The Order of Priests - Treacherous Ground

The **Order of Priests**, also known as **the Order**, **the priesthood**, or just **the priests**, is a monastic and scholarly order devoted to knowledge of [[the gods]]. > [!infobox|right wikipedia] > # The Order of Priests > ![[lightbox expo, scene 3 - livia radman.webp|cover hsmall]] > ##### General > | | | > | ---- | ---- | > | **Category** | Religious Order | > | **Headquarters** | [[3-Places/Places/The Monastery.md\|The Monastery]] | > | **Leader** | Guthred | > | **Faction Alignment** | Lawful Good | # General The priesthood largely focuses on obtaining and maintaining knowledge of the gods. The most overt way they do this is through **divine revelation**, whereby Lucuna himself will speak to a priest. Aside from such direct communication, the priests also spend hours each day in meditation, for they believe that Lucuna whispers to them between their thoughts, and any notions they may have while their mind is empty are divinely inspired. On a practical scale, the priests maintain and organise massive libraries of knowledge on the gods, and they examine and analyse such information to arrive at logical conclusions that arise from these data, through discussion and debate. Lucuna is the god of wisdom and patron of the Priesthood, and as such most priests revere him above all. However, some priests dedicate themselves to a particular other god, becoming experts in their slice of the pantheon, while a rare few try to appeal to all gods, worshipping the Twentyfold/Vigintar as a whole. It should be noted that, while the priests collate _knowledge_ about the gods, they do not oversee religious practice or doctrine. Worship of the gods has historically been the domain of local and civic leaders, as well as the authorities within each Blessed Path. Gudesberg is a major exception to this trend, as the priests there have assumed both civic and religious authority, contravening millennia of precedent. Aside from the focus on the gods, the priests are also prolific record-keepers, and transcribe many of the day-to-day occurrences in the communities where they live. # History When [[Vidarr Jarlsson Oversaenur|Vidarr Jarlsson]] landed on the shores of [[Adenland]], he and his party already worshipped the gods, and there were some among them dedicated to preserving the oral traditions of their history, culture, and knowledge, including knowledge of the divine. However, no records exist that were written during or before Vidarr's journey. The "word-keepers" (_ordvardar_) began to chronicle daily life almost immediately upon landing, if the surviving documents are to be believed, and even recorded some of the ships that arrived in the year following Vidarr's Landing. When Vidarr founded [[Soranger]], the word-keepers established their gathering place at [[the temple]]'s current location. The word-keepers largely stayed in Soranger over the next couple centuries as humanity spread east, north, and south. The word-keepers' role began to focus more on knowledge of the gods under the patronage of Lucuna, and there are references to divine revelation. By 340 VL, [[Kaj Ottarsson]], a Champion of Lucuna, had taken de facto control of the word-keepers, and was steadily transforming them into a coherent faction. In 364 VL, Kaj issued his Proclamation of Order, which established the Order of Priests and set out the tenets of their organisation. The word-keepers and their existing records were subsumed into the Order. The word-keepers' elders became the first Council of Wisdom, while Kaj became the first Voice of Wisdom. After 5 years supervising the fledgeling Order, Kaj stepped down and spent the rest of his life travelling [[Skadyrik]], spreading his teachings of Order and establishing new priestly outposts in every corner of the kingdom. In the 2700 years since, the priesthood has expanded greatly, while remaining more or less true to Kaj's tenets. So rigorous were his institutional structures that they have stood the test of time, continuing to be relevant and robust as Skadyrik expanded, as dynasties toppled, as technology advanced. [[The Riving]] – and the Silence that followed – was the greatest threat to the priesthood ever seen. Like all other segments of society, the vast majority of priests were killed by the chthona or in the chaos of the exodus. The abandonment and destruction of most of the priests' archives dealt a severe blow to their claim of uninterrupted permanence, though this was elided by the archives in [[The Monastery|Gudesberg]] remaining untouched. However, in the 4-year-long Silence of the gods, where no artefacts were sent, no prayers were answered, and no voice was heard, the people despaired and lost hope in the gods entirely. The priests' very justification for existence appeared to have vanished. The priests themselves wrestled with the implications of the situation. It is no surprise that, in an unprecedented time, the priests took unprecedented action. With the survivors of humanity congregating on their doorstep, the priests of Gudesberg monastery used their Incorruptible guards to assert control