Oh, hello! I don't believe we've been introduced to each other properly.
Yep, I'm the priest on our little outing. Well, presbyter actually, but most care little for the difference.
Ah, so you wish for me to tell you of the church?
The New Church specifically, or the Old as well?
Both?
That's fine by me, of course!
Well, where would you like me to start? Truly? As if you had never been...
Ah, there is no shame in that! I understand that even for noble sons, the prospect of sitting through hours of lectures about faith in stuffy rooms is a boring one, let alone the one-sided nature of the lessons!
Mayhaps a lighter conversation in the fresh mountain air will be better for your learning?
Yes? Excellent! Well, no time like the present, right?
Okay. The faith as a whole is known as the Agiathos in High-Klironomean, which serves as the official language of the church. It is the single largest religion in the known world, with followers ranging as far as the tundras and forests north of the Aenir and as far south as the Aleman Hinterlands. The origin of the church, which I'll start our impromptu lesson with, is one of the only things every single one of the myriad branches of the church agree upon:
The story goes that once, long ago, our world was sundered in an era of what seemed to be unending darkness. Great monsters preyed on the world of men, creatures the likes of which even the dragons and umbra paled in comparison to. The unrelenting tide of darkness threatened to topple the order of man, and return our kind to the dust.
Fittingly, it is known as the Age of Silence, for there is little to nothing left from that time to inform us of what truly transpired then.
But what we do know is that from this age of unremitting strife arose a figure of hope and salvation. He was no god, no false idol; he was a man, as pure and true as any who have lived. It was he who united the disparate pagan tribes and nations under the banner of mankind, sundering the darkness and bringing back the light.
And for his most holy and pious actions, the pagans he had saved hanged him by the neck, for he is said to have rejected their gods and idols. When his mother spoke out in grief they crucified her, and even with her dying breath she begged her departed son to forgive them, so pure was her heart.
The faithful did not forget. They revered their hero, and his blessed mother, and called him the First Saint. He ascended to the heavens upon his death, and whilst no god watched over mankind one was never needed, for there was now the greatest of all men to watch over the world.
Of course, that is the New Church's, or Alithini Agiathos', view of events. Well, the New Church and the minor sects derived from it, I suppose.
Oh, of course! I've been well educated in the beliefs of every sect of the faith, be it New or Old, major or minor.
Why, certainly! I'd be most happy to tell you about all of them!
You will tell me if you get bored of me talking, won't you?
The Old Church, or Ybridica Agiathos, shares much the same story as the New, but with a few key differences. The Old Church follows the belief that seven Angels granted the First Saint their blessings, and bore him to the heavens to rule as their sovereign for eternity.
Now, for historical context, this retelling of events was first brought about in a mainstream fashion when Saint Arwald hybridised the faith of the old Klironomeans with the pagan religions of the Skraelings, though there are some records stating that loosely associated groups held a rough approximation of these beliefs for quite some time before it became an official branch of the faith.
Of course, there are organisational differences between the two, as well as the practices they engage in, but for the most part the Old and New churches have become one and the same in Klironomea over the last thousand years.
Yes, I must admit that such a retelling, with Angels and blessings and the like, captures the imagination of the listener far better than the New Church's version does, though I also believe that the story of human cooperation, forgiveness, and overcoming the odds hold far greater moral value when pinned on the innate good within our fellow man, and not otherworldly creatures assisting us.
Even so, I will not attempt to refute the Angel's positions in the church, even if my kind do not believe in them. They have become so intertwined with Klironomean culture that even many here who purport to be followers of the New Church still pray to them and believe in their existence.
So yes, in short the main difference between the Old and New churches are the inclusion of the Seven Angels in the Pantheon of Saints.
It may seem a trifling thing, but within priestly-circles it is a huge difference.
After all, if the First Saint needed to be helped by divine beings, then he was merely a normal man, as flawed as anyone else.
