Church of the Creator

The symbol of the Church, an eight-pointed star on a blood-red background.

The Church of the Creator was established over a thousand years ago following a short period of political and religious strife known as the Reclamation. Various religions and sub-groups therein vied for power, and one by one were absorbed or destroyed by the now dominant monotheistic faith. The Reclamation would become a defining point in history, as the calendar still followed today counts its years in the time since with the annotation AR. With representatives in every village, town, and city, the Church of the Creator provides comfort and a sense of security to citizens all over the Empire. From its holy fortress of Nostors Keep, the elected leader of the church, called the "Nostfather," Sixtus IV oversees the operations of the massive organisation.

"The Creator," as he is known, is believed by the faithful to be an omnipotent, omnipresent, and omniscient being who created the world and set it in motion, and who now watches and judges without interference as events unfold. The Nostfather is an elected leader within the Church said to "speak in the Creator's voice," as he interprets various happenings around the world, looking for potential signs from the Creator.

The Church has three sub-factions: the Nostors, the Hand, and the Tenders. The Nostors are the highest ranking officials within the Church, ranging from those who may run a single church up to the Nostfather himself. The Hand is the name given to the militant wing of the faith. Tenders, the lowest ranking members of the church, are those working in administrative capacities or youth in training, with aspirations to join the ranks of either the Nostors or the Hand.

Nostfather Sixtus IV

The Nostors

"Nostor" is a broad-reaching title given to many different ranks of religious leaders within the Church of the Creator. Typically, each Nostor will have a sub-title, denoting their rank within the church through context. For example, the Nostor of the Flock of Tars would be a low ranking holy man, managing a single Church in the town of Tars. The Nostor of the Northern Reaches, however, would have a larger region under his purview and therefore be ranked above the former. The Nostors ranks and progression within them are predictably political, and petty squabbles and political in-fighting are commonplace. In extremely rare situations, subterfuge, backstabbing and assassinations have taken place within the Nostors to secure (or stop) the advancement of one man or another. As the religion itself is patriarchal, the Nostors are exclusively male.

A Nostor at the Gallows

A Creator's Hand Witchhunter

The Hand

The Church's controversial military wing is called The Hand. The Hand of the Creator employs many trained holy Paladins and devout soldiers whose primary duties are both seeking out and destroying rogue Fadebeasts and rooting out and arresting or destroying those who would seek to use, study, or are naturally gifted in Magic. The latter of those two duties is the reason for the controversies surrounding the Hand and their colloquial nickname, The Fist. Magic users have been hunted and imprisoned or slaughtered for nearly seventy years, and that includes children born with Magical abilities. Despite this, decades of propaganda and strong-arm enforcement by the Hand of the Creator have caused the majority of people to accept the arrest of these children as a necessary sacrifice. Devout parents are even known to have turned in their own children, seeing it as their solemn duty as commanded by the Creator himself. The Hand's Witch Hunters, those tasked with the retrieval of children, wear masks to hide their identities. Reprisal from angry parents is rare, but the sinister nature of their job - regardless of how necessary people may view it - invites backlash, and as such their faces are covered with silver masks while on duty. Unlike the Nostors, both men and women make up the membership of the Hand.

The Tenders

Comprised of men and women of all ages, the Tenders are low-level servants working within the Church of the Creator. Dressed in drab brown robes, they cook, clean, and aid both the Hand and the Nostors alike, as well as anything the citizens of the Empire may need. Service to the Church is a humble path, and the Tenders make up the most populous group of the three sub-factions. Most will spend their entire lives as Tenders, and are happy to do so - however many have aspirations of becoming a Nostor or a member of the Hand and will spend their time training to do so. Both the Hand and the Nostors recruit exclusively from within the ranks of the Tenders, however not at the same rate. Due to the stress and the dangerous nature of the job, the Hand is is constant need of new recruits - while the Nostors only bring in new members when one of them dies. As a result, there are many Tenders with ambitions of becoming a Nostor who are seen as "higher ranked" than some of the Nostors themselves. For example, Tender Jakub Kretskin in Vezenhold aids in the management of all the Churches in the capital city, and as such would unofficially be seen as a higher-ranking member within the church than the Nostor of a small village.

Tenders can be seen all over the Empire performing duties ranging from administrative duties to physical labour.

A Tender, studying.

A Paladin from the Hand

Apostasy vs Heresy

Despite having an official religion, the Empire of Aarden maintains a secular leadership and rule of law. The one area of life in the Empire in which the Church of the Creator is given complete control is that governing magic, its use, and combatting the Fade.

