Solonarium

in: Gods & Religions

The god Solanarium has seen a larger proliferation through the world than any other faith, eclipsing all others in its spread across borders and over oceans throughout the world. It has been spread both by peaceful proselytization and by the sword, with towering sun-standards leading gleaming armies against the faithless. In all his depictions and worship he is a God that does not require bloody sacrifice, and evidence of his benevolence is apparent in the warmth and light of the sun.

Known by other names such as Sol and Pra, he is always depicted as a shining figure usually in the form of a man. His temples vary from small personal shrines to the greatest cathedrals constructed in the world, with architecture rising to challenge the greatest feats of building made by any race or creed. Solanarium is seen as a god that very much has an effect upon the everyday lives of people, both by the sheer warmth and presence of his light to, in some cases, the morality and obedience that he is said to expect of his followers. In every incarnation of Solanarium’s faith, he is always the enemy of all dark and evil things. Demons and the undead are always enemies of Solanarium and their presence is never tolerated by the faithful. This is the reverse side of Solanarium’s benevolence. In addition to providing warmth, light and protection to his followers, Solanarium is said to be a god of terrible wrath who will smite and burn the wicked. Solanarium is a god very much on the rise in worship and recognition, consolidating influence over entire empires and reaching out and into new populations. The worshippers themselves are growingly diverse however, and schisms have already built up within the community of faith as to how the god should be worshiped and what that god expects of the faithful. These schisms are sometimes still bridgeable, but in other cases have led to outright bloody conflict as heresies are declared and orthodoxies established. The main branches of worship are the purist rite of Nocturnim, the saintly rite of Salvador, the rite of Pra in Khemet and the elusive rite of the Phoenix.

## Rite of Nocturnim

The true believers of Nocturnim consider themselves to be the purest and most faithful followers of Solanarium, his first chosen people and the primary carriers of His will. Core to their beliefs is that Solanarium is the only true God and that all other supposed gods are either figments of their respective followings’ imaginations, or worse, actually the guises of nefarious and powerful demons intent on the deception and enslavement of all mortalkind. This inspires in them a divine mission to spread their faith, for they believe that by doing so they are liberating mortalkind from the shackles of false gods. Within the lands of Nocturnim and those places it has imposed its dogma upon, the faith of Solanarium is heavily codified and based in extensively written scriptures. These scriptures have been poured over and refined by numerous agreements over long centuries between powerful High Ministers and even great councils of the faithful, as the will and ways of Solanarium have been interpreted and defined. Collectively this book of accepted teachings is called the Solis Scriptum, or simply the Scriptum. Written in these pages are many parables of behavior and moral teachings meant to shape the convictions and righteous belief of the faithful. More than just stories and metaphors, however, the Scriptum also contains the written maxims of Solanarium, said to have come down from the god himself through his faithful in the Church. Far from mere examples to follow, these maxims are meant to be the bedrock of society in Nocturnim and indeed all places that follow the way of the true God.

## Maxims of Faith

The maxims of the Scriptum are the most sacred religious laws of the Nocturnim rite of worship, though they vary somewhat in how they are enforced and there is often more nuance in their interpretation than might first appear. Whether something is a high crime against the faith may vary based upon who the victim was and what other circumstances surround the potential crime. For example, slaves and non-believers are not always given the same considerations as the true and fully faithful. Interpreting religious law and even the maxims is often the realm of Archons and other holy scholars.

1. There is no God but Solanarium, who is the one true God and keeper of all that is holy.
2. Deny the demon, the unholy and the corrupted. For them there is only the cleansing flame of Solanarium.
3. You shall not murder.
4. You shall not steal.
5. Honor the elders of the Church and show them respect.
6. You shall not lie or bear false witness amongst the faithful.
7. Control feelings of lust and do not covet the spouse of another.
8. Sexual relations should be held only between two lawfully wedded people.
9. A daily prayer is to be held without failure before the setting of the sun.
10. Do not deny your faith in Solanarium.
11. Never abandon the faithful or the innocent to the wicked.
12. Do not allow the holy places of Solanarium to be profaned.
13. Suffer no insult to Solanarium or the Church.
14. Suffer no evil magics such as necromancy and the power of evil influence over the mind. Holy light and fire are those magics blessed by Solanarium and those alone.
15. Miss no opportunity to spread the faith of Solanarium to the unbelievers.

