The Faith

If you ever begin to lose hope...look above to the beauty of the cosmos and surrender yourself in prayer. You are a part of everything, and it is a part of you.

The Faith, officially The Essharan Celestial Church, or the Church of Celestialism, is the sister branch to the Order of the First Light and the state religion of Esshar, with clergy serving on multiple fronts, as much priests as they are scholars of magic and philosophers. They are tasked with documenting and preserving the details of history, as well as the day to day of missionary work, such as working to improve the community.

The holy book of the faith is the Codex Cosmos, a detailed timeline of past events and a deconstruction of the physical world and the properties of magic itself. While it's blasphemous to alter scripture in most religions, the Codex Cosmos grows with discoveries and the evolution of society.

Foundings

In 320 AC, Astronomy in Esshar was just beginning to develop. It was considered a revolutionary event at the time, the herald of a new era of understanding. Leading this charge was Nile Pelleaux, a cousin of the Head of House Pelleaux of the time. Nile’s research led to a new understanding of the nature of stars: they were both vessels and punishers of souls, burning away their mortal sins to prepare them for reincarnation.

The ramifications of this breakthrough were felt throughout Esshar. For a people disillusioned with the Angels due to the fresh memory of the Second Divine War's devastation (although Malziel’s Intervention was viewed with significant gratitude), the stars offered a more stable personification of Kraus’ design. With this in mind, Nile Pelleaux assembled a council of the greatest philosophical minds in Esshar to draft an amended theology. Asserting that the stars were the greatest manifestation of Kraus’ will in Eternia, Nile suggested that they should be venerated as such. Several months of discussion ensued, with many of those great minds arguing the merits of abandoning the tradition method of Krausite theology, but eventually they came to a consensus. The seven greatest Astronomers of the time, including Nile himself,declared themselves the ‘Starseers’ and set about researching the comparative age of the stars themselves. The Constellation of Leonaus was determined to be the oldest after several years of intense study due to its close connection to the Divine Spirit of the Stars, and thus as the earliest expressions of Kraus’ design were to be especially venerated. This theology was formalized as Celestialism and endorsed by the Petrakis bloodline as the new State Religion of Esshar, and it remains thus to this day.

Ranks

• Patriarch/Matriarch & Starseer: The highest ranking member of The Faith, selected directly by the monarch.
• Stellus: There is one for each star in the constellation of Leonaus. The leaders of the church.
• Rector: An ordained priest of the Church whose duty is to minister to the faithful.
• Deacon: The space between the laity and the clergy; they are not ordained. Some choose to remain deacons.

Traditions

• Initiates into the clergy of the Faith go through a ritual where, regardless of any cosmic magic, they are 'chosen' by a star. This is similar to having a horoscope done, with the star they are 'chosen' by being meant to reflect their future.
• Members of the Clergy are expected to spend at least three days a year performing charity. This usually involves the poor being offered food or small amounts of money, although many Initiates into the Church are recruited through this manner.
• The clergy give up all claims on titles or land.
• It is not uncommon for higher ranking members of the church to have the Constellation of Leonaus tattooed on their bodies.

Canonization

Canonization is the official process, established by the Church, in which deceased individuals of great faith and consequence are admitted into sainthood; sainthood presumes that the dead man or woman has lived so virtuously and that their spirit has been cleansed so deeply by the stars between their last life and this current one that their soul is admitted into paradise, living in everlasting joy at the side of the Creator.

Canonization is not a simple process. First, the canonization of someone who's died - the length of time does not matter - must be proposed to the Starseer by a stellus If the Starseer approves, the candidate's canonization is voted upon by the stellii and then put forward to Starseer, who has the final vote on the matter.

Here are only a few examples of saints within the Church, for there are as many as there are stars in the night sky.

St. Mihail - Saint Mihail Petrakis was among the most prominent magi of the Astyan Empire and the spells he cast during the mythical age before the Divine War would be considered miracles today. It is thanks to him that the people of Astya were transported to Esshar, saving them from total annihilation. The patron saint of Esshar, all magi, and the royal family.

