Religion In Vaynam

Religion in Vayham

Known churches and temples

The Temple of Justice

There is only one temple of the True in the town. This is a the keep where it acts a s a magistrates court for the county for whilst the Count sits as judge magistrate in the criminal courts being the ranking noble he is ably supported in dispensing justice by the staff of the temple, including three priests and three knights and several anointed servants who act as the rest of the staff of the court and by tradition act to prosecute or defend any who are too poor to provide there own advocates as justice must be done not bought.

The Temple of Vayham

Also within the walls of the keep and more to the Counts taste than the True it has to be said is a small temple of the founder dedicated to the foundation of the town and the county in the aftermath of the Brandobian Civil war. It also acts as a barracks for the four knights of the order of Vayham part of the order of Cosdol sworn to the Count and has a staff of one priest and a pair of anointed acolytes. The count and his family are anointed of this cult and take their duty as ruling nobles and the faith which backs it very seriously.

The Temple of the fruitful coin

Is the richest and the most obvious faith in the town, it has a large temple at the main market with a smaller one near the beast market as well as running the civil courts for the town. Something which annoys bother the local guilds, and the church of industry which backs them and the church of the true since both have commented that to the church of the coin lord justice and fair trade are just more commodities to be bought and sold. The Church of the coin lord also administers the town’s two markets and provides a force of guard to police them and dispense summary justice to thieves caught within the markets typically a fine and a ban form entering them for a first offence. They are supposed to transfer repeat offenders over to the counts justice  but are believed not always to do so as they get to keep the fines they levy  The church also runs the majority of the inns in town and a lot of the taverns and gaming houses. This causes friction with the Church of risk as it is known that the games are fixed to favour the house. The cult of Risk is officially prohibited, see below, and the temple of the fruitful coin is the usual target for the thefts which make up the monthly sacrifice for that faith. As well as with the Church of life’s fire which runs a lot of the taverns and supplies the beer to nearly all of them and the Church of Stars which sees this as exploiting travellers and impeding free travel.

The Brotherhood of industry

Has no temple but small shrines are to be found in every one of the many craft workshops in the town as well as in the guild houses of the towns guilds. These being the Weavers guild, The Tanners Guild, the Dyers Guild and the Clothiers guild, other guilds are present in the town but only these have local guild houses. There is strife between the brotherhood and the Coin lord over the formers wish for regulation of who can practice a given trade and the latter’s rather aggressive free market position. This is an old struggle and one which the Coin lord currently has rather the upper hand.

The Church of the eternal lantern

Has no temple in town and no priest but there are shrines in the two watch houses used by the counts night watch and the captain of the night watch is an anointed member as are several of night watches senior members. At need a priest is dispatched from the nearest temple which in Neffaria to the north

Temple of the Caregiver

Has the large temple at the great hospital as well as a number of shrines in the rest of the town where it runs drop in clinics for the ill and the needy especially in the poorer sections of town, however it is to be noted that several of the shrines in or near the new town have been vandalised in recent years. These are often run in conjunction with Temple of life’s fire which runs soup kitchens alongside these clinics. The Temple has a large staff including the magically the most powerful clerics in the region several hundred anointed nurses, doctors and hospital ancillary staff.

The Church of Life’s fire

Has a small temple attached to the poor house which opposite the Great Hospital, across the road in fact as well as small shrines at the soup kitchens it runs else where in the city, often close to the walk in clinics run by the church of the caregiver. There is only one priest up until recently when more a couple of junior priests came in with the refugees from the goblin raids but a couple of dozen anointed members ran the whole show, with the resident priest being a avuncular figurehead, and now rather resent that so many people what there say in an already well run organisation. There is tension between the services the temple offers both at the poor house and in its soup kitchens with the Cult of the Coin lord who says that such services encourage idleness and draw in the indigent who would other wise move on to find work elsewhere.

The Temple of the Wayfarer

One priest and a small temple next to the travellers rest inn as usual the resident priest is free to move on whenever they wish but etiquette generally requires that they stay until they can hand the role over to another priest.

Prohibited churches and temples

All the evil and chaotic faiths are banned by town ordinances, it being a hanging offence to be an anointed member of any such a faith, but in practice the non evil ones are tolerated provided they do not cause a public nuisance. If they do they will be generally only prosecuted for a public order offence, or theft or whatever as appropriate, rather than for being a member of a prohibited faith, as happened when a priest of the free passing through organised a spontaneous protest when a Kalamarian traveller tried to sell two of his servants, actually slaves in the beast market twenty years ago and the priest was fined for causing a breach of the markets peace, and shown the gates, and the current chief priest of risk got caught robbing the temple of the coin lord in the beast market last year, when he got flogged as a common thief in the keep’s yard. Even so practitioners of the evil one are not actively hunted but evidence of membership of one will get you the unwanted attention of the watch and a day in the counts court, ending in a jig at the ropes end the following morning should the case be proved.

Even so there are rumours of a hidden cult of the Rot lord skulking some where in town and the recent anti dwarf riots are seen as evidence by some in the Gnomish community in particular of the presence of a hidden temple of the Scornful ones. Others see it as Eldarian meddling as that nation is known to be interested in the reunification of Brandobia under its standard as well as the distrust of demihumans of any kind. These same conspiracy theorists see them as being behind the recent Goblin raids as well.