by David Hall and Nick Brooke
History
The Church of Nomia was founded by the Galvosti dynasty in 607. The founder of the Galvosti family was Enerin Galvost and he rose to become the king of Nomia by election. Nomia was then a small province of Ralios that had only recently converted from pagan worship to Malkionism under the influence of missionaries from King Nepur of Seshnela.
Enerin was the first of a dynasty which through alliance, marriage and war created the great and benevolent Kingdom of Nomia which ruled Ralios in the years before the God Learners. Much of the initial wealth of the Kingdom was created by lucrative mercenary contracts in service to the Flame Kings of Seshnela.
In 660 King Bretnos of Seshnela called the 4th Malkioni Ecclesiastical Council. A deputation from the Kingdom of Nomia attended and were sworn in as full members. However, the Council dissolved in confusion upon the assassination of Bretnos.
The following years were ones of civil strife within Seshnela, rich pickings for the Nomian mercenaries. However, it was also at this time that the Church of Galvost grew up in order to escape the overweening authority of the Church of Seshnela which, at the behest of various transitory kings, attempted to flex its muscles at the same time as it was being torn apart by theological disputes.
By the reign of King Trymir, who united most of Seshneg, the split was complete. However, since Nomia acted as a useful buffer to the pagans in the East, and since the doctrines were still close, no action was taken to try and enforce the Seshnelan Church upon Nomia.
In 500 the God Learner movement had begun as a minor evangelical sect of the Church of Seshnela. From 670 the movement gained more and more converts as the civil wars in Seshnela increased the uncertainties in that land, uncertainties that seemed to find an answer in the God Learner's philosophy. Even during the great persecutions of the Kings Ullmal and Meipal the God Learners continued to gain converts, especially from the Wizard caste.
Eventually in 789 the Empire of the Middle Sea was created when King Svagad embraced the God Learner sect and declared a holy crusade against unbelievers (though this crusade was later revoked and replaced by economic conquest).
While other sects of Malkion resisted the God Learners the Kingdom of Nomia allied with them. This was not because Nomia favoured the God Learner sect. By openly surrendering, we were able to our Inner Secrets intact, kept pure by the Inner Priesthoods of Valantia and Col.
So, while the sects that resisted were invaded and their beliefs shattered or changed in forced conversions and sorcerous rituals, the Church of Nomia remained pure.
The God Learners grew ever more tyrannical and evil, and eventually they met their inevitable doom at the hands of an alliance of pagan and inhuman races. However, in their ignorant barbarian frenzy, this alliance tragically destroyed Nomia as well. Many worshippers survived and the Church was able to continue its existence in the cities of Valantia and Col and in other enclaves in many of the Inner Ralian city states.
The Third Age brought more trials and tribulations for the Church when the Henotheists orchestrated the Sack of Valantia by eastern pagans. Barely 200 people escaped this vile massacre. Now the Church is centred in Col and protected by the brave and feared cavalry of our noble Count.
The Church of Galvost has now passed its lowest ebb. We are strong now! We shall build a new Kingdom of Nomia, stronger than the first, on the solid foundation of our pure faith, unsullied by the God Learners, and Holy to Malkion and Hrestol!
Theology
There is only one god and he is the Invisible God. His prophets were Malkion and Hrestol.
We believe in the caste system, and that each person is born into his caste and will live in their caste, unless by their purity he or she shows that they are worthy of being admitted to another caste.
We believe that the Saints are not divine in themselves, but are in fact role-models to follow. They must not be worshipped lest demons be let into the world. The only true worship is through the invisible god.
We follow the Law of Malkion. We do not ruin that which we love. Therefore, only the tapping of non-Malkioni is permitted with a Lord's permission. Non-Malkioni do not love God and therefore, since love is a mutual thing, we cannot love them.
We believe that a devout worshipper will return to the faith as a new born babe. Those who have sinned will remain in limbo until their sins are commuted. Those who do not worship Malkion are cursed and they will die soulless and forgotten, lost in limbo for eternity.
Killing a follower of the Church of Nomia is a heinous crime and the perpetrator shall never be reborn, but shall be held in tortuous limbo for the rest of existence.
Women are equal to men in all matters.
Hierarchy
The Prelate of Col is the leader of the Church of Nomia. She carries Arkat's Left Hand upon a staff to prove this. All worshippers, including the Count of Holut, accept her spiritual authority. Her Priests are her servants and should always be respected and obeyed.
Important Saints
Saint Malkion was the first prophet who taught everyone how to worship the Creator. He taught us Solace of the Body, the inner peace and mystical ambience that comes from using the bounty that the Creator gave us upon this world.
Saint Hrestol was the second prophet and the reincarnation of Saint Malkion. He taught us the New Rites. This was how each individual should seek and attain oneness with the Invisible God. This allows us to be eternally reborn, it is Solace in Glory.
Saint Xemela was mother of Hrestol and wife of Froalar. She gave her life to save her land from the Black Swelling, a grisly plague which scoured Seshnela. She is an example of self sacrifice for the good of the people.
Saint Arkat. Before Arkat's coming, the Deceiver covered the world with a magical pall, befogging the lives, minds, and souls of all that lived. Arkat came to the Western peoples and healed their bodies, freed their souls, and enlightened their minds, stripping away the evil Deceiver's falsehoods.
Everybody knows Arkat left the Malkioni way. In his fanaticism to overcome the Deceiver, he forgot the ways of the Creator and fell into alliances with false gods. The story of Arkat is a great moral legend of the West. If Arkat, once the most perfect knight of the world, can fall, then lesser men must strive vigilantly to maintain their virtue.
In the Wizard Abbey we hold the secret method to contact the reincarnation of Arkat when the time is right.
Saint Carpattia was the Prelate of Valantia at the time of the great Sack. He was captured by the pagans but refused to convert to their ways. They first of all threw him into a pit full of hungry wolves, but the wolves ate each other. Then they threw in snakes, but the snakes would not attack him. Then they sent slaves to kill him, but he converted them with his pious words. Finally, they sent warriors who killed him, though to a man they were all dead themselves by the next morning. His unshakeable faith is an example to us all.
Attitudes to other Sects
Hrestoli
The Hrestoli claim that they have resurrected the oldest form of Hrestolism. However, we know that they are wrong because our Hrestoli faith has survived unchanged since the time of Enerin Galvosti. We must encourage them to follow the correct way.
Rokari
The Rokari seek to enslave their worshippers. They enslave each person to his or her caste for their whole life, and they denigrate women and give them a lower status. Theirs is a stagnant religion with no hope for its worshippers, only the same thing day after day.
Henotheists
This sect is the pagan spawn of Gbaji the Deceiver. They follow many gods and deny that there is just One. Yet they claim to be Malkioni. We know that they are not, and never have been.
