The Apostasy

The life of a monk in the Wexen Isles had traditionally been one of peace and quiet contemplation. With little to trouble their existence, a monk could happily take up the vows of pacifism, safe in the knowledge that the faith in Wexe was strong and nobody would dare disrupt their peaceful lives with acts of violence. As the emerging schism across the waters in Eyn spread to the Wexen Isles, this belief was shattered with the stroke of a sword.   Discontent with what was perceived as old and outdated superstitions and misplaced aspects of worship, and the perceived hoarding of wealth, unrest spread across the Isles. Agitated by disgraced rivals to the de jure rule who sought to use the unrest for their own ends, an angry mob descended upon the monastery at Swaithe Pike. After the mob broke through the monastery doors, they slew almost every monk they came across and looted everything that looked vaguely valuable, eventually setting fire to the monastery and burning it to the ground.   Only one monk is known to have survived the massacre, a young initiate who would become known as Peter of Swaithe, who had forsaken his oath of pacifism by wrestling a mace off of one of the members of the mob and fought his way out to safety. Many within the faith would condemn him for forsaking his oaths, branding him an apostate and casting him out of whatever sanctuary he would try to enter. For many others, his willingness to not only take up arms in defence of his faith but also to survive against overwhelming odds, was a sign of Sainthood, and many would flock to side. This, when combined with the growing unrest, would cause the schism to spiral into nearly a hundred years of intermittent civil war that would later become known collectively as the Apostasy.  

Apostate Orders

  Various groups sprang up in the wake of the burning of Swaithe Pike, united by sets of common sets of beliefs and tenets that set each apart from the others, but each modelled after the core ideal of Saint Peter of Swaithe, the abandonment of pacifism and the conviction to take up arms in the defense of themselves and others.    

Acts of Restoration

  The Apostasy officially came to an end with a series of Acts of the Crown, the Acts of Restoration, which not only officially protected the old beliefs as the Restored Orthodoxy, it also extended protection to several of the Apostate Orders that had survived the conflict.