Editing Holy Nation of Crescent (section)

==Overview==
The Church of the Sun and Moon runs the government of Crescent - the leader of the [[Council of Five]] is also the high priest of the Church. Still, since the governing of a huge country is quite a monumental task, a bureaucracy has grown up around the church, to facilitate the actual governing of the people and the nation, itself. The members of this group have been incorporated into the Church structure, and are known as the Order of [[the Remembrance of Joy]]. They are really the group that does the actual, day-to-day governing.

Still, the Church does not rule with an iron fist. In some areas, regional councils or various groups have grown up into prominence. Although they are not typically legal powers, they often control the social or economic life of a region.

In [[Luminaux]], for example, the [[Guild Council]] has nearly an equal footing with the Church. Composed of equal parts of the Great Merchant Houses and members of the trade guilds, they are on very good terms with the Church.
 
Like Luminaux, the Church's influence in [[Ferrodyne]] is shared with another group, although in this case it is the [[Gnomish Ministry of Engineering]] (which, in spite of its name, is not technically affiliated with the Church.) The Ministry, which controls the research and development of new ideas, was originally only concerned with governing intellectual properties. However, it quickly became concerned with protecting the interests of its members - and protecting its members from the sometimes outraged members of the community, which has often been burned down, blown up, or rendered unlivable due to stench, torrential rain, or giant mechanical constructs on the rampage.

At the opposite end of the political spectrum was [[Maxaen]]. This [[human]] city, which lies at the mouth of the LightningStroke River, was a city in a constant state of readiness for war. As the front line in the conflict with the orcs and other monster races, the city was strongly controlled by the military - which is itself largely composed of members of the Church. Thus, in Maxaen, the Lord Marshal's word was law.  

That was, until the days following [[Cometfall]], when [[Dame Aelen Wyer]] looked past racial tensions and saw, in the large camp of orcish refugees, a people in need.  Her actions turned Maxaen into a contradiction: a fortress city without a war to fight. Though [[Wounded Bear]] is still legally in charge of the military encampment and the city inside the (now repaired) walls, Dame Wyer is the de facto leader of the vast majority of people in the area. It has effectively turned into an independent city-state.

Some of the other regions are under different degrees of control - the bulk of the desert, for example, is not really under anyone's control, save for the occasional nomad. The [[Sea of Shadows]], a tempestuous and temperamental sea, is of course under no one's control, but there are a number of [[halfling]] clans that call its waters home.