Church of Heschius Ban

Clergy	Clerics, specialty priests
Clergy's Alignment(s)	Lawful Neutral, Neutral, Lawful Evil, Neutral Evil, Chaotic Evil
Turn Undead	Clerics: No; Specialty Priests: No
Command Undead	Clerics: Yes; Specialty Priests: Specialty priests may command only undead formed from creatures killed at sea or that are aquatic by nature.

Heschian clergy is an organized and disciplined order. The wavebearers, as they are known, enforce their authority through strict adherence to hierarchy and ritual, reflecting the unyielding and inevitable nature of their deity. The wavebearers maintain order within their ranks, settlig disputes through ritualized combat or arbitration by senior priests. These contests are fought with heschian dueling blades, a wavy weapon made to resemble the chopping waves of a storm-wreaked ocean. The wavebearers, like most cets, travel extensively, establishing shrines and temples in coastal cities, fortresses along riverbanks, and sanctuaries on isolated islands. They live off offerings from sailors, merchants, and those seeking to harness the power of the sea.

Dogma

THe doctrine of Heschius Ban declares that water is the most potent and inevitable force, representing both destruction and creation. His followers believe that all should recognize the inevitability of Heschius Ban's power and submit to his will to avoid ruin. Fair offerings and loyalty bring protection and prosperity, while defiance invites disaster.
Novice priests are charged to: "Spread the word of the might of Heschius Ban, and let no service be performed in his name without proper tribute. Ensure that the power and inevitability of magic and water is respected and rightly feared by all."

Day-to-Day Activities

Heschian priests are highly revered and equally feared along he coasts and waterways of Cetandar. They perform daily rituals, offering prayers and sacrifices to Heschius Ban to secure his favor. Sailors often seek their blessings before voyages, believing that the presence of a wavebearer ensures safe passage and favorable conditions. The clergy conducts ceremonies at dawn and dusk, symbolizing the eternal cycle of the tides of the sea. They also offer magical services, such as controlling weather and calming the seas. These services come at a high price, however.
Wavebearers are known to be ruthless in enforcing the will of Heschius Ban. They demand respect and tribute from coastal communities, using their magic and influence to punish those who defy them. The clergy is involved in political and economic affairs, often manipulating events to ensure their deity's dominance over waterways used as trade routes.

Holy Days/Important Ceremonies

Heschius Ban is to be worshiped daily with offerings, prayer, and self-anointing on the brow, hands, and feet with sea water. In addition, the faith has a few special rituals, most notably the Drowning, First Tide, and the Stormcall.
The Drowning is a solemn and secret ceremony marking the transition of novices to full priests. It involves a symbolic drowning ritual where the supplicant lies before an altar and is surrounded by candles lit to the god, each placed with an intoned prayer by a different Heschian priest. The attending clergy then withdraw, and a senior priest casts a spell that causes sea water to flood the room in a huge breaking wave and then flow away. Supplicants who survive are confirmed in the service of Heschius Ban and warned that if they should ever betray the Lord of the Depths, drowning is the fate that awaits them. They were spared during the Drowning and so can be taken by the Sea King at any time to come (Clergy whom the Sea King feels failed him go to sleep one night never to awaken, dying during the night of drowning, their lungs mysteriously filled with sea water.)
The public rituals of Heschius Ban include First Tide and the Storm's Apex. First Tide is celebrated by a flute-and-drum parade through the streets of a city by the clergy when the ice breaks up in a harbor. In a cold-hearted and brutal ritual, the clergy carry a live animal down to the shore to be tied to a rock and hurled into the water. If the creature somehow washes or struggles ashore alive, it is freed, tended, and magically healed back to ful health. It then becomes a sacred animal with the rank of a Heschian. This custom began in ancient times when Heschius Ban often selected his clergy from among human sacrifices by unbinding them beneath the water.
Stormcall is a mass prayer in which worshipers call for Heschius Ban to send a storm to devastate a specific harbor or ship or to turn away an approaching storm or one that has already broken upon the worshipers. Worshipers kneel around pools in which lit candles float on fragments of driftwood that have been carefully collected and dried by Heschian priests for this purpose. Sacrifices of precious goods are thrown into the pools, but the priests must carefully levitate the candles through the magic of the ceremony as this is done to keep them alight, for a candle doused is a sign of Heschius Ban's anger.

Major Centers of Worship

Affiliated Orders

Priestly Vestments

The ceremonial garb of the wavebearers consists of flowing robes in shades of deep blue and green, adorned with silver and pearl accents. The insignia of a breaking wave is prominently displayed on their chest, symbolizing their allegiance to Heschius Ban. During rituals, they wear headdresses fashioned from shells and coral, and their hands and feet are often stained with seaweed and salt.

Adventuring Garb

Wavebearers in the field wear practical clothing suitable for travel and combat, typically in muted blues and greens. Those of high ranking carry heschian blades with them, but those of lesser ranks are not permitted to use such weapons. Some high ranking members of the clergy bear a crestcloak, a magical item that can transform into abarrier of water, providing both protection and a means of escape when needed.

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Table of Contents

Type

Religious, Organised Religion

Demonym

Heschian

Divines

• Heschius Ban

Related Species

• Half-Elf
• Half-Orc
• Human

Related Ethnicities

• Cetandari