Seminary of Thought

## Description:

The Seminary of Thought, sometimes referred to as the Church-Collegiate of Animus, or just the Church-Collegiate, is a regional organization in control of the County of Enklem in the southeastern quadrant of the Kodian State. The organization seeks to study the "Labyrinthine Blood" found within the Labyrinth which is buried deep under the Enkle Mountains below the town of Enklem. The Seminary conducts this research and worship with the intent of producing a new god of their own to elevate mankind beyond their current limitations.

The Seminary maintains hostile relations with the Jaegers and Catollianism, but maintains a neutral relationship with the Kodian State's government. The Seminary is also very hostile towards the Gerhasst Family, who live in Castle Zepffenhain across the lake from Enklem; the Seminary and the Gerhassts have been fighting with one another for nearly 2 centuries.

### Organization:

#### Headquarters: Rugginbrotz University, Enklem

The Seminary has 2 tiers of rulers: their demi-divine prophets who commune with the "true" gods on behalf of the mortal followers, and the humanoid leaders who oversee the group's operations. The so-called "Carriers" form the non-humanoid ruling body of the Seminary, a group of individuals who have transcended humanoid form in favor of more "pure," godly appearances; the laypeople of the Seminary and their other low-ranking members worship the Carriers as minor deities. The Carriers have some kind of internal hierarchy, although its details are unknown as of the time of writing. Under the Carriers sits the Rector, the highest-ranking humanoid member of the Seminary who communes with their superiors to receive orders and communications from "Serub," the Seminary's primary deity. The Deacons sit beneath the Rector, and act as the middle level of membership within the Seminary's clergy. The Clinicians serve as the next layer down, and act as the primary researchers, scientists, and scholars within the Seminary responsible for designing, measuring, and analyzing the various experiments and studies conducted by the Seminary. The Ordinands/Seminarians are the lowest level of the clergy responsible for maintaining Seminary properties, conducting and helping with religious services, handling Seminary logistics and paperwork, etc. All believers of the Seminary, regardless of rank and including laypeople, are referred to as "Cogitates," or "Thoughts"; nonbelievers are referred to as "Caecits," or "The Blind," while outright enemies of the Seminary are known as "Maledicts," or "Cursed."

The Seminary includes a number of subdvisions within its wider organization; among these subdivisions is The Pathfinders, a secretive sect of scholars and Fractal-Seers who have shut themselves up in the Catacombs beneath Rugginbrotz University to better spy upon, explore, study, understand, and predict the [LABYRINTH] and its constant shifts.

The Seminary draws its clergy from the populace of Enklem and its surrounding environs. Anyone who demonstrates a particularly strong devotion to the Seminary can be inducted as a Seminarian, at which point they undergo religious education, training in the ways of Potency, etc. Laypeople are similarly drawn from the citizenry of Enklem, inducted into the Seminary's faith via an initiation ritual, known as [REDACTED]. The Seminary seeks to recruit into its ranks as often as possible to replenish lost resources from their twisted experiments.

The Seminary of Thought seeks to use the Labyrinthine Blood of their comatose god to discover a means of elevating and ascending mankind to be akin to their gods. The Seminary wishes to attain divinity and become one with the Vast Ones by any means necessary, unbothered by collateral damage their experiments cause. The Seminary operates only in Enklem, leading from the shadows and propping up regional nobles and politicians throughout history as a means of maintaining their secrecy; the Seminary has, historically, dedicated a substantial percentage of their resources towards hiding their organization from the wider world.

#### Holy Sites:

1. Enklem
	1. Rugginbrotz University
	2. Lake Von Rich
	3. [LABYRINTH]

## Religion:

The Seminary of Thought subscribes to an insular, inwards-focused polytheistic religion which centers around the ascension of the self to a higher level of existence, achieved through the increase of one's Potency via the Labyrinthine Blood and worship of the Vast Ones, Serub especially. The Seminary sees divine interaction through the use of the Labyrinthine Blood, interaction with the [LABYRINTH], etc.; the Seminary does not believe in a conventional afterlife, instead preaching of humanity's immortality and possible ascension to a god-like state through the use of Labyrinthine Blood. The supernatural exists in the form of the Vast Ones, Carriers, the Labyrinthine Blood and its derivatives/mutated strains, etc.

### Forms of Worship:

Forms of worship include collective prayer services, conducted within the Seminar Hall of Rugginbrotz University or in one of the smaller, repurposed chapels/churches scattered across Enklem; these churches were originally dedicated to Catollianism or Prolinism, but have since been taken over by the Seminary's cultists and modified to fit their needs, often equipped with fountains of Labyrinthine Blood or special canisters designed to hold it until the Bloodrite is performed. These collective prayer services are complex and highly structured and involve speech-response couplets initiated by the Seminarian conducting the ritual, readings from the Seminary's "holy books" and theological writings, sacrifices of animals or captured humanoids, and the performance of the Bloodrite.

The Bloodrite is one part scientific operation and one part religious ritual.

solitary prayer/reading/research, and meditation. Holidays are rare, and all of them are treated with the utmost respect; holidays celebrate important historical events, or act as calendar reminders for cosmic occurrences like eclipses or full moons.

### List of the Gods:

#### Carriers:

1. [CELESTIAL EMISSARY]:
2. [LAURENCE]
3. [REDACTED]