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After years of training as a lay member of the Temple of Indolle in the heartland of the Imperium, you were ordained recently as a priest of the temple, swearing your devotion to the God of Trade and Travel for the rest of your life. Just a week after your ordination, the High Priest of your temple announced that the temple had immediate need of you to serve to the far north of the Empire, in the Far Coast, a land you know from rumours and learning as a frontier region subject to savage barbarians from the north but also rife with trade potential with those selfsame barbarians and the Morakki to the east. Here was a chance to see the world and help open trade routes with other cultures!

You traveled north with a large caravan and eventually arrived at the town of Dwillingir, a mere township compared to the great Imperial cities in which you served your laity, but apparently one of the largest "cities" in this frontier region. There, at the temple, you met Markuth, the High Priest of Indolle for all of the Far Coast. Markuth welcomed you and gave you a tour of the temple, a structure of which he was quite proud, though having just come from the grand edifices of the temples in Antorium, it was not so impressive to you. Nonetheless, as you began to envision serving your duties in the temple, Markuth informed you that you would not be stationed at the temple.

Instead, you were told, you would serve at House Riverine. House Riverine was well known to you before now, as it is one of the premiere trading houses in the Empire. Markuth explained that each house has a chapel to Indolle within, and it is tradition in the religion of Indolle that a young priest serve in a house chapel. This arrangement has a mutual benefit. The house in question gains the benefit of the services of a priest at its beck and call, for healing, blessing caravans, and conducting worship services for the household. The priesthood of Indolle gains the benefit of having a young priest exposed to the workings of a mercantile house and to gain field experience guarding caravans and the like. Generally, house priests serve for a variable term until such time as the temple hierarchy believes the priest has learned all he or she can from house service, in which case the priest is then transferred to other church duties.

House Riverine, it seems, has need of a new house priest. The previous priest, one Renderuth by name, served a long and distinguished tenure for House Riverine but had gained enough prowess and skill that the church recalled him to duties elsewhere.

You were warned by Markuth that House Riverine might not, initially, be too pleased at having their long time priest Renderuth replaced by a mere stripling. But, Markuth hopes, you will quickly prove your own worth to House Riverine and they will hopefully eventually accept you as they did Rathay.

Markuth also explained to you that house priests actually are sworn into house membership. They become associate members of the house and are expected, in all ways, to act to the benefit of their house. The only caveat to this loyalty is that they owe their ultimate loyalty to the church and may not engage in acts that are directed against the church itself. Thus, it is not only acceptable but required that a house priest engage in rivalry against a fellow house priest of another house. A house priest of the Riverine House could indeed lead or engage in a raid against another merchant house and possibly even come into combat with the house priest of the other guild. However, a house priest could not, for example, engage in a raid on a temple of Indolle.

As far as practical matters, unless in the field, house priests are expected to attend a monthly service in the temple. They are also expected to report news and information to the temple hierarchy. House priests receive tithes based on the profit of the house they serve as well as discretionary gratuities from individuals specifically aided within the house. A house priest could expect to make 10-100gp per month depending upon various factors. Of course, house priests also get room and board.

With that, you were escorted to House Riverine, where you and Markuth signed a contract of service. Then you took an oath of loyalty to House Riverine and were inducted as an associate member, given a copper medallion to signify your status. This medallion, you are told, has secret marks on it that were recorded in the House records and keyed to you such that the medallion would identify you as a house member but could not be stolen and used by another nor could a fake medallion be easily forged. The marks on the medallion would eventually be recognized by other houses of House Riverine once your secret marking codes were disseminated throughout the Empire. You were not told where the secret marks are or how to decipher them, so your medallion looks the same as every other copper associate medallion of the house.

You were then taken to the chapel, actually a small annex to the house. It includes a small chapel with an altar to Indolle, a vestibule for ceremonial items, a living chamber, a bedroom, and a privy/washroom. You were also introduced to your servant, an elderly man with 1 ear named Wully. Wully informed you that services were usually held weekly and that Rathay gave very good sermons. Wully hopes, he told you, that your sermons do not put the attendees to sleep. Finally, Wully asked you to wash up, for you were to meet the House Master Barnabus shortly.

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