ᴛʜᴇ ᴅɪꜱʜᴏɴᴏʀᴇᴅ
Ashen Sister.
- Intent: Expand on Blood Reign's lore - flesh out the Darkside cult and official religion of the Illyrian province.
- Image Credit:
- Ashen Sister Gif: Bloodborne.
- Symbol: Here, edited by me. Here, edited by me.
- Ashen Brother Gif: Bloodborne.
- Canon: No.
- Permissions: N/a.
- Links:
- Religion Name:The Ashen Church, The Cult of the Ash.
- Illyrian: L'Église Cendrée, Le Culte des Cendres.
- Religion Type:
- Force Based.
- Ecclesia.
- Influence: Minor.
- Influence Area: Blood Reign, Illyria.
- Symbol:
Although various symbols and seals are employed in their rituals and hold different meanings, the one symbol under which all those who embrace the cult of the Ash unite is known as the Cinpelier. It is said its shape was inspired by the five pillars that remained standing after the ancient Great Fire. The Cinpelier will be found in every church, in all homes, and on the very inhabitants of Blood Reign in the form of rosaries, jewelry or even as tattoos on their skin. Its use and depiction is so widespread in the province that not carrying or displaying the Cinpelier in some form will most probably result in the locals assuming an individual is a foreigner visiting Regne de Sang. It is not only used to display one's allegiance to the Church, but also believed to be a symbol of protection, destruction, rebirth, and power.
- Description: Originating in Blood Reign as a branch of the Silmä and then becoming independent, the Ashen Church was born as an answer to a problem which quite literally haunts the Illyrian province. The cult is headed by the ashen brothers and sisters, force-sensitives who are found and taken in by the church to follow its beliefs and teachings since an early age. These priests and priestesses are charged with studying and controlling the dark threats that hide in the shadows of Blood Reign - to protect and guide the people of the province towards the understanding of their magnificence while striving to become powerful and pure expressions of the Darkside themselves.
In turn, the people of Blood Reign heed their teachings and embrace their protection - worshipping in their own twisted way the very entities that the Church pays homage to while at the same time vying for their destruction. For the 'gods and goddesses' of the Ashen Church are very real. Force specters and ghosts, malevolent spirits and sithspawn that would seem to sprout from the very nether itself and onto the lands of Blood Reign - the Church has named them and hunted them for milennia, waiting for the one who is destined to kill them all and rid Blood Reign of their influence so that only the pure and Dark guidance of the Church shall remain.
- Founder: The Ashen Church was founded by members of the Silmä who inhabited the lands ruled by House Astier. They, unlike the rest of the Silmä until the arrival of the monarchAdron Malvern, were not shunned from society and instead embraced by the people and the ruling house, so much so that they became a formidable power and influence within the province. Saint Anjeze is recognized as the very first Priestess of Ash.
Ashen Brother.
- Membership:
- Believers: There is not a living soul in Blood Reign that can shun the Ashen Church without being ostracized by society and even the ruling house itself. The prevalence of the religion is such that all natives to Blood Reign simply grow up under its doctrine, passed on from generation to generation. It has created an unbreakable unity and is held so close to the native's hearts that while foreigners are welcome to join their ranks - they are often scrutinized and may receive harsher judgement by the rest of the believers, for there is a bias that none who had not grown up in their darkened land can quite comprehend what the Ashen Church is about or aspire to the Dark purification that it brings. Only one ritual is required of an individual to be considered a full member of the Church besides holding oneself to its beliefs - an Ashen priest or priestess must welcome one into the church, upon this moment they will claim a blood tribute (one small vial of blood) and impart their blessing upon their new follower. The blessing is meant to protect the individual from some of the more dangerous influences of the dark creatures and spirits that inhabit Blood Reign and it is imparted during an initiation ritual known only as "the Smothering". The members of the church, both the believers and the priesthood, do not talk about the Smothering with non-members of the Church - the daunting name of rite alone is often sufficient enough to keep those not serious about their loyalty to the church at bay, without mentioning the rumours surrounding it.
- Priesthood: To become a priest or priestess of the Ashen Church, one must first be born with a strong connection to the living Force. The adherence to the church is so absolute, that it does not take long for a priest or priestess to identify such gifted infants among their congregations during the weekly Dark Gatherings. Said priest will then approach the family of the child, and the infant will become a ward of the Church - educated and trained to be shaped into a future priest or priestess to play their role in their never ending war against the unknown powers that are at play in the province, daring to defy their own. Throughout their lives, those of the priesthood endure terrible trials to prove themselves in the eyes of their peers, the people of Blood Reign, and the very entities they worship and compete against. A ward will usually achieve priesthood during their early adulthood, although most won't live to see that accomplishment. Even if they managed to survive throughout their training, many perish soon before achieving their priesthood during their very last tests: accompanying a full-fledged priest or priestess on their Reapings.
