Deodatic Church

The Deodatic Church is the primary faith of human nations, including and especially the Holy Human Empire, where the head of the Church, the Ecclesiarch, resides.

### Beliefs and Practices

The Deodatic Church is a universalizing religion which regards all peoples as potential (and desirable) converts. By the doctrine of the Deodatic Church, all humans are naturally blessed by God, but damn themselves with weakness and sin throughout their lives. Only by 'genuine' charity can they redeem their souls and erase the sin from their souls, allowing them ascension into heaven after death. While donating to the Church is not the only form of 'genuine' charity, it is the only form that is, by definition, \*\*always\*\* recognized as 'genuine'. By the Diet of Sillabarendi in 1666 MA, non-humans may be redeemed by both works and faith; whereas humans only require works to be saved.

The Deodatic Faith is highly sex-negative, and regards sex as primarily for reproductive purposes, including between married couples. Prostitution is permitted, but prostitutes are looked down upon. Priests are supposed to be celibate, but often flaunt this with no consequences. Monogamous marriage is the norm, but the church offers special dispensation to the wealthy and powerful for a single mistress. Charity is one of the core values of the faith, and charity is essential to enter heaven, along with avoiding sin.

Most churches are little more than shrines, small chapels, or meeting-houses. Three major holy sites have impressive grandeur invested into them, but ordinary worship is not regarded as benefiting from magnificent edifices to God. Nuns and monks live in monasteries and nunneries isolated from wider society. Priests and other clergy of the church are discouraged from taking up arms, but not directly forbidden. However, the Church has direct authority over a number of knightly orders of warrior-monks, who are largely autonomous but answer to the high priest and cardinals. The high priest is elected by a college of cardinals when the previous one dies.

### Sects

#### Received Deodatic Church

The Received (or 'Imperial') Deodatic Church is the largest and most widespread form of the Deodatic Church, and most references to the Received Deodatic Church refer to it simply as the Deodatic Church, or even just The Church. As the name suggests, it centers in The Holy Human Empire. The Received Deodatic Church adheres to dogma set down over the course of three centuries of decrees and diets.

##### Marchers

Marchers are an ascetic heretical sect of the Received Deodatic Church which believes that withholding wealth is a sin, and only 'absolute and genuine' charity redeems (ie the sacrifice of all worldly possessions). They are most often found as itinerant preachers or hermits, and though heretical, generally ignored by the Church.

##### Laudataea

Laudataea are a semi-apocalyptic sect of the Received Deodatic Church. They believe that a time of great disbelief and radical selfishness is coming soon, and that the faith of all will soon be tested, with most of the former faithful falling into depravity and greed. While this alone would not be heretical, per se, they add to this basic belief that it is better to die before such a challenge comes about. As they regard suicide as selfish, they instead opt to kill their fellow faithful to 'spare' them the coming tribulations, and donate accordingly to erase the sins on their souls. Most infamous are those who kill by poison, by false witness, by draconian justice, or by the encouragement of war and conflict, as there is no way to discern whether these actions are performed by ordinary but flawed people, or by radical Laudataea.

##### Antiredemptivists

Antiredemptivists are a heretical sect of the Received Deodatic Church which holds that non-humans cannot be redeemed by faith in the Church, in contrast to the conclusions reached at the Diet of Sillabarendi in 1666 MA. Ultra-Antiredemptivists believe that demi-humans cannot be redeemed either, despite the Diet of Sillabarendi having deemed them 'wholly and naturally human'.

#### Anglian Deodatic Church

The Anglian Deodatic Church is a schismatic breakaway from the Received Deodatic Church that is the official faith of the Commonwealth Union of Anglia and Eryn.