12-24-2025, 07:49 PM
Merēta, Eiria
12:47 A.M.
“To Water, I thank thee for my wisdom and memory, tempered by the weight of the memories of my actions. To Earth, I thank thee for both my form and my reason…”
Kurena Ana Semjonova quietly wandered the tall Geminus cathedral, careful footsteps not making a sound on carved granite floors. As she said a round of prayers customary for Unitist clergy on the nighttime watch, the navy blue hood of her ašadza hid her face, giving the impression of a faceless figure with a flowing robe and cape. Such an image may be unnerving to outside observers, but alas, the priestess was alone in the church, walking between the front door and the altars of each of the five Angels with a slow, methodical pace.
As she began another round of pacing, frantic knocking at the door drew her from her repetitive ministrations, and she quickly turned on her heel. Her lantern swayed as she approached the large door, unlatching it to reveal a young woman, battered and crying as she tried to enter the church.
“Please, Sister, help me. He’s chasing me, and I don’t know where to go…” The woman pleaded, leaning on the door while trying to catch her breath.
“Get in, my child, quickly.” The priestess wasted no time, pulling the woman into the church and attempting to shut the door again, only to have an arm jut between the doors just before they closed. The priestess attempted to muscle them shut before jumping back, putting herself between the figure and the young woman, who had fallen onto her knees on the church’s floor.
“Let’s get out of here, Kala. You don’t need to be so dramatic as to involve the priests in our arguments.” A brutish man seethed, pushing his way into the cathedral with barely concealed rage.
“Sir, please, get out of here. You are trespassing on church grounds.” The priestess said firmly, but diplomatically.
“I’m not going anywhere without my wife. Please, move out of my way, she isn’t thinking clearly.” The man took a step towards the pair of women, pausing when the priestess extended her arm again.
“This isn’t an optional request, my brother. The church is closed, and you are trespassing. Please leave and come back during service hours, before we have to escort you out,” the priestess said, undeterred.
The man scoffed. “A weak old member of the clergy is going to try to involve herself in my marriage? I’m not afraid of old witches.” He pressed forward again, almost reaching an arm’s length away from the women.
With steely calmness, Semjonova reached beneath her robes and pulled out a revolver, cocking it and placing one wizened finger on the trigger. “Don’t take another step forward. Leave, now.”
This sight was enough to make the man freeze momentarily, and he held his hands out in front of him. “Woah, there’s no need for that. Calm down, we’ll just be going.” After biding his time and weighing his options, the man made a lunge for his wife, betting that the priestess’s age would slow her reflexes.
He bet wrong.
BANG
The man cried out in pain as he fell hard on the granite floor, clutching his knee, which now had a sizable hole in it. Semjonova cocked the revolver again, her aim never leaving the man as she helped his distressed wife to her feet with her spare arm.
“Go further in and take a right by the Chapel of Light. There will be the stairs to the other apartments,” she instructed with a steady tone. “Wake the other priests, they’ll keep you safe while I wait here.”
With a look over her shoulder at her whimpering spouse, the woman nodded and ran further into the Cathedral, leaving the priestess alone with the now-incapacitated man.
“Angels help your regretful soul,” she murmured at him with a tone of maternal dismay before pulling out a cell phone from under her robes and dialing 0-1-3. “Good evening. We’re going to need an ambulance and some police at the Cathedral of Worldly Balance.” She gave a glance to the pool of blood on the stone floor. “The quicker, the better…”
—
The exact roles and job descriptions of the Unitist clergy have taken many forms over the centuries. Early in the faith's history, priests and priestesses were primarily charged with recruitment and education, helping cement the role of community churches and temples as fonts of knowledge and scholarship (both religious and secular).
However, as community needs changed, so did the roles the clergy filled. Many priests and priestesses began to have secondary training in things like medicine or craftsmanship in order to meet the expanding demands of their communities.
As Eiria was comprised of splintered factions for most of its history pre-1845, one major need of the community was a civil defense, and Unitist clergy orders were more than happy to fill defensive needs with dozens of clerics sworn to the Angel of Fire to defend their local communities in case of invasion.
This surprisingly militaristic portion of Unitist history stems from one of the most important duties that Unitist clergy members were (and still are) sworn to: protection. In the Mailanju (especially in its second section, the Testimonies), all five Angels are said to have protected humankind from various maladies and horrific acts, from natural disasters to internal persecution. While it was acknowledged that the Angels had a role in some dangerous natural phenomena, each Angel developed a subset of people who would pray to them for protection or deliverance in different circumstances.
Thus, much of Unitism’s more lived elements relied on this concept of protection, and Unitist priests in training were taught that they had to become the ultimate protectors. As the Rite of Protection dictated, anyone who fell to their knees at a Unitist holy site was automatically owed the complete and utter protection of that site’s clergy members, whether that be protection from abuse, hunger, sickness, or any other affliction. Even criminals can technically seek protection at churches or temples, although this does not protect them from judgements handed down by the local clergy, so inevitable justice cannot be escaped.
In Unitism, protection of your peers is one of the strongest acts of devotion you can perform. Paralleling the protection granted by the Angels is seen as among the highest virtues, and is an expected act of service from anyone sworn to abide by Unitist doctrine.
So, when circumstances make it necessary, faith can sometimes flow from the barrel of a gun.
