Church of Jolarä

(This page is under development and is still in need of formatting.)

Jolarä is the goddess of forest beasts, hunting, predators, rebirth, righteous rage and wilderness survival. As such, many of Jolarä’s priests are typically rangers, druids and of course the general distribution among the Chatûl, female population.

For the most part priests of Jolarä are utilitarian. They follow the belief that they must have value aside from simply being clergy; in many cases they are also warriors of no small reputation though they will again focus more in the realm of wilderness survival, hunting and so on, which is why rangers and druids are far more common.

The primary colors of the Church of Jolarä separate into two groups. Basically there are the non-Chatûl worshippers of Jolarä whose primary colors are generally earth tones: browns, greens and so on; then there are the Chatûl worshippers of Jolarä where the primary colors are very different. Stark white and bright blood reds are the colors of the Chatûl Church of Jolarä. Some non-Chatûl worshippers will adopt these colors, it’s not uncommon, but for the most part those colors are used solely by the Chatûl churches.

Generally speaking, clergy from the Chatûl congregations will accept worshippers and clergy from non-Chatûl populations though they look on them not with distain but a certain level of disregard in terms of not understanding fully the nature of the goddess Jolarä since the Chatûl do have a direct divine connection with her.

Jolarä worshippers will very frequently wear their holy symbols openly; it is considered a sign of pride and since Jolarä is one of the Twelve exalted and one of the major deities in Sidereus, this is generally received positively. Generally speaking, priests of Jolarä, Chatûl and otherwise, prefer non-metal armor, natural materials, preferably from things that one has hunted. It is not uncommon to wear headdresses or other garb that bears trophies for example a hood or a helmet made of a wolf’s pelt with a head at the top or something similar. Holy symbols are very often made of either natural materials or silver; this is an almost indelible rule. There may be gold trim or filigree or other decorations, but for the most part silver is the metal of choice. This is believed to have something to do with Jolarä’s distain for lycanthropy. The holy symbols are not frequently adorned, as practicality is considered to be the goal.

There are a number of holy orders of knights and paladins dedicated to Jolarä; however in the case of the Beastmother all of these orders for the most part have an equal proportion of rangers and druids. Again, this is because some knowledge of the wild lands is necessary. Even paladins of Jolarä will very frequently also have training wilderness survival, hunting and so on, so they would bear more of a resemblance to the stereotypical ranger (or in some cases druid) than to a standard paladin. Some of the notable orders are the Order of the Crimson Claw; of course the most famous order of paladins and militant followers of Jolarä is the Order of the White Lions. The White Lions are primarily male; there are female members though it is somewhat uncommon. They almost universally do not accept non-Chatûl unless you have to have at least some Chatûl blood and even then it is highly unlikely you will be accepted. The Order of the White Lions is predominantly male; it is composed of paladins and clerics of Jolarä, all of whom have significant martial training and at least a moderate amount of skill in wilderness survival. There is also the Order of White Claw; the Order of the White Claw is an order of non-Chatûl devotees that basically mimics the tenets and beliefs of the Order of the White Lions.

The Order of the White Lions can be found wherever there is a Chatûl temple of Jolarä for the most part. They are directly connected to the primary Church of Jolarä, and they will have representatives in every church. They are often assigned as bodyguards to high priestesses; they are given tasks whenever a relic is required to be recovered or someone important within the Chatûl community needs escort (and so on and so forth). They are basically the religious military of the Chatûl community.

The Church of Jolarä (the core church) has a loose hierarchy; achievement from a practical perspective is the key. Priestesses of Jolarä are expected to be competent in their own right; while they do not necessarily need to be particularly skilled as warriors, they must be able to do things like participate in the Great Hunt, assist in birthing of children, and so on, so they are often trained as midwives, huntresses, and a number of other things. Again, usefulness to the community is paramount in Chatûl society, and outside of Chatûl society worshippers of Jolarä follow those same tenets. Practicality and survival are important perspectives and skills for priests and priestesses of Jolarä to develop, and as a result what has become part of the Chatûl cultural viewpoint is also part of the viewpoint of the worshippers of Jolarä as a whole.