If he did not require aid, then he must have been a truly infallible and mighty hero indeed.
See where the disputes might come from now?
The Seven Angels are actually derived from the old pagan faith known as the Corvid Pantheon.
Within their pantheon there are seven deities, and each of our angels are rough analogies to them. In this way Agia Arwald was able to make the faith far less foreign and strange to the local Skraelings, and so they were far more receptive to his words.
Mayhaps there is merit to what they say? Who am I to tell you which branch of the faith is true?
Oh Saints no! I have no intention of swaying you one way or the other; I have my own beliefs, but you must decide yours on your own, otherwise it isn't true belief, merely indoctrination.
Sorry, it wasn't my intention to begin a rant.
The seven Angels are as follows:
Aenethar, Angel of Death and Dreams.
Anawroth, Angel of War and Honour.
Arnka, Angel of the Hunt and the Wilds.
Demea, Angel of the Harvest and Fertility.
Hydran, Angel of the Seas and Stars.
Morna, Angel of Smithing and Stone.
Finally there is Polaris, Angel of Learning and the Stars.
The seven Angels are no longer simply a religious facet; nowadays they are as intertwined in the culture of Klironomea as the First Saint himself.
What else is there to speak of... hmm, I think that about covers the Old Church at a surface level... ah, I know, holy days!
The other thing every branch has in common are the holy days celebrated across the breadth of the faith's territories. Summer and winter solstice are both celebrated, though more as festivals than as truly religious ceremonies. Nonetheless, the church presides over such events all the same.
All Hallow's Eve is perhaps both the most sombre and celebratory of the holy days.
The masses and rulers alike light candles and give food freely to any who may need it, as a way of ensuring that any wayward spirits of the departed know that they are still remembered and welcomed amongst the world of the living. It is a ceremony equal parts revelry and remembrance.
Will you be in Anaria on the last day of the tenth moon? You will? Well, of course it depends on how long this expedition takes, silly, but you know what I mean!
Splendid! I must insist you partake in the celebrations! To celebrate All Hallow's Eve in the capital is an experience unlike any other!
Ah, but I'm getting ahead of myself, sorry.
The last of the four major holy days is that of the Day of Ascent. It marks the beginning of the Church Calendar, as well as the subsequent Klironomean Calendar that most of the civilised world uses to mark time now.
Whether the collapse of Klironomea and Terranea can truly be said to have occurred on the Day of Ascent is unknown, but it is unlikely we will ever know.
Still, assuming it did, it makes keeping track of dates easier on both calendars, since there is no difference in day or month, only the year.
Anyway, back on track.
The Day of Ascent is less of a celebration than the others days, and depending on your social status you are expected to attend between four and fourteen hours of prayer and sermons, for it is on the Day of Ascent that the First Saint was hanged by the neck by the pagans who rejected his message. The days preceding and following tend to be filled with cheer and mirth, though much of the actual Day of Ascent is spent in penance and prayer.
Less cheerful, I know, but no less important for it. Indeed, it is arguably the most important of the church's holy days.
Would you still like me to tell you of the minor sects of the church? I understand if not, you're probably bored after listening to-
You would? That's great, thanks! It isn't often people willingly sit and listen to a glorified monologue like this.
I'll start with those derived from, or rather linked to, the New Church, if it pleases you. There are less of them than the Old Church has anyway, far less.
There are only two minor sects of the New Church of note; the Aematus Agiathos and Agiathos Epithymounterus may not be large faiths anymore, but both of them predate the New Church by many centuries, and each has acted as the other's bitter enemy for just as long.
The Aematus Agiathos is known in low-klironomean as the Church of Bloodied Purity, a title its adherents bear with pride. It is on its proverbial last legs in the current age, thank the Saints, for there are few beliefs as vile and twisted as those they purport to hold.
