During the ceremony that elevates someone to the rank of high priests of a god' Church, people are given a special locket to wear and never take off until their death. This locket serves as a sign of their function and is impossible to counterfeit, since it is imbued with the power of the god.
The ownership of such a locket is always advertised as being extremely desirable. The most obvious reason is, of course, for the sole prestige of wearing such an item and the sheer respect one gets from the rest of society. However, the main attraction of a high priest's locket is that, by wearing it, the high priests gain control over a small amount of magic of their god themselves. This allows the priests to enforce their god's will in our realm. For example, priests of the
cult of the water god are able to control all irrigation installations in the country, whereas priests of the
cult of the forging god are able to use alchemical magic to a degree normally impossible for mortals.
What is not so often mentioned is the other property of the locket—which is also why stealing one is a very bad idea: they act as a beckon to the god themselves to always let them know where their priests are so that they can
possess even more easily. Indeed, by accepting to become a high priest and wearing their god's locket, people also agree to become little more than their lord's puppet, devoid of any independence and purpose but to serve their will. Since the quasi-totality of the high priests is from the nobility, that means that they also give up on the protections from possession and magical manipulations afforded to nobles. Why anyone would want to do that is truly beyond me...
Comments