Faith of the Seven

The **Faith of the Seven** is the dominant religion of the Seven Kingdoms, and is often simply referred to as **the Faith**. The only parts of Westeros where the Faith is not widespread are the north and the Iron Islands, where the practice of the old gods and of the Drowned God respectively are still strong. The gods of the Faith are sometimes known as the **new gods** to differentiate them from the older religions.

## The Seven

Members of the Faith worship the Seven Who Are One, a single deity with seven aspects or faces, each representing a different virtue. The less educated may believe there are seven different gods, however. Worshipers pray to specific aspects of the Seven for help and guidance depending on their need. This aspects are:

* **Father**, or the Father Above, representing judgment. He is depicted as a bearded man who carries scales, and is prayed to for justice.
* **Mother**, or the Mother Above, representing motherhood and nurturing. She is prayed to for fertility or compassion, and is depicted as smiling with love, embodying the concept of mercy.
* **Warrior**, representing strength in battle. He is prayed to for courage and victory. He carries a sword.
* **Maiden**, representing innocence and chastity. She is usually prayed to to protect a maiden's virtue.
* **Smith**, representing crafts and labor. He is usually prayed to when work needs to be done, for strength. He carries a hammer.
* **Crone**, representing wisdom. She carries a lantern and is prayed to for guidance.
* **Stranger**, representing death and the unknown. Worshipers rarely seek favor from the Stranger, but outcasts sometimes associate themselves with this god.

## Practices

The Faith of the Seven is the predominant religion of the Seven Kingdoms. Practiced by the royal dynasties on the Iron Throne, it is heavily integrated into laws and culture. The Faith has a great many moral teachings. It frowns on gambling, preaches against bastardy, and curses things like incest and kinslaying.

One of the central holy texts of the Faith is *The Seven-Pointed Star*, which is divided into gospel-like sections, such as the Maiden's Book. "The Song of the Seven" is a song of worship for all of the Seven except the Stranger. "Maiden, Mother, and Crone" is a song about the females of the Seven. Another religious text is *The Book of Holy Prayer*.

During trials by combat, the Seven are expected to intervene on the side of the just combatant. In order to become a knight, a squire must spend a nightlong vigil in a sept and become anointed in the name of the Seven. For this reason, there are few knights in areas where the Faith is not kept, such as the north. There are only a few northern houses who follow the Seven, focused around the city of White Harbor and its ruling family, the Manderlys.

The number seven is considered holy to the Faith. It holds that there are seven hells as well as seven faces. The seven wanderers in the sky are considered as sacred, and even grace is taught to have seven aspects. The number seven is used to invest rituals or objects with a holy significance. Adherents of the Faith use seven-pointed stars, crystal prisms, and rainbows as icons of the religion. Rites of worship heavily involve the use of light and crystals to represent the seven-in-one god.

The places of worship of the Seven are called "septs", and every sept houses representational art portraying each of the seven aspects. In rural septs, they may merely be carved masks or simple charcoal drawings on a wall, while in wealthy septs, they may be statues inlaid with precious metals and stones. Worshipers light candles before altars symbolizing each of the seven aspects. Ceremonies are lead by the highest-ranking male member of the clergy, and hymns are often sung. In the naming of a child, seven oils are used to anoint the infant. Weddings are conducted standing between the altars of the Father and the Mother. Rites of worship held in rich areas and during special occasions can feature embellishments such as choirs of seventy-seven septas.

Each of the Seven have a holiday for them specifically. One such an example is Maiden's Day.

## Titles and Roles

Priests in the Faith of the Seven are known as the godsworn: "septons" if male, "septas" if female. They are the primary servants of the Seven, serving in a capacity similar to priests and priestesses of other religions. The septons and septas follow a system of vows, in serving the various orders devoted to aspect of the Seven.

### Leadership

*Main articles: High Septon, and Most Devout*
The Faith is ruled by a council of the highest ranking septons and septas, called the Most Devout. The Most Devout are led by the High Septon, who dwells at the Great Sept of Baelor in the city of King's Landing. Whilst the High Septon is usually elected from among the Most Devout, this is not a requirement, as non-members of the Most Devout have been raised to the office in the past.