The Hierarchy of the church is spread out in a non-military format; for the most part, there are high priestesses, priestesses, acolytes and apprentices. An acolyte is below a priestess but no longer requires the mentoring or direct attention of a priestess in order to perform their duties. They are normally given responsibilities of a courier, delivering messages and serving as a herald for high priestesses and priestesses, but they do not generally require direct oversight. Apprentices, in both Chatûl and non-Chatûl churches of Jolarä, are generally young people, usually pre-teens into their teen years; generally speaking by the time someone is fifteen or sixteen they are accepted as an acolyte, and they will remain an acolyte until roughly twenty-five years of age (using human years as the standard). Priestesses are generally accepted to the cloth around twenty-five to twenty six years of age (again using the human years as the standard) and remain so a great many years until they finally become high priestesses.

High priestesses have a number of responsibilities including training younger priestesses, and also training acolytes and apprentices. They are given literally all the responsibilities of the church; there is no limit to the number of high priestesses that may be available. In the Chatûl church high priestesses are directly anointed by angels of Jolarä – this is a direct divine intervention – you are told you are a high priestess, either by direct divine intervention or by some significant sign. There have been two recorded cases of situations where high priestesses have been chosen by the artifact items known as Greater Staves of the Beastmother. These items are relics created by Jolarä’s own hand, which were distributed to the world to Jolarä’s people to help them in time of need. There are twelve known to exist, though only four have been recovered since the middle of the Third Age. One is currently in the hands of a Chatûl named Crowdancer Kesar (Wing), who unbeknownst to much of the Church of Jolarä has a Greater Staff of the Beastmother (" Tanrıya Inanış" ), and this now according to the general belief structure of the Chatûl Church of Jolarä means that she is effectively a high priestess.

The Church of Jolarä, as far as the Chatûl are concerned, is one organization – it is relatively unbreakable. The Chatûl believe that there can be only one Church of Jolarä largely because they have a direct divine connection to their deity. As a result it is very difficult for them to disagree on what Jolarä wants (can’t understand the last few words). However then the human church of Jolarä is spread to a number of disparate cults, groups and so on; there is no one major church – for the most part the non-Chatûl churches, there are some Elven worshippers, there are some Arxus worshippers and so on. The non-Chatûl churches are generally small because as a whole the other races generally defer to the Chatûl in terms of worshipping the Beastmother, because her relationship with the Chatûl is so well known and so significant.

In Dungeon and Dragon’s terms, Jolarä is a Chaotic Good deity; her perspective is focused on freedom, and allowing things to progress as they will according to nature, but she takes this to an extreme which pushes her out of the neutral on the Law versus Chaos axis. In terms of Good versus Evil she is definitely good; the idea of benevolence, self-sacrifice and generosity are absolutely paramount to the belief structure of the followers of Jolarä. Generally speaking, doing well at any cost is the perspective of the followers of Jolarä, and as you can imagine that causes some interesting situations in the case of extremists.

In many communities where there is a church of Jolarä present, they are responsible for assisting with hunting, management of wildlife, and similar tasks. Clerics of Jolarä in the Chatûl society will serve a number of social tasks; they are the primary religious servants. Devotees of Jolarä in general are very rarely sought out for mediation disputes, or management of any social concerns unless it is something directly related to hunting, because generally speaking the church of Jolarä respects a ‘to each their own’ perspective, which doesn’t really assist in terms of disputes over lawfulness or anything of the sort.

Priestesses of Jolarä in Chatûl society have three sets of robes, three sets of garb usually. They have their traveling everyday clothing – if they are adventurers they may also have adventuring clothing. In addition, they will also have, not ceremonial robes, but general priestly robes that they will wear whenever they are in their home environment – this generally denotes them as priestesses, which is important for social reasons. Then they will of course have their ceremonial robes, which is usually finery made of the best materials and so on. Again, because their robes are white and red in Chatûl society, this does tend to attract a lot of attention; however, worshippers of Jolarä in the Chatûl society do understand the importance of discretion in certain situations and will not wear their robes if it is inappropriate for the situation.

Non-Chatûl worshippers of Jolarä will very frequently wear, again, robes of browns and greens – earth tones – more revering her connection to the natural world. They again will on occasion adopt the colors that the Chatûl church uses, but this is not common.

