The Red Faith

[Narthok 10416]

The Red Faith

 

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The Faith

 

The Red Faith is the worship of the All Father. Believed to be the incarnation of change and growth. The Faith of the All Father revolves around the resisting decay and stagnation combined with spreading the flame. The All Father is commonly depicted as a flickering flame surrounded by darkness as to display the All Father’s never ending war against the Long Dark. In addition to this the All Father has a pantheon of divine paragons, ancestral members of the Red Faith that performed extreme acts rendering them worthy of the All Father’s favour. These can be invoked in support of a specific relevant cause. Each paragon has their own dedicated cult as each member of the Red Faith has a patron Paragon that is chosen upon their cleansing.

 

Adherents to the Red Faith live their lives in accordance to the tents of the All Father. The All Father’s Three tenets are central to the faith, these being, Suffer not the Unworthy, Spread the Flame, Stand against the Long Dark. Fidelity to these principles is crucial for one’s membership in the Red Faith.

 

In the Red Faith the concepts of the Flame and the Long Dark are central, but somewhat debated by the various clerical authorities. The All Father is believed to be a bright flame of change and hope flickering valiantly against the forces of entropy and decay. It is to this end that his followers are excessively warlike and ambitious. The contrast of the All Father is the Long Dark. The Long Dark is not a conscious being but rather a force of nature. Believed by those of the faith to be the antithesis of the All Father. A force of stagnation and decay rather than a force of change and growth. While the Red Faith has no conception of good or evil they live in mortal fear of decay and strive to live lives of growth. The Faithful believe that lives lived in stagnation and decay will be taken by the Long Dark, relegated to an eternity of despair as they dwell in complete darkness. The soulless are often assumed to be those that have lived lives of extreme decay, having been taken completely by the Long Dark during their tenure on the mortal realm. On the other hand those that live lives of growth and change, while managing to die glorious deaths are taken into the Hearth of the All Father to participate eternally in his conflict against the forces of stagnation and decay.

 

 

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The Tenets of the All Father

 

The First Tenet of the All Father

Suffer not the Unworthy. The Red Scrolls define the Unworthy as those Unworthy of mind, body and soul. Those suffering from defects of the mind, body or soul are all to be purified. The scripture remains relatively obscure in defining exactly what falls under the term Unworthy. As a result clerical positions vary wildly. The more liberal minded clerics believe the term should be used exclusively for the Undead and various unholy creatures. Whilst more hard-line clerics believing the definition of unworthy spreads from the unbelieving heathens and heretics to various inferior races.

 

The Second Tenet of the All Father

Spread the Flame. The Red Scrolls decree that the faithful should endeavor to spread the teachings of the All Father to save the worthy from the clutches of the Long Dark. The establishment of faithful domains and conversion of heathens of appropriate worthiness is paramount to the practice of the All Father’s faith. Often time the pursuit of this doctrine results in the declaration of holy crusade. Most notably occurring during the Red Crusade declared by Keeper Arthas against the offending Turkin horde. The majority of the duties covered by this doctrine in the Red Scrolls are fulfilled by the various members of the clergy. Primarily the Purifiers and Heralds who are responsible respectively for the activities involved in crusade and the duties of conversion.

The spreading of the flame is a two pronged affair involving the use of crusade or peaceable conversion to spread the influence of the Red Faith. This is headed by the Red Priests who work closely with the Ash Lords to ensure the children of the All Father adhere closely to the doctrine of the Red Scrolls.

 

The Third Tenet of the All Father

Standing against the Long Dark. The All Father’s children are tasked with living bright lives in resistance to the corruption and stagnation of the mortal realm. Peace is viewed as a sinister force wherein the weak and sly snake their way into power. The All Father charges his children with the pursuit and extermination of the servants of the Long Dark. Pushing back the influence of stagnation and decay in favor of a regime that rewards the strong and culls the weak.

 

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The Clergy

 

The Red Priests of the All Father’s faith are an order of the most pious children of the All Father. They dedicate their lives to the service of the Red Faith. Pursuing the more demanding and complicated duties of the All Father’s children. To this end they serve to perform the necessary rituals and rites of the Faith. Duties that fall to the clergy include.

