The United Imperial Church

The United Imperial Church is the national religion of Nestealia, and the most prominent religion on the planet. It's core teachings preach the values one would expect from a religion; such as justice, courage, love, life, etc. It actively preaches against what it refers to commonly as "Witchcraft" which is seen as a bastardization of proper magic given to man by the true gods. Magic is typically sorted into 3 catagories by the church; "Holy" magic, "Forged" magic, and "Witchcraft".

• Holy Magic is magic explicity given to you by the gods (Specifically the gods they approve of.) Typically this would be a paladin or cleric's magic, but could also be a holy relic.
• Forged Magic is objects that were crafted by harvesting materials that are inherently non-mundane and forging them into tools people can use. As an example, harvesting the scales from a dragon to make armor resistant to fire. Forged magic's ethical boundries with the church vary, but it is *typically* accepted and in some cases, like in the dragon scale example, encouraged.

• Witchcraft is banned by the church, and in Nestealia is punishable by death is most cases. Witchcraft is any non-holy and non naturally occuring magic explicity placed on the planet by the approved gods. Examples would be Wizards and sorcerers (who manipulate "The Weave" to cast their spells), warlocks (who get their magic from sources the church deems heretical.) or objects/miscellaneous materials created explicitly by unholy sources. Examples of the latter would be an enchanted sword, a soul coin, or even a non enchanted objects created by spells like Fabricate or Wish provided they were cast by a "witch"

There is heavy debate on if materials made from non natural creatures should be allowed in Forged magic. On one hand, Owlbears were created by wizards as a sick chimera long ago, but on the other hand they have propagated on their own since then into the ecosystem. For this reason equipment made from one may be seen as crude or

The United Imperial Church, is actually a polytheistic religion that follows 7 gods.

• Lathander, god of birth and renewal NG Life/Light, Road traveling into a sunrise
• Eldath, goddess of peace NG Life/Nature, Waterfall plunging into still pool
• Gond, god of craft N Knowledge, Toothed cog with four spokes
• Helm, god of protection LN Life/Light, Staring eye on upright left gauntlet
• Sune, goddess of love and beauty CG Life/Light, Face of a beautiful red-haired woman
• Torm, god of courage and self-sacrifice LG War, White right gauntlet
• Tyr, god of justice LG War, Balanced scales resting on a warhammer

These gods are all seen as equal by the church, and often refered to as "The True Gods". There are however other gods the church recognise as "good", which are seen more as "Sub gods" that have their own smaller indepenant churches scattered around.