The Fire-Gazers

"Truth is found in flame..."
- folk saying


"Though the Church's emphasis lies on Truth, and Order, and Memory, and Certainty, there is a place even for those without these. The Fire-Gazers, a Holy Order of the Church, are made up of those who, for one reason or another, devoted themselves to the discovery of what is finally True and Real. They may often be identified by the unique open-topped censers that they bear, and the many candles they carry with them and light in their places of duty."

"In censer-flame or candle-flame or pyre-flame those devoted as Fire-Gazers are said to see the indubitable truth of things beyond the flame: in judicial trials (the most common place to find a Fire-Gazer) they sit in the judge's throne and look through the fire of their censers to determine the guilt or innocence of the accused party. In reading-rooms they light candles to gaze through at the books they survey, to discover what truths lie in the text. At a pyre of execution, they confirm and pronounce the guilt and crimes of the offender."

by docolucci

"It is a dangerous Order. Many Fire-Gazers go mad over the years and decades of their service - perhaps there are truths that should not be seen. (It seems that many who join in the first place are also mad in one way or another - uncertain about what is real, or whether anything IS real. The promise of certainty the Order gives can be an irresistible draw to such an unstable mind.)"

"Each year, as Autumn becomes Winter, the Order holds a festival in which they honor the Everburning One who first brought Fire to us, and to the Burning Saint who emulated the Everburning Sun and in whose name the Order is founded. A Fire-Gazer of great determination and unrelenting fervor steps into a prepared pyre, as the Burning Saint had done, and, it is said, sees the Truth of All as their life burns away. The names and lives of each Burnt One are forgotten as their ash is scattered to the winds, but the Prophecies of Seeing each one makes with their dying breaths are carefully recorded and never revealed to one not devoted to the Order. Such prophecies are said to be of inconceivable value - insights into truths most persons can never see."

"It is said the first and greatest Prophecy of Seeing, that of the Burning Saint, is still in the holding of the Fire-Gazers, unopened and unread; perhaps it will only be seen on the day our frail world sees its end. Perhaps the Prophecy itself will bring such an end - or hold the means of preventing it."

- from the writings of Erbius the Loremaster, Magus of the Fifth Order

Well, I guess like my last post this one's about another aspect of the Church of the Hundred Saints. And, again, the gameable aspect of it is a feature of characters devoted to the Saint / Order in question (I kind of wish it was something else, but hey, I come up with what I come up with). Namely, Fire-Gazers can see the capital-T Truth of things they see through fire. This is pretty open-ended - "truesight" is clearly implied, as well as the ability to tell truth from lie, but beyond this there are plenty of things that could qualify.
Feel free to include a saving throw or whatever each time a character uses this ability, as it is a risky endeavor that may result in the loss of wisdom or sanity or whatever your system uses.
Also, those Prophecies of Seeing could be super-useful to a party. What if the party were to hear rumors of a prophecy related to some piece of knowledge they were seeking... (or even that the First Prophecy is to be opened... or was stolen...)
Flavor-wise, a Fire-Gazer cleric is likely to be respected, feared, and bat-bait crazy in at least one way. They are often the judges, detectives, and prophets of the Church, a powerful and ancient Order.
Oh, and they like setting things on fire.


For a week, I'm challenging myself to write SOMETHING gameable (monster, NPC, magic, location, item, etc.) each day. To make it interesting: it must be inspired by the first song that comes up on shuffle from my music library each morning. This is post 4, inspired by "Man On Fire" by Bury Tomorrow (Spotify, YouTube).

This post is also kind of the seventh in my The Hundred Saints series.
Previous Saints:
Saint Bordoch the Hewer
The Three Sisters
Saint Oro-Bora One-Eye
Saint Grenna of Merthis
Saint Be'lak the Bard
Saint Cryndwr Firebeard of Wealdvale

Saint Bordoch the Hewer

"Saint Bordoch the Hewer, Bordoch the Bull"

"Numaris had gathered all his chieftains together for the assault upon what was Ilos-Cirion and what became Numar, in the Great Winter when Numaris led all his warriors across the frozen Sea and seized the Lost Isle from the wood-devils. Many remained and settled around the shores of the Isle from whence Numaris began to rule, many more returned northwards to settle the lands they had ravaged the previous summer. Bordoch the Hewer, one of Numaris' most mighty lords, knew that their new lands would never be safe until the wood-devils had been completely pacified, and so he set out westward with warrior and woman alike to plumb the extent of the Inner Sea's shore and bring it all under his heel."