 

• Tending to the Holy Hearth Fire

The Hearth Fire of the All Father is located within the Hearth Temple. The Hearth Fire is a portion of the All Father’s holy flame manifested on the mortal plane. It is the single holiest relic and shrine of the Red Faith. The coronation of every faithful monarch must take place before the Hearth shrine. To consecrate a new temple of the Faith a portion of the Hearth Fire must be taken from the main shrine and escorted to the new Temple. If the Hearth Fire is extinguished during the journey or at any point in the temple’s history then the temple must be abandoned for it has lost the light of the Father. The Hearth Fire is tended to by the Hearth Keeper, head Priest of the Red Faith.

 

• Performing the rites and rituals of the Red Faith

The various rites and rituals of the Red Faith are a complicated involved affair requiring a great deal of study and practice in order to become adequately adept in their undertaking. To this end the performance of rites and rituals is left entirely to the Red Priests. Rituals performed by members of the clergy include

• Marriage

• Induction into the faith

• Consecration of a Temple

• Selection of a Paragon

• Paragon blessings

• Ash tree offerings

• Coronations

• Purification

• Tending to the Ancestral tombs

• Performing death rites

The ability to perform rituals varies by rank of the priest as different ranks of priests are entitled to perform different rituals.

 

It is important to note that the Red Faith is divided into two branches. Commonly referred to as the Fist and the Quill, the two branches operate in unison to fulfill the will of the All Father. While the Quill remains almost entirely clerical in composition it is not unheard of for lay folk to be inducted into the Purifiers in times of great need. However for the most part the militant branch of the faith, namely the Purifiers stem from a clerical origin. In addition to this the Faceless priests, those bearing masks while they work. Tend to the crypts, temples and shrines of the Faith. Burials and shrine pilgrimages are the exclusive jurisdiction of this portion of the clergy.

 

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Traditions and Practices of the Red Faith

 

The traditions and practices of the Red Faith are influenced heavily by the Norlandic history and cultural practices. The traditions of the Red Faith as practiced by the Lay folk are for the most part simple rituals and celebratory festivals. The most popular and widespread religious practice engaged by the lay folk of the Red Faith is the practice of offerings.

 

To conduct an offering, the faithful in question must secure an offering. The value and prowess of the offering is crucial to the strength of the offering. Offerings can range, from the burning of incense to the giving of gifts or gold these are the weakest of offerings. To the offering of a live creature. While livestock such as cattle or horses are acceptable sentient offerings are preferable. Any form of sacrifice even personal can be considered an offering in the eyes of the Red Faith. Ideally offerings of higher value are captured and offered alive. It is to be noted that it is absolutely forbidden to offer up the soul of a member of the Red Faith. To do so is the height of heresy and will be met with ejection from the Faith. The offering is to be brought to the closest Ash Tree and prepared by a priest of the faith. Following this this the offering should be hoisted into the heights of the Ash Tree by the neck. To hang until dead. The offering is then concluded with a prayer to one’s patron Paragon requesting assistance with a task or trial in the life of said faithful.

 

Beyond offerings the Norlandic people engage in a series of festivals and feasts, some celebratory and some in memory of darker times. The most significant Norlandic feast is the Ash Feast. Taking place in the middle of the Deep Cold, Norlandic families gather in their respective halls to hold a feast with all of their kin. The fare is to be modest though vast in quantity. The purpose of the Ash Feast is to spend the darkest nights of the year remembering the Darkest periods of Norlandic history. The other popular Norlandic festival is the Flame Festival. Taking place during the Grand Harvest, the brightest and most joyous month of the year. The Norlandic people throw a great festival where they celebrate the light of the All Father and give thanks for the bounties that they have earned through his light.

 

Following the practices of offerings, feasts and festivals comes the Paragon pilgrimage. The shrines of the various paragons are scattered deeply in the catacombs. To reach the shrine of a paragon a large expedition must be prepared to safely navigate the depths and survive the roaming of the dishonorable dead. As each member of the faithful has their own chosen patron Paragon pilgrimages to the shrines are necessary to make offerings and prayers of particular import.

 

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