Church of Eres

The **Church of Eres**, more commonly known as the **Church**, is an organization with the sole goal of worshiping supernatural entity Eres and the scripts of her prophet, Arthur Pendragon. It is the evolution of an older religion that believes in Eres that was called Dragon’s Prophets, who prophesied the arrival of a prophet called the “Second Dragon”.

They were re-founded by Aido indirectly as small temple in Camelot and is the only organization from Camelot to survive it’s fall (The Adventurers League worked independently from Camelot). It became a popular monotheistic religion around 3000 BE and eventually became the most dominant one in Arios. However only the New Camelot Branch had any form of supernatural abilities due to the Demons Dogma most branches (except theirs) subscribed to.

This relationship changed during and after the great war as The King LeLouche Vi Raven was highly skeptical of the religion, only tolerating it due to its popularity and its ability to be an asset. However, he gave a royal decree that he said may never be removed:

*“The Church of Eres has and never will have any sway over the Empire or Local governments. They are tolerated due to the good they can provide the nation, but if they ever become a hindrance to the nation or its people, they will be burned”*

Priests were prohibited from having high positions in any type of form in any sort of political or military manner within the Empire Of Arios.

## Theology

The Church of Eres believes in a single God, with all the rest being false idols or Teufel. God, also called Eres, is a immortal, omniscient and omnipotent spirit that governs all aspect of life and exist in all things as the Soul. It is the creator of the universe and allowed life to flourish in it's light and grace.

According to the teachings of the religion, when one dies they leave this existence to once more become one with God while maintaining their sentience and independence, becoming part of the paradise that is Eres. If one rejects the teaching of Eres, their soul shall be purge with the fires of the First Dragon until they are purged of their sins and disbelief and join the embrace of Eres. However, there is a third fate that can befall one. If a soul is corrupted by Teufel or actively attack the tenants of the church without repent, they are destined to go to the realm of Ankläger, the corrupting force of the universe, where they burn in his flames for ever with no hope of ever being purified even by the flames of a dragon.

### Eres

According to the Church of Eres, Eres is a perfect entity that gives all life their Soul by existing within them. However, the church also says that entity Eres is three. First, The Soul Giver (Seelenspender), the entity that exist in all of living beings. It represents the soul and independence. Second is the Dragon, also known as the First Dragon (Erster Drache), whose flames purge the world of all corruption created by Ankläger and that gives life it's body. It represents the body our anchor to the real world. Finally is the Wiseman (Weiser Mann), the entity that gives life its sentience. It represents the mind and sentience.

### The Second Dragon

The **Second Dragon**, or in **Zweiter Drache** in Classic Urserge, was the prophesied savior and prophet of human kind and the followers of Eres from the preconception of the original religion and fore told by the forefathers of the religion even in the beginning. While it was not specified, who or what the Second Dragon, the faith held that one day they would come to save humanity.

Even though every branch of the **Church of Eres** believes he will eventually arrive, there has been contention on if the Second Dragon has already arrived or not, causing a split between the Orthodox Dragons Prophets and Children Of Aido, with the Children of Aido believe that Arthur Pendragon was the second dragon, while Orthodox Dragons Prophets believe they are yet to arrive.

### The Soul

The soul is considered the most holy of the mind, body and spirits, as the body may decay and the mind may wither but the soul was eternal. Each believer of Eres was told to protect their soul from corruption by any means necessary. Even if it meant ignoring the tenant, as if their soul was corrupted they would be unable to join Eres in paradise.

Due to it's holy nature, the church does not tolerate at all manipulation of the soul in any way, shape or form, seeing it as a attack against Eres and are against the use of the proven, but not yet used, Source as it dampens and consumes the soul, making it imperfect and therefore that soul cannot join Eres. During the early 3000's BE this was extended to mean Weavers corrupted their souls by performing Weaving, leading to a major persecution called the Demons Dogma.

### Mythology

> *In the beginning, there was nothing. Then the Goddess came and created the universe. She created the universe and breathed life into the world and her children, humans. She sent her prophet, The Noble Dragon, to teach their creations the word of god and the promise that one day a new Dragon would appear to them to continue to guide them.*
>
> Sacrolibro

The Church of Eres holds that there is only one God that created the universe and sent a prophet in the form of a dragon to spread it's word and guide them. Since then they have continued their path to spread the word of Eres.

## Tenants

> *Thou shall protect life like it is thine own and Thou shall respect death. Thou shall remain honest and faithful. Thou shall remain steadfast in what you believe and love*
>
> Sacrolibro

The church of Eres is extremely lose with it's rules, with only a few tenants:

* Respect Life and Death
* Remain Honest and Faithfull
* Protect what you love

This open interpretation and lack of rules has historically made those of the religion extremely murderous, with no rule against murder or killing, only that you respect it. There no rules that would categorically make sense in morality like most religions, just vague interpretable guidelines, making it extremely popular especially to warlords.

## Practices

### Styles of worship

The church, for the most part, is extremely simple in their worship as their core beliefs could easily be passed down word to mouth with barely enough words to fill a page. The rest of their Sacrolibro is tales teaching how a practitioner should try and live their life based on stories, words of Arthur Pendragon and some information about medicine.

