The Church of the All-Father (or 'Aba-Favra' in the Common Falinesti languages) is the monotheistic organized religion adhered to by a majority of the Falinesti. A successor (and according to its doctrine, the only legitimate successor) to the older Circle of the All-Father that had more or less been broken by Arion and the Asuravim during the Falinesti Long Winter, the Church preaches a message of universal salvation through both faith in its central deity, the eponymous All-Father - exercised through adherence to its teachings & hierarchy, as well the exercise of several ritual sacraments - and the performance of good works. Notably, despite being a successor to the defunct Circle, it shows marked influence from the very Asuravim faith that shattered said Circle many years before its conception, particularly its monotheistic character and concept of divine servants (angels). Indeed, according to the Church's doctrine their Aba-Favra and the Asuravim Mannas are actually the same being, they just happen to consider the Asuravim to have gotten everything else (including Mannas's role in creation) dead wrong.
The demonym of believers in the Church of the All-Father is 'Aba-Favralesti' (Children of the All-Father), singular: 'Aba-Favralest'.
| Holy symbols | The Church's holiest numbers are 3 and its multiples, most commonly 6/9/12. More specifically, a hexagram (thought to be the symbol Aba-Favra commanded the Favri paint on their shields as they fought for their freedom from the Uhhudah) is their chief symbol, inherited from the older Circle; combined with the Sacred Heart of Falinasht, it forms the Church's banner. (which, given the Beaniques' close connection to the Church, is unsurprisingly essentially their royal standard minus the crown)
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| The Six Pillars of Faith | These are the six central, non-negotiable tenets of the Church of Aba-Favra. To be called a believer, anyone who aspires to count themselves a part of the Church absolutely must abide by them. They are, in no particular order: Ain-Sakelva (monotheism, literally 'One Deity'), Aba-shanta (the existence of a universal hierarchy), Tymanhat (divine revelation), Yuldeva-e-Revat (reincarnation and resurrection), Saka-raska'i (belief in 'holy persons', that is to say saints & prophets) and Hej'ata (performance of good deeds).
Ain-Sakelva: The belief that the All-Father is the one and only true God, a benevolent and universal deity who represents and is the source of all goodness. No other entity may be worshiped; those who do so are heretics (if they claim to be a believer in the All-Father as well) or outright heathens (if they don't). It is possible to worship the All-Father through His only biological Son Falinasht, but only because of his extremely close proximity (both in the celestial hierarchy and, more obviously, by blood) and the fact that Falinasht is the 'gate' through which all are saved; angels and saints can be venerated, prayed to for intercession on behalf of mortals and even called upon to directly aid mortals, but never actually worshiped.
Aba-shanta: Literally 'all-hierarchy', this is the belief that the universe is organized into three spheres (Tel-shaza or Heaven, lit. 'celestial sphere'; Raska-shaza or the mortal world, lit. 'Man's sphere'; and Mel-shaza or Hell, lit. 'infernal sphere'), each of which are further organized into their own natural hierarchies. In Tel-shaza's hierarchy there are the All-Father and His Son, the angels (Tel-mera'i, lit. 'messengers of Heaven'), and those souls which have been freed from the cycle of reincarnation by divine grace & so can live alongside them; in Mel-shaza there are the Void Mother, her demons (Mel-besha'i, lit. 'slaves of Hell'), and those souls that have been pulled from the cycle of reincarnation & utterly corrupted by the power of the infernal realm. The hierarchy of the Church of Aba-Favra is the material realm's reflection of the celestial hierarchy, and thus right and just. In earlier times, it was also believed that hereditary monarchies and the feudal system too reflected the celestial hierarchy and were thus part of the 'natural order of things'. In order to better appeal to believers in different religions, the early Church also incorporated some of their deities as additional angels (in addition to picking up or at least tolerating some of their older religious practices, particularly festivals), for which they have been criticized by purists; in fact, the very concept of the angel (as a divine servant of even higher powers that however were not to be worshiped in their own right) was picked up directly from the Asuravim Sentinels, and didn't exist in Falinesti religious thought prior to the Long Winter.
