From Aparsus

Current revision as of 07:55, 22 February 2008

[edit] Overview

The Church of Saint Alyss (herein called the Alyssian Church) is the dominant religion throughout the Pharosian Heartlands - having overtaken and subsumed older religious traditions in the region, largely due to the fervour of the Alyssian faithful. Alyssians preach a message of compassion, courage and dedication. Pharosian culture being what it is they rarely conflict with other faiths (called the Old Roads in local Pharosian parlance), but there is a certain level of political in-fighting and competition between the Alyssians and the Old Roads.

[edit] History

The church has spread throughout Pharos, but its origins are in the northern city-state of Keseret, which sits near the Cold Marshes, one of the most dangerous regions in the Heartlands. The people of Keseret had long lived under the threat of attack from the beast races that dwell in the Cold Marsh, and barbarians assaulting through the narrow Pass of Janis until a great warrior-queen rose up among them, a sorceress named Alyss who turned her skill, talent and considerable will toward the defense of her people. Alyss reigned for nearly a hundred years, according to legend, and was entombed in the Catacomb of the White Rose beneath the Royal Palace in Keseret.

During her long reign, Alyss worked closely with the local temples of the Three - the patron Goddesses of Keseret - and forged the religions into a single whole. After she died, her daughter was named the first High Priestess of the Alyssian Church, and Alyss herself was made the first Saint of the Church. Alyss' descendants would rule Keseret for nearly two centuries as Queen and High Priestess, until the reign of Cevelis the Virginal, known as the Childless Queen; who herself was Sainted for her tireless efforts to improve the lot of the Kesereti.

After Cevelis was interred alongside her ancestors in the Catacombs, the Alyssian Church was without strong leadership - the torch having been passed to an Elder Council of bickering high priests - while Keseret itself grew stronger under the sure hand of the Regent Tamrune Felisa. As the Church began to crumble, however, a sorcerer named Ansem appeared in Keseret, bearing a prophecy that stated that the Demonbinder, Alyss I, would be reborn to usher in a new golden age of peace and prosperity over all of Pharosia.

Caught up in his fervour, the Alyssian Church underwent a revival, and Ansem became the first Hierophant of the church. Under Ansem, the church reunited and became to proselytize with renewed fervour. Over the coming years, it would grow throughout the Heartlands until there were Alyssian temples in every city and wayside shrines along every road.

[edit] The Divine

The Church of Saint Alyss is devoted to a hierarchical view of the divine. Sitting at the top of the hierarchy is the Wyrd, the distant and unknowable creator of the universe, who controls fate and directs the course of all things. Alyssians do not, in the strictest sense, worship the Wyrd. Instead, they acknowledge that the Wyrd is the fundament upon which all other things are built. The Alyssian Church, then, is devoted to understanding that fundament, and seeking for the answers to life's greatest questions within that understanding. This pursuit of understanding is facilitated by the Three, once the patron goddesses of Keseret, now the goddesses of all the Heartlands.

[edit] The Passions

The Three, most commonly known as the Passions, provide wisdom and guidance to their faithful, helping them to understand, or at least accept, the will of the Wyrd. They are also considered to be muses and the source of innovation and civilization, and many ascribe most - if not all - of the great Pharosian cultural accomplishments to the Passions, who are said to inspire the truly gifted to even greater heights.

[edit] Vyra Ravenmane

Vyra Ravenmane is the Passion of law and oaths. In her primary aspect, she is worshiped as sanctifying the trust between a monarch and her people, but is often invoked in order to lend weight to more mundane contracts - such as business deals and marriages. For this reason, she is often regarded as the goddess of commerce and wealth. Those who would make or keep the law honour Vyra for her wisdom and justice, and the Vyrian Order - those priests who've devoted themselves wholly to Vyra - retain the right, to this day, to appoint the Regent of Keseret, in accordance with the will and wisdom of their deity.

[edit] Kaila Sparrowheart

Kaila Sparrowheart is the Passion of art and beauty, chaste love, devotion and honor. Those who would seek to walk the noble path of knighthood call on her blessing, and she is also the patron of artists, craftsmen and musicians. The Knights of the White Rose, a lay order devoted to the Sparrowheart, have protected the Regents of Keseret since the days of the Childless Queen, serving with distinction as the bodyguards of royalty and nobility throughout Pharos. Kaila is also the Passion most closely associated with the concept of "courtly love", a tradition of chaste love first laid out in the long poem "Sparrowheart", written by Antonian of Metrobia, a priest of the Kailian Order.

[edit] Elyne Falconblade

The Falconblade is the Passion of fire and invention, but also war and death. She is the patron goddess of both soldiers and scholars, as well as sorcerers and poets. The Elynian Order is known for having some of the brightest minds and strongest arms in all of the Heartlands, and they have commanded the guard of the Hierophant since the position was created by Ansem I. Elyne, as the Passion of, well, passion, is known also as the patron of prostitutes and lovers. The long saga "The Book of Sapphire", which is made up of three long poems, tells the story of Elyne's pursuit of the Sparrowheart, and how her love for the Virgin Passion birthed the divine fire into the world.

[edit] The Seven Holy Saints

Beneath the Passions sit the Seven Holy Saints - mortal Pharosians who, for their great deeds, earned immortality in the afterlife in order to watch over the mortal flocks that they once led. The Seven still minister to their flock, bound as ghosts into their holy relics and shrines, and it is their duty to test candidates for the position of Hierophant and choose the priest most able to take that position when the time comes.

