Editing The Sheltered Hand (section)

== The Creed ==

The Creed – more properly known as The Creed of Carran – are the primary Church within the Sheltered Hand. Individual gods have their own churches and centers of worship, yet almost all acknowledge the authority of the Creed of Carran.
 
The Creed takes its name from the agreement that Carran reached with the gods that they would not war against each other, an agreement which they have upheld. As none of the gods who were part of a pantheon were able to convince their entire pantheon to join Carran, the Gods within the Shield represent numerous cultures and belief structures, the Creed gives them all some stability and a framework within which they can work together.

The Creed do not worship any single God, rather they give reverence to the agreement – the Creed – which Carran made, and in general to the Gods for upholding the Creed.

To this end, they have amassed a great deal of temporal power. The various nations are allowed to function as they will, within their borders, saving only that they do not persecute any followers of the Creed, or of Gods who follow the Creed.

Any conflicts between nations are expected to be placed before the Creed for arbitration.

Most of those currently ruling the nations have been put into place by the Creed, either directly or by more subtle means.