Here's some more Cedonian religion stuff, inspired in part by the recent thinking I've been doing about travel and communication. The Order of Cedon ---------------------- The god Cedon is the patron deity of the Cedonian Empire. He is not the chief deity of the Cedonian Pantheon, but he stands below only Coron and Lucia. Cedon is often described as the god of merchants, but that statement does not adequately describe Cedon or his priesthood. Cedon has dominion over merchants and traders, weights and measures, roads and rivers, messengers, wealth in general, and coinage in particular. Cedon protects those who travel, especially those who travel on business or as couriers. His wrath is said to fall upon those who try to cheat their customers or business partners; upon embezzlers and counterfeiters; and upon those who would prevent free passage upon the roads and rivers. As a reflection of this, the Order of Cedon maintains Cedonia's standard units of length, mass, and volume; is responsible for maintaining the quality of the coinage; sets accounting standards for Cedonian businesses; and work with the Lucians and the civil authorities in combating fraud of all sorts. The Lucians can determine if someone is lying or not, but the Cedonites know who should be questioned, and what should be asked. The Order provides blessings for those about to travel, and will also provide blessings for new business ventures upon request. The Order of Cedon also runs what is known to this day as the Imperial Postal Service. The Old Cedonian Empire engaged in constant road-building, often improving upon roads built during the Mystic Realm of Mir. Every 25 miles or so on the main roads, the Order of Cedon established and maintained postal way-stations to provide food, lodging, and remounts for Imperial Couriers. The Cedonites only provided support services; the Imperial Couriers were and are almost always Selarians who worship King Marmdal in his aspect of the Lord of Horses. The Imperial Postal Service still exists and functions, even outside of Cedonia; when the Old Empire fell, the Order was making enough money from postal rates to continue operations. Despite the name, the IPS is an independent entity, beholden to no nation or government. Despite the expense of sending messages by the IPS courier system, people use it because of the Order's guarantee that no message sent by the IPS will ever be intercepted or read by anyone other than the intended recipient. The horses and riders of the Service are blessed by both Cedon and Marmdal. The Order is also famous for its work with birds as messengers. Using magical enhancement, the Cedonites have bred carrier pigeons and ravens that can be used to carry messages between two points. The pigeons can be used to send messages to any two fixed points, or one-way from a ship to a point on land. The ravens can be sent to seek out a particular person and deliver a verbal message. The pigeons are available for use by members of the public who can afford the Order's prices; the ravens are exclusively used for communications within the Cedonian Church. Generally speaking, the pigeons are used instead of the IPS when speed is at a premium. The IPS riders average 10 to 15 mph (divine blessing, the right breed of horse, and Selarian skill), whereas the carrier pigeons travel at about 25 to 30 mph. IPS couriers can get messages from Thalcedon to Caladyn in under 48 hours if they push their mounts; a carrier pigeon can take a single message the same distance in 20 hours, on average. About 200 years ago, the Order of Cedon did attempt to develop to develop a means of telepathic long distance communication. The project was a failure. After three successive project chiefs suddenly developed an obsessive interest in perfecting a means of extracting sunshine from oranges, the Archpriest of Cedon had a dream-vision of Cedon, who made it very clear that "there are things man was not meant to meddle with" and that telepathic transmission of messages was one of those things. Interestingly, the gods did not seem to have a problem with limited receptive telepathy, of the sort used by Lucian truthsayers. Why this is the case is a matter on which the Cedonian gods remain stubbornly silent. Andrew Janssen ---------------------------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send mail to celandra-off@phoenyx.net.
