Holy Orders of the Three Sisters
The Three Sisters are most often worshiped in a joint temple, called a triad. Some small shrines or chapels are dedicated to just one sister, but large temples always have three altars: one for each goddess. The clergy and holy warriors of the Three Sisters travel widely and pursue duties away from the triad. Thus, a peculiar power structure rules their faiths. The ruling cleric of a triad may follow one of the Sisters, but in her role as overseer, becomes a representative of all three goddesses. This goddess’ three holy orders have been bound together for as long as the Three Sisters themselves, who awoke on the bank of a mythic river (theologians dispute its name and location) as siblings and boon companions from their first divine breaths. They squabble like all gods, but help each other in adventures across Creation, and in serving it through their holy purviews. The Sisters’ awakening, and their eastward journey across the world, rests at the heart of triad philosophy. It’s a spiritual mystery that inspires the triad’s shared holy order: The Unity. Triads are homes to the three faiths of the Sisters, each of which sets its own outlook and holy orders. Most triad visitors seek blessings from just one goddess. Nevertheless, each of the Sisters represents familial unity and cooperation and their clerics never omit mention of this, even while serving individual goddesses’ altars. Triad tapestries depict 3,333 tales of the Sisters’ journey to the East. Each represents one story, so triads constantly rustle as wind and passers-by disturb the many, many flowing tapestries. The triad uses three intersecting rings as its symbol, arrayed in a triangle with one circle above the others. (At altars to individual sisters, the top circle is that of the relevant goddess; at places of collective worship, the sign is often designed to be spun in prayer, so no goddess is preeminent.) Each ring represents one of the Sisters’ crowns: a red circle for Canelle, a black circle for Naryne, and a gold circle for Thellyne. Every altar in a triad features this symbol, inscribed alongside with the sign of the Sister the altar honors.
Because the triads are not terribly popular, and the Sisters’ clergy and holy warriors are often absent on missions, it is all but impossible to staff a triad with a high-ranking member of each Sister’s clergy. Instead, the three churches have a long-standing arrangement, in which any cleric of a Sister can serve as a “variegate priest” or “variegate priestess” for a period of no less than one year and no more than five years.
A variegate priest puts aside the trappings of the goddess he has served, and wears robes of the three sacred colors: red, gold, and black. He oversees a triad, determining its position on matters both secular and religious. Acting as a cleric of all Three Sisters, he offers spiritual counsel to worshipers of any of the three faiths, and sees to the training of each of their clergies. A variegate priest is addressed as “revered father,” or “revered mother,” and is introduced as a variegate priest, omitting any titles related to a specific Sister.
Variegate priests induct members into the Unity: an order of triad-worshipers. From time to time, three people come to a triad seeking to be bound together as special companions, fates and lives tied together as surely as the Sisters’ were. If the variegate priest believes their intentions are true, he can induct them into the Unity (see “The Unity,” following), after which they are so bound. The average triad has one variegate priest in residence. A few holy warriors and clergy of the individual altars come in from time to time. There are also various acolytes and students in residence, but they do not perform religious functions beyond study and meditation.
Variegate Priests of the Triad
Only members of the clergies of Naryne, Canelle, or Thellyne can become variegate priests. They must train for at least six months (but usually, at least a year) with devotees of the other two Sisters; at the end of this time, the candidate is tested by all the clergy of the triad he seeks to lead. The woodwardens come in from their woods, the red masters return from their athletic training circuits, and the seneschals descend from the palaces where they serve. The candidate is questioned for several hours on the intricacies of all three religions. The priesthoods then votes by secret ballot. A majority must approve of the candidate, who serves for five years. Reappointments (which require new elections) are rare, but possible.The Unity
When three people believe themselves as united as the Three Sisters at the end of their journey, They can petition a triad to be inducted into the Unity. The Unity has no formal titles, and its members have no status within the churches of the individual Sisters. In fact, they need not be particularly devout worshipers of any Sister. Becoming part of a Unity means agreeing to tie yourself to two other people in the eyes of the gods. The variegate priests perform an ancient ritual that does this, at the end of which the three members of the Unity are, for all intent and purposes, a family. Triads perform the ritual because they believe it is in the forming of such unions that the perfection of the mortal races will be achieved, and paradise will be realized. Priests require a genuine bond, without coercion or inequality, and use test of souls to ensure it exists. The exact nature of the emotional bond varies, ranging from the forms of love that mortal races feel toward one another, to a sense of camaraderie greater than the usual ties which hold teams of hardened adventurers together. When the ritual is complete, the three emerge as a Unity. They take on a new name that all three share, to signify their new familial bond—and indeed, they are all now family in the eyes of the gods. By becoming a Unity, the three live out the mystery of the Journey to the East. One becomes the Breath, as Naryne is sometimes called, the speaker for the three. One becomes the Eye, as Thellyne is for the Sisters, and observes for the three. One becomes the Arm, as Canelle was, and takes direct action for the Unity. As the three explore their bond it grows stronger, and they develop the ability to perform miraculous deeds together. Characters interested in forming a Unity can do so by taking the Triad Feats.The Triads of the Sisters
