In the beginning there were the Three, the Trinity, the Tripartite Divine. In the beginning, there was nothing that was not the Will of the Three, nothing outside the fate decided by the Three. We had only one freedom, to choose worship or blasphemy, and we were grateful, thankful, contented.
‘And now?’ some ask. ‘And now? What now that the Three have been cast down and the world will end? What now?’
Now there are the Three, the Trinity, the Tripartite Divine. Now there is nothing that is not the Will of the Three, nothing outside the fate decided by the Three. We have only one freedom, to choose worship or blasphemy, and we are grateful, thankful, contented.
There is nothing else, there never has been and there never shall be.”
- //From the Sermon of Maxwell Thews, Lector Magnificent in the Third// ===== Overview =====“To understand the Church, and thereby the Three, one must know each of the Thousand Devotions and the Ten Thousand Pieties. And to know each of the Thousand Devotions and the Ten Thousand Pieties, one must accept that one’s life is intended as an embodiment of service to the Church.”
- //From the Instructional of Louisa Astenax, Exarch Administrative in the Fifth// ==== The Thousand Devotions ===="And the Thirty-Second Devotion you shall take. And with it, you will become Churchman Extraordinary in the Second. Go into the Forests and the Woods and the Barren Plains and there, provide aid to the Sick; succour to the Needy and protection to the innocent.
Upon the Ninth Hour of every day, give thanks to the Three, burn a loaf of bread and with the ashes, anoint all those to whom you have given aid, succour or protection.
Upon leaving the bounds of any Church less than one-score paces long, or having fewer than one-score of congregation, crush in thine left hand, upon the threshold, an egg of not less than seven days of age and give thanks to the Three.
[Cut thirteen further paragraphs, as requested by Lord Huarin, to facilitate the Instruction of the Lesser People in the ways of the Church - T. G. M.]
And finally, when to battle you must go, wear no armour culled from living being and carry no weapon other than the stave of the Oak-Tree, banded in Iron."
- //Excerpt from All Devotions, Great and Small by Tull Grange Maxim, Savant to the Court of Later Days (located either in Latirna or the city-state of Naloton - history no longer recalls)// To worship within the Church is to have a Devotion and to have a Devotion is to belong to the Church, to have a place and a role that was defined long before you were born and, according to official doctrine, will continue on long after you are dead. Each of the Thousand Devotions represents a particular role within the Church which has associated with it a set of responsibilities, rights and bizarre rituals. There is a vast and byzantine hierarchy between the Devotions, but for the most part primacy is determined by a mix of context, personal charisma and political clout. Of course, some Devotions **are** more senior than others, but for the most part this is only really obvious at the very top of the Church, such as for the Hierophant, or the Master of Pieties. As near as anyone can tell, the Devotions have existed in their present form since the Church was created. The weight of history therefore hangs heavy on the majority of the Devotions, as the accumulated past drags down upon those who fill these ancient positions. It has also lead to a number of entirely obsolete roles which must, by long tradition, be filled. So, young acolytes to the Devotion of the Prelates of the Wood in the Second (responsible for procuring essential, but basic supplies for their Churches and Monasteries) will whisper in hushed tones of Servile Lang, who kept the faithful fed during the Seven Year Siege of the city of Gald. Prelates of the Wood in the First, on the other hand, are responsible for ensuring that the Vancarian Mites do not infest the Ashwood from which the Churches are made. Unfortunately, on the continent of Anicca, no Churches have been made of Ashwood for six hundred years. Instead, each Church simply has a ceremonial piece of Ash above the main door, and the sole duty of a Prelate of the Wood in the Second is to look after the Ashwood within their area. Of course, with the fall of the other continents, each and every piece, down to the smallest splinter, is utterly irreplaceable. === Sample Devotions: === * The Hierophant: As the Head of the Church, the Hierophant wields great power, and in the past, decided the fate of nations. A number of the more active Devotions, as part of their duties owe direct obeisance to the orders of the Hierophant. Two out of the three Military Orders are directed personally by the Hierophant, as well as the feared and secretive Misericorde, the Church's Sorceror-hunters. The current Hierophant is an old and sick man, surely not long for this world. Who will take his place is anything but clear. * The Master of Pieties: Beneath the Hierophant stands the Master of Pieties. This Devotee has ultimate authority over the interpretation of the Pieties, and, as such wields great, but subtle control over the affairs of the Church. * The Misericorde: The Sorceror-Hunters of the Church. The very whisper of their name was once sufficient to strike fear in the hearts of the masses, for the mercy with which, as part of their Devotion, they are required to treat unrepentant Sorcerors is not extended to those who are suspected of protecting the enemies of the Trinity. In days gone past it was not unknown for the quiet death of a hidden sorceror to be followed by the bloody murder of scores who had the misfortune of potentially having aided the renegade. Since the fall of the Trinity, the terror they strike has fallen away, but the bloody swathe they cut has, if anything, increased as they desperately try to maintain order in a world where chaos already reigns near supreme. * The Mendicant-Soldiers: The military arm of the Church, their role is principally to defend the faithful in their places of worship, and to battle the enemies of the Church. For many centuries before the Fall, this was a largely ceremonial role, as few wars ever needed to be fought, however, over these last thirty years the Mendicant-Soldiers have forged themselves into a fearsome fighting force. ==== The Ten Thousand Pieties ===="Joshua, son of Lilith, you stand accused of breaking your Peace with the Church, of inciting disobedience and of questioning the Will of the Three.
