Church of Selûne
May Selûne guide your steps in the night, and bring them to the new dawn.
The primary religious organization dedicated to the worship and service of the goddess Selûne, Our Lady of Silver. They are commonly called Selûnites.
Structure
Suiting the goddess's chaotic and changeable ways, the church hierarchy is highly variable, shifting from place to place and even with the predictable phase of the moon and other, unpredictable heavenly events. It is a jumble of clerics and specialty priests, crusaders and mystics, and blessed or well-informed lay worshipers. The Selûnite clergy holds a wide assortment of titles. Novices are always known as the Called, while full priests are known as Priestess or Priest, typically prefaced by Touched, Enstarred, Moonbathed, Silverbrow, Lunar, Initiate, and High Initiate, in order of increasing rank.
Higher-ranked clergy are instead known as "Priestess/Priest of the…", followed by a term traditional to the shrine or temple with which the priest was affiliated. For example, the leader of the The House of the Moon in Maris is known as the Priestess of the High Moonlight.
There are also some speciality priests, known as Silverstars, that act when there is danger.
There were broadly two kinds of Selûnite clergy: those who remain at the temples (often but not necessarily due to age or infirmity), and those who wander Emmel. Their duties are similar but distinct. Temple priests provide healing to the community and tend to the residents of asylums and sanitariums, which often adjoin their temples. The temple priests also make good money by practicing astrology and telling fortunes.
Itinerant priests spread the faith of the goddess by seeking out and keeping in touch with both existing and potential worshipers. Such priests also often provide healing, usually asking for nothing more than a meal and a warm place to rest. They practice humility and self-reliance. These priests are sometimes called Mooncloaks.
Wandering priests also look for for people afflicted with madness or lycanthropy. They heal or help them if they can, or escort them to the closest temple.
With the faith of Selûne promoting equality and understanding for all, and with her wide assortment of worshipers, her priesthood is just as diverse and eclectic. Nevertheless, the great majority of members are women, and the senior ranks are dominated by female humans. There are also a scattered few lycanthropes, both natural and afflicted, but all of good heart. They all worship Selûne in their own personal ways, but whatever their differences they are friendly to one another and cooperate in relative but boisterous peace. However, with such variety, they can divide into many different factions.
Higher-ranked clergy are instead known as "Priestess/Priest of the…", followed by a term traditional to the shrine or temple with which the priest was affiliated. For example, the leader of the The House of the Moon in Maris is known as the Priestess of the High Moonlight.
There were broadly two kinds of Selûnite clergy: those who remain at the temples (often but not necessarily due to age or infirmity), and those who wander Emmel. Their duties are similar but distinct. Temple priests provide healing to the community and tend to the residents of asylums and sanitariums, which often adjoin their temples. The temple priests also make good money by practicing astrology and telling fortunes.
Itinerant priests spread the faith of the goddess by seeking out and keeping in touch with both existing and potential worshipers. Such priests also often provide healing, usually asking for nothing more than a meal and a warm place to rest. They practice humility and self-reliance. These priests are sometimes called Mooncloaks.
Wandering priests also look for for people afflicted with madness or lycanthropy. They heal or help them if they can, or escort them to the closest temple.
With the faith of Selûne promoting equality and understanding for all, and with her wide assortment of worshipers, her priesthood is just as diverse and eclectic. Nevertheless, the great majority of members are women, and the senior ranks are dominated by female humans. There are also a scattered few lycanthropes, both natural and afflicted, but all of good heart. They all worship Selûne in their own personal ways, but whatever their differences they are friendly to one another and cooperate in relative but boisterous peace. However, with such variety, they can divide into many different factions.
Culture
Symbol
The symbol of the church is the holy symbol of the goddess: a pair of eyes, of a darkly beautiful woman, encircled by seven silver stars. This is typically carved into or out of moonstone and fashioned into an item of jewelry.
Nevertheless, there is a widespread preference for smaller shrines and individual worship. Common features were feminine symbols, small gardens, and reflecting ponds. Selûnite temples are often adjoined by asylums and sanitariums, the residents of which the clergy care for.
Although the church had no central base, its greatest and most magnificent temple was the House of the Moon in Maris.
Nowadays priests of Selûne have highly variable ceremonial costumes. The most humble wear plain blue or white robes, while others wear normal clothes accented with only a little moonstone jewelry. The grandest and haughtiest wear only the very finest attire, such as expensive gowns bedecked with jewels, with magical and animated capes and trains, and crowns set with moonstones. In everyday life though, Selûnites wear fashionable but not gaudy attire. In their work, they adopt whatever is practical for the task at hand.
Most good folk of Emmel respect the Selûnite clergy, though few understood the details of the faith. Common people see them as mysterious, but know them as a force of good and foes of werebeasts and undead, and as caretakers of the ill and the mad.
In some parts of the continent they struggle tirelessly against the followers of Mask and other dark deities.