Clerics of Jolarä in both churches are very commonly passionate and engaging people. They believe that politeness as it is viewed in general society is a waste of energy and time. This does not mean that they are rude; it simply means that if they feel the need to speak their mind on an issue they will speak their mind. It is considered a positive trait in the faith of the Beastmother to be honest and forthright; mincing words and wasting time are seen as a dishonorable behavior and a waste of energy. Devotees of Jolarä on both sides believe in expressing their dogma and beliefs aggressively but only where it is appropriate or when it comes up. They are not generally an evangelical faith; they do not tend to believe in ‘spreading the word’ of Jolarä or disseminating their beliefs amongst other cultures. Generally speaking it is their belief that if someone wished to devote themselves to Jolarä they will come to the Beastmother on their own terms. However, once it is time to share the information of their faith, they will do so with great fervor and excitement, and in a case where the need arises to defend their faith they do so with great energy as well.

In terms of the Church of Onûs, the Church of Jolarä absolutely and utterly (as many of the Twelve Exalted do) despises Onûs and his followers. Generally speaking, there’s no direct conflict – the followers of Onûs will not go out of their way to attack clerics of Jolarä and it will not go the other way around either – however if the opportunity does arise they will deal with it – again, with great energy and directness.

The dagger is the favored weapon of Jolarä – it represents the tip of her claws – in the case of the Chatûl, their claws are considered the favored weapon of the deity since Jolarä has claws, and so do her children. They are considered a direct gift from their mother and they take it very seriously.

Holy Days
The 27th of Avior on the Sidereus calendar is considered a holy day to the Chatûl and any followers of Jolarä. This day is called the Feast of the White Lion, and it is in celebration of a historical event that has now passed into myth. It is believed that an avatar of Jolarä in the form of a white lion appeared to one of the great heroes of the Chatûl early in the Third Age, and saved an entire Chatûl community in Catherna from destruction. During this festival food, celebration and telling of tales is a common sight in any community where Jolarä is revered.

The most important festival in Chatûl society is the Great Hunt. The Great Hunt takes place on the Hunter’s Moon, and is a five day festival that culminates on the night when the Hunter's Moon is full. During the Great Hunt, Chatûl worshippers and non-Chatûl worshippers generally participate in a ritualistic hunt as a community. Chatûl will often do so either naked or wearing very little clothing, as this allows them to feel more connected to their raw forms and therefore connected to nature - armed only with claws or with any ritually or divinely gifted weapons they may have. The Great Hunt festival is celebrated with a hunt every night of the event, culminating, again, on the full moon, with the most significant hunt. During the Great Hunt the priestess will declare what the prey shall be; in some cases they will simply hunt prey animals for their feast. In other cases – sometimes for political reasons, sometimes out of necessity – they will select violent or evil creatures such as goblin kind or werewolves to deal with. When this is declared it is more a declaration of war.

Normally children participate in the Great Hunt, though in the case of a declaration of war this is less common. However Chatûl do consider able-bodied individuals to no longer be children in terms of their ability to hunt. Children as young as ten have been known to participate in such rituals.

On the Great Hunt, the Feast of the White Lion and any of the other minor festivals of Jolarä, the priests and priestesses of Jolarä in either the Chatûl or non-Chatûl churches will give alms, healing and perform minor miracles in the form of divine spells. In any event, priests of Jolarä, much like many of the priests of the gods of Light, will go out amongst the people during their holy days – paladins will join them – and they will lay on hands, heal the sick and so on and so forth. The church of Jolarä will often take advantage of holy days to welcome new priests and paladins into their ranks. This applies to both the Chatûl and non-Chatûl faiths.

Symbology
Clerics and paladins of Jolarä will frequently bear the symbol of the white feline paw somewhere on their garb – even if it is hidden or something, this holy symbol will be somewhere. They may also have feline iconography on their weapons, armor, clothing, home and so on. This will often be in a tribal format, looking hand drawn or carved; it is very rarely done particularly elegant or ornate style. These images are not frequently stylized; they are however painstakingly created. They may be on borders of clothing and so on, but for the most part these images are carved or woven directly into fabric or carved into stone or wood. People will wear talismans; for example a holy symbol may not just be a disc with a paw upon it, it may actually be a carved feline paw. An alternate holy symbol is the head of a male white lion. Interestingly enough, the holy animal of Jolarä is a male white lion. While Jolarä herself is female, the appearance of the white lion regardless of gender is significant. It is rumored that when Jolarä appears in one of her avatar forms as a lion, she appears as a male white lion. This is a matter of great dispute amongst a number of people since there are factions within the church that refuse to accept this. The most enlightened argument is that Jolarä herself is above petty concerns such as gender, and she just likes having a mane.

