Aericsteele’s D&D 5e RPG Main Thread SRD
Asendar Faith & Religion
Most of the "Known world" in this setting follows a religious principle similar to ancient Zorastorism in that there are essentially two "Recognized" deities: The Maker and the Unmaker or Destroyer. The religious life of the Empire of Asendar (Of which Vollandar is a part) is dominated by a single monolithic church known simply as the Church of the Maker, however because the Church has been officially sanctioned by the Emperor and is under the protection of the state it is also referred to as the Imperial Church. similar to the Catholic Church of medieval Europe with a hierarchy and dogma equally as strict.
Players are free to establish particular Orders within the Church to represent a domain or aspect of the Maker that they wish to emphasize in their character; the same applies to the creation of Saints or renowned followers of the faith that your character respects or tries to emulate.
Certain races/monsters are considered to be the product of the Destroyer including Orcs, goblin-kind, kobolds, etc and as a result most members of these races are looked on with suspicion and seen as inherently violent and evil.
The situation regarding the faith in Asendar is ripe for possible schism in the near future though, given that there are essentially two opposing beliefs at work. One set of beliefs, generally held by religious and clergy, maintains that the High Priest is the head of the church and represents the will of the Maker, thus making him outside the direct authority of the Emperor; and, because all authority is derived from the Maker, the High Priest ultimately has authority over the Emperor. It is the High Priest, after all, who crowns the Emperor at the beginning of his reign, and this crowning represents the authority of the Maker being granted to the Emperor. It is assumed then that if the High Priest grants this authority on behalf of the Maker, then the High Priest may also rescind this authority on behalf of the Maker as well.
The opposing belief developed within the past decade or so, is generally held by those within the secular government as it advocates the idea that while the High Priest maintains authority in all things spiritual, he has no authority over the Emperor or the civilian government. The Emperor is the ruler chosen by the Maker, and as such, any political or temporal affairs conducted by the Church are done under the authority of the Emperor rather than the High Priest. This essentially means that, though the High Priest has authority over Church doctrine, dogma, and practice, all physical holdings, temporal assets, and wealth of the Church ultimately fall under the purview of the Emperor and the High Priest acts as the Emperors representative in this regard.
The common citizen is caught in the middle; though they tend to support the religious sect in most areas of the Empire due primarily to the fact that the beliefs regarding authority have been held by the religious sect for nearly a thousand years while the idea that the Emperor is dominant is a relatively new idea. So far the Emperor has not pushed this idea too hard, but there are those that see a conflict brewing on the horizon.
Neither the Maker, nor the Destroyer are viewed as being of one particular gender and have been reported to appear to their followers under the guise of many different races and genders including as asexual beings. In a similar manner, their clergy are not generally limited to any particular sex/gender.
Sacred Texts
There are two sacred texts of the Imperial Church. One is known simply as The Codex of Worship; it is a large tome that details religious rites and rituals used by the Church for most occasions. The other is actually a series of writings by early church fathers and scholars known as the Codex of Light which consists primarily of moral teachings and norms of behavior.
The writings are considered to be inspired by the Maker though written by man. Sometimes the two are combined to form one fairly massive book that simply combines the names and is referred to as the Codex of Light and Worship. Most priests and clergy carry a compacted and combined Codex of Light and Worship that consists of all of the documents of the Codex of Light but only a select number of rites and rituals from the Codex of Worship deemed essential for religious observances "In the field."
Child of the Church
A Child of the Church generally comes from one of three sources. They are orphans adopted by the Church, products of Church sanctioned prostitution, or they are the children born to the ordained.
Orphans adopted by the Church are often raised to be servants and laborers for the Church. They work farms, mines, or craftworks and other businesses that are owned/operated by the Church or they work as servants to the ordained ministers of the church.
When a child is born to a prostitute that has been sanctioned by the Church, the child is taken by the Church and raised at one of the Churchs several secluded monasteries dedicated to raising such children to become spies, concubines and/or assassins in the employ and service to the church. Those that demonstrate an arcane talent may also be sent to the Akashic Order for training as mages, often with a focus on spells and magic that aid subterfuge/covert activities. Children born to prostitutes whom are not sanctioned by the Church may be taken in as orphans and raised as though they are orphans adopted by the church as described earlier or they may be disregarded as illegitimate bastards, which is more often the case.
