~Ownership of the Church and the Right of Challenge~
Any Character of any Race and of any Guild may worship any god that they wish, call it what ever
name they invent, and tell whatever tales of their deity's superiority that they care to. But, should three or more registered Characters start to follow the same god, the god will start to become known to more of the populace of SunderWall, and will start to receive more of an official status.
Should 3 or more Characters with Clan Nature create a Faction in the name of the god, then the new formed religion is recognized by the Town as a legitimate religion.
Should a Religious Faction take possession and keep possession of the Church in town for a period of three consecutive weeks in a row, then their religion will be recognized as one of the official religions of SunderWall and will receive a Writ for the Faction Leader to excuse them from any civic duty in times of defense of the Town, and will receive Nobility status in SunderWall with all rights and privileges attached. The Level of nobility granted will be one rank per 9 registered Faction members of the religion. When ascending Rank, the title of Nobility left behind by the Faction Leader may be assumed or granted to another member of the religious faction.
For example -
Breldik, a Witch Doctor of Grelm wishes to start a Temple of Grelm and finds 2 other registered Players with Clan Nature to join him. Breldik then takes his fledgling flock to the GateHouse and registers as a Religious Faction, and the Temple of Grelm is official. The Witch Doctor then takes his two faithful and heads over to the Church and challenges a Holy War on the Religious Faction currently in control of it ( for more details on Holy War see below! ) and Breldik wins. Now the Temple of Grelm is turning peoples heads and the followers of Grelm numbers start to grow. Breldik then successfully defends the Church from all other challenges of Holy War upon him for 3 consecutive weeks, and then upon the dawn of that 4th weekend, the Temple of Grelm is now an official religion of SunderWall and Breldik the Witch Doctor receives a Writ of Nobility from the Regent of SunderWall, which will allow him to walk on up to the Commander or Captain of the Town Watch twice a day and borrow two members of the Watch for his personal guards and/or enforcers whenever he needs to. The Temple of Grelm gains new followers like mad after this and Breldik soon has 10 members registered in his religious faction ( himself and nine others ). Breldiks importance to this Town is recognised again and he is granted a Writ of High Nobility, allowing the Witch Doctor to borrow 4 Town Watch guards up to three times a day, and his previous Writ of Nobility he may hand to another member of the Temple of Grelm and they receive the rights and privileges it allows. As the followers of Grelm grow, so will Breldiks celebrity in this Town and with the 19th member of his faction he will receive the Writ of Majestic Nobility, which would allow him to borrow 6 members of the Watch up to 4 times a day. Both the Writ of Nobility and the Writ of High Nobility stay within the Faction and are assigned by Breldiks choice.
The Church can be occupied or owned by any registered Religious Faction where at least 3 or more people buy Clan Nature into the Faction, and register their names on the Faction Members List in GateHouse.
~Challenging for Ownership of the Church~
To challenge for control of the Church, a religious Faction must issue three differing challenges of any nature to the Faction presently controlling the Church. Some example of challenges could be ( but are certainly not limited to ) a Champions battle, group melee, a game of chess, a bardic or arts and sciences competition, archery tournament, a foot race around Regents Road, etc. There are only three rules governing what the challenges could be, first the challenge must obey every rule in the MMA Master Manual. Secondly the type and time of the challenge will be set by the current owners of the Church, and thirdly, the entirety of the challenge must be decided in front of the populace and (preferably) in town, so that all may witness the will of the Gods. A religious Faction may only challenge for control of the Church once every weekend.
The religious Faction that currently controls the Church must do two things when properly challenged. First, they must choose one of the three offered challenges as the official contest that will determine the ownership of the Church. Secondly they must answer the challenge within 12 hours of the challenge being issued. If the religious Faction that currently owns the Church loses the challenge, or does not present themselves at the agreed time of the challenge, or flat out refuses a legitimate challenge from a properly recognized religious Faction; doing any of the aforementioned will mean the Church owning Faction will lose control of the Church immediately with ownership going to the challenging Faction. The results of these challenges will be supported and reinforced by the Town Watch.
