priests and priestesses
Medieval demographics are hard to peg down labeling any where between 1% and 5% of the population as "clergy" because the definition of "clergy" is a little fuzzy and also census data wasn't super accurate back then.
In the Scarterran context, clergy include any up anyone who has taken a formal vow to one or more of the Nine. Roughly 1 to 2% of the overall population qualify as clergy.
Not all clergy are priests and priestesses. Scarterran clergy also includes holy warriors, academics, and various support staff.
A priest or priestess is someone qualified to oversee a formal worship ritual which is includes but is not limited to baptisms, weddings and funerals. The three life milestones colloquially known as "Hatch, match, and dispatch". They also preside over routine worship rituals and special annual holidays.
by Me with Hero Forge
Career
Qualifications
Scarterra has ten major priesthoods, one for each of the Nine plus the Cult of the Compact. Each of these priesthoods has multiple factions and schisms with their own traditions.
Each priesthood recruits and educate acolytes in the manner they see fit. When the priesthood believes an acolyte is ready, they take their vows and then the acolyte is a full priest or priestess. That's it.
Acolytes learn the ropes of being a priest in group classroom settings or by shadowing full priests and priestesses in one-on-one apprenticeships. Usually a little bit of both.
Lanterns, Testers, Rovers, and the Stewards of the Dominion lean heavily towards personal apprenticeships.
Keepers, Guardians, and Masks lean heavily towards classroom environments.
Tenders, Stewards of the Gift, Children, and the Cult of the Compact tend to favor a more balanced approach.
Priests and priestesses need to know the basic liturgy to oversee worship rituals, but different priesthoods (and different individual mentors) like to throw on additional requirements.
Testers require their priests and priestesses are able to endure hardship and demonstrate practical combat or survival skills.
Tenders usually require a period of humble service.
Stewards require basic practical knowledge of plants and animals.
Rovers impose no special requirements on their priests and priestesses. As is fitting for the servants of the Goddess who gave mortals Free Will.
Children always require their acolytes to be able to demonstrate some spell-casting ability.
Keepers normally set a minimum for years of service before taking their full vows. They also require full literacy though that requirement is viewed as a relic of yesteryear. In the Red Era, most priests and priestesses in general were not literate but now in the Feudal Era, literacy is so widespread among the clergy that making it a requirement is almost redundant.
Lanterns require priests and priestesses to demonstrate at least two useful skillsets outside of religious rituals. Informally, they often require one of these skillsets to be artistically oriented.
Hallisan requires priests or priestesses to either be competent warriors or competent craftsmen, not necessarily both (but those with both will get promoted faster).
Masks require priests to demonstrate basic financial literacy and math skills.
The Cult of the Compact has to be able to fill in for religious ceremonies of all nine of the the Nine, so their acolytes have to learn a much wider breadth of liturgy than their single deity focused peers.
Some may mumble under their breath about not approving of the training methods of the other factions, but publicly priests and priestesses will publicly acknowledge the priestly credentials of other groups.
Clerical celibacy is normally not required, but it is highly encouraged. Celibate clergy tend to rise through the ranks faster than married clergy.
Rules and norms involving sex and marriage among Scarterran clergy are worthy of it's own article and it is coming....eventually.
Frieze of a Medieval Wedding by Thomas Stothard
Career Progression
Most priests and priestesses are in a holy order along with clergy who are not ordained as priests. Priests and priestesses tend to have the same system of ranks with their non-priestly clergy brothers and sisters.
Every priesthood has its own system of ranks and titles. They also have their own informal pecking order which is arguably more important than one's stated rank.
Political acumen, great deeds, personal charisma, useful skills, years or service, and spell-casting prowess are all considered good things in every major clerical faction. But different religious factions put different weight on these things.
Payment & Reimbursement
Priests and priestesses are often either unpaid or they are paid very little, at least in terms of monied salary.
Priests or priestesses arguably don't need money or day jobs. Temples, feudal bishoprics, and monasteries will nearly always feed, house, and clothe their staffs. The standard of living in these places is often higher than that of the typical peasant farmer.
Many priests and priestesses moonlight with an ordinary day job. This is nicknamed selling "Temple Cheese" because a lot of temples sell literal cheese. But any mundane good or service provided by a temple in exchange for money can considered "cheese work". Cheese work is more of an issue for clergy than priests and priestesses, but even priests aren't immune to this.