Finally, while the clergy are not bound by vows of celibacy, they cannot marry nor are they permitted to raise children and have families. Any child believed to be born from intimate relationships of an ordained person is considered to be a Son/Daughter of the Maker and they are taken by the Church immediately upon being born and raised to be ordained themselves or taken to the Akashic Order for training in the arcane arts and often become battle mages or diviners if they show any potential of magical talent. Many are also trained to be diplomats and advisers to noble houses. They are also one of the Churchs sources of ordained holy warriors known as Paladins or Crusaders. The identity of the childs biological parent will never be revealed to them, nor will the biological parent be told anything regarding the child; the Maker and its Church are considered to be the parent of the child.
Acolytes
Acolytes are essentially priests/priestesses in training. Acolytes are responsible for studying the faith in the hopes of one day being ordained and assisting the ordained clergy during services. They are also responsible for the physical maintenance and cleanliness of church buildings/assets. An acolyte is referred to as a Brother or Sister.
Paladin
Paladins are the holy warriors of the Church, at times referred to as Crusaders. A paladin is an ordained member of the clergy; however their faculties are more limited than a priest/priestess. Paladins do not facilitate worship services, but are able to bestow blessings on behalf of the Maker as well as provide redemption to those who confess their sins to the paladin though they may require a particular penance be completed prior to giving the blessing of redemption. A paladin is generally referred to as Brother or Sister.
Priest/Priestess
Both men and women are found among the ordained clergy of the Church. Male priests are generally referred to as Father while female priests are referred to as Mother.
Priests/priestesses oversee and facilitate worship services and administer the faith to their congregations. They preside over marriages, birth rites/naming ceremonies, funerals, and any other religious ceremony. Priests/Priestesses may administer blessings, and grant redemption to those that confess their sins though they may require a particular penance be completed prior to giving the blessing of redemption.
Lord Priest/Lady Priestess
Referred to as Lord Father or Lady Mother, these individuals are given responsibility/authority over particular territories and the priests/priestesses within those territories. Territories may range in size from a single, but well populated city, to several parishes or shires.
Grand Priest/Priestess
A Grand Priest or Priestess is assigned authority over, and responsibility of, an entire Imperial Province or Kingdom including all the clergy that reside within those territories. They are referred to as Excellency regardless of sex/gender. The Grand Priest/Priestess generally enjoys a great deal of autonomy and influence within their own territories.
Most High Priest
There is only one Most High Priest or Priestess (Currently Priest), generally referred to as the High Priest or Most Holy Father/Mother. The Most High Priest is believed to the be representative of the Maker in all things spiritual, though this authority is somewhat limited by the Makers Council which consists of all the realms Grand Priests/Priestesses. The Council has the ability to challenge the High Priests decrees under certain conditions/circumstances.
Death and the Afterlife
There are some things that are known regarding the afterlife thanks in part to the ability of powerful magic used to commune with the dead. It is known that upon death a creature's spirit leaves its body and takes on an ethereal form that is similar to the body of its host in appearance. A few moments after death the spirit, no longer being fed life energy from a body, begins to experience a second death as its energy slowly dissipates. This process can take anywhere from twenty four hours to several weeks depending on the strength of the spirit and how much energy the spirit uses to perform various actions. In order to avoid this second death the spirit will need to draw life energy from somewhere or something. Often this takes the form of attaching to a living being and draining the life energy from that creature but it may also be done by accessing pockets of intense magical energy that have formed through the use of powerful magic or intense emotional experiences or trauma; thus many battlefields are host to a variety of ghosts and spirits.
If the spirit is unable to find a means to maintain itself then it will eventually fade and the creature's soul is released. The soul is described as a sphere of multi-colored energy with the colors often being affected by the life that the person has lead. Those that have committed great evil are said to have darker colors than those who have committed great acts of heroism and sacrifice who are said to have very bright colored energy.
