Disciples
Entries
Question: I was curious about what all a Disciple is allowed to do as a non-Godsworn. As in, what rites and blessings if any can they do? Can they do anything for the deity they are in a discipleship of, or are /all/ rites and blessings for godsworn? Can a Disciple like, lead a sermon or teaching as long as there's no actual blessing/benediction done?
Answer: They are laymen where it comes to rites. They can give informal prayers in the same way any non-godsworn, disciple or no can, but cannot officially preside over church ceremonies except as assistants to godsworn.
Question: So, for Gild the division of the discipleship between military and non-military is pretty clear and easy. The KoS report to the Grandmaster, and through him/her to the archlector, while the regular disciples (bookkeepers etc) answer direct to the Archlector. Nice and simple and clear cut.
How does this work for the Templars, which are the only discipleship of Gloria? The Templars, by the helpfile, includes support staff (such as our armorers etc) - but are there also people whose tasks are more focused on the temples/shrines? Do the bulk of disciples fight? Are all expected to go on campaign when needed? How does the structure work with the Grandmaster and the Archlector? Do only the knights or only the godsworn knights and their squires go via the Grandmaster while the men at arms go to the archlector, or does every part of the Templars go to the Grandmaster and the archlector deals with nothing directly? Or is there a division where the grandmaster handles military matters (while answering to the Archlector) and the Archlector handles theological questions and the management of the shrines? I'm struggling to conceptualise how that division/arrangement works and how it looks like. And I'm assuming some separation to justify Gloria getting two seats at the table (same as Gild).
Answer: The templars are, generally speaking, the forces every individual parish and local seraph has at their call. Depending upon the size of the parish, this probably is no more than a few godsworn knights for a village or small town, and can be up to a couple dozen for a major hub. Non-godsworn disciples however, the men at arms, are typically people that live in that parish and devote at least several hours of voluntarily military service per week, which the local lords are delighted with as it gives free manpower that is covered by the church provided the church is supporting them. All disciples are trained to fight, and are expected to keep current, and to be ready to answer the call for any problems in their local parish. If multiple parishes are involved in a campaign, then disciples can be reasonably expected to serve for at least one season, with permission from their local seraph or higher required to avoid service.
The Grandmaster has field command for any campaign, or her commanders below her, and directs multi-parish forces and how they are organized. However, any action by templars that leaves a parish, or is multi-parish in nature, must be approved as 'righteous' by the Archlector (or the Legate above her or the Dominus). Parish-only actions could be overruled, but they are so minor they default to the control of the local seraph, but aything outside of that ultimately must be approved by the Archlector. So while the Grandmaster is the field commander, the Archlector or those above her always authorizes military action.
Question: Q: What is Arx's Mercy structure/hierarchy? Based on a convo with Apostate a while ago, Arx has a Mother Mercy who oversees everything, with the equiv of Voices that help facilitate things within and outside of the org. This isn't documented anywhere, though, so confirmation is requested.
A:The Mother Mercy (or Father Mercy) tends to make at least one voice for every hundred mercies in the city of Arx, called a Hand of Mercy, and then there are senior mercies called a Touch of Mercy. Touches are further divided into seniority, which is related to length of service, as our mercies themselves. Outside of Arx and regionally, some other branches of the Mercies of Lagoma instead designate seniority by number of lives saved, or number of Acts of Mercy (wounded or sick aided, even in part), which can become disproportionately large numbers as each mercy working in a field hospital could count every person there among their Acts. Some mercies coming to Arx from the farflung reaches of the different five kingdoms would bring these practices with them, even if they wouldn't really be officially recognized by the Arx Mother of Mercy or Hands of Mercy.
Q: What are the expectations of membership? It's a discipleship, so the Faith has only so much pull. What is it like inside the org itself, though? I know that no one can be ordered/commanded per se, but it strikes me as plausible that the leadership still expects reasonable requests to be honored.
