To Whom?
Although very general, these rules apply to all recognized temples operating in The Dragon's Neck module. They apply to divine PCs and NPCs alike.Admission and Status
All divine PCs of an established faith begin as novices.They are permitted temple access, simple duties, and instruction. However, they do not wield independent rite authority within the temple.
Common cross-faith ranks (names may be flavoured per deity)
Ranks are not merely awarded for progression, they are earned through exemplary conduct and by creating roleplay opportunities for others.
DMs will grant visible tokens to mark fully ordained priests. This confers the mechanical and social privileges listed further below.
Protectors of the Faith
The military arm of the clergy. These ranks are separate from the main clergy and composed mostly of fighters, wardens, divine champions and paladins. While they do not perform or take part in delivering rites to the community, they serve as the temple’s arm and shield, keeping the order, protecting its clergy and being sent to deal with threats. In the field and day-to-day operations, they are commanded by Priests, though a High Priest may intervene to halt or redirect orders.Rank Rules - What they May / May Not Do:
Novices
MAY:- Keep hours, clean precincts, organize rites, archives, vestments and candles.
- Assist at rites (carry censer, readings, responses, offerings, water, bread).
- Study doctrine, complete supervised charity rounds and hospice visits.
- Fundraise with alms-bowls and sponsor petitions, remitting all proceeds to the temple ledger immediately.
- Travel as attendants to senior clergy, act as couriers and choristers.
MAY NOT:
- Officiate marriages, funerals, consecrations, exorcisms, investitures, or binding oaths.
- Declare sanctuary, or command temple wardens.
- Handle treasuries beyond petty errands or keep private fees for holy services.
- Publicly preach at the temple without an Acolyte+ present or written leave.
- Represent the temple in civic politics or contractual matters.
Acolytes
MAY:- Lead minor rites: vigils, house-blessings, travel blessings, naming blessings, bedside prayers for the sick, field services in emergencies.
- Preach simple homilies and lead public prayer, supervise Novices and rota duty.
- Keep petty cash boxes, receive offerings, and enter them in the temple ledger.
- Manage works of mercy (soup, sanctum triage, burial of the poor) and schedule volunteer crews.
- Carry sealed letters for Priests and serve as priests-in-training for militias or caravans when authorized.
MAY NOT:
- Officiate marriages, funerals with full rite, consecrate altars/shrines, perform formal exorcisms, or confer investitures without a written faculty.
- Declare sanctuary, or command wardens.
- Set doctrine, issue dispensations, or license clergy.
- Serve as treasurer or key-holder for the great chest/reliquary.
Priests
MAY:- Receive Citizenship on promotion.
- Officiate marriages and funerals recognized in Murann; perform naming rites and initiations as the faith practices.
- Consecrate altars, shrines, and cemeteries, lead feast-day processions.
- Provide spiritual counsel, assign penances.
- Declare sanctuary, command temple wardens, hear confession under the seal.
- Keep keys to treasuries and reliquaries with one other officer, audit ledgers, authorize fundraising drives and stipends.
- License Acolytes for specific faculties (marriage witness, field preaching, rites) and assign Novice/Acolyte training.
- Perform minor exorcisms/banishments, petition Senior clergy for major cases.
- Represent the temple to guilds, watch, militias, and minor nobility, negotiate routine contracts.
MAY NOT:
- Alter core doctrine of the wider faith, impose or lift temple restriction.
- Maintain private armed bands, sell rites, break the confessional seal.
- Countermand the Harbor King's writ or city law, levy taxes, grant sanctuary to traitors.
High Priest
MAY:- Set local discipline, issue and revoke faculties, appoint/relieve officers, adjudicate scandals.
- Guard relics and treasuries, authorize major expenditures, repairs, and expansions.
- Negotiate with noble houses and the Harbor King’s representatives, accept or decline patronage and dowried postulants.
- Convene chapter meetings, promulgate local statutes, impose or lift local restrictions where doctrine allows.
- Hear appeals, remit or increase penances, remove compromised clergy from office pending judgment.
- Approve major exorcisms, crusading charters, or large public processions.
- Coordinate joint-temple works (plague response, famine kitchens, fire brigades).
MAY NOT:
- Contravene civic law or royal writ, depose nobles, levy taxes, raise troops without warrant.
- Alter core doctrine of the wider faith, alienate temple estates permanently without chapter and patron consent.
- Grant blanket immunities to criminal fraternities, sell offices, condone heresy.
Vesture, Bearing and Quarters
- Humble vesture on duty: Novices wear plain habits or modest surcoats in temple colors, no ostentatious jewelry beyond a simple holy sign. This is as much politics as piety; Murann expects a visible distinction between social hierarchies and ranks.Example: Sunites keep the novice rule of modesty. With each promotion they adopt progressively finer cuts and fabrics for a “glow-up” effect, matching temple NPCs.
- Bearing: Clergy are expected to be literate, courteous, and restrained in public houses; avoid brawls, loud gaming, scandal, and anything that might reflect poorly on their temple.
- Quarters: Large city temples ordinarily maintain novice dormitory space and a refectory. If not currently mapped in game yet, it is to be hand-waved as available off-screen.
Patronage, Finance and Fundraising
- Support: Temples are sustained by the Harbor King’s patronage, noble houses, newcoins, and the faithful.- Ledgers: All gifts, tithes, wages, and alms are recorded in a temple ledger.
- Fees and Alms: Free rites for the population are customary. Care in extremis (the dying, the destitute) is never withheld for lack of coin; the temple will seek patron reimbursement elsewhere after.