I am compelled, by order of the Seven Hundred and Twelfth Piety, to ask the Executioner-in-Finalty to hang you till you are dead."
- //From the Summation of Anastacia Gan, prior to the execution of Joshua, son of Lilith// Whilst a person's place within the Church is most heavily defined by their Devotion, each Devotion having a larger or smaller number of set responsibilities and rituals attendant to it, the wider role of the Church within the World is most heavily prescribed by the Ten Thousand Pieties. Each piety is an individual injunction, rule, ritual or moral guideline which must be adhered to by all the Faithful. The current Masters of the Pieties, Skullpepper & Salkine, hold ultimate interpretative authority over how the Pieties should be observed, which grants them no small amount of influence and power. Once there may have been exactly Ten Thousand Pieties, but now there are now far more and due to the vagaries of the Church's labyrinthine bureaucracy, the last attempt to provide an exact count ended in the death of three Archivist-Monks from starvation, and the loss of the Index-to-the-Pieties to mould. === Sample Pieties === * Piety the First: The Dawn, Noon and the Dusk are the Pledge of the Tripartite Vow, the Trinity's Pledge that the World will always Be. It is for us Mortals to greet these Pledges and give thanks. //In practice Church Scholars agree that greetings upon waking and sleeping, if they fall outside Dawn & Dusk are acceptable. That the Sun now stands still in the sky and there has been no Dawn, nor Dusk for twenty years has not been addressed by any significant Church Scholars.// * Piety the 239th: The other is not foe. The other is not danger. The other is not Other. The other is friend. The other is joy. The other is a reflection of yourself. //Church Scholars agree that this piety suggests that hatred of one's fellow man is wrong, and that all are morally obliged to offer some level of hospitality and succour when another is in need. In practice, there is much debate of how much succour is really needed.// * Piety the 15341st: On the ninth day of the second decade of a new century, every third adult shall be required to wear their finest garb, to dye their left hand in the sacred ink and to work as a common labourer upon the nearest farmland. //Church scholars have developed a long and complicated system of determining who "every third adult" will be, what "their finest garb" might count as and what "work as a common labourer" actually means. To date two Hundred and twelve theses dealing with the interpretation of this Piety have been submitted to the Great Library. One hundred and eighty-six have been accepted.// * Piety of the Small-Hold Floodings: Churches and associated buildings contructed within the Blind Marshes shall be required to ignore the Two Thousand and Twelfth Piety, and must therefore be built upon stilts, such that they may avoid the regular flooding. //This Piety was created some 350 years ago, 10 years after the first Church was built in the Blind Marches. Church scholars agree this is an example of one of the speediest Pieties to be proposed and accepted into canon.// ==== Organisation ===="It is with great pleasure that I annoint this Church with the Three Oils, bless it with the Three Entreaties, and complete it with the Ash Wood.
Let her stand strong in the face of heresy, mighty in the face of blasphemy, and beneficient in the face of suffering."
