The Holy See of Sarent

The Holy See of Sarent
Alignment	Neutral Good
Capital	Hearth
Ruler	Erick Gottesman
Government	Theocracy
Languages	Common, Celestial
Religions	Church of Sarenrae, various cults to the Empyreal Lords, the Nailknight cult
Kingdom Boon	Consecrated Magically Adept
Downtime Boon	Consecrated: Atonements may be procured free of charge. Magically Adept: Individuals gain a +1 Kingdom bonus to the Life Sphere, if they possess it.

Founded by well meaning, veteran adventurers from the land of Etera, The Holy See of Sarent is a nation devoted to the worship and doctrines of Sarenrae, The Dawnflower, and sets out to be a home for Her faithful on Chronus. It is a beacon of redemptive light on Siacros’ otherwise wild lands and has contributed significantly to expanding the Sarenite faith the world over.

Blissfully spared from trouble during The Horseman War, The Holy See thrived within its land, easily able to support its people and their prosperity. In recent times the fragility of that prosperity has been made exceptionally clear as they struggle to put together a competent enough army to safeguard their interests.

Geography

Founded in a region of temperate plains and surrounded by ocean on three sides, Sarent is eminently hospitable with great swathes of farmland around each city and beyond. Further to the east lay forests both thick and thin, providing an abundance of lumber with which to work. Eventually the northern mountains fell under their influence, providing a good natural border and defence along with silver and iron-rich mines.

Demographics

The population of Sarent has been and remains primarily human, much like the faith itself. The climate and culture also appeals to other human-lived races such as half-elves and halflings.

Recent findings also indicate a not-insubstantial collection of Aasimar-born children, almost certainly the result of both Sarenrae’s blessing upon the nation and the recent presence of Her celestial forces. Interestingly this combination has resulted in a far more stable genetic baseline for these aasimar rather than the all too random collection of possible traits that occur from planetouched heritages. In most cases these Sarenite Aasimar are very close to the humans they descend from, even to the point of being indistinguishable, while the occasional ‘Greater Sarenite’, as they have begun to be called, bears more obvious signs of celestial heritage.

Societal Structure

As a fully fledged theocracy power is held by Sarenrae’s clergy. The head of the church, holding the position of High Priest of Sarenrae, therefore holds authority supported by a council of his direct subordinates. The position itself has no set term at this time, though the council has made sure to take votes every five years (or thereabouts) to determine whether another of their number should take the position. Members of this council are selected from high ranking members of The Dawnflower’s church, based mainly on their learnedness and the strength of their faith. Even with such requirements it is obvious that these priests are not especially suited to the task of ruling a nation, therefore relying on advisors and experts to guide their decision making. This often slows down progress considerably, decisions held up while the clergy get acquainted with the subject matter. Recently the more veteran members have grown into the role, a notable improvement if rather late in the day.

In wider society devout worshippers often find it easier to move through life, especially where matters of governance are considered. Organizations that align with her are often beneficiaries of subsidy or assistance and certain regulations can even be relaxed for them as a sign of trust.

While not necessarily a requirement, positions of power on both a local and national level were near-exclusively populated with Sarenrae’s faithful until relatively recently, though they still even now remain in the vast majority.

Law, Crime and Punishment

The law in Sarent is not a terribly complicated affair, based around the tenants and practices of Sarenrae herself. As such while the nature of what constitutes crime itself is relatively standard, the system of punishment is quite lax with a focus on rehabilitation, redemption and community service. The more extreme punishments are reserved for acts of treason, violence and murder, landing the perpetrator in prison and for extended periods. The death penalty does exist in theoretical Sarenite law, though it has never been officially carried out. In its place, usually following a prolonged term in prison, is the punishment of permanent exile.

As for the actual frequency and severity of crime, this too is relatively low and especially so the further one travels from the eastern coast. Even the rather soft touch of the law, something one would presume to be rather encouraging for criminals, is offset by the prevalence of the Sarenite faith.

This, of course, only applies to the more central and eastern areas of The Holy See where the Nailknight cult is less prevalent and without control.

Magic and Technology

The practice of magic is generally permitted so long as it does not disturb the peace. Most commonly this is of a divine nature owing to the innate blessing of Sarenrae upon the nation, granting those of the new generation an affinity for it. With this said the practice of darker magics are strictly forbidden with punishments for their practice ranging from hefty fines to exile or even death. However, ranking members of Sarenrae’s church are vested with the power and authority to act outside of these laws where necessary, infractions on this level being dealt with by an internal inquisition where necessary.

Those not totally in control of their magic, often referred to as wielders of ‘wild magic’, are outright banned from practicing magic within Sarent’s borders. This change from scepticism to prohibition comes off the back of low-profile, but numerous, incidents both in cities and the countryside. Very few people were hurt by these occurrences, but the potential danger and evidence of other, higher profile incidents abroad prompted the common-sense legal change.

In civilian life magic takes the place of technology for general purposes such as lighting, both domestically and in the streets. While it is not so prevalent as to be practiced by every household, enough gifted individuals exist that services for communication, maintenance, health and such have been established to raise the quality of life above that of smaller nations.