Ownership of the Church is defined as the Church being controlled by the same Religious Faction at the start of play, and is still in their control at the end of play. If the controlling Church is challenged and loses control of the Church early on a weekend, but they challenge and reclaim Church control later that same weekend, the Church is still considered to have been in the control of the original owners for all of the weekend. It is the start and finish that is important, more so than the skirmishes in between. If the Church is controlled by one religious Faction for 3 consecutive weeks then that religious Faction and their Deity will be included in the list of official religions of SunderWall, our town.
~Declaring Holy War~
If the current owners of the Church ever refuse entrance into the Church, or refuse the use of the Church's Altar or services to a Cleric from any other official religion of the Town of SunderWall ( a religious faction that has previously owned the Church for three or more consecutive weeks ), then that action of denial automatically starts a Holy War. When the religious Faction who holds the Church wishes to forbid entrance to the Church to any other Faction or Cleric of a different god that has been made an official religion of the Town, they can shut that person or group out. Then, the current Church owners must immediately report their refusal of entry to both the GateHouse and to the Town Watch. Then the owners of the Church will have 24 hours where they may hunt down the now declared enemies of their god, where ever they may be, in Town or not, and be free of any reprisals from the Town Watch for any laws of the Town that were broken during the Holy War. Even if they kill a tavern patron in cold blood in the middle of the day, if that murdered victim is on the religious Faction list of the group they declared Holy War upon, they have already declared their Holy War and the Town Watch will not stop them from their campaign. If they mistakenly harm or kill a person in Town who is not on that list then full reprisal of the laws of the Town will apply for that person who was not involved in the Holy War, and was an innocent victim. The view point of the Town is this - Sunderwall is not able nor willing to discern the will of the gods, so it will let the two Factions duke it out to determine the gods will among them selves. Sunderwall will however set a very hard time limit of how long the wrath of any god may affect our Town. After declaring Holy War at the GateHouse and with the Town Watch, the current owners of the Church will have 1 hour to "deal" with every member of the religious Faction that they declared Holy War upon. After that 24 hour the Faction lists will be checked. If the religious Faction that had a Holy War declared upon them has a single registered member still alive and in the Town of SunderWall, that single survivor can charge the declaring religious Faction with every Town Law that they broke during their Holy War against that members religious Faction. That will probably mean facing charges from the Town Watch of murder, poisoning, assault, kidnapping, etc. depending upon what they did during their Holy War. A religious Faction that declares and loses a Holy War automatically surrenders the ownership of the Church to the religious Faction that they tried to destroy. If there are no members of the refused religious order left alive and in Town to press charges, then no charges will be laid, and the Church owning religious Faction has performed a successful Holy War and the losing Faction will not be allowed back into the Church as long as the Church is still under the control of the religious Faction that won the Holy War.
If the Church Ownership is challenged, and the Church owning Faction refuses all of the three challenges, thus thereby refusing the ownership challenge all together, the challenging Faction may then go to GateHouse and the Town Watch and declare a Holy War themselves upon the Church owning Faction following all of the rules above.
~The Gods of SunderWall~
No God of any modern day real world religion may be worshiped in the Mixed Medieval Arts as to avoid offending any real world beliefs, and will not be allowed. Gods of myth, such as Jupiter, Zeus, Odin etc. may be worshipped in the Mixed Medieval Arts in a role playing manner only, and all rituals and practices of that Church must take care not to offend the real world sensibilities of other Players.
Any Character of any Race and of any Guild may worship any god that they wish, call it what ever name they invent, and tell whatever tales of their deity's superiority that they care to. But, should three or more registered Characters start to follow the same god, the god will start to become known to more of the populace of SunderWall, and will start to recieve more of an official status.
Should 3 or more Characters with Clan Nature create a Faction in the name of the god, then the new formed religion is recognized by the Town as a legitimate religion.
