Church of Alaxon

The **Church of Alaxon** is the dominant religion throughout most of the Summerset Archipelago, and has even spread along the settlements on the coasts of Valenwood. Followers of the Eight are most common among Altmer, though rarer among other the peoples of Tamriel, most of whom follow the Faith of the Eight. The Church is the progenitor of many of the major religions that have spread throughout Tamriel, notably Alvarlism and the Faith of the Eight, which both can find their roots solidly in the Church of Alaxon.

The Church shares many aspects with the Faith of the Eight, so much so that some have commented on how it is the same religion merely with different figureheads and altered pantheons. This is a result of the Faith adopting most of its traditions from the Church during the religion's founding after the Alessian Slave Rebellion. Various priests of both religions have stated that the two faiths are in reality one religion, merely with different practices.

## The Gods

Members of the Church worship eight gods that correspond to different aspects of life. Depending on their need, worshipers will pray to specific gods. The eight are:

* **Auri-El**,
* **Jephre**,
* **Mara**,
* **Trinimac**,
* **Phynaster**,
* **Stendarr**,
* **Syrabane**,
* **Xarxes**,

## Organisation

### Priests

The godsworn of the Church are called curates. Upon taking their vows, they set aside their surnames, even if they come from noble families. Curates often wear white robes and a metal pendant around their neck. They lead worship with incense, censers, and songs. They sometimes wear hoods, but not always, and their hair can be seen. Curates may serve as governesses and governors in noble households.

In villages which are too small to support a curate, a curate from a neighboring village might visit twice a year. Other times, a "wandering curate", a curate who travels from village to village without a specific chantry at which they serve, might visit these small villages. These curates perform holy services, marriages, and forgive sins. While the curate is visiting the village, the people must provide them with food and a place to sleep.

### High Aldarch

The head of the Church is the High Aldarch, the Father of the Faithful, the voice of the gods on earth. The Holy Convent, a council of the highest-ranking priests (known as Aldarchs), elect the High Aldarch, usually from among their own ranks, although there have been notable exceptions. The priest who is elected gives up their surname, as the Church believes that the High Aldarch no longer has any need of a mortal family, since they have become the avatar of the gods. Typically, the High Aldarch wears long white robes and a crown. Aldarchs from the Holy Covent wear robes of cloth-of-silver and gold ornamentation.

## Rights and Privileges

The Church traditionally held several rights. Apart from the right to maintain its own military orders (i.e., the Divine Prosecution), the Church also had the right to hold its own ecclesiastical courts to try servants of the Church accused of wrongdoing, who were exempt from being tried in the lordly courts of local monarchs. In addition, the Church's substantial wealth and properties were exempt from taxation.

King Aerel I Arana tread lightly with the Church and upheld all of these rights during his reign. Aerel's first son, King Daethen I Arana, outlawed the Divine Prosecution during the Church Uprising. King Viseriel I Arana later ended the Uprising by compromising with the High Aldarch on several issues, resulting in the semi-secularisation of the Divine Prosecution, as well as the creation of the Jurisreeves.

## Practices

The Church of Alaxon is the predominant religion of the Summerset Archipelago, and is practised throughout its many regions. Although the laws of the Marble Throne and the gods are seen as separate, teachings of the Church have a heavy influence on the law and justice of the realm. The Church preaches against prostitution, gambling, polygamy, and bastardy. It holds slavery to be an abomination, and considers incest—except for Aranas, under the Principle of Exceptionalism—and prostitution as monstrous and vile sins. Followers of the Church consider no man as accursed as the kinslayer, although the degree of kin and circumstance of killing one's kin (e.g., in war) hold significant influence. Many such values and practices were passed on to the Church's child religions, notably the Faith of the Eight, which adopted many of its values through Alvarlism (another of the Church's child religions) and included several more from the Church's doctrines themselves.

In association with the eight gods, the number eight is considered holy. Priests speak of the eight aspects of grace during prayer, and the gods are said to have made eight wonders. Eight oils are used during a child naming ceremony, as part of the knighting ceremony, and when anointing a king.

### Worship

Religious worship is done in temples called chantries. The wealthier chantries have representational art portraying each of the eight gods, whereas poorer chantries might use carved masks or crude charcoal drawings of the gods. The altars are sometimes inlaid richly with mother-of-pearl and coral. Windows are from leaded glass, depicting scenes and pictures, and a great crystal catches light, spreading it in a rainbow of colours. Chantries can be found across the Summerset Archipelago, although few can be found in the rest of Tamriel. Some lords might agree to have a chantry build upon their lands. If such cases, the chantries are the property of the lord in question.

Prayer in a chantry is done to the god that one wishes to ask for aid. Holding hands and singing is often part of worship and prayer. Hymns for a particular god can be sung during prayer. Candles can be lit to honour the gods. People may wear signs of devotion to a particular god. Crystals and light are important elements in the Church.

Paramount of Altmeri worshippers is the religious principle known as the Path to Alaxon, a value which informs how a pious worshipper should lead their life. The Path to Alaxon emphasises a desire for perfection in all things, encouraging worshippers to strive for such perfection in their own lives as best they can. This principle can also be found in Ayleid religion of Alvarlism, a branching religion of the Church which used the principle to justify their practices of slavery, incest, and much more in order to keep their people "pure and perfect". The principle was eventually done away with after the Alessian Slave Rebellion by Alessia I Paravant when creating her Faith of the Eight, though it remains intact within the Church of Alaxon's doctrines and practices.

### Holy Days

The eighth day of the eighth moon is deemed sacred by the gods, and the pious do not work on such a day.

### Trials

Trials can be presided over by a priest. During a regular trial, the priest will begin with a prayer, beseeching the Auri-El to guide them towards justice.

In the days of old the Church used to conduct its own trials, which could be held for any member of society whether noble or commoner. This power was eventually wrestled away from the Church and into the hands of the nobility, who conduct their own trials at the courts of the king or his various High Kinlords.

### Marriage Customs

A marriage ceremony takes place in a chantry. The ceremony is presided over by a curate and involves prayers, vows, singing, and lighting of candles. Thus far, all the wedding gowns that have been described during ceremonies performed following the customs of the Church have been a shade of white, such as ivory samite and ivory silk. Both the groom and the bride will wear cloaks over their garments displaying the colours of their House, and depending on if the marriage is matrilineal or patrilineal, one cloak will be removed and replaced with the other. This is to symbolically show that the spouse is being passed from the protection of their House to the protection of their spouse's House. The bride and groom speak the words “With this kiss I pledge my love”, potentially followed with an additional “…and take you for my lord and husband” and “…and take you for my lady and wife” by the bride and groom respectively, after which the curate will declare them to be man and wife, stating they are “one flesh, one heart, one soul, now and forever”. The wedding ceremonies of monarchs are typically carried out by the High Aldarch, rather than a mere curate.

The wedding ceremony is followed by a feast. After the feast follows the bedding. The bride is escorted to her bedroom, usually by the men from the feast, who will aid in undressing her while in the bedchambers. The women at the feast will do the groom the same honours. Usually, once the bride and groom are in the bedchamber they are left alone.

A marriage that has not been consummated can be set aside by the High Aldarch or the Holy Convent. Neither bride nor groom needs to be present for an annulment. However, it must be requested by at least one of the wedded pair. Divorce in the Summerset Archipelago is even less common than in the rest of Tamriel. Nonetheless, a monarch is able to put their spouse aside—even if they have given birth to their children—and marry another.