Church of Sun & Moon

The Church of Sun & Moon is a ditheistic religion which is predominant in most of Lorynthia, including central Vilzar, northern Nosslea, and all of the Dwarven Kingdom.

Teachings
The precise teachings of the Church vary regionally, but the core tenets remain the same.

Life and death are but sides of the same coin. Just as the twin gods Anaeron and Shyllana are counterparts to one another, life and death are both important for a balanced world to exist. Death and life both have their place, but they are still separate. To combine them (as some forms of necromancy do) is to invite the wrath of Anaeron and cast oneself away from Shyllana.

All life is to be respected. Because death and life are interconnected, all dead are also to be respected. By the laws of the Church of Sun & Moon, to desecrate a corpse or disturb a grave is just as heinous a crime as murder. The worst thing one could ever do to another is to raise them as undead, as it pulls them from Ranathit and forces them to suffer through a tortured perversion of life and death, sometimes for an eternity. It is also the greatest possible disrespect one can show to Anaeron.

Part of respecting life is being honest and kind toward your fellow creatures upon Lorynthia. Speak only truth to those you trust; be charitable with your excess; help those in need; heed the word of others. These rules apply not only to interacting with other humanoids, but with all creatures and with any contacted spirits of the deceased.

Worship
Members of the Church of Sun & Moon tend to be very structured in their worship. The general population gathers the same day every week at dawn if it is after the spring equinox and before the fall equinox, and at dusk if it is after the fall equinox and before the spring equinox. These weekly services generally involve religious music, prayer, and a spoken sermon by the local head priest.

The clerics who follow this religion are divided into the Children of Shyllana and the Disciples of Anaeron. They work together, and all worship both deities, but perform different duties. During the spring and summer, the Children of Shyllana are in charge of the weekly sermons, which they tend to make about kindness and charity. Conversely, the Disciples of Anaeron are in charge of the weekly sermons during fall and winter, which they tend to focus around honesty and hard work that contributes to the community.

Outside of the weekly service, clerics perform daily and nightly rituals. The Children of Shyllana bless the water at the temple each day before sprinkling it about the perimeter of the temple. They are also be responsible for watering the temple garden. The Disciples of Anaeron are charged with lighting candles around the temple at dusk and putting them out at down. They are also responsible for tilling the temple gardens. Both groups work together to take care of the temple in whatever other ways are necessary. After their clerical duties have been taken care of, at least one Child and one Disciple stay behind at the temple to help visitors, and the rest go about helping those nearby however they can.

Before harvesting, farmers pray to Anaeron in thanks for the food he has brought them this season. After a kill, hunters pray to Shyllana in thanks for the food she has given them that day.

Traditions
The robes of the Children of Shyllana are sky-blue with white-gold trim, while those of the Disciples of Anaeron are black with silver trim. They are designed to be simple in appearance (though those in the Dwarven Kingdom have a few more embellishments) and easy to move around in.

Disciples of Anaeron are buried and Children of Shyllana are cremated. There are no rules for the general population, but they often choose one (or both) of these options.

The Church devised the Common Calendar which is in use by most of Lorynthia. The years are solar in honor of Shyllana, and the months are lunar in honor of Anaeron.

The Church has four major holidays which coincide with the solstices and equinoxes, and rules about what they can do between these holidays. The Day of Shyllana occurs on the summer solstice and therefore at the start of the new year. After the Passing of the Moon and before the Day of Shyllana, all able followers are to abstain from eating meat, storing whatever they hunt to save for the Day of Shyllana, when they eat only meat. The Day of Anaeron, conversely, occurs on the winter solstice. Everyone is exempt from all work on this day. All summer harvesting must be complete before the Passing of the Sun (the fall equinox), and all planting for the coming spring must be complete before the Passing of the Moon (the spring equinox). The precise celebrations for these four days vary, but always involve feasting.

Seekers of the Eternal Moon
The Seekers of the Eternal Moon are an off-shoot cult of the Church started and lead by Lunarius in Riverbreak. They do not follow Anaeron's teachings, though they may sometimes claim to, and they do not follow Shyllana at all. Their goal is to achieve true immortality by transferring life to themselves using The Cube of Kenaii. However, this requires them to kill whatever they intend to drain life from, and does not last forever.

After ignoring many signs from Anaeron to stop tampering with his artifact, the Seekers were transformed into the first Vampire to symbolize their perversion of what Anaeron stands for. Some of the remaining members are now Soulforged.

The Seekers changed the calendar to the First Year of the Eternal Night after Lunarius' takeover of Riverbreak. Their downfall very shortly after started the Age of Solar Cleansing.