The soul disappears and it is at this point when all communication is lost and it is unknown what becomes of the soul. Some suggest that it returns to the Great Tapestry and its energy is subsequently used by the Maker or the Destroyer where they weave the energy back into the Tapestry of the World sometimes resulting in a reincarnation of sorts. The current theory held by the Imperial Church, however, is that the souls that have led good lives in service to the Maker are sent to reside with the Creator in a state of paradise while the souls that have led lives of evil in service to the Destroyer are sent to reside with the Dark One in a state of eternal turmoil and suffering. The Church holds that after the Second Death a soul undergoes judgement in something of a cosmic trial. Other cultures hold different beliefs and views regarding the final state of the soul.
Beliefs of Other Cultures
The Lighthair Tribe
The Lighthair people do not worship or believe in a theistic creator deity as such. Rather, these wood elves see existence as the result of the interaction of natural forces. They view all things as consisting of energy that is interconnected with all things in nature. They have a complex system of myths that they use to explain the creation of the world but none of those myths tend to involve a highly intelligence prime creator but rather tends to follow a path of nature creating itself.
There are no clerics among the Lighthair Elves, their spell casters are generally Druids and Sorcerers with Druids taking on the more "religious" overtones charged with maintaining the balance of nature.
The Lighthair Elves do not believe in an afterlife per se beyond the second death. Rather, they believe that the soul is absorbed by nature, it ceases to be an individual and its energy is simply united with the life force of the natural world much in the same was a persons body decomposes and becomes part of the earth.
The Illiosani Elves
The Illiosani share many of the same beliefs as the Lighthair tribe in terms of their views regarding the existence of deities as well as their view of the afterlife. However, the Illiosani developed this concept into a form of ancestor worship. Though they do not view their ancestors as gods per se, they seek to maintain the spirits of their leaders so that these leaders may continue to guide and rule over the tribe.
To this end the Illiosani present sacrifices in efforts to prevent the ancestors from experiencing the second death and thereby losing their knowledge, experience, and individuality. The tribe is overseen by a prime Matriarch on the earthly plane but her role is generally to communicate with the ancestors and express their will to the tribe until she passes over and joins the other matriarchs in the astral plane.
Like the Lighthair, the Illiosani do not have clerics among their ranks since they do not worship a deity. Most magic users are in fact sorcerers who come by their magical abilities naturally, or warlocks who are granted their powers by the ancestors. While druids are not completely absent, they are not the norm.
Q & A
Why are there different religious views? Couldn't a spell be used to talk to the dead and determine the truth? Or could a high level priest not commune with the gods to get an answer?
Yes, a high level cleric may be able to commune with their god or gods in a manner of speaking but clerics from differing faiths receive answers from their gods that often support their own beliefs while contradicting the beliefs of others. This makes for an interesting question for scholars and philosophers; are the gods merely manifestations of the clerics faith, or does the clerics faith come from the gods? It is a complex issue with no obvious answer.
Contacting the spirits of the dead has been done as well. Unfortunately this has failed to provide any real certainty because even the dead do not seem to know for certain and contact has never been made with a departed soul. When contact has been made with the dead it has been with a spirit of a dead person prior to them experiencing the second death.
Is heresy a crime according to the Imperial Church? If my character does not profess a belief in the Maker, will he/she be arrested or punished in some way? It is not a crime per se to reject the teaching of the Church but there are some civil authorities who do strictly enforce the tenets of the Church within their jurisdictions and require their subjects to submit to the Church authority under penalty of punishment. On the other hand there are other civil authorities who maintain a very open and hands off approach to religion within their jurisdictions. In general it is left up to the local Lord or Lady to determine what role religion plays in their respective territories.
The Church does employ advisers to the civil authorities whom the civil authorities may grant the power to conduct investigations and enforce religious laws that have been put in place by the local Lord/Lady.
Do Akashic Inquisitors help the civil authorities in rooting out heresy? Generally no, Akashic Inquisitors are less interested in enforcing the tenets or dogmatic declarations of the Church and more focused on enforcing the arcane laws. The exception is in identifying and rooting out warlocks, sorcerers, or cultists who are suspected of being in league with the Destroyer, but the concern of the Inquisitor in these cases tend to be more related to the potential misuse of magical forces as well as the source of these magical forces, rather than the particular beliefs of the individual regarding the Maker and his Church.
