The Knights of All-Faith
"The gods are real. They can help us, light the dark, shelter the lost. But they need the strength of our faith to do it." -Archbishop Dunlain, 1143 L.A.
The Knights of All-Faith are Everwealth’s dominant religious institution, a continent-spanning order of Paladins, Clerics, and Faith-bound enforcers devoted to preserving the worship of the Pantheon of Gaiatia, divine manifestations of natural, moral, and existential concepts. Formed in the chaos following The Fall and The Great Schism, the Knights were born from blood and revelation, founded after the miraculous Battle of Catcher's Rest, where divine wrath forced sworn enemies to shield one another in fear and awe. In theory, the Church unites the faiths of the world under a singular doctrine of balance and reverence. In practice, it is a highly centralized, dogmatic, and slow-moving institution that provides healing, guidance, and ritual enforcement, but only to those close enough, loyal enough, or valuable enough to receive it. Based in the Great Chapel of Catcher’s Rest, the Church governs its satellite Chapels in every major city and several fortified towns, dispensing doctrine, sacraments, and protection against curses, undead, and spiritual calamity. Yet for all their holy writ and divine power, the Church is not free from sin. Despite the glowing myths of their origin, the Knights have become an engine of influence, a theocratic monopoly over magickal healing, moral authority, and civic power that many believe has grown complacent, exploitative, or quietly cruel. Though they are revered for their blessings and feared for their excommunications, to most in the war-torn rural outskirts of Everwealth, they are something else entirely: absent.Career
Qualifications
Any soul may seek to serve the Pantheon, but none may wield its power without devotion, doctrine, and ritual sacrifice. Prospective Knights must first worship at a local All-Faith’s Chapel for no fewer than five years, observed and tested by their resident Cleric for signs of piety and discipline. If deemed worthy, the applicant undergoes the Rites of Faith, Virtue, and Sacrifice, spiritual trials that involve solemn oaths, soul-cleansing confessions, and symbolic death via holy drowning and revival in the sanctified Chamber of Enlightenment beneath Catcher’s Rest.
Career Progression
Newly accepted members choose one of two sacred paths:
- Clerics are stewards of the soul, tending to the wounded, guiding the laypeople, and managing the rites and bureaucracy of their chapel.
- Paladins are militant agents of the faith, exorcists, warriors, and wardens, called to protect, bless, and if needed, destroy.
- Bishops oversee regional districts, blessing new initiates and marshaling Chapel resources.
- Cardinals are elite decision-makers within the Church’s ruling body, managing high doctrine, spiritual law, and inter-faction diplomacy.
- At the top stands the Pope, or Most Holy, whose divine communion with the gods is said to guide the Church’s every move.
- Promotions are based on devotion, deeds, and in quiet corners, politics. Miracles help.
Payment & Reimbursement
Church members receive food, shelter, and travel stipends through tithe and offering taxation, with higher ranks granted holy exemptions from civil law, lands, and exclusive relic access. Common healers live modestly, while Bishops and Cardinals enjoy palatial quarters, private guards, and access to forbidden rites, justified, of course, as necessary burdens of spiritual leadership.
Other Benefits
- Magickal healing and divine training.
- Immunity from most local judicial systems.
- The right to perform exorcisms, funerals, and trials of faith.
- Access to artifacts, spells, and ritual sites deemed illegal for commoners.
- The ability to raise and command militia forces during "times of divine unrest".
Perception
Purpose
To preserve faith in the Pantheon, to heal the wounded, sanctify the dead, and purge spiritual corruption. They are the spiritual backbone of Everwealth, but some whisper their true goal is to monopolize belief, subtly control magick, and maintain divine favor as a political weapon. But many argue their price is too steep, their laws too rigid, and their concern for the poor performative at best.
Social Status
Knights are revered, feared, and resented in equal measure. In cities, they are holy protectors and miracle-workers. In outer provinces, they are self-righteous tax-collectors who rarely return unless the ghosts howl too loud. Among nobility, they are indispensable advisors, and unwelcome auditors. To the poor, they are both beacon and burden: their power could save lives, but is seldom seen outside Catcher’s Rest. Most rural villagers will never meet a Paladin, and few receive healing unless they can journey great distances, journeys many do not survive.
Demographics
The Church accepts all races and creeds, in theory. In practice, Humans make up most of its hierarchy, with Dwarves and Elfese filling academic or ceremonial roles. Orcs and Lizard-Kin may serve, but few rise beyond local clergy.
History
The Knights were born in blood and thunder, during the Battle of Catcher’s Rest, where divine intervention halted a holy war mid-slaughter and inspired an oath to protect all Gods’ faithful, not just one. The survivors vowed unity and founded the Church of All-Faith, to prevent future holy wars, a vow some say was broken the moment they returned home with swords still bloodied. During the Schism, the Church grew rapidly—offering divine healing, spiritual safety, and structure amid chaos. They absorbed minor faiths, sanctified old ruins, and gradually became the dominant religious authority in Everwealth. Over centuries, their power became absolute, their word law in all magickal and moral matters. The Church is now a continent-spanning force, theocratic in influence, militarized in practice, and bureaucratic to its core. While kindness, mercy, and order remain their core creeds, critics accuse them of hoarding divine power, using ritual law to enforce inaction, and neglecting the common folk under the guise of doctrine.
Operations
Tools
Clerics and Paladins carry blessed tomes, icon-blades, silvered prayer chains, exorcism water, and magick-sealed armor bearing their deity’s domain. Each Chapel houses divine relics, soul-vaults, and blood altars used in major rites. Catcher’s Rest alone is said to contain divine relics from before the Fall, guarded by living saints and undead inquisitors alike.
Materials
- Sanctified Ichors.
- Scripture-bound Scrolls.
- Holy Glyph Chalks.
- Binding Brands for spiritual sealing.
- Votive Oil, to burn prayer in physical form.
Workplace
Chapel interiors resemble cathedrals, lined with statues to various gods, whispering fonts, stained glass of divine acts, and blood-cleansed confession chambers. Higher-level sanctums are fortified with divine wards, chained spirits, and candle-lit labyrinths carved beneath the Great Chapel.
Provided Services
- Healing (tithe-based, prioritized by proximity and loyalty).
- Funeral Rites (to prevent necromantic resurrection).
- Exorcisms and haunt-cleansing.
- Spirit trials and divine arbitration.
- Magickal sanctification of marriages, births, and deaths.
- Defense of cities against spiritual catastrophe.
- Preaching, confession, and divine counsel.
Dangers & Hazards
- Clerical Burnout: Healing magic siphons more than mana, it costs belief and emotion.
- Possession Risk: Failed exorcisms can infect the priest.
- Political Targeting: Church members are often assassinated by arcane cults or rival factions.
- Moral Erosion: Proximity to divine power without self-scrutiny breeds fanaticism, or worse, Tulpas.
- Doctrine Drift: Local Clerics sometimes reinterpret creeds for their own ends, resulting in miracles performed under false authority, a crime punishable by soul-undoing.
Alternative Names
'The Church', 'The Blessed Order', 'The Faithbound ', 'The Iron Temple (derogatory)'.
Demand
Constant and continent-wide. In a world of curses, undeath, plague, and war, the Church’s magickal healing, sanctified protection, and spiritual arbitration are indispensable.
Legality
The Church exists above common law, answering only to its own hierarchy and to the divine will (as interpreted by the Pope and Cardinals). Their spiritual sovereignty is enshrined in the Sanctum Concord, an ancient pact that forbids any secular authority from interfering in Church affairs. That sovereignty has made them untouchable, and unaccountable.
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