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The Great
Church
The Great Church, sometimes called the Holy Conorrian Church,
is the largest and strongest religious institution in all of
Vatheria. Unlike all the other churches, it worships all the
gods of the Conorrian pantheon equally as a family. It is an
an enormous organization spanning dozens of nations and hundreds
of cultures. The Great Church has one primary goal:
to assure that every population center in Theeurth has a church
dedicated to the entire Pantheon, in order to make the gods
accessible to everyone. As a result, nearly city of any size
has at least one such church, and large cities may have several,
or a large cathedral. This is more true in human cities than
in those of the other races, who tend to cleave more strongly to
some members of the Pantheon than to others. The Great Church is very popular with
commoners and nobles alike, both of whom desire to stay in the
good graces of all the gods and often see little reason to prefer
one god over another. Alignment Overall,
the Pantheon can be said to be Neutral Good. However, the
Great Church is definitely Lawful Good. For this reason, it
maintains closer associations with the clergy of the lawful gods
than of the chaotic ones. Clerics of the Great Church may be
lawful neutral, lawful good or neutral good. Representations The
Great Church typically portrays the gods as a family, standing or
seated on thrones in a circle. The symbolic representation
of the Lords of Heaven is a white Grail. Church Structure The
Great Church is organized on a byzantine system of offices,
paralleling that of the Conorrian Empire. In general, the
Great Church has two separate and powerful holy orders: the clergy
and the paladins. The clergy are generally divided
into five levels of authority: priests, deans, bishops,
archbishops and the Patriarch or Matriarch, who sits in Echoriath.
In addition, there are a dizzying array of offices within the
church, some of which may wield a surprising amount of authority,
regardless of the rank of the office holder. There are also
a number of lesser orders within the clergy. The paladins are an
important and influential order within the church, operating
almost autonomously, and answering only to the Patriarch or
Matriarch. Church Doctrine
The Great Church teaches that as the gods are good, so should
mortals strive for pure goodness. This means caring for for
the less fortunate, sacrificing for others, promoting love,
charity, hope and forgiveness. Forgiveness and redemption
are themes central to the parables and legends of the gods.
There are few things that make forgiveness impossible, but some
things come close: consorting with demons, creating the undead,
etc. The largest part of the Great Church is dedicated to the
promotion and preservation of the faith. It's teachers and
missionaries are everywhere in Vatheria. Several smaller
orders within the church are contemplative, striving through the
rigors of monastic life to more clearly understand the will of the
gods. Finally, there are the "military
orders." These are clergy with an adventurous cast of
mind who actively oppose evil rather than concentrate on spreading
the faith. Closely allied with these priests is the Holy
Order of Paladins. Few adventuring clerics ever rise in the
church hierarchy.
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