The Church of Night and Day

=== The Church of Night and Day was a severe and highly organized branch of the Cycles religious tradition which rejected the traditional triptych of Mother Nerenaius, Life Goddess Yalibransa and Death God Moldravion in favor of a pairing of Light Goddess Raea and Death God Moldravion. There faith was based not around the duality of life and death, but around the duality of Light and Death. ===
=== Theological Concerns ===
The central thesis of the Church of Night and Day is that Light leads to life and growth and death then leads to Darkness, which must eternally give way before light. All beings must therefore turn and face the light or be destroyed by darkness. They did not actively worship Nerenaius, believing her to be too involved in maintaining the world to deal with mortals, except on Mutterfest, her Feastday. This day was viewed as literally everyone's birthday. Drunkenness and gift-giving were ubiquitous. Marriages within a ten month period of Mutterfest were more common than the other two months, which were in deep winter and became higher status days (see below). They refused to venerate the goddess of life above Raea because all life is subservient to the sun (they did not know anything about the sea floor and believed the other two sun gods did not care about the world) and associated Moldravion with night despite the fact that he has never claimed dominion over it. They believed that physical bodies, filled with darkness as they are, are filled with negative impulses leading to "sins," actions that deviate from devotion to the light. Among these actions were: breeding without Church-sanctioned marriage (which meant that generally only couples not expecting a child could marry in deep winter), polyamory, eating after nightfall (except during the three official winter months), drinking to excess on any day other than one's birthday, worshiping gods other than the great two on any day other than their sacred day in the Church calendar, and many more. Punishments necessary to atone for these sins varied from charitable giving to ritual suicide by fire. The fact that their priests still had magical abilities despite the flaws and extremes in their theology was never suitably explained, though scholars in Telvrimbror quietly implied that since the deities they followed could grant the miracles they requested anyway their specific beliefs did not matter. As long as they were useful to the gods zeal trumped accuracy. This may have been part of why they faded away after the War of Deific Magic. Praying to the Saints was allowed at any time, even if they happened to also be gods.
Ordo Necrosius
The Ordo Necrosius were the solemn monks and nuns of the Church who devoted themselves to death. They cared for the bodies of the dead, provided merciful death to those who asked, and waded into battle when the Church needed them. There was no stigma in being a Necrosus (the term for this type of cleric, plural Necrosi), and they wore the same vestments as their counterparts with exception that the monks wore deep red instead of white. Every member of the church was allowed to pray to Moldravion for mercy when threatened by enemies or illness, or to ease the passing of the dying, but only a Necrosus could dedicate their daily prayers to him without facing censure or death. They were also allowed to euthanize those who asked when their pain was greater than their will to survive, even if they were not currently dying. Suicide was a grave sin, but "The Petitioner of the Sleeper" was an acceptable way to end one's life. The process required three days time to reconsider after meeting with a Necrosus, after which their lives would be ended. Despite their emphasis, their dogma was otherwise identical to that of the larger church. Eric Blackheart was trained to be a Necrosus in his youth, but chose not to enter the priesthood.
The Wheel of the Year
The Church was obsessed with recording time. The used an antiquated calendar of the Cycles, but put extreme emphasis on recording dates of birth, death, and specific days when the Saints of Dorhaun and gods other than their two patrons could be revered or simply acknowledged. For example, worship of Flariok-Censha would be allowed on one specific day of high summer, Saint Barton the Divine of Sistona was praised on his death day, and Stygios was acknowledged as favored enemy on the night before the Winter Solstice.
