The area known as the Pale, as the name would suggest, once served as the border of Aerdy with the holdings of the Flan and the humanoid tribes. As the Great Kingdom declined, a Pholtan sect, the Followers of the Blinding Light, migrated to the region in a bid for self-governance and the freedom to practice their religion without suppression by the Aerdian Church of Law.
The settlements they established grew into the Theocracy of the Pale. The society of the Theocracy is still arranged along the lines of the original Blinding Light religious communities. The people are divided into the Elect, who have taken vows, and the Believers, who are the laity. The Elect are called to separate themselves from Chaotic world and so do not eat meat, abstain from alcohol, and remain celibate, among other restrictions. It is the Believers' duty to grow and prepare food and to bear children to grow their community, and the Elect pray for them so that they may be cleansed of these necessary sins of worldliness.
In the name of the defense of their country and faith, a third group has emerged. The warrior monks of the Sword of Radiance are counted among the Elect but are allowed to partake of meat if necessary to sustain their fighting strength, and most importantly, to commit acts of violence in Pholtus' name.
The Sword defends and expands the borders of the Pale into the lands of the heathen Flan and nonhumans. It can also be turned inward, acting to enforce the will of Pholtus as revealed by the Theocrat and to root out blasphemy and wickedness, particularly as accompanies the practice of magic.
Inspired by the Runequest style cult format, here's more information on the Church of the Blinding Light:
5 comments:
If you consolidate all these Greyhawk posts into a pdf and put it up on DMsGuild, I’d buy it. I’d really like to have them all in one document.
Thanks. It's funny you should mention that because I was thinking about a collation and the best way to put that out.
You hit a fantastic point here with the division of work being "peasant farmers" and "spiritual adventurers" or what AD&D considers zero-level humans and people with the training to attain class levels. It makes me wonder if they consider outsiders active "NPCs," non persons, and whether this whole "class theory" of society is an oerid invention.
But in terms of gameable material they might not even have "fighters," probably no overt "thieves," non-divine magic unlikely. What would a society look like if the only class is cleric?
Either way this social split managed to explain their coat of arms for me. The "pale" is the vertical band of revelation that splits the world of believers into moons (big and rare) and stars (little but common). Identifying with the sun is of course forbidden, that's what pagan cults do.
You know, another interesting thing about that coat of arms. I've seen the pattern on the pale described as ermine. Doesn't look typical but maybe. The little symbol also look sort of like heraldic grenades.
Pholtism may actually be a cryptic society hiding in plain sight!
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