Umbral Domains: DA Fae Gold Oath Pledge of Sanctity

Part of the reason I like this oath so much is that, aside from protecting the fae against religious echoes, it also enforces the natural order as a given religion's proponents believe it. Almost the perfect compromise in my humble opinion.

The Pledge of Sanctity

(Golden Oath, 5)

Humanists have long known that the strength of Echoes lies in the conviction of the human initiating them. In this regard the Echoes and echo-like effects produced by some religious adherents posed a particular quandary since they seem in some cases more forceful than Echos from secular sources. Within recent years a Constantinian sage of the Autumn Court discovered a text attributed to a Greek author around the early days of Christendom regarding this phenomena.

Studies of this text indicate a possible cause for these phenomena are the weight of some additional power actually wielded by a third-party on the human’s behalf. It was speculated that propitiation of said third-party should lead to the lifting of sanctions against the Fae individual involved. However, since contacting such a deific third-party was difficult or seemingly impossible, the Oath would have to be struck with a gathering of those devoted to the deity on that deity’s behalf.

Additional texts, retrieved at great peril from the archives of an ancient and Lost Firstborn suggest some vague similarity of structure between these deity-Fae Oaths and ancient Oaths sworn to the Fae’s lost progenitors.

Several religious sects and denominations have forged Oaths which might be considered a Golden Pledge of Sanctity so there is no one single Oath to that effect, but a general model for the pledge follows:

Members of this Oath Circle and their descendants must...

Protect disciples and proponents of this deity or pantheon whenever they are found and such is physically possible,

Obey the following code of conduct: (generally closely structured on a code stipulated for human practitioners of that denomination),

Undertake a periodic form of devotion or reflection regarding the deity in question (usually some form or prayer, meditation, sacrifice, or attendance of specific rituals (Mass, etc.)).

If members of this denomination...

Neither attack Fae adhering to this Oath, nor prevent the Fae from action while they are performing an action in accordance with the Oath’s dictate,

And do not seek to disempower or harm Fae who comply with this Oath through the use of religious sign, word, or ritual,

And members of this denomination will speak a prayer on behalf of Fae upholding this Oath when requested to do so.

Members of this Oath Circle fail their Oaths if...

I do not do my fullest to protect religious adherents,

Or deviate from the following code of conduct: (see code of conduct).

Or abstain from obligatory devotion to the deity(ies) which are the focus of this denomination.

You will fail the oath and suffer the consequences if...

You attack or prevent any Fae from acting in accordance with the dictates of your denomination.

(And sometimes) You refuse to speak prayers or make sacrifices on behalf of the Fae in question.

If the oath breaks from any action or inaction of an Oath Circle member or their one of their descendants that member’s punishment in shame is...

To lose all protection and sufferance afforded by the deity in question and again be susceptible to the prayers, rituals, and signs of this denomination as would any other Fae not beholden to the Oath,

To have all my powers fail against this deity’s adherents,

And to have all machinations against this denomination’s adherents and this deity’s works fail.

If the Oath breaks from action or inaction of a Human adherent, that person’s punishment in shame is to…

Lose all defense against any Fae powers, be they wielded by members of this Oath Circle or not.

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It is said the Pledge of Sanctity was first initiated by the Djinn Court in attendance of the mortal king Suliman (son of David) in deference to the Hebrew religious tradition, although something akin to a “proto-Pledge of Sanctity” is recorded allying certain Devas and Devi with an older Indran cult.

A more recent application of this pledge was among the Knights of St. Christopher, a religiously affiliated knightly order consisting of Constantinian Fae, mainly of Changeling Origins, and several different courts with the notable exception of Winter.

Other outcomes of this Oath are unknown, but the application with regard to these knights seems to indicate it provides protection against religious Echoes and removes the crippeling dangers associated other rituals (such as Baptism) pertaining to the particular denomination by whom the Oath is administered. Or at least appears to do so in most cases where the Fae striking the Oath is doing so without an eye to leveraging the Oath's conditions in his personal favor. In a few cases the taking of this Oath has failed catastrophically for no obvious reason.