- //Logan Harko, Loyal Praetor-in-Ordinary, opening the Church of the Blessed Three at the Golden Palace, three days before the Disjunction washed over it// \\ \\ The Church is organisationally centred around the Hallowed Citadel. A mix of Fortress, City and Theological University, it contains the greatest concentration of Churchmen and Faithful remaining in the world. Here the great bureaucratic machinery of the Devotions, Pieties, rituals, rites, ceremonies and processions are organised and managed. Here the Mendicant-Soldiers gather in their greatest numbers, riding out to defend the Church and defy its enemies. But outside the Hallowed Citadel, there remain a dizzying array of Churches, Monasteries and Cathedrals, each with its own staple of priests, bureaucrats and faithful, as well as their own individual administrative setups. As a general rule, in a given institution there will be one or two Churchmen whose Devotions render them responsible for ensuring that it is run to good order. Under them there will usually be a larger number of Churchmen whose Devotional Responsibilities contribute to the institutions' various duties, or who are bound to serve the more senior Churchmen. In this manner, a church with a congregation of under a dozen will likely have only one Churchman, whilst a cathedral ministering to many hundreds or thousands could easily have hundreds of Clergymen, more if any of the Militant Orders have significant forces based there. However, for every rule in the Church, there is an exception, and so the //Holy Sepulchre of the Living Saint Eustace// is tended to by no fewer than 20 Vestals of Fallen Virtue in the Second, but currently receives no more than a couple of pilgrims a month, whilst only Luzen Gart, Sweeper of the Streets in Ordinary, gives the daily sermons in the //Fourth Hall Ecstatic// within the Hallowed Citadel, which are often attended by well over five hundred worshippers. Outside of the more usual Church organisations, there remain any number of odder institutions. There are orders of assassins; of soldiers; of spies; of Holy beggers; of Accursed actors and Blessed Cheesemakers. There are monasteries in the wilderness, sacred groves in the hearts of dead towns and secret prayer-meetings in the basements of the City. There are Prophets, lawyers, masons, scribes and Living Saints. Even at the end of the world, the Church remains a multi-faceted organisation with a myriad of complexities, and nothing is so outlandish that seven hundred years ago someone didn't think it was a good idea, and make it canon law. ===== The Fall and the Disjunction ====="Thus our faith is tested.
When the Sorcerors tried to ascend to Heaven and kill the Three, and the skies burned and seas raged and the trees withered, our faith was tested.
When it appeared that the Three were cast down; when it seemed their essence was cast out across the land as flaming comets, our faith was tested.
When the Disjunction came and washed over The City-Temple of Lothan, when the prayers of the Faithful there were silenced, our faith was tested.
But our faith is strong.
When Rael declared himself God-King of the Western Marches and ordered forty thousand Faithful to be put to the sword, our faith was tested.
When Myr was sacked and the Golden Halls of the Thirty Monasteries raised to the ground and its treasures taken, our faith was tested.
When the Great Famine came upon us and the bodies of the Faithful littered the steps of every Church and Temple, our faith was tested!
But our faith is strong!
When the Sorcerer Anish rent the sky asunder with his cries and declared his vengeance upon the Church, our prayers brought him low.
Our weapons cast him down and the Misericorde sent him on to the dark night.
When the Warlords of the Concrete Sympathy came together and made war upon the churches and temples of the Eastern Plains, our shields were strong, our sword-arms would not tire and the Concrete Sympathy was scattered to the winds.
When the Green Sea died and the Word of the Three could no longer be whispered to the waves and the nine hundred and second piety could no longer be observed, our Captain-Priests did not waver, our Holy Ships did not founder and the Pieties, Rites, rituals, psalms and commands of the Three were observed.
Our faith is strong, our faith is true and in even in the face of Oblivion, our faith remains when all else fails!"