These maxims are the pillars upon which belief in Solanarium is built, but they are far from the only rules of morality that govern the lives of the faithful under this rite. They are also each often expanded into greater rules and guidelines. For example, the faithful are expected to control their lusts and so those who intentionally inflame those lusts are often persecuted or shunned. Women in particular are expected to be modest in dress to better allow the men around them to keep to their faith. In general those things which would seem to lead to the breaking of these sins fall afoul of the church’s doctrine, and the church tends to take a proactive approach in rooting them out. No society is perfect however, and it happens that even within the empire of Nocturnim that brothels and other houses of ill-repute are allowed to exist. Further, many of these are interpreted by the elders of the church not to apply in all circumstances. Slaves and unbelievers are often considered to be beneath the light of Solanarium and worthy of no protections or consideration, and the killing of an enemy soldier is often excused as not constituting murder.

## The Church’s Ranks

The Church of this rite is intertwined heavily with the secular state apparatus of Nocturnim, and it can be difficult to tell where one begins and the other ends. The head of the Nocturnim branch of the faith is always the Emperor of Nocturnim himself, who functions both as religious leader and the secular leader of the empire of Nocturnim. Underneath him in structure are a series of religious figures who often hold both religious and secular power in their capacity as bureaucrats in public offices.

### *Grand-Archon*

Greatest among these are the Grand-Archons, who may hold administrative power over small regions or towns of the empire or hold particularly powerful public offices. Some may even hold a place in the Senate, wielding power in that august body in addition to their power within the structure of the church. At the very least they are incredibly powerful at a regional level within the apparatus of the church, and may be put in charge of major initiatives of the Empire.

### *Archon*

Below those are the Archons, priests of heightened power who hold sway over minor offices and over individual congregations. These men are the backbone of the Church and perhaps even partially the Empire, though they share that responsibility with the more secular nobility. They may hold important sermons and do the most important rituals within a single church, and at a local level they can wield incredible power over the masses.

### *Deacon*

Lowest are the Deacons, who perform the simplest functions of the Church and provide the more personal touch as the masses are ministered to by the Church. They keep the grounds of the church, perform many of the less important and routine rituals, and keep lesser shrines and perform the lesser duties expected of the clergy. In general it is usually the Deacons who are sent as proselytizing missionaries around the world and who accompany military expeditions of the Empire. However, during a crusade there may be a specially appointed Archon-Militant to lead the forces of the faithful against heretics and heathens.

## Rituals & Daily Life of Priests

Deacons and the lower Archons start their days not usually with incredibly important matters of state or faith, but with the routine rituals expected of a keeper of Solanarium’s churches and congregations. Each dawn must start with a ritual thanks to Solanarium, wherein the entire priesthood of a church assembles with the rising of the sun and speaks of the defeat of the darkness by Solanarium. However, unlike the more spiritual and esoteric religions of the world, the priesthood of Solanarium devotes far more time to sermonizing and contact with the people than it does on exacting ritual, with this early ritual being one of only so many exceptions.

Churches typically only hold one official large service to their congregation in a given week, presided over by an Archon in the case of larger churches and cathedrals and by a deacon in small villages. They are expected though to keep a constantly open door, and in lands of the faithful, this means a near unending stream of supplicants seeking the advice of the Deacons and the Archons, on everything from matters of religiosity to the mundane moralities of everyday life.

