Gods and church branches - overview

The Raven Book

Think of the possibilities, if I had the Raven Book. Every person who ever died, and why? I am pretty sure there is a lot of money to be earned there.

Jack, sometime, somewhere. 

According to lore, the Raven Book is an gigantic and infinite book, made of black marble covers with pages of bone and ink of souls. It is supposedly located in the heart of the Mausoleum of Death, where the Raven Queen resides, always guarded by twelve angels of death, fallen angels sworn to the Raven Queen.

The book, an artifact from the dawn of time, is claimed to speak the secrets of all the other gods, as well as the names of all creatures who have died on Gemnos and why they have died. On the last page, the true name of the Raven Queen is written.

The War of Opposition

The War of Opposition? Sure, I remember that. Fun times. A pity it was stopped so soon. I had a brilliant plan, just waiting for the right moment. But Eletha wants what Eletha wants. And what she wants, she gets. Always. 

The War of Opposition is a holy war between the church of Bahamut and the church of Bane, which lasted from 5779 to 5784.

To this day, it is still unclear, at least to those outside the two churches, what precipitated the war. Most sages think that it was something that happened elsewhere, in another part of the world, or perhaps in Heaven or Hell, that forced the hand of the churches. Contrary to popular opinion, it was actually Bahamut that officially instigated the war, declaring holy war against Bane.

For two years, the "war" was kept out of the cities and limited to fairly small skirmishes. Quite a few died, but only devout followers of the two churches. The situation in the Seven Army Nation was tense, but not untenable.

However that changed in 5781, and the first big - and perhaps the greatest - casualty of the war was the Temple of Bane in Ironville. For years, both gods had dominated the city life. Since the war had been announced, Ironville had been split down the middle, literally, until the church of Bahamut broke the deadlock. For months, they smuggled loyal soldiers and mercenaries into Ironville, in very small group so that no one would notice. When they had enough men, they attacked the temple of Bane. The temple, which had stood since before the Second Demon War, was sacked and all the Bane clerics were executed on the temple grounds.

From there, the war spread and swept through the Seven Army Nation. Old allies suddenly found themselves on opposite sides of the war, and the warlords were incapable of stopping the churches.

At some point, the war ceased to be about Bahamut and Bane, at least for the common man. It became an ideological fight of good vs evil, as more and more began to take sides.

Fast forwards to the end, in 5784. The Seven Army Nation was on the brink of complete and total war, the fragile alliance buckling beneath the pressure for the warlords to declare for one of the two churches.

Out of her wood came Eletha Moonray once again, this time to meet with the two high priests and a last attempt to stop the war. They met in Ironville, in the ruins of the Bane temple. Details of the meeting are sketchy, but the result is not. The war was stopped, documents were signed and sealed and a lot of gold changed hands between the churches. Also several temples were destroyed and consequently a lot of followers had to move their home. This is why no city or town in the Seven Army Nation holds both a church of Bane and Bahamut. Whether it was a demand of Eletha or some elaborate part of the deal struck, not many know for sure.

Day of Mating

If you think that the nobility shies away from Day of Mating, you better think again. While it officially is a day for us common folks, I have heard and read many stories of men and women of noble birth who hide behind a mask and join us commoners in celebration of life. Then again, I have also heard stories of how some nobles hold their own celebrations, in their mansions, behind closed doors. But they seem to do it a bit differently, them nobles. I once heard a tale of a duchess in Ironville, whose name does not bear repeating, being passed around at court, from the Warlord to the lowest of the 100 nobles.

Day of Mating is one of five nation-wide holy days observed and celebrated by most civilized races on Gemnos.

On the 37th day of summer, cities, towns and villages of Gemnos launch themselves into debauchery.

The tradition is thousands of years old, and probably started as a sort of worship of the Twins, but if it was religion, it has long changed into something more primal, something more primitive. It has become a celebration of life, a tribute to being alive and preserving the race.

On the Day of Mating, all shops are closed, no one works the fields. The streets and markets are filled with tables, booths and fires. Musicians fill the streets with music and the entire day is spent preparing the feast, which is never less than 16 courses.

