High Temple of Cayunth

The High Temple of Cayunth is one of the centers of Blazeology, and is consequentially where most of the highest-ranking church officials reside. Although the actual territory directly controlled by Cayunth is small, thir role as the leaders in spiritual guidence give them authority over all other clerical holdings inside Blazennia. This include the princely temples of Margratium and Neuthrower, the regular temples of Caminburg, Nurtemple, Pharum, and Usturn, and the shrines of Allenon, Danuz, Haxburry, Rilun, Stornbud, and Tym. Their influence is also felt in the hot springs of Emberkeep, much to the chagrin of its rulers, and in the Audorden and its commanderies of Farholt and Feirward, who similarly resent being under the church hierarchy (despite their holy missions). The High Temple of Cayunth has technically been an independent constituent ever since the beginning of the Blazennian Empire. However, full constituency was only granted during the reign of Alezar I, and was the culmination of many years of struggle. During the beginning of Varimar I's rule of Rhionian, which started in 1217, he set aside some land as the duchy of Cayunth, which was to be ruled by a representative of Early Blazeology, which had yet to be fully codified. During his reign, Varimar worked through the duchy of Cayunth as his contact point for religious figures within Early Blazeology, which soon led to the duchy becoming a center for shamans, especially those fleeting the centaurs. When the Blazennian Empire was founded, Cayunth was a consituent of Rhionian, albiet one with hightened autonomy. Later in Varimar's reign, Cayunth would become the center of the new Blazeological clergy. However, it was never independent, although Varimar recognized the duke of Cayunth as the authority on religion in the empire. Conseqentially, when Rhionian was disbanded followign Varimar's death, Cayunth was claimed by Sofmargand, Rhinfeldt, and Krinschtal. Under the threat of expulsion from the church, the three states never invaded Cayunth, but this did not mean the duchy was independent (and it was still a duchy).
From this point on, successive dukes would try to get Cayunth recognized as a direct constituent, but the matter languished for years as disputes between secular sates took precedence and complicated by actual status of the church being exceedingly murky. During the rule of Varimar II and III, both of whom were mages, relations between the church and the empire as a whole soured, as the two emperors set aside generous land tracts for the study of magic in the empire. The clergy had been fighting for similar land rights for many years, and saw the grants to mages first and foremost as an assault on religion. Therefore, they threatened the following emperor, Alezar I, demanding temporal authority as well as spiritual. This pressure made him relent, and the Treaty of Cayunth was signed. Cayunth was elevated to a High Temple, and it was granted temportal authority over all clerical possessions in Blazennia. The High Priest, as the head of the Blazennian religion was now known as, would recieve a seat on the imperial council to ensure the clergy was heard and the mistakes not repeated.
Due to having their influence felt in many places, the High Temple has of course been forced to delegate authority to a large degree, which is why the many shirines and temples retain their autonomy from the larger church structure. However, despite their nominal autonomy, it is key to remember that as Blazennian constituents, they are not sovereign and as the High Temple is the one and only spiritual authority, all these autonomous holy constituents still remain under their purview. This is of course only partial authority over the princely temples, as in those cases the rulers have both temporal and spiritual mandate.
Despite Cayunth's great power in mobilizing the faitful, their influence has been on the decline in the past few years. As it is church policy to not intervene in conflict between the faithful, Cayuth instructed all temples and shrines to remain neutral during the recent civil war in Blazennia. Consequentially, when the Kingdom of Mäzgyrazrfold was victorious in the war, Emperor Csömbor I seized the opportunity to remove them from the Imperial Council. The church, while angered at this move, was forced to bow to the very real threat of Csömbor; which is unprecedented in the tenure of the Blazennian Empire. While careful to to openly show anything but support for the ruling emperor, the prevailing attitude in Cayunth is that the Emperor is not a holy man and that his downfall would be a positive thing for the Empire. The fact that he is an ethnic Enctör has had some influence on this, but it is more his reliance on Necromancy and domineering attitude than anything that rubs the church the wrong way.