Religious Based Slang Terms in Scarterra

I plan to keep expanding this periodically as new ideas strike me

"basket baby": A child abandoned and left at a temple in hope that the priests and priestesses will look after it. Babies are often literally put in baskets though this is not required. Some temples will accept older children as well that are well past being babies.
A lot of basket babies go onto to join the priesthood that raised them.

Basket temple: A temple known to always accept basket babies, no questions asked.

"blessed bulwark": A temple or bishopric that is used mainly to train or assist priests and priestesses and is not generally open to the public.

boon offering: A "donation" to a priest or temple that is actually intended as payment for services.

"cheese temple": A temple that cannot rely on donations to meet its operating expenses. See "Nonagon cheese".

Children of the Dark Mother: Frequently shortened to "Children". The clergy, theurgists and holy warriors of the goddess Greymoria.

conquered temple: A temple to one god or goddess run by priests or priestess of a different deity but still attempting to make a good faith effort to honor the god or goddess of temple. For instance, Keepers conducting a Maylar ritual at a Maylar temple.

"divine demesne": A feudal bishopric.

"divine spectacle": A play, concert or exhibition sponsored by a priesthood, usually with free or very cheap admission. A lot of Scarterrans will attend a show for a priesthood or deity they don't like simply because they don't get to see a lot of shows otherwise.

"divine thorn": A theurgist or priest that is aggressively aligned against the local status quo. Especially if they are part of the Lanterns, Children, or Testers.

"double dabbler": A person who is mage and a theurgist. Somewhat derogatory because the implication is that they are weak at two forms of magic rather than than good at one.

"donating sweat": Lay people Volunteering at or for a temple.

"eat moonbread" (verb): Moon bread is a food that is commonly given as alms to the poor and is often dedicated to the god Zarthus though priesthoods to the other deities often practice this too. "After a flood took out half his crops, he had to go eat moon bread" means "he went to a temple to ask for charity".

"food mage": Theurgist that commonly uses Plant magic to aid farmers.

"glossy temple": A temple that receives a lot of donations regularly and flaunts its wealth.

Guardians of Valor: Frequently shortened to just "Guardians". Common term for clergy, theurgists and holy warriors of the god Hallisan.

"holy feed": Somewhat flippant term for donating food or mundane supplies to a temple.

"holy mage": Somewhat flippant term for a theurgist.

"holy squire": Somewhat mocking term for a low ranking priest or priestess that serve as an assistant to a theurgist.

holy taxes: Somewhat flippant term for making a monetary donation to a temple.

holy toiler: A priest or priestess with a regular day-job.

"miracle flower": A lay person who's romantic "type" seems to be theurgists.

"miracle peddler": A theurgist independent from any formal priesthood. Somewhat derogatory since it believed that many of these theurgists are very selfish and mercenary in their outlook.

"miracle worker": Slang term for theurgist.

"mule rider": Traveling Cult of the Compact priest or priestess. So-named because they actually DO ride Mules often.

"mule trading": When one priesthood routinely provides political support to other priesthood expecting reciprocating political favors. When secular politicians do this, it's called "horse trading".

Keepers: Common nickname for the clergy, theurgists and holy warriors of the goddess Khemra.

Lanterns: Common nickname for clergy, theurgists, and/or holy warriors of Zarthus. So-called because their temples are usually decorated with many lanterns.

lightning man/woman: A Rover with extensive combat training and/or combat applicable theurgy. A few exceptional Rovers actually can conjure lightning.
Note that the Rovers and the Cult of the Compact are the only two major religious factions that don't formally train any of their members in combat so Lightning Men are all self-taught or are attached to a secular military.

Masks: Clergy, theurgists and holy warriors of the god Phidas. So named because Phidas' holy symbol is a mask and Phidas' clergy frequently wear masks as part of their ecclesiastical uniforms.

"Nonagon cheese": Goods and services produced by priests and priestesses and sold on the open market to raise funds for their temple. This can also be "Nonagon salt", "Nonagon wine", "Nonagon books", etc. Cheese is just the stereotypical good. Related to "cheese temple".

Nonagon shrine: A set up of nine shrines in a single place, one dedicated to each of the Nine. A very common sight in most villages.

Nonagon Plaza: Area is a city or town set aside where all nine temples of the Nine are present (or are at least supposed to be present). Often home to "conquered temples", "paper temples", and "viceroy temples".

"observing the Nonagon": A Scarterran that tries to pay his or her respects to all of the Nine which frequently have temples or shrines arranged in a literal Nonagon formation. "The local lord fully observes the Nonagon."