Everybody who participates are solely clad in half-masks and loin-cloths. As the sun sets, the feasting begins. The eating, drinking and dancing continues all the way until midnight, when the choosing begins. This is usually marked by ringing all bell-towers in town. The rules are simple. Man may not lay with wife. Names are forbidden and women always choose the men.

Quickly the town turns into an orgy of enormous proportions. Everywhere you look, people are coupling with each other, regaining strength for the next coupling or waiting to be chosen. This goes on all night, and at dawn, everybody goes home. Needless to say, the 1st day of the second cycle of summer is usually a slow day.

High Imprecator Julius Maccra

You say the Magna Maccra has too many laws? My Lord, allow me to disagrees. For example, there is no law against saying such a thing, which, now that I think about it, there ought to be. I mean, speaking ill of this masterpiece will surely not encourage others to follow it to the letter, aye? And not following the Magna Maccra to the letter is going against Torm's will, aye? And what happens to those that defy the gods? 

High Imprecator Julius Maccra 

Before the Second Demon War, before it was called the Cursed Lands, the continent was dominated by the Empire, later called the Fallen Empire during and right after the Second Demon War. Officially the Empire was ruled by it's emperors, but in reality, it was ruled by a series of High Imprecators, the most famous of which is High Imprecator Julius Maccra.

Born as noble, High Imprecator Julius Maccra made a rapid rise to fame and power within the church of Torm. But it became soon apparent that the traditional teaching of Torm did not fit him well. He founded the Crusaders of the Silent God, a fraction within the church that believed not only in order, but also in the necessity to spread the order aggressively to neighbor nations. They believed they were destined to bring order to the entirety of Gemnos and that those who opposed them were not fit to rule, nor have a say in how they were ruled.

Under his guidance, the Crusaders of the Silent God prospered and so did the Empire. Neighbor nations fell to the imperial armies and the word of Torm was spread. High Imprecator Julius Maccra soon became the most trusted advisor of the Emperor and for almost 40 years, he was the de facto ruler of the Empire.

While High Imprecator Julius Maccra was aggressive when it came to spreading the word of Torm and bring order and justice to all nations, he was still a visionary man. The Empire became a good place to live, food was plentiful and crime was almost eradicated at some point. A free man of the Empire could walk almost anywhere unharmed, as other nations knew that the Empires retribution would be swift and hard, should any one of their citizens be subject to attack.

It was also a period of time where libraries and other places of learning were built by the hundreds. Aqueducts sprung up all over in the Empire, making sure there was water for all. In general you could say that High Imprecator Julius Maccra used the considerable wealth of the Empire to improve the lives of all. All those who followed the laws, that is.

It was also a time that saw the Magna Maccra created, the greatest tome of law man has ever written.  While some might think there were too many laws, one can not read the Magna Maccra and not be impressed. The laws were simple and to the point. They were easy to understand and so was the punishment should you break the law. Torms word (or at least as the Crusaders interpreted it), written by High Imprecator Julius Maccra, had become law.

The Death Dancers

The Death Dancers? What a quaint notion. You do realize that no such organization has never existed within our church, right? Those are just lies spread by other divine agents. Probably by the church of Torax. I can assure you that our Dark Lady needs no mortals to get her souls. She just takes them, if it is their time.

 - High Raven Hrolar, Starkhold

The Death Dancers are an ultra-secret, outlawed branch of the church of the Raven Queen. Following a version of reality that none other are privy to, the Dancers see themselves as the prolonged arm of the Dark Queen, bringing death to those that deserve it, those that should have died. At least, that is according to themselves. Or rumors. Some perceive them as nothing more than very expensive and effective assassins for hire.

Either way, the Death Dancers, said to be cloaked in black and wearing raven and gold masks, allegedly leave no one alive who sees them. The magically-trained orphans raised by the church of the Raven Queen strike at night, in the dark, with their silver daggers and never leave any clues.They do leave behind a black raven feather whenever they kill.