"All that summer, and all the next, they marched, turning the trail they hewed through the tangled wood into a road of beaten earth and wood-lined embankments suitable for the largest wains. Half the fighting men stood guard against the wood-devils with spear and shield, and the other half worked with axe and spade, but always with a sword at their belt. The Great Road of Innersey still remains as a lasting testament to their work - it runs from inner Knuthe all the way to Caerlûn, all but the eastern third being built upon the work of Saint Bordoch and his vassals."

By Dawg Gone

"Caerlûn itself was founded by the industrious Saint (though the eponymous walls of the City of Walls are much later work built upon earlier foundations) when he finally stopped and declared that the shores of the Sea were now clean, and that his new city would be the bastion that kept them so. And so, ever since, Caerlûn has stood against passage around the west of the Sea. Saint Bordoch guards us still."

"Unsurprisingly, Saint Bordoch is venerated with especial devotion in Caerlûn, being its founding Saint. He is often also invoked for protection, safety, and perseverance by explorers, builders, and even warriors. His auspices include the crossed axe and adze, the hewn log, the bull, and the flat-topped shield, which appears on the very flag of the City of Walls."

- From the Hagiograph of The Hundred by the Venerable Viebalde


Okay, but let's make this gameable (see below).

Clerics (and lay folk, I suppose, depending on the game rules) can venerate Saint Bordoch, with the same mechanical effects as worshiping a god. Minutia will depend on the game system being used (domains? moral prohibitions?), but I suggest that the most important thing is that a follower of Saint Bordoch gain xp for laying roads and walls, or paying for the creation of roads and walls.
If your system awards xp for killing monsters or acquiring gold, evaluate the amount of work a PC puts in and award an analogous amount of xp: putting in a path between two outbuildings on a manorial estate or building an embankment around a flower garden would be worth as much xp as a goblin, while building a road spanning a kingdom or a wall enveloping a city would be worth as much xp as a minor god.
If your system awards xp for spending gold, a PC would simply earn double for spending on roads and walls.
Flavor-wise, a cleric of Saint Bordoch would have no compunctions about violence, a desire to "civilize" wild areas, and a commitment to founding lasting infrastructural works to bring about order.


For a week, I'm challenging myself to write SOMETHING gameable (monster, NPC, magic, location, item, etc.) each day. To make it interesting: it must be inspired by the first song that comes up on shuffle from my music library each morning. This is post 3, inspired by "Pioneers" by Cyranoi (Spotify, YouTube).

This post is ALSO the sixth in my The Hundred Saints series.
Previous Saints:
The Three Sisters
Saint Oro-Bora One-Eye
Saint Grenna of Merthis
Saint Be'lak the Bard
Saint Cryndwr Firebeard of Wealdvale

The Three Sisters

"The Three Sisters of the Father’s Loom (The Sisters of Evandra, The Three Weavers, The Loom-Saints)"

"In centuries past, when the city-state of Evandra was still a village, there lived in that village three sisters. They had no husbands, being married (in a sense) to their work, or perhaps to the Holy Father in a saintly vow. They were makers of cloth; one sister spun linen into strands, the second sister wove the strands into bolts of fabric, and the third sister took the cloth to market and returned with food enough for the next day."

"One day, however, their true giftedness was discovered. In what must have been a bolt of divine inspiration from the Father Above, the Three Sisters realized that their work itself was an oracle, as I will explain."

Okay, so FOUR women here. Imagine one of the central two is the supplicant (see below).

