The Church
The Cardinal
Cardinal Domitian controls the church activities in most of Thessala from his palace at Koresses, the provincial capital — about five days south of Tavia. He commands the presence of the bishop about twice a year, and the bishop of Tavia has traditionally been a part of the Cardinal's curia. (Usually by proxy.)
Domitian is a mysterious and powerful figure to most of laity in Tavia. Once every three years or so he will visit the town with much pageantry and ceremony when the local nobles and bishop formally bow to his authority. As cardinal he controls much of the chruch coffers and holds the reigns of the church inquisitors.
With the Cathedral so near to completion, it is expected that Domitian will perform the ceremonies to formally confirm the structure as a holy site of Logos.
The Bishop
Anastasius is the current bishop of Tavia. He has held this position for sixteen years. Anastasius often seems uncomfortable in his bishop's robes and finery, perhaps this is a condition of his strange rise to power. The late cardinal surprised the local pastors by promoting Anastasius, a lowly monk, and the cardinal's confessor, to this position.
Anastasius is a silver-haired man in his sixties, who is rather portly. He is much beloved of the townsfolk for increasing the size and scope of the church's charitable works in the area. He has a reputation as a kind and scholarly cleric — perhaps a bit of the "absent-minded professor" syndrome. Yet he has attained great power, and what is more, maintained it for almost two decades — a feat that points to some political acumen.
The Curia
The curia serves many purposes for the Bishop. Primarily it is his counsel on both ecclesiastical and worldly matters. It also serves as a working group for assigning projects that do not fit neatly within the church bureaucracy. The members of the curia can be empowered by the bishop to act in his name with the full might of the church behind him.
The curia currently has eight members, including the baron's brother in law, pastors from local parishes, abbot Marcellus, the metropolitan, pastor and curate.
Curate
The curate is the chief bureaucrat of the bishopric. He is in charge of the business side of the church.
Pastor
The pastor of Tavia is responsible for conduction church services at the Cathedral, (These are normally held in the northern chapel since the cathedral is unfinished.) Three junior pastors assist him. On high holy days the bishop performs the ceremonies assisted by the pastor.
Paladin - Captain
Paladin-Captain Amantius serves as the chief protector of the cathedral and the bishop. As a paladin, Amantius operates somewhat outside of the normal church bureaucracy. While required to follow the orders of the bishop (and cardinal) he has ultimate authority on matters of security. While officially not a member of the Curia, he has the ability to call the curia and address them on matters of security.
Amantius is in his early 40's, with piercing green eyes and close-cropped blonde hair. He is stern, but fair-minded. He does not like the political game of Tavian nobility and does his best to stay away from such matters.
He has two junior paladins under him: Columba, a woman called to the service, who is in her early 20's; and Nilus, a boy of 15.
Amantius also commands group of two templars and a dozen or so locals who act as guards. These cathedral guard are perhaps the highest paid and best trained guards in the city and are all expected to exhibit the highest moral caliber — or be dismissed.
Metropolitan
The metropolitan is in charge of the church personnel. This includes training and housing them.
This also means that all visiting templars, priests, monks, etc. must "check in" with the metropolitan.
Priests and Templars
There are about twenty-five priests and templars acting as the main workforce of the church. Their assessments are often rotated unless they show great talent for a particular vocation.
Works of the Church in Tavia
The Tavian nobility, through very generous (and usually very public) donations of land and money supports several charitable works in Tavia.
The Almshouse
The almshouse is run by Sister Paula, a Justinian Nun. She has been in charge for five years and has six nuns who work under her preparing food and clothing for needy of Tavia.
Sister Paula is firebrand, but is not as conservative as one might guess from her Order and her sermons to the poor (delivered with wild and dangerous gesticulations of her cane.) The crusty nun has started a work program in the almshouse, whereby the poor do unskilled labor for several merchants. Paula uses some of this money for her mission, but actually pays the workers a small wage. The idea being to help them out of their lot. This is a very radical idea — one that has caught the attention of the curia, the guilds and government officials. So far no one has moved to stop her although many tongues are wagging.
