Grimaud has long been the seat of power for the Church of Aesia, ever since Lloleyn was destroyed. The holy city was sacked though, as the orcs rampaged through Sellador. It's being rebuilt at a remarkable rate however, as we discovered when we arived there.
Our quest takes us North, the the land of the elves, and on our way there, we stopped in Grimaud, because we heard the church would soon be declaring a new High Father. When we arived, I quickly found out that the two front runners for the positon were a Cleric by the name of Karis, and a powerful leader in the old hierarchy by the name of Valdrin.
The former was strongly supported by the Common folk, having walked among them and aided them through difficult times for years. The latter was a leader of the higher ranking priests, and had the backing of Sellador's wealthy and eilite.
The power struggle meant little to me, as both were men I saw as being good, and honest. It wasn't until an attempt on Karis's life that I saw the need to get involved. After a lengthy investigation, I discoverd two things. First, that I am no detective, and second, that an nobleman had hired out the assasins to kill Karis so that Valdrin would be uncontested.
We saw that justice was served, at the cost of one of our numbers lives (he was restored by Valdrin himself, thank the Goddess) but the thing that bothers me most about the whole situation, was that in the strugle to see who should be the next High Father, no one stopped to think about what it MEANT to be the High Father. What it meant to be the churches spiritual leader, and guide to ALL of Asiea's flock, be they noble, peseant, or cleric.
Faith is something that cannot be quantified by the people, and worship is something that should be given to only the Goddess. Why doesn't anyone seem to understand that it doesn't matter WHO leads the church, as long as that person is faithful, strong, and dedicated to the principles that the Goddess lays before us?
In the end, both men were granted the title of High Father, the high council of the church hoping to gain some sense of balance with the people. The whole thing makes me remember the reason I left Grimaud to begin with. The oppression of the city and the church leave me short of breath. I'll breath easier when we've left this debacal behind. |