Tymanhat: The belief that the All-Father can reveal the divine truth to mortals, through His right hand & chief emissary Reu'yot - the oldest and mightiest of the Tel-mera'i, traditionally honored as the 'Mouth of the All-Father' and the 'Holy Spirit' by the Church (He doesn't do it Himself, for the All-Father's awesome countenance would instantly vaporize any lowly mortal He tries to directly communicate with). These mortals, in turn, can share those revelations with others who wish to hear the holy word. According to Church doctrine its scripture, the Jekas vel-Aba or 'Book of All', was written by mortals to whom divine truth had been communicated by Reu'yot.
Yuldeva-e-Revat: Like the Circle that preceded it, the Church of Aba-Favra believes that all human souls, although immortal and once living in a state of perfect harmony with Him and His now-estranged wife the Void Mother, are trapped in an endless cycle of reincarnation due to the Void Mother's nearly victorious war against the All-Father in the earliest days of humanity; though humanity was able to survive due to the All-Father's last minute victory, the damage caused to the fabric of the universe and the Void Mother's ceaseless counterattacks forced Him to lock them into this cycle to save them from total annihilation. Unlike the more fatalistic Circle, the Church believes that the war between Heaven and Hell is not doomed to last forever, and that one day the All-Father will prevail, beat the Void Mother back to her senses, and (with the help of the reconciled, restored All-Mother) break the cycle of reincarnation to free all mortal souls & restore them to their previous state, in harmony with the divines.
Saka-reska'i: The belief in the existence of saints and prophets, humans who have been specially blessed by the All-Father and/or have had divine truth revealed to them. These mortals are believed to have immediately been lifted out of the cycle of reincarnation, to sit in Tel-shaza with higher powers, and to be worthy of veneration; they may also be called upon for aid, from interceding before the All-Father and Falinasht on behalf of whoever's praying to them to directly filling said people with strength, resolve, wisdom or whatever it was they're asking for. The Church further teaches that one can bind a saint's soul to the Earth, thereby preventing him or her from being reincarnated, by enshrining relics of theirs (usually either their most prized belongings, or specific body parts) through which one could also pray to & communicate with them; a major example would be the Sacred Heart of Falinasht (Saka-Tenas vel-Falinasht), which as one can guess is quite simply the physical heart of the savior Falinasht himself, and was traditionally brought on holy wars by the Beaniques to reassure their soldiers that yes, their savior is still with them.
Hej'ata: The belief that even the strongest, most fanatical devotion to the All-Father is functionally dead & hollow if one does not perform good deeds to express it. Said good deeds are naturally defined by the Church, and range from charitable alms-giving or forgiving others of sins they had committed against you, to making a stand against slavery (still considered one of few unforgivable sins by the Church), to fighting and dying to expand the faith. |
| The creation, current state and end of the world according to the Church | In the beginning there were two deities of equal power, the All-Father (Aba-Favra) and All-Mother (Aba-Mavra), the latter being traditionally identified with the Edalanesti goddess Raizakal who was adopted as Aba-Favra's consort by the Circle long ago. They were husband and wife, and by combining their powers they brought all of existence into being, from the sun & moon to the flora and fauna; they were, in essence, the King and Queen of all creation. For a time, they lived in harmony with each other and their creations. But when the time came to bring their greatest creation - humanity, a sentient species made in the image of the two deities and endowed with the power of reason - to life, they began to clash; the All-Father sought to endow mankind with free will and to leave them to make their own decisions, while the All-Mother did not believe they were ready for this gift and sought to control them. Thus did the relationship between this divine couple turn sour just as they brought the first man, Menavr (identified with the Asuravim Doras), though at this point in time the two remained married; but then, when the All-Father's back was turned, the All-Mother tempted Menavr into slaying and eating a white dove, a symbol of peace that was brought to life earlier by the All-Father and Mother as a symbol of their unity & love for each other, supposedly to give himself the powers of a god - all to prove to the All-Father that free will was a bad idea.
