Church of Rahn
Most of this is just random pasted in notes so far and 'Pelor' or other DnD names may still be lurking about. I know some of this may actually be entirely outdated.
The Church of Rahn is one of three religions worshipping Rahn, the god that created the humans and is the primary deity worshipped by humans in the Realms. The Church is the biggest Rahndom religion, has its base of operations in Capitoleum and in Kingdoms all over Midrealms. Members of the Church of Rahn are called 'Churched', and most Kingdoms in the Midrealms are Churched Kingdoms. The Church of Rahn uses an upside down teardrop on the top of a straight and shaped line as it's symbol of belief, it is very similar to our world's ankh, but without the horisontal line.
The Church is very powerful in terms of money, military power as well as support from the people. It is seen as synonymous of being a good person with being a follower of Rahn (or a "Rahnd").
Hierarchy of the Church
- Patriarch of Rahn
- Cardinals
- Archbishops
- High Bishops
- Bishops
- Priorae
- Priest (Father)
- Brother (official term)
- Acolyte
Pietists
Men and women of extraordinary piety and belief are Raised to the status of Pietist within the church. This is a status very similar to that of a Saint within the Catholic Church. Individual Pietists can become patrons of particular areas such as seafaring or the household and there are shrines and temples dedicated to these figures. Since this infringes on many other people's beliefs on what governs what areas of reality, this has put the Church of Ran on edge with just about every other religion in the world.
In order to be recognised (Venerated) as a Pietist a person must perform miracles alive as well as after death's grasp. In some cases a person may have done extraordinary work as well as have channeled Rahn directly, and can be Venerated. It needs to benefit the Church of Rahn as well as people in general. Cardinals hold the power to select a person for Veneration, which starts a long investigative process and the Patriarch holds a final hand in concluding the process, oficcially elevating the person in the eyes of mortals to Pietist.
Monastic Orders
The Church has everal monastic orders that consist of individuals who has eschewed their material possessions in order to strive for spiritual cleanliness. There are both male and female orders as well as one mixed gender order. Generally, monastic life is full of prayer and hard work, but monks and nuns usually have the freedom to oursue personal interests in terms of doing work for the King of Kings.
Hierarchy of monasteries:
- Abbot (Father)
- Monk (Elder)
- Monk (Brother)
- Acolyte
The hierarchy varies slightly from order to order, but generally, this is the monastic hierarchy.
Hierarchy of Convents
- ..
Monastic Orders:
- Sabenius Order - Focus on work to purify the soul
- Himnasi Order - Only mixed gender monastic order, currently criticised by the Church.
Monasteries:
- Sandon Hill Monastery - Located in southern Artipellin; Sabenius Order
The Hand of Rahn
The Hand is the Church of Rahn's military arm. It is lead by General Brand Hinburg, a nobleman of medium power turned Paladin.
Other Church Titles
- Paladins (Holy warriors)
- Friars (traveling monks)
Characters
Historic/Mythical
- Harnim the Benevolent - Pietist - Saved a city with Rahn's blessings
- Sabeni the Trusted - Pietist - Inspired the Sabenius Order
Military
- General Brand Hinburg - Paladin and leader of the Hand of Rahn
Monastic
- Sabenius Order
- Abbot Hintru Oktax of the Sandon Hill Monastery
Notes
The church is strictly hierarchical. Monasteries are more democratic with several Elders and based on age/experience more than ranks and politics. Corruption is about the same as our Catholic Church.
Real clerics feel the deity. Compared to the real world, it's like a strong religious experience, but as everything, it becomes routines. They have a connection. Adepts are 100% arcane OR divine. It's just they do healing a bit innately in arcane and since it's so studied by Divine it's not a prioritised study.
Within the Church, proper connected individuals feel strangled by the politics and end up as "Clerics" - walking priests. Most who channel power from the deity also channel the emotion of disproval from their God when they observe the corruption, which is another reason they leave for the road or sets up local churches.
Paladins are mainly tied to peacekeeping forces and join sides in conflicts based on which side is the most pious house. pious here means paying the most money.
Some part of the justice is that the battle decides who is right. Even if the Paladin side loses, it does not mean the winner has the church against them; Rahn "changed his mind".
- Barefoot priests
Rectifying Movement - War hammer in front of a horizon with a rising sun right behind the hammer. Rectifiers are a bit like Tea Party movement. Very right wing, wanting to bring back traditional ideas into the culture.
2013-04-26 Revisionists: Movement in church to rewrite history to show Rahn is only god. Have support in certain areas/houses. Mostly because promise of riches. Often kept relatively silent. Presented as further studies/divinations that some current myths may be a bit wrong.
New note: Also has antagonists in church, and the Register is sceptical.
The Church if Rahn, which had seen diminished following during the Prosperous Times, bound to new heights after the full extent of the Ruiner became apparent. Together with the newly initiated Governors, they managed to pick up the slack and turn Capitoleum around, but lost the empire. This was of course partly due to the fact that the Governor families had been too headstrong in assuring their own, personal, powers. However, power of Capitoleum and the Resplendent Fields (or the Fields) dissipated into the individual kingdoms.
The result was that the Governors kept control of Capitoleum and its immense trading riches, the Church of Rahn acquired a strong position in the lives of people everywhere, the Sickle lost significant portion of power and started accumulating an army as well as trying to cement what they could of their influence.
The biggest winner of both the Prosperous Times, the Ruining, the Tumult (also known as the Capitoleum wars) and the Restoration is the Register which was lucky enough to be useful to all types of factions through good times and bad. By the end of the Restoration, the Register was less a service than an obligation and decrees made by it even overturned Governor decrees at times. Despite this, they were always seen as a useful service that could be trusted in all things and never interested in power. This was recognised by Register elders during the Tumult, and unbeknownst to most, became an important facet to Register rulings. Besides the fact that most Administrators are mostly interested in the facts anyway, effort was made to obscure the amount of power they had, in essence trying to become an invisible hand guiding civilisation.
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