Radiance and sin

For centuries, the Church of Radiance has protected its followers from the ravages of patchwork sorcery and witches' craft by a single power - the sacred Radiance. Few would dispute the obvious: everything unnatural, everything alien perishes in its rays.

But how can one explain that a force so good by itself also burns people, albeit not so fiercely? Is mankind not essentially different from its enemies, is it not worthy of the grace of the Radiance as well?

In the era of the witch wars, the Radiance's destructive effect was explained by the fact that humans had lived in the shadow of evil for too long and were soaked in it. Some of the most zealous believers would willingly die in its light in the hope of cleansing their souls, if not their bodies. But even holy Ladies and Lords tried to protect themselves and their entourage from the fury of the holy Radiance, and ordinary parishioners could only see it as a final purification from sins.

But in time, the Church discovered the secrets of concoctions capable of weakening the burning powers of the Radiance in the bodies of those who took them in a timely and regular manner. With the help of such substances it became possible to include the contemplation of the Radiance in the weekly services of the Church and thereby almost completely exterminate the spies of witches and those tainted by witchcraft in large cities.

Then the theological doctrine was born that the Radiance eradicates sin by literally burning out evil from sinners. Accordingly, anyone who avoided the weekly services practically confessed their guilt - no matter in what sin, really.

Such a belief had greatly strengthened the position of the Church as an organization, for it essentially assumed the power to seek and eradicate the evil that had previously been reserved for the Ladies and Lords of Radiance, and it also caused several canonical splits that basically divided the Church of Radiance into three branches.

Ordinary parishioners, however, are far from theological interpretations and literally draw a parallel between the effects of the Radiance and the sinfulness of man. In some places they even practice ordeal with the Radiance, trying to identify the culprit by the strength of the burns - and the Church unsuccessfully fights this superstition.

Remarkably, the proof of the holiness of the Lady and Lords of Radiance in theology is literally the fact that Radiance leaves no mark on them - what else could be more demonstrable than this clear absence of sin?