Should a Religious Faction take possession and keep possession of the Church in town for a period of three consecutive weeks in a row, then their religion will be recognized as one of the official religions of SunderWall and will receive a Writ for the Faction Leader to excuse them from any civic duty in times of defence of the Town, and will receive Nobility status in SunderWall with all rights and privledges attached. For more info on this please refer to the Prayers section in the Master Manual.
And now, To the gods!
~OD, the All-Forger, Dwarven god of creation and of everything~
The following is an excerpt from the beginning pages of the Book of Od -
" And low at first there was nothing. Then OD bid himself enter into this nothingness and saw room in all that endless blackness for a great work, a mighty work, a work befitting of a lifetime of effort from a god above gods. OD then reached out with one hand and willed it into a hammer of star fire, hotter than all the flames of all the children of Dragon, and being pleased with his work, the right hand of OD will remain a burning hammer for all time. OD then set himself to his second great task and OD then took his burning hammer and struck it against his chest thrice. Thrice did the OD hammer rise and thrice did it fall and thrice times thrice where the number of ribs OD shattered with the heavy fall of his own hammer. With his left hand OD reached into the cavity of his chest and removed his own heart. OD then lay his heart down in the blackness of the nothingness and heated it with his hammer of sun fire. OD molded it with the strength of his left hand and OD shaped it with his hammer of his right and all the while OD spoke to it in the chants of magic and carved into it the secret symbols of the Runes. After years uncounted OD straightened from his work, and for a second time he was pleased. OD had made the All-Forge, upon which everything else was created."
The following is the Creation story of Bruxilla, Wife of OD, and of the birth of the elements.
After a time OD became bored, for he had the ability to create anything, but he had no one with whom he could oversee his dominion. And so, OD removed his right eye and placed it upon the forge, thrice he struck the forge, and thrice a brilliant silver light blazed. On the third strike of the anvil, the silver light engulfed everything before fading to black. A female figure rose from the forge and put her hand to OD’s eye socket, and when it was taken away, a glass orb with all the strands of chaos in the universe filled the empty socket. “I am for you; OD,” the figure said, “I am Bruxilla, and together we shall hold dominion over this relm together. For giving me life, I return the gift of your sight with the sight of the chaos, and the power to know all that has been, is, and ever will be.” And so, the goddess of the twilight, Bruxilla was born.
For a time they were content with fighting to liberate the void, until one day OD decided it was time to fill his dominion, and for a millenia, OD distilled the metals of his very blood and forged an apple as dark as twilight, and in it he carved 5 runes. One rune to represent the very fires that heated his forge, one to represent the air that fed his forge, one to represent the Iron of his forge, one to represent the water that tempered his creations, and a final one to represent the ether, the force that binds all the elements together. To Bruxilla OD presented this apple on the anniversary of their joining, and so beautiful did she find the apple, she began to weep tears of joy. As the tears fell from her face and hit the apple, it began to violently shudder. In an instant the runes carved in the apple began to glow before five beams of light sprang forth from it. One red beam for fire, one blue for water, green for the iron of the earth, and yellow for air, crackling with its lightning fury, and finally a shimmering purple, for the ether and its many mysteries. In an instant, the beams of light coalesced into 5 glowing orbs. OD looked on in approval and boomed “See now Bruxilla, for we have forged new life.” “For millenia we fought across the void, until one day the gift you gave me on our wedding day showed me how to further our glory and honour. With the merging of your tears with the metal of my blood, we have created a new generation to seek glory.” And so OD turned to his children and proclaimed “Go forth and seek glory, and prove you are worthy of my honour”.