The Black Mass

It's kinda ironic - or frightening perhaps. Despite the fact that Kranak was the head of a church that kidnapped thousands of people and tried to turn them into undead, despite all the vile things he did against our fair city, he will always be known as the father of Krakas the Dark.

 -José Stark, year 5846

The priests of the Raven Queen were for a very long time exclusively run by women. Around 5310, that changed and the Black Kings were formed. A male-only fraction of the church, which through the years grew to power, a in some parts of Gemnos even managed to wrestle control from the women.

The Black Kings were focused, nay obsessed with the death aspect of the Raven Queen. Only through death could you truly understand the Dark Queen, only through death could real power be gained. In fact, all members of the fraction had to die before joining. Not for long, obviously, because it resurrection was not the way to come back, nor was undeath. No, you had to die, just for a minute or two, then be brought back through the will of another priest, if you wanted to join.

At first viewed with some distrust by the general population, the Black Kings soon found themselves admired. Dying for their faith, only to come back, even stronger. Now that was something even the common folk could admire, and in some areas of Gemnos, the Black Kings flourished.

After the Second Demon War, when people returned and built what is now Starhold, the Black Kings had a huge part in the rebuilding and their power in Starkhold grew. Come 5750, it was a forced to be recognized.

High Priest Kranak took office and was not only running the church, but also a close advisor of the Starks.

However, unbeknownst to everybody outside the church, the Black Kings had begun to push the teachings of the Raven Queen in another direction. Obsessed with death and power, the clergy had begun experimenting on live victims to create intelligent and obedient undead. They thought they could find a way to create an unbeatable army and conquer the Seven Army Nations. For years, literally thousands of people disappeared and were experimented upon, and had the experiments been allowed to go on, surely the Black Kings would have been able to complete and perfect their necromantic ritual.

Unluckily for them, someone in the dark of things decided to spill the beans and the Starks were told what their close allies were doing in the dark dungeons of their temples.

High priest Kranak and all other Black Kings were brought to justice in Starkhold and had their heads chopped up, while (allegedly) the Death Dancers of the Dark Queen brought swift justice to all other followers of the Black Kings. In a few weeks during 5797, the Black Kings, along with their temples, were no more.

Of course, as everyone knows now, Kranak left behind a son, Krakas, who would soon grow to be even more infamous than his father.

The Saints of Heaven

If any mortals had actually met an arch-angel while they were still alive, and spent some time with him, they wouldn't be so quick to bow down and idolize them. The angels might represent the virtues, all the goody stuff, but embody them, they sure don't. Cold and distant characterize them much better than kind and helpful.

 -Asmodeus, allegedly

The common perception is that the Saints of Heaven are the arch-angels that run Heaven for Bahamut. Each is associated with some virtues, each have a specific role in Heaven.

Saint Michael the Arch-angel
Chastity, knowledge, honesty and wisdom
Also called Heaven's General. Commonly seen as the most powerful of the angels, and the right hand of Bahamut. In some areas of Gemnos, he is more widely worshipped than the gods. According to lore, Michael is the leader of the armies of angels. While angels rarely ever fight battles as us humans understand it, he is the strategist behind every move and plan they hatch.

Saint Gabriel the Arch-angel
Temperance, justice, honor, self control
Commonly named the Judge but also the Merchant - Gabriel is the one in charge of bargaining for the souls that go to Heaven. He is the final arbiter whether Heaven will haggle for your soul or not. Quite a few pay at least lip service to him just for that. Gabriel is therefore mostly found in the Underworld,  although he leaves most of the haggling with the infernal opposites to angelic delegates.

Saint Raphael the Arch-angel:
Humility, bravery, modesty
Saint Raphael the Protector, as the name implies, is the angel in charge of the security of Heaven, or in other words, he protects the gates of Heaven. It is said he knows everything that goes on everywhere in Heaven. No one can sneak in, no one can do anything without Raphael knowing about it. Whether he acts on it, only Bahamut knows.

