Religion

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monolithic
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Religion

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Religion in Daily Life: Most people go to church on Sunning day, pay a proper tithe and don’t give another thought to ecclesiastic matters. However most folk are deeply superstitious and carry all manner of totems, fetishes, and blessed objects to ward off evil and bring good luck. The clergy is seen as a good career for the second, third and fourth sons and daughters of a nobleman, or wealthy freeman. The “Auld Faith” as it is called, is frowned upon at best and actively persecuted at worst (particularly in the last ten years or so). In certain parts of the Duchy (The High Wold and northern areas around Drigbolton and Meagre’s reach) the new is often blended with the old, in a syncretic mish-mash of customs. The exception to this are those persons particularly dedicated to the old Wood Gods, particularly their priestesses — colloquially referred to as “witches” by the adherents of the One True God.

The Church of the One True God is a henotheistic, mystery religion which emphasizes personal perfection and revealed mysteries as one progresses through its hiearchy. While not denying the existence of other gods, it asserts the primacy of “The Dawn Bringer;” the one who set men free physical and metaphysical imprisonment of the demon-worshiping sorcerer-kings of Khlume, after millenia of dominion. its liturgy mostly revolves around the veneration of a host of 100 Saints, rather than the godhead itself, who is always represented as a being of pure formless light. The religion’s tenets are thus:

Be respectful to your lord and to your betters, for they were put in a position of authority by divine providence.
The flame is sacred. It purifies decay and drives off the evil of shadow.
Suffer not those who act under cover of darkness.
Magic is a perversion and watch carefully those who seek its knowledge or consort with infernal powers.

Player clerics will be adherents to The Church if the One True God


The Auld Faith is a nature-worshiping religion brought to Dolmenwood in olden days when the fairy-lords still held sway over the north. This religion has only few tenets:
Honor the gods of the wood, the wind, the mountains and deep waters.
Beware the flame, for it brings death.
Seek balance in all things. A life must pay for a life, a death for a death, a wrong for a wrong, a kindness for a kindness.
Listen to the Old Mothers, for they are the keepers of truth, and the voice of the gods.
Conflict A major source of tension between adherents of the One True God and members of the Auld Faith is the way in which members of the Auld Faith practice their religion — specifically secretive moonlit dances, animal sacrifices, and fertility rituals conducted in the nude that deeply offend the somewhat puritanical and prudish tendencies of Brackenwolder culture. This coupled with the the Auld Faith’s priestesses’ rumored consorting with forces of the Otherworld and the Subworlds and it’s small wonder that many of the more zealous “True Faithful” have branded the Auld Faith not only anathema, but a great danger to civil society.

Since the ascension of Bishop Matten Pugh at Castle Brackenwold, there has been a sharp uptick in violent persecution in the last ten years or so. Amateur witchfinders operating under license from the Bishopric, as well as ordained inquisitors of the Brothers of the Radiant Heart from Nightwick Abbey have grown increasingly bold in their pursuit of so-called “witches” and heretics across the Duchy.

<Excerpts>

The Church of the One True God— Pious Ally of the Duke
The monotheistic religion sanctioned by the Duchy and widely spread throughout Dolmenwood and beyond. Worship focuses on the pantheon of saints, rather than on the God him- self, who remains somewhat abstract.
The Church’s presence in Dolmenwood is, in modern times, somewhat diminished; many shrines and chapels that once saw regular worship have fallen into ruinand been reclaimed by the for-
est. Some within the Church—in particular, the Bishop of Brackenwold—wish to rediscover and re-sanctify the lost shrines.

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