The Order of Keepers of the Holy Word By Imperator-Zor Watch

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There are many religions in the world, hundreds of faiths and holy books and a myriad of gods, demigods, messiahs and prophets. Some of which are ancient, tracing their faith back to the ages of the Student Men, monoliths of belief which endure like mountains. Others are recent, born of newly kindled passionate fervor which burns brightly in the souls of its new followers dedicating to spread it's flames. Some which were once widely practiced by hundreds of thousands, or even millions have withered to a few small communities, if they had not died out entirely. Sometimes these faiths mingle and merge, other times they divide and schism, often they fight with each other. But in this world, there is one fairly widespread organization. However, somewhat unusually when confronted with the question of "what is the one true faith?" it responds "We are trying figure that out". That is the Order of Keepers of the Holy Word (generally abbreviated to "the Order of Keepers", "The Order" or "The Keepers").



The Order of Keepers was created about 1400 years before the Infrastructural Age by a group of priests and scholarly men in the Decade's following the the collapse of the Third Empire. After the Third Empire's capital was destroyed by a vast Drow army the generals of it's various surviving Legions became warlords ruling over various provinces, which began fighting each other. At the same time provinces were being attacked by Barbarian Hordes and the Drow. A number of wealthy men, priests, philosophers and sympathetic soldiers sought to preserve important holy and philosophical texts, having read of the damage which was wrought during the war of four centuries and the collapse of the previous collapses of the First and Second Empires. These were stashed away in a mountain fortress which was guarded against numerous attacks for three decades while a few figures were sent out to see if their was anything else left to defend.



The priests and scholars also took to farming the local lands for sustenance as well as discussed matters of theology and morality. Eventually they came to this idea. While their was a divine element to the universe it spoke to the mortal world through a myriad of ways and when it did speak to men, dwarves, elves and similar, something was lost in translation. As such, the path to understanding the divine was to be achieved by a thorough and comprehensive comparative study of the various faiths and religions, thus was founded the Order in -1379 IA (or the First Year of of the Order's Calender), which sent out a number of Scholar Priests to study the religions of the world around it.



It took a few centuries to spread and their were numerous martyrs, but area by area the Order of Keepers set itself up in numerous areas and dedicated itself to knowledge. Between 450 YO and 600 YO they achieved considerable success by allying with the newly emerging Empire of Allergon. Now they are very extensive and can be found in most places which are not ruled by Elves, from Oestia to lands to the south and east of the Coldlands with hundreds of regional divisions known as Archivites based around a central archive. Every few decades to century, the highest ranking members produce a holy book of Unified Theology.



By nature, the order is fairly religiously tolerant. That said, it occasionally does denounce other religions as being False. The criteria for such denouncement include...

1-When it declares itself to be the one true faith

2-When it denounces the Order of Keepers

3-When it practices human sacrifice and similar activities which are broadly deemed morally repugnant



The Order is a complex institution divided into numerous divisions, all of which are hierarchical. The bulk of these are clergymen responsible for documenting local religious traditions and taking them into consideration with the current book of Unified Theology. These are run in accordance to various codes. As one goes up the ladder of the Order's hierarchy, things become more demanding and one's life becomes more regimented. Notably, high ranking members swear an oath of celibacy while lower ranking Pastor Recorders can marry and have children. Separate orders exist for men and women, though the highest ruling councils are exclusively male.



The Order does not just deal in matters of theology, but also in matters of broader knowledge. There are sub orders dedicated to mathematics, politics, philosophy, history, music and magic, though members of the order rarely practice magic or debate about it. Because of this, the Order is well regarded for education. Most people who can afford to send their children to an Order run school will do so, at least in part.



The Order of Keepers gets its funds from various sources. Education is a significant source of income, but hardly the only one. To access an Order Archive while not being a member, one must "provide assistance to the cause of knowledge" and while their are other ways, the most common way to get access is to buy it with money. The order also manufactures books, in the past in scriptora and with print shops in more modern times. The Order also owns some lands and charges rent and collects taxes on them and is involved in banking.



Officially, the Order is politically neutral. It does not bother in the affairs of other kingdoms so long as it is allowed to operate. In practice, the Order does make it's presence known when it feels threatened. Among the Information they collect and keep locked away are various little secrets which can be used as leverage to get their way. They also can steer public support in certain ways. A few Kings and lord which have denounced the Order of Keepers and destroyed their Holy Archives, and most of them ended up corpses because of it.



In regards to defense, the Order of Keepers maintains a form of church militant in the Fraternity of Sentinels. Sentinels protect the various Temples and Archives of the order and occasionally are used against anti-order forces. Among the information the Order has in stock is stuff on tactics, strategy, various campaigns and battles and martial arts. Service as a Sentinel usually involves pretty good physical and mental training and comes with some education on military matters. Most Sentinels serve for two or three years, but a few serve for life.



The Order has had a small presence in the Coldlands for a couple centuries, but has taken far more of an interest in it with the rise of Infrastructure. More pastors have been moving into the Coldlands now that it is safer and Dalatyr is now home to a very prominent archive. Their is considerable interest in it's ideology and the Committee has provided it with them, even though they do remain silent on their origins and a few other things. That said, they have been forbidden from stealing "trade secrets" of Infrastructural technology. For the most part, they are compliant with this request, but never the less they are involved in understanding Infrastructural machinery. Most of which is based on stuff which has already gotten out of Infrastructure such as steam engine technology and more refined gunpowder weapon, but occasionally the odd "misplaced" blueprint or instructions manual will find its way into an Archive outside of Infrastructure's boarders.

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