The Church of Tempus was the religious institution of the Ochebana Empire under Londer and Jonas. It levied considerable religious and social power, serving as the major ideological support for the emperor's rule.

Not to be confused with the Imperial Church, which was founded by Emperor Snaketeethed and was devoted to Auril

Structure

Though it existed for longer, the imperial church's final structural state discussed here emerged only in 530 b. OW. The Church was based in Londerhome's Cathedral of Power, and before its construction in the chapel of Longhorn Castle. It was there that the emperor formally gave his instructions to the council of four archbichops, the highest clerics, each of whom oversaw one branch of the church. The exact areas of occupation differed over time, but usually there was one archbichop in Londerhome, one in Longhorn Bay, one in Quirthdale, and one tasked with coordinating the three and managing the church's wealth, its monasteries, and its small armed branch of devout paladins and sworn swords.

Despite formal structures of power among the clergy, with each priest answering a bichop answering one cathedral or the other, and the centrally controlled armed force, the centralization of the Church should not be overestimated. Most priests and city bichops answered only nominally to their superiors, and village priests were typically much closer to the faith as an idea and to the local population than they were to any kind of central authority. This is why the archbichops' authority remained relatively restricted, and why the Church wasn't very wealthy.

Resources. The Church was able to draw on a wealth of resources, thanks to its prominent position to both the Ochebanian people and the imperial government. For one, it controlled a lot of real estate and land; huge cathedrals and churches were built with imperial funds to serve as places of prayer, and it built smaller churches and monasteries across the countryside, typically with considerable funding from the local population. It also had a small corps of armed professionals, paladins with magical abilities drawn from Tempus himself as well as common warriors who devoted their lives to serving the faith, who were usually deployed as small garrisons in monasteries and cathedrals. The church also had full authority over affairs of magic - informally at first, then officially starting in 522 - monitoring and incorporating non-holy spellcasters. Finally, the church also had some funds available to it institutionally, but these were very restricted, being constituted out of some subventions, wealthy donations, and confiscations.

Tasks

Religious and Political Doctrine. The Church's principal mission was to define and honor the cult of Tempus, the god of warriors, glory, and suffering. It did so with its large corps of priest: all notable settlements had a small church with a resident priest, who led ritual prayers, spoke about His messages, and served as an extension of the Church's authority for its other tasks. Many political propaganda items, and even important public announcements, were made via priests. They were the outward face of the government, serving as the intermediary between politics and people, while the army enforced things.

Chastisement. Some crimes demanded punishment by the faith. These included abusing the authority of or defaming the emperor, failing to follow orders given by representatives of the emperor, and arson. Capital crimes included adultery, poisoning, and sleeping with another person's husband or wife. In such cases, priests relied either on local mobs, on Church soldiers, or (rarely) on imperial authorities to bring the subject to justice. The priest then pronounced the sentence: this usually consisted of public whipping, being locked in a cage in a public space for some time, or being tied to a stake outside the settlement for some time. For capital crimes, punishment included death by whipping or other forms of public torture, crucifixion, and burning at the stake. In many of these punishments, the power of pain and suffering as Tempus's way of cleansing the corruption from ones' soul was underlined.

Priests were also the only authority who had the religious authority to forgive a repenting individuals' moral wrongdoings. Usually, the priests required elongated sessions where they discussed an individuals' failings and how to find back to the correct path before ordaining the forgiveness. Sometimes, priests demanded an individual serve some time in the church as an acolyte to prove their faith to Tempus, or event sent the individual to be cloistered in a monastery for half a decade.

Spellcaster Regulation. In absence of any other magic-capable government institution for this, the church also took upon itself the task of regulating spellcaster. Its paladins persecuted spellcasters seen as "unorthodox", such as those who drew their powers from blasphemous outside sources including druidic or non-Star holy magic, and they also intervened if a powerful spellcaster went too far abusing their magical powers. After the Jonesdays, the paladin corps was considerably strengthened and expanded, as the church was given authority to regulate all magic-users, and in fact constitute the army's mage battalion. This allowed the newly centralized church to considerably increase its military power.

History

The church was initially founded by Emperor Londer in 601 b. OW, when he dedicated a room in Longhorn Castle's bailey to a chapel of Tempus. The first priest was a man who had served in a military expedition, and his two aides were two captured slave women. For two decades, as the church slowly expanded by establishing new chapels and reaching more people, it continued this model: new priests were almost always slaves or other non-free humans, who were then expected to devote their entire lives to the faith. Out of the only free priest in Longhorn Castle became the first bichop.

As the Ochebana Empire grew, so did the church. New churches were established in the many villages which had come under Ochebana's auspice, while the rest of the Church's structures emerged naturally with time. Monasteries were built as places were servants of the faith could live purely among themselves and became a full-fledged institution; the first bichop of the church's soldiers and monasteries was appointed in 583 b. OW.

At first, faith in the Ochebana Empire was quite undefined, especially since the culture of the young state was a mix from very different origins. Londer initially founded the Tempus chapel not because he intended to have a monotheist imperial faith, but because he saw Tempus as an honorable and brave warrior who could serve as an ideal for his elite. But the chapel grew so popular among the people of Londerhome that he started to use it as a political tool, expressing his policy decisions and propaganda through the mouths of the priests. The church's growth was thus supported from both sides, as the people welcomed this faith (which after all simply built upon the various starquintist faiths of the Balebian villages) and the emperor supported it. Chapels popped up everywhere, and the rest is history.

Traits of the Faith

Tempus the Martial Hero. Tempus was typically represented as the god of suffering, battle, and autumn, but the Church highlighted his role as a tough and honorable warrior who was the role model for the Ochebanian people. The aspect of autumn was adapted for the imagery, and the time of harvest in autumn became a celebration of Tempus's generosity. The pivotal part of suffering was reinterpreted in that Tempus cleansed the immoral parts out of people's souls through pain, which is why many kinds of chastisement revolved around pain (note: acolytes were expected to wear sackcloth until their anointment, by which point they were expected to be pure from sins). As for the idealized vision of Tempus himself, Ochebanian emperors were often equated to him, as great heroes in Tempus's image, which conferred them the right to speak in Tempus's name and to lead the god's faithful.

Priests as Servants. All anointed priests and monks (which was the same office) were no longer fully free; they had given their life to Tempus. In order to be able to speak and pass judgement in Tempus's name, priests had to give up their lives, and were no longer allowed to own property, form marriage, or give up their priestly role. Having sex, however, was not banned, and even not considered adultery. Acolytes, if they chose to be anointed (one had to serve up to ten years in a monastery or a church before being allowed such an honor) had to travel to a cathedral, where they would cut their left wrist and give some of their blood to Tempus as a token of their faith and their renouncing of their lives in His name. Other religious offices, whether as sworn swords or as bichops, did not require this, though priests who had gone through the ritual could become paladins or bichops.