--- RulingNations@aol.com wrote:
> A few questions
> 
> In a message dated 4/29/04 2:27:27 PM Mountain Daylight Time, 
> andrewdj54701@yahoo.com writes:
> 
> >  After the fall of the Empire, the various Orders maintained their
> >  association, even without state support.
> 
> What areas is this true for, and what areas fell (or fall) into a
> different 
> paradigm?

This is only strictly true for the Cedonian Core: Cedonia, Selaria,
Vizinia. Most of the North MidSea resumed their older forms of worship,
as did Zelkor. The states of the southwestern MidSea dropped some gods
and added others from the pantheon due to the influence of Torphan.

> > The Orders still recognize
> >  each other's ecclesiastical ranks, they still share tithes, and
> they do
> >  cooperate in the support and maintenance of rural temples and
> clerics.
> >  In rural Cedonian farming villages, it's typical for a priest of
> Coron,
> >  a priest of Arrumanthus, a priest of Lucia, and occasionally a
> priest
> >  of Torronir to share a single temple. 
> 
> How many priests are granted divine authority (both within the
> priesthood and 
> in the general population)?

Well, this is a difficult question to answer, since I feel that the
population given on the website is waaaaay too low. I've checked out
this nifty website, however, Medieval Demographics Made
Easy(http://www.io.com/~sjohn/demog.htm), and typically, there would be
one clergyman to every 40 people, and one priest per 25-30 clergymen.
Clergymen are those who are members of religious orders, but aren't
ordained priests.

So, if we accept the website's given population of roughly 3 million,
there are between 77,500 and 78,000 clerics, which works out to 2.583
to 2.6% of the population. If we use the more realistic figure of 67.2
million, there would be between 173,600 and 174,720 clerics, or 0.2583
to 0.26% of the population.

As to the question of how many priests can access divine authority,
they all can. It's a matter of degree and aptitude. See the discussion
below.

> How often does it come that a priest "follows" several gods, and why
> isn't 
> this more common?

This is a complex question which requires a complex answer. When a
priest performs 'magic' using divine authority, he or she first attunes
his or her mind with the god's mind, then invokes the necessary
Authority, which is then channeled into Celandra through the priest or
priestess. While only a very few are completely unable to channel
divine authority, not everyone who can channel has an equal capacity to
channel authority--to use radio as a metaphor, not every station
broadcasts at the same strength. 

The gods are not human, and to access their divine Authority requires
that the priest or priestess attune his or her mind with that of the
god. For this reason, it is rare to see one priest acting for more than
one god, because of the difficulty of training the mind to achieve
rapport with multiple gods. 

The only priests who serve more than one god are those in the most
rural of communities, and this service to multiple gods greatly limits
the magnitude and diversity of the effects they can invoke. A priest
serving four gods would only be capable of the most simple blessings. 

For some gods, the rituals and rules needed to achieve rapport are
incompatible. As an example, both Coron and Lucia require their priests
to be frugal, chaste(but not celibate), moderate in food and drink,
modest in dress, and honest. In contrast, priests of Kaskasoevin are
required to be indulgent in food and drink and extravagant in dress; to
gamble; to be promiscuous; and honesty is optional. Thus, a priest
could serve both Coron and Lucia, but he could not serve either Coron
or Lucia and Kaskasoevin.

Andrew
> Jefferson
> http://www.picotech.net/~jeff_wilson63/rpg/
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