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Approved Lore The Church of the Light

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OUT OF CHARACTER INFORMATION

[*]
Company Submission: N/A

GENERAL INFORMATION

  • Organization Name: Church of the Light

  • Classification: Religious Group

  • Loyalties: Azure Imperium

  • Organization Symbol: (x)

  • Description: The church of light is the force order and pastoral care provider of the Azure Imperium, it is an organization made up of several suborders, which will be detailed below. Most of its orders work out in the public assisting people or the military. They have links to every part and member of the Imperium and work as a generally light-sided organization, with a neutral, generally light side leaning force tradition, aside from one sub-sect the Order of Shadows who embrace the dark-side of the force for the good of the Imperium, that puts a greater emphasis on intent than the specific use of the force.
GEOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

  • Headquarters: Zernia

  • Realm: Everywhere in the Azure Imperium

  • Domain: Azure Imperium specifically as the religious order of the Imperium, most of the orders are active in the community except for the dark side group within the clergy. Most of the local populace want to be a member of the clergy meaning that the relationship with the local populace is very high.

  • Notable Assets:

    The Campus: The training compound of the Church of the Light

SOCIAL INFORMATION

  • Hierarchy:
  • Orders of the Church
    Order of the Flame: The primary force wielding of the church, the Order of the Flame act as guardians, protectors who stand between the Citizens of the Imperium and those who would hurt them. The order is primarily made up of force users, although several exceptional non-force users have also chosen to take on the order's mantle.
  • Order of the Leaf: A pastoral Order made up of both force users and non-force users the Order of the Leaf is the largest Order in the church and is focused on keeping the church running and providing pastoral care and support to the citizens of the Imperium.
  • Order of the Waves: An Order of Healers, those who join the Order of the Waves are dedicated to serving the Imperium in their own way. While they choose not to fight, they instead have developed as a community of those with specialised skills in the healing arts. Doctors, Surgeons and force-healers, they all had their place, contributing their skills to make the enclaves and houses of healing of the Order of the wave amongst the best hospitals in the Imperium.
  • Order of the Shadows: The most recent Order, the Shadows are the offensive arm of the church. Where the Order of the Flame fights to defend the Imperial and protect its citizens the Shadow takes a more offensive mindset. They embrace any means necessary to fight the enemies of the Imperial. They are willing to use the light with the intention of hurting people if that is what it takes to defend the Imperium.


  • Ranks of the Church

    The Pontifex: The symbolic head of the Church the Pontifex is a position held by the emperor of the Azure Imperium. As the [SIZE=9pt]Pontifex[/SIZE] the Emperor is obliged to participate in several rituals every year but has very little official say in the running of the church, aside from the selection of a Primate who must be ratified by the votes of the Cardinals. The Emperor can also ask the Cardinals to remove a Primate, with the same vote being required.

  • Primate: The official head of the Church, the Primate is chosen by the Pontifex, and endorsed by the Cardinals. The Primate stands as the focal point of every order and organisation in the church and has a vast bureaucracy working under him to run the organisation. His position, both as the religious head of the empire, and the head of the organisation responsible for Force Users within the Empire makes the Primate one of the most influential positions within the Azure Imperium.

  • Cardinals: Selected by the Primate the Cardinals are the princes and princesses of the church, and act as the hands and mouth if the Primate across the Azure Imperium. Each Cardinal has responsibilities within the organisation, be it a position as the heads of the orders, or appointed with a special task. Anyone, a member of the Clergy or not may be appointed a cardinal, and often the person responsible for the running of the Primate’s bureaucracy is appointed to this position.