All of the lower ranks of the priesthood are expected to be immensely involved with both the spiritual life and the regular goings-ons of the communities put in their charge, and in addition to regular sermonizing they have other ceremonial duties to the communities around them. They bring in new members of the faith at a very young age, oversee the religious education of the masses, and conduct such ceremonies as weddings and official inductions into the faith.

New members either by heritage or by conversion into the faith are brought into the fold through a ritual known as being touched by fire. Ashes from a specially kept and maintained sacred fire are collected and used to anoint the forehead of those joining the faith with an ashen sun symbol, to represent their being marked as one of Solanarium’s own. Occasionally this is also performed as a reaffirmation of faith throughout a believer’s life, or before a particularly important undertaking such as the beginning of a Crusade.

Another tradition of the church is the confession. When a man or woman of any rank has committed a sin against the maxims of the faith or otherwise ran afoul of the morality of the church, they are expected to seek confession with a Deacon or an Archon depending upon their social rank and status in the community. This is usually how a member of the faith is assigned penance, which is the means by which sins against the Church and Solanarium are intended to be redeemed.

In addition to these ceremonial and community-facing services, the priesthood is also expected to maintain the sacred flame within the church under their care. The flame is never supposed to go out, and allowing it to be extinguished is sin enough for the priests whose duty was to attend it to be given penance.

## The Crusades

The faith of Solanarium has spread out from its core in Nocturnim both peacefully and violently, with missionaries of Solanarium being common fixtures throughout much of the known world and especially in the richest trade hubs and ports. However, they are far more infamous for the launching of devastating Crusades against lands both near and even across the great oceans. The grandest of these are typically called for by the Emperor himself, though smaller efforts exist in the personal expeditions of powerful Archons or even in the form of so-called Penitent Crusades, wherein knights and soldiers faithful to Solanarium seek to pay penance for the sins of their past by spreading the power of their faith by the sword.The greatest crusades are efforts that shake continents and determine the fates of nations, as the might of Nocturnim is hurled across the sands and seas against such varied nations, such as the heathen Caledonii, Khemet, Jazira, and even the Kingdom of White Thorns, who only narrowly defeated the crusade and preserved their nation’s independence from both Nocturnim and forced conversion to the faith of Solanarium. While none of these nations have been toppled by the might of the crusaders, the crusaders do yet control small fortified ports in some of these lands, the better with which to some day threaten yet another invasion of the faithful.

Smaller crusades may be held as punitive expeditions against specific peoples seen to have done great wrongs against the faith of Solanarium, or to capture more limited objectives such as islands or lone cities. These smaller efforts may be less colossal in nature than the great wars declared by the Emperor, but they are a constant threat to those nations that defy the light of Solanarium and serve as a reminder that the faithful never truly rest their efforts to spread His light across the world.

## Penance

Nearly as central to the worship of Solanarium as the Maxims is the idea of penance. Sinning against the ways of the church in deed or in heart can both be atoned for, often even in extreme cases where the crimes committed are dire. These penances are assigned typically by Deacons or Archons, though in some cases they can be assigned even personally by a great religious authority such as a Grand Archon or even the Emperor of Nocturnim. Still in other cases a penance can be taken on willingly by the person to bear it out of a sense of guilt and a need for redemption. Penance goes from being a local and personal affair to one that can shape destinies when nobles and warriors are tasked with redeeming themselves of serious sins. Ambitious men of the church may call for such men to take up a Penitent Crusade, a military campaign that can be of limited or even massive scope intended to conquer new lands and converts in the name of Solanarium, or otherwise to destroy a great enemy of the faith.In the most extreme cases of all, particularly when a soldier or knight of the faith has committed terrible sins against Solanarium or the Church, they can make a vow to commit the whole of their lives permanently and inexorably to the faith. Such men and women forgo all other ambition in service to the church and toss themselves into the most dire or trying of circumstances, often leading to great suffering and even death in the name of the faith. Those who take this vow have their sins burned in the sacred fire immediately, but they are also branded by it, so that all may know they have become Living Martyrs of the faith.

