Hierarch

The Hierarch is the supreme authority of the church of Resounding Truth and the representative of the faith to the common people.

Duties

The Hierarch wields ultimate power within the church, and has the right to veto any decisions made by his or her subordinates. It falls upon the Hierarch to guide the faithful via auditions and distribute orders to each and every cathedral and chapel across the breadth of Nascindor on a weekly basis via correspondence. In essence, everything the church does it does because the Hierarch has commanded it so.

In this way, the position could be considered to be both a spiritual leader and a military one, as he or she also directs the Seeker fellowships in their tireless mission to contain the Black Forest.

There is also an element of maintaining public relations to the position, as public appearances and speeches are common for the position.

Appointment

The Hierarch is a position that is appointed to the next bearer of the title by the current Hierarch. There are no restrictions as to who the current holder of the title can choose to be their successor, and it is a time of great anticipation when the Hierarch is about to announce who they have chosen to take up the mantle when they are too frail to continue with their duties.

This right has been used for some very interesting choices, including a farmer's daughter from Haven named Talia Wildershore, whom the then Hierarch considered worthy to be elevated to the head of the church. The reasoning given by the Hierarch at the time was that the girl embodied the tenets of the faith unlike any of the clergy he had lived his life with. Talia went on to serve the church for over eighty years and was solely responsible for the founding of the Penitent Guard.

Relevance To Other Species

The Hierarch obviously enjoys immense respect among humans, but what about the S'aue and the Arachnitha?

The machine-men respect the Hierarch as a leader of his or her people but they do not consider him or her, no matter how divinely ordained, to have any power over their empire. To them, the spirituality that defines humanity is merely an amusing quirk and they've found that it is often better to just nod along when it is a possibility to avoid banal sermons.

In the case of the Arachnitha, the Hierarch is treated with similar respect and reverence as the broodmothers or queens of their kind. The Arachnitha know that humanity was indeed chosen, yet how much of their reverence is mere cordiality to maintain amicable relations with a species they see as necessary for their own survival and how much is genuine is a question that might be best left unasked.

Status

In effect

Form of Address

Father/Mother

Source of Authority

Divine

Length of Term

Lifetime

Related Organizations

• Resounding Truth

by Midjourney

_{The current Hierarch, Evander Ivanovich}