Imperial Church

The **Imperial Church** (Highland Gaelic: *Eaglais na Rìoghachd*), also called the **Church of Chase** (Highland Gaelic: *Eaglais Nèill*), is a Christian denomination found throughout the Chase Empire and beyond. It is the state religion of the Empire.

As Bishop of Lorence, Chase is the director of the Imperial Church. His role therein is chiefly as a builder of sanctuaries; the Church lacks a meaningful hierarchy and places emphasis on a mystic interpretation of Christianity extolling God above mortal beings.

Conservative elements of the Church officially split from it in the Fourth Era to form the Orthodox Chasist Church of Epicurea.

## History

The first church constructed in Chasedom was the Church of Minecraftia, built in Redo in 2013. Religion was scarcely a part of the First Era, and it was only in the Second that the Imperial Church emerged as a distinct entity. Its more extreme forms in that time revered Chase—the head of the church—as the sole bringer of good things on the server and a servant to God's will.

The move toward Christian mysticism in the Third Era sparked a schism with more conservative elements of the religion, which established the Orthodox Chasist Church in Epicurea during the Fourth Era to pursue a more strictly Chasist religious tradition. Architecturally, the Imperial Church was characterized by Mormon influence during the Third and Fourth Eras.

## Organization

The highest title in the Church is the Bishopric of Lorence, capital of the Chase Empire. Its holder is the direct supervisor of the Lorence Temple. Chase has occupied that post since the creation of Lorence in 2016. The Temple at Lorence is the holiest building of the Church and the only one of its kind. Cathedrals occupy the next-highest tier of church organization, acting as governors of regional churches.

## Doctrine

The beliefs of the Church are largely mystic, holding that the path to spiritual enlightenment and *theosis*—union with the divine—is found through the attainment of *gnosis*, or spiritual knowledge, which is in turn obtained via meditation and good works. In its dearth of ritual and lore, it contrasts with the comparatively traditional beliefs of the Orthodox Chasist Church. The Imperial Church uses *saint* in a looser cultural sense and seldom employs icons.

The mysticism of the modern Church means that lay congregations—rather than monasteries, hermitages and other places of religious devotion—are predominant. The sole monastery of the Imperial Church is the Abaid Chille Cholmain in the Highlands.

## Sanctuaries

As follows are religious structures of the Imperial Church in each country, beginning with the Chase Empire and proceeding alphabetically. Cathedrals are emboldened.

### Chase Empire

* Baranoc
	+ Sanctum of the Empire
	+ **St. Swithun's Cathedral**
* Lorence
	+ Church of Lorence
	+ Lorence Temple
* Pinewood
	+ Church of Pinewood
* Redo
	+ Church of North Redo
	+ Church of South Redo
	+ **St. Gordon's Cathedral**

#### Highlands

* Abaid Chille Cholmain
* Creag Àrd
	+ Eaglais Nèill

### Alexia

* Amortpoisson
	+ **St. Romund's Cathedral**

### International

* Capital City
	+ **St. Crutcher's Cathedral**