Temples and Shrines
Suiting the changeable and individual nature of both church and goddess, the holy sites of Selûne vary across the land. They ranged from simple shrines, to amazing opulent temples, to humble hermitages, hilltop circles in which worshipers danced in the night, and ornate temple mansions, which were huge edifices with open-air courtyards or great skylights.
Anywhere the full moon shines is the place for Selûne.
Although the church had no central base, its greatest and most magnificent temple was the House of the Moon in Maris.
Clothing
The original ceremonial dress of the priests of Selûne consisted of white robes, which could be either plain and unadorned or embroidered with silver and decorated with moonstones; a circlet of woven flowers or vines worn around the head; and no shoes. A high priest carried as their symbol of office a wooden staff wrapped with silver, including silver flowers and vines, and topped with a moonstone.Nowadays priests of Selûne have highly variable ceremonial costumes. The most humble wear plain blue or white robes, while others wear normal clothes accented with only a little moonstone jewelry. The grandest and haughtiest wear only the very finest attire, such as expensive gowns bedecked with jewels, with magical and animated capes and trains, and crowns set with moonstones. In everyday life though, Selûnites wear fashionable but not gaudy attire. In their work, they adopt whatever is practical for the task at hand.
Weapons
In battle, Selûnites prefer a certain kind of mace they call "the Moon's Hand". A Moon's Hand has a smooth head representing the moon in a specific phase. Each temple has its own preferred phase for their Moon's Hands. It is otherwise identical to a typical footman's mace, light mace, or heavy mace, with the clergy favoring the heavy mace.Relationships
The eternal war between Selûne and Shar has waged through their servitor creatures and mortal worshipers and thus their respective religions, reflecting the unending tension between good and light versus evil and dark. Hence, the church of Selûne has been war with the church of Shar since their beginnings. When followers of each faith encounter one another, open battle is inevitable.Most good folk of Emmel respect the Selûnite clergy, though few understood the details of the faith. Common people see them as mysterious, but know them as a force of good and foes of werebeasts and undead, and as caretakers of the ill and the mad.
In some parts of the continent they struggle tirelessly against the followers of Mask and other dark deities.
Tenets of Faith
Let all on whom my light falls be welcome if they desire to be so. As the silver moon waxes and wanes, so too does all life. Trust in my radiance, and know that all love alive under my light shall know my blessing. Turn to the moon, and I will be your true guide.The highest principle of Selûne's ethos is acceptance and tolerance. The faithful are bidden to encourage and exemplify acceptance, equality and equal access, tolerance, and understanding; to treat all other beings as equals, and to make all welcome in the faith. Worshipers are also urged to be humble and self-reliant, to use common sense and practicality, and to find their own practical paths through life to be as successful as is possible, while not neglecting their compassion for others. The above quote is the maybe the most concise way to summarize the tenets of their faith.
The goddess exhorts the faithful to find those who carry the curse of lycanthropy, and to cure those who desire release from it and to destroy those who surrender to the beast inside.
Feminism
The church has a strong ideology of female empowerment. Women are honored for their roles as teachers and as role models in society and in the family. Selûnite doctrine implies that the moon has a subtle effect on the natural cycles of the female body; at a full moon, a female cleric is closest to the goddess. Milk is seen as a symbol of motherhood and the sustaining power of the feminine.Worship
The diverse faithful all pay homage to Selûne in their own individual ways, often adapting the standard rituals into very personalized, even unique rites. However, there are still many commonalities and shared matters of faith. Many rituals revere a woman's role as a teacher and role model, both in the home and in society. Milk, a sacred fluid, is a vital holy substance in ceremonies. Rituals often involve offerings of milk or wine and dancing, and are performed as personal matters. Clerics pray for their spells at night while facing the moon, if it is out and visible.
During the full moon, a female cleric will perform morning ceremonies to make herself receptive to special insights, intuition, and visions. This is in the belief that the moon subtly influenced the cycles of the female body, and thus she feels closest to Selûne during the full moon.
A regular ritual is the "night stalk", an occasion for worship and communion with the goddess, in which the clergy reaffirms their nearness to the Night White Lady. This can be just a simple solitary night-time walk under the moonlight, hence its name. While more involved ceremonies involve dances under the open sky and prayers in the moonlight, with libations of milk and wine over a central altar. These are held on the nights of every full moon and new moon.
The most sacred ritual, observed by all clergy, is the Mystery of the Night, an annual holy day.
During the full moon, a female cleric will perform morning ceremonies to make herself receptive to special insights, intuition, and visions. This is in the belief that the moon subtly influenced the cycles of the female body, and thus she feels closest to Selûne during the full moon.
A regular ritual is the "night stalk", an occasion for worship and communion with the goddess, in which the clergy reaffirms their nearness to the Night White Lady. This can be just a simple solitary night-time walk under the moonlight, hence its name. While more involved ceremonies involve dances under the open sky and prayers in the moonlight, with libations of milk and wine over a central altar. These are held on the nights of every full moon and new moon.
The most sacred ritual, observed by all clergy, is the Mystery of the Night, an annual holy day.
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