The Spectral Church
The oldest and largest sect of Volorisma. An incredibly powerful organization that has burned itself into Bastollan culture better than any other. Led by the the First Vectar, a cleric of immense age and renown who maintains contact with Lombra and acts as her voice in times of dire need.
Structure
The highest title within the Spectral Church is the First Vectar, with all other ranks below.
Before the Bastollan Civil War, the reigning monarch would choose the next voice of the church, inextricably tying that position to the divine right of kings. With the death of the royal line at the end of the war, the church itself made these decisions, leading some conspiracy theorists to speculate at the church being secretly involved with rebel factions, or even being the driving factor behind the war itself.
Culture
They organize biannual pilgrimages along the shores of the Lingua la Lafaman every year, one upstream and one downstream.
Assets
Being the oldest sect of the oldest religion in Patriam, the Spectral Church possesses a ton relics and pieces of Bastollan material history. Some of their collections date all the way back to the First Ellypse. However, only a few of these artifacts have been made available to the public eye, with the rest kept behind their cloisters.
History
In the afterbirth of the Elvish Empire, the Spectral Church was synonymous with Volorisma. They brandished this monopoly over belief to tremendous effect, working hand in hand with Imperial soldiers to bring the good word of the Prophet to a young forest that would eventually grow into the Lombraides as we know them today.
Power and belief had grown steadily more concentrated throughout the eastward expansion of the Lombraides, pouring into the coffers of the church and other such institutions that drove the imperial engine ever forward. However, once the east was won at the beginning of the Second Ellypse, these institutions were in danger of collapse. They were no longer able to bombard the people as they usually did with their endless campaigns of expulsion, annexation, and expulsion. As a result, institutions built on belief such as the Spectral Church couldn't hope to stay the tides of resentment and class conflict within their own ranks, much less within the general populace.
It was then that a humble priest entered the picture, a young man who had developed a penchant for worming his way into people's ears with a new kind of gospel. It was sharp. Fiery. Even comedic on occasion. This priest's name was Calvas, and while the murmurs of theological reform had already begun to hum within the ranks of the church before him, they would grow exponentially after his arrival. Calvas was the one who would tie the quiet proposals of theological revolution from his colleagues to the social revolution that was taking shape outside the cathedrals. In essence, he sought to spread the word of the prophet even further, to conquer the Border-Beasts and bring Volorisma to the south.
For expressing these beliefs, Calvas was cast out from the Spectral Church. Of course, it was a mistake to turn away such a gifted rhetorician, as many priests followed Calvas in his departure. And his sermons to the discontented people outside the churches brought the fires around the church and other moldering bodies of the empire up to a fever pitch. It was this sway with the general populace that made Calvas an appealing figure to a growing industrial class, themselves targets of public ire who saw in Calvas someone who could take the heat off their backs and redirect that heat towards a crusade into the south, one that would bring them immense profits.
After Calvas' southern missions returned with success for the empire, the Spectral Church completely redirected their efforts, driving their parishioners into the new frontier in enormous waves of migration, resulting in the first imperial expansion in well over a century. After all, this is what the Spectral Church does best. Expulsion, annexation, expansion.
After each member of the royal family was killed in the civil war, an organizational crisis within the church began as people jostled to position themselves as the highest clerical authority in the country.
Mythology & Lore
The Parable, the essential creation myth of Volorisma, is foundational to the teachings of the Spectral Church. From this document, the church is able to draw many lessons on the dual-faced nature of existence, praising virtue while denouncing and crusading against vice and sin.
Cosmological Views
The Spectral Church, like all sects of Volorisma, believes that existence in its entirety takes place within the dream of Lombra, an ethereal goddess-tree at the heart of the Lombraides trapped in eternal slumber. They believe that She is only kept alive through the power of faith in Her and Her dream. If She were to ever die for whatever reason the church believes that all of existence would go out, returned to meaningless, ashen void. This is why Exquisite Corpse Theory is reviled by not just the Spectral Church, but by every true Volorist.
Tenets of Faith
The Spectral Church mandates strict vegetarianism in all its practitioners. This rule has gone on to create a lot of myths and urban legends about meat and the dangers of succumbing to its raw, succulent temptations. The rule has become foundational to life in Bastollo. So foundational, in fact, that while non-practitioners are (begrudgingly) allowed to eat meat, the only place where animals are allowed to be slaughtered for consumption is the tiny garden province of Morcham.
Ethics
The Spectral Church joins other Volorist sects in condemnation of the many gods worshipped in Black Coast communities, like Baton-Blade. The disrespect they show for Demon Days, the Cressentime festival in Sangsola is particularly strong, supposedly because times of such indulgence and reckless abandon are antithetical to the virtues of abstinence and discipline that good people should be showing, in late Cressen most especially of all.
Priesthood
The priesthood of the Spectral Church are the ones largely responsible for the Perpetuation and Severance of the Limbs of Lombra, especially those woven into larger structures.
Granted Divine Powers
All practitioners of Volorisma are able to sow, a practice which enables them to make a wish to Lombra, which can be granted in a matter of weeks or decades, depending on the size of the wish and corresponding amber offering.
Spectral priests are granted with several miracles in exchange for their holy duties. While many of these take the form of spells that are cast upon the world through a variety of mediums, some of the most visually distinct are the miasms that inflict themselves upon a priest's body, saddling them with potentially immense physical suffering in exchange for divine powers that make them particularly well-suited to individual clerical practices.
Forever in Her Sight
Type
Religious, Sect
Demonym
Specter
Leader Title
Subsidiary Organizations
Deities
Related Traditions
Related Ranks & Titles
Related Professions
Controlled Territories
Organization Vehicles
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