Religion

It is shown throughout the game that there exist several major Religions that work and influence the thought and behavior of the many races of the world.

Church of Ivala
The most common faith among humans on Arclent is the worship of the goddess Ivala as taught by the Church of Ivala. The Church decisively opposed the Incubus King during his invasion and it's the only international force that's still earnestly acting against him after the end of the war. The Church's main hope for finally vanquishing him seems to lie in the Chosen, heroes blessed with extraordinary abilities (see below), though they have had little success so far.

While the Church's teachings are monotheistic, there are indications that it evolved from an earlier, polytheistic faith. Very little is known about the goddess Ivala herself, though she might have appeared in the intermission scenes after the Prologue, looking upon the world from something resembling a mountain peak.

The Church doesn't have a single authority figure; instead, it has several High Priestesses in charge of different territories. There are seven in total: two from Ardoheim, two from Aram, one from Yhilin, one from the elven forests and one representing the territories lost to the Incubus King ("the Lost"). So far, you can encounter a few of them: the High Priestess of the Lost is Sarai, an old friend of Simon's; Andra, the zealous High Priestess of Yhilin; and Hester, an elderly High Priestess of Ardoheim that represents the Church at the Ardford Summit.

Church factions
At the time of the game, the Church is suffering from intrigue and infighting, caused by differences in doctrine, personal ambitions, outside political influence, or all of the above. Theological disagreements have lead to the proliferation of factions that are constantly in flux. Nevertheless, they can all be roughly sorted into three major theological camps:


 * Consecrationists: They believe that mortals are inherently sinful, but can be purified. According to Simon, they "tend to be reasonable enough." We have not actually met one of these, unless we read a great deal into Simon's dealings with the Church in Feroholm.
 * Desecrationists: They believe that mortals are born pure but can irrevocably lose their purity to sin. According to Simon, they tend to be zealots. They are responsible for the creation of Unmen and Unwomen during the war against the Incubus King and their role in turning the tide against him have earned them considerable influence. An example is the zealous Andra, the High Priestess of Yhilin.
 * Subsecrationists: They believe that humans are permanent mixtures of sin and purity and thus allowance must be made for both natures. They have a mixed legacy, as they have lead one of the best efforts against the Incubus King (in Simon's opinion), but they are also responsible for the creation of the Inquisition. Examples include Carina and Sarai.

Church hierarchy
Though men and women both follow the Ivalan religion, church hierarchy seem to be dominated by women. You first encounter a male Ivalan Priest quite late in the plot, in Ardford - he's elderly and mentions that when he became a priest, men could still advance in the hierarchy. Thus, the gender imbalance seems to be another result of the Incubus King's invasion.

The standard form of address for a Priestess is "Sister", though higher ranks enjoy more formal titles. There are two types of priestesses: lay priestesses, who can marry and have sex, and ordained priestesses, who are sworn to celibacy. In theory, the two types are equal, but only ordained priestesses can advance in the hierarchy. Rising through the ranks, an ordained priestess can become a Sanctified Priestess, and further up the hierarchy, a High Priestess.

Celibacy requirements are kept on the honor system in the lower ranks, but higher positions require stricter, magically enforced restrictions. High Priestesses have to be virgins and can't even masturbate. It's unclear what happens if they try - if the restrictions make it actually impossible, or if they act more like a magical "alarm" that goes off when a priestess does something prohibited. Like many other changes, the celibacy requirements were made stricter during the war against the Incubus King, as the Church feared that its leadership could be seduced by the enemy.

The Chosen
The Chosen is a hero purportedly blessed by Ivala with extraordinary fighting abilities and other gifts in order to the defeat the Incubus King and save the world. But while the name implies singularity, over time it's become a title worn by a long sequence of unfortunates. As a result, "the Chosen" is often used in the plural, referring to them as a group.

It's unclear whether they are actually chosen by Ivala or somehow created by the Church. During the interlude scenes after the Prologue, a yet unnamed minion reports to her menacing lord that "the Church of Ivala has a divine channel making humans into Chosen warriors". (He seems unperturbed at the news.)

It looks like only young human males can become a Chosen. Almost all Chosen encountered so far in the game seem to suffer from excessive self-assurance and entitlement, paired with impulsiveness and poor judgment. It's unclear whether this is the result of their newly revealed destiny going to their heads, or they were that way before becoming Chosen. They also share a tendency to try fucking anything with a vagina (or, in one instance, something that just looks like one), including defeated lust monsters. In addition to being ethically questionable and tactically unreasonable, this behavior clashes hard with the general prudish attitude of the Church and Ivala's stance against the Incubus King, which raises doubts about the true nature of the Chosen.

Known Chosen so far: Kai, Tal, an unnamed Aramite mentioned by Simon who charged off a cliff during his first battle, a guy loitering in the yard of the Yhilin Cathedral, and a pair first encountered in the Silver Stump in Ardford.

Succubi
The primary religion of the succubi is centered around the mythical figure of the Lustlord. Some in the faith believe the Ivalan claims that Ivala killed the Lustlord. The Soul Shards that grant the Incubus Kings their power are said to be either a gift from the Lustlord or shards of his soul. The oldest Incubus King (Lustlord) wants to become the new Lustlord and/or claims to be the Lustlord.

In update 0.14 Archivist says that not all Succubi are devoted as much as the others. They have some priestresses, mainly in The Old Order of Lustlord, who practice ancient sexual rituals, which are...rigid. A lot of succubi worship The New Order, which is more free. It encourages the world towards more sex as Lustlord watches over everyone. And there is a Reformed Order, who say Lustlord was also a succubus and are focusing on sex itself. The Old Order is tradition-based, New Order is freedom-based and the Reformed makes them rethink their assumptions. Simon is not buying any of this.

Elves
The elves we've seen seem to worship a different goddess called the Mother. Exactly what their religions or beliefs are remains unknown, but they seem to view the Mother as a specifically elven god as oppossed to Ivala as a human god. Not all elves, particularly Altina agree with this or worship the Mother.

Dwarves
During the visit to Stineford's academy, we have the opportunity to visit their well-supplied library. Among many other facts, theories and outright lies, we read that they believe the goddess who created them resided in the stone. They stopped believing in her as some think she died and others that she left them alone.

But in Eustrin we find a shrine to Tertia the Godess of all the Earth with plenty of flowers and a praying believer.

Goddess of Magic
During the journey, the party will find other creeds.

A mysterious cult (formed only by women) founded with the idea:

'In the beginning, we were just gathering to worship the Goddess of Magic. But those of us with talent have joined together to improve our community.'

It's the only multi-racial cult that the group has met so far as it includes: humans, elves and zirantians.

You would find them once you have the opportunity to explore the city with time. From the conversations with them, you learn that the Goddess that they worship is a Goddess of freedom. If Her presence is true in the world or not, what is her relationship with Ivala or many other questions are so far unknown.

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