Most of the "Known world" in this setting follows a religious principle similar to ancient Zorastorism in that there are essentially two "Recognized" deities: The Maker and the Unmaker or Destroyer. The religious life of the Empire of Asendar (Of which Vollandar is a part) is dominated by a single monolithic church known simply as the Church of the Maker, however because the Church has been officially sanctioned by the Emperor and is under the protection of the state it is also referred to as the Imperial Church. similar to the Catholic Church of medieval Europe with a hierarchy and dogma equally as strict.
Players are free to establish particular Orders within the Church to represent a domain or aspect of the Maker that they wish to emphasize in their character; the same applies to the creation of Saints or renowned followers of the faith that your character respects or tries to emulate.
Certain races/monsters are considered to be the product of the Destroyer including Orcs, goblin-kind, kobolds, etc and as a result most members of these races are looked on with suspicion and seen as inherently violent and evil.
The situation regarding the faith in Asendar is ripe for possible schism in the near future though, given that there are essentially two opposing beliefs at work. One set of beliefs, generally held by religious and clergy, maintains that the High Priest is the head of the church and represents the will of the Maker, thus making him outside the direct authority of the Emperor; and, because all authority is derived from the Maker, the High Priest ultimately has authority over the Emperor. It is the High Priest, after all, who crowns the Emperor at the beginning of his reign, and this crowning represents the authority of the Maker being granted to the Emperor. It is assumed then that if the High Priest grants this authority on behalf of the Maker, then the High Priest may also rescind this authority on behalf of the Maker as well.
The opposing belief developed within the past decade or so, is generally held by those within the secular government as it advocates the idea that while the High Priest maintains authority in all things spiritual, he has no authority over the Emperor or the civilian government. The Emperor is the ruler chosen by the Maker, and as such, any political or temporal affairs conducted by the Church are done under the authority of the Emperor rather than the High Priest. This essentially means that, though the High Priest has authority over Church doctrine, dogma, and practice, all physical holdings, temporal assets, and wealth of the Church ultimately fall under the purview of the Emperor and the High Priest acts as the Emperors representative in this regard.
The common citizen is caught in the middle; though they tend to support the religious sect in most areas of the Empire due primarily to the fact that the beliefs regarding authority have been held by the religious sect for nearly a thousand years while the idea that the Emperor is dominant is a relatively new idea. So far the Emperor has not pushed this idea too hard, but there are those that see a conflict brewing on the horizon.
Neither the Maker, nor the Destroyer are viewed as being of one particular gender and have been reported to appear to their followers under the guise of many different races and genders including as asexual beings. In a similar manner, their clergy are not generally limited to any particular sex/gender.
Sacred Texts
There are two sacred texts of the Imperial Church. One is known simply as The Codex of Worship; it is a large tome that details religious rites and rituals used by the Church for most occasions. The other is actually a series of writings by early church fathers and scholars known as the Codex of Light which consists primarily of moral teachings and norms of behavior.
The writings are considered to be inspired by the Maker though written by man. Sometimes the two are combined to form one fairly massive book that simply combines the names and is referred to as the Codex of Light and Worship. Most priests and clergy carry a compacted and combined Codex of Light and Worship that consists of all of the documents of the Codex of Light but only a select number of rites and rituals from the Codex of Worship deemed essential for religious observances "In the field."
Child of the Church
A Child of the Church generally comes from one of three sources. They are orphans adopted by the Church, products of Church sanctioned prostitution, or they are the children born to the ordained.
Orphans adopted by the Church are often raised to be servants and laborers for the Church. They work farms, mines, or craftworks and other businesses that are owned/operated by the Church or they work as servants to the ordained ministers of the church.
When a child is born to a prostitute that has been sanctioned by the Church, the child is taken by the Church and raised at one of the Churchs several secluded monasteries dedicated to raising such children to become spies, concubines and/or assassins in the employ and service to the church. Those that demonstrate an arcane talent may also be sent to the Akashic Order for training as mages, often with a focus on spells and magic that aid subterfuge/covert activities. Children born to prostitutes whom are not sanctioned by the Church may be taken in as orphans and raised as though they are orphans adopted by the church as described earlier or they may be disregarded as illegitimate bastards, which is more often the case.