  • Sub-Cardinal: Each Cardinal may appoint up to 2 or 3 Sub Cardinals or to assist them in their duties. The Sub-Cardinal’s are generally seen as potential heirs to the Cardinal position or long-term staples of the order who are given significant leadership responsibilities. (The rank of Archon is equivalent to a sub-cardinal but is given to the right hand of the Cardinal, their chosen heir and voice. It is mostly used by the Order of the Flame who need to devolve authority on sub commanders)

  • Archbishop: Archbishops act as leaders within each of the orders, authority being devolved onto them to help with the day to day running and activities of the order. The duties of the Archbishops vary from Order to order, but they are generally responsible for overseeing the Order's activities over a large territory, except for the largest cities, such as Castellum, each of which will have their own archbishops. The Archbishops are supported by their bishops and are ultimately responsible to the Cardinal for the Order's activities in their territory.

  • Bishop: Each territory under an archbishop is further divided into administrative areas under a Bishop. These bishops are the day to day face of the Order and bear most of the administrative burden of managing the Church. Bishops are responsible for the Brothers and Sisters under them, and are often found running Enclaves of healing, schools or the response forces of the Order of the Flame.

  • Novice: The aspirants to the Church, the novices are made up of those who wish to join the Church, either because they have been discovered to have force powers, or because they wish to serve. While not every member of hte church starts as a novice, it is the most common way. The Novices are generall sent to the Campus, or specialist schools for their training under the supervision of trusted members o the Orders. During their graduation each novice is sent out to work with the Order of the Leaf, helping the citizens of the Imperium before they are assigned to a specific order where they spend most of their time in the church. Intersetingly, the Novices are the only members of the Church, aside from the Pntifex and Primate who are not a member of any specific order.



  • Membership:
The Church of the Light is a massive, multi-million person organisation that stretches across the Azure Imperium. The Church includes the clergy who tend in local farming parishes, the warriors of the Order of the Flame and Shadow or the healers of the Order of the Wave.


Any citizen of the Azure Imperium can petition for entry into the church, whether they are Force Users or non-Force Users. Almost everyone who petitions for entry will be granted entry to the church after an interview. This interview isn’t to test knowledge but to understand where in the church they might fit best, whether it is working on one of the church’s farms or companies or being sent to the campus to train as a brother or sister of the clergy. Once you have joined the church, however, the ability to choose where you are placed or earn the products of your labour are gone. The church does provide a stipend, just as it provides food and board making it an option for those with nowhere else to turn, but a better option for those who wish to serve and help their fellows.


The church is also responsible for the Imperium-wide testing of children for force sensitivity. No child, no family is ever forced to join the church if they are discovered to be force sensitive, the church just provides options. A family could choose not to do anything, leave the force sensitivity as something for their child to deal with at a later time, or to not deal with. The Church also provides free basic lessons in force sensitivity, or offers to take the child on as a ward of the church, assuring them of a secure place to train in their powers and help people. Those who are taken on as wards for their force sensitivity may join the church young, or older, for any number of reasons and still undergo the same training at the campus. (OOC: Anyone can join the church at any level they want aside from one of the leadership positions which would require Faction Staff permission)

  • Influence: Azure Imperium

  • Climate: The watchwords of the church are succour and security, and that is what the Church tries to provide for the citizens and it’s members. A generally well-meaning organisation the Church tries it’s best to provide for all its members. They might not all live in the lap of luxury but they are taken care of and any dispute has multiple avenues of resolution to solve them. There is an element of underlying tension, the bishops and members of the church who live in the cities tend to have a higher quality of life than those who live in the countryside, and those who progress higher in the church tend to spend more time in the palaces than dealing with the citizens they're supposed to help. While this is understandable, it is also the cause of tension that makes those city positions more sought after creating a tense situation between those who want to care for the citizens in and out of the country.

  • Reputation: Generally beloved

  • Rules: Protect those who can't protect themselves. Support the Church, the Imperium and the Emperor.

  • Doctrines: The Church of Light believes in an energy that permeates the galaxy, binding all things together. Some people are born with the ability to touch the light and others are not, but the light touches all equally and everyone is worthy of the Churches light.

