Crown Church of Pridain

The Crown Church of Pridain is the primary religious institution of the Pridish Empire. Most towns in Pridain will have one church, however outside the larger towns and cities these are usually small structures.

The Six Principles
The church preaches six virtuous principles that were laid out in the early years of the Crown as character traits of importance. These are Curiosity, Ambition, Humanity, Reverence, Sacrifice, and Mercy.

Confession Sigils
A common practice within the church is to draw out simple sigils based on the six principles. This most commonly occurs when a practitioner feels that they do not possess a number of traits of virtue. The virtues are mapped on a hexagon and the points that the pracitioner seeks to embody are connected with consecrated inks. There is a cultural divergence on what happens to the sigils after their creation; some areas hang them in a common area in the church, some outside of the church in an important location or landmark, and others take them home for private display.

Craftspeople both inside and outside of the church hierarchy produce more luxurious versions of the sigils too, such as jewellery, tapestry, and even tattoos.

The Sorcerous Blood
People born with inherent arcane abilities (sorcerers) are of major importance to the church, and are often figures of reverence; because of this only people of sorcerous birth can hold positions within the church. This originates from the concept of the sorcerous blood created during the Divine Transfusion and implies in an ambiguous manner that all sorcerous are somehow descended from said act. Thus to be born with sorcerous blood is commonly seen as a sign that the person was in some form 'chosen' by the church.

The blood takes on a metaphorical form during some of the main ceremonies of the church, such as the consecrated inks used in much of the drawing of sigils which is universally red in reference to this. However, use of true sorcerous blood is not unheard of for special occassions and rare events that require extreme measures, such as exorcisms and baptisms of important figures.

Roles
Each church has at least one priest and two apprentices, each of which is a sorcerer. The priest acts as a teacher to the apprentices in both the ways of the church and general application of arcana. In turn the apprentices tend to the physical wellbeing of the church. Each priest in a county is led by a High Priest, who oversees the wellbeing of all the churches in the region. Each country within the Pridish Empire has a Cardinal to which all of the high priests within the country report to (this excludes Cornumbra which shares a cardinal with Chent).

Additionally, a class of priests known as deacons travel the empire offering services of communities that might not have a church or assisting established priests with more difficult duties. They are traditionally also seen as a warrior class and are called upon in times of violence to assist the church. Deacons answer to the Deaconate who operates seperately from the cardinals. It is expected that one of each pair of apprentices raised by a priest will take on the life of a deacon, but it is not a rule and the role is entirely voluntary.

Church Architecture
Inspired by wizards towers the churches of the Crown Church are tall and typically skinny structures. They are constructed around a central area from which the priest speaks during sermons with pews facing inwards. The speaking area usually sits underneath a high dome or hollow tower which is decorated with paintings or tiles depicting the important sigils of the religion.