The Church of the Slain God in Skyjacks is based on the brief period in Catholicism where we had three popes. The three Voxes disagree on countless issues and hate each other fiercely. https://twitter.com/Ben_Scerri/status/1312594699648000000

Regional priests tend to practice very differently from the central authority in ways that are probably heretical, but it would cause too much trouble to correct.

I'd love to talk more about it but it would bore the shit out of 90% of people.

Okay fine! Tho most of this will show up in a zine eventually... so you have to still but the zine (unless I already spoke to you about working on it.)

The ranks on the church are:
Corno- Priest, rarely have magic

Mano- Church soldier

Lacrima- Wandering officiant, familiar with magic.

Bishop- Stationary official. Must have performed miracles

Occio or Vista- Voting council for Vox.  Usually bishops

Vox- Church Leader (3)

The most basic rank is the "Corno" the horn or trumpet of god. These are your regoinal priests. In most places they are glorified tax collectors. They carry messages from the church authority and deliver tithes to Lacrima.

Many of them *do* deliver sermons, but it's no uncommon for Cronos to be waelthy and influential citizens appointed by Lacrima to keep church relations civil with different municipalities.

Corno have wide variation of dogma and practice because they are usually basing things off of the traditions of their reigon. Do you do a harvest festival? What a coincidence, the church has a holiday around the same time!

Some folks like Adriane Helvig take this role very seriously and try to earnestly mine The Slain Tome for guidance and meaning. These congregations also benefit the church because belief pays as much as politics.

Lacrima or "the tears of god" are part of that tax collection system. They travel to the congregations of those Corno and ferry the tithes back to the church.

Lacrima also have more authority becase they can perform divine magic. This is basic stuff that is taught in universities and mostly consists of healing.

If you're in a small community without a doctor it's a big deal for a Lacrima to roll through and save a life or two.

The most coveted Lacrima positions are in large urban centers. Places like Burza Nyth or Aurum are great because you just need to mange a dozen Corno and make a largely ceremonial trip a few times a year.

The next best are ship commissions, where you manage a reigon on one of the ships operated by the church.

They are not as good because you don't have a lavish palaceto stay in and you are pretty much running routes *all the time.*

You also occasionally have to do actually dangerous work like chase the Mariner away or fend off bandits using cannons.

Still the worst Lacrima positions don't even provide ships and you actually have to travel by caravan, foot, or slain god forbid sea to manage your Corno.

This position has some political importance because you are the eyes and ears of your Bishop. You also do alot of their dirty work.

For that reason these positions are held by *all sorts* of people.

Because it requires schooling you do get alot of third-fifth children in wealthy families stepping into the role. Sometimes they are useful spies and diplomats, sometimes they are useless tits. Connections to influential land owners is worth incompetence.

However it's not unheard of for a bishop to give the role to an ex-Red Feather captain. If you manage a region with a lit of costal land or somewhere full of raiding bandits and pirates, sometimes you need a Lacrima who can really rain hell.

This brings us to "Bishops." So named because I said it in the first three episodes and so we have to keep it.

This is definitely in the spirt of what we're doing. It's clearly a title that didn't fit with the new format that was folded into the structure at the behest of one of the Voxes who didn't want their people to lose status within the reformed structure of the church.

Bishops collect money collected by Lacrima. They also manage the distribution of church resources. They decide who gets to be a Lacrima and which ones get skyships, guards, or in many cases audit oversight.

In order to be a Bishop you need to have performed a miracle. What constitutes a miracle in a world with magic? Good fucking question.

The answer is "it's usually political."

Occio vote on what actions constitute miracles. If you have the right allies snuffing out all the candles in a church is more miraculous than healing someone paralized from the neck down.

If you are a canny little weasel like Lorenzo Arenzie, who is not well like by most Occio– you can try to stage a miracle that would be politically inconvenient to deny in order to force your way in.

Occio are usually drafted out of the pool of Bishops so in many cases Bishops are created to maintain ideological factions within the church.

Also because Bishops usually manage a few Lacrima, the more territory and money you bring in, the more Bishops you get.

Bishops have alot of WILD political shit going on. The maintain relations with factions like the Feathers and municipalities.

Whatever the hell was happening with The Civility was a pretty big gambit by one of the more influential bishops in the church.

Technically not "above" Bishops are the Occio or "the eyes of god." They vote on ecumenical politics and most important choose new Voxes when someone dies.

Occio is an entirely political position. One can only be appointed on the authority of two Voxes.

It doesn't happen often because a new Occio is almost always a compromise. The Voxes are playing a delicate game of power and they can't let one get too far ahead or they lose important shit like the ability to consecrate hard liquor, wear blended fabrics, or vaccinate.

Dogma is weird. The Slain Tome can be interpreted a lot of different ways and there is countless apocryphal folk belief to keep track of. If you raise an Occio you need to know what they will vote for and against.

Occio are *usually* Bishops but not always. It happens on the authority of two Voxes so it can go lots of different ways.

The last position is Vox or "the voice of god." They are said to communicate directly with the angels in heavens surrounding The Sovereign's empty throne.

They dictate the will of heaven and leave it to the Occio and Bishops to carry out that will.

I haven't had to think of the three absolute snakes currently in those positions yet, so I think this thread os probably done.