Saint Azrael the Arch-angel
Peace, mercy, suffering
Nicknamed the Angel of Death, Azrael's job description is much less sinister than the name would imply. Once Gabriel has won a soul, Azrael is the one to come get it, or at least he is in charge of the someone coming to get it. Seeing Azrael while alive is considered one of the greatest things for worshippers of Bahamut, as it indicates that their faith has been so strong that they are skipping the Underworld part of their transcendence and move directly to being reborn in Heaven. Some souls are just not worth haggling over.

Saint Uriel the Arch-angel
Charity, benevolence, generosity, sacrifice
After Michael and Gabriel, Uriel is the arch-angel with the largest following. Called the Teacher, because, according to the Writings of Bahamut, he walks the earth, at the behest of Bahamut, teaching mortals the word of Bahamut, the only sure way to end up in Heaven. There are literally thousands of stories about the travels of Saint Uriel, and he alone is the reason why very few Bahamut worshipers will turn away a wayward soul in need of shelter or food. Because it just might be Saint Uriel in disguise.

Saint Lucifer the Arch-angel
Kindness, satisfaction, loyalty, compassion
Saint Lucifer is the Caretaker. Once souls arrive in Heaven, they need some looking after, someone to  show them the ropes of immortality and eternity. That's Lucifer. Seen as the embodiment of all that is good, Lucifer is none the less surrounded by a lot of controversy. Some lore seems to suggest that Saint Lucifer hasn't always been angel, but instead he was born a devil. However, thousands of years ago, something happened after a chance encounter between Lucifer and Bahamut, and the devil changed his ways so much, that Bahamut elevated him to arch-angel. Of course, that is probably neither accurate nor the whole story, but that is what some mortals claim.

Saint Amesha the Arch-angel
Diligence, Persistence, effort, ethics
Saint Amesha, the only angel portrayed as a female, is most often called the Messenger. Not much is known about her place, other than she seems to run communications between Bahamut and the other arch-angels, and even sometimes, between Bahamut and the mortals. Some sages believe her to be nothing more than a glorified messenger-girl, others call her the true right hand of Bahamut, since everything he wills go through her, whether it be instructions to the angels or guidelines to his church.

The Lords of Hell

It's amusing how all mortals assume the gods were here first. They weren't. Hell is much, much older than the gods. They might be the most powerful beings at the moment, but nothing but Hell is eternal. Then again, maybe they aren't the most powerful beings around. Maybe that it just something they need to believe....

- Asmodeus, somewhere in Hell

Hell, while ruled by Bane, is run by the seven Lords of Hell and their infinite hordes of demons and devils. For thousands of years, they have warred on the angels of Heaven and against each other. The seven Lords are:

Baphomet
Symbol: Bull's head with flaming red eyes

Portfolio: Savagery

Also called the Prince of Beasts, Baphomet is a demon with the the appearance of a huge humanoid with a bull's head, a bovine tail, and broad, stubby hands and feet. Baphomet's rippled body is covered with coarse charcoal black hair. His horns curves downward and outward and are at all times surrounded by hellfire. He wields a giant spiked warhammer called the Worldcrusher. It is said that his spit and drool is unholy water. Amongst the Lords of Hell, Baphomet is often considered the dumbest, the most simplistic. The brute with no subtlety. He is also the guardian of Hell, both entrance and exit. Baphomet's Hell is a huge maze full of roaming demons of all kind.

