Alexandrian Theology

Alexandrian Orthodoxy

• Godhead: Alexandria Omnity
• Holy Texts: Canon of Orthodoxy, The Apologia, Prophecies of Alabar Tremaline
• Views of Alexandria:
• Views on Morality:
• Views on Afterlife:
• Church Organization:
• Role of the Church: The Church is an inescapable part of almost all aspects of life on the Mainland, and its role in unifying and stabilizing the mainland cannot be overstated. For starters, they hold a virtually ironclad monopoly on divine magic on the mainland, at least as practiced by the Goodly Races. Additionally, the Church produces the vast bulk of the Mainland's coinage, meaning the church elders exhibit tremendous control over the world's economic systems. Not to mention that, as the Church tries and punishes the vast majority of violent criminals, the church also plays a tremendous role in the jurisprudence of the Alexandrian world. Often, the church will act as an intermediary or arbiter in political disputes, but takes no direct part in the wars which pit the goodly races against the goodly races (see below). The church also services the spiritual, and sometimes physical, needs of the flock.

Note: While Barbannan declared the Petarans to be Servitors by fiat for the purposes of his failed crusade, generally speaking the prohibition on active war also applies to the human, halfling, dwarf, and gnome peoples of The Ulan and Petara.

Peteran Heterodoxy

• Godhead: The Creator
• Holy Texts:
• Views of Alexandria: A Petaran orphan raised among the barbarians after a miraculous survival following a shipwreck. Not the godhead, but rather an anointed warrior-prophet who released divine magic from the Usurper Gods, martyring herself in the process.
• Views on Morality:
• Views on Afterlife:
• Church Organization:
• Role of the Church:

Zupanist Heterodoxy

• Godhead: The Source of Life
• Holy Texts: Zupanic Cantos
• Views of Alexandria: A central figure to the faith, but not the godhead. Credited for the Awakening of Mykos Ligit.
• Views on Morality:
• Views on Afterlife:
• Church Organization: None. Worship, ritual, and organization differs from place to place, or even tribe to tribe. Religious differences are one of the many reasons the barbarians of the Ulan give for constantly warring with one another.
• Role of the Church:

Heresies

It is rare, but not unheard of, for splinter groups to break off from the true church based on differences in interpretation, tradition, history, or any number of factors. Normally, these groups originate around a charismatic leader whose unorthodox preaching brings together a large enough flock to allow divine investiture. An alternate route to accessing divine power attracts a mass number of follower to the cause, leading to explosive early growth. Inevitably, the Temporal Authority takes notice and sends in the inquisitors to suppress the movement by any means necessary.

However, often the same heresies pop up again and again through history, as new preachers - almost always evangelists -

Alternatively, most cults are technically heresies, although the technical definition is still as subject of tremendous debate among sages. According to Hardraldick Thane's widely accepted definition, cults can be differentiated from heresies by the fact that most cults generate in secret, grow their number over time, and do not depend on any one individual as a focus. The gnomish philosopher Gabrababriabopor (gab ra bab ree ah bo poor), however, argues this definition is inadequate because it lumps in groups dedicated to the worship of outsiders with those groups that simply practice heretical - but essentially Alexandrian - beliefs in secret.

It is worth noting here that this section does not servitor religions, which are alien enough to warrant unique treatment.

Kivanite Heresy

The most radical - and unique - of the Alexandrian heresies, and an exception to the rules above, in that it was based not on a different interpretation of canon, but rather on an entirely new, revelatory Second Testimonial of Kivan given from an apparition of Kivan Half-Elven himself to the Alexandrian priest Redzan the Clean.