Faiths and their corresponding gods exist since the beginning of time. In this early stage of time the faiths had neither worshippers nor names. Then the humanoids came to world. The elves were the first ones to arrive but shortly after their arrival other humanoids entered the world as it was these days. Slowly the population of these humanoids grew. Kingdoms and empires were founded and fell into decay again. New worlds were discovered and the humanoids cultivated them.
Some of the most successful kings and emperors ideas matched the ideas of a god so closely that the god linked them to their faith. These leaders were granted special powers and became the first priest of the faith. With these special powers the priest could point out some of his most loyal servants to become priests after his death. These priests were given permission to built temples on a place of their desire and train new priests.
History of the Rising Sun:
There once was a king Sivarius who ruled a vast kingdom on the prime material plane of Xindu. Sivarius was a born king with a strong leadership. It was him that reunited the north and south of the kingdom putting an end to the civil war that ruined half his kingdom. After the conflict was settled he put five of his best councilors in charge of the five duchy’s in his country to secure the peace. Five years after the war he married Isulda a farmer’s daughter. Sivarius was the first king that married a girl of the common folk but the people loved him for it and so did the dukes. In the years after the war he and his councilors brought prosperity to his country and he became one of the most beloved kings of Xindu. The people called him The Rising Sun, bringing brighter days after the dark times of the civil war.
Short before his death a god linked his faith to Sivarius and the faith of the Rising Sun was born. After his death his five councilors were pointed out to become priests. Three of them built temples at the plane of Xindu. One of them built a temple at the outer plane Bytopia which became the major temple of the Rising Sun. The last priest unfortunately died before he completed his temple. Nowadays the faith of the Rising Sun has expended to a lot of planes however the faith remains small compared to faiths like Pelor, the Shining One. The temple on Bytopia is still the major temple. It’s by far the largest temple and of rare beauty. Of the three temples on Xindu only one remained.
Followers and worshippers:
After a priest builts a temple. The temple will attract an amount of followers and worshippers depending on the location of the temple. In essence worshippers are people that simply worship the faith and do live according to the ideas of the faith. Followers on the other hand do dedicate their life to the faith. They support the temple and its priest in any way they can. A typical temple has approximately thirty followers that spend their time maintaining the temple, serve people that visit the temple, spreading the faith etc. These followers are maintained by the temple. After the arrival of a follower he or she will be educated in the principles of the faith. In order to serve the temple well the follower will be trained to the first level of priesthood. Furthermore the followers will learn about reading and writing, healing and if possible herbalism and religion. These followers will not rise in level except for those who will be specially trained to serve the Rising Sun for a certain purpose.
How to become a priest of the Rising Sun:
If the priest wishes to train new priests he may point out two to four of his followers to become his apprentices. The total time of the training is approximately six years of which the first two years are spent in the temple they serve. After the two years the training proceeds at the major temple at Bytopia.
During the first two years the students learn everything they need to know about the faith of The Rising Sun. The study is basically gaining knowledge. Without this knowledge a student will never be able to control his special powers. These two years of study are finished by a test. Students who fail the test will not be sent to Bytopia but remain serving the temple.
At the main temple at Bytopia the students will proceed their training. They will be there for the remaining four years. During the first year on Bytopia the students will train their fighting and defense skills. Naturally a priest can rely on his spells but relying only on his spells is the worst thing a priest can do. Some basic knowledge how to defend oneself is essential. During the second year the students will learn how to control their minds and bodies during tense situations. Concentration is crucial to keep full control over a spell. When concentration is lost the spell fumbles. The students are thaught how to banish all thought off their minds during spell casting. After these four years of training the priest is granted special powers by a special ritual in which the priest is proposed as a priest of the Rising Sun to the Rising Sun himself. These special powers are spell casting and turning undead. The last two years are dedicated to learn how to use these special powers in all sorts of situation. The training is finished by another test. When this test is passed the priest will be a traveling priest, he or she will wait for his or her mission. A priest that fails the test will become a temple priest
There are only a few prerequisites the apprentices have to meet. The most important thing is that they truly worship The Rising Sun are and are willing to dedicate their life to it. Secondly they have to know that their life will be one of service which means they will have to sacrifice certain things in life. Their wisdom must be 17 or higher and their alignment has to be neutral or lawful good.
The life of a priest of the Rising Sun:
After the students have completed their training some of them will be appointed to a quest. These priests are called the traveling priests. The nature of this quest is mostly to neutralize an evil that is threatening a certain plane. The nature of this evil is not always at forehand known. Sometimes a priest will be sent to a plane not knowing what this evil looks like. The priest is free to do what he feels right to do to solve the quest as long as it’s not challenging the ideas of the faith. The priest may fight this evil either alone or together with others if he or she is able to find friends who are willing to join the priest in his quest. The quest is ended if the evil is destroyed. If a priest fails his quest another priest will takeover.
A priest that successfully completed his quest is granted permission to built a temple of his own. The design and size of the temple is up to the priest that builts the temple. Usually the temple is built in a city or a fortified village. But there are also temples know that were built as part of a stronghold or castle. After the building is completed the traveling priest will send a request to Bytopia to send a priest that will maintain the temple when the traveling priest has to leave the temple. These priests are known as temple priests.
Spells:
Preferable a priest of the Rising Sun will pray from half an hour before sunrise till half an hour after sunrise. During this hour the priest will be in contact with the Rising Sun who will grant him his or her spells.
A first level priest will start with two set spheres and one sphere of his choise. The two set spehers are astral and sun. The third one is up to the priest but is usually healing. When the priest advances in levels he or she will be able to cast levels of higher levels. When he does so he may choose a sphere and add this one to the spheres he already possesses. In this way the priest will be able to receive spells from 9 spheres.
Questor of the Rising Sun
Questor lost his parents at a very young age. As an orphan of barely three years old a priest took mercy of this young boy and took him to his temple. The priest adopted this child as his son and named him Questor. As the boy grew older it turned out the boy had an extremely good memory. Questor’s father realized that the boy could be a good priest and took him as his apprentice. Questor passed both tests of the training with success and became Questor of the Rising Sun, traveling priest.
Barely one year after completing his training he was appointed a mission at the prime material plane of Muad’Dib. A powerful magical artifact that was lost for centuries was found on this plane and had to be destroyed. His mission started at Vlist where he met Gramber, Faita and Sylvester. Together with them he started his adventure. Years of searching, fighting and suffering followed. During these years some persons joined in, some died. Gramber and Questor were the only one that survived the first few years. Later on two new members joined in: Gri’Shak and Aliena who proved to be a very well acquisition to the group. Together with these friends Questor managed to complete his mission. By this time Questor reached level 12 and gained a wisdom of 20.
After the mission was completed the members of the party, now know as the Invincibles, build a castle which they named Bak’nors Rock. Bak’nor was the last member of the group that was killed in combat before the castle was build. As part of the group Questor was given permission to built his own temple as part of the castle.
Updated: 17-01-2004 15:31 Content By ML