Ochre Flame

The Ochre Flame is the state religion of the Republic of Carcola, a millenarian and authoritarian faith centered on volcanic symbolism and moral purification. It emerged from earlier, localized volcano cults in the Republic of Carcola, but was systematized by the cleric Lex Dorian, now known as the First Apostle of the faith. The Ochre Flame teaches that the world is declining to a state of hellishness because of human tampering with nature. Only through strict moral discipline, societal cleansing, and total obedience to divine hierarchy can a select few ascend spiritually to less painful realms after death, while the rest are guided downward to a lower hell in ordered suffering. Worship of other gods, especially Christopher Bale, is now banned in the Republic of Carcola, as is the practice of magic, which is viewed as unnatural and destabilizing to the world.

The faith is deeply entwined with Carcola’s political structure, controlling education, migration, and public morality, and has been since the Crisis of Vellingham led to slow desertification across the Carcolan continent, devastating the economy and destabilizing its society. The Transfer, Carcola’s large-scale population resettlement project, is justified through Ochre Flame doctrine as a form of collective penance and purification. Temples of the Flame act not only as places of worship but also as administrative centers, courts, and recruitment hubs for doctrinal enforcers.

Among the most feared agents of the Ochre Flame are the Seraphai, a militant, heavily ritualized order of warrior-priests clad in rust-red armor and adorned with winglike iconography. While not technically clergy, the Seraphai act as an independent holy order, enforcing doctrinal purity across land and sea, targeting heretics, mages, and dissidents. Often appearing aboard sacred ships or in militarized convoys, they blend zealotry with brutal efficiency. They have immense power within the Ochre Flame hierarchy, and are the only group within the Republic of Carcola that are legally allowed to practice magic. Their presence in the Lost Lands has been noted with increasing frequency, suggesting that the Ochre Flame sees the archipelago not just as a frontier, but as a battleground for spiritual conquest.