Editing Valkor (section)

=Sectarians=

Some people want to walk more closely with their god, and these are the people who  become Sectarians in the Church of Elements. It is a long journey, filled with sacrifice.  
 
The  aspirant sets foot on the path by seeking out a patriarch or matriarch of a nearby monastery or church and tries to convince them of the sincerity of his priestly intentions. Usually the patriarch accepts the newcomer as a novice, and so begins a strict and regular life under the watchful eye of the clergy of the monastery. Novices are responsible for all day-to-day chores in the monastery and are often allowed to work until their backs are sore and nails boody, it is said this helps to refine their souls.
 
At some point the patriarch will determine that the novice has attained the necessary maturity, and he will appoint the aspirant as a priest or priestess, and grants them the right to leave the monastery to spread the word of the Church of Element.  It depends on the novice how long it takes for spiritual growth to become a priest, but rarely is it less than ten years.
 
All sectarians--novices, priests and patriarchs--are expected to refrain from all bodily pleasures while serving in the monastery. After leaving the monastery, they are expected to continue a clean and abstinent life at least until marriage.  Or the priest may choose to swear an oath of chastity. This is not compulsory, but it is regarded as a sign of great virtue.  Priests and priestesses who swear this oath are called ‘white robes’ (the white robe is forbidden to all other priests), and patriarchs are almost invariably among this group.
 
In principle, any priest can establish a new monastery and become its patriarch or matriarch. In practice, this requires a large number of followers, as well as outside supporters (to provide food), and permission from a landowner (to provide shelter). It is surprisingly difficult to obtain the necessary resourcesl, and new monasteries are usually established mainly in border areas, where there are plenty of pagans to be converted.

==Government==

When the Templars declared the Church of Element to be the official religion in the kingdom of Valkor, they simultaneously issued an order that barred the Church from ever having a central leadership. The official explanation for the ordinance was the need to preserve the purity of the faith and to help the clergy work more closely with the people. But the true reason was no doubt clear to all by then: the Templars wanted to limit the power of the Church. The Church could only consist of individual monasteries, each led by a patriarch with the power of spirit in that monastery. Other monasteries in the Church of Elements have no power over other patriarchs, though their patriarchs and matriarchs can express disapproval.
 
The Templars mandate was a success, and the Church of Elements is today a fragmented entity, both physically and scholastically. However, people cannot be prevented from organizing as they please, and sects based on the elements have arisen within the Church. These began to evolve from the recorded teachings of individual wise priests, and today there are extensive scholarly entities that are recognized by tens of thousands of people throughout the valley.
 
Each elemental sect represents a specific interpretation of the doctrine of the Church of Elements, and while most monasteries acknowledge the support of a single sect, there are  some monasteries that have priests of several sects. So the members of a sect are not united by a common leader, but rather by a common ideology and morality. Church members of the same sect usually offer strong support to each other.
 
The ordinary people are unaffected by this arrangement. They are lectured in weekly sermons by the priest from a nearby monastery, and otherwise have no time for in-depth reflection on Church doctrine. However the sects are not always capable of peaceful coexistence, and the common people sometimes become pawns, and the different sects struggle to claim their souls while slandering the other sects as heretics.

==Right and Wrong==

The sectarian perception of right and wrong is strongly based in Church doctrine, and the tenets of their specific elemental sect. Abstaining from bodily pleasures and desires is common to all sects, as is living up to spiritual values. In addition, many monasteries have a very strong internal discipline that their members are expected to follow. To question the prevailing hierarchy, its representatives, or the goodness and omnipotence of the Church or the sect, is utterly unacceptable.

==Appearance and Customs==

With regard to appearance, the sectarians tend to be more alike than they are different.  Novices dress in plain simple robes, the colour identifies the sect (red for fire, blue for water, brown for earth, yellow for air).  Priests and Patriarchs continue to wear coloured robes of heavier weight (and warmth). Higher rank priests and may have embroidery and small ornamentation on their robe, but as a group, most sectarians do not wear jewelry. 
 
If a priest has sworn an oath of chastity, they will wear a white robe regardless of their sect.
 
Sometimes there are differences within a sect, some monasteries require that all members shave their heads bald, others prohibit any cutting of body hair.  

==Religion==

All Sectarians are maintained by a Church teacher, and most follow the traditional teaching of the Church of Elements.  A few members of sects follow other, less respected, paths… and some of these do so secretly, others unknowingly.  This is a much wider topic than can be discussed in this treatise at this time.  

==Warfare==

Sectarians do not use any kind of weaponry. This is prohibited not only by their doctrine of peace, but also by the law of the Templars. A small number of fighters or Templar knights are sometimes placed in monasteries where defense is required. 
 
In practice, this is not always enough to keep bandits or Eskarite rebels at bay, and many monasteries in dangerous areas are protected by a stone or wood palisade wall which, when in distress, is raised up by a crowd of people swarming in from nearby villages as alarmed by monastery bells.
 
