The Pridish Crown Church

**The Pridish Crown Church** is an Arborikan church which forms the state religion of the Pridish Empire. The emperor of the Pridish Empire is the supreme governor but its most senior cleric is the Archscript of Decester.

## **History**

### **Early Arborikanism in Decester**

According to tradition Arboricanism arose in Decester in the mid to late -1st century after the crowning of Arborikus with the Celestine Crown and the Unnaming of the Lines. As the Fenizian colonisers had failed to leave any meaningful remnant of their religion this movement swept through the lowlands of Decester swiftly.

### **Division**

By the 4th century Early Arboricanism had become a mess of contradictions and conflicts as different sects had placed differing emphasis on Arborikus and his progeny's intentions and actions. This lead to division across the next century of the Arborikan religion, and divided it into three primary branches: the Pridish Crown Church, the Bloodletter Sect, and the Celestants. The acts of Queen Noma during her lifetime placed the Crown Church as the primary amongst the three.

## **Doctrine and Practice**

The Crown Church draws its laws from the collected writings of Chærina, a scholar of Fenizian descent who according to canon travelled with and befriended Arborikus before the Unnaming of the Lines.

### **Rights of Magic**

The church posits that due to the act performed by Arborikus during the Unnaming of the Lines granting the six chosen vessels with the Potential, that all magic flows from the royal line to the people ruled by each monarch. Thus each monarch that ascends the throne that bares the Arborikan bloodline has the right to end the flow and reclaim the magic from those who would trepass against them. Receiving the right of magic, such as being born with the Potential or giving birth to a child with it, is seen as the ultimate blessing of the Crown Church and rituals and sacraments are performed throughout a members lifetime to ensure this blessing is granted to their progeny.

### **Magic as Worship**

The ultimate act of worship within the church is to perform (or assist in the performance of) great acts of magic. To those born with the Potential this often manifests itself as a lifetime devoted to study of the magic arts in the wider world; to those born without they must partake in and donate to costly magic rituals that assist their communities instead. Clerics of the church by law must be a graduate mage themselves to best serve this practice.

### **Saints**

The church canonises saints from time to time, a practice started after the death of Queen Noma. All of the major saints are deceased monarchs or emperors, while a number of lesser saints are members of the extended royal line. The common thread between these individuals is that they are the origin of powerful or important spells, being either the author or most notible user of an era-defining magic.

### **Reviling of the Wild and of Pretender Magic**

Among the primary sins of the Crown Church is the practice of pretender magic, which is any magic that is not derived from the Arborikan Potential. This magic is seen as dirty, corrupting, and evil; it is believed to be granted by agents of the wild, those who would see humanity consumed by the primal wills of those who Arborikus sought to destroy. It is the purpose of all good members of the church to seek to destroy all those who would benefit from this practice.

## **Structure**

The emperor of the Pridish Empire is the sovereign and highest power within the Crown Church, it is under their supervision that the rest of the structure is placed. Second under the emperor is the Archscript of Decester who wields the emperor's rights for them in the day to day running of the church. Each country within the empire also has their own Archscript who answers to the Decestrian Archscript.

Under each Archscript operate the following officials of the church (from lowest rank to highest):

* Caravan Clerics are travelling clerics who do not operate from a church and instead serve a number of smaller communities in an allocated area. They often work alone performing simple spells and rituals for villages who do not have access to a church.
* Landed Clerics are clerics who operate within a single church at the centre of a community. They are often assisted by one or two clerics in training. Often in smaller towns and larger villages there is only one church but in larger towns and cities there can be as many as needed.
* Hext Clerics are organisationally minded clerics who operate as trainers, advisors and overseers of no more than six landed clerics and their assistants. These are usually individuals who have been promoted from the position of landed cleric.
* Reeve Clerics command all the hext clerics in a reeve and answer directly to the Archscript.

### **Additional Roles**

Outside the clerical hierarchy there are other official positions within the church that can be held by individuals.

#### **Inquixism**

Inquixists are highly trained mages who serve the church in a non-clerical fashion. Their primary service is the investigation and rooting out of heretical beliefs and practices within the empire. This is usually solely aimed at practice of pretender magic or worship of the bound gods, but in times of high religious tension this can manifest as pursuit of the other branches of the Arborikan faiths. Their practices are famously brutul and unforgiving.

#### **Nomatects**

Nomatects are trained arcanatects who specialise in the construction of churches and other sites of religious importance.

#### **Foreswords**

A group of high and low academics of war who protect sites and objects of importance to the church. The largest of these groups is stationed on an eternal vigil at the Vault of Vieroenso in Henwell Cross.