The Mandate
Current Month: Julwar 2nd: 209, The Fifth Age
The Cult of the Mandate, or simply the Mandate, is a continent wide-official religious cult that serves to follow and uphold the values set upon them by the Pantheon, dieties who replaced the old Azurian Dieties known as the Creators. For over two hundred years, the Tremalkers have worshipped the Pantheon as their primary deities, figures of myth and legend who guides their Kings and protects their lands from harm.
Structure
Worshippers of all the various gods of the Pantheon follow the Mandate Subcult referred to as the Cult of the Gods United.
Worshippers of the Lightblesser follow the Cult of Orion
Worshippers of the Lawbinder follow the Cult of the Teacher
Worshippers of the Songweaver follow the Cult of Creation
Worshippers of Harmony follow the Cult of Mother
Worshippers of the Twin Titan follow the Cult of Balance
Worshippers of the Warbringer follow the Cult of Elon
Worshippers of the NightCaller follow the Creed of Shadows
Worshippers of the Werebreaker follow either the Cult of the Moon for his lycan aspect, or the Cult of Osidox.
There is no official Cult of Lazare, but many Tremalkers still worship him exclusively.
Each Subsect is bound to the mandate as a whole, and pay taxes and follow its laws accordingly.
Culture
Besides the Central city of Refuge, Sacred groves and areas of mystical power are their dwellings, and the magnificent Clarion Knights are their protectors, devoting themselves to upholding their honour. No base creatures or evildoers can profane their sacred places, and this is a duty that every Twin Souled, not just the Clarion Knights, take very seriously indeed.
Throughout Tremalking there are many Refugean Abbeys built upon sites of holy significance, ranging from humble roadside shrines to great fortress cathedrals incorporated into a lord's Castle. It is the sacred duty of the Clarion Knights to protect these shrines and often such knights will devote the remainder of their lives to defending the Pantheon's holy places.
Over the centuries, some Mandate Abbeys have been enlarged as various nobles have rebuilt old Abbeys or embellished existing shrines. Such Abbeys may contain so many valuable relics that they require defences in the manner of a castle.
Public Agenda
The purpose of the Mandate is to ensure the continued stability and happiness of those under its protection. Nations bound by the tennets of the Mandate agree to follow its laws and costums, lest thy face the wrath of the gods united.
Those under the Mandates protection also find themselves with a common bond that helps alleviate rising tensions. While wars between nations do happen, they are often mitigated by Refugean diplomats, and when that fails, a Twin Souled.
Assets
The Mandate has enclaves in nearly every city. To the might fortresses and cathedrals of Valois, Lords, and Frost, to the small Abbeys of isolated townships, their influence can be seen in everyday life through the western world. Their priests can be found spreading the words of the gods United, and their armies are considered the first line of defense against further supernatural incursions.
Besides the Twin Souled themselves, the most visible representatives of the Mandate would be the Marjolesian Knights of the Clarion Call, living Saints who spread the word of the Pantheon to all corners of the Globe.
History
The Mandate was originally founded by the first Twin Souled, Masentolem, who used his strange abilities to help the Vanir flee from the Tremen tribes, who sought to possess their divine powers and gifts. In gratitute, the Vanir who chose to follow Masentolem helped him establish a place of refuge hidden deep in the wateland known a the Plain of Fear. The Vanir hid here for the next two Ages, assisting Masentolem in finding other Twin Souls to bolster their numbers. Eventually Masentolem dissappeared, but the new organization lived on as a place of safe harbor for those persecuted by the Tremalking Empire.
Eventually, the Creators of old began to reconstitute themselves as an ethereal mist, their essences and sense of being merging into one entity, Harmony. Harmony warned the growing nu,ber of Twin Souled that a darkness would come, and bring about a Second Fall, and that they must prepare.
Now calling themselves the Mandate, for they now had a sacred task to complete, they spent the next several centuries secretely gathering allies, forces, money, and magical artifacts for the wars to come. As this continued, slowly over the years the Number of Twin Souled trigger events continued to increase, until the arrival of the future panteon, the Knights of Harmony.
By this point, there were Thousands of Twin Souleds, with a vast network of contacts and secret camps and hideaways scattered throughout the world, that assisted the Knights of Harmony on their many adventures. After the Day of Black Rain and the First Battle of Refuge, all ten thousand of the Knights of the Eventide were turned into Twin Souls, along with the Queen of Agadens Reach, Queen Ulra, and the Mandate declared itself openly. They began to organize its loose network into a large fighting force, fighting many wars against the Sundered, the Consult, the Chapring, and the Holy Ordeal.
During the final battles of the Second Fall, the various peoples of Tremalking and Midway fled to Refuge and made a final stand against the Sundered at the Second Battle of Refuge. There the Knights of Harmony fully ascended into godhood, and slew the Nongod in the heavans above while their mortal armies fought the Sundered below. At the end, only 144,000 survivors remained. Survival came at a terrible cost, but it was survival non the less.
In the Fifth Age, the Mandate has evolved into a religious and political force, the voice of the Pantheon on Azure. They act as a United Nations, where disputes are arbitrated by their skilled diplomates and demigod Twin Souled.
Though there are still Twin Souled who wanrer the earth in the name of the Mandate, no new Twin Souled has been made since the Final Battle of Refuge.
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