The Kingmaker on Duria

Though the priesthood of Zelos is fairly pervasive throughout the capital cities of human nations of Duria, perceptions of the priesthood is often marred by the absolute domination of Cambrecia by the Potentate of Zelos for over four centuries. Even after the Great Empire withdrew from Duria, the Holy See of Cambrecia remained the one state that remained loyal to the Emperors until the Mage War in the final years of the Third Age of Man. During this war, when Potentate Horatius IV declared his allegiance to Emperor Lucasa the Heretic, it caused a great schism in the formerly monolithic religious hierarchy of Zelos. The priesthood had not yet settled the schism when Zelos withdrew from the world with the other Elder Gods a little less than a century ago. The Recession of the Gods crippled the priesthood of Zelos in Cambrecia (as it did elsewhere) and the Holy See split in open civil war. By the dawn of the Fourth Age, the Potentate of Zelos controlled far less territory as the Holy See and struck a conciliatory tone with their new neighbors, refuting the Great Empire (or what was left of it) and re-establishing the priesthood as a politically neutral entity. The Church even recognized the Koramian Heresy as a possible explanation for the rulership of the Gods and formally announced its neutrality between the Koramian, Orthodox and Imperial religious structures.

Many still distrust the priesthood of Zelos, as most suspect Cambrecian priests of organizing a vast conspiracy against the former Imperial colonies on Duria and particularly against the Freecity of Neptaris, whose democracy was a constant nemesis to the Holy See in the Third Age. As a result, there are few active lay worshippers of Zelos in Duria. Even so, no human nation has been willing to permanently ban the worship of Zelos in their territory for fear of upsetting the God of the State and losing their sovereignty, so the relatively small priesthood of Zelos tends to maintain at least a sizeable temple in national capitals and smaller temples in regional seats of power. Inside the remaining territories of the Holy See of Cambrecia, of course, worship of Zelos is still predominant, despite loosening of religious requirements for secular leadership there.