This order of priests worship no god in particular but watch the heavens for signs from the beings beyond. Housed in grand cathedrals that are both places of worship and great observatories where the grand cosmos can be witnessed. In the center of study are reproductions and scaled models of great spheres, moving in paths matching that of their celestial partner, in smaller scale though. In this way, the seasons can be measured, the years, months, days, hours and minutes correctly pronounced. Certain conditions of the moons and favorable positions of stars and planets are predicted and discussion and research are the order of each day. Because of the knowledge of the stars and the planets beyond and how they affect or will affect the world the priesthood is consulted by many, from farmers to Kings. Though not a superstitious practice, the priesthood will log auspicious signs, like passing comets, and tie them to the events of the world, that they can watch for those events to repeat for good or to prevent them happening again.
The one major taboo and most punishable act is to forge or change records for favorable or negative result, which is punishable by death or expulsion.
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? Responses (10)
Need help fleshing out the society and maybe some famous figures or devices used
a) Celestial Sky? Are you aware that Celestial is derived from the latin word 'coelum' meaning... sky.
b) needs a lot of work - you should flesh it out; better you move this to the "in work" section.
c) A sub should be longer than one paragraph.
(I think he meant the 'heavenly' or 'divine' aspect of the word. :) )
Also, it is in Request Advice. Try to help.
If you need help on it you should submit it in work, or if you do not get any feedback there try to post it in the forums.
-Mike
I think this is a good idea but it needs to be developed more. If this comes out twice then my computer is being silly,.
Okay, a priestly order focused on the sky instead of a specific god, why not. One point that comes to mind immediately is that most of them stay up late, all night long... and have a strangely inverted daily cycle if compared to most of the world. That could produce some nice quirks.
The devices, I'm afraid, need to be researched. You should decide, whether they have telescopes or not (don't have to be very advanced). Either way there will be your intricate models and the far descendants of Stonehenge-like recording of key stellar constellations. You could detect some fantasy additions like magic detectors to recognize the most important events, if it feels appropriate.
Then: Bronsial the Sleepy. An important figure, looks always tired, he famously retires for only one hour a day. Advisor of kings, patient observer and a frequent unofficial speaker of the order, he is all over the place. He resembles a long, slightly wobbling nail, a too large head with the body as an afterthought.
Really they should be monks, not priests, as they live for the quiet contemplation of the celestial, not the serving of a community or pantheon.
Are they centered in one place or spread around the world?
How many of them are there? Just a handful or hundreds?
How are they identified? Would you recongize on one the street or just know he is a monk.
Perhaps small device instead the huge ones might be useful. Those along the lines of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antikythera_mechanism
You might have travelling bands of these monks going to observatories like Stonehenge or other standing stones.
Perhaps this order is actually the pawn of an elder god that can only be free of its prison when the right allignment of things in sky occurs.
Perhaps these are the survivors of a religious group that stopped on eof the above. They are constantly checking the night sky for signs that someone else might be releasing something.
Thank you on the machine aspect, forgot about that artifact find
You have given me some great directions for things I missed
With the comments from manfred and moon this has some decent ideas that needs to be fleshed out.
A order of monks would seem more fitting than a priestly order, as they do not seem to actively worship anything. Maybe followers of deities of the sky and of knowledge working together?
Now, regarding the name, it is very tempting to call it the Order of Starry Wisdom....