So, for a millenia, the children of OD and Bruxilla wandered through the dominion that their parents had built. And for a millenia they failed to understand how they could find glory, before one day Fire lashed out in rage, realizing that in claiming existence from the void, their parents had merely created another void, with only their existence within it. Fire’s great fist plunged into Earth, causing a flare of white magma to erupt from Earth. Shrieking in agony, Earth plunged into Water, causing Water to explode in a shower of light. As water began to coalesce back into an orb, Heat thrust Air into water, causing a great explosion of sparks that threatened to destroy the four siblings. As the siblings continued to war with each other, OD looked on satisfied, and completely enraptured, for the great vision was coming to fruition. What OD didn’t notice was Ether, floating far away, observing his father and siblings. Ether was curious and as the millenia long fight between its siblings continued, its father enraptured and its mothers tears of joy turning to tears of Anguish, Ether realized its father was waiting for something, something that only he could see. After a time, Ether realized that its fathers glass eye was the answer to the puzzle of what his father awaited.
And so, one day, Ether floated behind OD, out of his sight. With a burst of thought, Ether shot out and plucked the eye from its fathers head, shattering it. With a great shout, OD shot out, throwing Ether to into its siblings and causing Bruxilla’s tears to grow. As Ether collided with its siblings, a great shattering erupted. Splinters of each sibling burst forth, raining through existence. However, a curious thing happened, as they came into contact with Bruxillas tears, they began to coalesce into solid orbs of fire and ice, earth and wind, all bound together by some invisible force, and scattered across existence. Upon one of these orbs stood OD and Bruxilla, looking on as where once stood five glowing orbs now stood five figures. A pale, lithe female with long raven black hair, in a flowing blue dress stepped forward “I am Eona, I claim dominion over the waters of the universe and all that live within them.” Next, a handsome, aristocratic male with long blazing red hair tied back and wearing shimmering black armour stepped forward. “I am Thaldir, and I claim dominion over the fires of time and all they consume” A stout male with long iron grey hair wearing a tunic of brown and cloak of green came forth next. “I am Ealdir, and I claim dominion of the lands and those who live upon them.” A large young woman with frazzled, floating white hair stepped forward wearing a gown of sparking lightning “I am Zephyr, I claim dominion over all my breath touches” And finally, a tall, pale, androgynous figure with short black hair and wearing a suit of black leather stepped forward “I am Caen, I claim dominion over the chaos and all that my forces bind.” OD looked at his children with a mix of pride and Anger. “My children, you bring me much honour this day, all but one of you. Caen, for the dishonour you brought upon yourself for trying to steal the secrets of eternity, I banish you to another reality, unable to taint this existence with your ill gotten knowledge.” OD plucked a nail from his finger and placed it upon his forge, and with three heavy swings of his hammer upon it, he banished Caen to the celestial realm, unable to contact this realm again. To his remaining children he said “I give you, my children, dominion over this world. Do what you will with it, but do it with honour in your heart and for the glory of my name!” He turned to Bruxilla “My wife, attend me.” He held up his hand for her to take “Let us go forth and continue to expand our existence until it is finally complete. And on that day I shall lay down my hammer and allow the chaos to consume it, for it shall flourish if it is worthy, or wither into nothing” And with three strikes of his hammer upon his forge, OD and Bruxilla disappeared in a flash of light into the dark night sky.
~Grelm, Goblin god of Pain and Profit~
The following is an excerpt from the Prayer of Penultimate Profit, a spoken history told by the High Priests of Grelm,
The following is the 3rd Truth of the 14th Verse -
" And so, it came to be that all of the peoples, and all of the creatures, and all of the places, and all of the spaces, in all of everything, were taken by the gods. All except for Goblin. Damned be all gods but Grelm! No god, of all the gods, cared for Goblin. Goblin built no cities on the vast plains where they hunted. Goblin instead lived away from the light and crawled in dank tunnels, Goblin ate their dead, Goblin too small to fight, Goblin too weak to work. Goblin was unchosen. Damned be all gods but Grelm! And so Goblin was dying. And so Goblin would be no more. And so Muggah-Mashrak, Greatest Goblin be he!, he cursed the heavens, and he cursed the sky, and and he cursed the peoples, and he cursed the creatures, and he cursed the spaces and the places under open sky, for that was no longer to be the realm of Goblin, it was a lost place to Goblin and taken by others, and so it came to be that Muggah-Mashrak, Greatest Goblin be he!, looked no longer at the Heavens, damned be all gods but Grelm!, but looked down into the roots of the world, and there Muggah-Mashrak, Greatest Goblin be he!, saw what only he could see. But what only he could see was deep. Too deep for Goblin to dig in hard earth, Goblin nails would rake and Goblin fingers would break. Muggah-Mashrak, Greatest Goblin be he!, needed soft earth. And so it came to be that Muggah-Mashrak, Greatest Goblin be he!, started to build a city of Goblin in the heart of the Deepening Moor, in the swamp known as Bog-Blight, a city of Goblin where the earth was wet and soft, and where he and his folk could easy dig down to what only he could see."
