Ebronism

Ebronism is a monotheistic religion and the state religion of Schap. It has about 1.5 million believers.

It is not related to Ebronland except by a coincidental similarity of names.

God

The only monotheistic religion in Auseka, Ebronists worship Scho Tu, The Creator. This divine being (without gender, but generally referred to as "he" in the common tongue) has brought the world into existence in order to please himself. Thus the greatest duty of all living things is to please Scho Tu. The best way to do so is to follow the divine guidance of his priests, who alone are granted a small glimpse of his will. Since no human could hope to glance the entire mind of The Creator, even his priests may not see the whole truth at once and may receive guidance in fragments, even seemingly conflicting. But in the end, it is not for mortals to grasp the will of Scho Tu, and all will be as it should be.

Scho Tu can appear in any form that he wishes to. Most depictions show him as a wise old man by face and a strong healthy man in his best age by body. While the legends include many tales of Scho Tu appearing in female form, the priests of Ebronism have outlawed and destroyed any such depictions since the Convent of Onister in 156 BV.

Prophets

Ebronism recognizes three prophets, each of whom began a new age in the Ebronist calendar.

Fowke Sarria was the first prophet. The year he received the first revelations is the first year of the first age of the Ebronist calendar . He was allowed to understand the nature of the world and the presence of Scho Tu. Unfortunately, many of his original insights were lost, or found to be forgeries and ordered destroyed at the Convent of Ebron , before the faithful were driven out of their lands.

Nod Ambrogi was the second prophet. When Ebronism and its followers was driven out of the Ebron area in the 3rd century BV, a new prophet arose to lead its people east and unveil The Creators intentions. Much of todays scriptures dates from that time. Nod was also the one to lay down the initial set of rules for the priesthood of Ebronism.

Almer Pascke was the third and so far last prophet. He lived from 206 BV to 152 BV and added many of the deeper mysteries and much of the social structures of Ebronism. His death prompted the Convent of Onister, which sorted and structured his many teachings, resulting in some considerable changes to the daily practices of the religion.

Temples

In Ebronism, temples are simple affairs, typically made from rough stone, unpainted and decorated only with religious symbols. Or scenes from the revelations of the prophets. On the inside, every temple has a main hall for the congregation, which in villages is also used as a general assembly, and two smaller halls - the inner sanctum for the most sacred rites, open only to the priests, and the antechamber where visitors are expected to leave their shoes and overcoats.

The larger temples also have additional rooms for smaller sermons, for the display of holy relics or other items of importance or as libraries and reading rooms for holy texts.

Healing or blessing services are never conducted in the temple itself. If such services are offered, there is a seperate building for them.

Monasteries

In addition to the temples, there are also monasteries throughout the land. These places serve as both centers of power and centers of learning.

An Ebronist Monastery is a fortified castle with a constant guard of soldiers, and they serve all the purposes of castles in other realms, including defense of the land, barracks for the army, centers of tax collection and seat of the local lord, who in Schap is also a high priest, commonly a Patre.

In many areas, the monasteries are in effect more political than religious centres. But they always serve two important religious purposes: It is here that young priests, mostly sons of priests but also boys given to the priesthood by their families, are trained. Training always begins at age seven, older boys are very rare exceptions, and lasts for seven years. Following priesthood training, the boys are sent to seven temples as apprentices (Akongas) for one year each, after which time they return to the monastery and in a large ceremony are annointed as full priests, (Rahbars) who then join a temple of their choice or a temple chosen for them by the head of the monastery.

Similar to towns in Shwazen culture, monasteries also have waystations outside for traders and visitors and only rarely welcome them inside. In fact, this tradition is even stronger for monasteries, which deal with all but the highest visitors at the waystation, which for most of them is at least an inn and a trade post and sometimes has the size of a small village with blacksmiths, carpenters and other craftsmen who mostly serve the monastery also concentrated there. The exception is visiting priests of Ebronism, which enter the monastery directly.

Priests

Since the convent of Onister roughly 200 years ago, the priesthood has become predominantly male. There are still female priests, especially in the villages, but the vast majority are now men. Priests of Scho Tu are exptect to dedicate their lives to religious service, so unlike in some other religions, they are priests and nothing else. They are also forbidden to marry, but not to father children - on the contrary, to raise the child of a priest is considered an honour, so some peasants do feel the burden occasionally of having another mouth to feed and not all husbands understand the importance of the matter entirely. It is not a sin for a married woman to sleep with a priest, but it is also not a duty. Many priests are charming enough, however, that there is enough supply of fresh priests, because if their children are boys then they are taken from their families at age seven and given to a monastery for education.

The priesthood is organized in a strict hierarchy. At the top sits the Patron, religious head of Ebronism and political leader of Schap. Below him are seven Patres, fathers of the seven regions of Schap, equivalent to dukes in other realms. Underneath them are the Stiruchs, who oversea a county or similar territory, followed by the Rahbars, who are in charge of individual towns, villages or similar local regions. The Rangatis below those are the lowest full-ranked priests, often serving the Rahbars, but in large towns they can also be heads of an individual temple. Finally, the Akongas are priests in training, the equivalent of apprentices.

Rules and Traditions

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Secrets of Ebronism

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