- Reverend Mother/Father: These are the priests and priestesses who have served the Church for many years, those who have managed to survive several Reapings and whose congregations tend to be the largest. In other words, the Reverends are the strongest among the priesthood of the Ashen Church.
- Vicar of Ash: The Vicar is the head of the Ashen Church. The title is often sported by the longest living member of the priesthood, the strongest and most knowledgeable among them in the arts and calls of the Darkside. The Vicar of Ash is considered to be the closest to purification in to the Darkside of the Living Force and a representative of it and therefore seen as the holiest among the members of the priesthood.
- Saints: The greatest priests and priestesses, those who have forever carved their name into the history of the Ashen Church, are often sanctified upon their Death and perceived as holy guides for those that still remain among the living - as well as oponents, for what dies in Blood Reign can have a tendency to not stay truly dead. Although it has only happened once, it is known that common followers of the church, the believers, can also be sanctified - more often than not if a ultimate sacrifice has been made or what the priesthood considers to be a Dark Miracle takes place. Sanctification is the maximum honor a member of the Church can aspire to.
- Sacred:
- Darkside of the Force: The Ashen Church worships the Darkside of the Force above all else, particularly its more esoteric side which ties it to the realms of spirituality and Force magick. The members of the priesthood are fiercely talented sorcerers and alchemists, holding obscure knowledge they have kept to themselves throughout milennia of relentless study and exposure to dark-sided entities. They might bring hope to the people of Blood Reign, but they rarely inspire anything other than sheer terror when on foreign lands.
- Force Entities: Force ghosts and spirits primarily and in some cases sithspawn and other force entities of diverse natures are perceived as their divine, greatest and destined blessing as well as challenge. The Ashen Church pays homage to the dark beings that plague and scourge through the land of Blood Reign, making it their duty to oppose them in a battle of power over mastery and understanding of the Darkside. Every single one of these beings is perceived as an entity to be weary of but revered and studied, before an Ashen priest or priestess hunts it down to either destroy it, enslave it or assimilate it. This is what the people of Blood Reign call an Ash Reaping - the gathering of corrupted souls to be purified into the unifying, holly, and pure darkness of the Church.
- The Ashen Winged: Also known as the Dark Crone, the Blinder, and the Lady of the Birds, the Ashen Winged is believed to be a corrupted force entity who is a pure embodiment of the Darkside of the Force and the ultimate deity and foe to the Church. The Church believes the Ashen Winged is at the root of the Darkness that seeps into Blood Reign, and that all the dark oddities and entities that impose their scourge on it exist thanks to this one deity. Some of the legends claim that the Ashen Winged once was a powerful Silmä who perished in the great fire of Blood Reign, became one with the Darkside and the Land. She is believed to have a hand in every disgrace that takes place in Regne de Sang and depicted as being fickle and cruel. The Ashen priests and the people of Blood Reign worship the Ashen Winged, the powerful entity that has eluded capture or death for millennia, believing it to hold the ultimate secret and power of the Darkside. The Church upholds that one day one will come who faces and destroys their goddess, to be crowned as the Ashen One thereafter.
- Birds and Woods of Blood Reign: The birds of Blood Reign are curious creatures indeed, and while some ar nothing more than regular creatures some hide a dark and powerful nature. Because of this, all birds are considered to be a potential extension of the Ashen Winged, and as such regarded as sacred omens and vessels. This belief has influenced life on Blood Reign immensely. Two major examples being the ruling house using a bird for their signet and lumbering being forbidden in the province despite it possessing vast forests that could have turned it into a lumbering powerhouse - for they are the homes of the birds.
- The Dark Gatherings and the Ash Gatherings: Held at least once a week, the Dark Gatherings are the reunion between a priest or priestess and their congregation. Often times, if the congregation is prominent enough, several priests will head it and choose one of them as the one leader of the congregation. The Ash Gatherings, instead, are the reunions held between the members of the priesthood themselves, and they take place in the Cathedral or in the abbeys they call home.
- The Reapings: Once a priest or priestess has decided to hunt down a Darksided entity on Blood Reign (be it phantom, sithspawn, or anything in between) a Reaping commences. The act of tracking, finding, and confronting the forces of darkness that are at play in Blood Reign is seen as the ultimate holy duty of the members of the priesthood and, therefore, surrounded in ritualitic methodology.
