Mindfire
Istar
So in one of my world's religious systems, the Orthodoxy, they worship six gods, collectively called the Lagarach. These are:
Czithera, goddess of the moon, unblemished mother, Queen of the Lagarach
Beora, greatbear goddess of strength, patron goddess of Beorgia, Firstborn of Czithera
Sivara, goddess of the sea and honorable death
Atruvac, god of fate and social order
Divitri, god of craft and skill
Grigori, god of zeal and passion
I'm still working out the myths associated with these gods, but presently, I'm trying to figure out how to sort their priests. I'm thinking that priests will be sorted in two ways, "horizontally" and "vertically". When a priest or priestess decides to specialize in knowledge of a specific god, he or she becomes a member of that god's priesthood. Within each priesthood and across the Orthodoxy as a whole there will be different orders or "levels" depending on how high in the hierarchy a priest is. I'm currently thinking there may be three:
Order of the Crescent, symbolized by the crescent moon, lowest
Order of the Seafarer, symbolized by the half moon*, middle
Order of the Circle, symbolized by the full moon, highest
Under this scheme, the gibbous phase is neglected and thought of as an "in between" phase rather than a true one. As an alternative to this, I'm considering a 3+1 order system, with three regular orders and a "secret" fourth order that is comprised of the Avatar (the head of the religion), his close confidants, and the Cabalists, who act as his mystic secret police/enforcers. Under the alternative scheme, the highest order of ordinary priests would be symbolized by the gibbous moon (though I'm not sure what to call it) and the full moon would be viewed as a sacred symbol only used by the Avatar. The fourth "secret" order would then be called The Order of the Circle or the Circle of Six, or simply "The Circle", and would adopt the full moon as their crest.
Which version works better? If the second, what's a good name for an order symbolized by the gibbous moon?
*Half moons are associated with the neap tide, which is easier for vessels to navigate, thus the name "seafarer". It's similar to the title of "journeyman" in this context. I call it half moon rather than quarter moon because the first term is based on the moons appearance while the latter is based on it's position in its orbit around the earth. My fictional world is flat, and consequently the term "quarter moon" has no meaning.
Czithera, goddess of the moon, unblemished mother, Queen of the Lagarach
Beora, greatbear goddess of strength, patron goddess of Beorgia, Firstborn of Czithera
Sivara, goddess of the sea and honorable death
Atruvac, god of fate and social order
Divitri, god of craft and skill
Grigori, god of zeal and passion
I'm still working out the myths associated with these gods, but presently, I'm trying to figure out how to sort their priests. I'm thinking that priests will be sorted in two ways, "horizontally" and "vertically". When a priest or priestess decides to specialize in knowledge of a specific god, he or she becomes a member of that god's priesthood. Within each priesthood and across the Orthodoxy as a whole there will be different orders or "levels" depending on how high in the hierarchy a priest is. I'm currently thinking there may be three:
Order of the Crescent, symbolized by the crescent moon, lowest
Order of the Seafarer, symbolized by the half moon*, middle
Order of the Circle, symbolized by the full moon, highest
Under this scheme, the gibbous phase is neglected and thought of as an "in between" phase rather than a true one. As an alternative to this, I'm considering a 3+1 order system, with three regular orders and a "secret" fourth order that is comprised of the Avatar (the head of the religion), his close confidants, and the Cabalists, who act as his mystic secret police/enforcers. Under the alternative scheme, the highest order of ordinary priests would be symbolized by the gibbous moon (though I'm not sure what to call it) and the full moon would be viewed as a sacred symbol only used by the Avatar. The fourth "secret" order would then be called The Order of the Circle or the Circle of Six, or simply "The Circle", and would adopt the full moon as their crest.
Which version works better? If the second, what's a good name for an order symbolized by the gibbous moon?
*Half moons are associated with the neap tide, which is easier for vessels to navigate, thus the name "seafarer". It's similar to the title of "journeyman" in this context. I call it half moon rather than quarter moon because the first term is based on the moons appearance while the latter is based on it's position in its orbit around the earth. My fictional world is flat, and consequently the term "quarter moon" has no meaning.