Viscen

A finely crafted letter is copied dozens of times over and delivered unto the lords of the Empire.

 

To you, most esteemed and pious lord;

 

In the souls of all men, there is sin.

In the souls of all men.

 

For many years, since its reformation by High Pontiff Daniel I, the Church of the Canon has been docile and supportive, assisting the realm of man in its endeavours. It was a rallying light during the schism wars, and a beacon of unity in the years following. Then, however, the Church had begun to fade into obscurity. Only in the few years prior, with the establishment of Luciensport and the Crusade in Tarchary, did the Church find itself gaining relevance, trust and moral authority once again. Soon after, Everard II acceded to the High Pontificate.

 

Under Everard II, the clergy has grown, as has the relevance of its movements and actions. However, the nobility of the Holy Orenian Empire has grown distraught with formation of the Inquisition, and other actions by the Church.

 

At first harmless, the Inquisition began its first episodes of intrusion into the law of state. Complaints from several lords were issued to the Crown as the Inquisition practiced as an independent judiciary body, sentencing men and women within the city of Felsen, and the realms of the noble lords. Yet the Crown did nothing on this matter, instead preferring to simply turn a blind eye to the excesses of this paramilitary. The Inquisition and the Church had claimed that their law was God’s word, and established a precedent that they were infallible in their actions, and those who defied even the most insignificant of their dictates defied God.

 

This is a farce.

 

Man has always been full of sin, and the High Pontiff is no exception to this. Two namely infamous High Pontiffs whose actions are damnable entirely are John of Darfey, and Regulus. These two men who infiltrated the Church with purely political desires abused its influence over the once powerful Order of Saint Lucien to start a rebellion and murder King Francis. It is worth noting High Pontiff Owyn as well, who abused his seat to form a secular body for his own gain, that of the first Kingdom of Savoy. We must then ask this - how can the High Pontiff be the inherent giver of God’s word if such godless men have held the holy office in the past? The answer is that he cannot. Like all men, he is fallible, and subject to sin both mortal and venial.

 

The High Pontiff is no voice of God. The current regime in the Church has established a precedent of divine judicial superiority, derivative of the word and hand of the High Pontiff. This is absolute folly. The High Pontiff, despite the claims of many today and in the past, is not chosen by God to deliver God’s word. The High Pontiff is chosen by man embodied by the Pentarchy, to administer God’s ministry in the mortal realm; the Church. To suggest otherwise is to simply deny reality.

 

Therefore, the High Pontiff and his Curia have absolutely no right to establish a set of ‘Canon laws’ which supercede the laws of man. They have shown their utter disrespect and contempt towards the codified Imperial Law in several instances, but most notably in their interference of the trial of a cleric Augustus, a slanderer and a common criminal. The Church broke Father Augustus out of the Emperor’s prison, claiming that only they have the right to try the crimes of a clergyman, though his crimes were secular and not theological. They also claimed that if they were to acquit him, their acquittal supersedes any charges placed on him by legal secular bodies. Accordingly, they unanimously pardoned their friend and comrade Augustus in what was a complete and utter miscarriage of justice. Without a statute or precedent, they continue to affirm this doctrine of clerical infallibility. The Pontifist functionaries of Luciensport claim that to defy Church law is to defy God. This is pure blaspheme. They view their High Pontiff not as the Vicar of God, but an Avatar of God, whose pen scribes His very word - we should, then, be careful to call such an assertion what it truly is: idolatry.

 

If the Church has the right to claim that all of their ilk are innocent of crime, and they claim this Empire, though lethargic it is, has no right to stop such acquittal, it is an evident breeding ground for corruption, iniquity and treachery which threatens the foundation of our state.

 

The doctrine of infallibility and autonomy that the Church now practices is a present danger that the lords of the realm must face. These mortal men who believe they can scribe laws and claim them as the word of God are blasphemers, and must simply repent and cease. However, they are stubborn, and must be shown that there are consequences for betraying the sanctity of God’s word, which no mortal man may know through any medium but the Holy Scrolls themselves.

 

Damn he, the Emperor, who has supported and permitted these clerics who dismember our faith in the Church, God’s ministry which he is sworn to protect. On occasions several, he has responded with little besides a pig-like grunt to the assaults of the clerics on the Emperor’s own peace. He must no longer allow these crimes to go without answer. It is your duty as Defender of the Faith to remove these iniquities from the Church, or reconstitute it as a body righteous enough to be defended. If you chose to do nothing, then damn you once again, for your lethargy and incapacity to act in God’s name and not your own.

