The Celestial Order

[Hard Rain]

A Brief History

The Order was founded by the same three Angels who founded the Celestial Empire itself and was for nearly seven thousand years the principal cult of the Empire. In its hay day it had major temples in all the empires main cities some times several and smaller ones and shrines in every settlement however modest. It was centred around the worship of the concept of Cosmic Good as embodied in three greater deities of good aligned together one each of Lawful Good Neutral Good and Chaotic Good. However it became very interlinked with the Celestial nobility, its ritual and practice became increasingly expensive and elaborate, baroque even, to the point where the ritual was more important than the meaning of the ritual which was often entirely forgotten.  It increasingly began to exclude those not of the highest social status and so it drifted away from the common people who where increasingly from people who had been conquered or otherwise absorbed in to the empire much latter and because the empire’s policy was form the beginning to tolerate all non evil faiths, especially the Druidic old or green faith and support those of good gods retained their original cultures and religions.

The Empires slow drift from definitively (Good) aligned to (Unaligned (Good)) after the failing of the Celsetae blood line only served to exacerbate this. In the end a dynasty rose to the imperial throne who worshipped another god and that became the Imperial Cult for the centuries which that Dynasty held power and when that dynasty passed from power so did its favourite gods faith being superseded by that of the new imperial line

Cosmically it is said that one of the three founding gods was killed about three and a half thousand years ago and that the God of the current (Lawful Neutral) imperial cult is the Lawful Good one of the old Triad who has suffered from alignment drift or change. However no one who is not a god truly knows this but its loss of power and status has caused the faith to return rather to its roots and it now works extensively with the destitute in towns and cities if the empire where it provides a social safety net.

 

[Hard Rain]

Rather ironically this has been the saving of the order in many places in particular Anzer province where it has experienced a definite revival amongst the poor and displaced following the Diabolic inspired uprising in the province two hundred years ago. Though the great Diabolic uprising of three hundred years before that managed to scour the last remains of the Celestial order from the Provinces which where engulfed in its unholy flame.