"octagoning": Used as a verb. This refers to someone praying to all the Nine but one. Only eight of the local heads of the priesthoods were invited to King Henryk's coronation but the Testers were not invited. Later people said that "King Henryk Octagoned Maylar when he invited priests of every priesthood to his coronation except for the Testers."
Dark elves are said to octagon Mera in their daily lives.
Note that it's possible to "octagon" more than one deity despite the fact that this would technically make it a "heptagon" or a "hexagon". While the term came from academic circles originally, most Scarterrans using the slang term are rarely very educated in math, so they don't realize what an octagon means in math terms.

"paper temple": A public temple mostly maintained for show, in other words, not the real temple.

"gourmet cheese": Potions or other magical goods and services sold by a theurgist on the open market. See "Nonagon Cheese".

Rovers on the Wind: Often shortened to just "Rovers". The clergy and theurgists of the goddess Nami. So-called because stereotypically they don't stay in one place very long.

"sunblinded": A Keeper that is really pushy about telling non-Khemra priests and priestesses how they should conduct their affairs.

Stewards: Clergy, druids, holy warriors, and theurgists of the god Korus.

Testers of Strength: Often shorted to just "Testers". The clergy, theurgists and holy warriors of the god Maylar. So called because they often inflict hardships on others and claim that they are testing them.

Tenders of the Sacred Hearth: Usually shortened to "Tenders". Clergy, theurgists, and holy warriors of the goddess Mera.

theurgist: The polite term for a divine spell-caster.

"token priest/priestess": A derogatory term for an honorary priest or priestess.

"viceroy temple": A temple to a specific god or goddess run by the Cult of the Compact instead of their specific priesthood. Generally considered a preferable state to a "conquered temple".

"three Named Lord/Lady": A high priest/priestess that runs a bishopric, the political equal of a secular lord or lady. A lord or lady has two names, a personal name and a family whereas commoners usually have one name. the Nine famously have multiple names and the priests technically run their fiefs on behalf of their god or goddess.

"weather witch": A Weather theurgist that can actually summon large scale weather. Almost all of them are Rovers and they are frequently held in awe and fear. Note, the Weather sphere is the least commonly pursued sphere of the sixteen known divine spheres.

"visiting cousin": A priest or priestess from a foreign land or culture.

Wish List of Stuff I want to make a term for later

Show spoiler

Cult of the Compact priest or priestess
Sedentary Cult of the Compact priest/priestess
Theurgy wielding Cult of Compact member
Self-taught theurgist

Poor temple
Deliberately simple temple


Non-theurgist clergy
Non-theurgist clergy that REALLY wants theurgy
Non-theurgist clergy that is respected and/or high rank


Opting to suck up to theurgists for help instead of praying to the Nine

A priest or theurgist with a non-stereotypical skillset such as an outdoorsy Mask, academic Tester, or musically talented Keeper
Monetary temple donations
Reagent temple donations

A clergy who uses their position and status to get laid
A celibate priest or priestess
A married priest or priestess

Bardic theurgist

Three clergy walk into a tavern...

A Guardian, a Keeper and a Mask enter a bar together and are each served a cup of ale. Each of them finds a fly in their ale.
The Guardian says “My honor is insulted! I demand a new ale at once!”
The Keeper says “This inconvenient but the Compact states I must tolerate this fly and try to drink around it.”
The Mask says, “Oi! Fly, you didn’t pay for that ale, I paid for the ale, spit it out! SPIT IT OUT!”

A Steward, Child and Tender enter a bar together and are each served a cup of ale. Each of them finds a fly in their ale.
The Steward says “The fly is part of nature, why would this bother me?” She drinks the ale and swallows the fly without flinching.

The Child says “I demand a new ale free of charge! Or I will curse your family line for three generations!” She then proceeded to remove the fly and move it to her pocket to feed her pet spider later. Then she drank both ales.

The Tender put aside her ale and wept. “The poor creature drowned! Why is the world so cruel! WHY!”

A Lantern, a Rover, and a Tester enter a tavern together and are each served a cup of ale. Each of them finds a fly in their ale.
The Lantern shrugs, pragmatically plucks out the fly and drinks his ale. "Waste not, want not."

The Rover says “Fly, I’m not going to impede on your right to some ale, I’ll just drink around you.”

The Tester yells “You dare challenge me weakling fly! The weak shall fall before the strong.” He then plucks the fly out and eats it.