Az'atta: Hierarchy

From The World of Layonara
Jump to navigation Jump to search

Az'atta's church structure is generally that of seniority. Preference is offered among her people for those who have committed great deeds of sacrifice or redemption.

The church, as the legend goes, was begun by her original handmaidens. Over time, the rest of the church developed around that core. Due to the long life of most dark elves, there was much time to build before the first handmaidens retired.

The church is led by two priestesses, each called handmaiden. Each holds a specific responsibility of import in the church. She who sits on the right hand of Az'atta is the Handmaiden of the Word. The right hand of Az'atta, the Word, is the hand of action, the decision maker, and the embodiment of Az'atta's compassion. She holds the power of the Word: an aging artifact that supposedly holds all writs, doctrine, and orders of Az'atta. On the left hand of Az'atta sits the Handmaiden of Souls. She is the Seer with the power to look directly into your soul. She is Az'atta's defense and the speaker of harsh truths. She spends much of her time in prayer in communion with her goddess. However, it is said that she who holds this position is never wrong in the few words she does speak once taking this position. Those faithful on the outside of Az'atta's church sometimes rumor that, in fact, she is the vessel of Az'atta's voice.

Not all positions within the church are held by priestesses. Working with the Handmaiden of Souls is Az'atta's Sight. The main goal of this position is to keep a mundane eye upon all things of interest to the church. It is currently held by its originator, a dark elf male who is rarely seen anywhere except in the company of the Seer. At the time he took the position offered to him by the Seer, he gave up his mortal name and became simply Az'atta's Sight (also known as Sight). Within the main church his story is known, but rarely spoken of, and her people believe he has given penance 10 times over for his crimes. His knowledge of the coming and goings, agendas and goals have saved lives within the church and some lives of those seeking sanctuary within. The position is newly created, during and after the Dark Ages, the activity of Az'atta's enemies increased tenfold, and as such the church had to be come increasingly careful about its works. Az'atta's Sight stopped the rash of murders of the poor that began occurring in Audira. He also has been an invaluable source of information on those who have come to request information or sanctuary.

Az'atta's Sight works with a volunteer group of sorts. These volunteers tend to be more filled with adventurers and have been known to work with mercenary guards in the recent past. However, the Sight never works with those who advocate violence, interviewing to make sure these are people willing to defend only. This group is strictly controlled and those who profess to be Az'attans are sternly dealt with if they are found to have violent tendencies, often including rehabilitation, placing with the Council, and refusal to be replaced back with the Sight's branch. Those that work with Az'atta's Sight are a small part of the church and are purposefully kept that way. They take the elite only. Often the stories within this branch are of old adventurers who have come to repent their ways of violence. Having found faith within Az'atta's Way, they give their time and expertise as a form of penance when no other way is available to them.

Also under the Seer is the Council. This position within the church oversees the well being of Az'atta's clergy, those that seek asylum, and other high-risk cases. The Council is headed by two persons in each temple to Az'atta and a yearly meeting is attended by all Council members from each temple. The Council decides on the internal workings of things such as how to deal with suspected assassins who call for asylum to get into the church as well as difficult cases when one who seeks Az'atta's help is in mortal danger from another.

In addition, these clergy members work with those who have been damaged physically and/or emotionally by their experiences, working to make them functional parts of society once again. From time to time, there are extreme cases that must be handled exclusively by the Handmaiden of Souls. At the main temple in Audira, the current Council members are Maldovi, a second generation Az'attan dark elf, and Mari Jentre, a human woman.

Under the Word are two positions as well. The first is actually the first position developed beyond the handmaidens. The Overseer is the administrative branch of the church. Each temple of Az'atta has its own Overseer. Currently at the main temple, this position is held by a human by the name of Larissa Husami. She is the fifth holder of this position and began her time within the church as a rescued woman. She stayed on to aid the church, beginning as nothing more than a maid and serving woman for the priestesses and those claiming sanctuary within. She worked her way up, learning all that she could and finding her faith inside the walls of the church. Larissa eventually was asked to take the position of Overseer as she knew the place better than anyone. In addition to managing those who work within the church, she also takes care of those who are granted sanctuary, those of the clergy who arrive from other places, and any other guests of the church. She is approaching her 60's and beginning to feel the hard moments of her life in her bones. Always modest and cheerful however, you would never know it from her demeanor.

The Overseer is in charge of the work force, largely filled by volunteers that come in through locals and those that choose to stay on after requesting asylum or some other sort of aid. Many of those volunteering choose to use this way to repay the temple for services, like paying for the services of a midwife through maid work or gardening and come and go from time to time.

This branch includes more than just the servant work force. There is also a small contingent of crafting souls who turn Az'atta's donated resources into usable products for trade or sale to support the temples. All of Az'atta's crafted items are made with Az'atta's Way in mind. No items are crafted that have an offensive or violent nature. Rarely are these items sought by adventurers; rather, they are often sought by those in the business of protection, such as bodyguards of Sedera's royals. However, much of what is made is used by the clergy themselves and little is actually sold.

The second position under the Word is the Sound. Az'atta's Sound encompasses a lot. In essence, it is the face of Az'atta to the world. This portion of the church is co-headed by a human named Ahim ben-Elhud and a dark elf by the name Oleinnar. Ahim and Oleinnar work to keep the face of Az'atta a positive one in Sedera and led efforts to do the same around the world through the other temples and devoted sects.

The image of Az'atta can be tenuous at best in many places. Because many of her followers are dark elves, they may believe all sorts of propaganda against the goddess. There are also the endeavors of her enemies to tarnish her name. To that end, a dark elf always co-leads this position with that of a friendlier surface race. That way, the risk of cross-cultural misunderstandings is lessened a great amount.

Elections and Organizations

Within the Church of Az'atta, there are no elections, jockeying, or politics involved with the selection of persons for the various positions. The choosing of new handmaidens or any other position is done by those in the position at the time. The choosing is out of the pool of Az'attan faithful and never from one of those who currently hold a position elsewhere in the church.

Devotion to Az'atta and her Way is not to seek power'only to follow Az'atta's path and look to the people of Layonara. Therefore, once a position has been accepted, he or she can progress no further in rank. All positions are held for life. Each position works with the others in unison, including the mass cooperation between each temple to prevent a fractionate appearance of Az'atta's Way. While each temple is admonished to adapt and conform to the locality, it must be carefully balanced with the overall knowledge that the church of Az'atta works together in all things. The handmaidens are the leadership of the church, and each supporting role offers their full support to them.

Az'atta's clergy are largely built up of converts from other ways of life. However, the religion does see some second-, third-, and forth-generation worshipers in humans. As such, those in training for clergy range widely in ages, some as little as 14 and some as old as two centuries. Those who are hopeful to join the branch of the Sight do not undergo any training until such time as they are able to pass the test given by Az'atta's Sight to prove they will hold true in their devotion to Az'atta. The test is kept secret so no one may prepare or protect themselves from it.