- //Words of Jenna Caas, Mendicant-Soldier in the First, General of the Third Holy March// == The First Days == When the Three were destroyed and their final remains fell to Earth in fiery comets and the Disjunction began its all-consuming path, the Church lost its purpose, its way, its very reason for existence. In the first days after the Fall, thousands, tens of thousands left the worship of the Church, hundreds of Devotees took their own lives and the riots took many more. A lesser organisation, an organisation whose existence was not so bound up in form, in ritual, an organisation whose essence was not so deeply embedded in order, would probably not have survived the Fall. But the Church bound itself to its empty rituals, to its blind observances, to the dead repetition of dead words, and it survived. And once a semblance of order was restored, once the First Days were past, then... == The Years of the Disjunction == Then the Church did its best to carry on as it did before. There were rituals, ceremonies, blessings, funerals and sacraments, all of which need to be pursued with due reverence. There were people to be cared for, and sorcerers to be dealt with. The flock, diminished as it was, had to be ministered to and no one but the Church could offer that. The official stance of the Church with regards to the Fall and the Disjunction is that it is a ordeal sent by the Three to test the Faithful. It must be faced with fortitude, with resilience and, above all, with due obedience to the Church and its tenets. In practice, the Church's position is actually less solid and set in stone than might be imagined, simply because those at the top of the Church apparently try very hard to ignore the existence of the Disjunction at all. This leaves a certain leeway for those lower down to form their own opinions and positions with regards to it, although too active and obvious and interest may attract the attention of the higher ups. == The Clerics of the Last Days == In recent years a faction within the Church has come slowly into being. Calling themselves the //Clerics of the Last Days// they have begun to accept that the Three are dead, and the the world has only a few short years before there is nothing. In the face of this recognition, the //Clerics// have concluded that the Church needs to change and provide more than dead ritual to the remaining faithful. Initially they tried to change things through the official routes, only to find the sclerotic and dull bureaucracy paid them no heed. One year ago, the Hierophant declared the //Clerics of the Last Days// a heretical sect and since then a quiet purge has been waged. In response to this, the //Clerics// have retaliated, with equal parts murder of other Church officials, and peaceful rallying of the Faithful to a message of hope in the face of oblivion. Who will come out of this schism is, at this point, entirely unclear. ===== Notable Individuals ====="Ah but brother dearest, am I not more beautiful than you? Are you not ugly when reflected in my glory?"
"Oh entirely brother, you are more glorious than I, but surely you must admit, I am wiser by far."
"Entirely brother, entirely. But we know his old secret do we not? We know, and in knowing are powerful"
"Quite brother most beautiful, quite"
-// Conversation overheard within the Hallowed Citadel by Ambassador Ericles of the City// == Thekrate, Hierophant to the Three == Thekrate Anosopholes, most usually known only as "Your Grace" or "The Hierophant" has held the position for over twenty years. Rising to prominence after the Disjunction washed over the City-Temple of Lothan, his ascension to the seat of the Hierophant was nearly unopposed. In his time Thekrate has overseen an orderly and dignified retreat in the face of the Disjunction, and a strengthening of the Legions of the Mendicant-Soldiers. In the last few years, however, his health has been failing and it seems certain that he is not long for this world and for the moment, he appears to have no obvious successors. == Skullpepper & Salkine, Master(s) of the Pieties == Traditionally, there has only been one Master of the Pieties, but careful reading of the Devotional indicates that this is not a requirement for the post. And so four and a half years ago, the twin brothers, Skullpepper and Salkine came from seemingly nowhere to jointly defeat all the other candidates for the Devotion. The mysterious deaths of a couple of their rivals whilst they were in the running was never successfully investigated, but proved something of a dark start to the twin's tenure. == Bethan Cylic Ninevah, Metropolitan-in-Extraordinary == Bethan Ninevah is probably the most senior figure from the Church to openly side with the //Clerics of the Last Days//. Unlike the majority of other open heretics, she has not gone into hiding. Instead she has secured the Fortress-Monastary wherein she resides and cast out all who do not profess to the //Clerics'// doctrine. She has a fairly sizeable force of Mendicant-Soldiers at her disposal, and is well protected enough that so far no assassins have succeeded at even approaching her. Worse, there are rumours the she is seeking to form some sort of alliance with Fat Semele and the Watchers of Emperor's Drop in the East. ===== The Rest of the World ====="But Choir-Master Theobald, what about the Watcher-Raiders? They are only four miles from the Church. Shall I begin to make preparations to deal with them?"
