Church, The: The Book of Staves

The Church: The Book of Staves

Aeldred- So as to not interrupt the IC thread below...

This discussion topic has come up a few times, before, but judging from some of the IC comments being made, it is possible we are not all on the same page concerning the history/origin of the Book of Staves. I want to tell you all what I think.

We know from the Lore of the Elves that the Holy Church was first founded in the Age of Dawn.
The All-Father was worshipped in "temples" prior to that, but the Church is first mentioned as being founded after the temples were torn down under Sillestor. The Book of Staves is not mentioned.

We know according the the Human Lore that the Sons of Man, after the Blood Curse and millenia of slavery at the hands of the Elves, learned of their birthright and learned to worship the All-Father at the hands of the Centuars, in the Age of Days. Presumably, also, some of the religious practices of ancient Ardan was resotored to Man when the Titans were freed by Torvagau the Liberator. No mention of when the Church of Man began, but we can assume it had its inception (or reinception) as Man was taught to worship the All-Father by the Centaurs.

We know from the timeline of the Age of Kings that the Human branch of the Holy Church and the Elvish branch unified in the year 161 of the Age of Kings, the same year the "definitive edition" of the Book of Staves was released.

The first mention of the Book of Staves in the lore is 161 KY.

I think two things are possible. First possibility, the Elves had a Book of Staves during the Age of Twighlight, written by Elvish Prelates; and then the Humans had a different Book of Staves as soon as their Church could be reestablished, written by Human and perhaps Centaur Prelates. Considering the fragmentation of human society, it is possible a number of different versions of the Book of Staves were wandering around. Then, come the Council of Wanford, all the prior versions were discarded, the Church was unified, and one "definitive" version was adopted.

The other possibility was that the Book of Staves did not exist prior to the Council of Wanford. It is not mentioned anywhere in the lore prior to that. It is possible that the Council took the different holy texts; stories; books; and what have you being used by the Elves, Centaurs, and Humans to teach of the All-Father, and codified it into the first and "definitive" book of staves.

So when people speak of the "version" of the Book of Staves prior to the Council, I would have to say that is incorrect. I submit there was an Elven version and one or more Human versions; or there was no version prior to the Council.

Meridian?

M-Hey gang!

This is all wonderful stuff (IC and out) - and Aeldred has definitely deduced most of it from a few tiny jigsaw puzzle pieces. Picture Wanford as the Council of Nicea - that's when the Church as we know was built and organized. The Book of Staves bascially orginated there, but bear in mind that it had several different antecedents, and has gone through a bit of hostory of its own.
But more on that soon...

One of my biggest regrets up to this point is that I haven't been able to give the Holy Church as much love (lore-wise) as Malorn's bunch have gotten. The Timeline is as concentratrated a dose of Church Lore as exists anywhere - read it and take it to heart.

Hopefully, I'll be able to shed some light on the whole Book of Staves question soon - perhaps this weekend. I'd do it now, but I just got slammed with a MAJOR task that's got me scrambling all over the place.

Anyway, much more will be revealed. Keep the Faith! The Holy Church is definitely a cool faction, and it warms my heart to see people as into it as some Elves/Irekei/Temple folk.

More soon!