Again, silver is the precious metal of choice in regards to Jolarä; the precious stone of choice for Jolarä is the ruby – as such when they do decide to adorn things with gemstones, rubies are very commonly sought out.

Rituals
Generally speaking, if a young woman is capable of performing magic that is what she does. That is not to say that all priestesses of Jolarä are simply clerics; many of them are archivists, scientists, mothers, or warriors. There are quite a few priestesses of Jolarä who excel as warriors and have helped shape history to a monumental degree. Generally speaking, if a woman is a paladin of Jolarä, she will also be a priestess on some level, even if she only has the clerical investment and has not actually taken any spells. This is almost absolute, it is considered very uncommon - 15% of the female population at most for people to not be divine spell casters of Jolarä if they are female Chatûl, raised in a Chatûl society.

When a young Chatûl prepares to enter the religion as a young neophyte or apprentice to a priestess, a few things take place. First of all, the most important thing is, generally speaking; when a young female Chatûl is adopted into the church she is too young to have received her spirit dagger. Generally the spirit dagger is received when a young Chatûl is about to reach puberty, at a general age of between 10 – 12 years of age. This event is a very important event in Chatûl society. The spirit dagger is carved from a single bone taken from one of the ancestors, preferably a favored ancestor of that Chatûl. In cases where the bones of any ancestors may not be available, it is not uncommon for a great friend or mentor to either offer up their bones before they die, or to be offered up by a family member of that person or so on. In a case where that is not available, orphans in Chatûl society are sort of adopted in this sense by the church, and it is not uncommon for priestesses or members of the White Lions who did not have children and may or may not have lost their family to be donors essentially. All Chatûl spirit daggers are carved from bone; they may have metal adornments, though this is not particularly common. For the most part all Chatûl daggers are carved from bone and they are gifted to the child between their 10th and 12th birthday. This ritual is a very important ritual and it is roughly similar to the Catholic ritual if confirmation. The young Chatûl is sent on a quest alone. Generally speaking while they believe they are alone they are not truly left alone – they are usually watched very carefully at range by a few members of their family or the church, usually very competent people. Their quest is different, and it is divined by a high priestess to determine what the quest is, and Jolarä assigns each one of her children a different quest. Sometimes she will select a group of children and send them all on separate quests that will all culminate with one single purpose that will not be seen until later. The quest usually takes no more than a day; the shortest quests are less than a few hours counting travel time. It is most commonly a quest to retrieve an item or leave a mark or holy symbol of Jolarä somewhere. The point of the quest is not to complete the task; the point of the quest is to learn one’s purpose and connection to the deity during the quest. Once the quest is complete, in the case of young priestesses, the young neophyte returns to her mentor, showing that she has completed the quest – now this is different for her from the rest of society because she is intending to head into the church. The spirit dagger of a young priestess is then engraved with the ritual magic rune of Jolarä. Most spirit daggers are unadorned with runes; they are carved from bone and bound to the spirit of the person through ritual, but they are unadorned with runes. In the case of a young priestess, this single rune of Jolarä is engraved on the spirit dagger, representing that their connection is even more significant than that of a normal Chatûl. It is not uncommon for a lantern archon, which is the most minor form of angel, to appear – this almost always happens if at least a priestess is present, to perform the ritual of binding which connects the spirit dagger to the soul of the young Chatûl. In the case of a budding priestess, this is often a harbinger of Jolarä that will appear and bless the young child.

The young acolyte will then officially begin her apprenticeship. At that point she is often given ceremonial robes and will be assigned to follow a high priestess and serve essentially as a squire, but serve as a servant, tending to the needs of the high priestess, but also learning life lessons on how to be a good person - benevolence above all, kindness above all – and where those virtues must be temporarily suspended in order to demonstrate strength in the face of adversity. After a few years, once enough has been learned from the practical Chatûl perspective, usually around the age of 16 or so, the ritual of admission into the church is performed, and the young neophyte or apprentice is considered to at the point be an acolyte, and things progress from there.

(Game Creator's Note: We will be developing more rituals for the church of Jolarä as time goes on)

The time for priests of Jolarä to pray is at dawn. At sunrise the priests of Jolarä will pray for their spells; this is because the beginning of the day represents the birth of life, the beginning of the essence of creation and so on. This is considered the most holy time in Jolarä’s church. However at night there are a number of specific celebratory rituals that will take place and holy services that take place in the evening are more common simply because lifestyle necessitate this. In spite of this, there is almost always a dawn service. Because dawn is the most holy time of day for the Chatûl, it is considered a note of great honor when a young Chatûl is given the nickname Dawn.