A few priests and priestesses moonlight as adventurers and some successful adventurers end up very wealthy indeed, though priests and priestesses in this boat are generally expected to share their good fortune with their holy orders.
by me with Midjourney
Midday Pie with wooden cutlery by Me using Nightcafe
Most temples will give free food and shelter to traveling priests as a professional courtesy, even for their political rivals. Peasants and princes alike are usually eager to offer free food and shelter to traveling priests and priestesses. It helps their public image and theoretically wins brownie points with the Nine.
Any clergy can theoretically expect this sort of hospitality, but fully ordained priests and priestesses have an easier time gaining such guest privileges. Food and lodging offered this way is not always posh, but very few traveling priests and priestesses need worry about going hungry.
Perception
Purpose
Ultimately, priests and priestesses number one job is to make sure the general populace undergoes the correction rituals to worship the Nine properly.
This more about orthopraxy than orthodoxy and often feels transactional.. Collectively, the Nine have the power to bestow Good Things on mortalkind or they can bestow Bad Things on mortalkind. Scarterrans worship the Nine so they can get more Good Things and fewer Bad Things.
In theory, priests and priestesses are supposed to be above politics, but in practice many if not most of them are very political. Most of Scarterra's political conflict has an undercurrent of religious factionalism. Some theologians believe that the Nines internal rivalries subtly push mortal conflict on a metaphysical level.
Sometimes clergy will start at the top and work their way down. They try to flatter, bribe, and/or intimidate kings and queens and other potentates into adopting their deity's outlook in their policies. The three "lawful" factions, Guardians, Masks, and Keepers are especially well-known for doing this. That doesn't mean the other six factions don't want to win over princes to their cause, they are just less obvious about it.
Sometimes priests and priestesses will start at the bottom and try to work their way up. The three "neutral" clergy factions, Tenders, Children, and Stewards focus their majority of their political efforts on swaying the hearts and minds of the peasants. That doesn't mean the other six factions don't also want to win over the masses, they are just less obvious about it.
Sometimes clergy focus on their broad ideals rather than focusing on winning over individuals. If their core values are internalized, does it really matter if the Nine are being prayed to or not? The three "chaotic" clergy factions, Lanterns, Testers, and Rovers are famous for this approach. That doesn't mean the other six factions don't want to push their respective ideologies, they are just less obvious about it.
The Cult of the Compact is often very narrowly focused on the orthopraxy of making sure rituals are conducted perfectly. Some priests and priestesses of the other factions are also very focused on orthopraxy in a similar matter, but many lean towards orthodoxy in some matter. They want to influence belief and not simply influence behavior. This often means playing politics. A lot of priests and priestesses want to spread their god or goddesses' ideals as widely and deeply across Scarterra as possible. This means that clergy often play politics.
by me with Midjourney
Social Status
Few people dare harm a priest or priestess in full vestments, lest they invoke the wrath of the Nine. I have spent decades traversing the Border Baronies and never ran afoul of brigands once. Priests and priestesses often have immunity to travel freely even in war zones which is why warring sides often use priests to deliver messages to each other and act as middlemen for establishing armistices and peace treaty. A priest or priestess accused of a crime can often bypass feudal justice in favor of eccleiastical courts, though ecclesiastical courts are very harsh to any priest or priestess who makes their order look bad. Clerical immunity has limits. If you engage politics, you are going to going to make enemies, and you can't hide behind your vestments to avoid reprisals. Doubly so for priests who dabble in violent adventures or warfare. Unfortunately, the privileged status of the greater priesthood has been gradually eroding over the past few centuries as more and more priests opt to play in politics or warfare. Each time this happens, the participants not only destroy their own status, but they weaken the status of all priests and priestesses in Scarterra who wish to stay out of politics. We who hold the Compact are largely immune from this fallout...thus far. I have been fortunate over my long life, but I change on the horizon. I fear the next generation will be more vulnerable."Clergy in general, and priests in particular essentially exist as a separate social class. Generally, the priestly class is considered to be socially below hereditary nobles and above commoners. Social status is not always the same as wealth. Most priests live fairly modestly. But we enjoy a level of respect from nearly every demographic. Priests and priestesses can expect hospitality almost anywhere.
Demographics
Every religious group in Scarterra is free to recruit or not recruit as they see fit. Each group has their own preferences and biases.
Lots of priests and priestess are born to peasant parents, but since almost every peasant family would be delighted if their son or daughter became a priest, it is common for temples to receive more applicants than they can handle. Lowborn priestly acolytes normally have to undergo some sort of application test or trial and a majority are rejected.