"No Matron-in-the-Third Annabelle, for surely all people still respect and honour the Trinity and their Church and all still belong to the uncounted and uncontable throng of the Faithful. No, we must open our gates and show them the mercy and grace of the Church"
"With all due respect Choir-Master, bugger that. I am calling out the Mendicant-Soldiers. We will ride out and strike their camp and wipe out these blasphemers"
- //Matron-in-the-Third Annabelle Gardarrone Hewnat, shortly before she was cut down by an Eisoptrophian fanatic// == The Unaligned == As disparate and dis-united as the Unaligned are, it is difficult for the Church to have a unified policy regarding them. In general how any given Monastery or Devotion will view the Unaligned will depend very much on which arm of the Church and which group of Unaligned. For instance, the Warlord Hellspit is fairly universally reviled for his desecration of the Thirty Temples of Myr, but the Grey Twins have reportedly formed some sort of agreement with an Arch-Lector Extraordinary "to mutual profit". == The Watchers == The Church and Watchers find themselves in opposition on a number of levels, and to such a degree that violent conflict often erupts when Churchmen and Watchers come into contact with one another. At the most basic level, both Watchers and Church compete with each other to retain and attract followers. More generally, the Church views the Disjunction as a trial sent by the Three to test their faith, whilst the Watchers build wild, blasphemous philosophies based on insane void-theories. Most generally, the Church represents the old order enduring, remaining, surviving, whilst the Watchers embody the new way of things, unstable, ever-changing, where meaning is constructed, torn down and re-constructed every day and nothing remains the same. In the face of such differences, it is not surprising that many Churchmen identify the Watchers as the single greatest threat to the continued existence of the Church. == The City == The City represents the most significant centre of secular power which can make any claim to sanity. It is therefore, in the eyes of the Church, very unfortunate that the Lord-Protector took such a disliking to it in the months following the end of the Will War. Were it not for his proscribing of the Church and prohibition of any Churchmen from passing within the city walls, the word within the Hallowed Citadel is that a close and fruitful working relationship would be welcomed. As it is, the Lord-Protector has strung up dozens of loyal Churchmen for the supposed crime of trying to speak the words of the Three. In the face of this, nothing short of the removal of the Lord-Protector will allow for a better relationship with the City. ===== Game Mechanics ===== ==== Themes ==== The Church embodies faith in a world where the Gods are dead. It is meaning when all meaning is gone. It is form over content and the dull repetitive thud of the rituals going on and on until there is nothing to them except the sound of the repetition. In some ways, it is the opposite of the Watchers for whom all structure, all order, all form has gone, slowly swallowed up by the Disjunct; where all that is left is the individual meaning that one can find in the face of Oblivion. But it can also be more, can be better. In a world where the end is fast-approaching, where, ultimately, everything but the now and the soon is futile, perhaps the mechanisms of ritual and repetition can be turned to something more, something better. Perhaps the Church and the Churchmen can remember that deep down, amongst the dross there are injunctions to treat the Other as yourself, to love, and live and give hope. Perhaps, just perhaps, the Church can grant those who wish, in these, the last years of anything a sort of salvation on Earth. Maybe the Tripartite Rhapsody can be made real in the here and now. ==== Why play a Churchman? ==== == Because you want to be part of a world-spanning organisation. == Whatever trials and tribulations it has faced, from Sorcerers, to warlords, the Church has survived, and whilst perhaps the City has more direct power, and the Silvered Gates of the Watchers at Astudan have more fanatics willing to throw themselves on the swords of their enemies, no organisation has the span or the reach of the Church. From the Hallowed Citadel, wherein resides the Hierophant and the remaining Mendicant-Soldiers, to the so-called Secret Cellars of the City, where the Sacraments are still upheld, despite the Lord-Protector’s prohibitions on worship, to the Exarch-Infiltrators who daily risk their lives spying on the Watcher Cults who have the temerity to worship the Disjunction, no other organisation has such breadth. A Player in the Church will, to an extent, have access to almost any part of the remaining world, and will be able to look to fellow Churchmen for lodging, aid and succour when required. == Because, even in the face of oblivion, you believe that stability and order still matter. == The Church also offers one of the remaining areas of stability in a world which is falling to pieces, and, in all likelihood, there will be a community of worshippers praying, even as the Disjunction washes over the last remaining lands. In other words, no matter what, there will likely be some organisation which can be relied upon. == Because you want to have access to the Church-only Anti-Sorcery skillset. == The Church also offers players access to some unique skills in dealing with Sorcerers. They may not be much help against a master Willworker, but every edge one can get may matter. ==== What to do in the Church? ==== The Church has many needs which must be fulfilled, and many enemies to be defended against. There are blasphemies to fight, Sorcerers to kill. The Watchers are luring away the last of faithful and belief in the Trinity is dying. Only the truly faithful can stand against these threats. The Church is the last bastion of large-scale, organised Faith remaining in the world. People need meaning in these, the last days, and only you can provide it. Ascend the hierarchy of the faith. Even in the midst of decay there is opportunity for advancement and the chance to have one's vision of the faith made canon. Be a reformer. Though rare even in the decay of the dying Church there are those whose faith has been renewed and who have a vision of a new path. Research the histories of the Gods that were and the events that lead to their downfall, no organisation knows more about the Trinity or the cataclysm that lead to their fall.