Makorynite Orthodoxy of Liminal

The Makorynite Orthodoxy began in the great city of Liminal, an outgrowth of its proximity to the Eternal Hells themselves, thanks to the imbricate nature of that city, which provides access to the very domains of the Talion gods. For the most part, most Makorynite temples in Rinhony belong to the Orthodoxy.

Theology

The orthodox theology of the core Makorynite faith holds that tyranny and vengeance are sins. It is the duty of the faithful to be watchful for signs of those afflictions, both in themselves and others. Power is the great temptation, and must be a tool for an ends, rather than the ends themselves. The sinful will be cast into the Hellshards in the afterlife, to suffer at the hands of Makoryn's iron devils.

It is the duty of the priesthood to work against tyrants and those who would subvert or pervert justice to their own ends. Though this sounds very benevolent, the fact is there is something in the Makorynite faith which thrives on suffering and pain. The faithful who are dispatched to deal with tyrants and the wicked do so with terrible brutality, often making the suffering of their targets long-lasting and very public, as a warning to others.

Makorynite doctrine embraces the concept of Proper Authority, teaching its adherents that only the gods are worthy to wield power for power's sake. Mortals are meant to defer such power to the gods, and should limit their own exercises of power during their lifetimes to whatever is needful to accomplish their aims without self-aggrandizement. The holy know that effectiveness, not glory, is the order of the day. The Makorynite faith is fairly popular with the downtrodden and poor because of this philosophy, and less popular among those with temporal power, as one might imagine.

The Makorynite priesthood also teaches that imprisonment is a holy endeavor. It is the very purpose of the Talion gods, and Makorynites often criticize the priesthoods of other Talion gods for not taking that duty more seriously. The Makorynite faith teaches that pain is purification, and that suffering leads to enlightenment, as well. For this reason it tends to have an ascetic thread running through much of its practices.

Rituals & Observances

Among other things, Makorynite temples are always constructed to include dungeons, or at least a basic gaol. The priesthood makes it very clear to the powers that be that their services as gaolers may be invoked at any time, and many rulers do take advantage of those services, rather than bothering with their own dungeons or jails.

The Makorynite Orthodoxy maintains an ever-growing body of written lore called the Hierophantine Codex. These are the accumulated writings of the sect's Iron Heirophants over the years, regarded as holy writ due to the time the Iron Hierophants spend in communion with Makoryn and his favored servants in the Talion Court. It takes two generations of Hierophants after a given Iron Hierophant dies for his writings to be considered part of the Codex canon.

Orthodox Makorynite observances are held weekly at temples. These observances usually involve ritual prostrations and admissions of powerlessness before the altar of Makoryn, as well as sermons focusing on passages from the Hierophantine Codex. Because the Codex is not generally available to the masses, it is often the only time worshippers hear the Codex's contents. Outside of these weekly services, Makorynites may come to the temple for one-on-one time with a priest, referred to as cognizance, in which they admit their own sins of power, reveal the misuse of power by others in their lives and accept sacraments of labor, usually by helping to clean and feed prisoners of the temple. Those who are found guilty of great sins are encouraged to surrender themselves to holy solitude, in which they are imprisoned for a short time in the temple's dungeons as penance.

There are two great Makorynite festivals: the Prostrative Assembly and the Feast of Chastisement. The Prostrative Assembly is a three-day gathering in which those participating undertake to prove their abhorrence of the power in their lives: employers let their employees work unsupervised, parents relax their discipline, debtors forgive debts, and the high and mighty perform service for the lowly. The traditional opening to the Assembly involves the mostly highly positioned individual in the settlement making a bare-footed pilgrimage from their place of power, wearing sack cloth, to the altar of Makoryn and prostrating themselves before it. Not all nobles or lords agree to such a display, however; the rank of the one who actually performs the role of The Pilgrim is usually a mark of a given temple's influence with the local culture.

The Feast of Chastisement, on the other hand, is a week-long affair in which the faithful tend to their daily duties while wearing shackles. They spend the day light hours fasting and drinking only water, but as the sun sets, they converge on the temple for increasingly lavish fast-breaking feasts as the festival passes. The first day is simple bread and salt, but the meals become more and more impressive, until the faithful are nearly eating like kings. Those who manage to make it all the way through are welcomed to this spread with glad tidings. This feast speaks to the Makorynite doctrine that says great suffering and service in life will bring rewards to the faithful and freedom from Makoryn's afterlife.

Hierarchy

The patriarch of the Makorynite faith is called the Iron Hierophant, who is clad in dark black leather robes, with a great crown of jagged iron, inset with garnets. The Iron Hierophant always considers the Iron Gaol in Liminal's Hellsward to be his home temple, and an entire section of that mighty temple is set aside for his use alone. Despite this, he is rarely in residence, spending much of his time in the Talion Court of Makoryn.

Beneath the Iron Hierophant is the Iron Collegium, an elite order of potent high priests of Makoryn. The great burden of keeping the church as a body operating lies with the Iron Collegium. They are given "dominions" over which they are responsible, either geographic territories or conceptual areas of interest to the church.

Beneath the Iron Collegium are the individual high priests of temples, called the Atera. This title is derived from an old term that means "one who subjugates," and refers to the priest's duty to subjugate the desire for power out of his congregation. Beneath the Atera are the ordained priests of the church, and the lay clergy who are not ordained but act in service to the faith.

Orders

The Makorynite Orthodoxy maintains several orders within its structure. The largest of their knightly orders is the Brotherhood of the Scepter, known for their brutal fighting style with maces and their ability to invoke terrible pain in their foes.