The Vicean Deity

Long ago, several priests from a minor sect in the city of Vicea had a revelation. All of a sudden they understood the nature of reality. They began to teach their new ideas, which freed people from the missions of the various deities and focused upon their soul and their place in the universe and scheme of things.

It became very successful at attracting new members because it was a simple religion, with rules that were as complex as you wanted them to be, and a very government friendly tenents.

The Vicean Church is one that expresses the mysteries of existance and explains the process of life and death and lifebeyond. While other churchs have 'aims' and 'goals', the Vicean church focuses on the soul and faith of its members and all peoples.

The Vicean Deity is something of a mystery. Some say it is the primal god - the universal spark- that created all the other dieties and the rest of the universe. Some say that it is the God within all of us (with each of use being a shard of the primal god). The theology is thick with symbolism that each could be true, both could be true, and their may be more truths reachable through prayer and contemplation. There is no 'personaification' of the Vicean Deity. Since there is no 'God' with a personality and conflicts with other deities, the Viceans can work with other religions with ease. (And take on their disenfrancised members). They may call him All Father (and paint him as an elderly patriarch), but that is mostly because the Vicean Church comes from a patriarchial society. The 'correct' way to do it is to paint the sun, not the sun in they sky (but that is commonly done), but the sun/ star in ones soul. Is it confusing. Yes. Of course this variability of faith allows the Viceans the most paths of good living.

The Church is centered on 'right living' which is much like being a good and lawful citizen in most places. They help people for working to be better, to do good without looking for reward, to help others who need help, and to have faith in the Deity's path of the world. For most Evil and hardship comes from not understanding the greater plan the Vicean Deity has laid out. 'One learns more from adversity than one does from benovolence,' is a popular quote of the Viceans. (One lesson might be... So while the flood was terrible, it set up decades of good harvests.) In fact, they do not condem Evil Churches (unlike most Good ones). They see those people as living the 'right path' that has been set down for them by the Vicean Deity for this life. Those people will be appropriately tortured in the lifebeyond, learn their lesson and become right walking people the next past through.

The Vicean cosmology is all about life, death, lifebeyond, and rebirth. Every wrong or evil act you perform empowers a spirit. They act upon your soul as a weight. Upon death, a right walking person, ascends to unity and paradise with the Deity. Those who do not make it, are reborn here... the demons they made in the previous life setting up their next. Those who have too many demons may have a layover in the spirit planes being tortured by demons of their own creation. Walking the Right Path means one will do what one should be doing for the people of the world, as the people make up the Vicean Deity and much as The Deity makes them. (Yes the cosmology is very slippery...)

Other deities are seen much like mountains, clouds, and oceans: just part of existance. They are important because they have power and effect the world, not because they are Gods. They should be respected and prepared for, just like one prepares for storms and winter. The Vicean followers will often make snide comments about how these 'Gods' are selfish things, just in it for their own goals... not the assention of their follower's soul.

Note: While priests of this church can perform 'magic', they don't do it very often. In fact, it is a skill they only occasionally teach. While this seems counter intuitive, when compared to other churches and their claims of miracles and great power, it has worked well for them. Fear of magic has come and gone with the tides, as have many of these magically orriented churches, the Vicean Church continues. (In fact, the Church as helped fan such flames, as their church does not require a steady diet of magic and miracles to keep its members).