THE GREAT CHURCH OF FURTHERMOOR

[main game bit below 2nd image]

from Holmes Basic equipment list

The Great Church was an early TSR D&D religion based on Christianity. For instance, in OD&D & Holmes Basic, Cleric "symbols" were crosses. Think Hammer Horror & Peter Cushing. I included the Great Church in Furthermoor b/c of Farned of the Great Church, an NPC used from an old module pre-gen. Now, we have Guerrand, a paladin of the Great Church, as well as he & Grego's quest to locate the book, Dark Genesis of the Great Church's Underside. I have no clue of the specifics of the old D&D Great Church (if there were any), except for Lawfulness, but I dig the possibilities. What follows is what the Great Church of Furthermoor stands for in Wild Earth. If you have any ideas to add, lemme know.

from R. Crumb's Genesis, as is below image

The Great Church believes humans were created on Wild Earth, in their God Jalopinet's likeness, w/ an origin similar to the traditional "Adam & Eve" story, in a garden called Eden, in East Furthermoor. Jalopinet, being all Lawful, created Adam & Eve to tend the garden, but tempted & drawn from its borders by strange fires & beings (Lizard Men, Troglodytes, etc.) created by something other than Jalopinet, Adam & Eve ventured from the garden, finding that as Jalopinet had warned them, once out, they were unable to go back in, a flaming & whirling sword blocking their path, three guardian beasts @ the sides. Soon, they were bound by the Lizard Men. It would be anywhere between one & thirteen years (stories differ) before they would escape the Lizard Men, traveling far into the west until coming upon a beautiful place to settle, north of a bay*. After much prayer to Jalopinet, pleading for forgiveness, Adam & Eve, & their children, received magical abilities daily, & as chaotic forces encroached on their settlement, they realized power in the Symbol of the Crossroads, a natural cross which had appeared as roads going N, E, W & S. Eventually, a few hundred years later, the largest, most grandiose church...the Great Church...was built @ this storied Crossroads.

As the bard Robert Johnson, from Avalon, once sang:

I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees
I went to the crossroad, fell down on my knees
Asked the Lord above, Have mercy, now save poor Bob, if you please

*Many ancient books tell the tale of Adam & Eve's escape & flight & all of them speak of other demi-human races coming to their aid. Different tales tell of different friends, though all taken together, Adam & Eve had contact w/ most races of Wild Earth: Elves, Dwarves, Halflings, etc.