Independent Churches of Sera

The Independent Churches of Sera were once a rejectionist sect of Sera's Perfekt Symmetry. Its doctrine emphasized hard work and effort as a route towards success and wealth, and rejected luck and fortune. Now it is a front organization for the White Hand of Kriestal. The organization's followers believe they follow the rigorous doctrine of faithful old Father Baen. In fact, the Ice Lady took control of the Independent Churches of Sera by murdering the prelates of the temples and re-animating them. Their doctrine of discipline and endurance now serves Kriesha.

Father Baen, a charismatic priest, led the temples of Sera in Starkhundt, Talhundt and Hoklep to break away from the "rudderless" church of Sera's Perfekt Symmetry.

He had always been a learned priest, and his reading of books about a teacher called Fitzalan from Talinie lead him to embrace Fitzalan's teachings on personal conduct as the true and most holy route to wealth and prosperity as offered by Sera. Over time he began to look on luck and fortune as an error in doctrine more likely to result in poverty than enrichment, and turned exclusively to encouraging work and effort. Principles of discipline and rigor began to fill his preaching and he gained a small following, though many more rejected his message.

Father Baan and his small community did prosper, and through hard work and discipline found wealth. They were devoted to Sera and Father Baen. While in general the stolid hard working approach of Father Baen's followers did not encourage the rapid business growth found elsewhere in Brechtur, it also avoided the frequent failures caused by reliance on fortune rather than careful planning, as a result the independent churches spread across the north of Danigau over the years.

Father Baen was the first victim of the Ice Lady's Altar of Ishtarron. He now serves her faithfully and strives to pervert the teachings he once whole-heartedly espoused. Now Father Bean not only teaches discipline and endurance of hard work, he has started to add elements of the creed of Kriesha. First he began by encouraging his faithful to make loans to those in need not outright charitable donations - by making loans they encouraged the petitioner to seek work and so benefit the community. Later he began discouraging excess and preaching a more austere code, despite the concerns of some of his laity this proved popular amongst many of the Danigers for the priests, eschewing ornament, came to be seen as incorruptible and strong of faith.

As the years went by Father Baen encouraged communities to shun those who did not work hard, trusted luck rather than judgment to see them through hard times, when advising businessmen he frowned upon the retention of inefficient staff who 'would be better seeking employ where they might truly contribute rather than endure in their failure until they undermined the business', at first applied only to businesses this tenet has begun to be applied to the entire community, with wastrels hounded out of some small villagers before they led youths astray.

Father Baen has added more and more teaching about the virtue in enduring all manner of hardships, especially the winters of the Western Reaches. He goes on endlessly about how Sera's people inhabit the icy Krakennauricht and she not only rewards them for their hard work, but sends the winter to winnow out the weak that the faithful Brecht might be untroubled by such weak individuals, accordingly he and his priests now praise their faithful for their dutiful endurance of the cold. Many of his followers now look forward to the cold, and the new rituals Father Baan has introduced to welcome and celebrate the winter such as the practice of swimming in icy waters, carving sculptures from ice and snow, sled races, skiing competitions and so on.