Clergy Pact
The Grand Historian (21). The New Pact Divinity.
Basic Concepts
Divine Law
The Clergy Pact effectively defines existence as we know it. Everything from what gods there are to how mortality works. The Pact was has a life span, the first Pact naturally ended in 28000, the Pact's first iteration defined the creation of time thus started in year zero.
True Law
It's impossible to disobey the rules in the Pact or alter them. Loopholes in wording do not exist as its creation was based on Divine intent and not mortal wording. Although Mortals help create the New Pact, their intent in the changes they made is absolute and cannot be outsmarted.
The Pillars of Law
The Pantheon
The Pact defines the gods, their powers, and their domains. Several gods were removed, merged, and added through the changing of the Pact. The gods are not conscious beings like mortal races, but more of a motivated force of nature. Although the gods can manifest themselves they lack key traits that truly be living things. Also, they cannot be killed or harmed in any way and don't have a consistent physical form. God's are also banned from entering the mortal plane. The gods' influence over the mortal plan is limited to gifting powers of Divine magic to devotees and through their Divine Tools.
Mortality
The Pact declares that each mortal creature, all intelligent creatures native to the mortal plane which is primarily humanoids, can die a total of 4 times, the last death being the truly final death. After a death their a new body forms of the course of a week if there are not bound to a resurrection location like a temple or crypt. Without a location bounded they resurrect where they last slept, even if that location is unsafe. If a location has been bounded the resurrection only takes 24 hours. Each death marks a person with an unremovable tattoo that shows the death progress. Standard marks are typically a set of skulls up the forearm, one skull per death. After a final death, a person's soul is transported to their primary god's plane if any. If they do not follow a deity or have fallen out of favor their existence ends after a final death. There are ways to remove deaths, through powerful magic, and through a special ritual, they can return someone from a final death to the mortal realm if they are within a gods plane.
Magic
Magic is divided into six methods of channeling, also known as magic traditions. Four of these traditions are well known and directly specified in the pact: arcane, divine, occult, and primal. Each one's source is what defined it. Arcane mages source their power through the matter of the world and through their minds. Divine magic is derived from the spirits of mortal creatures and their file essence. Occult magic is sourced from what spirits of mortal creatures, their emotions, and their minds. Lastly, primal is a mixture of matter and the life force of the world. Each of the four control two of the four essences of reality. These are defined as Matter for the physical, Mind for the mental, Life for the vital, and Spirit for the emotional. Many have noticed that two combinations are undefended and have not been realized in a true form. These are the combinations of Matter with Spirit and Mind with Life. Experts have given these theoretical traditions names, although nobody is yet to realize them into a true tradition. Firstly, control over both Matter and Spirit is similar to the powers of a monk's ki, so they have named a mage with these powers are Ch'i caster. Secondly, Life and Mind is similar to the old pact magic known as Psionics, however, modern psionics is just a subsection of occult magic. So, the agreement for the tradition became Nionics or New Psionics.
The Planes
Each of the 18 gods has their own realm or plane of existence. These planes are known as the divine realms. Divine realms are populated by past mortals that were loyal to the gods' ideals and high-powered creatures like angels and demons referred to as immortal creatures. Immortal creatures can respawn indefinitely with their divine plane, but also lack the deep emotions and personalities that mortal races have. Immortal races can be outright killed through power spells and magic items. Next, there are the 3 mortal planes. Which are not exclusive to each other like divine realms but coexist overlapping constantly. First of these three is the material plane, usually what is referred to when one says mortal plane. This is standard existence for mortal creatures. Secondly, is the eternal plane. A plane that exists with the material that arcane casters use for their magic. This plane can also view the mortal plane from it, but cannot interact with it. Lastly, is the plane of dreams. A nonuclidian plane that many Mortals visit each night. You cannot be harmed this way through the dream plane without high power magic being involved. Some mages can transverse this plane, and use their will to conjure powerful items with the realm. Lastly, is the arcane fields. Although not a part of the Pact, it's what exists outside of the planes. A vast plane of pure arcane magic that is constantly casting spells both known and unknown and some far beyond the power of anything within the Pacts realms. A spell from this area is what created Deus, who then crated the rest of the pantheon. Other realms like our own may exist out therewith, but it is impossible to travel the arcane fields as once outside the Pacts area of influence everything loses much of its power.
Entry for WorldEmber 2021
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