over the refugees, imposing laws, rules, and order upon the masses. Thereafter, they established legal justification for their authority, and began to rule the settlement surrounding Gudesberg (soon to be known as [[Gudesberg|the city of the same name]]) as if it were yet another priestly institution. The priests took great liberty in extrapolating the divine tenets of Ebracte, Qevon, and Rhetios to form a dense, complicated, and abstruse legal code to govern the survivors. Today, in 3057 VL, the priests remain in control of Gudesberg, now one of the most populous cities in the world. The monastery, once an isolated retreat from civilisation, is now the centre of the largest and most complex institution still in existence. The priests' foray into local governance has, of course, raised their profile and made them a regional power, though not without some backlash and grumblings by those less-amenable to hierocratic rule. The priests have also reestablished [[the cathedral]] in [[Vinsklar]] in order to interface with the rest of the world. However, the sparse and scattered distribution of villages in the Mountains does not lend itself well to the Order's pre-Riving arrangement of wandering priests and far-flung outposts. The priesthood's influence extends throughout the foothills below Gudesberg, especially [[Oskar's Station]], but is fairly absent in the wider region. Many villagers have never seen a priest in their life. In the wake of the great societal upheaval that followed the Riving, the exodus, and the almost four decades thence, the priesthood has had to change substantially. Its role within humanity's civilisation has shifted dramatically, and hofthanes now treat with mayors and governors as equals. Yet deep within the cloistered corridors and hand-hewn halls of the Gudesberg monastery, priests still compile records, pore over archives, and debate the nature of the gods as they have done for millennia past. Lucuna's wisdom is unchanging throughout the years, and the priests will always strive to be worthy of it. # Organisation The word-keepers that preceded the formal priesthood were loosely organised and, according to most accounts, lacked formal structure. All that changed with Kaj Ottarsson's **Proclamation of Order**. This document serves as a charter or constitution for a highly systematised global institution centred on gathering, collating, discussing, and disseminating knowledge, as well as storing artefacts of interest. It also emphasises self-reliance and independence from other organisations or governments. The priests revere the Proclamation as the life's work of the greatest mind humanity has ever seen, inspired directly by the wisdom of the Hooded One himself. The Proclamation of Order decrees, among other things, that the priesthood should establish and maintain **five Ordinates** – facilities that serve specific functions. * **The Temple**: A secure location for storing artefacts and records. This was seen as the main purpose of the Order, and so the temple was often treated as the centre of the priesthood itself. The pre-existing archives of the word-keepers in Soranger were converted into the priests' [[The Temple|first temple]], and the building remained there (undergoing many renovations and improvements over the millennia) until The Riving. The Council of Wisdom resided at the temple for most of the Order's existence. After The Riving, most of the temple's functions are performed within the monastery. * **The Cathedral**: A grand and opulent hall to interface with the public, to raise donations and stir interest in the Order. Before The Riving, the cathedral was located in the capital of Kronaborg. In 3028 VL, the cathedral was [[The Cathedral|reestablished]] in Vinsklar. * **The Conclave**: A secret location, hidden from all outsiders and even most of the priests themselves, where Incorruptibles were trained and indoctrinated. The secrecy surrounding the conclave ensured that the Incorruptible guards were never infiltrated or surveilled. The conclave was moved several times as its location was revealed or threatened. Out of necessity, it is now located within the monastery. * **The Monastery**: A remote and secluded location where priests could travel for an extended period of distraction-free meditation. The monastery was originally built in the [[Vondir-swamp]], before moving to a holm in the middle of Skipta Lake, before [[The Monastery|the current monastery]] was built in the Mountains in 2477 VL. Nowadays, the facility is largely unsuitable for the purpose of the Ordinate, but priests seeking isolation are encouraged to carve their own quarters deeper within the mountain. The **Council of Wisdom** are the twelve senior priests who lead and guide the Order. Each priest on the Council serves for life, and when a vacancy occurs, the remaining Council selects a replacement from the priesthood. The leader of the Council, and of the priesthood as a whole, is the **Voice of Wisdom**. The Voice, who retains their position on the Council, likewise has life tenure. When the Voice passes, the Council of Wisdom selects their replacement