Children of Mercy

Brother Benevolence

A pacifistic, and formerly heretical, organization devoted entirely to upholding Kantira's doctrine, they refuse to believe anyone is beyond redemption.

## History

The Children of Mercy were founded roughly five hundred years ago during the clerical reign of High Priestess Aramea who was in the process of organizing the various different sects of the faith and streamlining the holy books. She publicly decried the Kantiran 'Tale of Kantira's Rage' - which tells of when Kantira was corrupted by her rage at Qasoi to become a deity of vengeance - wiping out many of his temples and compelling his priests to fall on their swords and torturing Qasoi to death.

Emjir confronted her, drawing her into his realm once more, and they fought for a year before she let her grief over Qasoi's violation and cruelty out and confessed what had been done to her and her people - Emjir soothed her grief and allayed her angers, helping her to move back to who she was.

Kantira once again became a Goddess of Mercy and helped the priests she killed find peace in the Hereafter - even though she never forgave them for their transgressions.

The Children of Mercy came to believe that the idea of corruption was a way Celestial creatures processed their emotions, Gods and their servants were meant to embody concepts and serve as an idea to uphold... thus if something drove them against that true purpose they'd become a perverted form of it. But with gentleness, compassion and understanding a Celestial - and anybody - could be brought back to their senses.

....this was not a popular idea and High Priestess Aramea declared it heretical, though given the pacifistic nature of the Children of Mercy she merely forbade them from preaching their ideas in populated cities and had a small village, and monastery, built for them far in the Highlands where they could live in peace and contemplation.

In the year 629 Lys, High Priestess Arasinya granted them a divine pardon and permission to preach publicly again.

## Lifestyle

The Children of Mercy function both as a religious organization and a village - with their religious philosophy being heavily interwoven with their way of life.

The Children of Mercy live a largely agrarian lifestyle, with almost all villagers working and living on farms and pastures. The village itself includes a variety of rustic artisans, but is largely dominated by the Monastery of Mercy, which serves as both a center of worship, and a community center. The Monastery of Mercy is operated by the eponymous Children of Mercy (with the title of Brother/Sister/Sibling), though they are often referred to as Monks of Mercy to avoid confusion between these religious leaders and the settlement as a whole.

Governing decisions are made by consensus: the entire community is invited into the monastery, where the Siblings pose questions and options for governing decisions, and solicit grievances and suggestions from the audience. The method has been critiqued by outsiders, especially royal apologists outside of the Edge, as "polite anarchy", but the system has served the Children of Mercy well due to the unusual combination of small population and high rate of education. However, bad faith actors have taken advantage of this system to sow discord within the community (i.e. Reed's Nemesis).

All children and adolescents are educated in the monastery's school. While courses include fundamentals such as reading and writing, classes such as mathematics, science, art, or music are offered assuming that there is a Sibling available to teach at the time. Furthermore, adolescents are expected to volunteer their time to the monastery, serving as assistants to the Siblings after their classes. At some point after schooling, young adults traditionally volunteer for an entire year of service (with the temporary title of little Brother/Sister/Sibling). It is typical that a young couple will commit their year of service immediately after engagement, and will celebrate the end of their service with their wedding ceremony- a tradition known as "Earning your honeymoon". At the end of this year of service, little siblings may instead choose to continue working with the monastery, becoming Siblings. It is also common for elderly villagers to "retire" into the monastery as well, giving back to the community (often in conjunction with hospice care)

The Siblings operate the school, hospital, and judicial system within their monastery to serve the public. However, regardless of their specialty in their community service, all Siblings devote time to scripture and religious leadership. In addition to these, and other, typical public works, the Siblings are known for a few more exuberant traditions:

The Siblings maintain a large "Garden of Crows", a garden where they leave food and ornamentation for the crows of the Edge (which are Kantira's symbol). Crows, being both intelligent and social, have historically flocked to the garden in huge numbers, at times numbering in the thousands. The crows are also known to leave behind "gifts" at the garden: smooth pebbles, lost jewelry, and scraps of letters are common. Collecting, sorting, and attempting to return these "gifts" to their original owners is known as "Crow Gardening"

The Siblings maintain a breeding kennel for domesticated antlered wolves known as "redeemed priests", in reference to the Qasoian priests in the "Tale of Kantira's Rage". Redeemed priests are favored herding dogs among the village shepherds, but the breed is more known for their role in the monastery. Upon entering Siblinghood, new Siblings are tasked with raising and training a wolf pup, which they are expected to keep by their side at nearly all times. A Sibling whose wolf has passed away may be referred to as a "No Stranger to Emjir"