Church of Divinity
| Church of Divinity | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Creator | Xero |
| Information | |
| Main Leader | Archbishop Abraham Saul |
| Secondary Leader | Lord Inquisitor Alexis Vitalis |
| Races | Any Humans (Predominant) |
| Base of Operations | Santemos Charisa Cathedral (Main) Divine Monastery (Secondary) |
| Planet | Imperia |
| Status | Active |
| Notable Members | |
| Augustus Solidus Samson Solidus David Enos | |
Background
The Church of Divinity is a religion predominantly composed of eastern Luxfordian followers. They worship Charisa within their many churches found across their kingdom.
Founded in the year 650 by a noble man named Augustus Solidus, the Church of Divinity was meant to be a group of holy and pious Humans wishing to pray and give praise to Charisa, the God of Order, who in their eyes was the one true God. In ages past, Charisa fought in the name of Humankind with a blade that glowed with a holy flame and stories of her would be passed down through countless generations, though by the time of Augustus those stories would be mere fairytales. Believing them to be true following a vision in which he perceived Heras, the now God of Chaos, overthrowing Charisa from the throne of the High Heavens only to be defeated by Charisa later on, returning the throne to her, Augustus was inspired to rekindle this faith in Charisa and spread the word of the existence of the Gods among his fellow men which ultimately caught the attention of King Simon Victoria, who gave permission for Augustus to form a large scale Church dedicating worship to Charisa. Under Augustus the church saw quick spread across the newly forming kingdom of Luxfordia with much of its denizens beginning to follow the church in prayers, dedicating their lives almost blindly to the cause that Augustus Solidus began and in return they found solace and peace of mind within themselves believing that they were close to their God.
In the year 732 Augustus Solidus passed away in a tragic accident involving a raid on his home town of King's Crossing. It was the Senkh who were to blame for his death and his son Samson Solidus stepped up to take his father's mantle. Under his leadership the church became more hostile and aggressive, leading to the conflict between Humans and other Mortal species to intensify. This would cause prejudice to become a widespread occurrence within the Human kingdom.
When the first Elves traveling from Gwynbrenon arrived onto Imperia they had the misfortune of meeting the Archbishop Lazarus Solidus and be enticed to convert their beliefs to the Church. These Elves would start a sub-group of worshipers within the church that would live secluded lives in the halls of the Divine Monastery. Overtime the men of this group would fade into obscurity when the archbishop ordered them to leave, causing the remaining women to be left as mates to high-ranking members of the Church of Divinity, causing the walls of this once holy place to be tainted with the depravities of one twisted and corrupt man as well as the birth of a Hybrid race that'd soon find themselves in high numbers - the Asvars. As they were not the amazonian spawn that the Humans thought they would be but rather "abominations" as spoken by the archbishop himself, the Asvars would quickly be thrown into servant roles all across the Kingdom.
Lazarus' actions would be brought to the light by Berenice Judy, causing the Archbishop to be dethroned and imprisoned, ending the Solidus bloodline, although it is said that his blood courses through many of modern Asvars.
When Magic became known to the galaxy of Auria, the Church of Divinity saw it as blasphemy and a ridicule towards the worship of Charisa. It was a Human Mage, David Enos, who upon becoming Archbishop would tell of the right in Magic and would start to teach the followers of the church Divine magic to help them in preaching their truths to the world as well as wield it in a number of ways - to vanquish evil and protect allies. Under his leadership the first Clerics and the Divine Crusade was founded as a righteous and militaristic faction that served as the main army of Luxfordia between 1100-2150. David Enos also began to reform the Church into a religion of peace that shows acceptance and love to all the Mortals of Auria, preaching forgiveness and good will in his studies. Following the crusade's dismantlement and seeing Archbishop David Enos' preachings as wrong and contradicting the teachings of Solidus, many of the Crusade's loyal followers did not want to join the new Luxfordian army and instead they founded the Solidus Crusade, an faction of extremist divinitists who begun to expand aggressively out of control of the Luxfordian royal family.
Laws and Traditions
The Church is always led by an Archbishop who is chosen by the previous Archbishop or, in the event of the Archbishop's untimely demise, appointed by the King or Queen of Luxfordia. The Archbishop has full control of what the church does. The current Archbishop is Abraham Saul, a man who's good heart has seen the kingdom through the Grand War by aiding those that would later become its new rulers.
Since the outing of Lazarus, a secondary leader would be elected alongside every Archbishop - the Lord Inquisitor rules over the Divine Monastery and sees to the purity of the church. This person must not have any blood relations to the Archbishop but must be a proven person of good faith. The current Lord Inquisitor is Alexis Vitalis, an Asvar who had served as Queen Fedelerin's bodyguard during the capital rebellions. Because of this, many who oppose the rule of the Asvars have begun to believe that the Church is corrupt and puppeteered by the royals for their own gain.
The Archbishop's and the Lord Inquisitor's words are holy and must be respected without hesitation.
The Church of Divinity is mainly centred in Luxfordia within chapels and churches where anyone can go to find peace of mind and listen to the sermons of a priest. No one is forbidden from entering these churches and chapels.
The Church of Divinity features Duranin, sacred texts of past Bishops that tell of their good deeds and their lessons. The Holy Duranin texts are recited in prayers.
The Trious is the symbol of the Church as it is said to appear on the shield of Charisa.
Only those escorted by a priest or priestess is allowed entrance into the Divine Monastery.
Dragons are seen as the messengers of Charisa. To have one visit a holy site is considered a blessing. To face the wrath of a Dragon is seen as Charisha delivering justice upon the sinful and wicked.
Those that follow the Church must not bear children until marriage.
Torture is forbidden. Respect towards other Aurian beliefs and religions must be exercised.
Perdays are days of worship where followers of the Church must take time within their respective church or monastery to dedicate themselves to prayers.