 

It is the duty of every lord to reject their polluted wisdom and know this; there is Faith without the Church. In the meantime, we invoke the Church of the Canon to cite but a single precedent or statute, applicable in our Empire and approved by secular authorities, which legally justifies these instances where agents of the Church have contravened the law of the land, namely the intervention in the Crown’s justice on Augustus of Laria or the extrajudicial and illegal flogging of Jan Kovac, the Count of Kvaz, as ‘just punishment’ for a mere off-colour joke towards a corrupt and depraved bishop.

Expel the clergy from your lands, and instate your own men of true faith. Free investiture for the lords of the realm, so that we may purge our dioceses of agents of this ‘infallible’ and ‘divine-proclaimed’ Church. Harm no man, but make it known till their ways have changed that they will know no home in your realm. It is the duty of the lords of the realm to establish the clergy in their lands, and reject the authority that the Curia and the Pentarchy seek to abuse.

By the Grace of God,

John Turnbull

 

Everard II deep within isolation and unable to reply, leaves his trust in the Pentarchy.

 

Such words from a man not inducted or versed in the Holy Scrolls is heresy. Our lord GOD has placed his trust in the previous Pontificates and has done so within our current Church. If the only two examples you can find are John of Darfey and Regulus then you are unfortunately at a loss, for let us not forget Blessed Daniel I, St. Lucien, St. Everard, Blessed Adeodatus, High Priests Marcus, and Bernard, this Church has produced pious men and women.

 

As for your interpretation of Canon Law, his Holiness bares no responsibility for the twisting of previous legislation passed under the yoke. He will however prioritize the updating of Canon Law as well as amend the finite passage that allowed the Auditor to act in the manor he did. The trial of Father Augustus was done without the knowledge of his Holiness and he has thus condemned it within our holy circles. As for the Inquisition, it is common knowledge already that it has been reforged with temperate multiple Bulls ago, as you can  see here: https://www.lordofthecraft.net/forums/topic/135220-ninth-golden-bull-of-dibley/

 

The Pontificate, along with the rest of our holy Church only act to protect the missionaries of her faith, this includes her defender, his Imperial Majesty. For let us not forget that it was our Holy Church that first accepted pious John Horen's reign, not the squabbling nobility. The Holy Emperor, appointed by GOD through the hand of OUR PONTIFICATE has been stalwartly defended within our holy Church and until the day in which he ascends to the heavens to be with our Lord this Church will continue to do so.

 

https://gyazo.com/5b2ae88d5059a8d4c3abc0e338754f89

 

The Church furthermore invites John Tuner to join the clergy if he wishes to express his ecclesiastical opinions with access to our holy scripture. 

 

 

 

 

MC Name: Anastasius

IC Name: Viscen

Original Race [n/a if not applicable]: Human

Transformed Form: Darkstalker

Briefly explain the lore behind this construct or creature:

A variety of necrolyte, the darkstalker is a lich that specializes in melee combat rather than the arcane arts. While other manners of necrolytes may be bound to a sole task or ambition, a darkstalker is lorded over by their patron wraith. This enables them to possess freedom of thought and physicality permitting it coincides with the orders of its master. It is duly noted that while the wraith may utilize verbal command to manipulate a darkstalker they may also possess their phylactery, granting significant sway over the skeletal being. Created from the corpse of a living (or once living) sentient, the darkstalker's new form offers a robust bone structure and the various boons and drawbacks that are standard to those afflicted by undeath. Nutrition and oxygen are both irrelevant to the darkstalker, as is fatigue. However sturdy their newfound frame may be, darkstalkers remain subject to blunt trauma.

True to their namesake, the darkstalker is a reclusive being that skulks in the shadows when the situation permits. They bear a particular aversion to light, whether it be natural sunlight or that produced by the blessed magics of a cleric. Both can prove damaging to the darkstalker's psyche, the latter eliciting a response of extreme agitation or pain. A combination of these factors and the psychological scarring born from the archwraith ritual result in darkstalkers being less than sociable creatures. Taking the role of societal outcasts, the seldom darkstalker that may integrate itself into a society generally accomplishes such through subversion or manipulation. 

While darkstalkers are an entity born of the arcane, they bear a limited scope in their abilities with necromatic magic. During the transformation process any connection with the void or divine is severed, rendering past abilities obsolete. Given the scope of their intended creation darkstalkers are provided with the knowledge of lifeforce manipulation so that they might provide sustenance for the otherwise unearthly energy that binds their bones together. Should they fail to utilize their lifedrain properly and replenish their "fuel" an onset of mental instability may seep in, the ultimate culmination of such inaction resulting in the darkstalker becoming a maddened husk of its former self.