The Temple

About The Temple

With formal secular leadership now in place across New Ognos, the island's religious life is gaining a matching structure. The Temple is the recognized umbrella body for organized worship of the known deities — it doesn't replace personal, individual faith (plenty of Ognoshu are agnostic, atheist, or pray privately and never set foot in a Shrine), but it is the only body that can formally recognize a Shrine as the official home of a deity's worship, as opposed to an informal gathering, personal devotion, or an unrecognized cult.

Because the deities of New Ognos are not myth or metaphor — they are known, documented, and occasionally walk among mortals in Vessel form — the Temple's authority carries a different weight than a purely secular institution's. It isn't claiming to speak for something unprovable; it's the mortal administrative structure built around something that demonstrably exists. This makes it both more legitimate in the eyes of the public and more politically sensitive, since a Shrine's actions reflect on a real, listening, occasionally opinionated deity.

Two things this system is not:

• It is not a requirement for a character to worship, or to worship "correctly" — the Follower system remains fully personal and works independently of whether a character ever interacts with a Shrine.
• It is not a way to control what a deity does. The Temple organizes mortals; it has no authority over the gods themselves.

The Hierarchy

The High Table

At the top of the Temple sits The High Table — a small governing council chaired by a single presiding figure, most commonly titled High Voice (gender-neutral), or High Priest / High Priestess where a character prefers a gendered title. The High Table is the Temple's equivalent of the Monarchy: it does not manage any single Shrine's day-to-day worship, but it sets Temple-wide policy, resolves disputes between Shrines, formally recognizes new Shrines, and acts as the Temple's voice in dealings with the Crown and Archduchies.

• The High Table is made up of the Shrinekeeper (or their designated proxy) of every currently recognized Shrine, plus the presiding High Voice.
• The High Voice does not need to be a Shrinekeeper themselves, though many are drawn from that pool. They may also be a former Shrinekeeper, a Vessel, or simply a mortal of exceptional standing within the faith as a whole.
• Succession is not hereditary. A new High Voice may be selected by vote of the sitting High Table, by the outgoing High Voice naming a successor, or — rarely, and always a notable IC event — by a sign of favor from one or more deities themselves.
• Companion title: a High Voice's spouse does not automatically receive a Temple title (clergy authority isn't a household one), though nothing stops a spouse from separately holding their own Shrine or Temple role on its own merits.

Shrines & Shrinekeepers

A Shrine is the formally recognized religious home of a specific deity — the actual temple structure, its clergy, its rites, and its congregation. Every recognized deity may have at most one Shrine; a deity does not get a separate Shrine per district or Duchy the way a noble House might hold multiple estates, though a Shrine can absolutely maintain satellite chapels, shrines-in-name (lowercase), or traveling clergy under its umbrella.

Each Shrine is led by a Shrinekeeper (gender-neutral; "Priest" or "Priestess of [Deity]" are acceptable gendered alternatives). Per current Temple policy, this title carries the same weight and scope regardless of how major or minor the deity is — the Shrinekeeper of a widely-worshipped major deity and the Shrinekeeper of a small, newly-surfaced minor deity hold identical formal standing on the High Table. A Shrine's actual size, wealth, and influence will naturally vary with its deity's following, but that's a matter of resources and reputation, not rank.

A Shrinekeeper:

• Has full authority over their Shrine's internal doctrine, rites, clergy structure, and day-to-day operations.
• Represents their Shrine (in person or by proxy) at the High Table.
• Answers to the High Table only on matters that cross Shrine lines, involve Temple-wide policy, or risk bringing the faith as a whole into disrepute — not on internal Shrine matters.

Temple Clergy

Beneath a Shrinekeeper sits whatever clergy structure that Shrine wants to run — this is intentionally flexible, since a deity of quiet contemplation and a deity of war are not going to organize their clergy the same way. Some suggested (non-mandatory) tiers, freely reflavored per Shrine:

• Acolyte / Devoted — clergy-in-training or junior clergy, the bulk of a Shrine's day-to-day staff.
• Warden / Keeper — clergy with a specific standing responsibility (relic-keeper, rite-leader, archivist, etc.), answering to the Shrinekeeper.
• Voice — a clergy member specifically trained/recognized to receive and interpret prayers, omens, and communications on the Shrine's behalf.

Shrines are free to invent their own internal titles; the above are suggestions, not requirements.