Needless to say, the All-Father was not happy when He found out; indeed, He believed the All-Mother had chosen to have Menavr kill the dove specifically to spite Him and their union, considering what it represented. He threw her out of Tel-shaza and cursed her, so in turn she cursed Him and declared unending war against their creations to spite Him. The conflict between the two deities ravaged all of creation with the All-Mother gaining the upper hand, and despite their efforts to avoid further hurting Menavr and his family, as she moved in for the kill the All-Mother accidentally slew him before his wife and children. The All-Father capitalized on this opportunity to resurrect him as Reu'yot, the first angel or Tel-mera; he was essentially the prototype for His other Tel-mera'i, who were created as angels and not in fact ascended humans like him, and with their aid He drove the All-Mother back. Still, despite her disfiguring injuries and the loss of mortal faith in her - which corrupted her into the dreadful Void Mother, or Veha-Mavra - she refused to surrender and, using her powers to create a new homebase for herself (Mel-shaza or Hell), continued to plague what remained of creation out of spite for Aba-Favra. Perhaps her greatest crime, besides the whole betrayal thing, was trapping the immortal souls of all mankind into a vicious cycle of reincarnation outside of Tel-shaza, cutting them off from the All-Father & forcing them to live out their existence without much of a connection to higher powers forever. Due to His own wounds and her still not-inconsiderable power, the best the All-Father could do about that for the time being was transform the space between Tel-shaza and Mel-shaza into the material plane or Raska-shaza & lock the cycle of reincarnation on to this new realm, so that at least men's souls would not be doomed to entirely and eternally being no more than the Void Mother's playthings & that He would have a chance to liberate them from time to time.
In the following eons, the All-Father was occasionally able to pluck the worthiest of souls from this cycle of reincarnation and escort them to the halls of Tel-shaza at great risk to Himself and His Tel-mera'i; for the most part, His influence in the mortal realm was limited to playing a giant game of chess against the Void Mother, with the various early civilizations of humanity as their chess pieces - including the Early Falinesti and their Circle of the All-Father, to whom Aba-Favra revealed His divine truth (and awarded Khio Na as their 'promised land') in hopes that they would then be able to awaken the rest of humanity to the cosmic struggle raging around them, but which ultimately largely failed when Veha-Mavra was able to manipulate the might of Arion against them and thus militarily crush them. Certainly, many human souls would be fully corrupted by the Void Mother's touch on many other false faiths and be dragged down to Mel-shaza. But it was not until 4445 AU/1 TY that He finally had a chance to save large numbers of people, when He put into action His final and most successful plan to deliver His fallen children; by impregnating the Navalanuat prostitute Ilmariel, He brought to life a human Savior - who better to save mankind, than one of their own? Being both fully human and fully divine, as befitting the child of the One God, this Falinasht was thus in a perfect position to communicate divine truth to mankind and actively battle the Void Mother's forces. Though she sent the might of Arion against him and his followers as she did with the earlier Circle, thanks to his own divinity Falinasht was able to prevail against them for the most part; and though he did end up being betrayed and killed by the men of Arion, this tragic martyrdom was actually part of his and the All-Father's master plan to motivate his followers into continuing the fight out of their free will, and they eventually succeeded in evicting Arion from Khio Na.
Falinasht's (and thus Aba-Favra's) bloodline survived the Great Spring, and through their divine progenitor's grace were able to unite the Falinesti for the first time. In their capacity as spiritual leaders, they and their Church served as the vehicle of man's salvation, allowing the Falinesti to live out their role as the chosen people who would spread the All-Father's divine truth to the rest of humanity; their missionaries spread the Jekas vel-Aba wherever they could, thereby opening the door to freedom from reincarnation to virtually anyone who came to hear & believe in their teachings and did good deeds. Naturally, the Void Mother would retaliate through her sponsorship of all other heathen faiths, including that ancient rival (and major influence on, not that they'd care to admit it) of the Church, Asuravim.