The Church of Bloodied Purity was one of the first distinct sects of the Church of the First Saint to appear, originating in the old Kingdom of Terranea in the fourth century BD. They held the fervent belief that only those of Terranean blood could truly reach the heavens as only they were truly 'human' and had souls, and as a result keeping people of other races enslaved would not be sinful, as they were not 'human'. In the centuries since the War of the Sundering and the Coming of the Winged Ones it has lost much of its following, thank the Saints once more, for all worship in Ibaenea and Dathan has long since ended, and only the city-states of Tilda maintain a large body of worship.
Distressingly however, large portions of the Tildan upper classes prescribe to its worship, keeping to the blessed purity of their noble, pure, slave-driving ancestors.
On the other side of the coin lies the Agiathos Epithymounterus, the Church of those who Desire Freedom. A decentralised and often underground sect of the faith with, its origins can be found in the lowborn, the enslaved, and the oppressed.
The Church of those who Desire Freedom is a sect that, whilst once major, has seen a significant drop in adherents in the last few centuries. This is not due to foreign missionaries or persecution, but simply because it is less needed; In the centuries since the War of the Sundering and the Sotenari Disaster slavery has gradually become rarer and rarer, as more and more of the world gives up the old ways and ensures that no man lives with a yoke about his neck.
As mentioned it is a highly decentralised faith, with no single 'correct' way to worship or pray.
Even though much of the world has cast off the shackles of slavery, the same cannot be said of the Tildan Peninsula, where the majority of their petty realms and city-states still keep slaves.
With their work unfinished, the Church of those who Desire Freedom endures in grassroots, underground movements, where its followers gather around secret firepits and groves at night to grasp at whatever messages of hope they can.
The 'priests' of this sect have often never read a holy book in their lives, and many are illiterate, so instead they recall the deeds of the pious and the righteous through a longstanding oral tradition. Tales of the Carpenter's Son, the First Saint, have been passed down from generation to generation with the hopes that one day they will be able to show their faith in the light, rather than hide in the dark.
Yes, their priests are often uneducated, that much is true, and many of the tales they tell are far removed from what we might consider 'orthodox'. But you know what? I think out of all the sects of the faith, they deserve respect more than any other; They do not lash out with violence at their oppressors, they do not attack simply to satiate anger. They fight only to protect each other, and meet only to kindle hope in one another.
At the end of the day, is that not what faith is for?
As previously mentioned, there are a great many more minor sects of the Old Church than the new. Many relate to the Angels, perhaps venerating one over the others, or even rejecting the Saints entirely.
Others are... less simple. Or more simple, depending on your view of things, I guess.
What do I mean? Well, how's this for an example.
One of the most... I hesitate to use the word blasphemous for I do not wish to claim to know which way of worshipping is true, but if the Silverian Church turns out to be correct then we've been doing this wrong the whole time. As in, about as wrong as possible.
No, honestly, you'll probably think I'm joking when I tell you of their worship.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Alright, don't say I didn't warn you.
Quick history quiz: what was King Arwald III famous for?
Okay, 'being deposed by his military aristocracy' wasn't what I was going for, but you aren't wrong.
What I was referring to was the reason he was deposed, the straw that broke the camel's back, so to speak: he subverted the church and created his own variant of the faith.
What did it entail? Oh boy.
The Silverian Church was a sect of the Agiathonic faith created by King Arwald III as an excuse to engage in limitless hedonism; he held nightly feasts whilst his people starved, orgies with anyone that took his fancy at court whilst raiding parties stole people away in the night, and tournaments and melees while foreign warbands razed towns to ash with impunity.
Hedonism and indulgence were worship, to him. After all, he claimed, mankind was pure, and so did not have to fear their souls being lost for what he termed, 'simple pleasures'.
Is it any wonder he is remembered less-than-fondly as the 'Manic King'?
Whilst it may be actively persecuted on paper, many of its private adherents are either wealthy noblemen, prominent merchants or influential upper-clergymen, and so in reality its persecution is only lightly enforced.
