Ranks of the Church

Written by: N/A

Year: 1194

A small pamphlet handed out to potential recruits to the church, while church missions were at their height educating and recruiting from town to town.

This pamphlet just goes over the basic structure of the two branches of the church. The top being:

**The Archbishop:** The archbishop is the head of the church, and is said to be humanities direct link to the gods. All orders and decrees from the archbishop should be accepted as though words spoken from Dovien himself.

After this, the pamphlet explores the two branches individually:

**The Paladinic Order**

* **Grand Inquisitor:** The top of the food chain for the Paladinic order. They speak with the authority of the archbishop, and to question their orders is a offense punishable by exile, excommunication, and/or execution. Reaching this rank means that you have shown great intelligence, great leadership, great skill, and great devotion, as well as being masters of performing miracles. There are only and always a total of 10 Grand Inquisitors at once.
* **Holy Inquisitor:** A paladin that has shown exemplary devotion and intelligence, and has been ordained responsible enough to organize and judge inquisitions and trials.
* **Quotidian Inquisitor:** The quotidian inquisitor is someone who doesn't have the ability to perform miracles, but has proven themselves intelligent, trustworthy, and just enough to organize and judge inquisitions and trials. While uncommon, some do exist and are called upon when a Grand Inquisitor or Holy Inquisitor is unavailable.
* **Inquisitor:** A paladin who has shown exemplary devotion, and has proven themselves responsible and wise enough to organize and operate the initial inquisition, and get suspects ready for trial.
* **High Paladin:** A hardened warrior, the high paladin is more than capable with a variety of weapons. They also have the ability to cast powerful miracles.
* **Paladin:** The ground force of the Paladinic Order. These paladins have been trained in combat with a variety of weapons.
* **Missionary:** A recruit that has just finished religious and academic training, they are required to travel with a group of missionaries, spreading the word of god and being trained in combat by the senior paladins.
* **Disciple:** The rank one holds as they study how to read and write under the tutelage of the church clerics. This rank can be held from anywhere between 6 months to 3 years depending on the disciple. It is after they graduate from this rank that a disciple must pick a branch to join.

**The Clergy**

* **High Elder:** The high elder is considered the wisest of all the clerics in the order. A single man who possesses true enlightenment and is considered to have an understanding of the gods that rivals the archbishop himself. Usually the high elder is the one who chooses who will be trained to be the next archbishop.
* **Council Elder:** The council elders are people who have been in the clergy from youth to old age. A incredibly diverse and studied scholar, and a master at casting miracles.
* **Diviner:** A cleric with the ability to cast miracles, as well as the ability to directly see messages from the gods themselves.
* **Cleric:** The main force of the Clergy. A studied cleric is a well versed in religion, medicine, history, and modern politics. They are also able to cast miracles.
* **Missionary:** A recruit that has just finished religious and academic training, they are required to travel with a group of missionaries, spreading the word of god and being taught by the senior clerics.
* **Disciple:** The rank one holds as they study how to read and write under the tutelage of the church clerics. This rank can be held from anywhere between 6 months to 3 years depending on the disciple. It is after they graduate from this rank that a disciple must pick a branch to join.