One day in the future, both the All-Father and Void Mother will have built up sufficiently large armies of Tel-mera'i/Mel-besha'i and saved/corrupted human souls to openly wage war against each other again, and thus will the world end. All those mortals still alive on Earth will have to choose which side to fight for; none can proclaim neutrality, for that simply invites both sides to crush them flat. It is prophesied that, with Falinasht leading His armies, the All-Father will prevail at the cost of Raska-shaza, which will unfortunately be destroyed in their epic struggle with the hosts of the Void Mother; but in His mercy He will save the Void Mother from herself instead of destroying her, simultaneously explaining & forgiving her atrocities while also apologizing for His own mistakes in the terminal stages of their relationship. They will thus reconcile; though the restored Aba-Mavra cannot ever regain her place as Aba-Favra's wife, which now belongs to Ilmariel, she will learn to forget her hatred and continue to assist her former husband in building a new, more perfect universe in atonement for her own crimes, wishing them the best. The cycle of reincarnation will be broken permanently, all mortals who have died will be resurrected and live freely & eternally in a new paradisaical Raska-shaza alongside those who survived the final war, and even the Mel-besha'i will ascend and live in peace with the Tel-mera'i. |
| Nine Virtues | The Church promotes the following virtues:
- Chastity: The Church only recognizes monogamous marriages (as opposed to the Circle that preceded it, whose leaders occasionally gave out dispensations for polygamy) and condemns adultery.
- Charity: The Church doesn't just promote generosity and self-sacrifice out of the goodness of one's heart - it actually makes the performance of these good deeds a necessity for salvation, for faith without good works is dead, and even demands a tithe from believers (usually to be turned over at the end of the weekly religious services) to make sure it can provide for the poor even if its flock are unwilling to donate out of their own free will.
- Kindness: Being compassionate, empathetic and forgiving towards others - even nonbelievers, at least those who aren't actively trying to hurt you and your fellow believers (in which case acts of self-defense are perfectly justified) - without the expectation of reward is a cornerstone of the Church's guide to living a good life.
- Diligence: Believers are expected to work steadfastly and persistently, never giving in to the temptation of sloth and always powering through hardship instead of surrendering.
- Valor: The Church expects its believers to willingly stand up for what is right, even against overwhelming odds; 'better to die on one's feet with a martyr's crown than to live a craven's life in shame', as the old saying goes. Naturally, zeal in battling the enemies of the faith even if they do happen to be much bigger and badder than you counts as an expression of valor.
- Humility: The Church would like to remind all those who believe in its teachings that there is always someone greater than even the greatest of earthly kings - the old Circle did just that, instead turning to worship other gods and at best keeping up lip service to the All-Father as the greatest (but far from the only one) among them, and paid for it with the Arionic conquest and enslavement of most of the Falinesti. However, besides not forgetting that the All-Father is the One God and properly respecting Him, the Church also demands its believers remain loyal to their authorities and humble in their own personal dealings with each other; giving credit where it is due, keeping promises they have made no matter how difficult it may be, and refusing to unfairly glorify oneself. That said, figures of power should also remember that all earthly power & possessions are fleeting and that their underlings are humans too, and must thus also treat them with respect and compassion.
- Temperance: Exercising self-control and abstaining from excess, from gluttony to lust, is another key to living a good & proper life according to the Church.
- Prudence: The All-Father didn't give men brains for no reason - believers are expected to actively exercise their power of reason to deduce the possible consequences of their deeds & to judge what is good and what is evil before committing to a course of action, as opposed to recklessly charging ahead.
- Cleanliness: It's next to Godliness. As demanded by the older Circle, believers should bathe at least twice a day with soap so that their physical body may reflect the purity expected of their souls.
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| Practices & festivals | Below are some of the Church's most prominent practices and festivals. Note that this is far from a comprehensive list - the Church honors hundreds of saints and angels with their own days, and Church-adhering peasants effectively have a third of the year off thanks to these holidays.
Hital-gevuda: Literally 'heart-creed', this is the Church's basic declaration of faith and is used to open nearly all prayers. All converts must also state it before they can be considered part of the Church. The creed goes: 'I believe in the All-Father, the one and only God; in his son Falinasht, savior of mankind, he who lost his mortal form but whose divine soul surviveth and shall one day reenter this world; in his bloodline and the holy fathers and mothers of the Church; and in the final salvation of all things'. When stating this, the believer is also expected to perform the sign of the six-pointed star - drawing two fingers from their forehead to navel, from the navel to their shoulders, from their shoulders to their sides, and finally from their sides over their heart, in a reflection of the Church's star-and-heart banner.
