Church of Waukeen

Wealth is power. Built on the crushed dreams and broken bodies of citizens deeply indebted to the church’s banks and loan sharks, The church’s elaborate hierarchy of clerics and priests exists for the single purpose of funneling wealth to the top. The church of Waukeen is an organization with two facades: religious hierarchy and banking operation. The church’s function is both religious and financial, with the two functions closely related. As Tana’s empire dominant church, the church continues to preach an oppressive message that equates sin with debt and promises forgiveness to those who make tithes and donations. As the empire only bank, it stores and secures the riches of the empire, collecting interest at high rates to expand its own wealth. Its members truly believe that their work is necessary to the proper functioning of the empire. ANd most people are still dazzled by the church promises of wealth, prestige aand longevity. Waukeen churches and basilicas are scattered across the empire, each one led by a ministrant with a staff of knights. These sites are centers of commerce clothed in the trappings of religion, where lowly borrowers come to seek atonement for their sins — atonement that is given in the form of debt and obligation. As templars of Waukeen, the church make knights out of you. The church of Waukeen is the only entity, besides kings, lords or dukes able to do so. It is a title the templar receive after prooving their worth. Templar of the church represent the striking force of the church, they are those facing evil power standing against Waukeen, and protecting the citizens from the horrifying threat lurking in the dark. Althrough most of the church business is bureacatric, adventurer's joining the church are likely to be part of the rare and elite force fighting evil and enforcing the empire's law. As kinght of the church, you are given a set of half plate, spell scrolls of hold person and a longsword. This distinctive look is the signature of knight of the church. THe welathier one change the armor for a plate armor.

by Mark Winters

Relationships

The church, due to its position, influence and power, as many enemies and allies. Many are obligated to respect and pretend to love the church, but other, are known enemies, especially of the templar. Since the order of knights templar is sworn to exterminate supernatural evil, such creatures are always hostile when they recognize a knight templar. The following groups are in direct relation with the church.

Temple of Kiennavalyriss (god of knowledge). A group of acolytes, worshiping Oghma and specializes in translating texts. It also provides legal services for adventurers in trouble.
The emperor. The church representing the gods influence in the empire, they have an important political power, and the emperor is an allie of the church. The current emperor Charles III views loyalty as mutual: as long as an agent’s loyalty is irreproachable, Charles III is willing to exercise his considerable power on that agent’s behalf.
Eastern Trader's Alliance. A fierce rivalry simmers between the church of Waukeen and the Eastern Trader's Alliance, both fighting for power over the economy.
Fiends and Undead. Unnatural beings loathe templars, as they represent everything these foul creatures despise—light, life, hope, and good. These menaces sometimes go to great lengths to trap and destroy templars, and fiends take particular pleasure in corrupting the faithful to evil.
Lycanthropes. All types and alignments of lycanthropes have a particular hatred for the Church of Waukeen, thanks to the systematical extermination of their kind and a crusade that nearly exterminated their kind over a century ago. Shifters are uncomfortable with the templars for the same reason.

by Winova Nelson

Perks

With a religious order as your group’s patron, you gain the following benefits:

Divine Service. In times of need, your group can appeal to the priests of your faith for magical aid. A cleric of waukeen who is of sufficiently high level will cast any spell of up to 5th level on your group’s behalf, without charge. The priest even provides any costly material components needed for the spell, so long as you can demonstrate your need and are in good standing with the church.
Equipment. Each member of your party has a holy symbol, even if it isn’t needed for spellcasting. Each of you also has a half-plate armor, and two spell scrolls of hold person.
Proficiencies. Each member of your party gains proficiency in the Religion skill, if the character doesn’t already have it.
Resources. You can leverage the church’s extensive contacts to locate exotic materials for crafting, spell components, or Magic items, or buyers for them (a downtime activity in the Dungeon Master’s Guide and Xanathar’s Guide to Everything). You can locate or sell legal commodities using the guild’s resources, and any prices tip in your favor by 10 percent.

Hierarchy

The church of Waukeen is represented in politics by 3 cardinals serving as privileged advisor of the emperor of Tana's Empire. Those cardinals govern the templars of Waukeen under their juridiction. Their assistants carry the title of marshal, but no real division of rank exists beneath them. Knights templar are free to wander the world in pursuit of the order’s aims. When leaving the jurisdiction of one cardinal and entering that of another, it is a knight’s responsibility to promptly report to the commander of the new area, in case that commander has a pressing need for a knight to perform a mission. The cardinals try to keep each other informed about where knights are operating and what they are doing, but this system works better in some places—and between some cardinals—than others.