Church of Xathos

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The Church of Xaethos is a religion that grew out of early Alksearian religions. The first written records of the Holy Texts comes from early 1300s. Prior to the 1300s, the Priests and High Priests would retell the stories and The Church has held onto a lot of political freedom until extremists in the Church tried to create an insurrection against the re-established Kingdom of Eastern Alksearia in 1902. As a formal religion, the Church has existed since 1500.

Creation and History

The Church was formally created in 1500 when the first Archbishop, St. Theodore Vaïno, reorganized the Church and formalized the teachings of the Tomes of Xaethos. The first thing he did was establish a formal hierarchy with an Archbishop as the leader, bishops as heads of a regional church, and priests as the leader of the local church. The second thing that happened in the formal founding was the establishment of a formal doctrine and a formal ritual. The Council of Bishops, at the time of the establishment, determined that anything that was outside of established teachings and doctrine would be heretical. Prior to the formal creation, Priests and High Priest would only follow one of the four Great Prophets and Great Saints, L'Oracle Silencieux, the Seer of Xaethos, The Disciple of Xaethos Pantocrator, and Le Devot D'Xaethos. When the Church was fully established and reformed in 1500, the Four Saints were put together into one full Tome of Xaethos. St. Theodore also changed the structure of the Church. He reformed the structure to be Priests, Bishops (changed from High Priests), and a council of High Bishops. These High Bishops would have a Primus inter pares among themselves, known as the Head Bishop. After St. Theodore reformed the religion into one established body, he stepped away so to let a new generation of Bishops serve. In 1502 however, he would be brought onto the Council of Bishops and given the title Archevêque en chef(translated into Staynish as "Head Archbishop), an honorary title that allowed St. Theodore to help establish and create a central authority and doctrine. In 1504, three months before the passing of St. Theodore, the Council of Bishops held the first Xaethoien Council. In this council, they established that the title Archevêque en chef would be changed to just Archevêque and established that the Archevêque would be over all Bishops. St. Theodore was elected as the first Archevêque and put into office April 3rd, 1504. Unfortunately, St. Theodore would pass away on May 2nd 1504 as the council was ready to adjourn. The council voted to elect St. Pierre of Novia to be the next Archevêque. The last thing the council did before it adjourned under the new leadership on May 18th was to vote to make St. Theodore Blessed. The vote passed by 170 to 5. He would attain sainthood on June 4th, 1504 after it was revealed that Theodore had a vision from Xaethos that explained to him how he should structure the formal Church. In 1508, St. Pierre of Novia would

In 1602, under Archbishop Pierre VI, the title was changed from it's original name to Archbishop as the language of the region of Alksearia started to shift and change. In the early 1700s, the Church of Xaethos support the rise of the Grand Duchy of Eastern Alksearia and the Grand Duchy of Western Alksearia. In 1750, the Archbishop would hold a seat on the Regional Council of Alksearia. The Archbishop would start to favor the Grand Duke of Eastern Alksearia over the Grand Duke of Western Alksearia. As the regional council started to condense down into just the Grand Dukes, the Church would build it's Grand Temple in Urgia-Nova as a symbol of the official stance of the church.

Xaethos's Chosen Schism

In 1839, a group started to form within the Church of Xaethos known as Xaethos's Chosen. They started to spread a heretical version of the Tomes of Xaethos known as the True Tomes of Xaethos. These tomes, according to them, contain hidden knowledge that Xaethos Pantocrator never did return to the Good Place, but rather Xaethos Pantocrator left his vessel. These "2 other books" tell the story of the Spirit of the Pantocrator roaming around the old nations of Alksearia searching for a new vessel. The Pantocrator sends us settling on the Great Saint the Disciple of Xaethos Pantocrator. To Xaethos's Chosen, this means that there is a bloodline that is descendant of the Pantocrator. The schism grew larger and larger until in 1841, they declared that King Eldras III was the "Anti-Xaethos and the agent of and the spawn of [DEMON NAME GOES HERE]." This lead to a large group of noble rebelling and causing trouble for a rebellious nation to begin with.

Doctrine and Teachings

According the The Doctrine of the Church of Xaethos, there is no iconography of Xaethos the Creator. The first iconography was of Xaethos Pantocrator, a vessel on Urth that Xaethos was said to inhibit. In one of the books of the Tome of Xaethos, Xaethos Pantocrator was said to have been assumed into The Good Place both body and soul There are four other Great Prophets and Great Saints, L'Oracle Silencieux, The Seer of Xaethos, The Disciple of Xaethos Pantocrator, and Le Devot d'Xaethos, who are typically also depicted alongside Xaethos Pantocrator.

Tomes of Xaethos

The Tomes of Xaethos are broken down into 4 collections written by the 4 Great Prophets and Great Saints. The Collection of L'Orcale Silencieux is the largest collection at 10 books in total, The Collection of The Seer has a total of 4 books of wisdom and is the shortest collection, The Collection of the Disciple of Xaethos Pantocrator has a total of 6 books, and The Collection of Le Devot d'Xaethos has a collection of 8 books, ending with the Prophecy of Xaethos.