The following is the 2nd Truth of the 18th Verse -
"And so it was that now all of Goblin could see what only Muggah-Mashrak, Greatest Goblin be he!, could see. The Deepest Hole, may it ever widen!, opened up onto a cavern lit from within, and in its center was the heart of the earth, a ball of gold that would shrink the mountains of Dwarf, we curse their eyes!, to only pebbles, there it was floating and bobbing, pulsing and throbbing, the Golden World Heart. And before it, examining it with the light that came from him, was Grelm, Damned be all gods but Grelm! Grelm, damned be all gods but Grelm!, gave Muggah-Mashrak, Greatest Goblin be he!, no notice, so locked in the beauty of the World Heart was he, but Muggah-Mashrak, Greatest Goblin be he!, went to talk to the one that only he could see before."
The following is the 5th Truth of the 21rst Verse -
"And so it came to be that a bargain was made. Muggah-Mashrak, Greatest Goblin be he!, sold Goblin to Grelm, damned be all gods but Grelm! And so Grelm, damned be all gods but Grelm!, profitted by claiming a peoples who's painful work will one day claw the Deepest Hole, may it ever widen!, large enough to rip the World Heart out so that Grelm, damned be all gods but Grelm, may eat it. And so Goblin finally gained a god."
~Athenon, the Great General, Goblin god of warriors and the hunt~
The following is from the Book of Athenons Chosen, Passage 1, Verse 1, lines 1-4
Hark children of the Clans
To the wisdom of your forebears
Know what has come before
Remember it as you strive toward the future
Athenons Chosen, Passage 5, Verse 17, lines 20-24
You are the Stalker, the Hunter, the Killer
Your prey stands before you
Show them the way
Of the true Warrior
Athenons Chosen, Passage 118, Verse 3, lines 11-12
All praise the art of batchall and bidding
For it proves our love of peace and tradition
Athenon's Chosen, Passage 72, Verse 22, Lines 14-24
For the day will come and our kin will stand
On Mystery fall's firm soil, ready to rebuilt
The Legion's with their hearts and hands.
But who shall lead? Upon whose shoulders
Will the burden lie? The answer is the test; The test is the journey. Whichever Clan
Carves its way through the barbarians
To reach that fabled cradle of us all
Shall be the vehicle of the Legion's rebirth. Upon
The Legion throne shall sit that Clan's
Wisest Khan. So should it be - So shall it be.
Athenon's Chosen, Pasage 99, Verse 2, Lines 185-188
Violently we strike at those who would cage us,
Mark our victories as cheap, our holdings as their own.
Honor, Skill, Foresight,
Strength-but never Unity.
What remains of our Spirit?
~The Unity of the Trinity~
The unity of the trinity is a secular religion made up of three sects. Each sect worships all three patron deities of the unity, but hold the god of their personal sect above the others. The three sects are as follows, the followers of
Gaia who make up the leadership of the trinity clergy, as well as the lead speakers in most major sermons, the leader of this sect is called The Voice of Gaia or the voice for short, the element of their god is earth. The sect of Lumatiss are the knightly branch of the church and serve as protectors and enforcers of the church, the leader of the sect is known as The Keeper of the flame of Lumatiss or the keeper for short. The element of Lumatiss is fire. The sect of Luna serve the church as scholars and healers and to support the other two sects in their duties. The head of the Luna sect is known as The Sage of Luna, Luna represents the element of water. The leaders of each sect make up the leading council of the church of the trinity.