Hea-Lenva: Literally 'three prayers', this is the requirement of all believers to pray three times a day, each time thanking the All-Father for whatever good things may have happened to them prior to that moment, reciting a verse from the Jekas that's relevant to their present situation and calling for His aid in future endeavors. Traditionally the prayers are performed at sunrise (while kneeling, turned eastward and with the head bowed down), high noon (while standing upright and looking upward) and sunset (while kneeling, turned westward and with the head bowed down).
Tel-velda: Literally 'holy work', this term refers simply to the (usually) one-hour religious service conducted on the last day of each week, which all believers are expected to attend. Over the course of this service the presiding priest or priestess must deliver three readings from the Jelkas that are relevant to whatever lesson they wish to impart that day, conduct a precisely six-minute-long sermon, and ring a small silver bell nine times (thrice to signal the beginning of the service, once just before launching into his or her sermon, twice before delivering the sacrament of Mina-pelei'da, and thrice again to signal the conclusion of the service). In case additional sacraments are being performed, the bell must be rung three more times before each additional sacrament.
Takon: The Church's practice of collecting a tithe from each believer at the beginning of each season. Each believer is expected to cough up a tenth of their possessions in whatever form they can afford to pay, from crops to sheep or cattle to money; if they cannot make a donation, they had best clear that up with the parish priest or priestess either before or during the service. After the collection, the priest or priestess is then expected to distribute the tithes to the needy of their parish; paupers, orphans, poorer farmers and workers, and single parents among others. Naturally, if one wants to donate more than the expected 10% they are more than welcome to do so, though they must make this additional donation out of the goodness of their heart rather than a desire for divine reward or social approval. If nobody in the community immediately requires charity, the collected tithes are sent to Shiral Aba-Favralesti, where the Church's central hierarchy (which is to say the Beanique state itself, at least for most of the Middle Ages) could donate it to poorer areas under its power or use it to fund holy wars.
Ai-Takon: The Church's practice of levying an additional 20% tax on plunder gained from war, business profits and mineral enterprises (that is to say, nobles and burghers alike who own mines). Unlike the takon, which is expected to be immediately redistributed to the poor of the community by whichever priest or priestess collected it, the ai-takon is taken back to Shiral Aba-Favralesti and kept as the Church's financial reserve. It is to be spent on vaguely-defined 'projects for the glory of the All-Father', which have historically ranged from importing food from abroad during times of famine & rebuilding areas devastated by war or natural disasters to building cathedrals and funding holy wars. This practice has also occasionally resulted in the Beaniques reinvesting whatever loot they had collected from war right back into the area it had been taken from. Due to the bureaucratic limitations of the Middle Ages, this tax was not enforced nearly as frequently (or effectively) as the smaller Takon.
Neva-sylas: 'Self-denial'; the practice of fasting (meaning, eating only two small meat-free meals a day), donating half or all of one's personal belongings to the needy, and wearing a hair-shirt to repent for one's non-violent sins. The greater the number & degree of sins committed, the longer one had to practice neva-sylas.
Yudanes: 'Forsaking', the practice of excommunicating believers from the Church. They are obviously not welcome at religious services, all true believers are to disdain contact with them, and should they die while still under Yudanes the Church's doctrine holds that their soul will automatically be claimed by the Void Mother. Only the Vekat has the authority to declare any one man, or nation, under Yudanes.
