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Ecclesia Solari

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Ecclesia Solari

TypeTheocratic Church and Political Power
PantheonThe Trinity (Natu, Magi, Tekk)
HeadquartersSt. Ode’bbej Cathedral, Astraloftum
Holy CapitalAstraloftum, the Flying Holy City
High PriestessHigh Priestess Cetra
Lord CommanderZariel Tenebris
Sacred TextsSolari Sermons, the Edicts of Balance, the Solari Calendar
Martial OrdersSolar Scions, Solari Inquisition, SABER
Primary GoalLocate Paradise
Primary EnemyThe Fomorians and the Cult of Nirvana

“The one who seeks will find an answer. Do not turn them away. The Trinity grants answers to all who seek, yet the foolish do not see the answers laid out in front of them.”

Ecclesia Solari

The Ecclesia Solari is the dominant religious and political power across the Skysea, dedicated to the worship of the Holy Trinity: Natu (Goddess of Nature), Magi (God of Magic), and Tekk (God of Technology). Headquartered in the divine bastion of the Holy City of Astraloftum, the Church’s primary directive is to locate the lost realm of Paradise, “The Land of the Gods,” which vanished three centuries ago, and to purge the world of the insidious Fomorians.

The Church teaches that the Trinity grants answers to all who seek them, though it maintains a rigid hierarchy and strict dogmatic control over information. While it projects an image of benevolent guidance, internal strife and secrets often fester behind the polished white walls of St. Ode’bbej Cathedral.

Mission & Doctrine

The Ecclesia rests on three foundational pillars, drawn directly from the Edicts of Balance in the Solari Sermons:

  1. The First Law of Natu: Honor the Great Tree and the cycle of blood and soil.
  2. The Second Law of Magi: Respect the ethereal weave; study the arcane with reverence; share knowledge.
  3. The Third Law of Tekk: Forge with purpose; uplift mortal life, never replace the soul.

A fourth principle binds these together, the Law of Convergence: “Never elevate one pillar above the others. To disrupt the triad is to invite oblivion.”

The Crusade for Paradise is the Church’s single great enterprise. The realm vanished three centuries ago, and the Church teaches that its recovery will end the slow degradation of Souls into Spirits, Undead, and Fomorians: the spiritual rot caused by Souls having nowhere to go. The arrival of the Comet of Eden is currently read by the Church as the prophetic herald of a new Crusade, one that will at last lead the faithful to Paradise’s gates.

Hierarchy of the Clergies

The Sun-Crown (Apex)

RankHolderDomain
High Priestess of the Ecclesia SolariHigh Priestess CetraSupreme spiritual and political authority. Sole arbiter of doctrine. Commands SABER directly.
Nunc-Sol (presumed)(currently vacant or unnamed)Direct hand of the High Priestess. Traditionally a former Solar Scion.

The Sacred Triumvirate

Three High Cardinals, one per member of the Trinity, who collectively form the Solar Conclave and advise the High Priestess.

TitlePatronAuthority
High Cardinal of NatuNatuOversees druidic orders, the Whispering Grove, orphanages, and the cycle-rites of birth, marriage, and burial.
High Cardinal of MagiMagiOversees the arcane scholastica, the College of Damocles liaison, and all sanctioned magical research.
High Cardinal of TekkTekkOversees Tekkhead Labs, the Forgehearth District, smiths, artificers, and all sanctioned Automaton workshops.

The Orders

Each Cardinal heads a clerical order, which descends through ranks. The naming below is the general convention; individual orders use variations.

  • Archbishops govern entire regions or major holy sites (one per major city, plus one each over Astraloftum’s districts).
    • Bishops govern individual cathedrals, abbeys, and laboratories.
      • Priests / Priestesses lead parishes, congregations, and shrines.
        • Deacons / Sub-priests assist with daily liturgy and pastoral duties.
          • Acolytes / Initiates are the lay-clerical workforce: novices, novitiates, and aspirants.

Parallel Orders & Holy Offices

These bodies operate alongside the clerical hierarchy and answer to the High Priestess (and, in some cases, to the Conclave collectively).