The temples of the faith are known as "Drachen", with no set design between each except the symbol of the church at the door. Unlike most religions, the church does not have a day of prayer, instead performing optional sermons every day in the afternoon. However the main function of Drachen is not that of prayer (which could be done anywhere), but of healing by the priest and the rest of the clergy using the medical knowledge passed down to them.

### Wedding Ceremonies

The ceremony of a wedding by the church of Eres was a extremely short ceremony and simple, as most of their ceremonies.

The bride and groom join hands and place their hands in bucket of water, where the priest says "*Cleansed in waters of the Wiseman"* and instructs the couple to repeat after him. They pass their still locked hand through a flame "*Purged by the fire of the Dragon"* and finally, in prayer, "*Blessed by the* *Spirit Giver*"*.*

However, due to some noble wanting their wedding's to be grand, most known versions of wedding's are extremely long by adding steps that, according to the church, are unnecessary to the process. These include giving away the bride, special types of clothes (ranging from pure white to pure black) and pre-ceremony sermons.

### Demons Dogma

While this philosophy was only practiced by Dragons Children branch of the church, during one time it was the dominating religion of Arios. The practice consisted in burning heretics that sullied or corrupted the soul in the "Holy Fires of The Dragon" to purge them from the earth and hopefully clean their bodies of their sin. According to the Dogma, the following were considered burnable offences:

* Any form of "Heresy"
* Treason
* Murder of a close Family Member
* Making a deal with a Demon or Devil
* Weaving, being a Weaver (also called Hexen)
* "Witchcraft"

This led to thousands between c. 3,000 BE ~ 40 AE being killed on various levels of charges of heresy on large scales, with only the founding of the Emperor of Arios and the designation of the Dragons Children as a cult to be executed if the believers did not desist their practices, which was apparently effective, though is highly likely to still be practiced in remote parts of Arios.

## Organization

The Church of Eres has an organized clergy, however each unit, or "Drachen", functions independently from each other. Most clergy are priest and can be joined by anyone regardless of race, species or gender (Except during Demons Dogma). Their daily lives are simple, praying, eating, doing their chores and sleeping. When needed they will attend and attempt to heal those who come sick or with injuries. Above them are the head priests, that are the leader of each Drachen.

The head of the church is known as known as the Drachenkopf, and resides in different places depending on the branch it is aligned to.

There is a separate position that functions independently of rank called Gesegnet, or blessed. The blessed are those that have gained divine power through faith and become Weavers. Due to this they become tier above normal priests and will either choose the path of the Cleric or Holy Knight. They become free of their church duties and may choose their path forward, staying with the church or search for a new purpose.

There is other orders that also follow the faith of the Church and follow them but are not technically part of the organization, such as the Krieger.

## Branches

### Orthodox Dragons Prophets (around 12,300 BE)

The orthodox Dragons Prophets are the original branch of the church, being the predecessor to all other churches. The split off from the Children Of Aido around 12,300 BE due to a conflict of belief whether or not Arthur Pendragon was the Second Dragon, with the orthodox church believing the dragon was yet to come and the Children Of Aido believing he was the Prophet.

### Children Of Aido (around 3,290 BE)

The Children of Aido were created out of dispute whether or not Arthur Pendragon was in fact the Second Dragon prophesied. This branch believed he was and this eventually led them to split into the Children Of Aido and Orthodox Dragons Prophets. This branch would not last long as it would eventually evolve into the Dragons Children due to the new philosophy called the Demons Dogma.

### Dragons Children (around 3,000 BE)

The Dragons children were the main religion of Arios between 3,000 BE until around 25 BE and followed the Demons Dogma. They influenced many governments and had a lot of power all over Arios. This led to thousands to die in fires due to being labeled as heretics. Eventually, when the Gesegnet started appearing, they were promptly banished or even killed, believing they were corrupted. Eventually, most of the blessed fled to New Camelot and it became a new branch, called posthumously the New Camelot Branch.

### New Camelot Branch (around 2,600 BE)

*Main Page: Imperial Church Of Eres*

New Camelot Branch, later known as the Imperial Church Of Eres, was a branch of the church that originated in New Camelot and was shunned and even branded heretics by the Dragons Children due to the presence of Gesegnet who contradicted the Demons Dogma. However, due to the protection they received from new (and extremely rich) city, rebranded New Camelot they were left alone and left to practice their Weaving to help those in need. They eventually replaced the Dragons Children after the First Great War and became the only sanctioned branch of the religion.

## Notes

* The holy book they believed in was not written until the Camelotian era and was passed via oral tradition as various stories told by many religious leaders in the early days of the religion. Some or none of these stories could be true.
* The only sanction branch currently is the Imperial Eres Church, also known as “The Children of Aido” as they are currently an asset used by the government as they are the only branch to not have purged those who gained “miracles”.
* There are two main branches of the church, the officially sanctioned “Children of Aido” and “The Children of the Dragon”.
* The Children of the Dragon is a more extremist and orthodox branch that follows the Dragon’s Discipline that says magic and non-humans are a warping on the natural order of things and must be destroyed. Before the Empire they were the leading religion on the Continent.