St. Niles of Astya - The founder of the Church and the theological father of Celestialism, no saint is more highly regarded than Saint Niles. He is the patron saint of clergymen, scholars, refugees, and House Pelleaux.

St. Ermis - Saint Ermis was a lay healer who held a fragment of the Creator's soul; he performed miracles and sacrificed himself to save the world from Azrael's genocidal machinations. He is the patron saint of doctors, the sick, and Astya.

Excommunication

Excommunication is the greatest and, as of 1660, only punishment that the Church can mete out. It is reserved only for unrepentant heretics, the morally bastardized, and practitioners of witchcraft. To be excommunicated is no easy feat and requires one to be completely, irrevocably evil, or a well-known and unrepentant heretic.

Firstly, the mere proposal of excommunication is voted upon by the stellii. It is then passed onto the Starseer, who reviews it and can either accept or deny it, and it is then passed onto the monarch for their permission.

Those who are excommunicated are not protected under Essharan law; they become, more or less, outlaws, hunted by the state and rejected by society at large. Survival after excommunication is no easy task.

Heresies

Throughout the early existence of the church, several heresies rose and fell. The most notable ones are as follows:

• The Heralds of the Stellar Truth: This heresy -first appearing in the late 340s- asserted that the stars were not purifying, but instead consuming and destroying the souls of the dead, and thus claimed that they should be despised and feared instead of venerated. An early Church inquisition reduced the upstart cult to a sidenote of history.
• The Acolytes of the Eclipse: Originating in the late 830s, this cult claimed that the power of the stars was nothing compared to that of a shadowy entity that also resided in the cosmos, and held a particular affinity with the event of an Eclipse. The cult gained a significant following due to resentment of the common population after the death of countless innocents in the Witch Hunts earlier in the century, but it was regardless stamped out quite quickly.

The Katharistes

In times of religious crisis, be it the rise of a powerful heretical sect or impiety, the stellii and the Starseer have the legal right to petition the monarch to form the Katharistes, a long dormant judicial and militant arm of the Church that has the right to arrest and try anyone accused of heresy and blasphemy. The last time the Katharistes were formed was the 1200s; they operated primarily in the countryside, trying and executing accused heretics.

Constellation of Leonaus

The constellation of Leonaus is the brightest and the closest in the region, heralded by the divine spirit of the same name. The eighteen stars make out a lion when the night sky is clear.

Yellow Branch - The Body of the Lion

☉ - Leo - The Brightest Star - House of Leadership - Likely to promote leadership

♄ - Alph - The Center Star - House of Judgement - Likely to promote charisma

⚶ - Geist - The Moving Star - House of Vision - Likely to promote visions

♐︎ - Phos - The Pinned Star - House of Determination - Likely to promote firmness

Ξ - Lyzel - The Tail - House of Movement - Likely to promote efficiency

♎︎ - Sae - The Neck - House of Speaking - Likely to promote understanding

Blue Branch - The Head of the Lion

Δ - Hiero - The Old Star - House of Revision - Likely to improve interpretation

☌ - Uner - The Comet - House of Testimony - Likely to improve invention

♈︎ - Biblos - The North Star - House of Emotion - Likely to improve passion

Θ - Rhyt - The Mane - House of Wisdom - Likely to improve rationality

☊ - Iberl - The Poles - House of Firsts - Likely to improve observation

♒︎ - Syph - The Tooth - House of Smoothness - Likely to improve coherency

Red Branch - The Paws of the Lion

♆ - Vrona - The Three Ringed Planet - House of Force - Likely to grant offensive capacity

♊︎ - Anos - The Grand Planet - House of Guardians - Likely to grant defensive capacity

♅ - Neoi - The Swift Planet - House of Scouts - Likely to grant intellectual capacity

♓︎ - Ios - The Large Planet - House of Banners - Likely to grant morale capacity

δ - Twe - The Dull Planet - House of Bankers - Likely to grant economic capacity

π - Yiel - The Bright Planet - House of People - Likely to grant religious capacity