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Vessels & The Temple

A Vessel already carries a literal fragment of their patron deity, which gives them a unique kind of standing that clergy training alone can't replicate — but Vessel status and Shrine leadership are separate tracks. A Vessel is not automatically their deity's Shrinekeeper, and a Shrinekeeper is not required to be a Vessel.

Instead, a Vessel of a given deity holds automatic, honorary standing within that deity's Shrine — informally referred to as being Anointed. This isn't a leadership title and doesn't come with administrative authority over the Shrine, but it does mean:

• The Shrinekeeper and clergy are expected to treat the Vessel's word on matters of the deity's will with real weight — not obedience, but serious deference.
• A Vessel may involve themselves in a Shrine's affairs, rites, or disputes without needing an invitation, though a Shrinekeeper retains final say over the Shrine's actual operations.
• A Vessel is welcome to also pursue the Shrinekeeper title through the normal claiming process below, at which point they'd hold both — the honorary standing of a Vessel and the administrative authority of a Shrinekeeper — but the two aren't bundled together.

This keeps the "person carrying the god" and "person running the institution" as distinct roles a player can mix and match, rather than forcing every Vessel into a management position they may not want (or forcing every Shrine to wait on a Vessel existing before it can be led).

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Founding or Claiming a Shrine

Like founding a Duchy or claiming a Vessel, this requires approval before the character is created.

Process:

1. Post in #leadership, e.g.: "I would like to found the Shrine of [Deity]" or "I want to take up the Shrinekeeper seat of the [Deity] Shrine" (or the equivalent, if joining an existing Shrine's clergy as a relative/successor/appointee).
2. Support will check the request against current availability — whether the deity already has a recognized Shrine, whether that seat is filled, and whether another player is already developing plans in that space.
3. If the position is open, you're clear to proceed. If it's filled, or the deity doesn't yet have enough of an established presence to support a full Shrine, Support will let you know and can suggest alternatives (e.g., joining as clergy under an NPC Shrinekeeper, or building toward founding the Shrine later).
4. Once approved, you're clear to build and submit your character through the normal Joining form.

Please put "Shrinekeeper of [Deity]" (or your Shrine's equivalent title) in the Alias section, same as secular leadership titles.

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How Temple Leadership Works

Temple leadership follows the same lightweight OOC-first model as secular leadership:

1. A player asks in #leadership whether their character can do something that touches your Shrine or the Temple as a whole (e.g., "can my character seek sanctuary at your Shrine," "would the High Table recognize this new minor deity's Shrine").
2. You give a yes/no answer OOC — no IC post required to make the decision official.
3. If you'd like to follow up with an IC scene reflecting that decision, you're welcome to, whenever convenient.

This keeps other players' plots from stalling on your posting schedule, and keeps you from being on the hook to drop everything. For pacing, the same guideline applies: an OOC response within a few days for small requests, up to a week for bigger ones. Support is available to help work through anything larger — especially High Table-level decisions that could affect multiple Shrines at once.

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The Temple & The Crown

The Temple is independent of the Crown in matters of doctrine, rite, and internal Shrine governance — the Monarchy has no authority to dictate how a deity is worshipped. That said, Shrines exist physically within New Ognos's territories, and Shrinekeepers (like Dames/Thanes) are expected to work within the law and coordinate with local leadership on civil matters: land use, public safety, disputes with non-clergy, and so on.

In practice, most Duchies and the Monarchy treat a good relationship with the Temple as worth cultivating — a Shrinekeeper's deity is real, watching, and not always inclined to be diplomatic about being ignored. It's common for the High Table (or an individual Shrinekeeper, for matters specific to their deity) to be given an informal seat at the table for major decisions, similar to the courtesy extended to known Vessels.

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Unclaimed & Minor Deities

Not every deity has a dedicated Shrine yet, and that's fine — a deity doesn't need one to be worshipped, have Followers, or take a Vessel. A minor deity without a formal Shrine simply doesn't have a seat on the High Table yet, and any organized worship of them (a small shrine, a devoted household, a wandering priest) remains informal/unrecognized until someone goes through the founding process above.

The High Table may also, at its discretion, take on loose oversight of an unclaimed deity's scattered worshippers until a proper Shrine is founded — this is a good way for the Temple as a whole to remain aware of new deities surfacing without forcing premature structure onto something that isn't ready for it.