Firstling's Chant

The world of Tosarch has two main religions that its human inhabitants follow - the **Firstling's Chant** and All-Credenda. Neither of these two religions worship gods, but are instead more akin to philosophies or life doctrines, even if Firstling's Chant really blends the boundaries of worship and veneration. The Chant also has their own holy militant order - Order of the Sanctimonious Choir.

**Firstling's Chant** is by far the more dominant doctrine in Tosarch, it venerates Aerinth, the original (first) Firstling and their children. Many of the Firstlings writings and philosophies have been protected for generations, and even now, thousands of years later they maintain their importance and are held to religious status. The ironic thing is that the Firstlings were most probably wizards themselves, the church of course denies this and calls such ideas heresy. Firstling’s Chant promotes various virtues and encourages people to spend their mortal days doing good deeds, following orders and keeping each other accountable - just like Aerinth and their children would.

## Venerated Firstlings

Often a group of people would choose to make one of the four venerated Firstlings their primary venerated one, to whose philosophies they would then dedicate their entire lives to.

### Aerinth - the One Before All Others

Aerinth was the first of their kind, they founded Quintex, they gave man their laws and they are the source of all noble blood (allegedly). To venerate Aerinth is to give yourself up to law, justice and order, this is the path that most nobles pick as it grants credibility to their status. There's much mystery to Aerinth, as many facts were lost to time and the turbulent period that was the creation of the Firstling Empire - one of such mysteries is their gender.

### Conquest - the First Heir

The first heir of Aerinth is only known as Conquest. Under their leadership the Firstling armies conquered all of the known world, forming the Firstling Empire. The first heir is also credited for the founding of the city-state of Cinderfall. To venerate Conquest is to give your life up to warfare, combat and athleticism, unsurprisingly soldiers and knights tend to gravitate towards Conquest.

### Harvest - the Second Heir

The second heir of Aerinth is only known as Harvest. They taught man how to grow the greatest of crops, brew the greatest of wines and enjoy life to the fullest. The second heir is also credited for the founding of the city-states that today make up The Concords. To venerate Harvest is to give your life up to craftsmanship and farming. Harvest is preferably venerated by the common folk.

### Punishment - the Third Heir

The third heir of Aerinth is only known as Punishment. They are the only one of the Firstlings depicted as a wizard, inconsequentially they are also depicted to be evil. Due to their unspeakable crimes, the third heir was exiled somewhere beyond the waves. Even so, some do secretly venerate them, as they are the patron of scholarship, magic and intrigue. Those who openly venerate Punishment are not looked kindly upon by the rest of society. Punishment is said to have founded the now ruined state of Ol Mahum.

## The Chant

The Chant is the main organizational body of the doctrine, it's main goal is to keep Firstling's Chant entrenched into human society and to spread it to all mankind. The Chant has a troublesome relationship with the scholars of All-Credenda, as the two philosophies tend to clash with each other for a few reasons, two key ones are self-determination and stance on magic.

### Hierarchy

The hierarchy of the chant is made out of a ladder of 5 ranks:

* The High Diviner (the head of the chant)
* Grand Clerics
* High Priests
* Priests
* Venerators

The **High Diviner** is the head of the entire Chant, they lead the entire philosophy from their seat deep within the temple complex of Holy Hill in the ancient city of Quintex. The High Diviner is often looked to as the most powerful person in all of Tosarch, as the Chant has much more resources and popular support than any noble family could even dream of. The High Diviner is traditionally elected from one of the Grand Clerics upon the death of the previous High Diviner.

There are three **Grand Clerics** within the Chant, one in each one of the three holy-site temples within Dahn. The Grand Cleric of Quintex is normally the right hand of the High Diviner and is therefore normally the first choice in the election.

There are many **High Priests** within the chant, usually one for every temple under the Chants governance. They oversee the day-to-day operations of the temples they lead and are the ones to hold the most important sermons of the week - the Monday sermons.

**Priests** are the ones to hold the most sermons within the Chant and interact most with the people, they tend to the sick and poor, oversee schooling within the chant and partake in various other duties that the High Priests bestow upon them.

**Venerators** are similar to Priests, however they are not assigned to any particular temple, they instead travel the countryside and visit various villages and isolated farming communities, holding local sermons somewhere out in the fields and spreading the word of the Chant to those that are too far to hear it. If there's a member of the Chant within an army, it will normally be a Venerator.

There are other people that are under the Chants commands - such as servants, personal guards, etc..

### Holy Sites

There are three temples that the Chant consider to be holy sites. The reason behind this is that these are the temples that are the resting places for the three main Firstlings, that being Aerinth, Conquest and Harvest.

* Holy Hill (Resting place of Aerinth)
* Grant Temple of Cinderfall (Resting place of Conquest)
* The Hallowed Gardens (Resting place of Harvest, located between Pireloux and Vieroux)

Many pilgrims visit these sights every year, these are probably the most well funded, well-kept and safest areas in all of Dahn.

### History

The Chant itself was founded sometime ~400 A.A., when the all-ruling Firstling dynasty wanted an additional reason for the people to follow their command. It wasn't difficult for the Chant to become an influential organization, as Aerinth was already somewhat revered by the common folk and that there was a significant vacuum for organized religion within Tosarch. The only troubling thing was the speed at which the organization gained power, as merely within decades of its founding, the Chant's High Diviner probably held more sway than the emperor of the Firstling Empire.

Through the three thousand years of its existence, the Chant never wavered in power and never participated in the politics of the world, its power base always was and might forever stay the popular support of the people and no single High Diviner ever thought of changing that.

### Stance on Magic

The Wizard Epoch and all the maddening abuse of magic that ensued, made the Chant really hate wizards, so much so that they widely rewritten parts of the Firstlings philosophies to be of a negative view towards magic.