Aadites
Followers of D'Aad, God of Justice
“Truth causes tremors in those who cling to power without honouring justice.” “If we do not embrace justice, justice will not embrace us.” “The dead do not cry out for justice.” “No species is superior; no faith is inferior.
The Aadites are the dispensers of justice in the land. Their duties range from the mundane (e.g. testifying to a contract between merchants) to the profound (e.g. hunting down and executing an evil archmage who has gathered a horde of monsters around her).
The Aadits control two provinces. The Greater Province of D'Aad is adminstered by Countess Lilia Stone from Harden in Barban. Camfor lies within this province. The Second Province of D'Aad is headquartered in Blackwinter from where it is administered by Lord Alfan Raynerus. A portion of the Great Forest of Harl lies within this province.
A Grand High Priest of D’Aad is stationed in each of the five duchies. Barban is the Aadite power-centre and is home to the Prelate Landyn Hayward (in Camfor) and a Grand High Priest (Harden). The Aadites are also very influential in Daern, with the Sub-Prelate residing in Daernbeck and a Grand High Priest in Blackwinter. The cities of Torbeck, Pai and Londesh each are home to a Grand High Priest.
Powerful members of the Aadites include HRH King Maynard, the Duke of Harl, the Duke of Krethes, and the Steward of the Realm.
Paladins – the militant arm of the God of Justice – are headquartered in Daernbeck, under the charge of the Duke of Harl and his Shield, Lord Raolin.
D’Aad’s clerics follow the Six-Fold Path which celebrates the virtues of temperance, honesty, modesty, liberty, courage and integrity. They reject any form of discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, language, nationality, species, sexual orientation, or “other divisive criteria”. Followers are expected to combat the forces of evil with determination and persistence, but to show mercy to those defeated opponents who are redeemable. Clerics wear a silver ring set with a diamond.
Major festivals and rites are held in October, at the height of spring. Atonement rituals are very elaborate, with the transgressor making a public confession followed by expiatory acts which are then publicly recounted. Similarly, purification rituals are public ceremonies involving a spoken account describing the taboo that was violated, an appeal to the congregation for spiritual support, followed by the actual cleansing ritual. Confirmation of adulthood, celebrated on the last day of October, is a festive occasion in which the entire community participates. All youths that come of age that year are confirmed and receive a plain silver ring. Confirmation of birth is a family ceremony, after which the birth of the child is announced to the community by the cleric. Fasts, communion and prayers are conducted in public, typically by groups of the faithful. During a funeral, an Aadite priest conducts the ceremony, except for the Wake, which is conducted by an Aranite. Meditation is the only private Aadite ceremony. There are no Aadite rituals of libation or sacrifices.
The most important calendrical ceremony is the Day of Justice, celebrated on Oct 9. Two weeks later, the Aadite Mystery is performed, from Oct 23 to 26. The Grand Temple in Camfor administers the Mystery in a new location each year. On Oct 30, confirmations of adulthood are held at Aadite temples throughout Kalderesh.