Triads are places of quiet worship, infrequently visited. Their facilities are available to worshipers of any of the Three Sisters, but few laypeople worship them so fervently as to require a temple. Thus triads are usually found only in major population centers, such as capital cities, and other places where nobles congregate. The noble worshipers of Naryne keep the triads in operation, with generous donations that go to all three faiths. Some cultures which revere sport support large, popular triads where people pray for their favorite athletes. They donate to Canelle's portion of the church. Barring these circumstances, the average mid-sized city has little need for a temple to Three Sisters. Most worshipers resort to visiting the Great Church, which keeps adjoining altars to them. Triad clergy think of the Three Brothers as metaphors, not gods. In their recounting of the journey, they say the Sisters awoke by the river and there, confronted and rejected their evil halves. Thus, few scholars to believe the Brothers are truly gods. If anyone outside the faith learned their myths, further studies would tell them that the Brothers are nothing but symbols of the Sisters’ “shadow sides,” which they rejected.
Culture
Holy Days
Two holy days unify the three faiths of the Sisters. The first is celebrated early in the year. Called Waking Day, it commemorates the waking of the Three Sisters by the riverbanks, their eventual rejection of evil, and their departure. Waking Day is observed in silent contemplation, followed by a children’s morality play that portrays the Waking and one tale of the Journey to the East. These skits don’t mention the Three Brothers at all, and portray evil as a whisper urging the Sisters to argue until after a dream, they work together to escape the river valley. Later in the year, the faithful observe the Ascension, remembering the day the Sisters were embraced by Heaven and made Lords of Good. On the Ascension, the faithful make many sacrifices to the Sister they worship, or all three. They pray for forgiveness and guidance. In the evening, adults reenact several stories from the Journey to the East, and finally the Meeting, when the Three Companions met the Sisters.Tenets of Faith
Doctrine
What did they teach on this eastward journey, from childhood to adulthood, from sleeping to waking, from doubting to knowing? The Three Sisters, blessed are their names, came to us in innocence, and did not instruct us, but provided their perfect examples. They showed us that no great thing can be done alone. Without the breath of life, the eye cannot sees and the arm cannot act. Without the eye, the breath knows not its purpose, and the arm goes astray. Without the arm, breath and eye cannot act, but only contemplate. We must have difference, they taught us, for we are all parts of a greater Unity. We must experience the world in its different lights, dark, red, and gold, acting together as the colors of Creation do, or we are lost.”Each of Sisters and their faiths contain many differences, but they all turn upon the Journey to the East. The thousands of stories (officially 3,333, but varied local traditions increase that number) focus on ways in which the Sisters learned to work together. Mystical interpretations of these tales form the core doctrine of the triad:
– An interpretation of the Journey to the East by Reverend Mother Grywin Estalla, Variegate Priestess of the Eastwatch Triad
Each of us must balance our desires to control, observe, and actIn tale after tale, the Sisters bickered. Naryne set down rules and issued commands. Thellyne hid and observed, and Canelle aggressively charged at every challenge. In these acts, the triads see three primal impulses. Only those who combine and balance them can lead happy lives.
For every person, two others exist to lead them to perfectionTriads believe that two people might be good enough for ordinary love and companionship, but in great adventures and life’s most difficult struggles, everyone is best supported by two others, who the gods have hidden until it is time for them to unite, even if only for one task. The complementary two might never be found, or might be members of one’s family. In any event, truly propitious unions come in threes.
We will find paradise when Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld are unifiedIt is no coincidence that at the end of their great journey, the Three Sisters separated. Canelle resides on the mountain of Heaven beside the other gods, Thellyne wanders the world, and Naryne sits beside Maal, in the land of the dead. The sins of the mortal races, their distance from the gods, and their desire to do evil required the separation of Heaven, Earth, and the Underworld. Mortals do evil, so they must be judged by Maal, in a separate place. Even the gods must separate themselves from the mortal affairs, for the sake of the Compact. When mortals find balance in their inner natures and relationships, and obey the gods, the three realms will reunite. Few people worship the Sisters in the form of the triad, but most serious worshipers of any one of the Sisters comes to study the journey and its interpretations. Anyone seeking to become a variegate priest or priestess must contemplate these matters at length.
