The Virtuous Congregation-Religion

The Virtuous Congregation. is a religion that follows only the elder god, and believes that other Gods are false. They are the worlds' biggest relgion mostly in southern Europe, Africa, and many U.S.A Stats. 

Major Holidays:

Day of Indulgence: A day were there are no punishments for major sin(sins still not allowed include murder, stealing, and harming another or yourself). Even priests may participate in this barring that whatever they do cannot directly break any of their virtues vows.

Festival of the Purified: A holiday that Lasts a week. The church feeds it’s members free basic meals and puts on activities. Each activity represents or talks about the duties of each virtue, with each virtue having multiple activities. While there are a lot of fun and games at this festival, there are also usually rooms where you can sit and listen to the priests or deacons give presentations. (While good for member moral, and fun for all, the church also uses the games as a sort of test to see if a member could fulfill one of their virtue names they currently don’t have filled.)

Weddings: 

Performed similarly to how Catholic weddings are performed irl. Any of the Saint can perform ceremony but it’s known that the virtue that performs it generally sets the tone for the marriage moving forward. With that in mind certain virtues are sought out by certain people, with a few being generic favorites.

Funerals: 

They do burning pyre ceremonies. The ashes are given to the family unless it was a Saint . The ashes of the Saints are mixed into a large container that contains the ashes of previous ones that shared their name. These ashes are used when ordaining a new Saint of that virtue. What happens when the massive containers are filled? No one knows, it hasn't happened yet.

Mythology & Lore

They Follow the Elder god who they believe is the embodiment of perfect law and balance being a beaning of pure Virtue, and Sin. And Sense the Elder god dose not live on the mortal plane, its the duty of mortals to keep the balance of Virtue and Sin on there plane. Having a living Saint for each Virtue and sin Who together work together to balance The world's Virtues and sins. Some Virtues/Sins are heavier then others so so Saints work hard to make sure that The balance or Virtue and sin are in balance.  Because of this The Virtuous Congregation has commented may grave sins on to the world, but they also have done may great things for the world, its alla balance after all.
They believe that they were created and placed on this earth as a sort of test. Those who proved themselves worthy would be able to rise to a higher existence. While those that proved to be unworthy would be cast to a realm of shadow.

Ethics

What is defined as sin? How must they atone for it? The church keeps a large list of sins to stay away from. There is some allowance for minor sins, after all, we are only human. Saints and Deacons can both be told of more major sins by the sinner in a confession booth. The Saints or Deacon will listen to what happened, the situation and the intention, and decide if penance is necessary. If they deem it necessary, they may give any penance they see fit that fits the sin.

Virtues and sins is the keystone of the Congregation here they are listed. There is a living staint for each Virtue and sin who trains to fully embody a virtue or sin. There is a holy Symbol for each Virtue and Sin, these symbols are often made of metals or tattooed on skin.

Virtues

Acceptance - Accept others and things as they are, not what they could be.
Ahimsa - To not harm, especially unnecessarily.
Balance - To find all things equal.
Chastity - To ignore the sinful thoughts of the flesh. Exception being your spouse(s) in the proper place and time.
Comitas - To be open and friendly.
Commitment - Keeping promises to the full extent of possibility.
Dignity - Self worth and personal self respect.
Diligence - Be thorough, make sure things are done as they need to be in the order you need them to be done.
Enthusiasm - Do each task with excite. Any good task is worth getting excited over.
Faith - Trust in one, Trust in all.
Flexible - Allow yourself to change and be changed as necessary.
Frugal - To be wise in your transactions without being miserly.
Hope - The desire of good.
Humanity - To listen and learn, treating people like people.
Humility - To be humble and never brag.
Justice - To bring to light the darkness, to right wrongs.
Love - To care about and for others.
Loyalty - Aid those you trust and those whom have aided you.
Mercy - Set aside previous transgressions, forgiveness.
Morality - To know the wrong and stay right.
Order - To obey laws and commands from superiors, discipline.
Patience - Take your time and don't rush things.
Peace - Never argue or be angry.
Perseverance - Physical and Mental fortitude in the face of stress.
Prudence - Caution/common sense. Wisdom.
Service - When asked to preform a good deed, do it.
Temperance - Self control.
Tenacity - The ability to stick to your purpose, to be unwavering in your resolve. (A tricky one since going overboard becomes Stubbornness)
Truth - Never lie and spread falsehoods.
Valor - Courage and fighting prowess, to protect the weak.
Wholesome - To be clean and practice healthy habits.