12:47 A.M.
“To Water, I thank thee for my wisdom and memory, tempered by the weight of the memories of my actions. To Earth, I thank thee for both my form and my reason…”
Kurena Ana Semjonova quietly wandered the tall Geminus cathedral, careful footsteps not making a sound on carved granite floors. As she said a round of prayers customary for Unitist clergy on the nighttime watch, the navy blue hood of her ašadza hid her face, giving the impression of a faceless figure with a flowing robe and cape. Such an image may be unnerving to outside observers, but alas, the priestess was alone in the church, walking between the front door and the altars of each of the five Angels with a slow, methodical pace.
As she began another round of pacing, frantic knocking at the door drew her from her repetitive ministrations, and she quickly turned on her heel. Her lantern swayed as she approached the large door, unlatching it to reveal a young woman, battered and crying as she tried to enter the church.
“Please, Sister, help me. He’s chasing me, and I don’t know where to go…” The woman pleaded, leaning on the door while trying to catch her breath.
“Get in, my child, quickly.” The priestess wasted no time, pulling the woman into the church and attempting to shut the door again, only to have an arm jut between the doors just before they closed. The priestess attempted to muscle them shut before jumping back, putting herself between the figure and the young woman, who had fallen onto her knees on the church’s floor.
“Let’s get out of here, Kala. You don’t need to be so dramatic as to involve the priests in our arguments.” A brutish man seethed, pushing his way into the cathedral with barely concealed rage.
“Sir, please, get out of here. You are trespassing on church grounds.” The priestess said firmly, but diplomatically.
“I’m not going anywhere without my wife. Please, move out of my way, she isn’t thinking clearly.” The man took a step towards the pair of women, pausing when the priestess extended her arm again.
“This isn’t an optional request, my brother. The church is closed, and you are trespassing. Please leave and come back during service hours, before we have to escort you out,” the priestess said, undeterred.
The man scoffed. “A weak old member of the clergy is going to try to involve herself in my marriage? I’m not afraid of old witches.” He pressed forward again, almost reaching an arm’s length away from the women.
With steely calmness, Semjonova reached beneath her robes and pulled out a revolver, cocking it and placing one wizened finger on the trigger. “Don’t take another step forward. Leave, now.”
This sight was enough to make the man freeze momentarily, and he held his hands out in front of him. “Woah, there’s no need for that. Calm down, we’ll just be going.” After biding his time and weighing his options, the man made a lunge for his wife, betting that the priestess’s age would slow her reflexes.
He bet wrong.
BANG
The man cried out in pain as he fell hard on the granite floor, clutching his knee, which now had a sizable hole in it. Semjonova cocked the revolver again, her aim never leaving the man as she helped his distressed wife to her feet with her spare arm.
“Go further in and take a right by the Chapel of Light. There will be the stairs to the other apartments,” she instructed with a steady tone. “Wake the other priests, they’ll keep you safe while I wait here.”
With a look over her shoulder at her whimpering spouse, the woman nodded and ran further into the Cathedral, leaving the priestess alone with the now-incapacitated man.
“Angels help your regretful soul,” she murmured at him with a tone of maternal dismay before pulling out a cell phone from under her robes and dialing 0-1-3. “Good evening. We’re going to need an ambulance and some police at the Cathedral of Worldly Balance.” She gave a glance to the pool of blood on the stone floor. “The quicker, the better…”
—
The exact roles and job descriptions of the Unitist clergy have taken many forms over the centuries. Early in the faith's history, priests and priestesses were primarily charged with recruitment and education, helping cement the role of community churches and temples as fonts of knowledge and scholarship (both religious and secular).
However, as community needs changed, so did the roles the clergy filled. Many priests and priestesses began to have secondary training in things like medicine or craftsmanship in order to meet the expanding demands of their communities.
As Eiria was comprised of splintered factions for most of its history pre-1845, one major need of the community was a civil defense, and Unitist clergy orders were more than happy to fill defensive needs with dozens of clerics sworn to the Angel of Fire to defend their local communities in case of invasion.
This surprisingly militaristic portion of Unitist history stems from one of the most important duties that Unitist clergy members were (and still are) sworn to: protection. In the Mailanju (especially in its second section, the Testimonies), all five Angels are said to have protected humankind from various maladies and horrific acts, from natural disasters to internal persecution. While it was acknowledged that the Angels had a role in some dangerous natural phenomena, each Angel developed a subset of people who would pray to them for protection or deliverance in different circumstances.
Thus, much of Unitism’s more lived elements relied on this concept of protection, and Unitist priests in training were taught that they had to become the ultimate protectors. As the Rite of Protection dictated, anyone who fell to their knees at a Unitist holy site was automatically owed the complete and utter protection of that site’s clergy members, whether that be protection from abuse, hunger, sickness, or any other affliction. Even criminals can technically seek protection at churches or temples, although this does not protect them from judgements handed down by the local clergy, so inevitable justice cannot be escaped.
In Unitism, protection of your peers is one of the strongest acts of devotion you can perform. Paralleling the protection granted by the Angels is seen as among the highest virtues, and is an expected act of service from anyone sworn to abide by Unitist doctrine.
So, when circumstances make it necessary, faith can sometimes flow from the barrel of a gun.
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