Paladins and priests of Jolarä are generally expected to donate the product of one successful hunt a month to the church; this may be money made from the sale of pelts, this may be weapons crafted from materials made of an animal, this may be armor crafted from hide, this may be food or what have you. Because of the practical nature of Jolarä’s church, Jolarä herself does not wish to collect these donations. They are not sacrificed or destroyed; instead these donations are disseminated amongst needy populations. This is not restricted to Chatûl culture; both Chatûl and non-Chatûl worshippers do this. In addition, within the Chatûl culture these donations are not restricted to Chatûl culture. Again: if a Chatûl follower of Jolarä finds a needy society and she has not yet made her monthly donation – this may be a group of Derew, this may be a group of Arxus or what have you – they will donate their sacrifice to this group. They will inform this group that this is a donation from the goddess, these things belong to Jolarä, that Jolarä is gifting these people with this donation. As such the worshippers of Jolarä are known as great philanthropists; they will go out of their way to assist other cultures. This is part of what fuels the view of the Chatûl as sort of the older sister race of all the other blessed living.

Paladins and priests of Jolarä are very often adventures when they do not have duties that bind them to a group. When they do have duties that bind then to a group, this is almost always the case, they do frequently associate with adventurers, and they are one of the primary churches that adventurers will seek out, particularly rangers and druids when they are in need of supplies or aid. The vow of poverty is also very common amongst clerics and paladins of Jolarä. It is almost completely unheard of for a paladin or cleric of Jolarä to take a vow of chastity; Jolarä is not a goddess of sexuality, but she is a goddess and her religion celebrates sexuality greatly. Sexuality is how living creatures procreate. It is also how they express passion; procreation, specifically, and passion are things that are very dear to Jolarä and as a result sexuality in the church of Jolarä is celebrated.

In Chatûl society, while marriage does exist and is important – and it is a religious celebration – young Chatûl that are of age are generally encouraged to be relatively prolific in their breeding, because the society will care for the child that is produced as they always do (a more tribal mentality). So as long as more children are being born it is a good thing; they do not generally have the taboos that modern real-world society has and as a result, Chatûl do tend to be relatively prolific breeders, and this is a good thing from a religious perspective. So again, a vow of chastity is almost unheard of.

Chatûl in general will shun drugs, and very rarely engage in drinking alcohol unless it is a feast or celebration because again for practical reasons they need to remain sharp, and as such priest and clerics and paladins will exemplify that perspective as well.

Chatûl generally have the perspective that extreme personal wealth is pointless; so again, ultimately their belief is the greatest wealth is that which you show in others – it is very similar to the church of Aarûn.

It is very common for priestesses, and in the case of non-Chatûl churches, priests of Jolarä to set out, after they have made a name adventuring or made wealth in some other way, and build up a community. In the case of Chatûl worshippers it is very common for them to find a community that once existed - an area of Chatûl ruins or so on - and use their wealth to rebuild a community, to restore a community. This has been particularly increasingly common in the past hundred years or so, in the Fourth Age, in the aftermath of all the destruction that took place in the Third Age.

Again, the well-being of the community is absolutely paramount to both Chatûl and non-Chatûl worshippers of Jolarä and the community extends to all blessed living and good creatures. Generally speaking this excludes lycanthropes and undead. That being said, clerics and paladins of Jolarä will go to great lengths to hunt and exterminate lycanthropes. They will not tolerate their presence and they will generally act against them. The only exception to this is if a lycanthrope is a follower or devotee of Selora or shows a significant, deep commitment to maintaining their blessed status and remaining on the side of light. This is difficult for the lycanthrope to prove and many worshippers of Jolarä, particularly Chatûl, simply will not excuse any lycanthrope, simply for the crime of existing. It is not uncommon for paladins, and in some cases priests, of Jolarä to become werewolf/lycanthrope hunters. This is particularly because of the fact that, if a Chatûl is infected with lycanthropy, they do not become a werewolf, they become a were-lion or tiger or what have you, and these creatures are usually far more powerful than werewolves are and usually very dangerous. Because of the substantial connection Chatûl have to their bestial nature, if a Chatûl is infected with lycanthropy they will often completely lose themselves rather than maintain part of their sapience, and as a result this is a very dreaded disease to the Chatûl. This dread passes over to a religious sense, not only for the Chatûl churches but for the non-Chatûl churches, and as such, it is very common for there to be a religious devotion against lycanthropes amongst the church.

