[Dis] Saint Mammon and the Monastic Orders of the Tartarus Peninsula
Saint Mammon is one of the nine archdevils, the pillars of the Diabolist faith. Despite his prominent place in the doctrine and the history of the Holy Infernal Empire, there are few worshipers of him outside Dis. While Mammon has left many traces in the land, using his power to create living stones to lay the foundations of cities and roads, he is intimately connected to the Tartarus peninsula.
The Diabolists believe in miracles: the Archdevils’ souls linger in the mana field, and sincere devotion can make them act in the material world. People of other faiths, angelists most of all, dispute these claims and are prompt to give alternative explanations: even if there is one in a million chance, it’s more probable that a prayer caused an accidental spell casting that a devil does a miracle (angels’ soul, on the other hand, do miracles all the time, didn’t you know?).
Mammon and Tartatus are so connected that nobody really thinks the Saint’s soul would ever appear far from his “home”, despite what the catechism may say. There is still some superstitions and folk belief around him. For example, vaults and deposits of valuables, gold most of all, will usually have an icon of Mammon hanged inside or nearby: the Saint doesn’t like when riches are spread around and he will cause bad luck to thieves and robbers (or so the story goes).
Similarly, the monastic order founded in Dis are all connected to the territory and have little reach out of the principality (with a notable exception).
The Sisters of the Dungeon is a female order that is devoted to guarding the main entrances to the Tartarus Caves and providing help to the pilgrims that venture deep underground to seek miracles or illumination. They work in strict contact with the ranger but don’t develop the same “symbiotic” relationships with the creature underground.
This is due to many different factors. As inheritors of the four daughters of Mammon, the jailers of Tartarus, they have to manage the dungeons from a higher position, both physically and symbolically. Furthermore, they see it necessary to maintain a distance from the caves, as to preserve the sacrality of certain passages and tunnels. Also, if a girl had some special affinity for the tunnel, a ranger family would have recruited or adopted her. Lastly, many dungeons sister are not native of Dis. A lot of undesirable girls, illegitimate daughters of nobles, for example, are sent to the Sisters in a de facto exile.
The Brothers of the Cellars is a male order that was born to take advantage of “Mammon’s gifts”, the underground resources of the Peninsula. As centuries went by, the focus become mainly on finding what was edible and how to cook it. These friars have prepared and tasted almost everything living in the caves, and some rocks too. They are famous for their cheeses: each abbey has some specific caves nearby where cheeses are seasoned so that the place’s molds can grow in the dairy to give not only unique flavor but unique proprieties. The friars are also experts in fermentation, using the peculiar yeasts of the Tartarus caves to craft alcoholic beverages: they can be mushroom liquors, transparent beers brewed in sunless pits, fortified wines aromatized with glowing lichens.
Some of these specialties are sought delicatessen, like the Aurora Cheese, which shimmering blue mold streaks have healing properties, or the green vermuth, which helps to achieve lucid dreams.
Other foods are… acquired tastes, with little fortune outside the abbeys and their neighboring towns, like the ricotta ooze, that crawl into your esophagus or the amphibian digestif, served from tanks filled with live tadpoles.
The Order of the Bones is a monastic order born to collect the remains of the damned, once held in Tartarus and eventually thrown in the material world after the Collapse. That means mainly bones: the gargantuan femur of the Titans that challenged divinities, the strange skull of angels with their many eyesockets, and weird skeletons of creatures now forgotten.
The Bone Abbey, made of those aforementioned remains, towers at the center of the Tartarus Peninsula and it’s a pilgrimage site for people from all over the Empire. Not only the relics are of particular significance but the site is also home to a vast library of religious texts and a collection of artifacts from the time before the Collapse. The Abbey also continues the mission of the Tartaturs, hosting special prisoners in its dungeon.
The monks living here are both accomplished erudite and capable martial fighters, able to defend their treasure and fend off any evasion attempt. They have also developed spells to control skeletons, both of the dead and the living.
The Order of the Bone has fame and recognition in the Empire and many devout seek to serve there. There is a strict selection process made of physical challenges and knowledge tests. Becoming a Bone Monk offers many opportunities, not only for personal and spiritual growth but for a “career”: Bone Monks are considered the best tutors a young noble can get. They are not only learned and famous for their strict disciple but are also efficient bodyguards, able to teach and protect an aristocrat’s son or daughter. It is also a status symbol: Bone Monks are very selective not only with their applicants but their “clients” too. Many Bone Monks end up in the inner council of nobles’ courts as an advisor, a perfect position to pursue their personal agenda or to amass tests and artifacts for the glory of the abbey.
