The modern worship of Mur is a fusion between Taur and Seree spiritual culture. The Taur were first to hear Mur's call, but it was the Seree who shaped it into its present form following their invasion of the eastern coastal regions.
The chaotic and individualistic spirituality of the shore dwellers seemed primitive to the the Seree, whose traditions spoke of the great achievements of Rumea in the west, but the power of the fearsome Mur-worshippers was undeniable. The invaders had experienced first hand the great woundings and the ruinous war spirits in their battles against the Taur tribes.
In the year 902 of the Rumean reckoning, Queen Siskasa IV of Boroden and five of her greatest warriors succeeded in fighting their way across the Avol river at Sanj, and because the first Seree to reach the waters of the eastern sea.
There, they bore witness to the alighting of Mur, a vision of the solar god himself, blessing her with his fiery strength and granting her a mandate from the heavens to unify the people of the world under his teachings and to rid the world of the fey spirits.
At the site of her vision, Siskasa founded her capital of Torin and, at its heart, a gleaming temple to Mur, built of white stone and topped with spires of shining silver.
Under the Seree, the worship of Mur took on a considerably different flavour. The Seree's experience with matters of administration, and their use of horses and carrier birds enabled them to organize and control large territories. Subsequent generations declared the founding of the Temple to be year one of a new calendar.
Queen Siskasa annointed her warriors the first Knights Expulsor, and sent them north and west throughout her lands to subdue the many bandit kings that dwelled therein, spreading the message of her holy mandate, and to receive tribute for her Temple.
In a series of difficult battles, Queen Siskasa came to dominate the southern coastal regions.
The greater threat to the growing empire, however, were the fey. With their wicked enchantments, they tricked, seduced, kidnapped or poisoned, stealing sheep, horses, and occasionally children, causing crops to blight and whole villages to fall into the fatal slumber of the dreaming.
Although the Fey were finally expelled from the empire in the year 114 under Queen Cinana II of Torin, their influence shaped the new religion as surely as it had shaped the old ways of Mur's chosen.
The worship of Mur is the predominant religion throughout the lands of the former empire, including Borra. Non-believers are tolerated, particularly in urban areas where there is more exposure to the imported traditions of Ebraxa, Choumeti and Drusu. Nevertheless, Mur's daily presence in the sky is hard to miss, and non-believers are occasionally treated with scorn out of contempt for their ignorance.
Worship of Mur is divided into five sanctioned orders, and there are three heretical varieties besides. Excluding the White Palm, the four sanctioned branches are the Temple Order, the Murian Ascetics, the Expulsors, and the Sanctified Order.
The Temple Order is really the central, orthodox spine of the temple, concerned with ensuring that Temple lore is spread without distortion, and dealing with the administrative affairs of an empire-spanning organization. Many of the great leaders, thinkers, administrators, and politicians in the Temple's history belonged to this order; it is the 'head' of the Temple in many ways.
Since travel to and from Torin has become more difficult, the Temple Order has become increasingly isolated, forced to deal with the Hantosha with only its own much-reduced clout and resources.
Because of the diversity of tasks that this Order takes on, its members might be found abroad from the temple for any number of reasons.
The Ascetics are generally much more cloistered; their founding goal was to align itself with the spiritual purity or the early temple, in an effort to recreate its legendary rites, and to this end they spend long hours in meditation, study, prayer, and ritual.
Exceptional members of this order usually seek to teach others, or to use their talents to benefit the temple in more pragmatic ways.
The Expulsors were the first order, a martial order of knights templar serving Queen Siskasa I of Boroden after the founding of the temple. Throughout the life of the Temple, this order has focused on the security of the temple's lands and combating fey spirits.
In recent Borran history, the expenses associated with maintaining a military order have been unsupportable, and knights expulsor are typically housed by other orders, no more than a handful per abbey.
A primary duty of a knight expulsor is to perform warding throughout the abbey's tithedom which, in these times, is usually done alone by a knight travelling on foot or occasionally on horseback.
They have a rich martial tradition, and there are years of training before the abbey rewards an expulsor adept with a horse and armour.
The Sanctified Order has a slightly unusual doctrine, believing that it is possible to purify streams, ponds, and even small areas of forestland without resorting to fire. They are a poor order, relying on the generosity of the people to whom they minister their rites. Like the expulsors, they perform many wardings of traditionally protected areas (farmland, dwellings, and forest paths and clearings).
The three heretical orders are the Absenters, the Deniers, and the so-called chosen of Mur.
The Absenters believe that Mur departed the lands of the east centuries ago, and that widespread penance is required to bring about his return.
The Deniers, as they became known, are a much older heresy from imperial times, denying the alightment of Mur at (what became) the city of Torin.
The chosen believe that Mur speaks directly to them, and have completely abandoned temple doctrine in favour of their own, self-styled shamanism.
Proclaiming membership in any of these heresies invites harsh punishment, and the pockets of Absenters that exist operate largely on the periphery of Borra, in northern Nital Calam and in western Nital Beresh.
Under Siskasa, the only sites sanctioned for the worship of Mur was the white Temple or the numerous smaller temples constructed in its image throughout the empire.
In Borra, five such temples exist: in Beresh, Nobina, Gusasi, Tanason, and Hiotica. Each month, the faithful make a pilgrimage to the closest temple to celebrate Murbright.
In recent times, travel has become much more difficult and dangerous, making it harder to make the pilgrimage, especially for those further afield, and attendance at Temple functions has dropped.
Consequently, more and more of the faithful have begun celebrating Murbright in the old way, at the center of a clearing at least ninety paces broad, and sanctified by an initiate of the temple. In the quiet of the second sand they gather, waiting to prostrate themselves at the first gleamings of Mur's brilliance.
Each morning, as Mur brightens, masking out the lesser stars with his glorious brilliance, pious worshippers everywhere prostrate themselves and give thanks for the light that watches over them and drives back the darkness.
Regardless of the order they belong to, those who devote their lives to Mur have a vital function to minister: warding away fey spirits, and fairy lights, protecting farmland from corruption and children from theft.
Warding is performed by chanting the Praise of Mur while facing to the southeast, and by shaping the warding, placing cupped hands together to form a symbol of the sun.
Dwellings or outdoor places of gathering are usually warded during the day, and it is customary to have each dwelling warded twice a year, while farmlands or village commons are warded at night.
In rural communities, people usually shape the warding upon entering a dwelling or darkened room, and is regarded as an assumed gesture of politeness, as it would be to wipe the mud from one's boots.
The Murians have been hampered in performing this duty for several decades, which is having dire consequences, especially in Nital Calam.
In generations past, the paragons of the temple are recorded as causing great miracles to occur. The followers of the knight expulsor Nemaso were said to be able to bind the elusive fey spirits with their chanting, to dispatch them with steel rather than prayer. In the days of the Taur-Seree wars, Sigona the Younger learned the secrets of his enemies from the ashes of their fires, and called upon spirits of Mur in battle to defeat his enemies. At Sanj, the warrior Tumico invoked a great wounding, killing Nusaso III of Boroden and his entire bodyguard. Macra and his pupil Sinano, could ward away whole hosts of fairies with their pious appeals.
