Walchese
The Walchese are one of the two major factions within the Tenders. The other major faction is the Terrawans . The Walchese tend to favor a high degree of formality and encourage their priests, priestesses, and associates to live apart from general society to serve as moral examples for them.
The Walchese maintain a relatively small number of large ornately appointed temples. Most of their clergy are full time priests and most of their basic material needs are attended to by hirelings.
Walchese encourage but do not require that their priests, priestesses, and associates take vows of celibacy so they can be symbolically married to their faith. Sometimes they take vows of poverty or silence as well. Vows of silence are not permanent or absolute, allowing them to speak when carrying out their duties.
Promotion within the priesthood is at the discretion of one's superiors. Promotions factor in seniority and social aptitude, but magical aptitude is usually the deciding factor with most leadership positions held by anointed. On paper, spell-casters and non-spellcasters in Mera's service are equal, but in practice spell-casters wield more informal status and influence.
Priesthood
Most but by no means all of their recruits come from the lower classes. Most of their new members are recruited as children. Sometimes Walchese temples have more recruits than they can handle, so they will carefully screen the applicants they receive as well as their families or else encourage the parents of their recruits to give them a large donation.
Political Influence & Intrigue
The Walchese have an organized hierarchy and not afraid to play politics, but they try to play politics for the greater good occasionally leveraging their influence to encourage wealthy people to make donations to humanitarian causes.
Comments