Stone-Warden

A magical golem, created by Mythrian Arabelle, which served to preserve the line of succession chosen by the acting Arch-Warden of the Alexandrian Church. During his or her tenure, the Arch-Warden will whisper the name of the chosen successor to the Stone-Warden. Upon the Arch-Warden's death, the statue will reveal the name of the successor.

The statue also serves as an adjudicator of the conference where the successor is chosen, as the endorsement of an Arch-Warden is not sufficient to receive an appointment. After the death of an Arch-Warden, the Church Wardens gather at a conference at the Stone-Warden. The golem will announce the name of the successor, and will call for a "Yay or Nay" vote. If too many Church Wardens say "Nay", the Stone-Warden will call for a roll-call of opinions, and will accept the candidate that holds a plurality of support from the Church Wardens.

Historical Incidents

While the Stone-Warden has been largely successful, it has experienced a number of significant problems that resulted in the the Church's Interregnums.

The First Interregnum occurred in 167 FI when both the Arch-Warden Danthel Abbled died in the same incident that killed his chosen successor. This unexpected situation effectively broke the Stone-Warden, and it was unable to call for a vote. This problem was solved after two years of near constant effort by the Gnome Paggnellot Hargadramd. When she finally repaired the golem, she was elected Arch-Warden by a considerably plurality in 169 FI.

The next major incident, the Second Interregnum, occurred in 387 FI when Thardar Speaker died and his chosen successor, Handen Hand, was unpalatable to the Church Wardens. After the "Nay" vote was cast, there was no candidate with a plurality significant enough to satisfy the Stone-Warden. After eleven years of conflict between different warring factions supporting different candidates. Because the Stone-Warden requires all candidates to be present at the vote, all the candidates had to be killed, leaving Marrwyn Sablehand to assume the position in 398 FI.

During the Fourth Interregnum, the Stone-Warden was actually disjoined by Peteran Red Wizards, in conjunction with the assassination of Arch-Warden Quil Myth. This act was the conclusion to decades of political meddling in Petera by Alexandrian agents in the Principality of Utrell. The resulting power vacuum threw the Mainland into a 22-year Civil War. The Stone-Warden was eventually repaired at the conclusion of the war, although not to its former level of power.

Construction and Properties

Mythrian constructed the Stone-Warden with considerable help from his lover and successor Marrwyn Teldandilion, as his own magical skills were both limited and specialized. She helped to imbue the golem with considerable divination and and obscurement magics to help prevent chicanery. As the most accomplished sorcerer of her day, and possibly of all time, the Stone-Warden is of artifact status. Tremendously powerful and virtually impossible to circumvent, alter, or destroy.

The Stone-Warden has undergone a number of significant changes since its creation. First, until the Second Interregnum, the Stone-Warden took the form of the current Arch-Warden. After this event, the statue began to take a form that is a rather disconcerting amalgam of all Arch-Wardens, and changes slightly with each appointment. Second, after it was repaired at the end of the Fourth Interregnum, many of the divination and obscurement magics were weakened. Rather than recreate succession rules, the church has made do with a less infallible Warden since then.

Destruction and the Collapse of the Unified Church

The consensus history is that in in 1405 FI Arch-Warden Marwynn Collar, abandoned by all of her allies, humiliated, and at once all- and no-powerful decides to do something crazy, decisive, and crazy-decisive. Sages argue about the particulars to this day, but the important part is that Marwynn destroyed the Stone Warden and possibly herself in a way that also liberated some aspect of control of divine magic from the Wardenship of the Church splintering the Church and leading to the rise of the Eastern Hadriarch-led churches as well as smaller Protest-Stand groups. These new groups are able to ordain and empower new clerics without any central church oversight or approval.