Temple of the Four Great Gods

Temple of the Four Great Gods or more colloquial known as the Temple (神殿) is a religious institution established throughout the various cities and nations of the New World.

Background
This faith is found mostly in the northern nations of the New World. Not only do the priesthood and the temples serve to praise and glorify the gods, but they have also manage the temples, serving as the New World's contemporaries of hospitals. They are the New World's spiritual undertakers ensuring the well-being of society. They have a sworn duty to fight against the undead and specialize in using holy magic for healing and exorcising.

Four Great Gods
The religious organization is actually a variant international faith that worships an alternative form of the Six Great Gods of the Slane Theocracy in the form of the Four Great Gods.
 * God of Fire
 * God of Water
 * God of Wind
 * God of Earth

Minor Gods
In addition to the Four Great Gods, there also exist several minor gods that are said to act as their subordinates.
 * God of Business: Existing only in the Web Novel, all trade of currency has this deity's mark.
 * God of Theft: A subordinate deity to God of Earth.
 * Buddha: A central figure of a variant religion, most people viewed him as a follower of the Four Great Gods.

Doctrine
According to the religious faith of the Four Great Gods, these deities stand above humanity and preside over a compilation of minor deities that watch over humanity. As for death, it is believed that the souls residing within the corpses of the deceased have yet to move on to the afterlife. When the dead body of a human corpse begins to rot, the soul would also be summoned away by the will of the gods. Based on religious teachings, the sins of a person are absolved the moment they are executed and turning them into undead is a desecration. As this is a normal procedure, the dead have to be buried immediately underground though it was slightly different for those with special status such as the nobles.

While so, the corpse would then be dug up and verified if it had decomposed. It would be set aside at a communal crypt for a period of time before reburying it again within the crypt at the cemetery. After placing the bodies there for some time, a priest would judge if the body was rotting and whether the soul had been summoned by the gods prior to the burial.

For nobles, instead of the communal crypt, they would use a family crypt passed down from their ancestors. It was within the room, where those with authority were summoned by god. In other words, it is their final resting place, which is then passed on down to the next family in line of succession and owned by them, which will also act as a symbol of power.

The destination of the departed is believed at least in the Roble Holy Kingdom, that the soul would return to the great river. There the gods would judge the soul. Those who did good as described in the scriptures would go to a land of eternal rest, while the wicked would be delivered into a land of torment.

Rules & Practices
The worship of the Four Great Gods exists throughout the human kingdoms. The faith is led by the High Priests that administers each of their own religious demesne.

Due to the temples being public institutions that caretakers the health and spiritual well-being of society, healing and management of the dead fall under their purview.

The organization's affiliated temples do not answer to the government, as they are an independent entity. The temples rarely involve themselves in politics though they do have enough political pressure to force the Adventurer's Guild to regulate the use of healing magic of its members.

The reason for this regulation stems to the continued existence of the temples. In order for the temples to provide benefits to the people without becoming controlled by politics, the only source of income they could receive would be from the people.

Those that fail to comply with these rules may end up assassinated by one of the temples' punishment squads.

The Two Leaders Arc
Enri Emmot journeyed to E-Rantel to solicit invitations for new villagers to move to Carne Village. She planned to use the temple there to attract potential residents, sadly very few wished to migrate to a frontier village.

The Magic Caster of Destroy Arc
During the imperial delegation's journey to the Great Tomb of Nazarick, Fluder Paradyne lamented on his lack of knowledge in divine magic. Jircniv Rune Farlord El-Nix too wished that there were more divine magic casters within the ranks of his knights. He considered encouraging competition between the Temple of the Four Great Gods and minor gods so that new healing spells would be developed. It was his intention to provide the Baharuth Empire's support to the faith that would eventually produce the best results. His aide Loune Vermillion cautioned him about interfering in the affairs of the temples as his plan could be detrimental to the health of the Empire and put a strain on his relationship with the priests.

The Ruler of Conspiracy Arc
After the Sorcerer Kingdom's annexation of E-Rantel, many priests from the temples held a degree of wariness towards the new king. Though it was their duty to fight against the undead, the temples of E-Rantel refrained from taking action, as they had no actual power to oppose the new regime and also they were afraid to tarnish the reputation of Momon, who would be responsible for executing any insurrectionists.

In the Empire, the High Priests had labeled Jircniv a traitor to mankind for allying with an undead monster such as Ainz Ooal Gown. When the emperor tried to clear things up with the temples during a secret meeting with the High Priests and Theocracy agents, Ainz Ooal Gown made his unexpected appearance, causing the High Priests to lose faith in him and the Theocracy agents to leave.

The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom Arc
Before meeting the Sorcerer King, Remedios ordered a few paladins to appeal to the temples and ask for their help to introduce them to the Dark Hero Momon. Gustav became wary as he said they might run into trouble later as the ruler of E-Rantel is currently an undead and having ties with the temples seemed to be a problem. However, the captain reasoned out they should not know any better place to ask for other than the temples because they are paladins.

The Witch of the Falling Kingdom Arc
In the Roble Holy Kingdom, the rise of Neia Baraja as the Faceless One’s leading a social movement was noted to avoid conflict with the established religious organization. This was in part due to the fact that the former was led by a sense of community than a religion.

When the Sorcerer Kingdom began their invasion of the Kingdom, prior to the Battle of E-Naüru, Count Naüa had sent requests to the city's Magician's Guild, the Temple, the Adventurer’s Guild and others to call every magic caster in the city to join them in mounting a defense, in hopes that he could form a unit comprised entirely of magic casters.

While the the Temple did not involve themselves in a battle between nations was prohibited, they like the adventurers found a loophole. While it was true that the Temple could not participate in the wars between countries, since the Sorcerer Kingdom's army was comprised of undead — of which they were almost certain were the Kingdom’s civilians who were turned undead the adventurers could basically treat it as a coincidence that this army of undead was carrying the Sorcerer Kingdom’s flag. They had to use that reason because there was no way they could use that rule to excuse themselves from a fight with the undead who could turn dead villagers into more undead.

Trivia

 * Emperor Jircniv wants to nationalize the various temples of the Baharuth Empire.
 * The Temples' punishment squads are charged in hunting down apostate priests and referred to as boogeymen.
 * The Temples in the Empire are supported by donations from the populace, and they remain independent by selling various products only they know how to manufacture.
 * In Mass for the Dead, when a mysterious illness is spreading amongst the orphans in E-Rantel, the protagonist worked with Evileye and Nfirea Bareare to produce a cure. Knowing that the religious body would not take kindly to the free distribution of healing items, Evileye and Soi as well as Yuri Alpha dressed as Santa Claus to misdirect them.