"The first sister, who sat spinning linen from flax, would receive supplicants, hearing their pleas and determining whether they were of pure heart and earnest faith, and receiving a single simple gift in exchange for being heard. Then, the supplicant would be admitted to the loom, where they spoke their question aloud to the second sister who wove, before exiting to wait. The third sister would inspect the cloth as it was woven, searching for mistakes in the weave: if the mistake were such that the weft had passed OVER the warp where it should not have, this was taken as an answer of “yes;” if the weft had passed mistakenly UNDER the warp, this was interpreted as an answer of “no.” A mistake or error of any other kind indicated that the answer was more complex, or that the supplicant’s heart was not truly pure and their question would not be heard by the Wise Father. The third sister would pass on one of these three answers, provided by the Father’s benevolence, to the supplicant, who would go their way blessed by this knowledge."

"The Three were young when they began this most holy work. By the time they were old, their fame as true oracles of the Hallowed Father had spread all around the Sea of Cora-Mar and beyond, with supplicants coming from far lands and bringing extravagant gifts in order to ensure their question be heard."

"It was then that a strange thing was noticed. The Three Sisters, now old and frail, would be forgiven if their work were to suffer from their infirmity, becoming slow and full of mistakes. However, as a miraculous sign of the Father’s blessing, over the course of a decade or so the woven cloth of the Three Sisters became more and more perfect, until finally a year passed without a single mistake in the weave. Clothing and other articles made from the cloth of this year - the finest ever produced by mortal hands - still remain in this world, exhibited in mighty temples, worn on days of coronation, or secreted away in the richest of noble vaults."

"Sadly, this cloth was to be the last of its kind, as at the end of this year of perfection all three sisters fell ill and were put under the care of the most skilled physicians. Alas, it became clear their recovery would never be complete, and they would not be able to resume their work. On the day that the warp of their final bolt of cloth was cut from the loom, the three sisters passed Above."

"The Three Sisters of the Father’s Loom are among the most popular Saints, receiving vast and worthy veneration from all manner of worshipers. Still, they are considered to be the especial patrons of weavers, dedicated celibates, and all Evandrans (it is said that the skilled work of these Three first secured the fame of Evandra for its weaving and tailoring, a reputation which has only grown to this day). They are, of course, invoked by those making an important decision; it is still the custom of some of the peasantry, when confronted by a conundrum, to search their current garment for a mistake in the weave as an answer to their question (such a custom is mere superstition, however; it is clear that the Father has not blessed ALL weavers with such clairvoyance as the Three!). The Saintly Sisters' aspects are the loom, and the bolt of cloth with three mis-woven strands accented upon its surface."

"Regretfully, I must take a moment to defend the Three Sisters from the impious inquiries of over-learned scholars, who claim that the tale of the Sisters far predates the village of Evandra, and perhaps even the settling of the shores of Cora-Mar by the human race, speculating that the Three Sisters were in fact elves whose tale was appropriated by our kind, and pointing out that the spread of this tale has benefitted Evandra greatly. Of course their argument defeats itself - the famed weaving of Evandra is TESTIMONY to the continued legacy of the Three! I admit us scholars have the tendency to overthink such questions and put the cart before the ox, as critics of the veneration of the Three Sisters have clearly done in this case. Let the pious reader pay no mind to their bovine lowings."

- From the Hagiograph of The Hundred by the Venerable Viebalde

This post is the fifth in my The Hundred Saints series, updating Fridays!

Previous Saints:
Saint Oro-Bora One-Eye
Saint Grenna of Merthis
Saint Be'lak the Bard
Saint Cryndwr Firebeard of Wealdvale

Saint Oro-Bora One-Eye

"Saint Oro-Bora One-Eye (The Saint of Two Tears, Old Roper, Oroghbora Mnguembe)"

"Saint Oro-Bora was a ropemaker of one of the many small Surdic towns braving the dangers of the Sands. His knobbed, calloused hands were skilled in twisting hempen strands and laying strong rope of three cords, sold throughout his town and the surrounding trade roads."

"It was a night of strong wind and blowing sand that brought trouble to his small mudbrick house on the edge of town. Sand Elves came from the dark and entered his home, binding him tightly; the Saint’s right eye was put out in the struggle. His two wives and five children were taken as slaves, likely to be sold in the markets of Syr-Marad. The tribe of Sand Elves disappeared with them into the night, but not before hanging Saint Oro-Bora upon his own qerfruit tree with a length of his own fine hempen rope."