Asmodeus

Symbol: A red-black upside-down pentagram
Portfolio: Lies

Asmodeus is descibed as the strongest, most cunning, and most beautiful of all devils. He usually appears as a huge human. He has lustrous dark skin and black hair, handsome yet deadly. His crimson eyes gleam with infernal power, a pair of small sharp horns crown his forehead. He dresses in regal finery of red and black robes studded with black diamonds and fiery rubies of incalculable expense.  Beneath his clothing, Asmodeus's body is covered in bloody wounds. His wounds oozes blood daily, and the drops of his blood which touch the ground in Hell is said to grow new powerful devils and demons. Whether in battle or on his throne, Asmodeus is rarely far from his famed Ruby Rod, said to hold the souls of an arch-angel. If Asmodeus is not the leader of the Lords of Hell, but he is certainly the first amongst equals and most assuredly the brains behind most of the greater schemes the Lords come up with. Asmodeus’s machinations are long in the making, and they might take centuries, if not millennia, to see resolution. He works on a grand scale, carefully constructing insidious and inexplicable intrigues, maneuvering the forces of wickedness like chess pieces on a board that encompasses all of Gemnos and the rest of the planes. Asmodeus' Hell is an infinite castle where backroom dealings and backstabbings are on the order of business.

Orcus

Symbol: Mace with human skull as head
Portfolio: Decay

Orcus is typically described as having the head and legs of a goat, although with ram-like horns, a bloated body, bat-like wings, and a long tail. Orcus cares for nothing save himself - not even his devotees and undead servants - and focuses only on spreading misery and evil. One of his most identifiable symbols is the artifact, the wand of Orcus, a skull-topped mace with the power to slay any living being. Orcus' Hell is a giant graveyard filled with ruined temples and broken mausoleums.

Demogorgon

Symbol: A serpentine forked tail, wrapped around a skull.
Portfolio: Insanity

The huge demon towers above everyone else. His body at once sinuous like that of a snake and powerful like that of a great ape. Two baleful baboon heads leer from atop his lumbering shoulders, from which writhe two long tentacles. His lower torso is saurian, like some great reptile with an immense forked tail.

Demogorgon not only spreads insanity, he is insane. He is said to believe that he is destined to rule all of Gemnos, due to the twin connection
Demogorgon's hell is a vast tropical jungle that exists under a constant cacophony of sounds from animals that do not exist and a fog so thick that you can cut it. In the depth is his twin towers of madness.

Grazz't 

Symbol: A black six-fingered hand
Portfolio: Lust

One of the smallest of the Lords of Hell, Graz'zt appears as a lithe, muscular humanoid, although still much larger than normal humans. His skin shines like polished obsidian, and his eyes glitter with malevolent green light. He has yellowed fangs, pointed ears, and six slender fingers decorating each hand. He is sometimes described as having six small black horns half-hidden amid his thick black hair. As Asmodeus, he can almost be considered beautiful. and he also dresses in some of the most expensive and elegant finery on the entire plane.

Wielding an acid-drenched greatsword in one hand and a profane shield in the other, Graz'zt, also called the Dark Prince is a veritable killing machine, but also a true and extremely intelligent war commander. When Graz'zt isn't fighting the angels, he spends time in his own personal hell. Graz'zt's hell is a harem of never-ending pleasure and pain.

Lolth

Symbol: An eight-pointed metal star, with the points connected by intricate webbing
Portfolio: Murder

In drow form, Lolth, sometimes called the Spider Queen, appears as an "exquisitely beautiful" female dark elf, sometimes covered in clinging spiders. In her arachnid form, Lolth takes the appearance of a giant black widow spider with the head of a female drow or human peering from between the eight spider-eyes. Sometimes, the two foremost pair of her spider-legs are actually humanoid arms.

Lolth is the assassin of the Lords, the one that dwells and strikes in the darkness. Her hell is a plain of rocks with chasms and rocky gorges. It is full of many pits and craters. The land appears dead and covered in pitchblack darkness. If you could see in the darkness, you would see that there are giant petrified spiders with webbing found everywhere..

Yeenoghu 

Symbol: A triple-headed flail
Portfolio: Torture

Yeenoghu combines the worst features of a gnoll and demon in one immense form. His body is huge, gaunt and lanky, and patches of yellow fur stained with brown spots cover him. Leprous gray skin and suppurating wounds mar his body, revealing the corruption of his flesh and spirit. His head is a large, anthropomorphic hyena’s, with glowing red eyes and a toothy maw from which spills strings of drool. He is often depicted wielding a three-headed flail.