OfficeCurrent HolderFunction
Lord Commander of the Solari InquisitionZariel TenebrisMilitia, expeditionary army, Apostate-hunting. Headquartered at the Tower of Inquisition.
Abbot of the Solari AbbeyAbbot MuhoMonastic head; oversees contemplative orders, the Scriptorium, and Natu’s Starlit Nest.
Archdruid of the Whispering GroveFinley (acting)Highest druid; tends the Great Natu Tree and the Well of Souls.
Holy Mother of Natu’s Starlit NestHoly Mother AnastasiaCare for the orphans of the faith; one of the few open to Rubix scholarship.
Master of Forges (presumed)(unnamed)Head of the Tekkhead artificer-clergy beneath the Forgehearth District.
Scrollmaster (presumed)(unnamed)Senior archivist; presides over the Scriptorium.
Captain of the Solar Scions(via Hall of Scions)Coordinates Scion deployments. Scions are blessed by the Trinity directly and are therefore adjacent to the Church hierarchy rather than within it.
Director of SABERHigh Priestess Cetra (direct)Clandestine; treats its operatives as functionally excommunicated. Reports only to the High Priestess.

Saints & the Canonized Dead

The Church recognizes a tier above all living offices: the Saints, mortals (and in rare cases, constructs) who have been formally canonized for sanctity, miracle, or martyrdom. Canonization requires unanimous consent of the Sacred Triumvirate, the High Priestess, and (in theory) a divine sign from at least one member of the Trinity. De-canonization, the formal stripping of sainthood, is far rarer, and historically has been used to bury truths the Church does not wish remembered. See Saint Brasser the Ambrosius.

Holy Sites

The Church’s most sacred architecture is concentrated in Astraloftum, though shrines and parish chapels are scattered across the Skysea.

In Astraloftum

Beyond Astraloftum

  • Mission churches and parish shrines across the Skysea, including Boneshield (where Westmarch Murdoch is restoring an old church) and chapels in many minor floating cities.
  • The Church recognizes the Dwarven Inverted Temple on Jupiter as a parallel holy site, sanctified to Tekk under his Dwarven aspect as God of the Earth and Underworld.

Sacred Texts & Calendar

  • The Solari Sermons: Core scripture. Includes the Song of Her Glory (Natu), the Scrolls of Tekk (including the controversial Sermon of Fomorians), and the canonical writings attributed to Magi’s reformist half.
  • The Edicts of Balance: The four-law covenant binding the Trinity together (the First, Second, Third, and the Law of Convergence).
  • The Solari Calendar: Six months, seven-day weeks, each day dedicated to a deity, virtue, or principle. Established by the Ecclesia but used universally across the Skysea.

Affiliated Martial Orders

  • Solar Scions: Holy warriors selected directly by the Trinity (not by the Church) to find Paradise and combat the Fomorians. They operate alongside the Ecclesia but not exclusively for it. Few are chosen each year; fewer survive their initiation. The most famous active group of Scions is the Soul Shepherds after the Fomorian Invasion of Astraloftum.
  • Solari Inquisition: Astraloftum’s militia and expeditionary army. Doctrinal enforcement, Apostate hunting, defense of the Holy City. Commanded by Zariel Tenebris. Animosity between Inquisitors and Scions is well-known and routine.
  • SABER: A clandestine unit of compromised Scions who operate as if excommunicated. “The blade before the hymn.” Specialize in infiltration, soul-intelligence, and Apostate termination. Their existence is denied publicly. They report only to High Priestess Cetra. Each operative bears the Twilight Brand and has undergone the Light Severance rite. The current most lethal operative is Thirteen, a Scion long assumed dead.

Doctrinal Controversies

The Ecclesia is not a monolith. Several long-running internal disputes shape its politics.

On the Fomorian Question. The Church’s Sermon of Fomorians teaches that Fomorians are corrupted spiritual entities, Spirits and degraded Souls infected by the Cult of Nirvana. The Conservative wing reads this literally and uncompromisingly. The Reformist wing, led visibly by High Priestess Cetra herself, recently forced through the reclassification of Kobolds as non-Fomorian and possessing Souls, a doctrinal earthquake catalyzed by Bartholomew’s heroism and his historic induction as the first Kobold Solar Scion (see Bartholomew’s Ascension). Quiet sermons against Cetra continue in the conservative cathedrals to this day.

On Free Will and Destiny. The clergies of Natu and Tekk are doctrinally opposed on the nature of mortal fate. Natu-clergy preach a Deterministic worldview (“Mortals have no control, even over their own will”). Tekk-clergy preach the opposite, that mortals with Souls can forge their own destinies. This argument has shaped centuries of Church policy and is the philosophical bedrock of dissenting Scions like Diallos and Virtus.

On the Undead. Magi teaches that the Undead are “a product of ordered chaos,” neither evil nor unnatural. Tekk teaches that they are “fundamentally unnatural and innately malevolent.” Both passages sit in the same scripture. The Church has never resolved the contradiction.