## Rite of Salvador

The religious rite of Salvador is the closest in orthodoxy to the purists in Nocturnim, close enough that they can most often avoid being accused of heresy by their counterparts in the Empire. Solanarium came to their lands by way of missionaries and proselytization rather than by crusading army, leaving them with unusual leverage and leeway. While they claim to respect the Emperor, they do not acknowledge him as head of the faith and so their society lacks the intertwining of religious and secular authority present in Nocturnim. This is largely due to the established monarchy and nobility’s lack of desire to vassalize themselves to the Empire and give up their independence, but has other unique consequences as well. The clergy are respected but represent a parallel and somewhat subordinate hierarchy of power in relation to the powerful nobility. Further, the interests of this clergy are also often second to the commercial interests of greater Salvadoran society. The strict and unyielding dogma of the Nocturnim rite gives way to a more flexible understanding, where visiting foreigners and traders are not harangued by attempts coercive or otherwise to convert them to the faith.

The faith instead is often used to legitimize the interests of the Salvadoran state and the ventures of its powerful nobles, supporting their efforts and giving them the veneer of meaning beyond mere profit and conquest. Not all of Salvadoran society is quite so cynical though, and the common people have taken to the veneration of Saints as examples to follow and a more personal connection to the divine. Still other portions of society wish for a structure much more like that found in Nocturnim, and some powerful nobles have backed the forming of an Inquisition with the express goal of driving Salvadoran society to be stricter in its keeping of the faith.In Salvador, no one claims to be an Archon and the power of the church is often rendered more local and modest in nature. Priests there are colloquially referred to as Padres rather than Deacons, though they keep the same level of commitment to their local communities as their counterparts in Nocturnim. The chief religious authority in Salvador is the Cardinale, who normally acts as a liaison between the faith and the Emperor in Nocturnim and the King and Queen of Salvador.

## The Saints

In Nocturnim the keeping of Saints is considered terribly close to violating the Maxim of Faith that only Solanarium be kept in worship. The common people insist upon these figures in Salvador though, and the clergy there see them as important tools as examples to the people. Prayers to them are also thought by the common people to be especially potent, likely to be heard by Solanarium. The main Saints of the people of Salvador are listed below, though others might exist and be recognized in specific locales.

### *Saint Arabella, Lady of Mercy*

One of the early Queens of Salvador after their embrace of Solanarium, and said to be a woman of great charity, modesty and piety. She is said to have fed and sheltered the people of Salvador during a time of great hardship, exemplifying the warmth of Sol’s light. Prayers are given through her especially by the poor and desperate in the hope that Sol will hear and help them.

### *Saint Ulbrecht, the First Martyr*

Considered the first notable martyr of Salvador. It is said he gave his life in an incredible act of bravery to allow the escape of other members of the faithful in the early days of the Faith’s coming to Salvador. Prayers are sent through him for Solanarium to grant bravery, especially in the case of terrible danger.

### *Saint Dorian, the Lightbringer*

Said to be the foremost of the missionaries sent by Nocturnim to convert the people of Salvador. Unique in that he is of course said to have been a man of Nocturnim rather than Salvador, and kept as a saint somewhat to the chagrin of that Empire which does not keep its own saints. Prayers are sent through him when embarking on important matters of the faith.

### *Saint Renata, Lady of Battle*

A great Lady upon whom command fell when her lord husband died in battle who went on to fight a famous campaign which may have saved Salvador in a time of invasion by the desert peoples in the west and by savage raiders on the coast. Prayers are sent through her to grant luck and wisdom during the course of battles and campaigns.

### *Saint Idalgo, Demonscourge*

A steadfast knight who is said to have uncovered a vast conspiracy to corrupt and control the court of Salvador through demonic influence. He is said to have defeated and destroyed a noble chancellor who was revealed to have been a Demon in disguise. Prayers are said to him when the work of demons is suspected, that Solanarium might grant his strength of will.

