House of the Sovereign Chorus

At the end of the War of Mourning Saints, a mercenary by the name of Lorn Elmennios was returning to his home in Sondritch. One night, he spotted what he thought was a new star, but it began to fall from the heavens heading straight toward him. He watched the shooting star as it fell, exploding in a brilliant ball of light. He traversed the rocky mountains of Aranoc into the foothills of the Far Tower Mountains where he at last came upon the star he saw. A large monolith of cut crystal, etched with decorative runes rested in a crater, shards of similar crystal were scattered everywhere and the monolith hummed pleasantly in different pitches and tone. Something compelled him to touch the monolith and when he did he heard a voice. “There is no fear.” It said, and his hand slipped into the crystal and suddenly Lorn found himself floating in the nether void of the night sky, before a humanoid shaped being of pure light whose body was composed in itself of a another starry universe. “I am the Maker of Stars. Hear the song, and you will understand.” It told him. Just as suddenly Lorn found himself before the monolith. A sound struck him, faintly at first but growing more distinct as he concentrated on it. He began following along with the sounds he heard, singing a chant in a language none on Aerith have ever been able to decipher.   He immediately set out constructing a housing for the monolith, singing all the while. As people came to inspect what he was doing some out of the assembled began to sing along and aided in the construction of the monastery. In time people came from all over the world, some to watch in wonder, some to join the chorus.   The Abbey of Song: Construction of the Abbey as it can be seen today took the better part of a century, bits and pieces slowly being added to over the years. The monks seem to cheerfully regard it as a work in progress. Visitors are welcomed and offered modest room and board for a donation, or a day’s work. At all hours of the day and night the monks tend to the monastery, building new structures, tending the gardens, cleaning and cooking – and singing the strange, haunting chant as they do. The Monolith rests much as it was found, standing at the center of the inner cloister, surrounded by sacred relics left by former brothers and sisters. The Abbey is content to remain out of the political stage, the Cathedral of Light regard them publicly as an oddity, but welcome their kind nature as a blessing to all people. The Knights of the Word vested regularly for years trying to discern anything about the religion, but with no written holy texts, and their principles passed along as an oral tradition of simply being simple, honest and fair. The Knights found the task frustrating, the only other help the monks could offer were the same words the Maker of Stars gave to Lorn Elmennios – “Hear the song, and you will understand.” The Church of the Doctrine pays them no mind, considering their attention to others first as cowardly and denying the self, thus heretical in their eyes. The Monks are welcomed in the circles of the Neutral Pantheon’s loyal, and are the only ones willing to admit that they are not able to hear the song, but they’d like to.  

Abbott of Song

Though they don’t like the idea of established hierarchies they do see the need to have some sort of voice, particularly when they need a representative on the world stage - that person is the Abbott of Song. Unlike other religions, the Abbott is not the senior ranking member of the order, rather, they are one of the newest. To become Abbott, the monk must have been a member of the Chorus for ten years, and be selected by the current Abbott. The new Abbott then dons the white robes of his station and selects his second in command, the Deacon.  

Deacon of Song

While the Abbott is dealing with visitors and guests of the Abbey, it is the duty of his second, the Deacon to direct the daily goings on of the monastery. They delegate the day’s work, and keep accounts of the treasury, supplies etc. Essentially managing the lives of the monks as he or she awaits the time when the song rises to a level where they must start singing and officially join the chorus.  

Friars of the Chorus

The name given collectively to the monks of the Sovereign Chorus, these are men and women from all places and walks of live who came to the monastery and heard the song. A new initiate is asked only to touch the Monolith and if they are truly able to hear the song of the Chorus, the monolith emits a constant, low yet pleasing humm and it begins. Very faintly in the initiate's head, they can hear it. Not enough to join in full song, but they can hear it. When the ritual is complete the Abbott and Deacon present them with their monk’s robes and their holy symbol, the Maker’s Seal, which is a crystal medallion made from the shards collected by Lorn Elmennios himself. When a monk sings, wearing the symbol allows them to speak normally. Singing allows the monk to cast spells. The monks celebrate no special holidays, and in truth the only time work stops at the Abbey is when a Monk undergoes the Transcendence.   The longer a monk hears and sings in the chorus, the more insubstantial their form becomes, eventually resembling the body of the Maker of Stars that Lorn Elmennios saw when he touched the crystal. The Transcendence can occur at any time, a monk simply fades out of existence entirely, their robe and symbol falling to the ground. The robes are then gathered up, and placed on display around the monolith, and the symbol taken by the Abbott to await its new owner.  

The Celestial Hymn

The chant that is sung by the friars of the Chorus is in a language that has yet to be deciphered by scholars. Upon study by the Knights of the Word, it was found that what words could be picked out from the hypnotic rhythm seemed to be an ancient, but by no means primitive form of Celestial. The Knights were not able to understand what it is the monks were saying, but they were able to determine that the Hymn is cyclical; in other words, the monks are repeating the same message in song, over and over again.