Aranites
Followers of Arawn, God of the After-Life
“You may bury me but I am a seed.” “It is the duty of the living to make meaningful the sacrifices of the dead.” “To be alive is to embrace death.” “What if all trees refused to let go of every dying leaf?”
As a group the Aranites are politically the weakest amongst the religions of Kalderesh, and they have comparatively few clerics. However, as death is a certainty, and is seen as a natural part of the cycle of existence, all Kalderani are familiar with the god’s servants. Amongst the general population, Clerics of Arawn are respected but shunned, as their most public function is understandably sombre.
For centuries, the Aranites have had no Prelate, an ancient tradition in Kalderesh and elsewhere.
The Aranites administer a small mountainous district in southern Kirvan, the Province of Arawn. The capital is in Akarat and the provincial administrator is Viscount Hervi Aeldredus. Akarat is also the power-centre of the Aranite faith, with three Grand High Priests stationed in the city.
Donnalaich is the only other city where a Grand High Priest resides, although each town and city throughout the land has a cleric of the god in attendance.
The ceremony usually associated with the Aranites is naturally the funerary rite. Clerics of Arawn almost without exception officiate at a funeral, although in some cases they only perform the Wake, to ensure the body is properly consecrated thus avoiding such unfortunate occurrences as being re-animated as a skeleton, zombie or other horrible undead. The Aranite ritual can also prevent resurrection from bringing the dead back to life.
Since the Aranites do not perform tasks (other than funerary) that the general population can take part in, their rituals and ceremonies are not public in nature. Atonement is only for priests who have strayed, and similarly, communion, meditation, prayer and purification are performed for the working clergy only. There are no confirmation ceremonies. All new clerics of Arawn are initiated at the High Temple in Akarat, once a year, during the celebration of the Mysteries of Arawn on July 10th.
A special order of Aranites, known as The Voices, travel across Tem, collecting the voices of the dying. They do so in order to preserve their memories for their loved ones. The Voices then travel to the loved ones, speaking to them, and helping them through their grief.