- Dogma:
The Ashen Church upholds, above all else, that the Darkside of the Force is the most pure form of power and that all those who have been blessed with a tie to the living Force must strive towards becoming one with it - to then act as guides and shapers of those who have been shunned by the Force from accessing its blissful power, so that Dark Purification may be achieved.- The Priesthood: They have been blessed with holy duty to harness the Darkside of the Force, uncover its teachings and secrets, and turn it onto the land and those untethered to the living Force so that all may be purified and drowned into the endless sea of power that it provides. The Priesthood uphold that the Darkside is inevitable and absolute, that it is the root and the ending of all things, including the Light, and that it is their purpose on this galaxy to subdue it to their own dark will so that it may be employed to create order in chaos. Ritualistic and wise, the sorcerers of the Priesthood turn to the most obscure and twisted practices of the Darkside, aiming to push the bounds of knowledge beyond what has already been discovered. They look down upon their followers with pity and mercy, providing the embrace of the Darkside that has not chosen them while employing them to further their own holy purpose.
- The Followers: Those who have not been born with the power to face and embrace the Darkness are vulnerable to it, and can only hope for its mercy and acceptance. Even though they do not share a connection to the Force, the believers of the church aspire to become as close to the Darkside as is possible for them, and they do so by embracing the closeness of those who lead the church: their priests and priestesses. They share the trust in the purpose of the church, and help further it in any way possible - in life or in death.
- Reputation: There is only one entity in the entirety of Blood Reign with more authority and jurisdiction than the Ashen Church, and that is House Astier itself. The Church is protected, respected and valued by every able-minded inhabitant of Regne de Sang. The priests and priestesses, not unlike in other religious organizations, are seen as guides and protectors, their council held in high esteem, and their word capable of raising morale or destroying all hope. To outsider, the Ashen Church is as mysterious and ominous as the province itself. Many outsiders who believe the dark myths of Blood Reign to be just that, myths, look down upon the Church, but none dare voice these opinions and risk crossing the fearsome sorcerers of the priesthood nor the sea of zealots that follow them.
- House Astier.
- People of Blood Reign.
Before the ashes there was fire.
So the legends say.
Many years ago, during the darkest ages of Illyria, the lands of the House of Astier were home to powerful sorceresses of the Sïlma. Alligned with the Darkside, as the Church was destined to be, they would perform rituals and feel out for Dark presences, believing that through Darkness a power unlike any known before would fall upon the solitary and umber lands of Regne de Sang. Their wish would come to be, but the price demanded would be steep.
A ritual gone wrong, or right, depending on the tongue telling the tale, saw a flame born in the center of Blood Reign. The fired raged unstoppable, searing the life from every corner, burning the foundations of every home, dancing to the screams of the poor souls that had called Blood Reign their home. The Sïlma tried to stop the fire they had conjured, but their fight was futile. The sorceresses, no matter how powerful, would burn too. There was death, and in the end, there was ash.
A province scourged by fire, at its center only five pillars from the seat of the ancient House of Astier remained, their burning frame forever scarred into the very memory of the land and all that called it home: the Cinpelier, the five burnt pillars. But that was not all that would remain on the land after the fire. For the fire reaped lives, but dead does not mean gone. The flames were gone, a large cloud forever obscuring the province would remain, shielding it away from the sun. The smell of burnt flesh left the air, but not the moans of the ones who perished. The people who had called this darkness onto the land had burned with it, their ashes getting lost in the soil giving root to corrupted souls that clung to the tethers of the Force from where evil ghouls and wraiths would bloom.
Then, from those dark ashes, came the Church.
Those sorcerers who had survived remained in Blood Reign, many of them noblemen and women of the House of Astier, and they made it their obscure and holy duty to subjugate the Darkness that their brothers and sisters had made flower in Blood Reign to their own. Devotion to the Dark-side and its magnificent creations, to how through destruction and enslavement of its nightmares their power would grow, to how Blood Reign and its people had become a very seat of the Darkside - waiting to be Purified by the blackened hands of the Church into its most immaculate glory, through sorcery and corruption.
It was Saint Anjeze Astier, the very first Vicar of Ash and Mother of the Church, the founding member of cult - establishing since the very beginning what would be a close relationship between the Church and the ruling house of the lands. The Church swore its allegiance to House Astier not many years after, recognizing them as the Darkside-chosen rulers of Blood Reign, celebrated for the many members of the noblehouse who became members of the priesthood, a few of which even achieved sanctification. Despite this, the Church is left mostly to its own devices and it is no secret that despite their fealty to the House, they are treated as an independent and highly respected ally.
The province was rebuilt after the Great Fire, turning Blood Reign into the eerie architectural masterpiece it is today despite its current desrepair. The place where the original Cinpelier remained, where the seat of House Astier used to stand, would instead become the Cinder Cathedral, the heart of the Ashen Church. Behind it, kept away from the public by tall walls and legends that would strike fear into the bravest of hearts, was the Black Yard.
For milennia they have studied and perfected the deepest and most spiritual arts of the Darkside, as well as the most deadly ones. Today, the Ashen Church keeps its influence over Regne de Sang and the areas that used to belong to it before the Subjugation and the fall of House Astier in an iron grip, the guides to the people's dark faith and the hunters of a Darkness that is theirs to tame, rule, or destroy.
