The Birth of the Church of the Silver Flame
Religious event
The Church of the Silver Flame was born in the nation of Thrane in 299 YK. In that year, a terrible eruption split the ground of that kingdom in what is now the city of Flamekeep and a great pillar of crimson fire emerged from the resulting chasm. No one understood the significance of the blazing column of flame, but most who dared approach it felt unrelenting malevolence in its fierce, radiating heat. A cataclysm of untold proportions had befallen Khorvaire: one of the rakasha rajahs, a fiendish Overlord, had managed to break the magical bonds long ago placed upon it by the sacrifice of the couatl race and free itself from its arcane imprisonment deep in Khyber.
The Church of the Silver Flame was born in the nation of Thrane in 299 YK. In that year, a terrible eruption split the ground of that kingdom in what is now the city of Flamekeep and a great pillar of crimson fire emerged from the resulting chasm. No one understood the significance of the blazing column of flame, but most who dared approach it felt unrelenting malevolence in its fierce, radiating heat. A cataclysm of untold proportions had befallen Khorvaire: one of the rakasha rajahs, a fiendish Overlord, had managed to break the magical bonds long ago placed upon it by the sacrifice of the couatl race and free itself from its arcane imprisonment deep in Khyber. Tira Miron, a paladin dedicated to the Sovereign Dol Arrah, received a powerful vision about this strange fire while exploring the western reaches of the realm. In her vision, a great rainbow-winged serpent, a couatl, warned her that a terrible evil was emerging in the east, riding crimson fire from the depths of Khyber itself. Tira rallied the local Galifaran military forces of Thrane and defeated the dark creatures that had come to venerate the crimson fire and help free the malevolent entity trapped within its flames. With her great magical sword Kloinjer, its pommel capped with a Khyber dragonshard, Tira turned to face the emerging fiendish Overlord just as the great serpent with the rainbow-feathered wings of her vision appeared and dove headfirst into its infernal fire. Tira watched as the winged serpent and the demon struggled in the flames. The battle within the fire seemed to last for an eternity, and as she watched the fiend began to overcome the rainbow serpent. Horrified, Tira saw the demon strike a crippling blow. The couatl, calling on its last reserves of celestial power, encircled the Overlord and buried its fangs into the fiend’s fiery throat. At the same moment, the couatl sent a mental plea to Tira, and the paladin did not hesitate. She leaped into the fire, plunging Kloinjer through the writhing serpent and deep into the demon Overlord’s blazing flesh. Then, the legend says, a powerful explosion rocked the entire continent of Khorvaire. The hot crimson fire became a cool silver flame, the physical expression of the restoration of the couatl race’s wards over the Overlord. Tira remained within, her soul now part of the divine fire that had replaced malevolent conflagration. Tira Miron became the Voice of the Silver Flame, and a new religion was born. Flamekeep, a simple stone castle, was erected around the ever-burning pillar of silver fire. Deep within the chasm, at the point where the divine fire still erupts from the earth, it is said that mighty Kloinjer’s blade is buried almost to the hilt, binding demonic Overlord, feathered serpent, and human paladin together forever. In time, the castle grew to become a cathedral, and a city grew up around it, also taking the name of Flamekeep. By 400 YK, the Church of the Silver Flame that had grown up around this event had become the dominant religion of Thrane. The Sovereign Host, accepting of most faiths, saw the Silver Flame as just another expression of the divine pantheon on Eberron. The Silver Flame, on the other hand, tolerated the Host but had little love for faiths that did not accept the cleansing light of the Flame. Over the centuries, the kings and queens of Galifar, and their sons and daughters who governed the realm of Thrane as its governor-princes, had a mixed relationship with the faith of the Silver Flame. As Thrane’s people began to turn to this faith in droves, the House of Wynarn was forced to accept the Church of the Silver Flame as a force within the kingdom. Early on, they tried to restrict it to Thrane, but the faithful were zealous, and missionaries soon appeared to bring word of the Silver Flame to the rest of Khorvaire. More than one Wynarnscion over the centuries, while governing in Thrane, adopted the faith. One particularly dark episode occurred in 558 YK, when Queen Joliana reached the Galifaran throne after serving as Thrane’sgovernor-princess. She was a devoted follower of the Silver Flame, and decided that under her rule all of Galifar would accept the Silver Flame as the one true faith. A few bloody clashes almost led to civil war before Joliana died suddenly and mysteriously before the second year of her reign had ended in 560 YK. The work of House Phiarlan’s assassins in Joliana’s death has long been suspected. The Church of the Silver Flame, unlike Eberron’s majority faith of the Sovereign Host, developed a rigid ecclesiastical hierarchy within only a few decades of its formation. This hierarchy was composed of four formal orders, which were supplemented by various smaller brotherhoods and monastic orders. The largest of the Church’s orders was the Order of Ministers. This order included what most people would consider standard priests. They lead services and mass at the local churches, acted as community leaders, conducted theological research and liturgical debates, and eventually served in Thrane’s military during the Last War. The Order of Templars included the true warriors of the Church of the Silver Flame. The Templars consisted mostly of warriors, supplemented by a substantial number of monks and a few priests. Most of the Silver Flame’s human paladins served asTemplars. The Order of Friars was the Church’s missionary wing. Rather than being assigned a specific region or community, friars traveled from land to land, bringing the light of the Flame into dark places and converting all who seemed receptive to the Church’s message. They are also wandering priests, but their duties are less well-defined. They serve where they can, lead by example, conduct services, offer sermons, and aid all those who require assistance. Friars are also called“priests errant,” particularly among the older Purified. The previous three orders were considered relatively equal