Church of the Creator
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 monotheistic faith of the Nostors. 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 Nostfather Sixtus IV oversees the operations of the massive organisation.
The Church has three sub-factions operating within it, 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, holy Paladins and Clerics who patrol the roads of the Empire, keeping its citizens safe from Fadebeasts and bandits alike. The Hand also includes the Witchhunters, a group of inquisitors and investigators tasked with hunting and securing practitioners of magic, including children born with supernatural gifts. Tenders, the lowest ranking members of the church, are those working in administrative capacities or youth in training to join the ranks of either the Nostors or the Hand.
The Church's influence over the citizens of the Empire cannot be understated. In 1150AR, Sixtus IV rescinded the Amnesty Agreement of 1019, declaring magic and its use to be heresy, and established the Witchhunters within the Hand. While there was initial resistance to the idea of arresting children; the citizens of the Empire eventually fell into step, and now it's not uncommon for parents to report their own children for inspection following suspicious events. A steady decline in Fadebeast attacks has been credited to the aggressive anti-magic policy, however, critics of the Church will point to the massively increased number of Hand patrols over the years as the correlative cause for the decrease rather than the children they've been sent to arrest.