Church of the Twelve Aspects

When Tarnaxys united the kingdoms of Erathia, religion was a scattered affair with each province claiming its own religion. Tarnaxys united each of these groups under one roof creating the Church of the Twelve Aspects. The Church recognised each of the gods giving them their own shrines in every temple and recognising the chief representative of each god as 'Bishops'. The Church also received the responsibility of ruling on religious matters and interpreting the gods commandments. This task involve contacting the gods to clarify teachings and so on. Each pope of the Church is commissioned (is there more to add here - how are they commissioned?).

The Divine Edicts
The power to make divine edicts is perhaps the Church's most powerful function. The bishops listen to the will of the gods, sometimes though divinations, exarchs or even face to face meetings which they then bring before the other bishops and the pope. A vote is then made and if the gods message is seen to be acceptable and legitimate by the other bishops then the divine communication is made law. These edicts can be enforced by imperial law and the Church's own militant order, the Knights Divine. Cases of infringements of edicts are presided over by the Inquisition. There have been times when Papal edicts have conflicted with the emperors will and conflicts have ensued, such as when Yaldraith II the False Messiah was killed by the emperor for flouting himself as a god.

Edict of Heresies
One of the first significant actions the Church took was to release the Edict of Heresies. This document states what is considered evil by the gods and thus will be punished under the law, as well as people who have spread false teachings and sinned, devils, demons and the dark gods. Over the years the edict has also involved to include different types of creatures and even certain people.The Edict also defines many acts considered to be heretical and dangerous to the Church.

The Knights Divine
What started as simply the temple guard has evolved over the years to a near autonomous military authority who enforce the laws of the Church. Although the Knights Divine are few in number they make up for it with highly proficient, zealous and fanatical operatives.

Members of any race may join as initiates, however to be promoted to a fully fledged member one must die and be born again a deva.

(SilverShield - unverified by the DM)