  • Goals: The goal of the church of light is two-fold. To succour those citizens who need them and protect them. It does this by providing an alternative source of dispute management and advice without providing absolution. Sometimes it helps to have a neutral third party you can turn to for common sense. The Church of the light is also the primary means within the Azur Imperium for the training and policing of force users. Not every force user is expected to join the Church, but if you start hurting other people with your abilities then the church will step in.
MEMBERS
Pontifex of the Church of the Light - Alexander Azure
Primate of the Clergy of Light - Veneras Grandstar
Archon of the Order of the Flame, Archbishop of the Church of the Light - @Lunara Azure
Paladin of the Order of the Flame, Bishop of the Clergy of Light - Lance Claw
Cardinal of the Order of the Shadow - [member="Atheus"]



HISTORICAL INFORMATION

The origins of the Church of Light was very different from its current day form, almost unrecognizably so. The Church began with the force users caught up in the remnant of the Azure Empire’s headlong flight out of the core to their new home in the outer rim. Those first years were a mix of panic and desperation, fear and uncertainty [SIZE=9pt]was[/SIZE] the constant companions of the refugees. It was in this environment that the remaining force users found themselves drawn, wandering through the ships just talking to people, allaying their fears and trying to head off problems in conjunction with the ship’s crew. It was during this time that people started looking to the force users as an alternate structure from their leaders. People they could turn to for advice, for someone willing to listen to them while their nominal leaders were more interested in planning for problems without focusing on the present day trials and tribulations. It may have started off as a purely innocent need to help the suffering they felt around them, but that kind of adulation, that feeling that you were needed, that’s a heady drug. A drug the force users found that even they succumbed to.

Everything went well until the exodus arrived at its destination, the trials and troubles of the journey were replaced by the trouble of eking out an existence, constructing a new society. The people, their people, suddenly flung fr across a world, scattered into farming communities and towns. While still looked [SIZE=9pt]upto[/SIZE] the Force Users couldn’t talk to as many people as they used to, and they found this reduced position manage. Initially, they argued that keeping the people together was important, only to be overruled by the Gregory Azure, the scion of the Imperial family, and de facto leader of the new world. The man argued that in order to give their population the best chance to survive, they needed to spread the farmers out, to start setting up the mines and exploitation of resources that would see them set up for the coming centuries and millennia. Thwarted and seeing that heady drug start to slip away, the force users thought the unthinkable. It was they who had sustained the people during their journey, Gregory Azure could only be in one place and the nobles like him were few and far between, it was they who were best suited to lead their people in the new world.

They resolved to change the formula they were caught in, to take control of the world so they could lead the citizens into the new world the way they should. Twenty of then descended on the palace, the guards were no match for their force assisted abilities as they burst into the study, finding Gregory waiting for them alone. No-one is quite sure what happened in that room, rumours abound that he defeated each of them in single combat, that he summoned force entities to cow them into existence. The truth of it passed down in the Imperial family, is that Gregory showed them the cost of building the world, the toll that it was taking on him and asked which of them wished to take the weight on their shoulders. None found themselves up to the task, and [SIZE=9pt]in[/SIZE] that moment the Church of Light was born, an organisation that could succour and care for the people in coordination with the government to provide a stable society that was able to work for the best of it’s citizens. The leader of the force users though was a man of deep foresight in his way, and sought to bind the Imperial family to the church, ensuring it was in their best interest to ensure the continuation of the fledgeling organisation. His one stipulation, announced in front of the public was that the emperor, and his heir could only marry a member of the church, the choice of whom was left up to the person in question. In this way the Church was assured of an advocate at the highest levels of influence, and the Imperial line would remain force sensitive.

