Church of the Explorer

God of Truth and Knowledge. The Revealing Light. Depicted as a sea captain with one hand on her Ship’s wheel and a quill in the other. The Church of Explorer has never declared much about her other than her Truths and that she wishes the world to be a better place. They believe that to do so without proof would be a blasphemy and undermine her work. They have declared the following commandments to be current Truths of Explorer, determined from the pattern of her rewards and Inspirations to the faithful.

Faction Skill: Knowledge

Common Faction Symbol: A compass rose.

Theology

The earliest stories hint that Explorer is a being of light who created the Sun and watches mortals from it, but this has little outspoken following. To commit to a position on Explorer’s existence without evidence would be contrary to her wishes. As such, it is generally accepted that this is a secret Explorer wishes the clergy to shine her light upon- there are sects of clerics who spend their time interrogating or conversing with Strangers about the nature of the Realm and the Beyond. The Church believes that if it is within your means to observe something of interest personally, you should not accept an account of it. Most Explorer texts are more like textbooks or travel guides, with chapters devoted to how you can see the subject for yourself.

It is the only Church with something that approaches commandments:

Speak the Truth that my light reveals
Shine my Light on all secrets
Death is a Truth inherent in Life.
Let the Truth of transgressions be known

Inquisition

The Inquisition of the Explorer would be described as the “academic reviewers from Hell” were their aims not clearly towards the Divine. They task themselves with ensuring priests’ accounts of their experiences are accurate, well-documented and adequately referenced. They have something of a poor reputation with the lower echelons of the Church, who see them as too concerned with second-hand information and insufficiently devoted to witnessing the Truth with their own eyes. Certain Inquisitors prefer to “correct” the “inaccuracies” of the world by hunting down Revenants for destruction. This is seen as going above and beyond the call, but it is thought that Explorer favours destruction of both Revenants and Necromancers.

Goals

With its focus on observable Truths, the Church tries to remain firmly rooted in the everyday. “Only those with their feet on the ground can build castles in the air”. There are many followers of Explorer who found her because they understand the urge to explain the World. What members of the Church do best is, after all, offering explanations, from “Why are we here?” to “Why did my crop fail?”.

Costume

Guild or Church costume features are those that add to the base look of the culture your Agent belongs to.

Popular fashions and styles within the Church of the Explorer:

Whatever your Nation would consider a "sea captain" outfit.
Telescopes, compasses, bits of driftwood. Brass navigational doodads.
A notebook or scroll case attached to the belt, where it is visible.
Lanterns, sun symbols, other representations of light and revelation.
Spare pens, especially quill-styled ones.
Some Explorers stain their fingertips with ink deliberately. You're best to physrep this with facepaint, it comes off a lot easier.

Avoid:

Tricorns
Big pirate frock coats.
Actually looking like Captain Jack Sparrow.

Five points on the Explorer

They are here for Truth: The truth of the Beyond, the Truth of what is going on here, or the Truth of what happened to the lost builders of the ruins.
The castaways must be shown the Truth of the world: Enlighten them as to what happened since they were stranded here, and protect them from turning to the lies of necromancy.
Knowledge is the true treasure, not plunder: Ensure the ruins are documented, not merely exploited.
Find the secrets that others have hidden in darkness and bring them out into the light.
The concept of an 'end' to learning should never be accepted: There is always more to discover.

Supplemental Reading

Legends of the Explorer