"However, the persecuted Saint’s rope did not betray him. When the Sand Elves left him, the knot loosened itself and dropped Saint Oro-Bora to the sand, where he soon regained consciousness. Taking up his faithful rope and weeping tears from his good eye and blood from his ruined one, the grief-stricken Saint trudged into the darkness."

"Each daybreak thereafter, the foul tribe of Sand Elves found their number to be one less than the previous nightfall. The missing corpses, strangled with unyielding cord and dragged to burial beneath the cooling sands, were never found."

"On the fortieth night, Saint Oro-Bora found that there was only one life remaining to take: his own. He had unknowingly killed his loved ones in his madness, making him guilty of the worst sort of murder and deserving of death sevenfold. His faithful rope did not fail him."

"Though Saint Oro-Bora’s tale is clearly cautionary, it also provides an important example in the Saint’s final act of justice and integrity: the execution of a murderer. For this, he is considered redeemed - nay, saintly. There is no doubt in the careful reader that Saint Oro-Bora’s spirit shines among the stars for such a selfless and righteous act. Many frivolous tales, told to children to ensure their behavior, paint him as a murderous bogeyman (“Old Roper”) who seizes sleepers and drags them into the wilds to be strangled, though this is clearly a misuse of the Saint’s blessed story."

"Saint Oro-Bora’s veneration is inconsistent, likely due to disagreement regarding the interpretation of such a weighty tale, and due to the fact that it originates from the Sands, an immense area still outside the reach of the Church. Still, he is the patron of ropemakers, the bereaved, and repentant murderers, and is often invoked when seeking vengeance, justice, or an honorable end to one’s own life. His auspices are the coiled rope, the qerfruit tree, and paired tears of white and red (often interpreted as symbolizing sorrow and vengeance)."

- From the Hagiograph of The Hundred by the Venerable Viebalde

This post is the fourth in my The Hundred Saints series, updating Fridays!
Previous Saints:
Saint Grenna of Merthis
Saint Be'lak the Bard
Saint Cryndwr Firebeard of Wealdvale

Saint Grenna of Merthis

"Saint Grenna of Merthis (Grenna Fingers, The Bread Sister, The Baker of Merthis)"

"In the days of the Crenel Wars, Evandra made assault upon the city-state of Merthis, bringing press-ganged crossbowmen and slave-mercenaries from Syr-Marad, and blockading the port of Merthis with a flotilla of refitted trade cogs and barges staffed with arbalests and alchemist’s fire. The siege dragged on for weeks and months, food in Merthis quickly running low, as many of its provisions had been sent with allied forces and lost in the disastrous Battle of Ormen’s Mouth."

"Amidst the despair and confusion pervading Merthis, a lowly Sister of the Vestry by the name of Grenna emerged from obscurity with the proclamation that, by the grace of the Father and the Mother, any person (slave, free, or noble) who brought to her a finger of an Evandran would receive a small roll in exchange the next day."

"At first, few payed the Saint any heed, and those who did either mocked in scorn or shook their heads in disgust and fear. Soon, however, it became evident that Saint Grenna’s word was good: a finger earned a coarse black roll, and a hand five, enough to stave off a day’s hunger for an entire family."

"Merthis’ defenders, formerly fearful and slothful in a war most did not believe was even theirs, became zealous in desperation, seeking the fingers and hands of Evandrans with grim vigor, knowing that taking the life of an Evandran preserved their own for at least a week."

"The siege lasted not another month: the Evandrans decamped in fear and wonderment at the sudden valor of the Merthians. At this, all Merthis sought to raise the beneficent Saint Grenna to a position of high nobility and veneration, but she was nowhere to be found. It was as if she had been taken bodily to the stars at the conclusion of her service in the time of need."

"The exact means of Saint Grenna’s Miracle remains a mystery of faith. In Evandra, of course, she is still vilified as a witch or even a chthonist practicing the blackest of arts (and her veneration strictly anathematized), though the obvious beauty and charity of her Miracle renders that opinion ridiculous."