A lot of priests and priestesses were orphans. Most orphanages are funded by and/or staffed by clergy, so a lot of orphans who are raised by priests opt to become priests themselves.
Very few priestly recruiters have a noticeable gender bias and the majority of religious factions have a roughly equal mix of priests and priestesses.
There is an overall bias towards recruiting high born. Among nobles, the dragon's share of the inheritance goes to one heir, so while the heir inherits the family title, the spares are very often sent to a temple to train as a priest or priestess. Since most temples dabble in politics, they are usually happy to ingratiate themselves to powerful families and take most highborn acolytes without asking too many questions.
by me with Hero Forge
Theurgist Priests
A theurgist who can channel a portion of the power from one or more of the Nine in order to enact controllable miracles or divine spell-casting. Theurgy is not required in order to lead a religious ceremony. Most priests and priestesses are not theurgists.Reputable scholars estimate that the number of theurgists in the genera population is somewhere between 1 in 200 people and and 1 in 300 people. Among priests and priestesses, roughly 1 in 5 people are theurgists. I joined the Guardians of Valor expecting to spend my days serving Hallisan presiding over basic rituals, pushing piles of scrolls, and mixing simple herbal remedies. This was not Hallisan's plan for me. When my priestly training was nearly completed, I manifested theurgy. Much to my parents' chagrin, I manifested powerful combat theurgy. I was and am ordained as a full priestess of Hallisan, but I spend very little of my time doing priestly duties. I am mostly sent on dangerous quests instead, so I'm usually wearing my armor rather than wearing my vestments."-Ragani the gnome GuardianRagani portrait by Eron12 using Hero Forge"A priestess need only know the proper liturgy to properly honor the Nine. Being able to cast theurgy is not a requirement. A theurgist needs piety and the blessing of the Nine. Knowing all the formal liturgy is not required. Most priests are not theurgists. Most theurgists are not priests. Because pulling double duty is not necessary to serve the Nine. That said, it's not unusual for theurgists and priests to be one and the same. It is difficult to take an accurate consensus of how many theurgists exist.
Some self-anointed are actively opposed to the strictures of organized religion. Others are not opposed to organized religion in general but they prefer to exist the system anyway. But a lot of self-anointed desire to join the temples formally. If a self-anointed theurgist wants to be a priest, the temple leaders will generally make it very easy for him, waving most application trials and accelerating their education. After all, they already have a clear and obvious sign of their deity's approval, and most temples are happy to take all the theurgists they can get."I am not a theurgist, and I don't need theurgy to serve the Green Lord, Korus. If you allow me to be immodest, my accumulated wisdom and people skills is more than adequate to allow me to discharge my priestly duties. I've met a lot of theurgists from a wide variety of backgrounds. A majority arise from clergy in training. Some manifest their theurgy later in their ecclesiastical careers. The blessings of the Nine are not limited to those who are formally trained A large minority of theurgists arise from the general population of lay people. The so called "self-anointed".
History
We have far greater knowledge of the priests and priestesses of the Second Age due to priceless books and scrolls surviving in various in isolated corners of Scarterra. A lot of books and records were destroyed during theSecond Unmaking and a lot of oral lore was lost when thousands of priests and priestesses died. A lot of religious ceremonies traditions had to be reinvented from scratch. While some records of religious rituals from the Second Age survived into the Third Age, copies and translations of these records were not widely available until the end of the Red Era The formal names and faction nicknames differed, but each of the Nine had their own greater priesthood with various splinter groups and factions much like today. The Cult of the Compact claims to have the deepest roots in the religious traditions of yesteryear, and they are right. But even they have changed a lot over the millennia...just don't say that to their faces."-Akeem of Magicland, professor Emeritus of Historyby Eron12 with Hero Forge"We don't know much about priests in the First Age. Enough records survived that we know that many dragons served as priests and priestesses and that most of the thurekal had some version of their own priests. Sadly, we only know the barest details of their ancient rituals to worship the Nine Most of the dragons' worship rituals seemed to have been performed in the sky, which almost by definition means the dragons did not perform joint worship rituals with the other First Age races very often since most of them couldn't fly.
We of Kahdisteria have the ancient wisdom gifted to us directly by the Dark Mother, Greymoria herself. Even our rituals to the lesser members of the Nine is unparalleled, though I would say imperial elves are close to us in that regard, at least with the other eight deities."-Amisra, Chief Archivist of the City of Lightby Eron12 with Hero Forge"For all his supposed academic integrity, Akeem will never say anything remotely positive about any elf, especially a Kahdisterian elf. All elves have a purer and more accurate ancient record of wisdom that puts those of humans to shame. Even the primitive wood elves have more sophisticated and timeless ritual knowledge than the most learned and history minded humans, which I must reluctantly credit to be Khemarok humans.