Thankfully they remain a fringe group at best.
The Ichorian Cult are a far more palatable group than the Silverians. They do not deviate much from the scripture of the Old-Church, merely believing that the last King of Klironomea was the First Saint come again.
The Aixop Agiathos venerates King Harald II as the reincarnation of the Carpenter's Son. This cult is one of the only minor sects that the two major denominations, the Old and New Churches, considered an accepted deviation from theological and liturgical canon, and so small pockets of believers can be found across the entire Heptarchy. This acceptance is in part due to the fact that King Harald II is not only an Agia, or Saint, but also a common folk-hero and symbol of the old glories of the Klironomoi before the Old-Kingdom's collapse.
It also helps that one of the most feared knightly orders in the world make up their backbone; the Order of the Bloody Cross all but founded the religion after the disastrous Battle of the Broken King, when they bore Harald II back to Klironomea after fighting through an entire army to recover his corpse.
A noble, just faith if ever there was one.
Hmm, which one would you like to hear of next?
The Dragon Cult? Certainly, though I recommend you not refer to them as such in front of any of their clergy. They're a proud bunch, with a storied history. Though they may be minor now, with the dragons long gone from this world, they were at one time the single largest denomination of the faith, eclipsing even the Old and New churches.
To its followers it is known as the Cult of the Ampithere-Worship, which, In High-Klironomean and theological circles, is the Drakotheous Agiathos.
When dragons still stalked the world, butchering entire armies and torching cities on a whim, inevitably they inspired worship in those that beheld them. Over time these cults and faiths were stamped out as the last dragons left the world, but a few small bands of worshippers still remain to this day, awaiting the return of their masters. Many different faiths surrounding dragons sprang up whilst they still lived, but one of the only ones to survive to this day is that of the Ampithere-Worship, who hybridised their beliefs with those of the Old-Church.
They believe that it was not seven Angels who granted holy powers to the First Saint, but seven Dragons, with hides thicker than any armour and breath of purifying flame to burn away the darkness of the Age of Silence.
As the memory of these dark days fades away, so too does the Cult of the Ampithere-Worship, clinging on in only the most remote hamlets and farmsteads of Klironomea. Wherever the worship of these fire-breathing creatures is found, it is usually persecuted by the major sects of the church, who remember all too well when this minor denomination usurped their positions of power, and aren't keen to risk it happening again.
Yeah, I'm not a big fan of worshipping giant monsters either. These are the cults your tutors probably never told you about, am I right?
Heh, thought so. I think they're interesting, even if I don't agree with their beliefs.
I'm glad you do as well. You aren't bored yet?
No? I'm glad for that as well. Again, tell me if you do get bored, I won't hold it against you.
Thanks, that's nice of you to say!
Actually, speaking of giant monster worshipping faiths, what about the Archaearchonian Agiathos? If you found the Cult of Ampithere-Worship interesting you'll definitely find this one fascinating, though perhaps even more of a morbid fascination than the last one.
The Church of the Ancients have been around for a very long time. Longer than most denominations of the faith, anyway.
As the dragon worshippers proved, despite the horrors they can unleash upon the world of man, there will always be those that look to monsters and see divinity rather than devilry.
Can you guess where this is going? Can you guess what the Archaearchonian Agiathos, the Church of the Ancients, worships?
Yep. No, I'm being serious. Yeah, they actually think it's a good idea, or at least the best of a bunch of bad ideas.
No, don't worry, I had about the same reaction as you when I was taught about them.
It makes sense in a certain light; the Umbra have existed for time immemorial, and have been enshrined in the myths and legends of almost every culture on the planet.
Whilst I would never seek to discriminate based on belief alone, even I have a hard time reconciling their beliefs with my own.
This denomination of the faith is viewed with distrust and often outright hatred by almost every other sect of the faith, even the Dragon-Worshippers, and as such they are commonly forced to operate underground, and are the targets of a huge portion of Holy-Inquisitorial work.