"She is venerated to this day as a patron saint of bakers, Sisters of the Vestry, and all Merthians, and is often invoked in times of hunger and duress as a provider. Her auspices are the coarse black roll with five slits in the crust, and five outspread fingers."

- From the Hagiograph of The Hundred by the Venerable Viebalde


This post is the third in my The Hundred Saints series, updating Fridays! (Well, Saturday, in this case. Sorry for the lateness, but at the same time, I'm not sorry. I spent the time doing important things. The next saint should go up on time next week!)
Previous Saints:
Saint Be'lak the Bard
Saint Cryndwr Firebeard of Wealdvale

Saint Be'lak the Bard

"Saint Be’lak the Bard (Be’lak-Or, The Walking Writer, The Bard)"

"Alas, very little is known of the person of Saint Be’lak the Bard; various traditions portray the figure as male or female, Nordic or Surdic, and, curiously, fully human or partially something else (sometimes demi-elven, sometimes even demi-fey!). Such variety results from the fact that no testimony as to The Bard’s person exists - only many artful poetic works and fragments of poetic works, all marked by a sigil which scholars identify as the combination of the proto-Nordic characters for “beh” and “lakh” - thus The Bard’s common name, Be’lak."

St. Be’lak’s works are often short narratives written in an ancient poetic form making use of couplets interspersed with single or repeated lines for emphasis. The content of these narratives deal prominently with natural cycles, mysticism, cataclysm, and apophatic contemplation of the divine (the last of which marks him as a thoughtful and saintly individual, though the wise Saint continues to have doubters and detractors who question his sometimes esoteric insights). His magnum opus, the Vessels cycle (as reconstructed by sagely scholars), continues to be studied as a transcendently inspired work, though doubtlessly the absence of several important fragments (and, likely, entire episodes) render its final meaning obscure."

"Scandalously, readers of The Bard’s writings have often been accused of immoralities such as heresy, treason, black arts, or even atheism, though doubtlessly any opprobrium should fall upon the pernicious and irresponsible mis-interpreters themselves rather than the sagely Saint."

"For instance, it is known that the infamous Order of the Fist were influenced by the writings of St. Be’lak, and it is even supposed that he was one of their dastardly number; such accusations are surely false, however: it is far more likely that the Order mistook The Bard’s emphases on the limited span of human knowledge, the fierce beauty of the natural world, and the brotherhood of all life, and twisted these truths into their own treasonous creeds."

"It is true that St. Be’lak's writings may be misconstrued in those woeful directions, though careful and devout readers will find the Saint’s works to be not only free of moral corruption but furthermore a powerful aid to deep contemplation of the true and necessary nature of our world."

"The veneration of St. Be'lak is a varied and obscure affair, due both to the dearth of knowledge as to his person and to the occasional censure placed upon his name by those who do not consider carefully the merits of his work. For example, the Magi of the Fifth Circle consider him to be the patron of careful thought and the independent mind (represented by the auspice of the looking-lens), while many of the literati of the Inner Six hold him to be the pinnacle of poetic inspiration and of the bardic craft (under the auspices of the quill pen and of the blank mask), celebrating The Bard’s feast day with theater and readings of poetry. In the slave-marts of Syr-Marad, the chattel unfortunates have begun the curious practice of venerating St. Be'lak as the patron of stoic resignation and as an aspect of the blasphemous god Fate, represented by a mighty chain woven of a million silk threads. Finally, there are whispers that the cursed spirit-speakers of the Northern Vales image him as a female of bastardized blood, misusing his inspired texts in loathsome rituals of black magic under the sign of the forked tree, one half leaved and the other bare. Surely such wild tales are false, however; the Most Holy Father would not allow the name or works of such a blessed Saint to be so desecrated."

The background stage screen used during The Red Jesters' theatrical interpretation of The Bard's six-part work, The Frail Tide, in each city of the Inner Six. Only one act was performed per city, so only the very wealthy could afford to see all six acts! The tour itself is still legendary, both for the audacity of its stagecraft and the dark events that surrounded its progress.