## The Conquistas

Rather than embark upon grand crusades in the style of Nocturnim, the powers in Salvador often declare a Conquista. These are endeavors to explore and conquer foreign lands in both the name of Salvador and the faith. These have only the veneer of altruism or divine purpose however, and are typically truly done in the name of profit and power by the influential nobles of Salvador. These efforts are usually given some manner of legitimacy by the involvement of the Salvadoran church, which will often send along mercenaries for the conversion of local populations. The norm however is that lands are conquered in the most brutal and efficient ways possible, with the people enslaved and lands exploited with only token service paid to the cause of conversion. Declaring a Conquista need only have the tacit permission of the monarchy, and can often be done even by the lowest rankings of nobles so long as they can secure the connections and funds required to launch such an endeavor. Lower ranking nobles often resort to the launching of these mock-crusades in order to set themselves up in colonial holdings, taking and holding far more power than they would have been afforded in Salvador.

## The Inquisition

The Inquisition is a powerful faction in Salvadoran politics and the clergy that calls for a more strict keeping of the Scriptum along the same lines done in Nocturnim. They believe that the lenience shown by the monarchy and the nobility in Salvador is sinful, and that the people of that nation have strayed far indeed from the intended teachings of Sol. They seek to rectify this problem through a personal campaign of not only moral pandering and humiliations of those they see as sinful, but also sometimes through spikes in terror against those they believe to be chief among sinners. The inquisition operates usually with the reluctant approval of the Monarchy due to their connections to powerful noble families. However, their overzealousness often results in overreaches that threaten the balance of power within Salvador and often result in them being forcibly curtailed. Still, they remain a potent and terrifying force in Salvador on the side of enforcing the orthodoxy of Sol.

## The Rite of Pra

The worship of Solanarium in the ancient civilization of Khemet is done through the name of Pra, though this manifestation of the faith bears enormous differences from the purist sect of Nocturnim. Most damning in the eyes of other worshippers of Sol is the fact that the Khemetians acknowledge him not as being the one and only true God, but rather as a single god within a pantheon of other, equal gods. It is chiefly for this reason that the worshippers of Pra are considered to be vile heretics by those other worshippers of Sol, even if they share much else in common. The Khemetians see Pra as being in partnership with Bast, not only providing the warmth and life of the sun but also being a god of warriors and a great protector of the land. They see many of the maxims of Faith having to do with modesty and behavior as being nothing more than the nonsense of foreigners pushing their prudish ways upon a god that has no interest in such small and insignificant details. Accordingly, the people of Khemet remain unconcerned with covering their bodies or controlling their lusts. The priesthood in Khemet also bears much more resemblance in structure to the other gods’ temples kept there than anything held in Nocturnim, keeping effectively nothing of the structure of that Church. They do keep many of the same rituals such as standing vigil for the sunrise and the keeping of a sacred fire, and also curiously even keep a form of confession and penance both. Their versions are far tamer however, and the men of Khemet are never sent away on crusades, rather simply being admonished to redeem themselves through acts of good works. They see the attempted Crusades against their homeland to be perversions of the will of the Sun God, and merely disguised attempts at imperial ambition by the Empire of Nocturnim. Their rejection of these acts is so complete that when one of these crusades are called for against the lands of Khemet, the warriors and priests devoted to Pra can typically be seen fervently leading the resistance against the invaders, driving them back at all costs.Uniquely in Khemet, Pra’s significance to harvests and agriculture is also given unique focus. His partnership with Bast is what allows daily life to continue in the ancient lands of Khemet, as their influence is said to keep the land along the river fertile and welcoming to crops.