The Church

The next few centuries were a period of building and changing for the Church as it developed from the handful of Force Users who had assaulted the Emperor into a true organization. The task given to the church was twofold, firstly, no-one was unaware of that more force users would be born to the [SIZE=9pt]fledgling[/SIZE] imperium, and the havoc an untrained force user could inflict, let alone a trained user, was indescribable. The Church was tasked with finding the new force users and training them to both be able to control their powers and to understand the morality that came with their powers. Unlike the Jedi, and the Sith developing elsewhere in the galaxy, the size of he Imperium was so small, it’s citizens necessary where they were. It was because of this the Church started it’s policy of offering free lessons, enough to convey control and rudimentary skills upon those who chose to learn as well as morality. Those who wished to develop their powers further were welcome to join the church as acolytes.

The second task given to the church was that of providing pastoral care to the population, during the madcap exodus those force users who formed the core of the church had provided an undeniably useful service to the refugees by acting as arbiters and simply listening to them, allowing the population to unburden their worries. Gregory knew that the citizens of the Azure Imperium would find themselves in need of those same services in the future. The clergy of the Church of Light who took on this role helped the officers of the law in their [SIZE=9pt]parishes,[/SIZE] and provided a much needed moral centre, a neutral third party the people could turn to. It was the construction of the system for this pastoral care that took the most time, for the Church wanted to spread it’s clergy across the face of the planet. However, they were aware that they couldn’t fill every church with Force Users, this realisation prompted a minor crisis within the church before Gregory, now happily married to one of those proto-clergy stepped in with the stipulation that the church open its doors to anyone who wished to become a clergyman, Force User or not.

The Orders

The church slowly developed [SIZE=9pt]it’s structures[/SIZE] in this way for the next four hundred and fifty six years, until a rival state decided to test the empire. A rival state with their own force users, run by them infact. The Imperium was suddenly faced with the prospect of facing fully trained force users on the field of battle, force users who could turn their blaster bolts back on the soldiers, who could make their soldiers fight harder, and longer just from their mere presence.

The first battle of this war was a resounding loss for the Imperium, their forces were routed as the military, desperate for a way to level the playing field turned to the Church for help. Faced with the prospect of [SIZE=9pt]destruction[/SIZE] the Church agreed to help, sending its own force users forward to assist the military. What followed was a decade of war. Initially the Clergy of the church were unskilled in the field of battle, however, there is no better teacher than the crucible of the battlefield. Slowly some members of the Clergy found that they were skilled at the warfare, the conflict they found themselves thrust into. The Church’s Force Users had turned the tide, forcing their opponent’s to sue for peace.

However, it was obvious the Aure Imperium could not let itself be caught flat-footed again, [SIZE=9pt]those Clergy[/SIZE] who had found a talent for working with the soldiers banded together. They formed a unit that stood ready to assist the military, to protect the Imperium from any threat it might face. They found converts amongst the new Clergy joining the Church, leaving the Elders with a conundrum, how to handle this situation. The answer was given to them when a few of the clergy who had participated in the war came forward with a request. Although understanding it’s necessity, the horrors they had seen on the battlefield proved more than they could handle. Instead of going back, they sought to turn away from the war entirely, and focus their talents on the opposite. Instead of becoming warriors they wanted to focus on becoming healers. They understood that in a war they would still need to serve, but couldn’t face being responsible for more death. With these two opposing groups the Church elders came up with an idea, forming them into two new Orders of the Church. The many church members who had given themselves over to Pastoral car of the citizens were all gathered into a new Order as well. The Order of the Flame, those who sought to protect the Imperium, the Order of the Wave, those who sought to heal and nourish the Imperium, and the Order of the Leaf, those who sought to succour and care for the Imperium, were formed. Each Order was responsible for training the new novices who had joined the church, and the novices were ultimately sent to join one of these Orders. The hope was to provide a balance within the church, allowing them to adopt a path that would be the best option at any time.