I don't understand why they worship monsters either, but then I suppose it must make sense to them.
Okay, still with me after all that? Good. Next we've got the cults centred around individual Angels within the pantheon: the cults of Anawroth, Aenethar and Hydran are some of the largest minor sects of the faith, each carving out their own little niche amongst different parts of the Klironomean population.
They are more mystic-focused branches of the faith than the others. There are three denominations or cults of note here: the Cult of Anawroth, the Silent Cult, and the Cult of the Deep Waves.
I'll start with the Cult of Anawroth, known amongst scholarly circles as the Agiathos Yperoxi Anawroth.
Not that you'd find many scholars in its ranks.
The Cult of Anawroth is not technically a separate faith from the mainstream Old-Church, after all, Anawroth is often taken as the personal deity of soldiers, bandits, brigands and knights. What can make it dangerous is its tendency to completely side-line the other members of the Angelic Pantheon.
The Cult of Anawroth in its purest form rejects the other Angels as being weak and fickle, and elevates those who worship Anawroth above all others in society. Only professional soldiers and knights are permitted to worship Anawroth under the gaze of the extremists, resulting in highly militarised societies with a martial culture, though one that also tends to discriminate against large portions of its population in a might makes right, borderline survival of the fittest setting.
Whilst the mainstream cult, that is to say those who have taken Anawroth as a personal deity, is both legal and a pillar of the faith, its extreme form tends to be looked down upon wherever it springs up, with the exception of the Kingdom of Triarios, where historically the state religion tends to shift back and forwards between the Ybridica Agiathos and the Agiathos Yperoxi Anawroth every few decades.
Next comes Aenethar's followers.
The Silent Cult, or the Athorybe Agiathos Aenethar, is one of the oldest accepted sects of the Old-Church, worshipping the Angel of Death, Aenethar, before all others. Historically a rather minor sect, it tends to see large renewals every time the Black Grave sweeps through the world, leaving grieving families and traumatised survivors in its wake.
These epidemics cause many to turn to the Angel of Death, praying to ensure that they may see their loved ones shepherded through to the afterlife peacefully.
One belief held only by the most extreme and fervent wings of this sect is that that the other six Angels are dead, and having guided them to paradise only Aenethar remains to shepherd humanity through to the next life. These sects even claim to know how to work out the nature of the deaths of the other six Angels, though the only one is 'known' to them; they say that Anawroth, Angel of War, fell in the Battle of the Broken King, the martial spirit of the Klironomoi dying with him. These sects tend to be treated less as members of the Silent Cult and more as individual groups of lunatics by the main churches, who wish them not to ever be associated with the most faithful of all the Angels.
Finally, and perhaps most bizarrely, there is the Agiathos Kymatavathi; the Cult of the Deep Waves is a relatively minor cult residing mainly along the coastal regions of the Heptarchy and north-western Ibaenea, as well as being one of the only sects of the Church of the Saint to hold a presence on the northern banks of the river Aenir.
Most of its followers are sailors and fishermen, seeing as his primary domain is the ocean, though a great many astronomers in the western kingdoms of the Heptarchy also worship him, seeing as the stars are split between him and the Angel Polaris.
It is a strange faith that believes the aquatic Umbra to be cruel and capricious minor gods, with the Angel Hydran acting their bane and protector of the world.
Along with the claim that the Angel Hydran and the Umbra are both forces of the divine, they say that when the oceanic Umbra are roused from their slumber great storms appear, reaching their climax whenever Hydran faces off with one of the wayward gods of the depths and finally ending when the monster is cast back down to the deepest parts of the sea.
It is their belief that humanity must prepare itself for darkness, for one day Hydran shall flag and fail, and then the world will be engulphed in a storm that will never end, washing away the world of man in a tide of freezing waters and ancient nightmares.
A strange but not malicious set of beliefs, would you not agree?
Names? Oh, you mean the rumours around our taking new names?
