The Cadashrim

​The Cadashrim are those people recognized for having taken a specific temporary religious vow. While the word is specific to High Speech, it is known in every land and realm. 

The fact that the vow is universal indicates that it predates any of the known religions, and is perhaps one of the oldest rites or practices known. Some say its origin stretches back to the time of the Halfling Empire. 

The Cadashrim agree to bathe a dead body and keep it company until it is buried or otherwise disposed of. During the time that they serve, they will not speak nor abandon the dead. It is often considered a kind of atonement for misdeeds. In many places the Cadashrim are a kind of permanently staffed mortuary. In others, the assignment is taken on an ad hoc basis.

The vow is taken simply -- by disrobing, bathing, and then entering the place where the dead are kept with the intention to remove the body, clean it, and then guard it until its resting place is prepared. 

The Melekrim

​The Melekrim are those people recognized for having taken a specific temporary religious vow. While the word is specific to High Speech, and thus only used by the demi humans (Besnir) it has its analogs in each of the five human tongues. In Northrun they are called Melkronrr. In Southrun, the Manazoor. In Eastrun they are Mang Se. In Westrun, Gudwon. In the Provinces, they are Votori. 

The fact that the vow is universal indicates that it predates any of the known religions, and is perhaps the oldest rite or practice known. Some say its origin stretches back to the time of the Halfling Empire. 

For any period of time, in 28 day increments (from moon to moon), the Melekrim are motivated by extreme joy, sorrow or supplication to go unshod, to go unshaven (including cutting their hair), and to be scantly fed (eating only wild fruit and nuts, in addition to locusts and honey. They will also spend at least 6 turns per watch in chant and meditation. 

The benefit of this vow is to grant, even to non-clergy, the power of Sanctuary and one other faculty, once per day, commencing after the first 24 hour period, including:

Bless

Call Upon Faith

Create Water

Cure Light Wounds

Detect Evil

Endure Cold/Heat

Locate Halidom/Holy Place

Protection from Evil

Purify Food and Drink

Remove Fear

The vow is simply taken by removing one's shoes, placing ashes on the head and the backs of each hand, and scratching the number of moons it will be observed upon the ground. After that, his head is shaved, and then not cut again until the vow is expired. From then on, the Melekrim will speak only when spoken to or if necessity dictates. 

The Arcade

Peakshadow is sometimes called the Gift of the Dwarven Lord, and with good reason. Long before the metropolis expanded out to its fourth walls, there was only the innermost surround and, of course, the Sudhall Keep within. That keep and its surround, was a gift given to Feron the Seventh on the occasion of his investiture as Earl of Bolden. 

Using the craft known only to their kind, the Dwarves cut a notch in the face of the mountain's East slope. Upon this notch, they built Sudhall and its surround. But the discarded stone of their quarrying and excavation formed the Haliron -- a small hill and the second highest point on the plain. It was upon Haliron Hill that that the priests sought to raise their Grand Temple of Heaven.

The Grand Temple was built to face Sudhall, for in 4170ey High Priest Simmon believed it would remind a pompous earl (and the earl's young wife) to keep himself humble in the face of the god Heimos. But it is said that the architect of that structure had a critical shortage of humility himself. He had more vision than space with which to work. For that reason, the south cella of the Temple protruded off the back of the artificial hill and thus had to be supported by large quarried-stone arches. The builders did not have the skill of the Dwarves and it was only completed in 4371ey.

The space beneath the arches was called the arcade. It was a natural place for the priests and penitents to keep their sheep and goats -- animals destined for ritual slaughter. It also became the place to which the once-ridiculed priest, Gamasiel, was banished when he was expelled from his order for teaching the truth.

Gamasiel credited the Arcade for giving him his priestly formation. He spent a decade with the sheep and goats and claimed that by observing and caring for them, he learned to teach men. For this reason, the place where the Church of Westrun now trains all of its priests is still called the Arcade -- though it is not in Peakshadow any longer.

While the original location is now little more than a forgotten slum that still exists in the Second Circle of Peakshadow, the name was given, in the centuries that followed, to the palatial house deeded to the Church of Westrun by the devout citizens of Watersedge of Talir. So while the Arcade boasts arches no longer, it is still known by that name. Every priest who wishes to become a Shepherd in the Church of Westrun, must attend the Arcade and there receive ordination.

Library of Lyosha

The Library of Lyosha, also known as the High King's Library, is the greatest collection of non-magical books in Westrun, and perhaps all of Erenth.

Lyosha himself is believed to have been a sage of the ancient world. Indeed the oldest text in the Library is called Histories of Lyosha and is recorded on a series of clay cones, each bearing his distinctive signature. The writing is in the form of pictograms whose meanings have been lost to antiquity.

The Library itself was once lost, but was exhumed by Dwarves who began to lay the foundations of Peakshadow as a gift to human kind, early at the start of the Seventh Age. To the records they found there, the subsequent kings of Peakshadow added whatever tomes they could acquire or have written.

The books themselves are kept by an order of sages known as the Lyoshans, or more commonly, the Gray Beards of Peakshadow or the Fingermen.

The Lyoshan's vow never to write books of their own, and never to share the knowledge they have gained by reading, but rather only to present the books they have found for other's to read and draw their own conclusions. To help fulfill this vow, the Fingermen amputate their first and second finger on their right hand after taking the hood of their order.

Some believe that Lyosha himself is interred in the bowels of the library.

The Official Roll of the Canonical Orders of the Church of Westrun and All Erenth

Henceforth, the priests of Westrun will officially called, Clerics. While they are all servants of our ecclesiastical hierarchy, there are nonetheless several Orders that an individual priest might join. Each Order has its own emphasis which it may maintain, provided it does not compromise the central teachings of the Church. Each Order will be headed by a Cardinal Prefect who is nominated and elected by the Order, but whose appointment must be ratified by myself, Ulric, Patriarch in Peakshadow.

The Orders Are:

• Most Learned Brothers of Worthy Planos
• Devout Order of Clerics Regular of the Penitent Knights of Poverty
• Laboring Order of Worthy Gamasiel
• Observant Society of Worthy Cronos
• Compassionist Society of Worthy Jerebola

Observant Society of Wr. Cronos

Wr. Cronos served as a Cardinal Prefect in 5140 and was put in charge of codifying The Canons, as well as establishing the Scriptoriums which saw to their production. He was a holy man and a worker of miracles besides.

The Society of St. Cronos was established in 5202 by priests who felt that others had become too soft in regards to the teaching of the Church. Members of the Society are extremely devout and adhere to the highest standards of personal holiness, while also taking great pains to study the Canons, even committing large portions of them to memory. Cronosians often preside at juridical functions and in matters where the letter of the law is needed.

They are sometimes at odds with the Planosians.

Their symbol is that of a ram.

Most Learned Brothers of Wr. Planos

Planos was the first Patriarch elected after Gamasiel in 5124. A humble man, he seemed ill-suited for the position of grandeur that the Patriarch would enjoy. He downplayed his own importance, allowing the faithful to refer to him only as "Father" instead of the more appropriate, "Eminence".

While the Planosians adhere to the teachings of the Church in all ways and are well-known as highly educated priests, they are notably lax when it comes to the rites and canons. They consider themselves fiercely independent and have pledged themselves to the office of the Patriarch, without regard to the rest of the hierarchy, which might be a necessity, but one they obey with some reluctance. The chief mission of the Planosian Brothers is in the area of education. The priests are well known as polyglots, historians and sages of reknown.

They are sometimes at odds with the Cronosian Fathers.

Their symbol is an owl clutching a key.