Lough (pronounced LAW)
A monotheistic religion that is a nightmare version of the Medieval Church. They speak of peace and love but spawn crusades and inquisitions trying to root out and destroy Chaos. Lough is represented as some kind of ocean deity.
Followers of Lough believe the dead should be buried at least 6 feet down and they have rituals to ensure the spirit can move on to the next world (often including removing the head). They are obsessed with this and will go to great lengths to 'clean up' battlefields and ensure any remaining spirits are assisted in moving along.
Believers in Lough tend to eat meat, especially pork, and many of the high ranking officials end up with the gout because of the overabundance of meat in their diet.
Parish Church's of Lough - Parish churches are constructed in brick covered over in plaster. They tend to be shaped like a T, with a large statue of Lough sitting cross-legged with a brazier in his lap with a dome above. The brazier always contains burning charcoals or (during ceremonies) a fire. A parish church will also have a statue of a patron saint in each end of the T (the same Saint showing three things they were sainted for.
Great Church's of Lough - The great churches are mammoth cathedrals built of limestone, often with flying arches. Functionally they are similar to Parish Churches except much larger, and with crypts beneath, more outbuildings, and they have multiple patron saints in each end of the T instead of a single one three times.
Believers in Lough tend to eat meat, especially pork, and many of the high ranking officials end up with the gout because of the overabundance of meat in their diet.
Parish Church's of Lough - Parish churches are constructed in brick covered over in plaster. They tend to be shaped like a T, with a large statue of Lough sitting cross-legged with a brazier in his lap with a dome above. The brazier always contains burning charcoals or (during ceremonies) a fire. A parish church will also have a statue of a patron saint in each end of the T (the same Saint showing three things they were sainted for.
Great Church's of Lough - The great churches are mammoth cathedrals built of limestone, often with flying arches. Functionally they are similar to Parish Churches except much larger, and with crypts beneath, more outbuildings, and they have multiple patron saints in each end of the T instead of a single one three times.
Nearly a century ago the Cult of Lough divided into the Cult of Lough and the Cult of Lough Reformed.
- Gax the Prophet - Co-creator of the Cult. After assisting the Son of Arne in documenting his visions Gax himself started having visions which were documented in a series of books known as the 3 White Books.
- Son of Arne the Visionary - Co-creator of the cult. He had visions and spoke of them to Gax the Prophet who documented them. Son of Arne had little interest in the day-to-day matters of spreading the word and soon stepped aside.
- Aye the young - Saint Aye was a merchant and financial supporter of the early cult. He died young.
- Arker the esoteric - A scholar who had visions of the Lotus World, the after world promised by Lough.
- Ask the Chronicler - Little is know of Ask but she left a large number of tomes of the temples history.
Cult of Lough Reformed - The Cult of Lough Reformed revers the same Prophets and Saints listed for the Cult of Lough, but they also worship two additional 'Saints"
- Liams the Splitter - Took over the early Cult and exiled Gax the Prophet. This was after she had achieved Sainthood in the Cult.
- Lume of the Many Faces - One of Gax the Prophets original followers he sided with Liams the Splitter
False/Un-annointed Saints (not "officially" recognized by either but often sworn by)
- Argrave the shadowdancer - Argrave added additional Chapters to the Holy Book that were never accepted as canon.
- Andre the Trollfighter - Andre restructured the book in a way that the Cult felt lost the message. He was best known as a scholar who fought trolls.
- Ledsaw the Overlord - An near-invincible tyrant that made the Cult of Lough the official religion of his City-State, giving the fledgling cult a chance to survive and spread.
- Tafford the scholar or beasts - Said to have documented the world's monsters. He was one of the first to show signs of the Enlightening.
The Cunundrum with Clerics
The Priests of the Old Faith have always been able to cast spells. The Clerics of Lough have never had the power to cast spells, at least until the Westerness crusade. After the crusade started a number of the purist of Lough worshipers started to show signs of magical ability. Initially the cult hierarchy tried to hide this fact (as it made Clerics without such power appear fake or impure) but eventually decided they were the Chosen of Lough to fight Chaos and convinced/ordered such individuals to Thule Island, partially to get them out of any strife within the Church and partially to stomp down Chaos on the Island.
The interesting thing is that after the Cult of Lough divided, Clerics kept appearing in each branch. Some took this as an indicator that Lough is indifferent to the worldly Church or who was Pontiff, others that the magic came from another source.
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