Factions and power
Faith and services
Bohemia in 1403 is a Catholic kingdom, but not only Catholics live in it. A religious community - a faction of the type 'religious community' - keeps one faith, and its members lead its service twice a day: whoever stays for it leaves strengthened for an hour. Every faith has its own service, its own words and its own call; the gain is the same for all.
| Faith | Its service | Its call |
|---|---|---|
| Catholic the Roman Church: the parish, the monasteries | Mass - the sign of the cross, the Gospel, the host raised, the prayers for the realm and its dead, "Ite, missa est" | the church bell |
| Orthodox the Eastern rite of the Ruthenians and the Greeks, merchants and travellers from the east | the Divine Liturgy - the Gospel before the holy doors of the iconostasis, the incense and the hymns, the bread and wine at the holy table, the dismissal in peace | a monastery bell |
| Jewish the Jewish community of the royal towns, under the king's protection | the prayer at the synagogue - the morning blessings, the psalms of praise, the Shema, the standing prayer in silence, the prayer for the sick, the dead and the peace of the land | no bell: the community gathers |
| Cuman (steppe faith) the riders in King Sigismund's service who kept the old ways | the rite to Tengri, the Eternal Blue Sky - the sacred fire, mare's milk poured for the Sky, the ancestors named, the smoke against evil spirits, Umay asked to keep the children and the herds | the fire is lit |
Left out on purpose: the Hussites and the Utraquists (they come after 1414), the Waldensians (a hidden heresy, not a community holding services in the open), and Islam (no community in the kingdom). Play every faith with respect: the lines are short and paraphrased, never a mockery - see the rules.
Choosing the faith
Found the faction as a religious community and pick its faith on the way (the faction window, the codex, or /foundfaction church:jewish <name> | <what it is about>; church alone is Catholic). Its leader - the master, or a rank that sets the ranks - changes it at any time: the faction window's Overview (the Faith card), F2 > My faction > Faith, or /ffaith <catholic|orthodox|jewish|cuman>. The staff set it too. A new community's ranks are named in its faith's words (a rabbi, a hegumen, a shaman ...); its leaders rename them as they like.
- Lead the service
A member of a religious community: F2 > the service's line (Say Mass, Celebrate the Divine Liturgy, Lead the prayer, Hold the rite to Tengri), or
/servicewhere you stand (/mass,/prayand/ritedo the same). Its call goes out to everyone within reach. - Five minutes
It lasts 5 minutes; the service's lines come one after another, and the one leading it plays it in role-play.
- Stay to the end
Whoever stays within 50 m of the one leading it for the whole service gains at its end, the leader too - 3 at least besides the leader, or nobody gains.
| Blessed (each faith its own word) | 60 minutes (in the realm) |
|---|---|
| +10% XP | in every trade and every craft |
| Health | a little back, out of a fight |
| Cravings held off | the contraband's craving does not weigh on you while you are blessed |
Absolution, atonement, cleansing
A community's rank with the right lifts a branded criminal's brand for a gift to the community - the same in every faith, in its own words: absolution for the Catholics and the Orthodox (the stole over the penitent's head), atonement through repentance for the Jewish community, cleansing by the fire's smoke for the Cumans.