[edit] Saint Alyss Demonbinder

Saint Alyss is the first of the Holy Saints. An ancient queen of Keseret, she was a sorceress, a warrior and a valiant hero of many tales. In her time, she bound a Demon Prince to her will, drove the Goblin King back through the Cold Marsh and killed Two Bears of the Great Forest. Her rule, according to the legends of the Alyssian Church, was characterized by justice, fairness and a lasting peace. She is, as a result, the patron saint of rulers, upon whose name the kings and queens of the Pharosian City-States are crowned.

[edit] Saint Cevelis the Virginal

The Childless Queen Cevelis was the last Queen of Keseret and the last hereditary High Priestess of the Alyssian Church. Though she never married, never had any children and - indeed - never took a concubine of any sort, her reign was characterized by her compassion and her desire to better the lives of all Kesereti. Saint Cevelis is responsible for many of the reforms that spread throughout Keseret - such as equal rights for men, and the abolition of hereditary slavery. She is the patron of the poor and the needy.

[edit] Saint Ansem the Seer

Ansem was a Kesereti sorcerer of little renown before he began having visions of the future. Visions that he claim came from the Wyrd and the Three, which told of Alyss' return and the Great Age of Peace. His visions revitalized the Alyssian church after its decline following the death of the Childless Queen, and he was the church's first Hierophant. Ansem is the patron saint of sorcerers, priests and the mad.

[edit] Saint Tera Blacksail

Tera was a captain in the Queen's Legions of Keseret during the reign of Regent Amelia II, when Skyllian pirates raided the Pharosian city-states heavily. She made her name as a pirate-chaser, for her sloop - the Pearl of Alyss - bore midnight black sails which were said to be enchanted to always catch the most favourable winds. She was sainted after a last compassionate act, whereby she gave her life to liberate five Skyllian ships full of kidnapped Pharosian slaves, and drove the Skyllian pirate-king Barbaradas back to the Shining Sea. Saint Tera is the patron saint of sailors and slaves.

[edit] Saint Emia The Red

The patron saint of scholars, Saint Emia the Red - for whom the Emian Library at the Trinia University in Keseret is named - was a learned adventurer and explorer, whose discoveries and innovations improved the lot of all Pharosians. Though no one single event stood out, she achieved sainthood instead for a lifetime of service to the people and the faith, and many of the rare books contained within the Emian Library were first discovered by her.

[edit] Saint Tania Everstrong

Saint Tania is actually the second saint to be canonized, during the reign of Alyss' daughter, Queen Perinwy I. Tania was a soldier in the Queen's Legions who, when her commanders were killed by the attack of a goblin sorcerer during the Cold Marsh campaigns, took control of her cohort and engaged the enemy for three long weeks until Queen Alyss arrived at the head of the mustered forces of Keseret. For her endurance, leadership and dedication, Tania was named the saint of soldiers and warriors upon her death.

[edit] Saint Paolos of Mauritain

Saint Paolos of Mauritain is the only non-Kesereti saint, having been born far to the south, where he made his living as a farmer and vintner. These are not the things that he is remembered for however, but rather his poetry, which captured within it - according to those who read it - the very essence of what it was to be Pharosian and the very nature of the Passions themselves. His sainthood came due to his extensive body of work, and he is the patron saint of poets, astrologists and shepherds.

[edit] Canon, Tenets and Dogma

The Canon of the Alyssian Church is known as the Books of Truth, the original copies of which are located in the Great Cathedral of St. Alyss in Keseret. The first of these books are the Book of the Wyrd - a long poem detailing the creation of the world as the Wyrd spun it into being - and the Proverbs of the Three - three books of sayings and wisdom attributed to the Passions. After these come the long poems "Sparrowheart" and the Books of Sapphire, which form the love story of Elyne and Kaila. These first eight books are known as the Libris Octem.

Next are the Annals of Keseret, which detail the history of Keseret and Pharos from the time that the first settlers crossed the Mountains of the Broken Crown to the beginning of the reign of Queen Alyss Demonbinder. The Annals contribute another dozen books to the canon. After the annals come the 35 books of the Lives of the Saints, which detail the lives and deeds of the saints, including most of the poems of Saint Paolos. In total, there are 55 books in the holy canon of the Alyssian Church.

The Alyssian Church's message is ultimately one of compassion, dedication, and courage. People are entreated to put the good of their fellow Aelferic before themselves. Curiosity, scholarship and and innovation are encouraged, and the church is responsible for the education of the majority of Pharosian citizens.

[edit] Priests and Lay Orders

The priesthood of the Alyssian church is open solely to women and homosexual men, but only priests who devote themselves to the Kailian Order or the Order of St. Cevelis are required to take vows of celibacy in honour of their deities. All other orders of priesthood are allowed marriage. There are, essentially, three types of temples in the Alyssian order: The cathedrals that lie at the heart of every major city in the Heartlands, which house priests of every order, as well as lay knights; shrines sitting on the roadside and in small villages, which are usually tended to by one or two priests, or perhaps a small order; and monasteries, which are tended to by priests of one order, as well as associated laymen who take the title of monk.

Priests take the term Father or Mother when they enter the church, while lay priests are known as Brothers and Sisters. Above priests sit the ranks of Questors, who administer the larger cathedrals and monasteries, as well as the shrines in the surrounding regions. Above the Questors sit the Elder Council, who advise and assist the Hierophant. Organization is relatively fluid, especially at the lower levels, with a strong emphasis on relative experience and wisdom over strict ranks.

Lay Orders exist for those who cannot or will not take up the vows of priesthood - which include pacifism and may include celibacy. The most common Lay Orders are the Temple Knights, warrior orders devoted to the protection of the faith and the faithful. These include the Knights of the Rose, who are devoted to Kaila, and the Knights of the Burning Hand, a radical order devoted to Elyne and Saint Tera that preaches the complete abolition of slavery and opposes all forms of what it sees as tyranny and oppression, often violently.