### Septons

Male clergy of the Faith are called "septons", and there are various orders of devotion amongst them, each concentrating their devotion on one aspect of the Seven. For example, there are septons sworn to the Smith, and they wear small metal hammers on a thong around their necks. Monastic orders of septons can live in "septries" (plural of "septry"), self-sustaining enclaves of sworn brothers who are called "brown brothers". Septons without a sept wander the countryside ministering to the smallfolk in exchange for food and shelter. They are sometimes disparaged as "begging brothers", and they wear a small metal bowl around their necks. The figurehead of the Faith is known as the High Septon.

### Septas

Female clergy are called "septas", and there are various orders of devotion amongst them. There are orders of septas, called white, grey, or blue septas, but it is unrevealed to which aspect of the deity each of them is devoted. There are convents of septas called "motherhouses", including a large one in Oldtown and another in Bechester. Septas often serve as governesses in the households of the high nobility. A trial of a woman conducted by the Faith will have septas sitting among the seven judges.

### Holy Legates

Holy Legates serve as the representative of the High Septon throughout the Seven Kingdoms. They are given authority to rule in his name in their respective realms, and are given the duty of counselling the lords of their realm in matters of Faith.

The Current Legates Are:

* Septon Marsell Fellay for the Crown
* Septon Larence for the Westerlands
* Septon Vayon for the Riverlands
* Brother Nymos for the Reach
* Septon Jalohb for the Stormlands
* Septon Nestor for Dorne
* Septon Xi for the North
* Septon Yohn for the Iron Islands
* Septon Sebastian for the Vale
* Septon Malon as Shepherd of the East

## Orders

### Seven Orders

*Main article: Seven Orders*
The Seven Orders are individual godsworn orders dedicated to the seven aspects. Members strive to embody and spiritually contemplate the aspect of their choosing. Though no individual order dresses differently from the other, some members may wear trinkets, colours, or other miscellaneous indicators of personal affiliation.

Previously informal, the seven orders have emerged as distinct and formalized entities within the Faith. Though there are currently seven orders, the Stranger does not have an order. The seventh order is the order of the One.

### Silent Sisters

The silent sisters are an order of women sworn to the service of the Stranger and who have taken vows of chastity and silence. They are not regarded as septas. Silent sisters are sometimes referred to as the wives of the Stranger.[7] They clothe themselves in grey and keep their faces cowled except for their eyes.

Silent sisters prepare bodies for funerals, including removing bowels and organs and draining blood. They may also stuff the body with fragrant herbs and salts to preserve it and hide the smell of decomposition.

### Begging Brothers

Begging brothers are godsworn who choose to wander. They are clad in undyed brown robes, beg for alms and grant blessings to the faithful. They roam the roads of Westeros and preach.

### Contemplative/Brown Brothers

Some men of the Faith live and work in a monastic community known as a septry, often taking a vow of silence. The septry is headed by an Elder Brother, who is often the only one who may speak at all times. The Elder Brother is assisted in running the septry by proctors. The brothers engage in contemplation, prayer, and silence. The brothers wear brown-and-dun robes with wide bell sleeves and pointed cowls. One such septry is on the Quiet Isle.

## Schools of Theology

Two main schools of theology dominate the Faith: refractionism and diffractionism. The differences between them stem from a disagreement over the nature of the seven aspects and their oneness. Refractionists believe the seven aspects are separately acting entities linked together by a singular essence, like individual fingers to a hand, whereas diffractionists believe the aspects are collectively acting entities folded together into a unified whole, like a closed fist.

### Diffractionism

A brown brother turned begging brother took note in 313 AC that almost no one he had met on his travels, noble or commoner, acknowledged or understood that the seven aspects constituted a single deity. Nearly everyone, he reported, thought the Seven were individual gods in a pantheon, thus the ubiquitous term "new gods." This shocking revelation prompted him to return to septry life and establish the school of diffractionism. Its thinking rapidly spread across the faith – the begging brother would later be elected High Septon – until the school of refractionism eventually eclipsed it.

Diffractionism has seen a resurgence since the Great Schism, when a heresy based on the exclusive worship of the Smith threatened the integrity of the Faith. The current High Septon is a self-proclaimed diffractionist.

TBW