Difference between revisions of "Holy Church of Achaea"

According to legend, the Church was founded by [[Imithia]], the great-great-great-granddaughter of [[Pasiphae]], when she held the [[Rite of Ending]] to both commemorate the life and mourn the death of the last of the [[:Category:Offspring|Offspring]]. Though originally composed of a few devout friends of Imithia, the Church grew slowly, eventually giving birth to the Templars and Priests. Though much different from their [[modern]]-day counterparts, they each played important parts in the functioning of the ancient Church.

Though based in the [[Delos|Delosian]] Basilica, the Church had many branches and chapels in other [[city|cities]], including the [[Minorus Basilica]] in [[Ashtan]] and the Tower of the Luminai in Shallam. The [[Luminai]] were a scholastic sect; the most ardent opponents of the ancient [[Occultist|Occultists]] and guided the Church's fight against them. Though denied by the Church, the Occultists claim that the Luminai and the Church perpetrated many injustices against them, including torture and the destruction of their scholarly texts. The Luminai, likewise, claim that the Occultists were responsible for the arson that destroyed their tower within Shallam. One member of the ancient Luminai who survives today, Sir [[Gladius]], is the former [[bloodsworn]] of the priestess-turned-Goddess of the [[Sun]], [[Mithraea]].

The Church was responsible for many of the [[:category:roads|highways]] within [[Sapience]], built under the Archprelacy of [[Raphael I]]. Through their construction, continental commerce was improved, travel hastened, and the Church was able to extend its influence to a greater degree within [[Ashtan]] and Shallam. It sponsored the building of outposts and chapels in all of the great cities as well as [[Tenwat]] and [[New Hope]]. The Church held great influence within the [[Seleucarian Empire]] whose founder, [[Nicator]], the Church named Fire Saint. It had blessed the coronation of every ruler of the empire; an absence of this blessing was seen as a sign of disfavour from the Gods, and on one occasion prevented the immediate accession of Prince [[Mycale]] after the death of King [[Valerias]]. While it often placed itself as a neutral mediator, healing wounds physical and political during the world's conflict, its influence tended to wane greatly in Ashtan though it continued into modern times in Shallam.