A: Discipleship varies a great deal. The Scholars of Vellichor, Templars and Knights of Solace are three organizations so tightly wound to the Faith that discipleship in them for most is a primary occupation, even if they aren't godsworn. The Mercies are a halfway point between the very informal ones where no one does that as a primary occupation, and has Devoted Mercies (ones who service in the Mercies of Lagoma is their principle occupation, many who become godsworn) and Aiding Mercies (ones who offer what service they can as laity, but have other jobs/duties/responsibilities outside of the discipleship, and only donate what time they can). While most of the higher ranks are Devoted Mercies, it's not uncommon for the Mother Mercy to be a high born noblewoman or man that is not godsworn, and is technically an Aiding Mercy. This isn't seen as a mark against them, since securing donations and support for the Mercies of Lagoma as a whole would be one of their core responsibilities, as well as being able to speak to the Archlectors or Dominus as a peer- it just tends to default to someone very high born, like Sophie for example, out of necessity. Now for expectations, at least in Arx they need lengthy training in healing before they touch a patient without assistance, since the Mercies care a great deal in making certain no one is ever hurt by an untrained Mercy. This typically comes from acting as an attendant to a full Mercy as they heal, observing and helping. As mercies constantly working with the sick tend to become ill themselves, most new mercies are tending for the mercies themselves under their first patients supervision.
Q: What are the social/political repercussions, if any, for not adhering to those expectations? Can the chapter head revoke Mercy status for that chapter?
A: Improperly caring for the sick, resulting in higher mortality, can in extreme cases be considered unlawful killings if their neglect resulted in the death of those seeking aid. This has led to chapters being barred, and in a handful of cases when a regional Mother Mercy went full cult leader, resulted in Templars breaking up chapters by force of arms with whatever local lord usually deciding he no stake in this. In at least a few cases, this has resulted in a small brushfire war effectively between the Faith and a mercy chapter that was backed by a local lord (due to embezzling donations).
Q: What happens when a Mercy from another chapter relocates to Arx? Places like Arx and Blancbier are said to have the highest standards for being considered a Mercy. Is there an assessment test? (I assume PCs will pass because PCs are awesome but I still wonder about the process.)
A: PCs would be assumed to pass, unless they wrote it specifically into their background that they wouldn't. They would be expected to conform to Arx (and Blancbier) standards of service and would be tested, and Devoted Mercies in Arx that are mercies for their full occupation are typically paid a much higher wage in Arx than in the provinces, while Aiding Mercies are always unpaid (so the Mother/Father Mercy is by traditionally normally unpaid, but they tend to have full control over donations to the Mercies).
Q: Are non-local Mercies who relocated to Arx expected to fall in line with Arx's chapter hierarchy? If they opt-out, is their Mercy status recognized within Arx? Is there such a thing as an independent Mercy in an area that has an established chapter or are they expected to "join the union"?
A: Anyone opting-out of working with the Mercies of Lagoma in Arx, or with the chapter of a specific region, is asked not to call themselves a Mercy until they leave the region. The reason for this is simple- there's a great deal of charlatanism and con artists who happily claim to be Mercies to attempt to sell useless herbs for healing and the like, trying to take advantage of the good name for Mercies. For this reason, Mercies are also strongly discouraged from working alone without a representative of the Faith, or unless their status with the organization is well known, to prevent the charlantanism that would happen. A well known Mercy is fine with acting alone, but newer ones almost never are.
Q: What are the training guidelines in Arx for characters who seek to become Mercies? For those with no prior medical/apothecary background, I figure it would be 2-3 years IC study, presumably, which would take maybe 1 RL year.
A Probably until they can pass tests, which would just be medicine skill checks. But the usual baseline would be having a medicine of 3 would be considered appropriate for a Mercy. They are pretty well trained.
Answer: A commentary on Mercies of Lagoma, discipleships in general, the Gilded Blessing and the Sanctuary of Silver, by Scholar Tobias the Dubious.
Perhaps no discipleship is as numerous as the white robed devotees of Our Lady of Change, the Goddess Lagoma, goddess of fire, change and healing. Many assume that the Mercies of Lagoma, due to their numerous adherents that care for the sick and injured all throughout Compact, are thus centrally organized, but this is far from the case. While the Archlector of Lagoma does traditionally have a degree of sway over the Mercies, in truth relatively little is needed to form a chapter, as their help is always so direly needed. In rural areas, all that is required is for the seraph in charge of the local parish to grant recognition to the newest chapter wishing to form, and thus offer funds and support from the Faith of the Pantheon through their auspices, and such recognition is typically granted quite freely. This does, in turn, cause a great degree of regional drift in the Mercies to develop, as only the barest of oversight is offered to the white robed healers that travel throughout Arvum. There has been times when small, far flung chapters have turned heretical, ignored the admonishments of the local seraph, and were in turn disbursed by templars to put an end to blasphemous teachings (such as ritual sacrifices practiced by shavs in darker healing rites or a monotheistic interpretation of Lagoma that superceded the divinity of the Pantheon as a whole), but these local heresies are quite rare and all but unheard of in our age. In truth, the conflict that the Mercies of Lagoma run into have very little to do with any heretical teachings, and much to do with the Gilded Blessing and the Sanctuary of Silver.
