▆ ▇━━T H E━A B B E Y━O F━T H E━E V E R Y M A N━━▇ ▆
❝PHILOSOPHY. ‘‘There is nothing that keeps men at any one moment out of the cold and shivering Abyss, but the vigilance of the Abbey..
The Abbey of the Everyman, or simply the Abbey, is a religious order in the world, spread and enforced by Overseers and spearheaded by the High Overseer. It is devoted to the loathing and destruction of dark magic, and it's assumed origin, The Outsider and his realm the Void. Any traces they find of heresy (via researching the Outsider, or worshipping him altogether), are thoroughly destroyed, and the presumed criminal is then punished for their crimes. Which can mean various different things. Depending on the intensity of the crime. Simply reading a book about The Outsider often leads to a public whipping.
But worshipping him, serving his "cause", can lead to, at best, banishment via the Heretic's Brand, or execution. The primary goal of the Abbey is to stand against the Outsider, but it is also tasked with civil matters, such as officiating marriages and regulating the calendar and the Fugue Feast.
The Abbey has no stated deity (and indeed opposes worship in the traditional sense), although it places special importance on astrological and cosmological movements - the organization regulates the calendar based on the observation of cosmological signs, and in eulogies, the deceased is bade to "fade and merge with the Cosmos".
The Abbey follows a strict set of doctrines known as the Seven Strictures, which dictate how followers of the Abbey should conduct themselves. Citizens are encouraged to place all their devotion and faith in the institution of the Abbey, particularly the High Overseer. Thus, the Abbey is generally regarded as a spiritual watchdog.
The Abbey permits no other religions and opposes all acts of dark magic and witchcraft, in addition condemning those who diverge from the Abbey's ways. As the Outsider is the source of all void/dark magic in the world, the Abbey disavows him and actively combats his temptation of mortals. Even going as far to hold several expeditions towards the Void, to attempt to destroy them. So far they have yet to break the barrier between worlds with their light magic.
♚▆ ▇━━━━T H E━T R I A L S━O F━A P T I T U D E━━━━▇ ▆♚
Children who have the "proper inclination" for the position of Overseer are "marked" by the Abbey and observed for several months to "determine whether this inclination is supported by cosmological conditions and other signs, ongoing throughout the year". Those found to be worthy are abducted from their homes and, after several months of spiritual preparation, make a pilgrimage to Whitecliff. There they undergo the Trials of Aptitude, which determine who among them is worthy to become an Overseer, and who must be "put down".
♚▆ ▇━━━━I M P O R T A N T━I N F O R M A T I O N━━━━▇ ▆♚
It should be evident by now that no one can simply join The Abbey of the Everyman. But one would be prepped through adolescence into adulthood. They would live their lives by the seven scriptures, considering themselves saints and holy protectors. Even though they don't necessarily hold a particular faith. They are witch hunters with advanced technology and far wider capabilities, and much greater power. And they never hesitate to accomplish their goals via violent means.
They are well educated in many areas of combat, and are known to be some of the most skilled fighters in the Empire. They are excessively powerful, held in high regards by the majority of society today. Even though historically, they took their power by brute force.
Though the Abbey technically directs the Empire and almost completely controls its movements, it is well known that those with the money to defy the Abbey are most definitely defying the Abbey. Morbidly curious nobles pay head overseers to turn the cheek if anything heretical is suspected, government officials practice black magic and even one of the world's grand inventors Anton Sokolov is known to openly study the Void, having written several books on the subject.
♚▆ ▇━━━━━T H E━O R A C U L A R━O R D E R━━━━━▇ ▆♚
The Oracular Order parallels the Abbey of the Everyman in that all of its members are strictly female. And rather than taking physical action like the Overseers do, they instead focus on enlightening themselves with knowledge on current day events and are said to even be information brokers in the lower regions of the city, they have some of the largest libraries in the entire empire all to themselves. Using this knowledge they make reasonable, realistic predictions on what is to come, and are also known to be some of the best military strategists in the world, often described as "intellectually vibrant within". Though it is believed that the Sisters have "prophetic visions, which guide the Abbey of the Everyman", in truth the "intellectually curious" and "ruthlessly analytical" women spend their time studying history and politics, using the knowledge they have gained through their academic pursuits to make decisions, as well as enriching their understanding of these topics by debating them among themselves. In their "pursuit of wisdom", some Sisters choose to meditate or to ingest hallucinogenic substances along with their studies.
Like the Overseers, the Sisters of the Oracular Order are trained in combat, wielding maces, terminating in a single open eye. Speaking of which, many believe that the sisters of the Oracular Order are actually blind, when in reality, they are blind to the diversions of the world, and see things from a perfectly unbiased point of view. Furthermore, the Oracular Order isn't as ruthlessly hateful towards Outsider, and in fact, is believed to encourage the summoning of the entity in order to gain new enlightenment and information on the void itself. It is unknown how new members of this society are chosen. But in the past few months, many little girls have gone missing from their beds, in the late hours of the night.
❝PHILOSOPHY. ‘‘There is nothing that keeps men at any one moment out of the cold and shivering Abyss, but the vigilance of the Abbey..