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Worship in the Empire - Part Two on 12/30/2010 01:10 PM CST

Part Two of Worship in the Empire

(Note: Apologies for the vanishing apostraphes, they'll show up in the website version!)

From Mestanir to Jantalar stretches a devout band of faith for the God King Koar. While all in view of the Everwatch Tower provide the strongest support of the Church outside of Tamzyrr, the forces of Jantalar have done much to spread faith. It is not to say that the Jantalarian expansion was without controversy. Rumors have spread that the Prelate of Jantalar, who had accompanied the Baron Hochstibb in his conquests, had turned to darker arts to assist the baron. Needless to say, it was Koar’s hand, or fist rather, which played a role in the defeat of that province’s forces in Mestanir. Koar’s Fist has since been restored to its position of prominence in that city. Of Koar’s Crown, located not far from Everwatch Tower, the Jantalarian occupation did not affect it. Pilgrims continue to flock to its base, to walk its circumference three times, and to light prayer lanterns that float away into the night.

In the far northwest, the so-called Griffin Sword Wars have led the majority of the populace to condemn any worship of the four gods, Luukos, Ronan, V’tull, and Mularos. For it was their followers who raised armies that scoured the countryside and brought about much death and destruction. Vornavis, in particular, offers no quarter to their worshippers and the baronial guard is active in seeking out and destroying any formation of such sects. It has been a repeated problem that Lornon worshppers are suffered in the district of Solhaven. The district’s lack of regulation has left it a mess in the disapproving eyes of the Empire, and particularly in the eyes of the Church of Koar. Such was the necessity of Vornavis to earn favor with our Church for the failures of the district that its lord of oversight, one certain Paidreg, had to decree the clearing of unused swathes of property out so the Fane of the God-King could be built.

Nay, perhaps the city most lenient to Lornon is that of Nydds. An incorrigible place, where the followers of such dark gods are allowed to participate in the so-called marketplace of faith. As such, it creates a certain friction with the followers of Koar’s son, Voln, when those who submit to Luukos are given allowance to recruit. For Lumnis, Nydds possesses one of the greatest temples in all of Elanthia.

It is called The Rings, and it is something of a mixture of hanging garden and library. It is a strange structure, built of four wide towers about one taller tower. Through clever engineering, streams of water are guided along the exterior walls, convenient to eradicate any danger of fire, as well cast over the sides in splendid waterfalls. The gardens, meanwhile, true to Nydds’ reputation as the city of flowers, are planted with such flora as to blossom in colors corresponding to the sphere of knowledge of which the library within reflects. When the central tower is in full white blossom, it appears to float upon a cloud of white held up by arcs of falling water.

Such open permission pales only to the views of some in the province of Bourth, which has suffered the influence of sylvan thought upon religious matters. There are some who risk blasphemy to proclaim that neither the gods of Liabo or Lornon are divine, but merely powerful beings. That sentiment has managed to infect some within the city of Nydds, as well. But for the protection given that city for the freedom of knowledge, the Church of Koar would have long ago prosecuted and brought such foolish thought to an end.

Thus ends this survey, by no means complete, of the worship practices of the Empire. Praise be to the God King Koar and his Church.

An Addendum on the Matters of Death

While the question of death and funeral rites would seem a simple answer, this survey discovered that there existed some differences in the funeral rites amongst the provinces. First, let us touch upon what awaits us all beyond the Ebon Gate. Beyond the charge of Lorminstra there lies a land of perpetual night and winter. It is a place of cold, for there is no warmth in death, not least for those who have sworn their souls or sought the services of Lornon. These are fallow fields and barren deserts that are shone upon by the light of Koargard. Those who are cursed to wander these forsaken lands must toil always under the light offered by the God King to guide those who worshiped him accordingly.

For those who did not bend knee to the Dark Ones, the light they may follow and make way from the frozen lands to the bridges over the river that encircles the realm of Koargard. For the kingdom of the God King extends over the living and over the dead and the lands of each. It exists simultaneously here and there, but for the bravest and worthiest heroes, can only be reached by passage through the Ebon Gate. The dead must then follow Koar’s Light to the Bridge Over the River and then, and only then, may they enter these lands so long as they have the coin to pay for such crossing. Those of royal blood need not offer payment for they, by their station and birth, have already been proven worthy of entry by the Gods.

In this land of Koar’s Light, before the peak of Koargard, are all the realms of Elanthia. There is food aplenty and many starred skies. There are homes and grassy fields, and along the slopes of Koargard, itself, are palaces for the Emperors and the Empresses who have led our land. Chosen by Koar himself, they are next to Gods, and such are offered the favored status of dwelling at their sides.

For to dwell in these lands beneath Koar’s Light, it is important to arrive with what is needed, and this is done at the time of death. What one is given at death, one can take with them. However, it was once believed that to avoid the burdens of such gifts in the life beyond the Ebon Gate these things must be reduced to air by flame. Great were the funeral pyres of the Emperors and Empresses that burned like mountains of fire which transported they and those befitting luxuries to the Ebon Gate, and then to the Bridge Across the River.

This is no longer the practice. Today, instead, after such investigation and answer from the Gods, it was learned that so long as the dead are buried with those things necessary, they are rewarded with the same in the lands beneath Koar’s Light. Instead of pyres, there are now mausoleums that are built in the city beyond the walls of Tamzyrr, reserved only for the dead. Those of lesser fortune may subsist with lesser tombs, or if such paucity of fortune be with the dead, silver coins in an unmarked grave will do. By this means, every marching soldier of the Empire is gifted with two silver pieces to keep close and protected in case of death in service.

The old ways are still followed in the fringes of the Empire, particularly in those of great forests and mountains. Some by the sea believe that Charl’s Daughter will usher the dead to the safety of the Ebon Gate and ceremonially deposit the deceased into the waves far from shore. For those who must journey through the winter lands, they may be at risk of those cursed and such should either be given some form of weaponry to carry with them as they follow the Koar’s Light, or a protective totem blessed by the clerics of the Light.

By this means does the Empire follow the ways of funeral.