Priest
A priest is a specialist profession involved in the practice of religion. They are the spiritual guides for faiths across the galaxy, overseeing rites and helping their congregation to understand the deeper meanings of the universe. Most star nations across the galaxy are secular, creating a political barrier between church and state. In these societies, priests exist independently from governments, providing faith as an optional service to their fellow citizens.
In star nations that integrate church and state, priests take on the additional role of government bureaucrat. This is a particularly common practice in less-developed pre-FTL societies, where poor literacy limits bureaucratic duties to a small class of educated clerics. In a number of star nations, this practice has persisted into the interstellar age. In the Kingdom of Yondarim, the state is the religion and the religion is the state - so all members of the government are ordained members of the official faith, and are therefore priests.
The exact tasks carried out by priests vary depending on the religion they belong to. Priests that follow the state religion of the Kingdom of Yondarim - so entrenched in the society that it has no formal separate name - act primarily as bureaucrats, executing the God-Emperor's edicts as effectively as possible. The druids of the Keepers of Ave'brenn listen to the geology of the worlds, guiding their followers' lives with care. Certeran Covenant priests watch the folds in spacetime for glimpses of other dimensions, where they believe the soul departs to after death.
There are, of course, practices considered more "exotic" in the galaxy. The Hazbuzan Syndicate considers its priests as paid employees. These 'prosperity preachers' encourage sacrifice in the form of financial compensation to the syndicate, combining the position of priest and salesperson. The haruspexes of the Basidrix Cyber Ecclesia are part priest, part cybernetic surgeon. As the Basidrix faith preaches the holy merging of flesh and machine, the most sacred rite a haruspex can perform is cybernetically augmenting an individual - a ritual they often perform.
In star nations that integrate church and state, priests take on the additional role of government bureaucrat. This is a particularly common practice in less-developed pre-FTL societies, where poor literacy limits bureaucratic duties to a small class of educated clerics. In a number of star nations, this practice has persisted into the interstellar age. In the Kingdom of Yondarim, the state is the religion and the religion is the state - so all members of the government are ordained members of the official faith, and are therefore priests.
The exact tasks carried out by priests vary depending on the religion they belong to. Priests that follow the state religion of the Kingdom of Yondarim - so entrenched in the society that it has no formal separate name - act primarily as bureaucrats, executing the God-Emperor's edicts as effectively as possible. The druids of the Keepers of Ave'brenn listen to the geology of the worlds, guiding their followers' lives with care. Certeran Covenant priests watch the folds in spacetime for glimpses of other dimensions, where they believe the soul departs to after death.
There are, of course, practices considered more "exotic" in the galaxy. The Hazbuzan Syndicate considers its priests as paid employees. These 'prosperity preachers' encourage sacrifice in the form of financial compensation to the syndicate, combining the position of priest and salesperson. The haruspexes of the Basidrix Cyber Ecclesia are part priest, part cybernetic surgeon. As the Basidrix faith preaches the holy merging of flesh and machine, the most sacred rite a haruspex can perform is cybernetically augmenting an individual - a ritual they often perform.
Type
Religious
Other Associated professions
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