Nah, my name is the same as its always been. While it is true that some branches of the church require their clergy to take on new names, they are few and far between.
The only sects I know of that actually do this are the Cult of Ampithere-Worship and the Cult of the Deep Waves. I'm unsure why, I think it's just tradition.
No, I get your confusion, don't worry. If you haven't spent much time around the low-Klironomoi many of their names certainly sound like they're inspired by religious figures or myths, but no. Most times it's simply because their names are remnants from the old Skraeling language, so when you or I who descend from a different culture, language-wise at least, hear them they sound very different to our own.
Of course there are outliers and isolated cases, but a good rule of thumb within the church is if they're a part of the Ampithere-Worshippers or Hydran's Cult then their name is probably not the one they were born with, and if they aren't from those two groups then their name is almost always what was given to them at birth.
Hm? The Cult of the Choir? That's just an old myth, a faetale to frighten children.
Oh, sorry, I don't mean to belittle you for wanting to know! It's just that I don't think there's much for me to say.
Alright, if we assume they existed at all in the first place, then associating them with the myriad of other cults is insulting to their followers. The cult is... was... would have been? I'm going to go with 'would have been'.
The cult would have been known as the Ermetathos Theosarka, and if you believe the tales, then it was not 'worship' that they offered the divine, and not only do they not worship the First Saint, he isn't even mentioned in any of the Choir's tales!
The Cult of the Choir believed that there was only one Angel, Aenethar, who they said was the progenitor of the Umbra. They believed that, if they could kill enough of Aenethar's supposed children, they could draw the deity into the physical world, whereupon they would be able to kill them and dine upon their flesh, learning all the secrets of the world and ascending to godhood.
Most, aside from the Silent Cult and Church of the Ancients, regard them as little more than a faetale to frighten misbehaving children, or an ancient sect long since gone from Anamanesis if indeed it ever existed at all.
Though if the rumours of their demise are unfounded and they truly still exist, who knows what sort of madness they would be willing to partake in to achieve godhood?
Of course being someone of your profession you likely know all about the various holy orders of the church, but I feel it still bears mentioning a few of them.
There are a hundred minor orders and bands sworn to the New Church, but there are none that truly stand out as some of their cousins in the other faiths.
The two most famous holy orders are probably the Order of the Bloody Cross and Order of the Hanged Martyr.
The Order of the Bloody Cross was formed, as I mentioned, in the wake of the Battle of the Broken King in the Year of Desolation, where the last king of Klironomea, Harald II, fell in battle.
Klironomea shattered into what would become the Heptarchy, but a group of knights were able to reach their fallen king's body and bore him back to his place of birth, where he is still venerated as the reincarnation of the First Saint to this day.
Yep, that's how the Ichorian Cult came about.
As for the Order of the Hanged Martyr, they instead follow the Old Church, as you likely know. They focus less on 'traditional' knightly skills and more on hunting in the deep wilds and tracking across rough terrain. Not common pastimes amongst knights, as I understand it.
Ranged combat is rarely practiced by knights, let alone encouraged.
Perhaps Ser Romanos could tell you more about the various knightly orders, if you are interested? The order he leads may be secular in nature, but he still should know a great deal about those orders and their traditions.
On the topic of continuing these conversations, if you would like to know more about the Old Church and its denominations I heard we are to pick up a member of a nearby monastery soon. If you are still interested, perhaps it would be good to speak with whomever that turns out to be and get their point of view on the faith as well?
Either way, it has been nice speaking with you properly, Ser.
Oh, you aren't a knight yet? A squire, you say?
Well I for one look forwards to seeing you knighted. Hopefully you remember me when you recite your vows!
Oh don't be so humble Eros, you'll be a knight in no time.
My name? Oh, how rude of me! I do so apologise! I was so wrapped up in my explanations that I forgot to even properly introduce myself!
I am Nasos; it is a pleasure to meet you.