Sins

Bigotry - Treating others unfairly for any reason such as race, gender, etc.
Chaos - Disorder.
Closed - Closing others off, being unfriendly.
Cowardice - Let fear keep you from doing the right thing. To give in to physical or mental pressure.
Denial - Accepting of what things are, or what they had become.
Doubt - Lack of trust or conviction.
Envy - To desire what you can't have/isn't yours.
Falsehoods - Lie, cheat, or steal.
Filth - To be unclean or unhealthy.
Gluttony - To indulge in over eating/drinking
Greed - To be miserly
Hate - To hate those around you.
Injustice - Protect darkness, keep wrongs from reaching the light.
Lethargy - To avoid responsibilities or duty.
Lust - Unwedded sex or adultery. Overly affectionate PDA.
Masochism - The enjoyment of pain. Causing pain.
Pride - Overly proud of self and your abilities. Or of those whom you've influenced.
Recklessness - To act rashly and without thinking.
Sloth - Without care, overly depressed.
Stubbornness - Stick to the wrong path or way of thinking despite evidence to the contrary.
Subjugation - To subjugate those weaker than you.
Treachery - Betrayal of those that trust you.
Unforgiving - To not forgive an honest apology.
Unreliability - To break promises.
Worry - Inability to calm the mind.
Wrath - Absolute anger taking control.

Religion’s thoughts on:

Gender Roles: Generally there is a preferred sex to each virtue, but there are times common enough that when that expectation is broken it is accepted. Other than that, no, the genders are equal. Except pregnant women. Pregnant women are to protect their baby and themselves at all costs. The church heavily encourages a pregnant woman to quit her job and stay home or at church until the baby is safely delivered.
Sex/chastity: Sex is perfectly normal part of being human, and the church only slightly discourages it outside of wedlock, viewing that as a minor sin. Though, overindulgence of it is a major sin.
Nudity: Ones body is nothing to be ashamed of, showing skin or being naked in more private settings is okay as a minor sin. Though publicly flaunting your body is considered a major sin.
Romantic love and marriage: Marriage must at least have one man and one woman. Any additional members of a marriage are allowed. Divorce is allowed, and nulls the entire marriage if there are more than 2 people in it.
Homosexuality: They permit being bisexual or heterosexual. You can’t be just homosexual, as not being able to have a family is looked down on.
The family unit: They believe the best way to raise children is one male and one female parent figure. While they aren’t going to attack you for being a single parent, it’s highly encouraged that you get married again quickly if you have a child.

Priesthood

Clergy- There are only a certain amount of clergy ever allowed at one time, since each Saint is meant to represent a virtue and there is no doubling up. A virtuous name may only be taken should the previous holder be dead. The church isn’t one that fills it’s clergy ranks to the max every possible moment. Names can go years before they are used again, waiting for one who is truly worthy of the name. Since each Saint embodies a different virtue, each Saint's vows are different depending on their name. Some must remain chaste, while others may have families. Some must take vows of peace, while others are trained for combat. Responsibilities include being a perfect shining example of their virtue/sin, to perform tasks the church requires of them, and to lead and protect the Guided ones. Minimum age of a Saint is 20. Even priests are human, and as such other clergy members understand that while they represent purity in one area, they may suffer some sin in another. So long as they don’t directly break their vows with sin, become overly sinful in the public eye, or perform other sins to heavily, these trysts are often overlooked. The rational being the amount of virtuous light they portray cancels out the dark of the sin. There are also Deacons whom usually are the ones to run the day to day proceedings. They serve under the Saints . Below the Deacons are the lowly Friar. Punishment for a member of the clergy being too sinful is mostly a verbal warning, then less privileges, then demotion, then excommunication. For breaking their vows, verbal warning, then excommunication. For being overly sinful to the public eye, verbal warning with public apology and promise of rehab to public, then excommunication. The Clergy live on the church compound. The Guided go to this compound at least once per week to hear the sermons and such. It’s not like the Clergy can’t leave the compound, they can go whenever they want. They just often don’t want to since most of what you can do outside would be considered sinful.

Ordaining a Saint:

Once a person has proven they may be worthy of a name and to become a Saint, they are taken to the basement of a church, where large jars of ash are kept from previous priests of that name. The prospective Saint strips bare, and deacons draw holy symbols upon their body using the ashes. Should the skin not burn they are worthy of the name, and a grand ceremony is held in their honor a week later known as Naming Day. They have already earned the name, but are not considered to have it to the public until this naming day, where there is a big show of at least 3 other Saint grant the new Saint their name.

"We Follow The one True God"

Demonym

The Guided

Permeated Organizations

• Velika

Deities

• God: Elder

Divines

• God: Elder

Related Species

• Human

Related Ethnicities

• Ancient Velkin