Finally, while the clergy are not bound by vows of celibacy, they cannot marry nor are they permitted to raise children and have families. Any child believed to be born from intimate relationships of an ordained person is considered to be a Son/Daughter of the Maker and they are taken by the Church immediately upon being born and raised to be ordained themselves or taken to the Akashic Order for training in the arcane arts and often become battle mages or diviners if they show any potential of magical talent. Many are also trained to be diplomats and advisers to noble houses. They are also one of the Churchs sources of ordained holy warriors known as Paladins or Crusaders. The identity of the childs biological parent will never be revealed to them, nor will the biological parent be told anything regarding the child; the Maker and its Church are considered to be the parent of the child.
Acolytes
Acolytes are essentially priests/priestesses in training. Acolytes are responsible for studying the faith in the hopes of one day being ordained and assisting the ordained clergy during services. They are also responsible for the physical maintenance and cleanliness of church buildings/assets. An acolyte is referred to as a Brother or Sister.
Paladin
Paladins are the holy warriors of the Church, at times referred to as Crusaders. A paladin is an ordained member of the clergy; however their faculties are more limited than a priest/priestess. Paladins do not facilitate worship services, but are able to bestow blessings on behalf of the Maker as well as provide redemption to those who confess their sins to the paladin though they may require a particular penance be completed prior to giving the blessing of redemption. A paladin is generally referred to as Brother or Sister.
Priest/Priestess
Both men and women are found among the ordained clergy of the Church. Male priests are generally referred to as Father while female priests are referred to as Mother.
Priests/priestesses oversee and facilitate worship services and administer the faith to their congregations. They preside over marriages, birth rites/naming ceremonies, funerals, and any other religious ceremony. Priests/Priestesses may administer blessings, and grant redemption to those that confess their sins though they may require a particular penance be completed prior to giving the blessing of redemption.
Lord Priest/Lady Priestess
Referred to as Lord Father or Lady Mother, these individuals are given responsibility/authority over particular territories and the priests/priestesses within those territories. Territories may range in size from a single, but well populated city, to several parishes or shires.
Grand Priest/Priestess
A Grand Priest or Priestess is assigned authority over, and responsibility of, an entire Imperial Province or Kingdom including all the clergy that reside within those territories. They are referred to as Excellency regardless of sex/gender. The Grand Priest/Priestess generally enjoys a great deal of autonomy and influence within their own territories.
Most High Priest
There is only one Most High Priest or Priestess (Currently Priest), generally referred to as the High Priest or Most Holy Father/Mother. The Most High Priest is believed to the be representative of the Maker in all things spiritual, though this authority is somewhat limited by the Makers Council which consists of all the realms Grand Priests/Priestesses. The Council has the ability to challenge the High Priests decrees under certain conditions/circumstances.
Death and the Afterlife
There are some things that are known regarding the afterlife thanks in part to the ability of powerful magic used to commune with the dead. It is known that upon death a creature's spirit leaves its body and takes on an ethereal form that is similar to the body of its host in appearance. A few moments after death the spirit, no longer being fed life energy from a body, begins to experience a second death as its energy slowly dissipates. This process can take anywhere from twenty four hours to several weeks depending on the strength of the spirit and how much energy the spirit uses to perform various actions. In order to avoid this second death the spirit will need to draw life energy from somewhere or something. Often this takes the form of attaching to a living being and draining the life energy from that creature but it may also be done by accessing pockets of intense magical energy that have formed through the use of powerful magic or intense emotional experiences or trauma; thus many battlefields are host to a variety of ghosts and spirits.
If the spirit is unable to find a means to maintain itself then it will eventually fade and the creature's soul is released. The soul is described as a sphere of multi-colored energy with the colors often being affected by the life that the person has lead. Those that have committed great evil are said to have darker colors than those who have committed great acts of heroism and sacrifice who are said to have very bright colored energy.
