Religion in Aveyrone

The faith of the Empire is the Way of the Wheel. It is an ancient belief system whose origins are lost in the mists of time. There are six deities, who are equated with the six Houses: the Bear, the Lizard, the Ox, the Wolf, the Owl, and the Cat. There are constellations with these names, which slowly rotate about a central point in the sky. Theologians take this as a symbol of the one greater, nameless God who rules over the rest, or perhaps is composed of the rest, but such matters are not the concern of ordinary people, who simply venerate the Six in their own right. The Way of the Wheel is a fairly philosophical religion. Its followers believe in reincarnation, and hold that each person is reborn six times, in order for them to experience as many aspects of life as they can. After six lifetimes, the soul is evaluated by the Six, who judge it based on how far is has progressed. If it is found worthy, it journeys to the Centre, the home of the One God. Otherwise, it is consigned to the Void, an endless emptiness, black and cold. So how are you supposed to get to the Centre? By being a good person, certainly, but also by learning and experiencing new things, as you strive to gain wisdom. There are various holy texts that followers of the Way of the Wheel read for wisdom and meditation, including The Blade of Reason, Six Paths to the Centre, and the Almas Genara, the oldest and most esoteric volume.

In actual practice, many inhabitants of Diablotin have little time or respect for religion, except as a convenient source of swear-words, and consider themselves to have done their duty if they make a yearly donation to the church. In the countryside, people are generally more backwards, and actually believe in this sort of thing, but a bit of time in the city often cures them.

The Church

The priesthood is open to both males and females, and clerics may marry - however, they are forbidden from taking the throne of the Empire. At the time of their consecration (after a period of six years of study), they must choose to which God they wish to devote themselves. This does not mean that they will cease to respect the others, but that they will serve one foremost. From that point, they will dress in robes of the colour of their Order (Bear: dark green, Lizard: light blue, Ox: dark brown, Wolf: silver, Owl: purple, Cat: red). Most people choose the God associated with their own House, but there are exceptions to this rule. The six priesthoods, or Orders, are not separate religions, and the duties of priests overlap considerably - all varieties can perform religious services, such as weddings, funerals, and ordinary worship. Ordinary services are held once a week, on the day that is not devoted to any one of the Six (or to all of them, depending on who you ask). The hierarchy of the priesthood shows the way in which the Orders are separate, but unified. Each church is served by at least one priest who is called Brother or Sister, of any Order, and possibly several, if it is large enough. The Empire is divided into Havens, each comprised of a few dozen churches. Each Haven is headed by a Reverend Brother/Sister, who is selected from among the priests of that area to lead them. Above this level, each Order is headed by a Reverend Father/Mother, who is in charge of all priests of their Order for the entire Empire. Finally, the entire church is headed by a single Patriarch/Matriarch. This person is chosen from the Reverend Fathers and Mothers. Like the title of Emperor passes from House to House, the title of Patriarch or Matriarch passes from Order to Order. When he or she assumes the title, however, the Patriarch or Matriarch is no longer part of one Order, but of all and none. To represent this transition, he or she wears a white robe, banded at the hem and cuffs with the colours of the six orders. He or she normally holds the title until death. The church's military arm is the Order of the Spoke.