Apostasy, Atheism or Agnosticism are fairly common throughout the Empire, particularly in the larger capitals. There are those who believe there are scientific explanations for magic that we do not yet understand - and that its use by Religious practitioners is no different than that by the magi prior to the Breach. To the apostates, the act of "calling on a deity" before casting a spell lies somewhere between delusion and theatre. It's generally accepted that magic and those with the ability to wield it draw power from a dimension beyond our own, Apostates merely take it a step further and attribute that same source of power to those who would credit it to their faith in a God. They would argue that the lack of an explanation or definition does not mean that a specific omnipotent god-like being exists to grant the prayers of the faithful. If the Creator exists and is the benevolent being the Church claims it to be, then why did the Breach happen, what are Fade Beasts, and beyond that - disease, evil, suffering around the world - what benevolent Creator would allow these things to happen?

Heresy, however, is the illegal belief in a religion, god, or gods outside the Church of the Creator. Heresy is very rare, but there have been instances of smaller cults gaining traction in one place or another, claiming connections to new gods or spirits, or even worshipping the Fade or Breach itself.

In addition, magic practitioners have been branded Heretics, as well as children unfortunate enough to display magical abilities even beyond their control. This connection to magic has several dogmatic explanations, and if it cannot be severed (something easier to do when the person is younger), the Heretic is put to death.

Nostors Keep in Northern Aarden

The Tenets of Nostor

The Tenets of Nostor is the name of the Church of the Creator's central holy text. Many other books and studies have been written over the centuries, however, the millennium-old Tenets of Nostor remain the central focus of the religion. Written in simple point-form sentences, the Tenets of Nostor is one of the earliest examples of the written word in history. The most famous elements of the Tenets of Nostor include "The Declaration of Innocence," a series of sixty nine statements one must make before the Creator upon their death without lying in order to be allowed entry into the afterlife. For each statement they cannot make without lying, a penance must be paid depending on the severity of both the Declaration disobeyed, and the degree to which it was done.

1. I have not done falsehood against men.
2. I have not impoverished my associates.
3. I have done no wrong in the Place of Truth.
4. I have not learnt that which is not.
5. I have done no evil.
6. I have not made daily labour in excess of what was to be done for me.
7. My name has not reached the offices of those who control slaves.
8. I have not deprived the orphan of his property.
9. I have not done what the Creator detests.
10. I have not slandered a servant to his master.
11. I have not caused pain.
12. I have not made hungry.
13. I have not made to weep.
14. I have not killed.
15. I have not turned anyone over to a killer.
16. I have not caused anyone's suffering.
17. I have not diminished the food offerings in the churches.
18. I have not debased the offering cakes of the Creator.
19. I have not taken the cakes of the blessed.
20. I have not copulated illicitly.
21. I have not been unchaste.
22. I have not increased nor diminished the measure.
23. I have not diminished the palm.
24. I have not encroached upon fields.
25. I have not added to the balance weights.
26. I have not tempered with the plumb bob of the balance.
27. I have not taken milk from a child's mouth.
28. I have not driven small cattle from their herbage.
29. I have not snared birds for the Creator's harpoon barbs.
30. I have not caught fish of their lagoons.
31. I have not stopped the flow of water in its seasons.
32. I have not built a dam against flowing water.
33. I have not quenched a fire in its time.
34. I have not failed to observe the days for haunches of meat.
35. I have not kept cattle away from the Creator's property.
36. I have not blocked the Creator at his processions.
37. I have not been rapacious.
38. I have done no crookedness.
39. I have not been sullen.
40. I have not transgressed.
41. I have not killed a sacred bull.
42. I have not committed perjury.
43. I have not stolen bread.
44. I have not eavesdropped.
45. I have not babbled.
46. I have not disputed except concerning my own property.
47. I have not fornicated with a child.
48. I have not misbehaved.
49. I have not made terror.
50. I have not transgressed.
51. I have not been hot-tempered.
52. I have not been deaf to words of truth.
53. I have not made disturbance.
54. I have not hoodwinked.
55. I have not been neglectful.
56. I have not been quarrelsome.
57. I have not been unduly active.
58. I have not been impatient.
59. I have not washed out the picture of the Creator.
60. I have not been voluble in speech.
61. I have seen no evil.
62. I have not made conjuration against the King.
63. I have not waded in water.
64. I have not been loud-voiced.
65. I have not reviled mankind.
66. I have not been puffed up.
67. I have not made distinctions for myself.
68. I am not wealthy except with my own property.
69. I have not blasphemed the Creator in my city.