Clerics

A priest of Whalin might read these words for all his lifetime, and yet never be strong enough in his faith and his belief of Whalin's power to cast the mighty heal spell. On Gaeleth, this feat would be known as 'prayer casting'. It is the prayers of the priests, the clerics, and the paladins, that let the powers of the gods flow through them. As a cleric advances in his underlying, bedrock faith in his god, then so, too, do his prayer casting abilities increase.

During the dreadful centuries of the Inquisition, it was the quiet pleas of the priests, in a language the populace could understand, that prevented them from being the objects of terror and fear by peasants and those who did not recognize magic in any of its forms. Though the mages were silenced for nearly five centuries, the priests were ever more vocal. Their ability to quote large portions of their holy books, and through those quotes, invoke the very powers of the gods themselves catapulted priests to the highest eschelons of power in the land.

The language of magic -- the language of the mages, and spells -- is alien to all ears, save perhaps those of dragons and a few other creatures. The priests can readily translate their texts into dozens of languages, and thereby spread the faith, and the power, of their gods. A young novitiate might not even be sure his first healing prayer would be successful, but with time, and practice, and faith, his prayers become stronger -- until he, too, can cast the powerful heal prayer of Saurimon of Whalin.

Some prayers are only available in certain holy texts. For instance, unhallow is not found in the holy texts of Whalin. Clerics can, of course, learn prayers in other languages and other holy texts, but the granting of those prayers may or may not come from Whalin himself. Some of the more versed clerics attribute this to a pantheon of mutual aid among the gods, while others claim that Whalin can, indeed, grant the dreaded spell, unhallow. The ability to maintain the faith, in spite of such questions, gives the more experienced prayer casters their power to channel the will of the gods.

Clerics and priests that lose the faith, can regain it. But sometimes, it is lost forever. They can read the words. They can hear the words. But the words are as hollow in meaning as any other text, and mean nothing to the faithless. Strangely enough, the more a cleric learns of the true workings of the universe, and the higher they rise in the beauracracy, the more common it is for clerics to lose their faith. The inability of most priests to reconcile two conflicting sets of histories -- the true history, and the history of the faith -- can destroy their faith forever. For these reasons, the Chosen, and the Disciples, are highly revered by all members of the Church.

Even the most faithful of servants can be burnt out by the power of gods being channeled through them. To feel the agonizing pain and enduring bliss of prayer casting can drive many insane, but those that channel the powers of the gods long enough, become able to channel more and more of the will of the gods. The ability to channel the might of gods, and the strength of a cleric's faith, are his only limitations.

It should be noted that new chapters are often added to existing holy books, and it is the dream of every priest to have a chapter named after him. Many Chosen do not even have that honor. It is up to the god himself to determine whether a particular cleric's history and prayers are worth adding to his holy books, and then the Chosen interprets the will of the god. Some chapters went into circulation centuries ago, but were lost or destroyed. It's also possible to have two holy books with two entirely different sets of chapters. This causes minor schisms in the churches, and leads to the establishment of various sects of each church. Most temples and monasteries maintain the up-to-date and all-inclusive chapters. Some travelling priests bring nothing more with them than one or two chapters that they themselves have copied from their holy book.

In game terms, clerics do not have to memorize spells in advance. They can choose to do so, of course, but they are free to choose any spell from their holy texts at any time -- provided they have the time to prayer cast, and they have not exhausted their physical body's limitations at channeling such great power. The longer casting times of some spells is a merely the need for repetition of the prayers necessary for a given request to a god; in some cases, the prayers are tests of the faith. (Imagine having to tell someone the same thing forty or fifty times, in order to prove to them that you mean what you say!)

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