Ieltan'a: 'Pilgrimage' - the practice of, well, making a pilgrimage to the holiest sites of the Church. Every believer of able body & sound mind is expected to travel to the site of the Sacred Heart of Falinasht, lay their hands upon its wooden vessel, and pray for forgiveness of their past sins in addition to calling for Falinasht's mercy and guidance in future endeavors at least once in their lifetime. The Sacred Heart is kept in the White Chamber (Beol-Hendas) of the Holy of Holies (Saka-vel-Saka'i) in Shiral Aba-Favralesti during the spring and summer, and moved to the Sepulcher of the Holy Kings (Golbes vel-ta Saka-Kernai'a) at Golbiada (where Falinasht himself was killed) for the fall and winter, so pilgrims are to journey to whichever holy site it's being kept in at the time of their voyage.
Yia vel-Selas: Literally 'day of the Savior'. The 20th day of the third month of the TY calendar, traditionally marking the beginning of spring, also happens to the day Falinasht was born, and thus is celebrated by a day off for all workers of all classes, lavish feasting (fruit/vegetable dishes are preferred over meat ones) and drinking, and the singing of the Song of Spring by your local priest/priestess/Confessor while everyone else joins hands and dances around them. In Shiral Aba-Favralesti, the song is instead sung by the Sage of Spring him/herself.
Yia vel Mavra-ta-Selas: Literally 'day of the Mother of the Savior'. The 21st day of the sixth month of the TY calendar, traditionally marking the beginning of summer, is accepted as the date of Ilmariel's birth, and is celebrated in much the same way as the Yia vel-Selas. The major differences are that meat dishes are now preferred over fruit/vegetable ones, and it is the Song of Summer that is sung by the local religious leader (or the Sage of Summer in Shiral Aba-Favralesti).
Yia vel-Ranza: Literally 'day of struggle'. The 21st day of the ninth month of the TY calendar, also traditionally marking the beginning of the autumn, is accepted as the day violence broke out between Falinasht's followers and the men of Arion for the first time, and thus it is celebrated as the beginning of the Great Spring with the consumption of chiefly bread products & prayers for divine assistance in overcoming whatever struggles one may be facing, from their quest to woo a crush to efforts in paying down debt to success on the battlefield. Priests and priestesses are expected to hear out these prayers, and then bless their flock in their endeavors. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Church's leaders have traditionally preferred to wait until this day to declare new holy wars.
Celne-Umdenas: The 'black month', traditionally the 12th & last month of the TY calendar - the same month that led up to the Savior's betrayal and death. All believers are expected to fast for this entire month, consuming only two small meat-free meals a day (at sunrise and sundown) like any practicioner of neva-sylas; between these meals they must not eat, drink alcohol, or engage in carnal relations, and must perform neva-sylas for a month should they fail. They are also expected to refrain from other sinful behavior such as using profanity, procrastinating and stealing. On the 21st day of the month (the winter solstice), the Celne-Yia or 'black day' when Falinasht was killed, all believers must abstain from eating even fish, instead subsisting entirely on bread or porridge and vegetables, and venerate a wooden hexagram modeled after the one their Savior was executed on during service. Ten days later on Belne-Yia or the 'white day' (the last day of the year), when Falinasht's spirit declared that he wasn't truly dead to his inner circle and swore to accompany them until Arion was thrown out of Khio Na in the Last Revelation, everybody can finally break their fast with joyous celebration and the most lavish feast of the year. |
| Sacraments | The Church recognizes the following rituals to be of special importance:
- Kilindon: Literally 'initiation', this sacrament involves having the presiding priest or priestess dab a bit of consecrated earth (traditionally, the dirt that was dug away to make way for the church's foundation) on to the forehead of a newborn infant and then wipe it away some holy water before making the sign of the six-pointed star. It is traditionally performed during the Tel-velda, immediately after the sermon. This way, the baby is thus initiated into the family of believers, and the door is opened to their soul's escape from the cycle of reincarnation in this life.
- Tel-meuron: Lit. 'heavenly regeneration', this is the sacrament in which a properly baptized individual is made a full member of the Church; it is traditionally performed for boys and girls at the cusp of puberty during the Tel-velda. They are anointed with holy oil by the presiding priest or priestess and asked to recite the Hital-gevuda, thereby reaffirming their faith in the Church and its teachings.