The soul disappears and it is at this point when all communication is lost and it is unknown what becomes of the soul. Some suggest that it returns to the Great Tapestry and its energy is subsequently used by the Maker or the Destroyer where they weave the energy back into the Tapestry of the World sometimes resulting in a reincarnation of sorts. The current theory held by the Imperial Church, however, is that the souls that have led good lives in service to the Maker are sent to reside with the Creator in a state of paradise while the souls that have led lives of evil in service to the Destroyer are sent to reside with the Dark One in a state of eternal turmoil and suffering. The Church holds that after the Second Death a soul undergoes judgement in something of a cosmic trial. Other cultures hold different beliefs and views regarding the final state of the soul.
Beliefs of Other Cultures
The Lighthair Tribe
The Lighthair people do not worship or believe in a theistic creator deity as such. Rather, these wood elves see existence as the result of the interaction of natural forces. They view all things as consisting of energy that is interconnected with all things in nature. They have a complex system of myths that they use to explain the creation of the world but none of those myths tend to involve a highly intelligence prime creator but rather tends to follow a path of nature creating itself.
There are no clerics among the Lighthair Elves, their spell casters are generally Druids and Sorcerers with Druids taking on the more "religious" overtones charged with maintaining the balance of nature.
The Lighthair Elves do not believe in an afterlife per se beyond the second death. Rather, they believe that the soul is absorbed by nature, it ceases to be an individual and its energy is simply united with the life force of the natural world much in the same was a persons body decomposes and becomes part of the earth.
The Illiosani Elves
The Illiosani share many of the same beliefs as the Lighthair tribe in terms of their views regarding the existence of deities as well as their view of the afterlife. However, the Illiosani developed this concept into a form of ancestor worship. Though they do not view their ancestors as gods per se, they seek to maintain the spirits of their leaders so that these leaders may continue to guide and rule over the tribe.
To this end the Illiosani present sacrifices in efforts to prevent the ancestors from experiencing the second death and thereby losing their knowledge, experience, and individuality. The tribe is overseen by a prime Matriarch on the earthly plane but her role is generally to communicate with the ancestors and express their will to the tribe until she passes over and joins the other matriarchs in the astral plane.
Like the Lighthair, the Illiosani do not have clerics among their ranks since they do not worship a deity. Most magic users are in fact sorcerers who come by their magical abilities naturally, or warlocks who are granted their powers by the ancestors. While druids are not completely absent, they are not the norm.
Q & A
Why are there different religious views? Couldn't a spell be used to talk to the dead and determine the truth? Or could a high level priest not commune with the gods to get an answer?
Yes, a high level cleric may be able to commune with their god or gods in a manner of speaking but clerics from differing faiths receive answers from their gods that often support their own beliefs while contradicting the beliefs of others. This makes for an interesting question for scholars and philosophers; are the gods merely manifestations of the clerics faith, or does the clerics faith come from the gods? It is a complex issue with no obvious answer.
Contacting the spirits of the dead has been done as well. Unfortunately this has failed to provide any real certainty because even the dead do not seem to know for certain and contact has never been made with a departed soul. When contact has been made with the dead it has been with a spirit of a dead person prior to them experiencing the second death.
Is heresy a crime according to the Imperial Church? If my character does not profess a belief in the Maker, will he/she be arrested or punished in some way? It is not a crime per se to reject the teaching of the Church but there are some civil authorities who do strictly enforce the tenets of the Church within their jurisdictions and require their subjects to submit to the Church authority under penalty of punishment. On the other hand there are other civil authorities who maintain a very open and hands off approach to religion within their jurisdictions. In general it is left up to the local Lord or Lady to determine what role religion plays in their respective territories.
The Church does employ advisers to the civil authorities whom the civil authorities may grant the power to conduct investigations and enforce religious laws that have been put in place by the local Lord/Lady.
Do Akashic Inquisitors help the civil authorities in rooting out heresy? Generally no, Akashic Inquisitors are less interested in enforcing the tenets or dogmatic declarations of the Church and more focused on enforcing the arcane laws. The exception is in identifying and rooting out warlocks, sorcerers, or cultists who are suspected of being in league with the Destroyer, but the concern of the Inquisitor in these cases tend to be more related to the potential misuse of magical forces as well as the source of these magical forces, rather than the particular beliefs of the individual regarding the Maker and his Church.