"I leave the reader with one of the Saint's more celebrated (and complete) works, which has been commonly named 'In Parting:'"

"After one but before the next,
In a tree where new life writhed and flexed,
Two birds emerged to hold the world
And grow from feeble talons curled."

"But fate would see them part that day
As lightning cut their branch away,
By winds to distant places sent,
Almost as if it all had meant"

"That though their bloodied wounds would fade,
They’d wonder where their brother lay;
For every day from that day on
They’d wait to hear a certain song."

"In vain, for years the one was strong,
And one was not for far too long,
Until his bones and thoughts were old,
And feathers burnt and lost and cold."

"The stronger of the two could see
A distant bird - how weak was he! -
In drawing near but knowing not
Just who he was, or why, or what."

"The stronger talons tore at flesh
And stripped away that feathered mess,
And all without a sound or cry,
Or even ever knowing why."

"Yet as the sun began to sink,
He seemed to sense, he seemed to think
That soon his brother might appear,
From somewhere close, from somewhere near.
Convinced this was his brother’s fate,
Above his corpse, he sat to wait."

- From the Hagiograph of The Hundred by the Venerable Viebalde


This post is the second in my The Hundred Saints series, updating Fridays!
Previous Saints:
Saint Cryndwr Firebeard of Wealdvale

Saint Cryndwr Firebeard of Wealdvale

"Saint Cryndwr Firebeard of Wealdvale (St. Crinder, The Red Goat, Cryndwr o’Broagh)"

"Saint Cryndwr Firebeard began his life as a humble goatherd, tending his flocks in the heathery upper reaches of the Wealdvale. His goats were known in the locality for their tough meat, cantankerous attitude, and full ginger goatees, though their milk was richer than any other and always as fresh as dew on the heather (no doubt due to the blessedness of their master, which will soon be clearly evidenced)."

Basically EXACTLY one of St. Cryndwr's goats.

"It came to pass that, late in the season of Reaping, when St. Cryndwr commonly led his goats to root through the leaves and loam for mushrooms, that his flock began to unaccountably thin, with fewer goats in his fold each morning then there were the evening before. Incensed, the wily St. Cryndwr set aside the skins of strong cider that constituted his customary nightcap and instead remained through the night to watch his flock (as many goatherds are wont to do). Sure enough, in the dark of full night, St. Cryndwr awoke to find goblins emerging from a small tunnel into the enclosure of the fold!"

"He leapt up, and, taking up a mighty stone, heaved it onto the hole’s mouth, crushing one noisome goblin and sealing the rest from entering the fold he guarded!"

"Knowing the persistence of impudent goblins has no bounds, St. Cryndwr resolved to deal with their foul brood for good. Attaching an old axehead to his goatherd’s crook and taking up a broad butchering knife, he waited for morning before removing the boulder from the goblin burrow."

"When the Blessed Sun rose, he entered, fiery red beard lighting his way as he crawled through the cramped tunnel toward the pestilential goblin warren he knew would await him."

"Dispatching any lone vermin he encountered by using his crook to drag his foe down the tight burrows and into the reach of his sharp butcher's knife, St. Cryndwr Firebeard soon reached the noxious heart of the warren, where the tunnels connected with natural caverns in which he could stand high and use his axe-headed crook with both hands to deadly effect: what goblins didn't flee from this wrathful avenger with beard of burning flame perished by mighty arcing swings of his improvised weapon. Most of his foes were too sleepy (it being daytime above) or sick (lying next to half-eaten goat shanks, whining and holding their swollen bellies) to put up much resistance."

"Lo and behold, in addition to the skeletons and carcasses of various goats, St. Cryndwr discovered that the cunning goblins, no doubt finding the meat of his goats stringy and unpalatable, had begun keeping them for their rich milk, kept in skin bags in a nearby niche. Finding the now-fermented beverage to be both bracing and satisfying, the righteous saint headed home aglow with the blessings of the Mother and Father, leading his recaptured goats in tow."

"After he proclaimed his mighty deeds in the village tavern, St. Cryndwr’s compatriots rejoiced that he had slain the marauding goblins, who had sporadically troubled the region’s flocks and infants for several years."

