The Gray Church
The Gray Church is the moniker of the collective of churches spread over Grayburn, which takes sacrifices as donations and uses them to aid those in need. It worships an unnamed god, without scripture or commandments. Instead, the churches are simply focused on the concept of donating what you can spare.
Culture
Religious habits in the cities constitute of visiting a church once a week, often the day before or the day after payday. The upper class all attend the day after payday, during the first restday. Inland, farmers and such are often less strict, instead they donate whenever they scored a good haul. For example, a hunter that made a large catch may donate part of it.
No matter where, the church caretakers tend to be parttime workers, they donate part of their time instead of part of their earnings. Corruption is rare, and society quickly condemns any worker caught skimming donations.
In the smallest settlements far from society, as well as amongst practitioners of magical arts, the Gray Church is not followed. Instead, the old unnamed gods are still worshipped with minor sacrifices in nature. There, rather than having a church as middleman, charity is a matter of individual support of the community.
Assets
The Gray Church is the formal owner of all church-buildings within the cities and larger towns. In smaller settlements, there is less formal ownership. In these buildings there are storage areas for longterm supplies. They also store bedding and clothing for temporary stays of the downtrotten. The Gray Church has financial supplies banked in the cities, which are used in times of less donations to purchase needed goods. If smaller churches run into severe shortages, they may request help from the larger churches.
History
In Grayburn's past, many small settlements had their own unnamed gods, to which they pledged minor sacrifices and made small gestures. As civilization developed and towns and cities formed, the worship combined and churches came into existence. Here, a few people would spend part of their time to gather the offerings, which they passed on to the least fortunate of society. Eventually, an overarching organization came into existence which put down rules for all individual churches to obey. Said organization received the moniker 'The Gray Church'.
As the Industrial Revolution came and some individuals became rich enough to become the ruling elite, the Gray Church remained active and turned into a bit of a status symbol. The upper class considers properly donating as a part of their image, expressing subtle contempt for any of their members that donate too little or too much. With their donations significantly higher than what the middle and lower class can contribute, the church has far more assets to use in the cities. Assets they can use quite well, for there are plenty in need of aid there.
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