Mercies of Lagoma, as the great healers of Arvum, are found in all places of healing. While not every healer is a Mercy of Lagoma by any means, it is said that every Mercy of Lagoma is a healer. This, in turn, finds the Mercies of Lagoma working hand-in-hand with the Silver Order of the Knights of Solace, the ancient militant disciples of Gild who guard our places of healing and succor. Most unlearned commoners would never expect that the Sanctuary of Silver would ever cause conflict, since how could such a noble ideal do so? It is the universally held belief that it is among the gravest offenses to the gods to shed blood in any place of healing or worship, which is an offense only comparable to breaking the sanctuary of guest right in a home once given, or shedding the blood of kin. But that unthinkable offense has been a constant problem to the Mercies of Lagoma for a simple reason- the frequency for which they grant it and expect it to be followed by warring parties in conflict.
Traditionally, the Sanctuary of Silver is only considered valid once a seraph or other representative of the Faith gives the Gilded Blessing to a place or worship or healing, a rite that marks it as sacred. Trouble has brewed once Mercies of Lagoma found that the places of healing alongside of battlefields, such as makeshift triage stations, were not clearly marked, and there would often be no priests anywhere close to the fighting to do the traditional Gilded Blessings and clearly mark the area as sanctuary. So a great number of Mercies of Lagoma have taken the liberty of doing so themselves, and declaring any place they operate as under the bounds of the Sanctuary of Silver. This, in turn, causes any breaking of the sanctuary as the gravest of offenses, and it should be noted that any Knight of Solace swears the Silver Oath, declaring that any who break the peace of sanctuary are enemies of the Faith and must be destroyed. It must be remembered that one of the key turning points of the Crownbreaker Wars was the actions of King Darius Thrax breaking sanctuary and cutting down enemies hiding in holy places, and thus in turn having tens of thousands of the Knights of Solace, Templars and their auxiliaries marching against Thraxian forces in Arx when they had previously stayed carefully neutral. The Faith, greatly concerned that its militant orders could be drawn into local conflicts due to any minor man-at-arms disbelieving a sanctuary claim by a rural Mercy, has attempted to reiterate that only a properly godsworn member of the Faith may grant the Gilded Blessing, but it persists to this day. Much of the brief conflicts between Knights of Solace and local lords has, in fact, been due to the breaking of the Sanctuary of Silver under precisely these circumstances.
Question: Q: I was curious, can one be, for example, be both a full Scholar and Mirrormask, without being Godsworn, or is it one Disicpleship only per person?
Answer: Limited to one discipleship, someone would not be seen as being able to reasonably devote enough time to devote to membership. I'd say for practical purposes, I'd just say rank 4 or above in either org would count as being 'full' for most people, since then they'd be involved in the business of helping that discipleship function rather than a sometimes participant.
Question: Q: In the information about Disciples, there's mention of ten ritualized Questions of the Faith that must be asked, before one becomes a Disciple. I am wondering, are these specific questions that must be asked and answered, or is this more of an improvised thing? I haven't been able to find the specific questions anywhere, and if there are specific questions, do they differ for each Discipleship, or are they the same?
A: The questions are a very basic test of knowledge of the nature of each god, to see if someone has a heretical answer. So this is usually formalized, with the question sung of, "What is the nature of <god or goddess>" for each of the three original triads and then the thirteenth, with sung answers of 13 words memorized for each.
That is most common through Oathlands Orthodox, but it is not necessary for them to be. Particularly in the Lyceum, which prefers to challenge formulaic traditions, each of the questions would be worded about a certain aspect of the god or goddess, and then a disciple would be expected to come up with an answer of thirteen words exactly on the spot that answers it adequately. It is also not uncommon in the Lyceum to cheat, and have someone be given the questions in advance, so they look exceptionally clever as they sing carefully prepared but ostensibly spontaneous answers.
Examples would be, "What is the nature of Mangata?" with the answer, "From her we breathe air, drink of water and wine, and survive seas." And so on. I'll write up examples of all at some point.