As far as the other creatures of evil, undead, goblins and so on, worshippers of Jolarä will deal with them as they come. Of course, their being a good-aligned church, vanquishing evil is essential and vital, but this is not their primary concern. Generally speaking, paladins of Jolarä will commonly take the bow hunter trait vs. werewolves/lycanthropes for this reason. Chatûl do not generally have a problem with Gnolls or any of the other bestial humanoid races, not specifically anyway, this again passes over to the Jolarä worshippers; however the non-Chatûl churches do very commonly develop a sort of issue with Gnolls and similar creatures, usually from confusion.

Generally speaking, the church of Jolarä does not have what we would consider in modern times an ‘academy’, or any sort of ‘schools’. Any training that is officially done by the church is usually only provided to priestesses and so on. When the church of Jolarä does offer any sort of education or teaching through the church, whether it is again the Chatûl or non-Chatûl churches, it is in hunting, survival, tracking, and similar skills that are essential for wilderness survival and understanding your place in the wilderness. Again, as Jolarä is the goddess of forest beasts, hunting, predators, rebirth, righteous rage and wilderness survival, these are important skills. Additionally on the topic of predators, it is important to remember that Jolarä does not necessarily have prey animals within in her purview. As a result, the perspective of the church of Jolarä, Chatûl and non-Chatûl, is that one must be decisive and act with intent. Waiting for things to happen to you, being overly patient or hesitant, are considered tantamount to sins in the church of Jolarä, since the ability to act decisively and without fear is according to the church, a gift from the goddess.

Jolarä is considered a tenacious deity, and as such she rewards (and the church therefore rewards) tenacity in her followers.

The dogma of Jolarä is as follows: respect for the natural world, because the church believes that that is the responsibility of the followers of the Beastmother to care for the natural world and make sure it remains healthy. This is basically a medieval fantasy version of what we would now consider being ‘green’. While individuals who worship Jolarä may hunt and live off the land, they will not do so to extremes, and they would never believe in causing harm to a local ecosystem.

Secondly, they are expected to teach others how to live in peaceful harmony with the forest and with the other animals; now what this generally translates into is that the followers of Jolarä will very frequently be very skilled in some form of interacting with the wilderness whether it is simply wilderness lore or animal lore, or whether it is actually tracking or hunting or survival; they will go out of their way to try to find new people to teach these things to. They want other people to understand how to survive. The church of Jolarä thinks it is completely unforgiveable, just absolutely foolish, especially in a world that works the way Sidereus does, for an individual to not know how to survive, even on some minor level in the wilderness on their own.

Another tenet is to teach those that hunt to make good use of what they take from nature; this also goes back into the idea of maintaining a natural balance of the world.

Another tenet is punish with unrelenting fury those who would practice cruelty on wild creatures. While the followers of Jolarä hunt, they are not cruel about it. It is important to them that if you must harry a creature in order to hunt it, you only do so in order to achieve the goal. Once you have caught the creature you kill it. You do so quickly, and you do so without inflicting pain. Inflicting suffering upon the animals of the wilderness is being cruel, and considered unacceptable.

Again the balance of nature is very essential to them, and what is most important to them, the final tenet of the core dogma of Jolarä, is protecting the untamed places of the world from the touch of evil. Because of the role of the Chatûl in developing the world of Sidereus, because of their role as the second oldest race in the world, and because of their role as developers of the most ancient and most significant scientific and magical developments over the past six thousand years in Sidereus, their perspective on maintaining and preserving artifacts and relics of the past is similar to that of the Copper Elves. These items are important to the recovery of the future, and as such they must be protected. Therefore it passes down to the church of Jolarä, Chatûl and non-Chatûl, to protect these relics at all costs. Many cases, not all but in many cases, non-Chatûl churches of Jolarä will often turn over Chatûl relics they have discovered to the nearest church of Jolarä that is a Chatûl church that they can find, because they understand that Chatûl have the means to better handle these items.

The church of Jolarä, both Chatûl and non-Chatûl but more specifically the non-Chatûl, will usually educate its young acolytes and paladins by leading them on assignments where they will hunt out relics from the Chatûl past or go into battle against werewolves; however, one of the main tasks they will typically perform