Holy Terran Chantry
Lexicon: Words Associated with the Holy Terran Chantry
Empire of Silence
adorator: A member of any antique religious cult maintained by the Empire and tolerated by the Chantry.
anagnost: An initiate in the Chantry clergy.
Assumption of Earth: In the Chantry religion, the departure of Mother Earth following her destruction. It is said she will return when men are worthy.
bastille: Chantry judicial and penal center, usually attached to a temple sanctum.
Cantos: The Chantry holy book, a collection of songs, laws, and parables.
cathar: A surgeon-torturer of the Holy Terran Chantry.
chanter: The average priest or priestess of the Chantry religion.
Cult of Earth: See Holy Terran Chantry.
Dark/Outer Dark: Space. In the Chantry religion, a place of desolation and torment.
Elegy for Earth: The Chantry call to prayer performed at sundown each day. A funeral hymn for Mother Earth.
Exodus: The expansionist period following the environmental collapse of Earth. The peregrinations from Old Earth System before the Foundation War.
Foundation War: The war between the early Empire and the Mericanii, in which the Mericanii were destroyed and the Sollan Empire was founded.
Four Cardinals: In the Chantry religion, the four most important icona: Justice, Fortitude, Prudence, and Temperance.
Golden Age of Earth: The mythic epoch leading up to the Exodus, culminating in the Assumption of Earth and the colonization of the solar system.
High Litany: In the Chantry religion, a weekly ritual held to commemorate the destruction of Earth and to pray for a better future for humankind.
Holy Terran Chantry: State religion of the Empire. Functions as the judicial arm of the state, especially where the use of forbidden technology is involved.
icona: In the Chantry religion, a spirit or god embodying an ideal, virtue, or natural law such as Fortitude, Evolution, or Time.
Index: The catalog of punishments—monetary, corporal, and capital—maintained by the Chantry and enforced by the Inquisition.
Inquisition: The judicial branch of the Imperial Chantry, primarily concerned with the use of illegal technologies.
inquisitor: A Chantry official tasked with conducting judicial investigations and overseeing the torture of criminals.
Mother Earth: The deified homeworld of humanity and principal god of the Chantry religion.
Peregrination: Any of the historical evacuations from Earth’s system for the extrasolar colonies.
praxis: High technology, usually of the sort forbidden by Chantry law.
prior: In the Chantry clergy, the chief cleric in a prefecture.
sign of the sun disc: A gesture of benediction made by circling thumb and forefinger and touching forehead and lips before holding the hand up to the sky.
Synarch: The highest ecclesiastic office of the Imperial Chantry. Their most important function is the coronation of new Emperors.
Synod: The ruling body of the Holy Terran Chantry; a college of archpriors presided over by the Synarch.
troglodyte: A human being without higher brain functions either voluntarily for personal or religious reasons, or as the result of an accident.
Twelve Abominations: The twelve most grievous sins according to the Chantry’s Index. Legal privileges do not apply in such cases.
vate: Any preacher or holy man who is not formally a part of the Chantry clergy.
warden: Any member of the Chantry’s private armies used to defend holy sites from unwanted incursions and pillaging.
White Sword: A ceramic greatsword used by Chantry cathars for formal executions, especially of the nobility.
Writ: The Chantry’s legal and moral code, enforced by the Inquisition and the Index.
Your Reverence: Form of polite address for members of the Chantry clergy, particularly priors.