in the eyes of the Church’s hierarchy. But the Council of Cardinals stood above them all. Seminarians can enter the Ministers, Friars, or Templars immediately upon graduation, but only experienced and well-respected priests were promoted to serve on the Council of Cardinals. MostCardinals were raised up from the Order of Ministers, with a notable few coming from among the Order of Templars. Only very rare individuals rose from the Order of Friars. Most observers outside of the Church of the Silver Flame believe that the Council of Cardinals serves as the governing body of the faith. In truth, that body is more properly entitled as the Diet of Cardinals and its members are drawn from the ranks of the Council. The Council itself is simply another order, like the others, albeit a higher-ranking one. As in any specialized profession, the use of arcane nomenclature helps separate insiders from outsiders. The highest position in the Church of the Silver Flame is held by the Voice of the SilverFlame, though one could argue that it is not a position at all, so much as it is a part of the Flame itself. The paladin Tira Miron joined with the Silver Flame in 299 YK, binding a couatl and the escaped demon Overlord they were attempting to destroy. Since being joined with the paladin, the Flame has openly communicated with mortals—Tira serves literally as the Flame’s voice to the faithful. The Keeper of the Flame serves as the intermediary between the Voice of the Silver Flame and the Diet of Cardinals. The Keeper is not elected but is called to the position by the Voice. The current Keeper is an eleven-year-old girl named Jaela Daran. A Cardinal was a member of the Council of Cardinals, the most senior priests of the Church. Cardinals rarely conduct ceremonies of their own and have little to do with governing the affairs of individual cities now that Thrane is a theocracy, as they are too busy running the Church itself. Only a cardinal can serve on the Diet of Cardinals—the actual ruling body of the Church that stands above the Council—but not all cardinals are members of the Diet. Because cardinals must be nominated and elected by other cardinals, the overwhelming majority of them come from the ranks of the archbishops, since the cardinals have regular interactions with few others in the Church. A priest who holds authority over the bishops of several major cities is an archbishop. Only the Order of Ministers has members of this rank and it is the highest rank clergy can obtain without joining the Council of Cardinals. A bishop holds authority over all the priests of a given city or other large community where the Church operates. The term is used primarily by the Order of Ministers. The equivalent title in the Order of Templars is “Prefect.” There is no equivalent rank among the Order of Friars. A friar who wishes to advance farther in the clerical hierarchy must change orders. Those who have successfully joined the priesthood, but have obtained no higher position, are simply called priests. The overwhelming majority of Silver Flame functionaries never rise higher than this rank. A priest in the Order of Ministers is referred to as “Father” or “Mother.” A priest in the Order of Friars is referred to as “Brother” or “Sister.” A priest of the Order of Templars is “Sir” or “Lady.”The lowest rank of true priests, Pilgrims are the novice members of the Order of Friars. They are lower in the hierarchy than starting members of the other orders because their responsibilities are fewer and less well-defined. The final two ranks of the Church are the acolytes and seminarians who are still in training to become priests but have no formal ranks as of yet. In some regions, but particularly in Thrane, worship of the Silver Flame is the dominant religion. Most locals are born into the faith rather than being converts to it. With that said, in every area of Khorvaire save for Thrane, the Church still gains as many new members from conversion as from procreation. It is the only major religion of Eberron that specifically preaches a need to change the world and that good will ultimately triumph over evil and justice over injustice. Other faiths preach the need to protect Eberron (as the druidic sects do) or to ascend from mortal life to divinity (like the Blood of Vol), but few grant their worshippers the sense of purpose provided by the Silver Flame, which seeks to transform Eberron into a utopia for all virtuous people. Worship of the Silver Flame appeals to those who have suffered injustice or who seek to make the world a better place. It also resonates with people who have a strong martial ethic—many of those who fight for good in the name of the Silver Flame are in it more for the fight than the good. The Church of the Silver Flame has always been strongest in Thrane. For many years, that nation’s rulers were followers of that faith. The Diet of Cardinals would eventually take over the nation in 914 YK and transform it into a theocracy where the Keeper of the Flame and the cardinals wielded secular as well as spiritual power. In most of the other nations of Khorvaire, the Silver Flame is just one faith among many. Although the Church might attempt to convert members of the government and influence political decisions, it has only a limited ability to do so. Some of its more zealous factions call for an open coup d’etat, claiming that the violence would be more than justified by the good the Flame could do with all of the Five Nations under its sway. Fortunately, the majority of the Diet of Cardinals is opposed to this action—the Church, powerful though it is, lacks the secular means to carry it out in any event. The Purified coexist with the Vasals of the Sovereign Host and the other faiths, and preach to the nobility and the dragonmarked houses as much as they are able. The Church also has made itself indispensable by lending its templars to the Galifaran Army, and in the present time, to the individual nations’ armies—if those armies are fighting for a cause it can support. Only in areas of Khorvaire vehemently opposed to the Silver Flame’s theology, such as Droaam, the nation of “monsters,” do the Purified not operate openly and actively. Even there, however, the Church of the Silver Flame has a few hidden enclaves of templars who seek to do what good they can. Most importantly, they watch for those rare natives of that land who seem unhappy with their current circumstances and might be suitable candidates for conversion. A faithful insider within an organization or state was often a far more potent weapon for the Church than half a dozen holy warriors.