"Suddenly, the ram’s horn of warning sounded from the slopes - the Winter Orcs had come, and earlier in the year than usual!"

"Brave Saint Cryndwr, aflush with the Father's power and with stout ale, roared with a voice that shook the Vale’s slopes: 'by our flocks and women, the foe shall fall as the dying leaves!'"

"An avalanche of boulders and mud tumbled from the Wealdvale onto the advancing horde at this resounding shout, and St. Cryndwr's fellow Valesmen took up claymore, pruning hook, and axe and followed the bold Saint into battle. It is said that as many orcs perished from his roaring voice and potent breath as from his axe-headed goatherd’s crook; soon, the orcish horde had fled in disarray, leaving the flocks and winter stores of the Wealdvale untouched."

"Legendary was the feasting after this heroic victory: ale and cider flowed like water, and Saint Cryndwr was made chieftain of the Wealdvale, as the old chieftain had died in the battle. He led for many years, hardy and vociferous even into old age, when he perished drunk and jovial in an unusual goat-riding incident."

"He is venerated to this day as a patron saint of Valesmen and goatherds, and is often invoked for success and good fortune when collecting milk, adventuring underground, or defending one’s home. His auspices are the goat or a horn of broagh, a hard cider mulled with fermented goat’s milk (which is the traditional drink on St. Cryndwr's feast day, [TBD])."

- From the Hagiograph of The Hundred by the Venerable Viebalde


(This post is the first in my The Hundred Saints series, updating Fridays from here forward. Pop Ars Magisterii in that RSS feed to stay tuned!)

The Hundred Saints

The Church of The Hundred Saints, despite the name, is ostensibly dedicated to the worship of two deities: Solus, The Ineffable Father, The Radiance On High, and Terra, The All-Mother, She Whose Flesh Is Soil and Whose Bones Are Stone. The difficulty with venerating and obeying this god and goddess is that, according to The Doctrines, The Mother exercises no authority and gives no guidance, while The Father's majestic authority and guidance are ineffable: discerning His will is as looking to the Sun - He gives sight to all, but to look directly to Him is to be blinded.

The only way to learn the will of The Father is to look to The Saints, those who have walked between the Sun and the Earth and manifested the blessings of both Father and Mother (blessings such as renown, fertility, wealth, power, and pleasure). The Church of The Hundred Saints venerate these Saints, preserving hagiographies of their blessed lives and holding them up as living examples of the Father's will.

There are far more than a hundred Saints, however. (The Venerable Viebalde, a monk of The Church, preserved the stories of a hundred Saints in his Hagiograph of The Hundred, still a central canonical text of The Church; but, many Saints have been added to the various canons since his time - including Viebalde himself!) In addition to the several hundreds of Saints venerated by most sects of The Church, each locality in Cora-Mar and beyond often venerates dozens of local or otherwise unknown Saints, likely bringing the total well past a thousand - a figure which ever grows. 

There, that's around a hundred saints.

Many Saints begin as kings or heroes, either of recent times or of the legendary past, their words and deeds warped or even fabricated with the passage of time.

Other Saints began as deities in their own right, whether of the distant ancestors of the current denizens of Cora-Mar, of conquered peoples of the past whose gods were absorbed into The Church's Panhagion, or of neighboring cultures whose religions become syncretized in the borderlands between. 

It is common for the Hierarchs of the various principalities in Cora-Mar, and especially the Inner Six, to be canonized after their deaths (or even during!), though inevitable political and doctrinal divisions lead to Hierarchs held in highest esteem by some sects to be deemed anathema as false or apostate pretenders by others. Wars have been waged over the canonization of a divisive Saint, and Saints have gained their fame through the waging of those wars.

We will see examples of Saints of all three origins in the coming weeks. I am planning on writing up a single Saint each week as one of my Wednesday or Friday posts, for several reasons:

1) It's a good way to create specifics and history of the game setting I'm currently attempting to develop.
2) Legends and references to the Saints themselves would add depth to the campaign I'm running right now, as well as future games.
3) It sounds like fun.

Stay tuned!