Christianity in Midgard

The Christian religion originated on the Isle of Morn around 3400. It's founders claimed to have brought the teachings of a God from another Universe.

The success of Christianity was also was also that of the Bright Empire, which within 350 years controlled both the Outer Sea coasts and much of the old Iscan Empire lands around the Inner Sea as well. Conversion was variable, with strongly entrenched religions resisting well whilst others were displaced.
In the Peninsula Northern Caran, Udnatz and Ibras were converted while Southern Caran, Semanet and Om have few Christians.
Caran has an Archbishop in Caranja with ten Bishops. The Patriach of Morn is still the supreme head of the Church though he has little practical authority outside the Empire.
Christianity is so unlike the normal religions of Midgard that the standard format cannot be used. The Christian God has never been seen and so cannot be analysed for Base, Flux or Attributes. Christian souls depart for a plane inaccessible to others and are not reincarnated.

Initiate

Anyone can be confirmed as a Christian Initiate by convincing a Priest of their sincerity and being baptised if they are not already. A donation of 20fl (more for obviously well-off people) is required.
Duties: as standard (p25). In addition Christian initiates may not expend their own MP voluntarily, for example by casting spells. The baptism ceremony erases all spell knowledge.
Benefits: Baptism gives an initiate +5 Defence on attacks against POW, eg in spirit combat, up to a maximum of 18.
Divine Intervention is possible.
Each year an initiate gains Read/Write Own Language x1, Ceremony x1, World Lore x1.
Voluntary Departure: an initiate who fails to tithe or attend church will not be given training or help by priests if known but is not otherwise affected. If he is in serious default he may have trouble obtaining Divine Intervention.
Sacrilege: breaking the magic ban or other offensive acts will immediately remove the baptism protection. Such a person can be detected by a priest. Rebaptism is possible, but some kind of penance is mandatory as per p25.
Excommunication: this can be performed by a Bishop but only revoked by an Archbishop or Patriach.
It is not possible to be a Christian and follow any other religion. Any attempt to do so is sacrilege. Other religions are regarded as 'magical' in origin, not necessarily works of the Devil but certainly misguided.

Novice

Novices normally begin at age 15. Initiates of at least one year’s good standing may also become novices.
Skills: Orate x4, Sing x3, Speak Own Language x1, Speak Latin x1, Speak Other Language x1, First Aid x2, Human Lore x1, Read/Write Own Language x2, Read/Write Latin x4, World Lore x1, Ceremony x4, Demonsense x4, Undeadsense x4.
Novices work for the church full time as servants, choiristers etc. After five years or sooner if desired a novice must choose to become a Monk or a Priest.

Monk

To become a Monk or Nun a Novice must have served for at least a year and be 18 or over. Monks live in ordered communities but may be sent on missions by their Abbot. A Monk may become an Abbot, who is a Priest, subject to the normal qualifications set out below.
Monks gain skills as per Novices but -1% in each case.

Priest

To become a Priest a Novice must be 21 or over, have served for at least a year, have Read Latin, Ceremony, Orate and both Senses at a minimum of 30%, and convince a Bishop of his sincerity.
Women cannot be Priests.
Benefits: A Priest has a permanent defence of 18 against attacks on his POW, unless his own POW is higher.
A Priest receives Ceremony x3, Read/Write x2 and Orate x2 as part of his service. Any other skill increases must be attempted in his spare time (five weeks per year).
A Priest can maintain PR levels (see below) and baptise.

Bishop

Bishops are appointed by an Archbishop or Patriach or a Bishop may appoint his successor when he retires or dies. To become a Bishop requires Ceremony, Read Latin and Orate at 50% minimum.
Only Bishops can normally consecrate or appoint Priests. They otherwise have the same duties and benefits as Priests.

Senses

These two skills use the Magic modifier and should be recorded in the Magic section but are 'of course' not spells. They are permanently 'on' and should be rolled for by the Gamesmaster. Range is 50m. If the roll is successful 'demons' (spirits) or the undead are known to be present. No direction is given, though the intensity will be a measure of the POW and nearness of the entities. The ability increases by experience, can be taught up to 75%, but cannot be researched.

Consecration

A Bishop may perform a ceremony of consecration using his Ceremony skill. In emergencies a Priest may also consecrate.
Consecration produces an 'anti-magic' resistance in an object or a Temple. The level of this POW resistance (PR) depends on the number of initiates present at the ceremony, Priests counting as x10 for this purpose. The formula is W² = 4*2^PR, where W is the number of worshippers. This comes out roughly at:
Site=10, Shrine=12, Minor=14, Major=16, Great=18.
A consecrated Church acts against all magic entering it at it's PR level.

chance of casting spells is reduced by PR*5.
resistance roll is required to regain MP.
Unnatural creatures (possessed, the undead, spirits) must make a resistance roll to enter.

To those on the spirit plane Churches seem shrouded in mist.
A Consecrated Church must be used to maintain it's PR. PR drops by 1 per month unless a proper service with the minimum number of worshippers takes place. A church that is less used than formerly can maintain PR at a lower level, but PR cannot be raised once lost without a fresh consecration ceremony.
Churches can be desecrated, removing PR.
A Consecrated Object (typically a cross) can be used by a Priest or favoured Initiate. A Ceremony roll must be made for the object to function. A functioning Object requires all 'unnatural' creatures within 50m to make resistance roll on POW vs PR. Failure means they cannot come any nearer to the object.
A fumble causes the creature to suffer a Disrupt.
PR of a consecrated object drops at 1 per month unless kept in a Church of equal or greater PR.
As for a Church, a consecrated object produces a fog on the spirit plane. Spell such as Second Sight cannot penetrate this fog without making a resistance roll, but otherwise it does not affect spell casting.

Since Midgard was originally a D&D world, it had Christianity as the default religion. Others were added ad hoc until with the RQ conversion some rationalisation was attempted.
Some things not known to Player Characters:
The founders were Arian Christians from 4th Century Earth I. Arians believed that Jesus was a man filled with the power of God.
The Midgard Gospel is a conflation of the three synoptic Gospels with the 'irrelevant' Earth references removed. No other parts of the Earth Bible are in circulation, though the 'Books of the Jews' exist in Latin the early fathers decided not to confuse converts by translating or using them. The message of Jesus is considered to be eternal and multiuniversal.
'Satanism' is probably a later import, generally involving the summoning of spirits.