Church priests who travel alone to spread the word of the Church of Elements are often much more vulnerable than their brethren living in monasteries and have to rely on the good will of others on the road. Because the goodwill of other people is often a luxury in the valley, many wandering priests quickly learn to defend themselves with a wooden staff cut from the forest, their bare hands, or everyday tools such as a hatchet designed to split firewood.

==Well-known sectarians==

===Amaury the Hermit===

Amaury is said to have lived his entire life as a hermit in the northern forests, and joined the Church of Elements from following the teachings of the sect of Mystical Wisdom. He traveled south to Vaerlon and gathered a significant number of zealot followers. Today he is feared at Vaerlon's court and many influential members of the Church of Elements, such as Alice the Merciful, accuse him of elevating himself to the level of elemental gods. 
 
Amaury and his followers have been accused of libel, idolatry, and the use of many drugs. However, no one can deny the power of Amaury, or the power of his faith, for he is the only person who has been able to stop the powerful epilepsy seizures of Morgan Tensldor,  the heir of Vaerlon.  Previous to his arrival, countless church priests and Templar mystics tried to help the heir and failed. Amaury’s success provided entry to the court. Katrina Lohengrin needs him to guarantee the health of the heir, and he is seen to have considerable influence with the heir and the deputy ruler. 
 
However, the court has not completely accepted the man from the backwoods with open arms. Amaury has been subjected to numerous assassination attempts, but all have failed.  It is said he possesses superhuman perseverance and power.
 
Amaury is tall and flabby. Even in the court, he wears a simple robe with a piece of string as a belt. He rarely rinses or bathes, body or clothing, but he is said to carry no smell.  Certainly, he is known to appear in the midst of a crowd, seemingly unnoticed like a cat. 
 
Amaury's hair is a messy and thickety black bush, and his eyes are burning and his followers claim he can penetrate the veil of flesh and stare directly into the human soul. It is believed that Amaury knows the ‘inner truth’  of each person he meets. Certainly many men fall silent under his gaze, preferring silence to the risk of being caught in a lie.
 
There are many rumours about an ugly scar that runs around Amaury’s neck - he wrapped a rope of fire around his neck; he got it from hanging from a tree, by the neck for three days; an assassin cut off his head but his body secured it back in place. No story seems to outrageous, and Amaury only smiles and nods when a new tale is offered.  
 
No one doubts the power of Amaury, but some argue that his light does not shine as brightly as it once did; some say that perhaps the light is becoming a darker blue.

===Alise the Merciful===

At 40 years, Alise is very young to be a matriarch. She was born of a noble Templar family, but left her former life behind to follow the path of the Church of Elements in the monastery. Alise rose to the position of a matriarch very quickly, and malicious tongues claim that her high-born lineage made it happen. Alise  leads the White Monastery, and she is possibly the strongest matriarch in the sect of the Sisters of Grace. She has no official position, nor is she allowed by the laws of the Templars, but she is respected so much that there are at least five patriarchs and matriarchs who are ready to obey her without questioning. Alice is said to still be in contact with some of the Templars, and Maelyrra Maerlith-Madris is said to be a personal friend.
 
Alise is a rotund, sturdy woman who wears a white robe (meaning she has taken an oath of chastity).  She always speaks softly and softly, and her followers say there is compassion and understanding in her big eyes. A couple of hours of conversation with her is said to have led many hardened criminals and murderers to improve their ways. She has created her position as a skilled peacemaker and negotiator with an almost supernatural ability to find the root of the problems and make people settle things in peace. 
 
Alise is sometimes suspected of witchcraft. She is said to be relatively modest (TOO modest) for a matriarch of the monastery, and she only rarely shines the light of the church.

===Cecily the Chaste===

The young priestess of the sect of Illuminating Flame is the only person to have survived the strange plague which killed all the other members of her village in the province of Stormshield. Cecily was only a child at that time and she claims to have had a vision of [[zrammas|Zrammas]] that told her to assemble an Orthodox army of the Fire and free the valley of its oppressive darkness and sin. 
 
Cecily joined the monastery, graduated as a priestess at an unprecedented pace, and has since toured the provinces, gathering followers who she commands to leave behind all their worldly possessions. The number of her followers has grown almost explosively, and she has next announced that she will head to [[atherton|Atherton]], where, according to her, "the flood of pure faith will sweep away the dam of filth built by sinners."
 
Cecily is young, just over 20 years and always wears a red robe that covers her whole body, leaving only her face visible. She has gotten her nickname from the fact that she doesn't take off her robe, even in the heat of summer, and no one is known to have ever seen her without it. Cecily's eyes are big and her complexion is lean. She is relatively tall as a woman and has an internally driven heat and conviction when speaking about things of faith.