On Forbidden Knowledge. The Ecclesia formally forbids research into the most ancient Artificial Souls of Tekk’s lost armies, holding them as weapons “too perilous for the world.” The Tekkhead-clergy disagrees vocally and frequently.

On Concealed History. The de-canonization of Saint Brasser the Ambrosius is now privately understood by a small number of clerics to have been a cover-up: Brasser did not “go mad from weak faith”; he was deliberately exposed to Abathur by a high-ranking Solari official who wanted the Undershell sealed forever. The half-burned name in the Inverted Temple’s heretical manuscript is one of the great open wounds within the Church.

Notable Figures

Living

Past

  • Saint Ascon: Former High Priest. The architect of SABER’s founding doctrine. Allegedly the conspirator named in the Inverted Temple manuscript as the poisoner of Brasser.
  • Saint Brasser the Ambrosius: Dwarven Saint of Tekk. De-canonized for “weak faith.” Truly a victim of Church-engineered corruption.
  • Saint Ode’bbej: Honored at the central Cathedral and Square. Entombed in Astraloftum; spirit-guarded by St. Chopin. Patron name of the Church’s most sacred site.
  • Vincent family / Vincent of Damocles: Operates within the Church’s gravitational field; his marriage to Zariel and his Tekkhead Labs holdings make him an unofficial peer of the Conclave despite being lay. Currently under quiet investigation.

Recent History

  • The Fomorian Invasion of Astraloftum (Year 311): The largest open conflict between the Ecclesia and Fomorian forces in the modern era. The Cult of Nirvana attacked through the Great Natu Tree during the Lunar Eclipse, aiming to corrupt the Well of Souls. The Soul Shepherds prevailed alongside the Inquisition Army, but the souls within the Tree remain in Temporal Stasis to this day.
  • Bartholomew’s Ascension (Chapter VI): Kobolds officially declared non-Fomorian and possessing of Souls. First Kobold Solar Scion in Church history.
  • The Comet of Eden’s Approach: The Church now considers the present era to be the prophesied Year of the Comet, expected to grant immense power to the Solar Scions at its Appulse of Eden.
  • The Ruby Incident: Investigation into the destruction of Redhome by Apostate Scion Gragun Tides has been formally sealed. The reasons for the seal are not publicly disclosed.

The Litany of Names

Upon their elevation, every High Priest or High Priestess of the Ecclesia Solari is required to commit to memory the Litany of Names: the complete and ever-growing list of every person ever formally excommunicated from the Church. The names number in the thousands. Memorizing them takes years, and the new High Priest is given as long as they need before their first recitation.

Once a year, on the silent holiday of Dusquor’s Last Hour, the High Priest recites the Litany before the assembled Solar Conclave. The recitation is performed in total silence: lip-reading only, no breath behind the words, no candle that does not flicker on its own. No transcripts are kept, and the room is sealed.

The Church’s official explanation for this practice is that it is “an act of pastoral remembrance, to know the weight of every soul who has strayed.” The actual reason, known to perhaps three living people, is older: among the names is at least one Apostate who has not stayed dead, and the Litany is the only thing the divine still recognizes them by, regardless of what face they currently wear. To stop saying the name is to forget it. To forget the name is to lose the only thread that might let the Trinity find them again, if they return.

Cetra is the current bearer of the Litany. Whose name is on it that gives her pause has never been asked aloud.

The Sun-Sworn Vow

Every member of the Ecclesia Solari clergy, from a freshly tonsured Acolyte to the High Priestess herself, performs the same small ritual at sunrise: turning to face the rising sun and silently naming the one mortal whose Soul they have personally vowed to deliver to Paradise.

This is the Sun-Sworn, and it is the most personal commitment the Church asks of its faithful. The chosen name can be anyone the cleric loves enough to make the Crusade their own: a parent, a sibling, an apprentice, a long-dead friend, sometimes a stranger they only met once. The name can be changed, but only by formal absolution at the Cathedral altar in the presence of a Bishop or higher, and only after the previous name’s Soul has been confirmed to have already passed beyond the Veil.

The practice is one of the small ways the Church keeps its bureaucracy human, and one of the few ways the Conclave can be certain that no priest, no matter how high they rise or how cynical they become, ever forgets what the Crusade is actually for. A cleric who refuses to take the Sun-Sworn is quietly reassigned to administrative duties. A cleric whose Sun-Sworn name is ever discovered to be a fabrication faces excommunication; their name added to the Litany.

It is widely (and quietly) believed that Cetra’s Sun-Sworn is Thirteen. She has neither confirmed nor denied this.

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