The Twelve

As well as being aligned in military and economic terms, all the nations that make up the Merebian Empire also share a common religion: The Church of the Twelve.

As the name suggests, this is a pantheon of a dozen deities, split into three equal sized groups, called “Planes”.

The First Plane

The deities in the “First Plane” represent the aspects of life that all mortals should hold to be essential. The four deities in this plane are as follows:

• Zeus: The All-father – Ruler of the pantheon, God of the Air and Storms, God of Leadership
• Apollo: The Radiant – God of the Sun, God of Healing, God of Music
• Athena: The Just – Goddess of Law, Goddess of Wisdom, Goddess of (righteous) Battle
• Demeter: The Bringer – Goddess of Summer, Goddess of Harvests, Goddess of Nature

The Second Plane

The deities in the “Second Plane” represent those aspects of life that are important but not vital to everyday life.

• Hephaestus: The Engineer - God of Invention, God of Engineering/ Science, God of Fire
• Hera: The Mother – Goddess of Marriage, Goddess of Family bonds, Goddess of (child)Birth
• Poseidon: The Tempest – God of the Sea, God of Horses, God of Sacrifice
• Hades: The Watcher – God of the Underworld, God of Death, God of Winter

It should be noted that, contrary to portrayal by some sources, neither Hera nor Hades should be considered “evil”.

The Third Plane

Lastly there is the “Third Plane”. Deities in this group represent those aspects of daily life that should be discouraged. Worshippers of these deities rarely spend their afterlife in the Elysium Fields.

• Ares: The Punisher – God of Chaos, God of Murder, God of Revenge, God of (needless) Battle
• Dionysus: The Reveller – God of Wine, God of Hedonism, God of release from society
• Hermes: The Swift – God of Messengers/Travellers, God of Trickery and Lies, God of Domestic animals
• Pan: The Wild – God of Nature, God of Lust, God of Wild animals

Again, it should be noted that none of these deities are necessarily “evil”, merely that they are responsible for certain aspects of mortal life that may be considered undesirable.

Typically “Ordinary” people follow the ENTIRE Pantheon, not any individual Deity, although Clerics usually profess to following one deity in preference. It is impossible, for example, to worship Athena without acknowledging the existence of Ares.

Church Hierarchy

The Hierarchy of the Church of The Twelve

The Hierarchy of the church of The Twelve can be considered to be a simple pyramid structure.

The Laity

These are the ordinary people who worship the Gods of the Twelve but have no say in how the Church is run. They make up well over 99% of the Church.

Acolytes

Once a worshipper takes an active interest in the Church, and have some "higher calling", they enter the bottom rung of the Clergy as "Acolytes". The are involved in the day-to-day running of the Church as act as assistants to Curates and Priests. They are not allowed to run services or perform any priestly duties but they are given an elevated status within their community due to their connection with the Church.

Many people who go on to become Clerics or Paladins start off being Acolytes.

Curates

Curates are fully qualified Priests (and often call themselves "Priests") who are assigned to tend to the spiritual needs of a small community, such as a Hamlet or Village (typically no more than a couple of hundred people). They may have a couple of Acolytes assist them but they are very much part of the local community.

Curates typically operate on their own, running a small temple dedicated to all the deities of The Twelve. Curates usually start their career as Acolytes to full Priests.

Priests

'Full' Priests serve the larger communities such as a town of a few thousand people, as well as all the surrounding lands. They can exert a small amount of authority over Curates. Priests rarely work on their own - a town can easily have up to a dozen Priests, all working in discrete temples to a specific deity of the Twelve. Each Priest may be attended by a team of trusted Acolytes, many of whom go on to become Curates.

High Priests

In the cities of the Empire, each of the temples of the deities of The Twelve will have a large number of Priests and these report to a 'High Priest'. High Priests are posts given to the longest serving or more pious of the Priests in that location. A High Priest is responsible for all of the Priests in that city as well as the surrounding towns and villages. They are the highest religious authority that the populace of the Empire will ever interact with.

High Priests have a large amount of autonomy as well and can be exceptionally influential at a political level as well as a spiritual one. High Priests can demand that Clerics and Paladins act on their behalf in a wide variety of tasks, sometimes even in matters that affect the Empire.

Bishops

Above High Priests sit the Bishops. These are, in effect, ecclesiastical "judges". They convene to discuss the Holy Texts, omens, portents, the actions of the High Priests and the machinations of the Gods. They do not get involve with the 'mundane' tasks of the Church, such as meeting worshippers or conducting services.

Non-bishops only interact with 'the common people' in times of great strife and even then do so sparingly. More commonly they act as an advisory body to High Priests who wish for clarification on the wishes of a specific deity.

Arch-Bishop

(NB: Arch-Bishop, not archbishop. It is two words, not one) The Empire does not have a person analogous to 'The Pope' as in there is not a single person who is revered as a specific deity's envoy on the planet. With so many deities such a concept would be quite strange. However the Arch-Bishop has so much authority within the Church of The Twelve that comparison is often a fair one.

The Arch-Bishop is the direct spiritual adviser to the Emperor. It is they who hold all of the religious services for the Emperor and their direct family.

When the Emperor has a specific question that the Arch-Bishop cannot answer then they consult the Bishops, as any High Priest would, but if they do not like or agree with the answer then it is the Arch-Bishop's decision as to which interpretation of the answer is the correct one. In effect the Arch-Bishop can set how the words of any of the deities of The Twelve are interpreted throughout the Empire.