on the Council, and then a new Voice of Wisdom is elected from among that Council by a larger body of senior priests – the Council themselves do not vote. Historically, the Voice of Wisdom is often an Unveiled, a priest who has undergone divine revelation. A **High Thane** (still often known by the Old Tongue **_Hofthane_**) is the leader of an Ordinate, such as the monastery, the cathedral, or the temple. These are directly appointed by the Council of Wisdom, often from the senior leadership of that Ordinate, though sometimes a priest is sent from the central leadership to assume control. Hofthanes have wide authority to run their institutions as they see fit (within the Proclamation, of course) and answer only to the Council of Wisdom. A **Thane** is a priest who leads a particular office, institution, or group. Their appointment varies by circumstance: those who serve at an Ordinate are appointed by their Hofthane, while others are appointed by the Council of Wisdom or another administrative organ. Some thanes simply assume the role out of necessity, such as a solitary priest maintaining an isolated outpost. The remit and agency of a thane vary widely according to their specific office. Some thanes administer minor services within a facility, while the Thane of Gudesberg is responsible for the administration and order of the entire city (as it is not considered an Ordinate). The **Incorruptibles** are the loyal guards of the priests. Kaj knew that the Order needed its own military might to repel lords and kings who might seek to control it. The guards and warriors of the priests. Not typically considered priests themselves, as they do not participate in scholarly discussion and debate but are strictly their for their martial skills and the ability to keep rigid order. # Membership To join the Priesthood, one must be an acolyte for two years, before swearing an oath to Lucuna. Part of this oath is a vow of poverty; priests cannot own any goods or wealth in their own right, and everything is held in common among the Priesthood. A priest can only be released from their oath(s) by their Hofthane. PCs whose class is Priest are considered to have undertaken this process already in their past. Some backstories may have a Priest PC still serving the priesthood in a peripatetic capacity, or perhaps they were released from their oath. The process of becoming a priest is incompatible with the adventuring life of a typical PC, although PCs may be awarded some privileges if they attain high esteem with the Priesthood. # Ranks Ranks listed here - **Acolyte:** New inductees who have not sworn an oath and are learning what it means to be a priest - **Priest:** Full members of the Priesthood, answering to their Hofthane - **Thane:** A senior priest who has domain over a specific part of an institution, answering to their Hofthane - **Hofthane / High Thane:** The senior priest in charge of an Ordinate, answerable only to the Council of Wisdom - **Council of Wisdom:** The body of 12 that adjudicates and administers the Priesthood as a whole - **The Voice of Wisdom:** The leader of the Council of Wisdom, and foremost among all the priests # People The following people are members of this group. %% DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: start ```dataview TABLE WITHOUT ID file.link AS "Characters", gender AS "Gender", home AS "Home", char_status AS "Status" from "4-People/People" where faction = this.file.link sort char_status ASC, home ASC, file.link ASC ``` %% | Characters | Gender | Home | Status | | --------------------------------------------------- | ------ | --------------------------------------------------- | ------ | | [[4-People/People/Einar.md\|Einar]] | Male | [[3-Places/Places/The Cathedral.md\|The Cathedral]] | Alive | | [[4-People/People/Fromund.md\|Fromund]] | Male | [[3-Places/Places/The Cathedral.md\|The Cathedral]] | Alive | | [[4-People/People/Godfred.md\|Godfred]] | Male | [[3-Places/Places/The Cathedral.md\|The Cathedral]] | Alive | | [[4-People/People/Leuthere.md\|Leuthere]] | Male | [[3-Places/Places/The Cathedral.md\|The Cathedral]] | Alive | | [[4-People/People/Waernoth.md\|Waernoth]] | Male | [[3-Places/Places/The Cathedral.md\|The Cathedral]] | Alive | | [[4-People/People/Guthred.md\|Guthred]] | Male | [[3-Places/Places/The Monastery.md\|The Monastery]] | Alive | | [[4-People/People/Kaj Ottarsson.md\|Kaj Ottarsson]] | Male | [[Soranger\|Soranger]] | Dead | %% DATAVIEW_PUBLISHER: end %% # Services Services offered. > [!NOTE]+ Public Services > | Item | Cost | Weight | > | ------ | ---- | ------ | > | Service 1 | 1gp | L | > | Service 2 | 1cp | - | > [!NOTE]- Member Services > | Item | Cost | Weight | > | ------ | ---- | ------ | > | Service 1 | 1gp | L | > | Service 2 | 1cp | - | # Gallery ![[lightbox expo, scene 3 - livia radman.webp|center|800]] Lightbox Expo, scene 3 – Livia Radman \[[Artstation link](https://www.artstation.com/artwork/v2D92D)] --- ![[Monks in the Refectory - Wilhelm Riefstahl.webp|center|800]] Monks in the Refectory – Wilhelm Riefstahl \[[link](https://artvee.com/artist/wilhelm-ludwig-friedrich-riefstahl)]