- Mina-pelei'da: Lit. 'little suffering', this sacrament is performed near the end of the Tel-velda; each believeris given a hexagram-shaped consecrated biscuit, which they are expected to swallow whole. If anyone starts choking, they are permitted to drink from a jug of holy water to wash it down. The obvious discomfort involved with sacrament is meant to be but a pale shadow of Falinasht's own suffering, and the fact that anyone who starts choking is allowed to drink holy water (which given the shape of the holy wafer happens very, very often) symbolizes the All-Father's willingness to assist those in danger.
- Merasva: Lit. 'marriage', this is quite simply the sacrament of binding two full members of the Church in holy matrimony in the sight (and with the blessings) of an ordained priest or priestess. The bride's family is expected to have already provided their dowry one week before the ceremony is conducted at the absolute latest. If either of the engaged partners is not a member of the Church, they require a special dispensation from the Voice of Aba-Favra before any priest or priestess has the right to bless their union.
- Cenlas: Lit. 'penance', this is the sacrament through which sinners may formally repent of their sins. If they are filled with genuine remorse for their crimes and are truly willing to repent & become a better person, they may privately confess their sins to the nearest priest or priestess, who may then either fully forgive them right on the spot or direct them to perform neva-sylas for an appropriate number of days. The priest/priestess is bound by an unbreakable vow from telling anyone else of the confessing sinner's deeds, even their superiors.
- Vilkala-pelei'da: Lit. 'last suffering', this sacrament is performed for those who have an extremely high to certain chance of dying in the near future, from the terminally ill to soldiers heading into battle. The priest or priestess involved walks in a circle around the recipient, gently shaking a thurible filled with burning incense and calling to the All-Father to deliver the recipient's soul up to Tel-shaza upon their death rather than allow them to be reincarnated back onto the Earth; after this has been done thrice, they are to offer the recipient the hexagram-shaped holy wafer (and a drink of holy water if they need it) should they still be capable of consuming it, and finally perform the sign of the six-pointed star on them one last time. When done for large groups of people, such as crusading armies, naturally there will be multiple priests and priestesses (possibly even the Voice or Holy Monarch) involved in administering this last rite.
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| Hierarchy | The Church of the All-Father, as mentioned above, is divided into a rigid hierarchy of Confessors and priests that answered to the Council of Sages and the Voice (Vekat) of Aba-Favra, who in the Middle and High Eras also happened to be the Holy Kings & Queens (Saka-Kernai'a & Saka-Kanai'a, respectively; singl. Saka-Kernai & Saka-Kanai) of the Falinesti; this hierarchy is still considered part of the natural order of things, being a reflection of the divine hierarchy of Tel-mera'i & the All-Father. Thus, just like the head of their religion, they were involved in both spiritual and temporal matters. This church combined both spiritual and temporal authority in the line of Falinasht; since the end of the Great Spring, and even before the proper reunification of the Falinesti, it was decreed that only Beaniques could fulfill this role as blood descendants of Falinasht, and that the dual offices were to be transmitted via agnatic-cognatic primogeniture. Below them stood the Circle of Sages (Cuna vel Ileta-Raska'i, lit. 'Circle of Wise Men', nevermind that women could fill these positions too), composed of the original four seasonal Sages (spring, summer, fall and winter) & Sages of Light and Darkness, and additional Sages representing each of the Falinesti peoples, elected by the Confessors and High Confessors of their respective cultural group.
