Great Curators

The Great Curators are a pantheon of celestial deities which actively watch over the Prime plane and influence the lives of mortals in subtle ways. They may have different ideals and goals, but it's said they share one common cause: To protect their creation.

## Mythology

When the creator deities came together to weave the reality of the Prime plane in its current form, they worked until their souls began to wither from exhaustion and their powers begann to fade. They were about to die for the sake of their creation, but they couldn't leave this young world alone. To regain their former might, they needed to go on a dangerous journey to be reborn. So they put their souls in mortal avatars and descended upon the lands they shaped with so much care. They became Chrysalis and the Age of the Incarnate Gods began.

After many trials and tribulations, some of the Chrysalis were able to restore their full divinity and ascended once again. Before their journey, they were eldritch metaphysical beings of alien nature. But after after having their vast minds confined by the limits of their avatars and spending so much time close to mortals, they developed a true understanding of their creations and retained the humanity they had gained even after their ascension. On the other side, mortals were now finally able to gain a deeper insight of the higher powers of the universe and multiple believe systems adapted what they learned from the Chrysalis, founding a new religion that would later become the Church of the Great Curators.

The reborn gods, those complete beings who wield both divinity and humanity, vowed to protect the world. They became the Great Curators, wardens of the Prime Plane.

## Divine intervention

Despite their power, ancient edicts forbid the Great Curators from meddling too much with the lives of mortals if it isn't about the fate of the entire world. They agreed upon the notion that mortals must be able to decide their own fate and that divine powers should only be used to influence their lives in subtle ways. However, there are instances were deities are willing to break these rules, even if it draws in the wrath of the rest of the pantheon.

It is not unusual for a Great Curator to bestow special mortals with divine powers if they are thoroughly committed to their patron god.

There are rare instances in which a Great Curators communicate with mortals. This happens either through wonders, prophetic dreams or, if it's of mayor importance, messages delivered by their angelic servants. Even so, since there can be alternative explanations for many things, dreams can just be dreams and a messenger can turn out the be an elaborate illusion, there is a lot open to debate. Many claim to have received divine guidance or that some events should be interpreted as a certain message, while in truth those self-proclaimed prophets simply try to push their own agendas. Even if there are real prophecies, the fact that different deities have varying motives and values does make it difficult to determine an unambiguous canon and leaves the church divided into countless different branches.

## Beliefs

### Core beliefs

* The Great Curators are the peak of existence and nothing can surpass their might.
* They are the true and rightful rulers over all planes of existence.
* The Prime plane is their magnum opus, the focus of their efforts and the center of the celestial sea.
* The core of the Prime plane is a sacred ground. None shall enter depths deeper than 3 leagues below the level of the sea.
* A patron deity of your choosing will watch over your soul and you must honor them in return. This will influence the destination of your soul after your live ends.

## Church

The Church of the Great Curators is the most widespread and influential religion in Carmia.

After reaching adulthood, followers choose one god as their patron deity and join a specific branch that is devoted to them. Most choose a deity that either aligns with the path they want to take in life or that their family worships. It's common to still worship other Great Curators, for example if someone goes trough troubles in certain areas their own deity holds no domain over. It's only seen as unfaithful if it intervenes with the worship of their patron deity. Followers can convert to another branch and change their deity. To do so, the person in questions must seek out a high ranking member of the clergy to perform a ritual in which the former patron god is asked for forgiveness. However, this process is usually looked down upon since the revoking of a vow to a deity is considered to be disrespectful to the Great Curators. As a result, most temples only perform this ritual for great favors in return.

Aside from branches devoted to different deities, the church is also divided into various denominations and sects that may be more or less different in their canon, its interpretation and their practices. The most common one is Core Crisiumism, which is a revival of the church of Crisium from the time before Mormo appeared. Almost all of the other denominations are offshoots of this believe system. The central authority of Core Crisiumism is the Collegium of archbishops and the Exarch in Panteus. The Exarch themselves is a Chrysalis that did not regain their divinity on their own volition, so they could act as a mediator between the mortals and the Great Curators.