sending Averesian's food surplus to the border. Under his instruction, the men of the town were to welcome the Exedians across the border for a night of peace among people, and general revelry. While tensions between Exedians and Averesians still exist today, the original Day of Renewal served as a time to forget old grudges and simply enjoy the present.
Reasons for Belief
For the humans who live in lands influenced by the church, worshipping God is simply another part of life. Prayer before supper and mass attendance at the end of the week are habit, and often your average man can explain it no better than "it's just how it is". A clergyman might argue however that it is only human nature to want what is best for them, and so living by God's decree to avoid damnation in the depths of hell makes sense. Others may pray to God, or participate in ceremony, for a feeling of community, or to garner a purpose in life. As mentioned above, many ex-criminals seek absolution through faith and serving the church as clerics.
Relation Between Church and State
Since its very inception, the church has remained closely tied with the leadership of many different human kingdoms. It is common that human kings, princes, and dukes are all baptised into the faith at birth, and continue to live by the ideals put forward in the Codex Sanctum.