Technology is relatively new to Sarent, first entering the nation in the form of agricultural tools and improvements and then expanding into the lumber and mining industries. In many ways this is the reverse of what usually happens, given that the military has only just started to adopt technological enhancements for its forces. Consequently there’s not a great deal of technology in domestic civilian life as they simply haven't been developed militarily yet for them to eventually trickle down.

Military

Sarent has always had an interesting relationship with the idea of a standing army. Its early days necessitated one so as to defend their established nation from local threats and to maintain order. However, recognition from the wider faith, and later Sarenrae herself, afforded them the temporary reprieve of an angelic host of considerable power, allowing the nation to disband practically all of its conventional troops and focus more-so on prosperity. While largely successful, the change of power from its founding members to new blood had the temporary nature of this host largely forgotten about.

Years later now their calling to defend Sarent started to close out, requiring the ruling clergy and officials to act fast in assuring the continued safety of their nation. To do so a policy of incentives was used to supplement their own recruitment efforts, encouraging the formation of knight and paladin orders with many concessions and allowances made, along with the promise of funding, for those willing to swear themselves to the defence of Sarent and her people. The effort had some limited success with a few Sarenite orders of modest size forming to fill the gap, though the most notable group to take advantage of the initiative in hindsight would be the Order of The Iron Stake, marking the start of a long and arduous trouble for the Sarenite government.

Sarent would eventually raise a solid enough standing army of its own, though not before the angels departed back to Sarenrae’s realm to serve Her directly. Blessedly there was no decay in order, owed in many ways to the hard-won peace in the wake of The Fifth Horseman’s defeat and the general quiet from the now fractured Scarlet See across the sea. Unfortunately the damage that had been done was of a more subtle and insidious nature, the growth and prevalence of the Nailknight cult.

Current State

The current state of Sarent’s military is far from ideal, though it meets the bare minimum required to maintain order, in theory. Soldiers are recruited by choice rather than conscription or levy, though high ranking regional clergy are empowered to recruit and maintain a retinues of their own that can then be called upon, often taking the form of small ‘paladin orders’, though circumstances have prevented a fair number of them from acting upon this power.

The major issue with the Sarent military is a severe lack of veterancy owing to it being effectively in its infancy and untested in any actual conflict. This is yet more worrying given recent rumblings from Old Scarlet, whose military capacity both exceeds their own in number and experience.

The duality that is both Sarent’s saving grace and their greatest curse is The Order of The Iron Stake, whose military power is said to rival that of Sarent’s own military, if not exceed it, thanks to their clever political manoeuvring, use of technologically enhanced equipment and intermittent skirmishing on the Scarlet sub-continent. Unfortunately, having taken advantage of Sarent’s policy of incentives, the Nailknight cult has effectively both denied the theocracy of resources it could use to better itself while using those same resources to benefit themselves. Upon realizing this the incentives were halted, though this did little to address the problem as Sarent law effectively grandfathered the existing beneficiaries in, so long as they continue to uphold their sworn obligations.

Equipment

Where equipment is concerned, imports from Alzhak Reger and yields from their own mines in the northern mountain range allow Sarent to outfit and equip their soldiers more than adequately, though they are by no means outfitted to modern standards and are instead relying on sword and sorcery for the most part. Those technological advantages that do get employed are subtle and easy to maintain though, removing a dependence on military engineers and technicians.

Plans to modernize the military have been put forward, though often fail to be acted upon for a lack of resources and a failure to adequately balance the necessary military growth against said modernisation.

Religion

As a nation founded for Sarenrae, by Sarenites, the See is and remains firmly such with Her followers in the majority. At first this was not encouraged directly, early law doing its best to avoid overly benefitting one over another on the basis of religious adherence to Her doctrines, but the reality was not all that different then than it is now.

With this said, other religions are permitted to organize and practice within Sarent so long as they do oppose the prevailing faith. The Empyreal lords, for example, enjoy modest followings here, in line with the belief that She Herself once numbered among them.

Conversely the worship of evil aligned deities is not permitted, though the law has been remarkably lax in enforcing this properly. Sarenrae’s teachings of redemption almost necessitate a lighter touch, something that has disillusioned a fair number of worshippers from the new generation.

Otherwise, while not a religion itself, it cannot be argued that the Nailknight cult is not in direct competition with The Dawnflower’s faith, their practice of retribution and excruciating punishment a purposeful anathema to Her teachings. This has earned them a sizable following as a group willing to do what Sarenrae’s chosen cannot or are unwilling to, especially in the defence of Sarent itself.

Diplomacy

The Holy See is an outwardly good-natured nation with at least some diplomatic ties to most nations of Siacros and even some beyond. Their closest friend would be the Starlight Union, their western neighbours across the sea, and a primary buyer of Sarent’s excess stocks of foodstuffs given their high level of agriculture. The dwarven nation of Alzhak Reger is conversely a long-time supplier of theirs for rarer metals and materials, fostering a lasting friendship if not an all too close one.

The Baronies of Old Scarlet are a long time enemy of theirs, responsible in the past for minor skirmishing and plausibly deniable raiding. The old Scarlet Kingdom’s fall was celebrated at the time, their resurgence in recent years putting fear and paranoia in the hearts of Sarent’s citizens. Many see war as inevitable, the only question being which side will strike first.