Kerzenträger

The ***Kerzenträger*** (Low Airolian: 'candlebearer(s)') were a class of Airolian scholars, clergy, and military officers beginning in the early 1200s and lasting roughly until the death of *Aufsehrin-Fährfrau* Lucien Aler Verblasst in 1527 and the subsequent Symposium of Bö. They were primarily priestesses owing to their worship of the ocean goddess, *Säpheos*, however exceptions are known to have existed.

*Kerzenträger* were separated into numerous different 'colleges', chiefly based on time of ordination, role, and occasionally class. The selection process for becoming a *Kerzenträger* was twofold: prospective members could apply after a 5-year period of chastity and shunning of alcohol and other 'vices', then were judged by members of the *Verwerbrache*, and if accepted, accepted as *Einleiten*. Alternately, many upper-class children, often daughters, would be accepted before puberty, provided they came from sacerdotal families. Those initiated at this period in life, known as the *Neumond*, would be named *Fährfrau* and stripped of any titles or connection they had to their prior families. New surnames were then chosen by initiates, often Verblasst, meaning roughly 'gale' or 'squall'.

Despite their vows of chastity, the *Kerzenträger* were allowed to adopt on the condition that the children would be initiated into either the priesthood or the army.

## Etymology and terminology

The term *Kerzenträger*, meaning candlebearer, very likely originates from the candles used in mourning rituals. The names of the various colleges often related to the most defining aspect of their service, initiation, or rites; *Einleiten*, meaning initiate, was used for the most junior members; *Verwerbrache*, meaning 'fallow' or 'discarded', possibly from the stripping of titles or the vows of chastity, was used for veteran priestesses; *Fährfrau*, meaning 'ferrywoman', as their rites largely involved 'ferrying the dead'; *Säsvai*, meaning 'bloodied', referred to the rites of sacrifice members of this college underwent.

## Terms of service

### Duties and festivals

#### Festivals

In many Airolian festivals, the *Kerzenträger* would either initiate or conclude the rituals. They were most involved in the Festival of the Fronds and the various solstice festivals, especially the *Aussteisonnenwende*, which draws its name from the *Kerzenträger* themselves. In many more minor festivals, *Kerzenträger* *Einleiten* oversaw the rites. Funeral processions and other festivals of mourning were exclusively overseen by *Kerzenträger*.

#### Military

In addition to their sacerdotal role, the *Kerzenträger* *Aufsehrin* was an attached adviser to large-scale army formations to organize the logistics of traditional post-battle rituals, namely the *Kettenbruch*, which involved the lighting and transport of often tens of thousands of candles. Even after the Symposium of Bö and the rescinding of Kerzic privileges, *Kerzenträger* remained the title for certain high-ranking staff officers and military attaches.

## *Aureiipalat*

As with members of the Holy Council in Idigon, the most senior of the *Kerzenträger* in the metropole were housed within the *Aureiipalat*.