Faith Eternal

> *"And the Faithful shall endure only by the grace of Holy Advar. For beyond his Sanctum, no life can exist."*
> -Empress Valendra the Sixth.
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The **Faith Eternal** is the main religion of the Advari people and the established faith of the Holy Advari Empire. The Faith stresses worship of the deity Advar and upholds ritual sacrifice for the sake of the people.

## History

> *"Since His first coming here, since He enshrined us in His blessed Sanctum, He has charged us with a threshold which we must not pass. An unchanging limit on how many thinking minds may live within His Sanctum at one time. Our ancestors cast down their cities and gave up their lives to restrain our hubris, and bring our people below this sacred threshold, and we must never surpass it. That is His one and only command."*
> -Lord Cardinal Hastus Arvannis, on Advar's injunction to to Faith Eternal.
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The Faith Eternal has obscured or destroyed much of the Advari's prehistory, but has retained a number of records for its own use, such as Sarparadin the Second's Fouth Canticle. The Advari once followed many different beliefs, many of which were centred around the idea of life after death and the promise of reward in an afterlife.

At some point in their ancient past, the Advari encountered the Wheel, a pulsar-like star in which they discovered the Mechanism, which they interpreted in divine terms and as an aspect of the deity Advar (in fact, the Faith teaches that the Advari species named itself in deference to its deity). According to the Fourth Canticle, a group of Advari known as the Lightsingers encountered Advar, who offered bounty in exchange for the Advari separating themselves from their past in favour of his divine truth. The Advari destroyed their historic records and vowed that they would never keep records except those blessed by the Faith Eternal.

The senior clergy of the Faith Eternal believe that Advar has charged the Advari people to maintain the number of thinking minds in the nebula below a certain threshold, with unknown but dire consequences if this limit is breached. Accordingly, the Faith Eternal upheld ritual sacrifice as a means of population control, and maintained an elaborate deception whereby hundreds of clerics would be sent to worlds long-since abandoned or left desolate, ostensibly to conduct religious worship but in practice as a larger form of sacrifice. The truth of this matter was concealed even from the rulers of the Holy Advari Empire themselves.

The desire to maintain this threshold led to the Faith Eternal to sanction a violent reaction against the Humans of the Tantalus Cluster, who arrived in the nebula in the year 0304 PCU according to their calendar. The Human Avalon Exploratory Initiative was repeatedly attacked by Advari lightships, notionally because the Faith Eternal taught that life could not exist beyond the nebula. However, the discovery of the Humans led Empress Valendra the Sixth of the Holy Advari Empire and Inquisitor Castian Vadric to question the strictures of the Faith and confront Lord Cardinal Hastus Arvannis on their true nature. Faced with this, Arvannis chose to admit the true nature of the Faith and expose Valendra to the Wheel.

## Theology

> *"In the time before memory, we knew only the Great Nothing. It enveloped us from all sides, and within its darkness we did wither and starve."
> "So sayeth the Faith Eternal."
> "Then came the light of salvation. When Advar, The Divine Illuminator, did forge his Holy Sanctum, to stem the tide of the Great Nothing, and to shield the faithful from the endless midnight. It is in his deference that we call ourselves Advari."
> "Praise be to Advar. Truth without Exception."*
> - A prayer of the Faith Eternal.
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Advar, a divine or messianic figure, is the central object of the Faith's worship. The Faith holds Advar to be the creator of the CDC-41-Gamma nebula, which they know as the "Sanctum of Advar". In deference to Advar, the native species of CDC-41-Gamma named themselves the Advari.

The Faith Eternal teaches that life beyond the Sanctum of Advar is impossible, and the mere suggestion of life beyond the nebula is regarded by many adherents to the Faith as heretical. The sacrifices of the Faith Eternal are ostensibly intended to strengthen the Sanctum of Advar against "the cursed void beyond", though in fact are intended to maintain the Advari's population below the threshold Advar is believed to have dictated. Senior members of the Faith Eternal's clergy refer to this process of sacrifices to maintain the level of population as "the Harmony". They have also been aware of the existence of life beyond the nebula for some time, and have been concealing this information even from the Imperial government.

## Worship

> "*Like millions before you, and millions to come, you have each volunteered yourself for holy sacrifice. The Sanctum of Advar is vast and bountiful, but its bounty is fed by faith, and by sacrifice. Today, through your selfless actions, you serve Holy Advar in the truest sense, by surrendering your living spirits, that they may strengthen the barrier between our divine sanctuary, and the cursed void beyond.*"
> - Empress Valendra the Sixth's benediction to those taking their own lives in the name of the Faith.
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Sacrifice plays a strong role in the Faith Eternal's worship. Ritual suicide is considered the highest possible act of sacrifice and devotion to the Faith. The Empress herself presides over public ceremonies, offering a benediction which suggests that "millions" have taken their own lives in the Faith's name since its inception.

Said to be conducted to strengthen the Sanctum of Advar against "the cursed void beyond", the Faith Eternal's senior clergy are fully aware that the sacrifices in fact do no such thing, and are intended to maintain the Advari's population below the threshold dictated by Advar. This falsehood was deliberately chosen to appeal to the Advari people's sense of community and selflessness.

## Hierarchy

The Faith Eternal's junior clergy consists of a large number of Clerics, who notionally lead worship and conduct sacrifices in priories across the Empire, but in practice are sent out into the Diaconate Reaches to die. The Faith as a whole is led by a High Cleric. The office was occupied by Darsellia Lantris until her death in 0304 PCU. Cardinals of the Faith, such as Lord Cardinal Hastus Arvannis, are significant figures within the Imperial government.

Whilst the ruling monarch wields great power and respect within the Empire, their role is subject to control by the Faith. High Cleric Lantris implies that previous rulers of the Empire have attempted to push against their role within the Faith and tried to change the status quo for their subjects, but have quickly been shut down in their efforts.

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 *Forlorn Hope*
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 *The Fourth Canticle*
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 *The Promised Land*
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 4.3 *Dust and Shadow*
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 *Inclement Weather*
6. ↑ *Yesterday's War*
7. ↑ *Theirs Not to Reason Why*, "Others in your place have walked this path before, though not for long." - Lantris