Calefa[]
Overview[]
Lady of Fortune, Mother of Mourning - Calefa is the goddess whom the Aurans petition to see them safely through their journeys, whether in this life or on to the next.
Worship[]
TBC
Religious Orders[]
The Sisters of Mourning[]
The primary order dedicated to Calefa, these priestesses - commonly called "grey sisters" due to their ashen garments - provide funerary rites for the deceased, either by cremation or by internment in blessed cemeteries so that the strain of death and decay does not create a sinkhole of evil. Additionally, they are responsible for the management of wills and estates of the deceased. In most parts of the Auran Empire the sisters are housed within a House of Mourning.
The Brotherhood of the Eclipse[]
The second, and far more obscure, order dedicated to Calefa is a secretive guild of ancient lineage. Its members, sometimes called deathbringers, usher souls to the afterlife under the terms of ritualized religious contracts. It exists in parallel with, and as an alternative to, the more civilized courts and trials of Auran law, and in many ways the Brotherhood is less susceptible to corruption by the rich and powerful.
The Brotherhood accepts a contract only under very strict conditions. The most common of these is the contract of righteous retribution. For righteous retribution to apply, the contractor must vow (under Oath of Ordeal) that the target of the assassination is responsible for the wrongful death of a family member or close friend of the contractor; and the death to be avenged must not have been compensated for in court or tribunal, by previous assassination, or by personal action already taken. A death by righteous retribution is never wrongful, so the Brotherhood never is in a position where it must revenge against its own deeds.
A few other circumstances also provide an opportunity to retain the services of the Brotherhood. These include the contract of merciful release (when the Brotherhood slays a person being kept alive against their will to the benefit of others); the contract of honorable passage (when the Brotherhood slays a person at his own request in redemption of shameful deeds); and a few esoteric and seldom used options.
The Brotherhood will also work, at the bequest of the Emperor, to perform assassinations abroad, against enemies of state. Because the Emperor is the embodiment of the Empire, actions against the Empire are actions against the person of the Emperor, which is sacrosanct and punishable by death.
All contracts are recorded in the Codex of Calefa; the Brotherhood maintains scrupulous records of who it has killed and why, though only the members of its order, and the Emperor, are privileged to access these records. Among nobility, use of the Brotherhood is known as “the old justice”. Among the commoners, it is never directly referenced, but mentioned only as “the workings of fate”. Over the centuries, many reformers and civil-minded leaders have attempted to reform or abolish the Brotherhood, claiming it to be bloody, barbaric, unnecessary, or evil; but none have succeeded. Some who tried have mysteriously disappeared, while others have suffered terrible turns of misfortune until their efforts ended. For good or ill, the Brotherhood remains embedded in Auran life and politics.