Heather Under Moonlight

The Law of the Horned God

Assembled upon the plain were the chiefs and princes and captains of those Northern clans and kingdoms. On the third day, consumed by fury at the doctrine of their cousins, four of the princes of the village-men and three of the chieftains of the nomads mounted upon their horses, and bid their followers ride from this place, and six hundred men rode with them across the snow. The men that remained stood, and listened to the doctrine of their masters; they cast the ornaments and marks of their clans into a great crucible, and the metal of the crucible was melted to white heat and drawn out into wire. The priests gathered up the relics they carried, and brought them to a wide leather tent, wherein a fine seat was placed; and they began to join the flesh together into a new god. First was taken the skull of the Lord of the Wild Hunt, and with the silver wire it was joined to the jaw-bone of Lady Cydonia, mistress of the Empire; and it spoke the law, and the scribes listened, and the vows of the law were 343.

LAW OF THE HORNED GOD All Children of the Horned God raised faithfully can recite the vows by heart. They must swear all of them at age 14 to be considered an adult. The most important are:

To recant all faith in, and to forswear all oaths to, the temporal enemies of justice and the people.

To recant all faith in, and to forswear all oaths to, foreign spirits and their servants

To recant all faith in, and to forswear all oaths to, the dead gods of the old world

To wear no icon dividing the people

To profess total faith in and commitment to the cause of the god of the new age, who will drive from the world corruption and evil, and bring peace, plenty, and justice to the people.

To serve the cause of peace and justice for the people.

To keep one's oaths to the people, and to be worthy of trust by the people

If to rule, to rule with wisdom and mercy

If to serve, to serve with loyalty and dedication

If to fight, to fight with courage tempered by compassion

If to die, to die with honor