In the days before the coming of the comet there were the old magics of the Skagriagaard and the Zoranethi, the Giant Kin and the Angelus. When the comet came it bought with it the first of the changes, the new magic, the source of magic; source magic. From source magic through the belief of others the three Gods of old were born – The first was Kalarin a goddess founded in the forges of War, battle goddess; The light of the Heavens. The next was Malice the made being created of spite and sin wickedness founded of one man’s ambitions to rule the lands – The Dark One. The last was the balance, weaver of order and bringer of the peace, founded by need and necessity and a call for common ground – Tremalian the Grey. As they rose to the heavens so they gave Focus to the power of the Source. Focus Magic was created and so, powered by the belief of their followers and a pact made with the Fae of Eidelos they prospered.
For many hundreds of years they ruled the heavens and the stories of their followers, the Angels and Archangels and indeed even the Gods themselves are many. Epic Legends when all powers strode the lands and did battle, causing so much devastation that the great Tharinos’ was called in which all powers were as equal and the Gods could be called to answer for their actions. Eventually however the eyes of Malice, inspired by the will of the Torakaylin family line, turned to the control of the lands of the Basin and beyond and it called upon its General Gabrak to lay waste to the other great churches in its name. It was in these great Pantheonic Wars that the Gods of this time were destroyed and the Gods that we know and venerate today were born.
Power and belief of that time are mysterious forces to the modern day Priest; the fall and rise of Gods and Goddesses, that seems so alien to us now, was a real threat to the followers of the faith in that day and age. It is almost impossible for us to imagine seeing the raw power of our God overshadowing a city and being cut to pieces by the power of Daemons and enemy casters. Yet this is how the deities of the past were ended but it was not the end of the belief nor the power and portfolios that they represented. It was almost as if the Gods had prepared for the final days of their mortality and had chosen new vessels for their powers but rather than the simplicity of the three deities their power was extended to meet the demands of a larger, growing base of Priests. Seemingly normal folk were raised up and became the new powers of Gods and Goddesses beyond the boundaries of Soul Anchor.
One of these Goddesses was called Yarrianne representing Healing, Peace and Serenity. Yarrianne is the protector of family and hearth and home. In mortal life Yarrianne was a Chirugeon within the Church of Kalarin, a wife and a mother of five children. She gained fame within the Church for the support and strength that she offered to families whose spouses, parents or children were away in many of the crusades that Kalarinites embarked upon. When the power of Kalarin was sundered some of her power found its way to Yarrianne and she arose to the heavens; many assumed that Yarrianne was the daughter of one of the High Priestesses or perhaps that some of Kalarin’s blood, from before her ascension, ran in her veins. The truth of her selection as a Goddess remains unconfirmed but her church flourished very swiftly in the aftermath of the Pantheonic Wars.
The first to form together to create the Church of Yarrianne or the Holy order of Tranquillity came from the remnants of the Second Holy Order, a division of the Kalarinite Holy Army. They were Bealyss Harin, a priestess, Robert Hydenson a Priest and Colthard a retired Warrior. Together they set about bringing the true word of Yarrianne to the land and worked hard to ease the suffering that was predominant at the time in which they lived. They were the first to begin converting Churches into hospitals and to use the money of the church to buy land for the impoverished and help them to build farms and the like. Through their actions many of the noble families of this age still donate to and maintain such charitable establishments.
The Holy Order has made its way through the centuries with dignity and respect, avoiding the major political schisms that has damaged so many other organisations and respecting the tenets and wishes of the other churches. In fact many of the Churches would have fallen during the many hundreds of conflicts that have affected the Royal Basin over the years had it not been for the guiding hand of the Yarriannites. Through their support, corruptions and political power plays have been avoided and many lives have been saved in these times. Even though their outlook is stringently different to that of the other churches these actions have led to respectful nods from the other High Priests.
This attitude has led to Yarrianne being perhaps the only Church that has not fallen from the grace of her Goddess. Both Naed and Tiberius have had the displeasure of seeing their Clergy schism, both several times. Ekimelahw has suffered the ignominy of the corruption of the dark angel K’Kegnihothe controlling her church. Bethylak and Terref lost a great deal of respect and power when many of their followers sided with the challengers during the Codex of War. Of course Notelexus and Rayvahn were both influenced into slipping into the darkness by the Devourer. Through all of this the Church of Yarrianne has found purity and through reflection a peace and serenity that makes them unique amongst the other clergies.
As the years have passed the Churches have developed new outlooks as they strive to meet the demands of the people that they serve. It has been a mainstream struggle between the old guard and the new thinkers and in recent years the new thinkers have won through. Whilst many would point to the actions of the old “Dark” Churches that brought us together it is clear that the new order of the Clergy – The Churches of Dawn, Day and Dusk would not have become prevalent had it not been for the Holy Order. The Dawn Churches, Yarrianne, Naed and Tiberius represent the dawn of life when we are fresh and full of life, naivety and energy. The Day; Bethylak, Terref and Ekimelahw, represents the middle of our lives when we have become wise and wealthy and live more ordered lives. The Dusk shows us as we approach the end of our lives, when our burdens have weighed heavily upon us, we are wearied and tired and death is but a corner away on our journey. This aspect of our faith is represented by the Churches of the Kraken, Notelexus and Rayvahn.
Today the Church of Yarrianne is under the leadership of Lady Catheryn Hamerinsire, the youngest of leader of the Church to date. She has guided the Holy Order to a position of power amongst the clergy itself especially in the opposition of the, eventually prevented, return of Kalarins power to the heavens. She has also bought a new alliance between the Churches of Notelexus and Yarrianne and, given the change in position and outlook of the Church of Rayvahn, extended a peace towards the End of Hope and her followers. Under this current leadership the Church has gone from strength to strength and would appear to the candidates for permanent rulership of the clergy a fact that has been firmly underlined as of the writing of this text in Earthwane of 2014 PPW. In the wake of the Tharinos of that year the situation for the Clergy and the Church of Yarrianne has changed dramatically.
The Clergy have long been the ruling body and government of the faiths of the Royal Basin. At times it has been severely understaffed, particularly in the periods when the Churches of the Devourer, Notelexus and Rayvahn were left awash in the wilderness. In recent years the Clergy has been in constant debate and argument but in 2014 the decision was made to appoint a full head and re-establish the Azure Table to sit with the Golden Table of the Royal Basin. Initially the vote seemed likely to be in favour of Sebastian Blackthorn to rule the table in the name of the Church of Rayvahn but it was our own Mirelle Silverlight who won the majority vote and became the new leader of the Azure Table. Now the Azure Table/Clergy begin a time of rebuilding and unity that will bring a new and prosperous time for all faiths and a togetherness that we hope will endure a thousand years of Basanic life.
Holly Goodall
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