Mystery Cults

Like their real world analogues, mystery cults are organizations that fulfill the religious needs of the wider public while reserving higher order secrets for initiates. They officiate over important ceremonies like weddings and funerals.

Local Cults

There are thousands of cults in Naevis, each with their own beliefs and agendas. Two currently have a presence in the Canvaslands.

  • Hell Knights are revolutionaries and anarchists, generally unwelcome in settled lands.
  • Winter Witches are an ancient order of sorcerers who establish monasteries in remote lands.

Divinity

According to ancient myth, the gods came to this realm countless millennia ago. They spoke to all the creatures of the world using spirits of nature as their messengers and sought to pass along the secrets of civilization. Only four races proved themselves worthy to learn agriculture, language, and magic. These races were collectively known as the Kindred, and upon the completion of their instruction, the gods wordlessly departed.

Scholars have long questioned the historical value of the myth. The existence of City Dwellers further cast doubt on the matter, much to the displeasure of many cults. A large subset of the Navean population considers City Dwellers to be an imaginative Piper’s tale.

Politics and Pragmatics

Initiation into a cult involves complex rituals that change the physical and psychological state of an individual. Priests are, at a fundamental level, no longer the same people that they were. Some develop glowing eyes as a result of their induction. Others become larger and stronger. Universally, the process renders an inductee incapable of having offspring.

Because of these changes, priests cannot hold political office or noble titles in any land. They are disqualified from lines of succession. If they have heirs, those heirs inherit, and the priest in question is forced to step down as though they were deceased. Thus is a separation between the political world and the spiritual world enforced.

Cultist

Armed and armored, most give these spellcasters a wide berth.

  • Sacred Flame: Can use the sacred flame cantrip.
  • Cure Wounds: Can cast cure wounds twice per fight.
  • Inflict Wounds: Can cast inflict wounds twice per fight.