The Church of the Pantheon is a unified religious entity which offers worship to many of the good and neutral aligned gods. Although freedom of religion is a protected right in Theder, the majority of its citizens remain faithful to the church-approved deities, known as The Formationist Pantheon: Bahamut, Corellon, Ioun, Kord, Melora, Moradin, Pelor, Sehanine, and The Raven Queen.
The Church of the Pantheon operates mostly in Theder, with the elves of Pauviel preferring to worship their own deities. Most of the church leadership operates out of Earion's enormous cathedral, where they make broader religious decisions and can easily coordinate with Theder's leadership.
The Church grew out of The Formationists, but were a more youthful and liberal organisation. They worked hard to remove the idea of gender from images of many of the gods, preferring to use their symbol rather than a manifestation.
The symbol of the church is a nine-pointed star surrounding the anvil of Moradin.
Structure
The Church of the Pantheon is centrally managed, but with each individual building of worship having it's own leadership to handle day-to-day tasks. All members of the church are considered important, and key decisions are often discussed with members of varying seniority.
From least to most senior, the titles for members of the church are:
- Initiate: a person who has pledged their life to the church, and has taken the first step towards being a member of the clergy. Initiates perform services, menial labour, and spend much of their time studying. It can take up to 5 years to progress and many lack the faith to do so. Initiates abandon their family name when they join the church, and are referred to as Brother, Sister, or Sibling with their given name only. Initiates wear simple brown robes.
- Acolyte: An acolyte serves a priest of the church directly, helping them with services and performing tasks outside of the confines of the church. They lead initiates in prayer and see to their training. Acolytes wear simple brown robes.
- Priest: A full priest of the church, their primary role is to hold sermons and bring the faith to more people. A priest is normally assigned a church, or in larger cities several priests tend the church of a bishop. A priest replaces Brother, Sister, or Sibling with Father, Mother, or Guardian in their title. Priests wear simple brown robes.
- Bishop: A bishop oversees a city or region, working on larger projects and lobbying nobles and businesses. Bishops wear simple white robes.
- Archbishop: The head of the church, only one person holds this title and they reside in Earion where they advise the crown. The archbishop wear white robes with blue trim.