Question: Q: Recently on scholarchan there's been some OOC confusion over what level of Scholars (rank 5 aka "Scholar"? rank 3 aka "Senior Scholar", who deal with NPCs' Black Journals offscreen?) vow to Vellichor and exactly how far those vows extend as far as people's ranking up in the org, so could we please get a clarification as to the particulars of these vows? Thanks!
A: Any Scholar of Vellichor, before being allowed to work in the Great Archive of Vellichor or work with journals at all, must make the following vows before Vellichor:
"I am a guardian of knowledge. I shall never allow knowledge under Vellichor's protection to be destroyed."
"I am a guardian of stories. I shall never allow any works under our protection to be altered, and thus for the accounts to be forever lost."
"I am a guardian of testimony. The black reflections are a sacred bond between a soul and the gods of the Pantheon. I may record, but that trust must never be violated."
Those are vows that everyone working in the scholarship would take, even if they are never permitted to work with Black Reflections (and it is typically only godsworn scholars handle them in any way). Godsworn, of course, also vow that they will take no other vows between themselves and service to the gods, including having children, ruling over land, or other titles.
Answer: Discipleships have always been a source of tremendous strength for the Faith of the Pantheon, in so much that it allows the laity to become more devoted to the Church, fervent to the gods, and handle work beneath the godsworn. It has also been a source of consternation for the leadership of the Faith of the Pantheon in keeping the discipleships under control and limiting the degree of apostasy from rural faithful that preach derivations of Faithful teaching, create heresies, and need to be ushered back into the flock with polite language or thousand of templars as the situation might merit. In Arx itself, as the seat of the Faith, the amount of heresy has always been limited and the Dominus, his legates and his archlectors exert much more control over the disciples of the Faith, trying to make certain they present a unified front that it is then hoped follows suit throughout the distant reaches of the five kingdoms of Arvum to every gods forsaken parish in the backend of nowhere.
A disciple is one who wishes to venerate the gods of the Pantheon, and chooses to do so by praising a god or goddess in particular, and handling duties on behalf of that god for the faith. Disciples are often called the First Among the Faith's Children in recognition for their efforts, or the Devoted, devotees, or sometimes descriptions based upon their chosen discipleship (scholars, mercies, sentinels, mangatans, petrichorians, templars, etc). Recruitment to discipleships vary wildly based on the particular calling, while ones with an organized structure that are based in Arx (such as the Scholars of Vellichor, the Templars, Knights of Solace) are under the formal control of the Faith of the Pantheon, while officially all discipleships in distant parishes must seek the approval of the local Seraph that operates the parish. The Oathlands Orthodox tends to take the management of its discipleships extremely seriously, and there is relatively little dogmatic drift, with local seraphs often not being afraid to use their detachment of templars without even waiting for approval from the Archlectors, Legates or Dominus, but it rarely comes to that. Very few discipleships, if they are preaching contrary to the faith (say, by claiming the god they follow is the One True God, for example) persist through condemnation of the local faithful, but the occasional cult has been put down with bloodshed, and in a few cases has resulted in houses becoming Abandoned with the local lords embracing whatever apostasy was most fashionable at the time.
Generally one seeking to become a disciple does so with the approval of whoever is leading the local chapter of a discipleship, and in Arx, this is done with the explicit permission of a godsworn member of the Faith. In past times, this has also come with a ritualistic Questions of the Faith, where the asker asks ten questions about the different gods of the faith that are answered with ritualized prayers describing the gods, each with thirteen words, as an act of fidelity to the gods (and a basic knowledge test to ward off apostasy). With the re-discovery of the lost gods, it was likely there was once thirteen questions, but the prayer-answers that were once memorized for Skald, Death and Aion were lost with the passage of time.
For practical purposes, any lay member of the faith becoming a disciple is expected to have no obligations of fidelity that could prevent at least 10 hours of service per week to the faith, in service to that discipleship. This is unpaid service for those not godsworn, done as a religious observation. At any time, either the discipleship or a senior member of the godsworn (such as an archlector or legate or any of their servants) can politely remove an individual from a discipleship, often quietly to avoid public humiliation. In practice, the more organized bodies of disciples (Mercies of Lagoma, Scholars of Vellichor, Templars and Knights of Solace) are run by their own leaders with the faith passing concerns or instructions to their own leadership, rather than taking a direct hand, though the Archlectors of those particular deities hold at least theoretical control over their respective discipleships, and would be free to declare any below them as heretical and effectively cast out the discipleship.