Operations
Workplace
Whether peasant or prince, Scarterrans need to try to please or at least placate nine separate deities.. There are not enough priests and priestesses for every village to have nine of them on standby. This means that Scarterran priests have to travel a lot as part of their work.
Most rural areas have centrally located temples built and maintained by their local populace. A combination of rich people's money and poor people's sweat. These temples are mostly generic temples dedicated to all of the Nine and any specific deity.
Many locations have fields or pavilions set up as communal outdoor worship areas. Weather permitting, a lot of Scarterrans prefer to worship outdoors rather than indoors.
These temples and public spaces are normally used for worship only. Priests and other staff do not normally live in these places. The various priesthoods have enough squabbles over who gets the temples and when without have priests fighting over beds and kitchens too.
Temples dedicated to a specific deity are built and maintained by clergy rather than the general population. Most such temples are found in large population centers around major transportation hubs. More secretive and subversive priesthoods will set up secret temples in remote locations.
Whether public or secret, mono-deity temples serve as training centers and logistics hubs to support the effort of priests and priestesses in a wide area.
Even with access to magic, Scarterra's transportation and communication technology is not much better than that of Medieval Earth. Most of the support clergy exists primarily to coordinate the logistics of making sure priests and priestesses get to where they need to go, when they need to be there.
Mules are so popular with traveling priests, that "mule rider" has become a common slang term for them.
by Me with Midnjourney
Provided Services
The only ironclad job requirement for a priest or priestess is to properly lead worship rituals.
Most priests do other things, depending on their personal aptitudes and the agendas of their greater priesthoods. For instance, the Masks are usually happy to dispense financial advice and the Stewards are usually happy to dispense horticultural advice.
A priest or priestess can be found doing almost anything but they are commonly called up to act as advisors or mediators to both peasants and princes alike.
Most temples and priesthoods sponsor some kind of charity or outreach program, if only to spread the message of their patron deity's benevolence.
Three clergy walk into a tavern...
A Guardian, a Keeper and a Mask enter a bar together and are each served a cup of ale. Each of them finds a fly in their ale. The Guardian says “My honor is insulted! I demand a new ale at once!" The Keeper says “This inconvenient but the Compact states I must tolerate this fly and try to drink around it.” The Mask says, “Oi! Fly, you didn’t pay for that ale, I paid for that ale, spit it out! SPIT IT OUT!” A Steward, Child and Tender enter a bar together and are each served a cup of ale. Each of them finds a fly in their ale. The Steward says “The fly is part of nature, why would this bother me?” She drinks the ale and swallows the fly without flinching. The Child says “I demand a new ale free of charge! Or I will curse your family line for three generations!” She then proceeded to remove the fly and move it to her pocket to feed her pet spider later. Then she drank both ales. The Tender put aside her ale and wept. “The poor creature drowned! Why is the world so cruel! WHY!” A Lantern, a Rover, and a Tester enter a tavern together and are each served a cup of ale. Each of them finds a fly in their ale. The Lantern shrugs, pragmatically plucks out the fly and drinks his ale. "Waste not, want not." The Rover says “Fly, I’m not going to impede on your right to some ale, I’ll just drink around you.” The Tester yells “You dare challenge me weakling fly! The weak shall fall before the strong.” He then plucks the fly out and eats it.
Type
Religious
Demand
high
Famous in the Field
Related Locations
I can see why this is your favorite article so far for camp. The depth you give both narratively and informatively is excellent, I not only follow the word, I can follow the concepts and though I am sure there is a great deal more I could learn from following and reading all the various linked additional material, I also can tell the gist, enough to passable understand the importance of this profession, these individuals and their various types and the differences in form and function between the various faiths and how they go about the task of being....priestly based upon the religion and deity are in the broadest of strokes, made clear. Combining that with the additional resources and a strong narrative flair, with your quotes and the various sections you wrote more narrative and less hard focused on being simply informative also helps the article flow well, making it a great reading experience. It adds pace, a tempo to it if you will, and the way you've broken up those segments of leaning more informational and then more narrative, back and forth, keeps the reader engaged (or at least it does for me) An excellent article already, and if you intend to tinker with it on occasion as SC continues I can't wait to see the end of camp version :)
Oh and most definitely a worthy addition to my growing collection. Many thanks for your contribution :)