Navarr religious beliefs

...that to claim that the Great Dance and the Labyrinth of Ages are the same, simply because they both recognise reincarnation, is a mistake. I have needed to explain, and demonstrate through teaching liao ceremonies to their Guides, that it is Virtue that guides people to their 'right place' rather than some external force greater than they.

Wayfarer Benjamin, Epistles to the Winds of Virtue, 8 BE

Navarri priests are titled Guides, partly because of the guidance they try to give the Navarr Stridings, but more for the practice of trying to guide people to their rightful place in the Great Dance. They also work to bring partners together, finding people whose skills or personalities compliment each other, so that they can take dance together from then on. As the Stridings travel along the Trods and through all the nations of the Empire so the Guides seek to ensure that the individuals they encounter are given the best opportunity to flourish and in turn add to the Empire and the Great Dance. This might be recruiting an individual to join the Striding and Navarr; or it might be aiding the individual to leave a life of farm-work in the Marches to become a Scrivener on the Brass Coast.

This has led to friction – in some circles ‘running away to join the Navarri’ is seen as irresponsibility, betraying one’s own life and family. In other circles it’s seen as a desirable goal, the path to high adventure. The idea of joining the Navarri is a common daydream in the Empire. The truth is usually a little more prosaic. Few outsiders stay with the Stridings for long, but the Navarri provide these individuals with a home, guiding them towards a place where their skills are needed and they will be welcomed. In this way, the work of the Guides helps communities as well as leaving a network of friends of the Navarri across the Empire.

Before the Navarr joined the Empire, their priests served as judges as well as guides. It was the Navarr that insisted that the Synod members have the right to offer sanctuary and to plead for clemency on behalf of those who admitted their guilt. The Navarr do not believe in allowing actions to go unpunished, they believe that actions have consequences and people should bear responsibility for what they have done – no matter the reasons for their actions. But they prefer to rehabilitate those who have done wrong, believing that everyone has a place in the Great Dance.

The Paths of Virtue, as taught by the Highborn Wayfarers, were initially regarded with suspicion amongst the Navarr, yet this has eroded over time. It has indeed seemed to be the case that those who have been guided by the Paths of Virtue have indeed found their place in the Great Dance more readily than those who have resisted. Some Navarri have taken to referring to the Dances of Virtue as distinct from terminology of Paths and Ways. The Way itself owes its existence to the Navarr trading liao to the Highborn, which some have claimed as proof that this was always to have been a part of the Dance.

You think there's no wilderness in your city, but more people lose their ways in the cities than in the woods

Alim, the Guide

Much less common amongst the Navarri is the idea of a priest as a Caller. Rather than guide people to help them find their place in the Great Dance, the Caller sees their role as being one of setting up the dance, of putting the performers in place and setting the music. The Caller’s role is thus to set the dancers in motion with the view to directing the Great Dance to their own desire. There is no small amount of hubris involved in such a role, and many Navarri find the idea of a Caller repellent, the phrase being used to criticise those Guides, Brands or Senators who overstep the mark in trying to help people find their place. If any Navarri individual self-identifies as a Caller they keep it to themselves.

The exception are those Navarri who actively seek a place in the Navarri Assembly of the Synod. The Synod, by its nature, cannot help but influence the steps and tempo of the Great Dance by how it defines and teaches the Dances of Virtue. Consequently, those Guides in the Navarri Assembly can be considered as akin to Callers, but better that the Navarri have a voice in the Synod than none at all.