Emmortal Church

The Church of Paragon Emmortal, also known as Emmortalism, is one of the dominant religions on the continent.

Description
This faith is monotheistic in nature, centered around the worship of a god known as Paragon Emmortal. The goddess Empyra, the wife of the Paragon, is also worshiped to some extent.

According to the Faith, Paragon Emmortal was king of mankind in a celestial plane called the Hallowed Realm. Deciding that the Hallowed Realm must remain a perfect place and be free of all sin, the Paragon lead mankind to the physical world, or Realm of Trials. Men and women are only considered worthy of returning to the Hallowed Realm if they live a pious life in the Realm of Trials, and persevere through the strife and hardships that have been placed to test them.

Those who die young, or have completed insufficient deeds, are reincarnated into a new body in the Realm of Trials, and are given two more chances to try to reach the Hallowed Realm again. If they fail in all three mortal lives, their soul is banished into eternal darkness, the Yawning Chasm, or "Abyss".

The faith's clergy are decentralized.

Practices
Several customs include marriage taking place within a pond, the daily consumption of a cup of tea or warm water, and burial of the dead in large communal tombs. The Church frowns upon the reverence of sorcery, and typically discourages the practice of alchemy as well. It attempts to teach traits such as forgiveness, modesty, and mindfulness.

Holidays
Wintersfast: A day of fasting that serves as a reminder on the preservation of precious food. Games are usually played the day after the fast, small meals are prepared, and ale and wine is served chilled with snow.

Spring Blessings: A day of flowers. Children compete to gather as many flowers as possible, and colorful dresses are worn by the noble maids. In a few regions, married couples (commoners only) are permitted to be 'free' for one day, though this is not the norm.

Drupe Day: A Carmon festival where blue drupes are gathered in large quantities and used in games and fights where an opponent tries to smear the blue drupe juice on the other.

Summer Blessings: A time of celebration and warmth. Clerics bless the summer harvest, and a few days of gift-giving and prayer are held. This is the holiday with the most church services.

Alms Day: A day serving as a celebration of Emor (saint) Knadeus, and his efforts to help the poor. Some believe that ancient kings instituted this holiday as a very small token to the poor, in an attempt to discourage peasant uprisings.

Autumn Blessings: As per the other Blessings, the cleric blesses the crops. The celebrations are held at night, as the days grow shorter. Many bonfires are set up, and wagon races are common among the peasantry. In noble courts, fire-eaters and torch juggling is fashionable for Autumn Blessings.

History
The faith was founded in the Late Imperial Age, and was primarily championed by its zealot wing, known as the Consortium. Many commonfolk converted to the faith, as belief in Fae seemingly only benefited sorcerers. In Aedor, though the Upper Heartland remained Faeist, the Southern Provinces, Peninsular Provinces, and Boldic constituencies became majority-Emmortalist regions.

The conversion of an Aedorian emperor to the Church allowed him to be easily influenced by the Consortium. Soon, laws were put in place that restricted the Fae-worshiping Sorceror Order's activities. This led to the emperor's assassination by the Sorceror Order, which in turn lead to the mass slaughter of all who practiced magic.

Several years after the purge, the Consortium assassinated the next Aedorian emperor for attempting to expel them from the government. This led to the Faith War between the Faeists and the Emmortals. This caused the collapse of Aedor into several independent kingdoms, with the Consortium taking control of a region they named Miria.

The Consortium was eventually defeated by several dissenting Mirian bishops supported by Boldic nobles whose temporal power was threatened by the Consortium. Power in the Church was then placed in the hands of a special council that sat in Paragon's Commandry, a great meeting hall located on a mountaintop between the borders of Miria and Carmondy. A representative from each Emmortalist kingdom was granted a spot on the council, and they convene every now and then to discuss spiritual matters.