Builders

Overview: The Builders are modeled after an exaggerated kind of Catholicism, specifically around the time of the Inquisition. The Builder Church is very powerful. Like the Catholic Church, it is deeply intertwined with the politics of the Empire. The senior members of the Church vie for power with the noble classes and can affect laws especially where those laws are concerned with "moral" behaviour. There are specific religious crimes which one can be tried for by the Builders, like European charges of witchcraft back in the day.

Info: The Builders believe that their job is to 'civilize' the lands, and to build great works to honour their God. To them, nature is chaotic. Human civilization, with roads, walls, and aqueducts, are all elements of order. They value order, hard work, and devotion. Destruction of property, sloth, and chaos are all great evils. Builder mythology says that the world began in chaos. God gave fire and tools to Mankind so that they might have dominion over the wilds. It is their purpose to build, to create order, and to spread civilization. Anyone that opposes the spread of civilization (as Pagans often do) is working against that purpose.

The Builders believe the afterlife is a gleaming, golden city. The city is made by their Creator, and is perfect in every way, running itself like clockwork. The more you worked in this life, the better your lodgings and the greater your freedom in this perfect city. Those who did not sufficiently honour God with their works on earth wind up in purgatory--a dreary place where they can work their way into heaven through hard labour. Those who die unrepentent or with too great a sin are barred from The Blessed City and are dragged off by demons (who are often depicted as looking like pagan nature-gods) to the underworld--a chaotic realm where they are tormented for all eternity.

Builders believe in demons and evil spirits that try to corrupt people, making them slothful (a major builder sin) and do other sinful things (like destroy property). Theft of property is also high on their list of sins.

Builders don't have confessions, they instead have "ordeals" people must go through to rid themselves of sin. These ordeals can range from helping to build a cathedral to having to carry hot iron across coals. The rich can, of course, offer donations to the Church in lieu of the ordeal. Sometimes Builders will force these ordeals on people, especially heretics, for the good of their souls. Other people mistakenly see this as 'torture'.

Hard work/slave labour is seen by the Builders as literally good for the soul. Sinful people can work their way towards their heavenly reward by working hard. The Builders often put prisoners and Pagans to work in what are essentially slave labour camps, attempting to save their souls.

The Church is always continuing its mission to tame and civilize the land. Just as The City continues to expand, new monastaries are formed in the wilderness, to protect and cultivate the nearby resources (Builder monastaries are more like small fortresses). They are the only places outside the city where a civilized man can feel safe, and they are therefore heavily used by merchants, mercenaries, and any others who cannot travel by ship. By collecting tithes from these travellers, the Builders gain a great deal of wealth to finance future building projects.

Views on Other Factions: The Church sees most magic as sinful, since it involves (in their minds) trafficking with spirits. Only certain kinds of magic are legal to perform, including healing and protective spells. Divining the future, destructive spells or those that bend the will are all considered heretical. Of course, magic-like abilities, like priests throwing holy fire, come from God and are not considered magic.

The Church see Pagans as--at best--misguided souls who have been corrupted by their close contact with spirits and nature, or at worst, active agents of chaos bent on destroying civilization. They rarely go out of their way to actually hunt pagan tribes down, however, unless they interfere with the building of a new fortress or mine.