Category:Church of Lupta

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The Church of Lupta is a religion centered on worship of the fertility goddess known as Lupta. Its roots lie in the domain of Madego.

Symbol

The (un)holy symbol of Lupta's church is a brown woman, lying on her side inside of a green, angel-shaped outline.

Iconography

Images of Lupta depict her as a gigantic human woman with dark skin and hair, towering above the trees and mountains. She is always depicted as dancing barefoot on the earth, with plants growing in her tracks, and dressed in revealing garment of yellow and green - if that. Lupta's icons are often depicted as holding up or being surrounded by the image of one or more Loa or Spirits.

Alignment

Lupta is Chaotic Neutral.

Cleric alignments

Clerics of Lupta can be Chaotic Evil, Chaotic Good or Chaotic Neutral.

Favoured weapon

Scythe.

Portfolio

The earth, fertility, healing, the afterlife, dance, the spirits, the Loa, magic, food, alcohol.

Titles

The Dancer, the Fifth, Matron of the Revels, the Provider, Spirit-Mother, the Unfettered.

Spell Domains

Goddess version

Earth, Healing, Magic, Plant, Repose

Spirit version

Earth, Healing, Plant

History

The Church of Lupta arose after the Night of Music of 740 BC, when Lupta herself appeared on the barren sands of G'Henna province. Accompanied by the music of the Chi-Folken, she danced on the plains, driving back the encroaching Mists and healing the damage inflicted by the Great Upheaval. Before she lay down to sleep on the land, she also blessed the soil so it became verdant and fertile, leading to a new era of plenty and prosperity for the province, and consequently altering the balance of trade and finance in the region. The Church spread through the Core provinces with remarkable speed as the Chi-Folken adored the new goddess for saving them from destruction, adapting and changing to match local conditions as it did.

Dogma

As the faithful of Lupta believe that her motivations are basically incomprehensible to mortals, her Church has no overarching dogma. Instead, her faithful try to emulate the actions of their patron by helping to cultivate the land and feed the hungry just as she brought G'Henna to life, heal the injured and sick just as she restored the damage inflicted by the Great Upheaval, and bring the magic of the Spirits into the world through dance and revelry. They also help the dead to return to the earth and celebrate their lives with surviving friends and relatives, and celebrate the freedom Lupta brought to Madego's people by holding great festivals. It is mainly (but not exclusively) the Pierrobit and Ewigkinder faithful who seek out forces that would enslave and subjugate the faithful and other agents of the Mists and put them in the earth 'somewhat ahead of schedule'.

Clergy

Adepts, Bards, Clerics, Druids, Rangers, Shamans and Voodan can all be members of the clergy of Lupta, and she also has many lay priests, but Blackguards, Blighters and Antipaladins are not welcome. Priests and priestesses of Lupta are not required to isolate themselves from society, but rather involve themselves with everyday life. They bless the acres in the name of their goddess, help with the farming and study methods of maximizing crop yield, brew alcohol for sale, run food kitchens and provide healing for those in need, and oversee the burial of the dead. Clergy of Lupta can be recognized by their robes of yellow and green, which symbolizes wheat during its growth cycle; only Ewigkinder clergy wear variant robes of green and brown, claiming greater kinship with the goddess's holy symbol, but actually to avoid triggering their own chromatic allergen.

Hierarchy

Hierarchy among the clergy is based on the saying that 'Only those who sow shall reap'. In practical terms, those who can demonstrate that they have been granted greater power by the goddess hold greater authority among their peers. In game terms, those clergy who go out and increase their level in service to Lupta will gain greater standing in the Church. Given that the Church of Lupta is divided in several conflicting sects, such standing is likely to be recognized only by one's own sect and congregation.

Sects

Lupta's Church is roughly divided in the following sects:

Main Sect

This is what we might call the default Church of Lupta. It is currently strongest in Darkon province, but can be encountered anywhere the other sects are and is far more zealous when it comes to spreading the good word of Lupta to the rest of Madego. Missionaries of the Main Sect can be found anywhere in the domain, running food kitchens and hospitals and helping to bring in ever greater harvests.

G'Hennan sect

In Madego's G'Henna province, the high priest Yagno Petrovna was an eye-witness to the manifestation of Lupta during the Night of Music in 740 BC and even participated in the Spirit-rituals that were until then considered to be pagan in that province. The high priest proclaimed that Lupta was actually Zhakata the Provider, who had come to reward the faith of the G'Hennan people and save the world. Today, Lupta is synonimous with the Provider in G'Henna province. Local clergy still wield the holy symbol of the beast-god when praying to her and wear the old robes, but only those of alignments compatible with the goddess may call upon her gift of divine magic, and are limited to the Spell Domains provided by her.

Four Towers sect

This sect is prevalent in the domains where the Ezran faith has been dominant for a long time. Which is to say: Borca, Dementlieu, Mordent and Richemulot. Rather than see Lupta as a new goddess, the locals believe that she is the fifth manifestation of Ezra. The fact that no one who worships Lupta as the Fifth has been able to manifest a version of the Shield of Ezra nor cast spells from the Mist Domain is a source of concern and debate. While there are plenty of angry voices which claim this is proof that Lupta is actually a fiend who wishes to corrupt the faith, they are balanced by faithful who believe the fact that Lupta drove back the Mists during the Night of Music is proof that the goddess has finally achieved her perfect self and thus needs no longer tolerate the Mists.

Faith of the Loa; Faith of the Spirits

In Souragne, Valachan and Verbrek provinces, Lupta is seen as merely one of the Spirits or a Loa - though definitely an important and beloved one, with a leading role among her peers.

Vaasi Sect

Prevalent in Nova Vaasa and Hazlan provinces, here Lupta is recognized as a goddess, but is considered to be a beloved concubine of the Lawgiver, with special dispensation to perform acts of kindness and mercy in the world. Or at least such is what might be called the official dogma. In practice, love for and belief in the Dancer is growing to eclipse fear of the Iron Tyrant in both provinces, to the point that the Church of the Lawgiver is steadily losing influence in society.

Relationship With Other Faiths

In Nova Vaasa and Hazlan, the Church of Lupta exists as a supposedly subordinate sect of the Church of the Lawgiver. The truth is that tensions are on the rise as the Church of Lupta is far more popular with aristocrats and commoners alike, and is slowly starting to shrug off the older church's attempts to restrain it.

In G'Henna, the Church of Lupta the Provider is in direct opposition to the last lingering remnants of the Church of the Devourer. Whenever such remnants are discovered, they are hunted down and either driven from the province or exterminated with brutal efficiency.

There is an odd tension between the Church of Ezra and the Church of Lupta, in that the former is torn between believing the latter is a new sect or a fiendish conspiracy meant to doom the faithful.

The Church of Lupta and the Church of Hala generally get along well. Even if they disagree on mythology, they agree on methodology, as they both sponsor the healing arts and the study of magic in their own way.

In Darkon province, the Church of Lupta has more or less absorbed the Eternal Order. Lupta's portfolio includes burial and the afterlife, and her vision of an egalitarian and peaceful hereafter proved more popular than the mythology of the Grey Realm.