- Fundraising: Feast-days, processions, sponsored repairs, guild appeals, noble patron drives, relic showings, charity hospices are some of the favored methods amongst good-aligned temples. Coercive tithing, protection schemes, selling absolution, misuse of sanctuary to shield criminals for pay are some of the favored methods amongst evil-aligned temples.
Social Origins of Postulants (setting tone)
- Common intake: younger sons/daughters of the gentry or learned households, offered with a dowry to cement ties between house and temple. (Disavowed background)- Charity intake: orphans, rescued serfs, war-widows/wards; fewer in number but present. Once received, they are claimed by the temple when possible, taught letters, and begin the climb in the social hierarchy.
Conduct and Public Order
- Respectability Clause: Clergy must be seen to be honorable and remain in good standing with the locals. Any public misdeed stains the temple's name. DM's may apply penances or suspensions swiftly when scandal arises.- Lawful Cooperation: Temples cooperate with city authority in matters of peacekeeping, plague, and fire. Disputes between temple and law are referred up-chain (Priest+).
- Politics: Novices and Acolytes do not speak for the temple on politics. Partisan intrigue by juniors is grounds for quick disciplinary measures.
Discipline and Penance Ladder
a) Private Admonition (first fault)
b) Penance (fasts, extra service, restitution, public apology if scandal was public)
c) Suspension from Duties (loss of vesture/privileges)
d) Referral to Civic Justice (if crimes were committed)
e) Dismissal from Temple (return to lay life)
Interfaith Conduct and Temple vs Temple Conflict
Though wealth is every Amnian’s chief aim, religion still matters, and remains free of direct government control. Temples, shrines, and holy places to nearly every Realms-faith can be found here, from roadside altars to grand city temples. No state religion exists, nor do elite families agree on a single proper way of worship. Unless worship disrupts business or the Council of Six's will, religious freedom prevails. With such variety, most Amnians pay lip service to many Gods as season and need demand.Jurisdiction and Guest Safety
- Each temple is sovereign within its precincts. Visiting clergy must announce themselves at the gate, arrive unarmed or with weapons peace-bonded, and leave their Wardens outside unless invited in.- Visiting clergy under guest-right are safe from harassment; a polite host must provide water, bread, and a bench. Guests must refrain from proselytizing inside the host’s temple unless invited. Likewise, no recruiting is allowed within another temple’s precinct.
- All temple grounds are civic; clergy and wardens must adhere to local laws there.
- Religious freedom is paramount unless it threatens public safety or the economy. Rival clergy are expected to remain civil: they may preach and assert doctrine, but must not openly label another temple as false, corrupt, or criminal.
- Damage to property is a criminal offense. Defacing walls (writing or drawing), destroying gardens, or damaging/breaking relics are all chargeable crimes.
Etiquette for Clergy
- Address by proper title.- Stand to address elders or High Clergy.
- Offer water and bread to all guests; never refuse water when offered.
- Compete without cruelty: argue for your deity’s virtues without threatening rival worshippers.
- Escalation ladder for conflict: Parley → Priest-to-Priest letter or meeting → Convene at agreed Chapter or neutral venue → Civic Curia arbitration (intervention of the law).
Forbidden Acts
The following are all chargeable criminal offenses:- Desecrating another temple or rite
- Drawing weapons inside a temple.
- Stealing or coercing offerings
- Poaching novices
- Interfering with funerals
- Blocking ceremonies
- Instigating riots
Cooperation
Because of Amn's religious freedom, churches have to win worshippers by service, visibility and strategic appearances rather than destroying rivals. That means even opposed faiths will sometimes cooperate - often grudgingly - when public order, commerce or people's safety is at stake.For example, a ship captain may log Valkur as the voyage patron. The Valkur priest boards and leads the navigation rite. A Selûnite remains on the quay to offer a lantern-charm as night nears, and an Umberlee priest - while not allowed to board - offers a shore-side appeasement. All three are present, even though only one leads the main rite.
Sanctuary
Rules
- Someone asks a Priest for Sanctuary at the temple. (Novices/Acolytes must immediately fetch a Priest.)- The Priest leads the supplicant to the altar, requires visible weapons surrendered, and receives a brief oath to keep the peace.
- The Priest enters the claim in the ledger, posts a gate notice, and notifies the Guard. From that moment, Sanctuary holds.
- Sanctuary is valid only within the host temple's precincts (Gardens included). Stepping outside the precincts ends protection.
- Sanctuary lasts for a tenday (A week). The resident receives bread, water, and a bed, and must keep the peace and obey precinct rules.
- The resident is offered spiritual counseling, penance and guidance. After true penitence, a letter from a Priest might lessen the charges.
- After a tenday (A week) Sanctuary ends. The clergy escorts the penitent from the altar to the barracks. Failure to appear, straying from the route, loitering or re-arming, is a new offense and voids further protection permanently.
- High treason is not eligible for sanctuary.
- Selling sanctuary, blanket harbor for hired felons, extorting fees, or obstructing the law are criminal offenses that will lead to suspension of the clergy and charges.
Quick flow
Licensing
Although Amn views divine magic more favorably than arcane, especially when clergy are attached to local temples woven into civic life, the Weave's instability has led the city of Murann to impose heavy restrictions and licensing.Clergy must hold and maintain a valid Clerical License to perform rites and sacred offices. Those who also wander as adventurers or accompany mercenaries must additionally maintain a Sellsword License. Lapse or abuse of either license can result in penances and fines.