Once souls arrive in Hell, they are tortured. While any devil or demon can torture, most that do answer to Yeenoghu.

Bel

Symbol: A chest of bloody coins.
Portfolio: Greed

Crimson scales cover this large fiend, from its bestial head to its clawed toes. From its back spread great bat-like wings. Foul green venom drips from its teeth, sending up streams of smoke wherever it falls. Cinched around its waist is a belt of a dozen shrieking angel heads, their necks neatly severed by the massive flaming sword the creature holds in his clawed fist. Not much else is known about this Lord of Hell. Some sages speculate that he has only gotten his title recently, while other surmise that he is just that good at keeping mortals in the dark about his machinations.

Mephistopheles

Symbol: A cross(road)
Portfolio: Corruption

This diabolical fiend is huge, has crimson skin, with handsome yet diabolical features that include a set of massive red leathery wings, curling horns, his eyes are white with red irises and pupils, and long, straight black hair. He has huge muscles that befit his great strength, and his speech is whispering wind. His wings, horns, and talons are deep red and his scales are sooty black. Swathed in a flowing black cape, he is the vision of evil. While all the Lords benefit to some degree from the souls that end up in Hell, Mephistopheles is the one that control the demons and devils that do nothing but corrupt the mortals of Gemnos. Some say that while most deals are struck through intermediates, sometimes Mephistopheles himself show up to close the deal.

Temple Law

Temple Law (also called Divine Law) is a universal law stating that temples, or churches if you will, are sovereign ground, and can afford sanctuary to fugitives from the law, if the highest ranking priest of the church wishes so.

In other words. If you are a criminal and being pursued by the authorities, once you are on temple grounds, you can not be forced to leave by anyone but the highest ranking priest. Guards, soldiers or others will not breach the sanctity and drag you out from the church grounds.

And the law, because it is perceived as divine, extends to more than the authorities. Typically no members of civilized races and nations will break Temple Law, simply because everyone knows that the gods are real, and only a fool will piss off a god or a goddess.

The law also states that drawing blood (as in using violence, whether it be with sword, hammer or magic) inside a consecrated church is really a bad idea. You might not get stricken by a thunderbolt from Heaven, but it is universally believed that, you will suffer from the decision. Depending on which church it is, the retaliation can come in a wide variety of forms, but usually it relates to the one of the spheres of influence of the god in question.

Cosmology by religion

Depending on who you worship, the church will have very different takes on how the world looks.

The churches of the new religion
While there are obviously a difference between the churches of Bane, Bahamut and Cyric, they do however agree on a few things.

The primal spirits, the Twins, Nira and Torax, the Fourteen. While surely gods, and there well before the three new gods, they have been diminishing in power for long and are thus no longer a real influence to the world. People who keep worshiping them are merely prolonging the suffering of their death. These godlings hide in the Faerie World, far away from the influence of the real gods, who wage war against each other in the Elemental Chaos (Bahamut and Bane does at least).

Bahamut, along with his seven archangels, called the Saints of Heaven, rule Heaven, collecting souls of good creatures when they die.

Bane on the other hand, rules Hell with an iron fist. He has nine Lords of Hell, nine demon princes to help him keep the souls of all evil creatures in line.

Cyric sits in the Underworld and collects the souls of those who are neither good nor evil.

The Elemental Chaos, the Astral Sea etc are battlegrounds for the eternal war between angels and demons, between Bane and Bahamut.

The church of the Twins
The Twins are everything. They are Gemnos. They are the only god. They are the world. They do not sit in mortal guise somewhere on an outer plane. They are the outer planes too.

Likewise, the Twins do not fight for souls, and the souls do not go anywhere when their mortal shell dies. Instead they return to Gemnos and people are reborn. Perhaps as another creature altogether.

The church of the Moon and the Sun
The churches of Nira and Torax claim that Nira is the sun, Torax is the moon. They circle Gemnos, perfectly shaped as them. They are the duality aspect of all in Gemnos and when you die, you go rejoin whichever of them you worship.

