Church of Humanity/Reliquary

"We serve the Divine with our faith and devotion, and with faith there must also sometimes come sacrifice." -Arch Cleric Jor Tanos

Beneath each temple of the Divine lays an undercroft. It is here that the honored dead rest in sealed stone tombs, each crafted to their likeness in life. On altars and in shrines placed among the dead sit reliquaries containing relics of saints, confessors, and martyrs. These relics consist of simple things, such as a cup used at a meal, a personally beloved token, or even a mere scrap of cloth from the revered's shirt. The more gristly artifacts include the weapons used to slay martyrs or splinters of the equipment used to torture them in life. Other reliquaries hold bones, dried organs, limbs, heads, or even the entire body of the revered dead.

Of Confessors and Martyrs

When one of the Faithful pass into the Light, their lives are soon after reviewed by the priest they were closest to. If their priest is not available for whatever reason, a wayshrine Deacon is often assigned in their stead to chronicle the deceased's life and actions, so that a tome may be buried with, or in some cases, in place of the body. Should the honored dead's actions be particularly noteworthy in the eyes of the chronicler, the tome is sent to the closest Revered Cleric for further review.

The deceased's deeds are then judged based on their actions in life. Should their lives prove their piety and that they devoted themselves to Holy Church, they will be known as a Confessor. This is due to the deceased's life having been lived so as to confessed to all who met them their Faith.

Even if they lived their lives in Darkness, in death they could still be redeemed and even revered. Should the deceased have perished in the course of an Exalted March, died against the forces of Darkness, or in the dungeons of twisted, evil men, then they shall have earned the epithet of Martyr. This is provided that at the moment of death they fully embraced the Divine's Holy Light.

• Balkeese of Montauban the Martyr, Perished at the hands of Ibladeshi zealots in Woolton 23 May 1011.
• Evangeline of Zawr the Confessor, Disappeared from the mortal realm some time in 1011.

The Blessed and the Venerable

While Confessors and Martyrs are among the most honored dead, tehre are times when certain miracles are attributed to them. These include more simple things, such as premonitions and visions, to the more complex such as miraculous healing or an apparition of the dead appearing by Faithful troops during battle. Miracles that can be attributed to Martyrs and Confessors must be investigated by the Clerics of Holy Church.

Should they be verified as truth rather than rumor by the Cleric, a Confessor is raised to the status of the Blessed while a Martyr is raised to the ranks of the Venerable. This is the first true step towards Sainthood. Should the Arch Cleric be petitioned by reverencers to look into the matter and consult the Divine, a Blessed or a Venerable could be acknowledged as having the status of Saint - a Chosen of the Divine.

On Saints - The Divine's Chosen

While Confessors and Martyrs are among the Church's most honored dead, respected for their sacrifices, and the Blessed and the Venerable are revered for their holiness, when a person makes a considerable impact to the Church, to Humanity, and numerous miracles are attributed to them, the Ecclisarchy may recommend that the Arch Cleric raise the deceased to recognized Sainthood. This includes proscribing them a patronage based on their life's actions and their holy power. By doing this, the Arch Cleric acknowledges them as worthy of prayer due to their status as agents of the Divine in life and in death.

When Sainthood is declared the Proclaimed is, if needed, disinterred from their resting place and moved to a crypt in one of Holy Church's Cathedrals. While the Saint is relocated, personal effects and writings are gathered by agents of Holy Church for use as Relics to be distributed to the Faithful in places they have touched.