Page Body
Humact
Humact is the God of Honourable Death. His followers adhere to the three pillars of the faith: honour, truth and smiting undead. The Humacti holy symbol is a sword.The Church of Humact
In spring 1286, the Sword of Humact was stolen from the Temple in Durholme while the Holy City was under siege, and Vivamort used it to forge the Sword Pantheon, protecting the gods within from the onslaught of the terrible forces attacking them. The then High Priestess of Humact used another true-forged Artefact to bind the remaining gods into the Mace Pantheon, with Humact as the chief god. Something unknown happened, however, and the next that was heard St John took over as the head of the Pantheon. This caused resentment among many Humacti, and can be traced as a root cause of the Wessex Civil war of 1287 (in which Humacti nobles in the family of King Edward took exception to the power of his wife, the Johnite Queen Sheorl). Most within the Church still believe that Humact should have headed the Mace pantheon.
In spring 1290, the Sword was stolen again - from Vivamort, by unknown means - and fell to earth in a village outside Grantabrugge. The Church of Humact were hopelessly ineffective at retrieving it, and it eventually returned to Vivamort's clutches.
The Temple of Humact then went through a period of chaos know as "the Autumn of Dishonour". Humact punished almost all of the higher ranking priests for their inaction when the Sword of Humact was lost on the Material plane in spring 1290. The Knives of Humact, originally a 'study group' of young Humacti set up by the paladin Sesqui, has emerged intact and filled the power vacuum by the sudden loss of priests. Daniel Wesbourough is one of the leading priests of the Knives. Recently the Temple has been supported a large delegation of monks belonging to "the Order of Truth" who are sworn to silence, (except when delivering the miracles of Humact,) so they may be sure they will not lie. Their spokesperson is known as the Liar to emphasise this belief. Once magnificent, the Temple buildings have been gradually reduced to wooden outhouses and ruins through a series of attacks, the most recent of which was a minor Holy War wreaked on the Grantabruggan temple during the winter of 1291. The attack which destroyed the temple was triggered by a desire to extract wanted criminals Alric (of Humact) and Evangeline (of Azrael) who were inside, following their involvment in the murder of Celandine (of Morvana), one of the priests who had been instrumental in the amendment of the pantheonic treaty to legalise necromancy. However, through poor timing King Edward of Wessex was also present within the temple during the attack, which then became an act of Treason - thus saving the part of the buiding which still stands.
The Church derives much of its power from the support of the Londinium Nobility - the faith is followed by many of the powerful families of Wessex as well as the old King Edward and the new King Samuel. Hence the Church has and will do all it can to support the reign of the King.
The Temple of Humact in Grantabrugge is located next to the river (where Trinity College would be in modern day Cambridge). It maintains the "Black Library", a locked and warded repository of books of necromantic lore, the better to inform the fight against the undead. Security is fairly tight, as the Humacti are extremely aware of Vivamortians who would want to read the books and Children of the Light who would take great exception to 'innocents' being exposed to the corruption written within (although appreciating the sentiment behind the collection). In 1290 a necromancer was found to have got inside, and the Lightists confiscated the books from the compromised library until security could be improved, returning them once this was done.
Heresies and schisms are always fun in an organisation where no-one can lie. Philosophical arguments are therefore carefully worded, and frequently end on the dueling grounds. The most recent major schism that everyone avoids talking about - but you will nevertheless have heard of - involved a small but influential segment of the Church deciding to keep undead alive for experimentation and training (the better to fight them in the field, you understand). The instigators of this scheme were respected Knights Ernst Volkmar and Annabelle Schmidt. After several well publicised duels most involved died bravely and honourably in the front line during the Summer Campaign of 1277. Nowhere is it stated whether Humact punsished them for their beliefs, but everyone emphatically agrees that he must have done.