To followers of the Twins and of Nira and Torax, Gemnos is the world. The Faerie is a magical land from which creation stems, the Underworld is where souls go before they are reabsorbed into Gemnos (or into the sun and moon), and Heaven, Hell, The Elemental Chaos etc are outer planes filled with monsters.

The churches of the Fourteen
The fourteen churches all agree that their parents and grand-parents live somewhere deep in the Faerie. Themselves live in each their own place, their own plane. Souls of their worshipers go there when they die. In parenthesis is included the name of the plane, according to the cosmology of the new religion, at least as far as sages can deduce.

Mask - The Guildhall of Deceit (The Underworld)
The Raven Queen - Mausoleum of Death (The Underworld)
Shar - The Pit of Darkness (The Underworld)

Pelor - Temple of Life (Heaven)
Torm - Halls of Justice (Heaven)
Lathander - Forge of Eternal Light (Heaven)

Mystra - Tower of Sorcery (The Faerie)

Auril - Castle Everfrost (The Elemental Chaos)
Kossuth - Palace of Fire (The Elemental Chaos)
Tempus - Citadel of War (The Elemental Chaos)
Umberlee - Ship of Chaos (The Elemental Chaos)

Erathis - Pillars of Order (Astral Sea)

Just as the new gods, they all collect souls. But instead of spending the souls on creating armies angels and demons to wage an eternal war, they simply absorb them and empower themselves. Just like the church of the Twins and the churches of the Sun and the Moon, the churches of the Fourteen see the traditional (according to the new religion) outer planes as a place filled with monsters, except for the areas under their control.

Religions on Gemnos

There are two distinct religions on Gemnos. Two pantheons if you will.

One pantheon is comprised of Cyric, Bane and Bahamut, along with their angels and demons. It is called the new pantheon. The other pantheon is comprised of the Twins and all their aspects, or children depending on which of the several branches of the church you lean towards. It is called the old pantheon.

The new pantheon
There are three gods. One good (Bahamut), one evil (Bane) and one neutral (Cyric). Each god is all-powerful and claims absolute dominion over their outer-planar domain. Bahamut rules Heaven, Bane rules Hell and Cyric rules the Underworld.

They are called the new pantheon or the new gods, simply because worship of Bane, Cyric and Bahamut started much later than worship of the Twins.

All three gods and churches acknowledge the Twins, Nira, Torax, Mask, Torm, Mystra, Tempus, Umberlee, Erathis, The Raven Queen, Pelor, Auril, Kossuth, Shar and Lathander as gods although they are barely acknowledged as competition. They are part of an old and soon to be forgotten religion.

The old pantheon
The old pantheon is itself divided into three branches. 

The Church of the Twins does not acknowledge Bane, Bahamut and Cyric as gods. If pressed, a priest of the Twins will classify them as powerful angels, outer-planar beings with tremendous power. The Church further claims that Nira and Torax as well as Mask, Torm, Mystra, Tempus, Umberlee, Erathis, The Raven Queen, Pelor, Auril, Kossuth, Shar and Lathander are just facets of the Twins, a humanization of something too big for most mortals to understand.

The Church of Nira and Torax claim that they the twin children of the Twins. It agrees with the Church of the Twins on Bane, Bahamut and Cyric, saying they are merely powerful angels, with no power over souls, save over those who sell their soul or otherwise make a bargain with the angels or demons. They also claim that Mask, Torm, Mystra, Tempus, Umberlee, Erathis, The Raven Queen, Pelor, Auril, Kossuth, Shar and Lathander are just facets of themselves, with Mask, Mystra, Erathis, The Raven Queen, Auril and Shar being facets of Torax, while Torm, Tempus, Umberlee, Pelor, Kossuth and Lathander are facets of Nira.

Logically, the respective churches of Mask, Torm, Mystra, Tempus, Umberlee, Erathis, The Raven Queen, Pelor, Auril, Kossuth, Shar and Lathander claim they are the grand-children of the Twins, the children of Nira and Torax, and gods in their own right. Called “The Fourteen” by the common man, they, just like the rest of the family, do not acknowledge the new pantheon as anything but powerful out-planar creatures. As far as not being recognized as gods by their own “family”, the official stance is merely that it is a claim made by the older religions because they (the Fourteen) are the future of Gemnos, while the Twins, Nira and Torax are the past.

