Priests and religious orders in Avalon
The responsibilities and benefits within the relationship of patronage are manifold. Transcending the rank of mere supplicant to the priesthood, you may find yourself a participant in the combat between the gods.
The divine order of an individual deity is a shared bond between the immortal god and those mortals whose life choices and innate personalities have, in most cases, earned such a measure of said god's sympathy that a mutual declaration is made: from the mortal to follow and honour his/her patron deity above all others and to spread the Word and Reputation through Pious acts, to maintain absolute loyalty and (in many cases) to further the worldly aims of those realms represented by the patron. From the god comes the undertaking to safeguard the fragile existence of the mortal, to offer guidance through the unpredictable ebb and flow of mortal affairs, to protect against opposing forces beyond mortal resilience (e.g. enemy gods).
An ever-evolving relationship is born, for many the singlemost important in Avalon - and it is from the mortal ranks of a deity's order that the priesthood is selected; distinct from regular followers insofar as their obligations in Avalon are more closely associated with the direct aims of the patron deity, their duties to honour in ritual and festival, in action and word the name of the god and the realms of their patron's command. The priesthood exists as an umbrella under which the entire divine order may find shelter, guardians of the divinity's temple and - if so chosen - frontline mortal combatants in the battleground of realm-song that often flares up about the mortal plane. Indeed, the High Priest as head of the priesthood is the only mortal whose empathy with a divine sentience is so highly attuned he/she is able to touch and interact with the Divine Plane; home to the realm-spirits and the battleground of the Gods.
There are private information files available to members of the priesthood that cannot be referred to here. All mortals may choose to honour a deity, whether a member of his/her order or not; though order members and indeed priesthood actions have a greater impact - likewise those relationships of long-standing, for time is an exponential indicator of worth in a land whose inhabitants are often so ephemeral, whimsical and flimsy. The core command is PRIEST - and PRIEST COMMANDS will list up your commands according to your order rank privileges, while PRIESTS will show all those currently visible in the land, of priesthood stature, across all the divine Orders.
