Ardalite Church

Ardalite Church
Ardalite Kurche
St. Arda's Cathedral in Moosehausen
Classification	Beoin
Scripture	Diash Warheit Evangelium
Diocese	10
Parish	1234
Region	Lunderfrau
Language	lunder
Headquarters	St. Arda's Cathedral, Moosehausen
Founder	St. Arda of Moosehausen
Origin	947 CE Moosehausen, Lunderfrau
Members	47,567,923

The Ardalite Church, is a Beonin sect that origionated in the Matriarchy of Lunderfrau in the mid 900s following the arrival of Beonin missionaries from Winst 100 years prior.

Unlike the majority of Beonin sects, The Ardalite Church or Ardalism, believes that Beo was actually a women named Theo. It follows the primary teachings of Beo/Theo found in the Diash but also adheres to book of writings known as the Warheit Evangelium or "Gospel Truth", written by the Churh's founder and Namesake St. Arda of Moosehausen.

History

Beonin Missoinaries first began to appear in Lunderfrau in the early 800s from what is today modern day Winst. These early missionaries struggled to spread the faith in Lunderfrau, with many Lunders rejecting Beonin for a wide variety of reasons. The most popular reasons being; The popularity of the Lunder Pagan Religion and its Pantheon of God's and the lack of interest of Lunders to following a "Male Centric Religion" in their eyes. Regardless, small communities of Beonin worshippers began to pop up across the region, with many Lunder men showing interest in the religion.

The Ardalite church was founded over a century after these first missionaries arrived. Arda, a young adherent of Beonin living in the City of Moosehausen, took a deep interest in the faith and through much study, came across the Hephsat compromise, which suggested that there had been two Anidena Magi in the form of Beo & Theo. Taking this information, Arda wrote her thesis on "Theonin" in 947 at 36 and called it the Warheit Evangelium. With the Warheit Evangelium making major changes to the religion of Beonin to make it palatable to Lunders, Arda quickly spread her "Ardalism" to the masses.

Unlike the Beonin Missoinaries, Arda had little resistance to her new religion as she spread it across the various Counties and Duchies that made up the Lunder people. Eventually, those that followed her would become known as her Ardalites. Her travels would take her all across Lunderfrau, annointing many of her followers as "HohePriesterin" or High Priestesses along the way. Arda would eventually pass on in 975 in the swamps of Sudland, supposedly on her way to Boaga to attempt conversions of their people. She selected Luitberga, High Priestess of the Diocese of Hinterwalder, to be her successor.

The First Hohe Konigin

The Death of Arda in 975 left the fledgling Ardalite Church in the hands of Luitberga. Luitberga quickly moved to develop a stringent system to both govern and administer the new religion. She established the City of Moosehausen as the administrative center of the church and from which she would rule as the "Hohe Konigin" or High Magi. Many of Luitberga's decisions still carry weight today, as she established the formation of Dioceses and began the Canonization process of Arda along with the origional 4 Magi to follow Theo. In addition she expanded on the Warheit Evangelium, establishing strict rules for Ardalite Religous heads, such as enforced celibacy and the exclusion of men from major church roles outside of Monastic duties.

In addition to ironing out the Church's administration, she also turned the Church's attention towards the political arena. While Arda had mostly stayed at arms lengths from the Countesses, Duchesses and Minor Queens that controlled the various cities of Lunderfrau, Luitberga saw the Church as a potential political unifier. Using her authority as the High Magi, she give or retract her blessing to rulers across Lunderfrau and issue "Crusades" against those she deemed to have commited sins against Theo or against the Church. These crusades had mixed results, with her greatest success being the ouster of the Pagan adherent Holstein family from the Duchy of Hinterwalder in favor of the Theo adherent Stein Family, who would retain control of the duchy for over a millenia til a failed coup attempt in 2020 CE.

The Matriarchy Takes Over

The Church's attempts at Queen making would come to a head in the 1384 with the Unification War. The Two major Powers of Lunderfrau, the Duchy of Eiswasser and the Duchy of Hinterwalder, duked it out for the "fate of all lunders". The Church had placed its faith in Duchess Lucinda Stein of Hinterwalder, shunning the Maritime and trade focused Duchess Kristina Wulf of Eiswasser. The backing of Stien and Hinterwalder would be a major blunder for the church, as Duchess Kristina ultimately defeated and routed Lucinda's army at the Battle of Berlin Heights in 1411. Thankfully for the church, High Magi Andrea II was an adept politician and quickly sent missives congratulating Duchess Kristina of her victory and inviting her to Moosehausen to receive her blessing. Ultimately, Kristina accepted the High Magi's offer and marched a victory procession to Moosehausen. Upon her arrival in 1412, the High Magi offered Kristina her blessing and crowned her "Queen of the Lunders". The Kaiserin and the Matriarchy of Lunderfrau had been born.

The Matriarchy would allow the Church considerable Autonomy until 1660, when Theodora III declared herself the supreme head of the Ardalite Church and initiated reforms, cheif among these was the reduction of 100 dioces down to 10, mirroring the 10 Duchies of Lunderfrau. In addition, the Matriarchy was given the right to interfere in church affairs and personally appoint leaders within it.

Post Olympic War-Present

The Church has been in a state of decline since the end of the Olympic War, at the end of the conflict over 95% of Lunders identified with the church in some way. As of 2020 that number has dwindled to 85%. Weekly Church attendance has dropped feircly as well, with less than 30% of Ardalites saying they attended weekly Mass versus 92% that did in 1950. There are multiple theories to why the Church is in decline, many beleive the Church's stance on Birth Control, Abortion, Same Sex Marriage, Interacial Marriage, Male Clergy and Science denial have made the Church less appealing with younger Lunderfrausians. Other's have sugested the State supplanting the Church as the primary distributor of Welfare and social safety nets in Lunderfrau after the Olympic War has lead to a decline in worshippers. A small group of individuals have also suggested that the decline in Ardalites is a direct result of the Space Antelope, a Conspiracy involving a Antelope from Space stealing the planets cold water. The decline has only been furthered by the recent declaration from Kaiserin Elise von Strauss abdicating her role as head of Church after coming out as gay in April of 2020.