Duties of disciples in Arx vary heavily based on their calling, though each respective discipleship maintains the care for the grounds of the shrine of their deity in Arx.
Mangatans: Repair of aqueducts of the city, transportation of holy water, repair and upkeep of fonts.
Lagomans: Aside from the volunteerism as Mercies of Lagoma and healing of the sick, some lagomans act as the volunteer firefighters.
Petrichorians: Historically help combat poaching on crown lands, and particularly in the groves maintained by the Faith, assisting in investigations by the Inquisition. Also most often assist in food procurement and preparation for the godsworn.
Vellichorians: The Scholars of Vellichor, aside from their constant work in the Great Archive, are required to do teaching at the Vellichorian Academy. Most often this is teaching of other teachers to disseminate knowledge- the scholars are known to work hand in hand with the Whispers and other courtiers, in helping train the future tutors on wide subjects that Whispers will then personalize into personal sessions for clients.
Gloria's Devoted: The Templars act as guards at every consecrated location in the city, but most of the actual knights are godsworn. Disciples of Gloria that are not godsworn are permitted to call themselves Templars, and may even be knights, but the Godsworn knights are the ones that can reasonably expect to command. Commonborn disciples often are the ones stuck with more menial jobs, such as repairing arms and armor of the Faith militant, moving supplies, and so on, and the far more numerous spear carriers compared to the mounted godsworn knights.
Jayus: The crafters guild is considered by many to -be- the Discipleship of Jayus, and it is the one furthest control from the faith, but some seeking specifically to be a Disciple of Jayus will usually tithe all their profits directly to the Faith, and devote most of their craft to charity in his name. The Faith holds that no one can declare themselves a disciple of jayus unless they at least give the expected ten percent tithe on their work. Seers of Jayus are tolerated by the Faith more than encouraged, who generally feel that dream interpretation lends itself to charlatanism and exploiting the faithful.
Limerance and Sentinel: Surprisingly, the two are almost interchangeable for devotees, as the gods of fidelity and law have a huge following among the legal professions. A disciple of the Sentinel is always expected to be on hand in any legal court to take the Vow of Honest Testimony from whoever is speaking, if a godsworn priest cannot be, and they are a common sight in trivial proceedings of no interest to the Faith (or the crown for that matter). Similarly, disciples of Limerance the God of Fidelity tend to review any legal document, especially marriage documents or divorce requests to the faith. While godsworn priests decide all the significant matters, the incredibly tedious documentation is usually passed to disciples of Limerance, who usually act as secretaries to the godsworn priests in charge of viewing marriage requests.
Gild: Aside from the Knights of Solace, who have a similar arrangement as the templars, disciples of Gild act as the bookkeepers of the faith... and usually the tithe collectors, who carry the wealth donated to local seraphs in their parishes all the way up to Arx.
Mirrormasks: As the natural contrarians, they often act as lawyers as an example of someone willing to argue for a defendent even if they personally do not believe the accused is innocent, but still deserve a well argued defense in the interest of justice. The Oathlands Orthodox challenge this validity, stating that trial by combat is more appropriate to leave justice in the hands of the gods, if one cannot sincerely believe in the innocence of the accused.
The Archlectors who have final say on the discipleships, with one archlector overseeing the business for each deity, and reporting in turn to a legate. The archlectors are:
Mangata: Madeleine http://play.arxgame.org/character/sheet/9867/
Lagoma: Roran http://play.arxgame.org/character/sheet/9863/
Petrichor: Brigida http://play.arxgame.org/character/sheet/9563/
Vellichor: Sina http://play.arxgame.org/character/sheet/3765/
Gloria: Astraea http://play.arxgame.org/character/sheet/33784/
Jayus: Wylla http://play.arxgame.org/character/sheet/9890/
Limerance: Ilvin http://play.arxgame.org/character/sheet/9549/
The Sentinel: Avary http://play.arxgame.org/character/sheet/9197/
Gild: Etienne http://play.arxgame.org/character/sheet/33468/
Skald: Astrid http://play.arxgame.org/character/sheet/87425/
Death: Hamish http://play.arxgame.org/character/sheet/92057/
The Thirteenth: Vayne http://play.arxgame.org/character/sheet/15207/