Gaia Primordial of earth Lady Gaia~ Mother of the Luna wife of Lumatis and primordial of earth, existed alongside OD when he began his great work. She saw Lumatiss create fire and OD begin his great work. Lady Gaia watched as the first sparks flew from OD's great forge, she watched as he scraped slag into the void of the universe. Lady Gaia began to wonder if she could create like the other two, so with that Lady Gaia gathered up the left over slag and some spark cast from OD's work. She took these pieces and began to form a world. The valleys and mountains where the easiest, she filled the oceans with water but they froze over but she paid it no mind. The cold of the void never bothered the elder gods, so Gaia never thought of it as she started to create plants and animals for her new world. Lady Gaia watched with sadness as her plants withered, her animals froze to death and the fish of the ocean where unable to swim through the ice they found themselves trapped in. Gaia tried many times and each time was met with dismay as these mortal creatures perished, she was about to give up on her world and leave creation to The great OD and OD alone that was until she saw a light in the void. Lady gaia saw Lumatiss. He approach her with the sun he had created and together they finally brought life to the barren world of mortals, Gaia joy for her mortal creations was only out matched the day she and Lumatiss gifted a new life to the void in the form of little Luna, Gaia's daughter. They now watch over our world of mortals as the unity of the trinity.
Lumatiss Primordial of fire~ Lumatiss has existed since before mortal kind alongside The great OD and Lady Gaia, it was Lumatiss who helped light OD's forge giving birth to fire and allowing the great crafter to begin his great work. Lumatiss, like most primordial gods, simply wondered after that until Lady Gaia caught his eye. He saw her there gathering slag and cast off bits of OD's great hammmering, and she gathered these pieces and began to build a world. She crafted a world with mountains valleys and oceans, but when she made plant life it would wither in the darkness, her animals froze in the cold barren lands. Lumatiss went and with a nod from the great Od caught a still glowing ember as it flew off the forge. Lumatiss took this ember and fed this ember until it became a raging sun which he then chained and dragged near gaia's world to give life giving light to her plants, and warmth to her animals. Lumatiss would bring this great sun everyday and take it away every night so the cycle of life could begin. Untold time later as Lumatiss did his duties each day, he and Gaia grew closer and closer, eventually taking each other as lovers as well as oathsworn friends. This time the life that gifted the void was not mortal life but a new primordial goddess who Gaia named Little Luna, the daughter of earth mother and father fire. Lumatiss continues his duty to allow the mortal cycle of days to continue, and allows his daughter and wife to spend each night together. Some days you can see Little Luna in the sky with her father, walking beside him as how drags the sun in its chains another day. The three today stand together as a family one cannot exist without the other, not in the way they are now. His titles are as follows Sunkeeper, Father of Luna, Husband of Gaia. Father of the Unity of the Trinity.
Luna Primordial of water~ Luna goddess of water, daughter of Lumatiss and Gaia. Though young Luna is at no point any less important to the trinity then her parents. Luna was born many untold eons after Gaia and Lumatiss began the creation of the mortal world in emulation of OD's great work. Luna was born out of love and her birth brought much joy to the void of the primordial gods, even the great OD paused and looked at the moment of her birth. Once Luna was born it was not long before she began to create like her mother and father before her. For it was Luna trying to copy her parents and creating to the moon that gifted The mortal world with the tides, a gift Lumatiss and Gaia had neglected as they had never thought of it. Luna and her love of her mothers creations was what gifted the first mortals with healing magic. Luna is her mothers faithful companion always watching over her mothers world and dragging her moon much like her father drags the sun. The daughter of the Trinity, seeker of knowledge, and lover of life, Luna a true born goddess.
