Church of the Guardian

In procession did they come into the Temple of the Scale of the Guardian, the seven Principias of the Church-in-schism, the bishops in their hundres, and the Guardian and Her servants.

The Guardian, and the half-dozen angels who accompanied Her, entered last. They proceeded past rows of servants of the cloth, kneeling upon the stone floor of the church with their foreheads pressed to it, and took the seats offered to them in seven thrones behind the altar.

And there, the Guardian bid Her servants rise.

The Guardian Goddess had little interest one way or the other in the worship of mortals. It was of little value to Her, which meant both that She did not much care when it was offered, and She did not much care when mortals failed or refused to offer it. Still, the Guardian had a purpose in this world, and a hope inherited from Her beloved for mortalkind and its future. Should so many insist upon their devotion to Her enough to invite Her here to oversee the reformation of the Church to right the wrong at the roots of its creation, it would almost be a waste of an opportunity that would not soon repeat itself to turn them down.

She shared Her hopes for the Church at the council, that the Creator's wish for mortals had been for each to live free and to follow their light, and that a Church that dedicated itself to aiding in this would be a Church She would gladly call Her own. With the agreement of the bishops in attendance, She drew blood from Her own hand and let it fall to the earth, vowing then in covenant with the Creator's children that no perturbation would ever again sway Her from Her duty, to protect and uphold the Creator's wishes. The Church, of course, was also afforded time to resolve its own internal disputes. Seven Principias became six, with Vena retaining the position in the Dominion of Tharena. Doctrine was drafted and creeds prepared, as the Church made ready to step into a new version of its own being.