Church of Triman

The Church of Svarog holds the religious monopoly in the land. While not demanding worship, it prohibits the worship of anyone but Svarog. The theological justification for this is the claim that anything else that is worshipped is a creature of the Black Serpent and this worship will enable demons to enter this world.

The Church of Svarog had three different branches in Triman:

The Church of Triman

The Copper Guard (sometimes called the copper knights)

The Bogatyr of Svarog (almost always called the beggar knights)

The Copper Guard is tasked with defending the world from the demons of the Black Serpent. They are very few, about 5 in Triman, and are led by their captain, Vratslav. The Copper Guard does not interfere in worldly matters, like the succession of tzars, but will interfere if the church is under attack, as it was under the reign of tzar Vsevolod the Cruel.

One can't apply to become a member. In stead, a prospective candidate is chosen by the Copper Guard and approached with an offer to join.

The Church of Triman is led by the Elder (äldste in swedish, however I have used patriarch and matriarch in the other texts, something I will fix gradually) and consists of the priests, titled sage (kunskapare in swedish) who maintain the churches, perform rituals and gather knowledge. The church of Svarog holds the acquisition and dissemination of knowledge to be of the highest value, and tasks its sages both with academical work and with teaching.

Children in Triman are expected to attend church school, which is free. Here they learn to read and write, and mathematics. If they want and have the time, they can also learn church lore, history, law, medicine and spell rituals.

In addition to teaching, the sages perform rituals at birth, coming of age, marriage and burial. Divorce is possible but frowned upon, and the sages don't perform a ritual for that. They will however be precent as the feudal lord dissolves the marriage.

Sages also perform rituals at the 4 yearly sun events (winter, summer, autumn, spring), harvest rituals and sowing rituals, which you can read more about in The Church Year. They also conduct magical rituals for healing, defence and attack. (see rules for magic).

While the main church of Triman is in the capitol Jarslav, the seat of the Elder of the Church is in the fortress monastery of Sviatogor. The monastery is not itself a part of Triman. The rest of the churches are part of Triman, but not a part of the Tzars jurisdiction, in stead being under church law.

The Beggar knights (tiggarriddare in swedish) were once the Bogatyr household guard of the Kniaz of Gradoslavl. When kniaz Mstislav tried to conquer the church and put it under his rule, the Bogatyr refused his orders and sided with the church. They were disbanded as household guard and remained the guard of the church since that time, swearing to hold no land or wealth or feudal obligations. Because of this oath they are often called beggar knights.

While the beggar knights swore to protect the church, they are not under the command of the church Elder or the sages. They swear their oaths of fealty to Svarog and might often disagree with the sages on proper action. The beggar knights are not organised in any way, in stead traveling the realm as questing knights, defending the weak and doing good deeds.

To become a beggar knight, one has to seek out another beggar knight and take the oath of fealty to Svarog in his presence. The beggar knight is then a mentor to the new knight for a year. One does not need to be a knight or even of noble blood to become a beggar knight. One is however expected to be knowledgeable in church and secular law, be able to fight effectively and be devout to the teachings of Svarog. It is said that anyone not fit to become a beggar knight will be unable to speak the whole oath.

Many promise to become beggar knights to gain luck in battle for a righteous cause, or when they want to step down from their position, either as feudal lord or at court in favour of the next generation.

The beggar knights have no leaders, but will accept the leadership of a Copper Guard if they are called upon. Most Copper Guards are chosen from the ranks of beggar knights.