The Faith of Akhora Darok is unique among the counties of the Land in terms of the prominence of rel igion

in its affairs of war and state. The Faith of the Fire God was introduced to Darok by the barbarian mercenaries of Kel, who were brought to aid in the cou nty's defense during its early days, and who later emigrated permanently to the area. In the years that followed, the Faith became the official religion of Daro k. Today, roughly 25-35% of the Darokan population could be considered true foll owers of Akhora; and upwards of 75% of the province's inhabitants know and pract ice the basic rituals of the faith. Most importantly, the bulk of the army's off icers are followers, and only one of the Commanders that have ruled Darok over t he past century has not been a faithful adherent. The tenets and practices of th e Faith intrude little into the day to day lives of common citizens; nonetheless , the Faith has always exerted a subtle yet profound influence over the decision s made by the provincial leadership, and its power seems to be growing. The god Akhora is said to be the exiled Prince of War and Fire, who was cast fro m the heavens by those unable to meet the high standards of his righteousness an d fidelity to purpose. He is worshipped as an avenging angel, whose rebirth is s upposed to cleanse the earth with the fires of his vengeance (from which only hi s true believers will be immune). He is viewed as power incarnate, drawing energ y from the fire and blood of the sacrifices and rituals of desecration committed in his name. By participating in the rituals and opening their minds to the unc ontrollable forces released in such ceremonies, the priests and followers of Akh ora are believed to become one with the god, and gain awareness of his purpose. Thus, a "true" adherent of Akhora "never has to say he's sorry", for his actions , however reprehensible or vile they may seem, can be said to be inspired by the god's divine vision, and part of his plan. The religion professes only a handful of basic tenets: a worship of one's own bo dy as a holy vessel, and a consequent emphasis on physical fitness and the virtu e of hard, honest physical labor; a dislike of the written word, said to have be en used by Akhora s blasphemers to achieve the god's expulsion from heaven; an empha sis on the importance of keeping one's word of honor when it is given, and of ke eping faith with those to whom loyalty has been promised; and a definitive belie f that the "Unbelievers" of the world are out to erase the wisdom and memory of the god Akhora from the earth, and that the only way to ensure his rebirth is to liberally spill the blood of his oppressors. It is easy to see how such a faith could appeal to the leader of a beleaguered n ation, and how the influence of the Faith keeps the war fires kindled to high fl ames in Darok, even during times of supposed truce. The High priests of the Faith of Akhora maintain their permanent quarters in the temple complex at Shaylle. In practice, however, less than half of them are lik ely to be present there at any given time, with the remainder engaged in tending to Faith business about the countryside or traveling with key elements of the D arokan army. Most villages have a small shrine, administered by a mid-level prie st. The High Priests are accustomed to deference, wherever they travel; their po wer over the local priesthood is immense. The Faith's regular rituals and ceremonies rely heavily on fire (which accounts for the predilection with fire-related magic shared by its priests). At the end of the new moon, sacrifices are given "to feed the righteous light"; though anim als are primarily used for these purposes, human sacrifices are neither unknown nor uncommon, particularly if the war effort is not going well, or if an overabu ndance of enemy prisoners are available. The most important Faith ritual, in fac t, always involves a human victim, a virginal young girl chosen to be the "bride " of Akhora. This ceremony takes place at Skull Rock on Midsummer's Eve each yea r; the girl is sacrificed to celebrate Akhora's single-minded devotion to his fo

rmer task, keeping the heavens safe, which left him no time for love or wife. Ak horan lore states that when Akhora comes to earth in fiery form to wreak his ven geance, he will choose a human female to be his bride and the mother to a new ra ce of beings; and that "she-who-is-chosen", known also as the Dawnchild, will as cend to the heavens to rule the new order with Akhora. Rumors abound that the Hi gh Priest Aleth-aan, the first female High Priest in the Darokan Faith's history , is destined to be the Dawnchild; the lady, being well aware of the political b enefits of these stories, does nothing to discourage such talk. Unlike most regions of Cidri (and indeed, the other provinces of the Land Beyond the Mountains), magical items and information in Darok are not readily traffick ed goods available to anyone with the gold to purchase them. The Wizard's Guild no longer has pre-eminence here; instead the priests and priestesses of Akhora c ontrol the practice of magic in the province with a stern hand. After the Purges of Alten II [100 years ago], almost all of the surviving texts on the arcane ar ts in Darok were placed in the possession of the Faith. Those few volumes that r emained in other hands were and are yet carefully hidden, and almost never utili zed in public. The Servants of Akhora are almost solely concerned with the "battle magic" appli cations of arcane power. Their magical researches have focused on harnessing the wild forces of nature (fire, storm, the beasts of land and air) into potent too ls of war; their production of artifacts is limited to the enchantment of weapon s and armor and the creation of items bearing offensive or defensive combat spel ls. As a result, some high level magical arts have fallen into disuse (Demonolog y, Gate Creation, Manipulation) and the secrets of the practice lost to the peop le of the province. Conversely, the High Priesthood's heavy use of Fire, Lightni ng, and Blast spells has taught them many techniques of "mass enchantment" that enable a group of Priests to create a multi-die force that is greater than the s um of the energies contributed by each individual mage. Its speculated that the two- to three-score High Priests of Akhora constitute th e only high level (>IQ 16 spells) Magic Users operating "legally" in county of D arok. There are probably another half dozen or so renegade "great wizards" activ e in the area, some leading small bands of independent plainsmen or mountain ban dits, one or two holding important - albeit concealed - positions in the courts of the ruling Lords. The local village priests of the religion are approx: avera te of IQ 13 wizards with the same heavy concentration on Fire, Animal Control, a nd offensive combat magic. It is not uncommon for these local priests to have 13 young initiates with them at any time providing whatever aid they are called u pon to for. Most of the priests and their acolytes have their eye turned toward Shaylle, and aspire to be chosen for the High Priesthood. The High Priests regul arly visit the local temples, to monitor the talents of its members; during thes e visits, the priests are likely to downgrade the skills of their assistants, an d both sides may plot elaborate schemes to curry favor with their superiors (tho ugh the High Priests are rarely fooled by these machinations). There is one additional class of magic users in Darok that operates separate fro m, but with the blessing and training of, the Faith of Akhora. These men and wom en, known as the sharren, are low spells only) magic users trained by the High a nd Low priests of Akhora to attend to the daily needs of their clansmen. A sharr on(in) is taught the spells to perform magical acts of protection (Lock/Knock, C onceal, Wards) and detection (Reveal , Detect Life, Detect Enemies); very experi enced sharren may also be taught formulas for producing modest Healing potions a nd poisons (since the activities traditionally performed by chemist and alchemis t classes are also largely absent from Darok). The sharren are taught in such a way that their powers can only be activated by concentration on some physical ma nifestation of the spell to be performed; almost all, consequently, use runes or hex signs as a focus during spell casting. often leaving behind an indelible in dication that magic has been performed (a Lock rune engraved in the wall above a

Locked door, etc.). In exchange for the magical knowledge bestowed on them by t he members of the priesthood, the sharren tithe 1/4 to 1/2 of their earnings to the temple that trained them, and are expected to aid in its defense if necessar y. Outside of these restrictions, a sharron or sharronin is essentially a free a gent, able to take on any task within his/her competence (including hiring on wi th a group of adventurers).