As the Orders developed, the protectors of the Order of the Flame couldn’t just stay in [SIZE=9pt]once[/SIZE] place, idle hands make mischief. The Order was asked to support the police around the Imperium when needed, and they found themselves needed before long. Whether by bad luck, or by foreign design some of those force users who had just undertaken the training option had banded together, embracing the more hurtful nature of the force. This cult gathered the disaffected around them, launching a civil war. Although the Order of the Flame was able to work with the military t put down the uprising, the were unable to do so before 2 of the Dark Acolytes had snuck into the palace, attacking and killing the Emperor of the time.

Something like this had never happened before, the assassination of a sitting emperor. The Crown Princess only kept her cool under the ministrations of her husband, a member of the Order of the Leaf. As it was the situation needed to be adjusted. The Imperial family gathered the best warriors from the Army, from the Order of Flame, asking them to renounce their previous affiliations, swearing only one thing, to protect the Imperial family with their lives. The formation of the Imperial Bodyguard was not the only outcome of this unfortunate outcome, the power of the [SIZE=9pt]darkside[/SIZE] was made blatantly obvious. The Church held a convention that debated for months. While many wanted to deny the powers they’d seen, marking them as abhorrent and wrong calmer heads prevailed. The utility of these powers was beyond doubt, the sheer destruction caused by the acolytes, their ability to sneak into the royal palace. The powers they’d exhibited were too useful to pass up, not to use. Yet, the danger implicit in it meant that the power wasn’t something that could be widely disseminated. So a new order was born, the Order of the Shadow. Unlike the other Order’s no-one could be placed there, every member of the Order had to choose to be there. They were the ones who chose to take on the burden that others wouldn’t, the ones who did what others couldn’t. The users of Darkness, the assassins, the ones who stood between the Imperium and the dark.

Although the creation of the Order of Shadows was a benefit to the Imperium, it also announced the presence of the Acolytes. The Force Users who existed under the radar, trying to undermine the church and the Imperium. Again and again over the following centuries and Millennia the Acolytes clashed with the Church. Although they were defeated, again and again, the defeat was never total and they always came back.


 
[member="Lunara Azure"] Under Review. It will take me a moment to read through the submission in its entirety but I will respond as quickly as possible. Thank you ahead of time for your patience!
 
[member="Lunara Azure"] Greetings! Thank you for your patience. Wow! This is a lot of great detail - Definitely a good read. Just a few things to go over so we can get you taken care of. ^_^

1.) Under Links Section

- When hyperlinking other writers such as "Atheus" be sure to link to his character profile. Not his profile. [If they change their name or something of that nature it won't work anymore..]

- For the "Azure Imperium" under this section - Please it to the Azure Imperium Lore Submission

2.) Under Loyalties

- Azure Imperium - Please link the Faction

3.) There are many references to a dark-sided group but it's hard to follow until you get to the rest of the History/Order section below.. It might be a good idea to mention "generally light-sided", save for the Order of the Shadow, although they still use their abilities for good.

Description: The church of light is the force order and pastoral care provider of the Azure Imperium, it is an organization made up of several suborders (which will be detailed below). Most of its orders work out in the public assisting people or the military. They have links to every part and member of the Imperium and work as a generally light-sided organization, with a neutral, light side leaning, force tradition that puts a greater emphasis on intent than the specific use of the force.
4.) Hierarchy

- There are several "Orders" mentioned in this section but the information is not available until much later in the submission. Unless you've read something previously to know about them it can be a little confusing. Please list the "Orders" and a brief description of what they are or what they stand for somewhere in this area for easy referencing. You can label it however you are most comfortable.

- Can you also double check the wording/clarify what you're referring to for much of the Hierarchy? Some of them are a little confusing.

5.) Just in general you might want to do a quick sweep for spelling errors and typos. For example, "Azure" is often spelled "Azur" in several places when referring to the Imperium.

Otherwise, that's it. Mostly, it's just little tweaks and "organizational" issues. For the most part, I see what you're trying to say, but it just needs a little bit of tidying up.

Please feel free to tag me if you need any help.
 
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