=== The History of the Church ===
The Church of Night and Day was founded in the Age of Veradorianis as a reaction to the relocation of Telvimbror to the marshes of Eranos. Paranoid, mostly human, villagers in communities near the affected area began looking for greater and greater power to defend themselves against loss of territory, life, and limb from the perceived danger of flying foreigners. Originally adherents of the cycles, more and more priests turned to Raea for more martial miracles. Moldravion was maintained because he has always been willing to give people the methods to kill each other. As the Kingdom of Helestor was founded, the Church grafted itself onto the city-state and others in the region, gaining political power and lands on which to train its warriors. When the Order of Iludin moved into the region most of the church adapted and many became members. Others rejected the Order, and formed what would be known as the Necrosian Heresy. This movement inverted and subverted the beliefs of the Church and waged a war against them for control of various states in Central Tellaria in the name of universal worship of Moldravion and "subjugation of the cruelty of Life and Light before the mercy of Endless Night." Surprising most, the Ordo Necrosius condemned the movement, and viciously performed a public culling of their own ranks and any heretics they could find. This split the movement into many autonomous sects which would unite and then splinter again in response to the socio-political climate. As a result of the priests' ire the term "Necrosian Heresy" was not used in their presence, and the individual names of the generally autonomous heretical sects were preferred (or simply "the Heretics" or "Them"). The Heresy's most famous member, and leader of its two assaults on Helestor, was Szarduk Karmigian, leading the "Ebon Noose," as the largest agglomeration of sects called themselves at the time, an that created entirely new types of monster and eventually forced the destruction of Helestor. The Church only gained notable political power during the Age of Sistona, where they spread along with the Iludin in a band stretching across Central Tellaria and Divern. The Church maintained an iron grip on many villages and towns throughout Eranos, and was similarly heavy-handed elsewhere, lending priests and paladins as needed to defend the faithful but also suppressing any heresy with extreme prejudice. The Order, at the height of its power, allowed this behavior as long as law and order were maintained. This was partially because Church forces often overlapped with the Order, and because the Church waged a shadow war with the choas-fomenting Slaughter-Priests of Stygios that eventually wiped out his most powerful cults in the region (but not the world - he has always had power among the Ogres of Kodamai). During the more lenient Age of Telvimbror, the Church faced censure by the Iludin for its excessive uses of force. The Church was too much dug in to remove due to the many loyal adherents, however, so it survived and continued to influence the region. The Church never traveled too far beyond Eranos, however, and after the Age of Telvimbror it slowly faded in power, shrinking back into into strongholds in Divern and the lands around Sistona before disappearing completely. The remnants of Necrosian Heresy lasted far longer by moving north and establishing itself as a power among the Frost Giants.
===== Vestments and Symbolism =====
The priesthood mandated specific uniforms for its clergy, depending on their place in the hierarchy of the Church. The colors black and white were used for symbolic reasons. Black symbolized the death that was inevitable for all living things and the sin that was unavoidable in life and must be atoned for before one could reach Paradise. Monks were required to wear simple white robes, with the traveling ones wearing a more stain resistant beige, shave their heads and tuck their genitals as part of a vow of modesty. They maintained vows of poverty, celibacy, and silence. They were almost exclusively male. Female monks wore the same uniform, but bound their breasts as part of their vow of modesty. Nuns wore black with a white facial and shoulder piece to symbolize triumph of will above sin. Their cloistered status protected them from sin, but they were not as "pure" as monks. They were chiefly in charge of records and maintaining hospices. Male nuns, though very rare, existed and were referred to as simply as "brothers." Priests, and Paladins when out of armor, of sex/gender wore the same uniform. Their vows, due to the range of their duties, were less extreme and so their uniforms resembled the nuns'. They wore a black garment called a cassock, with a white collar symbolizing the bit of Light that remains even in the midst of death and darkness.
====== The Quaestors of the Moons ======
A martial society existed within the Chuch dedicated to hunting vampires and evil lycanthropes. The most diligent, devoted Paladins were put through excruciating trials if they wished to join the society. One of these trials involved contracting lycanthropy and mastering the change. Another involved learning to summon demons and force them into submission with will and physical strength. The final rite involved voluntarily remaining in complete darkness for a full year despite constant psychological and verbal abuse commanding them to return to the light. Those who remained in the dark became Quaestors. They were seen as the final line of defense against the creatures of darkness. In addition to their normal garments, Quaestors carried a shield bearing a moon sign and wore an amulet of Mathas whom they worshiped as a patron Saint. They will attack any priest of Stygios or Devralster on sight unless it is the sacred day of said god in the Church calendar. Eranos' Priests of Stygios actually used to sit and enjoy a peaceful meal with any nearby Quaestors on festal eve, before a battle to the death the next night.
Category:Organizations
Category:Religions