Priestess of Castle D'ior - Part 03

Ursa Blacksong - Winter of 113 YSTR
Castle D’oir - Winterlunde

…

The change of season from autumn to winter went, for the most part, unnoticed save perhaps for the fact that the snowfall was now almost a constant thing rather than something that seemingly came and went of its own accord.

It had been just over a month since Ursa had assumed her duties as the priestess of Castle D’ior and the Sanctuary Chapel and life seemingly for the most part continued forward much as it had before.

It had taken a while but Ursa adjusted to her new role as a priestess of the temple surprisingly enough without any real issues. Assuming those day-to-day tasks and admittedly finding the whole affair rather relaxing compared to her life before.

…

As priestess of the temple, Ursa’s daily life wasn’t all that demanding of her time to be honest.

She awoke everyday before sunrise and conducted the morning blessings and prayers within the sanctuary followed after by a meeting with the Duchesses ladies-in-waiting to learn the Duchess daily schedule and to take note if there was any appointment that she would be expected to attend.

From there Ursa would turn her attention to the correspondence that had started to accumulate on her desk shortly after her appointment had been officially announced. The majority not all that interesting really though all of them seemingly demanded a response of one kind or another.

Thus from breakfast until lunch her mornings would be spent in her office attending to paperwork or on more exciting days addressing the needs of whomever might make an unannounced appearance as accidents and injuries were not all that uncommon it seemed.

Lunchtime, often enough, was spent in the company of the Duchess with Ursa listening to her concerns and providing what counsel she could if the Duchess requested her opinion on one topic or another.

Afternoons were spent performing research or studying as time allowed though interruptions, like those in the morning hours, were not all that uncommon.
It was just an hour or two before the evening meal that Ursa got some physical training and sword practice in for the day before finally having dinner and returning to the Sanctuary Chapel to address the evening blessings and prayers before spending an hour perhaps two providing counsel for all those that sought her out at that time.

From there Ursa would study or meditate barring her being needed elsewhere before finally calling it a day and returning to her chambers for the evening.

…

It was in the late afternoon that day that Ursa chanced upon a written account of the “Trials of Succession” as recorded by the former High Priest in his private journals.

The account of the event as recorded by the elder priest describing the trails in great detail. Illustrating that they were not simply some random series of tests chosen at random by the council of elders but rather an established and well documented set of tasks that the prospective High Priest or Priestess was required to perform in order to be recognized as worthy to assume the position.

“The Trail of the Seven Miracles' ' was the first trial set to take place on the first day of the new year where-in each of the prospective candidates were subject to a series of tests over a seven day period.

The first day would consist of an official introduction of the candidates followed by an individual interview followed by an oral examination covering such subjects as Philosophy, Theology, Medicine, Magical Theory, Math, and History.

The second and third days would consist of a set of written examinations to further determine the candidates education and deeper understanding of the material.
The fourth day would be spent addressing basic temple etiquette, covering the candidates knowledge of temple rituals, cannon rites, and traditional blessings and prayers.

The fifth day was known as the day of healing where-in the candidates would spend the day administering to the sick and unwell in full view of the public.

The sixth day it seemed was one of meditation and prayer allowing the candidate to prepare for the events of the seventh and final day. It was on this day that the candidates' access to divine magics would be tested in a public setting.

Traditionally each candidate was required to perform a series of seven tasks or “The Seven Miracles” for which the event was named. Basically a test of the individual’s ability to cast divine spells. Basic spells like Holy Light, Creation of Water, Detection of Poison, Detection of Magic, being the most common.

It was the last two “Miracles” that would prove to be more of a challenge with the candidate being required to perform A Divination followed by a spell of the candidates choosing. The prior High Priest recording that historically the act of summoning some great beast or monster tending to be the most popular.

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