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Although the Pelorean Church is popular in Sankhar it by no means has the dominant role in society that it has achieved in Reetland or Cambria. One of the reasons for this is that there are at least four versions of the church trying to attract followers. Only one of these organisations is recognised by the Pelorean Church in Reetland. The Sankhar church with the closest ties to the church in Reetland is unsurprisingly the church of the Reets in the Kaldor valley where it has a strong following. It also has a presence in some of the larger farming communities in Marwhini territory. This church mainly follows the Reetland liturgy and generally has friendly realtions with the Reetland church. The Bishop of the Kaldor Valley also has an advisary role on the Reetland Ecumenical Council. Largely for historical and political reasons, however, the Bishop and his church are independent of the Reetland Church and likely to remain so for the forseeable future. The Pelorean Orthodox Church is popular in the southern cities of Sankhar and also has a presence in some of the larger towns of the north. It claims that it is the original untarnished version of the Pelorean church and makes much of the teaching of Saint Tadros. Many of its services are conducted in Old Reet and it is therefore the chief preserver of that ancient dialect. One of its main disagreements with the Reetland church is that it recognises the full pantheon of Pelorean gods and includes Malkor as a god of evil in that pantheon (rather than seeing Malpeth, a fallen angel, as the source of evil). Images of all the gods (with the exception of Malkor) can be seen in many Orthodox churches. Another Pelorean variant is the 'Church of the Plains' which is popular among the Marwhini. It is light on liturgy but like the Orthodox recognises the full panoply of the gods. The Reetland church says that it has been unduly influenced by the Old Religion (which is confusingly completely different from what is known as the 'Old Religion' in Cambria and Reetland) which is a pantheon headed by Odin One-eye. The clerics of this church are similar to those in the Church of St Erin in Cambria in that they are expected to know as much about animals as people, particularly horses. The last variation of the Pelorean church is the version popular in Kenzin territory. The Reetland church say this church has been too influenced by Kadian philosophy and the Kenzins make no effort to deny it saying that they have created something that is an improvement on the original. The official position of the Reetland church for some centuries now is that the Kenzin Peloreans are heretics although the two churches are at least talking to each other at the current time. | ||
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