### Legion of the Sun

The Legion of the Sun are warriors devoted to the service of Pra the God of the Sun and protector of Khemet. They are amongst the very finest and most disciplined of soldiers available to the Pharaoh, and constitute a powerful and world-class force of infantry able to stand toe to toe with any of the great powers of the world. They employ both melee and ranged weapons, and even make use of powerful gunpowder weaponry in the defense of their homeland. These soldiers stand especially opposed to the crusading foreigners from Nocturnim, seeing their self-declared devotion to Solanarium as an affront and threat to their own. They often wear much heavier armor than the more numerous and standard infantry of Khemet, with considerable gold accents and glorious sun-styled designs worked into their armor. Without their battle prowess, it is possible that the venerable kingdom of Khemet may have fallen to foreign aggressors.

### The Rite of the Phoenix

Known to most scholars and priests as The Phoenix Heresy, this rite is less representative of a country’s beliefs and more a loosely affiliated and ancient order of outcasts who believe that they alone know the truth of Solanarium. This truth they declare is so profound and damning in its refutation of Nocturnim orthodoxy that its followers are relentlessly hunted down by both the Inquisition and may even be the subject of small Crusades in order to root them out. They accuse all of the other keepers of Sol of at the least having great misunderstandings of his nature, or at the worst, willfully perverting that nature toward selfish and evil ends. They believe that not only is Solanarium not the one and only true God, but that the God known as Solanarium has been known by many names throughout history, and every one of them began as a mortal. The core of this scattered sect’s beliefs is that Solanarium must be reborn with every age, his power renewed with the ascension of a new mortal to the throne of the Sun God, where they will stand vigil against the darkness for the next age.

Failure for a mortal to rise to this throne is seen as a reason for the Age of Darkness, a time in which the throne of the Sun God stood either completely empty or at the least greatly diminished in power. Some within this sect believe that the throne sits empty even now, and that nothing answers the prayers of the faithful as they’re cast into the ether. Secrecy and caution are the by-words of those who keep the secrets of the Phoenix, for they know that they can and would be killed by many if they were known for being what they are. Still, being stalwart servants of the Sun God, they often cannot help but involve themselves when they see what they believe is a righteous cause or a grave injustice. The Order of the Phoenix as they style themselves when they dare do so believe their greatest duty is to stand against the forces of Darkness in the world. Even in the absence of a promised hero or in the belief that Solanarium may or may not still be watching, they believe it is their sacred task to protect mortalkind.

### Truths of the Phoenix

The fundamental beliefs of this sect are known as the Truths, and even uttering them can be a death sentence in the wrong company. Still, for many, these represent the most important knowledge imaginable and must be kept alive for the sake of the world itself.

* Sol has gone by many names and been reborn many times, and all of these faces of the Sun God are valid and true.
* The Sun God is and has been before an ascended mortal, brought up to the heavens through their heroism to take the throne of the Sun God and stand vigil for the next age.
* A new hero must ascend every age to take the throne of the Sun God, or the forces of Darkness will overcome.
* This knowledge must be kept alive so that a new hero might be found and shown the righteous path against the Dark.

### Quick Notes

From an out of character perspective, it should be noted that no character(even an angel) necessarily knows the absolute truth of Solanarium’s nature or what the ‘real’ way to keep his worship is. Some ambiguity is purposeful here, allowing characters to validly believe wildly different things and still be consistent with lore. Some other nations that don’t specifically have a ‘rite’ might have at least some followers of Sol. In the case of those nations which might have some followers, they may follow either the Nocturnim or Salvadoran rites, or some version in-between with local syncretisms taken into account. Some creativity is encouraged here. An ‘outpost’ of Sol’s worship is likely to have some inconsistencies rather than be a perfect copy of whichever mother-rite spawned it. You should also feel free to create your own local ‘organizations’ affiliated with the god. These can include crusading orders of knights, specific monastic or clerical orders, or could include many other examples. If you stray far from the written bounds, however, be prepared to be accused of heresy in-character!