Prophecy

Prophecy is the art of predicting the future. In theory, prophecy can come from anyone gifted with spell-casting. In general, sages distinguish by three types, when it comes to prophecy. Natural prophets, reborn prophets and unwilling prophets. 

Natural prophets usually show the gift at a young age and retain it throughout their life, until their death. 

Reborn prophets are often much older when they acquire the gift of prophecy. Typically some sort of event or action of sacrifice acts as a catalyst for acquiring the gift. It could be a priest who sacrifices his eyes to better see the future, or a warlock that sacrifices his firstborn in order to remove himself from emotions to better be able to focus on the prophecies.

Unwilling prophets are "normal" spell-casters that for whatever reason are chosen by some higher power to be a conduit for the visions. Most of these prophets have a short lifespan, as only select few can handle the visions of the future.

The common ground of all types of prophets is that they have visions of the future, which they translate to words based on instinct and magic so that future generations can heed their warnings. A few do not "see" the future, but hear it instead.

The wording of prophecies is often extremely ambiguous. Interpreting and understanding prophecies is therefore an unpredictable and unreliable business. True Prophecies are always fulfilled, but not all prophecies are true ones. Or rather, all prophecies are true, but are only one possible version of the future, which can be changed, although it very rarely happens.

Summoning demons & devils

Demons and devils were once like you and me, but an eternity in Hell has changed them. Not just physically, but mentally. Do not try to summon demons and devils. Do not try to understand them. But most of all, never ever make a pact with them. You always end up dead, your soul forever cursed to replenish the infernal armies of Hell.

Most people equate the act of summoning a devil or demon with powerful mages and spells like Gate or Planar ally. While this is certainly true, it is also true that many besides powerful mages and clerics can attempt to summon the extra-planar creatures.

The details of how and why are sketchy at best and not always accessible to everyone, as the information is jealously guarded by sages, cultists, warlocks, witches, sorcerers, shamans and the like.

Usually the act involves a summoning symbol of some kind (such as a pentagram), a lot of salt, a number of black candles, a handful or two of rare herbs and incenses, some invocations spoken in infernal/abyssal, quite a lot of death and the true name of the devil/demon. Also worth noting that certain items can further facilitate the success of the ritual. Especially a sacrificial dagger made of silver/bone/cold iron and/or a sacrificial dagger made of bone can help a lot.

But there are exceptions of course. For example, it is said that a box containing certain items (picture of you, graveyard dirt and a bone from a black cat amongst others) buried in the middle of a dirt crossroad at midnight will summon a demon with the intent purpose of striking a pact regarding your soul.

Religion

Followers of the so-called gods are suckers and sycophants, wasting their prayers on abstract ideas with no real power. But this is how my lord wants the world to be, so who am I to question him?

Zakr, High Priest of Cyric, somewhere near Highmeadow, Seven Army Nation, 5843.

Worship in Gemnos has changed a lot over the course of it's more than 10.000 years of history.

At first, although the world was created by the Twins, worship was solely to the Primal Spirits. As the people of Gemnos evolved, they started to worship the Twins. Many years passed and more and more began to either worship the Sun or the Moon.

Then others began to worship other aspects of the Twins, such as Fire and Ice, Sword and Magic etc. The next step was to make those entities more precise, giving them names and individuality.

The worship of Cyric, the Prince of Shadows came slowly over the years, seemingly out of nothing, while the worship of Bahamut exploded after the First Demon War, quickly followed by the worship of Bane.

That means that in this day and age, the people of Gemnos worship 19 different gods (Primal Spirits, the Twins, 14 aspects of the Twins, Cyric, Bahamut and Bane). Aside from those "gods", quite a few also worship the Saints of Heaven while others worship the Lords of Hell.