| Saka-Kernai Randestyr II and his family |  |
| A female Sage of Spring, c. 5000 AU |  |
The Church's top leaders beneath the Sages and the Voice of Aba-Favra are the Confessors and High Confessors ('Zurvan'a' and 'Ai-Zurvan'a' respectively, singl. Zurvan & Ai-Zurvan), descendants of the 100 men and women who were ordained priests and priestesses before the end of the Great Spring in 4500 AU. Only those who can trace blood ties to these 100 through either male line were allowed to become Confessors after first serving as priests or priestesses under the thumb of their parents; to avoid becoming a less-than-exclusive class, the Confessors maintained complex marriage rituals that forbade them from marrying beneath their social class or having more than two children, and whenever a Confessorial family died out a new one would be raised from the ranks of the ordained lower clergy by the Vekat & Sages to replace them. As was the case with the older Circle's Duanericesti clergy, females could become Confessors if no male heirs were available, but their own children would not be qualified to succeed them in turn. The Confessors elected new Sages from their ranks or that of the priests, administered dioceses made up of dozens or hundreds of smaller parishes from cathedrals in large cities (with High Confessors managing multiple dioceses), routinely married into the nobility with whom they were of equal rank, and led armies in addition to officiating religious ceremonies - all that stops them from being nobles under a different name are firstly their aforementioned strict marital conventions, and the fact that they were often shuffled around to other dioceses by the Sages and the Vekat every few generations: officially so that they may offer their guidance to new flocks who may be in need of it, but often actually just to prevent them from becoming too attached to a single diocese & treating it as any secular noble would treat his fief.
| A High Era Confessor or 'Zurvan' of Aba-Favra's Church |  |
The priests and priestesses ('Lachi'na' and 'Lachuat'a', singl. Lachin or Lachuat) who served beneath the Confessors graduated from seminaries as they did, but did not have the bloodline required to advance further up the clerical hierarchy. They administered individual parishes, ministering to their flocks on a much closer level than the Confessors and were allowed to marry anyone of any social status & to have children, but unlike the Confessors their parishes were not hereditary. Having been educated at seminaries, they fulfilled the role of ancient priests & priestesses as three-part religious leaders, lawyers and doctors for their assigned community; the right to judge religious cases was given to the Confessors, with priests and priestesses only being allowed to defend or prosecute clients. Needless to say, many of them greatly resented the more privileged Confessors who in turn oft looked on them with a mix of suspicion and contempt, and constantly agitated for more rights in the guise of theological debates. In medieval social conflicts, the priesthood would traditionally largely align with the commons, and the Confessoriate with the nobility. Theological disputes concerning other parts of the Church's structure, especially whether it was fine that the Holy Kings and Queens were also heads of the Church (most Confessors' position) or if the two roles should be separated (most priests' position), added more fire to the struggle between the episcopalian ('Zurvan'ati') and presbyterian ('Lachi'nati') factions of the Aba-Favralesti. More-so than the higher Confessors, who were expected to wear the exact same vestments no matter whether they were Dalanesti or Borvanesti or Sazhanesti, priests and priestesses of the All-Father could be expected to add a regional flair to their dress.
| A Dalanasht priest or 'Lachin' of Aba-Favra |  |
Aside from the regular clerical hierarchy, there are also the monastic hierarchy and military orders to consider. Monks and nuns, led by abbots and abbesses who were sworn to both top levels of the clerical hierarchy, were forbidden from marrying and lived in monasteries or convents that should theoretically be isolated from the masses to better aid their inhabitants in connecting with Aba-Favra and the lesser celestial entities, but often turned into centers of learning and powerhouses of the local economies instead. Nuns would operate bakeries, weaveries and dyeworks while monks developed orchards and made fine wine for the nobles, brewed beer for the masses, harvested honey from apiaries, or drained marshes & fens so they could develop more conventional farms. Among the Wodanesti and Borvanesti, it was actually more common for monks and nuns to serve as the religious leaders of peasant communities than priests or priestesses. As time wore on, monks and nuns gravitated into different formal orders, some of which at least made an effort to live in isolation as religious hermits and others instead fully embraced social life to alleviate the plight of the lowly or became additional non-combatant wings of military orders.
| A collection of nuns from various orders, including two healers belonging to a military order |  |
Military orders on the other hand did not have oaths of celibacy in most cases (though membership was never hereditary) and answered exclusively to the Voice of Aba-Favra, not the Council of Sages, thus spending all their time actually fighting wars for the glory of the All-Father or training to fight such wars; they were essentially small professional armies loyal only to the Holy Kings and lavishly rewarded for it. |
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Originally Posted by Barry Goldwater
Dux Limitis
Re: [BAW 2.0] Chapter III
Mr. Conservative
Dux Limitis
S A M U R A I F O O L
Idea missing.
Pure-Blood
Praepositus
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