## Description

One version of Meranzi's Coin. (Generated by Dall-E. Prompt: “Cinematic oil painting of a golden pendant. The pendent looks like a large gold coin with the side-view of a goddesses face etched on it. The goddess is vibrant and vivacious, with a small nose and a pointed face. Her hair is golden blonde, with embellishments made out of real gold-strips and real gemstones. The background is a soft, dark velvet to highlight the pendant's luster and the golden hair's glow.”)

The Meranzeum is the largest religious organization in Marcandria, as well as being one of — if not the — most influential faction in Marcandria is a whole. It is dedicated to and worships the Marcandrian goddess Meranzi, who represents liberty, knowledge, exceptionalism, commerce, and trade. Commerce and trade is seen as of particular importance to Meranzi, which means it is also of particular importance to the Meranzeum.

The Meranzeum is a truly massive organization with incredible wealth. Their wealth and the fact that they are the official representatives and clergy to the most widely worshipped goddess in Marcandria gives them a massive influence over the Marcandrian population. The organization is involved in several aspects of Marcandrian society and will always have numerous ventures and endeavors underway. They operate as a massive trade enterprise; a bank; a library; an educational institution; a research facility; and most importantly an investor into Marcandrian society and its people. All of these efforts are perhaps best understood when viewing the Meranzeum as a religiously motivated enterprise who seeks to spread the influence of their goddess Meranzi — and who seek to propel Marcandrian society toward Meranzi's promised golden prosperous future, in which all Marcandrians may prosper and live in happiness.

The Meranzeum is a very noticeable actor in the larger settlements of Marcandrian society, and they are not shy about displaying their wealth. Their temple compounds are easily recognizable for both their sheer size and level of luxury and intricacy that has gone into their construction. The members of the Meranzeum are among the most splendidly dressed in Marcandria, with high-ranking members even rivalling the nobility. The organization holds deep meritocratic views, and is thus an ardently neutral actor who rarely get involved in the bickering between other factions, nobles, merchants, or the likes. The only exceptions would be if one side go against the values and goals of Meranzi or the Meranzeum. Otherwise, they hold the view that whoever ends up on top do so due to superior skill, dedication, resourcefulness, and intellect, and thus justly deserve to win.

Faction symbol/insignia: Meranzi's Coin (holy symbol), often worn as an oversized gold-coin that is part of a brooch or pendant.

## Members

The Meranzeum is a religious organization and acts as Meranzi's clergy in Marcandria. However, most of its members are not what one would traditionally consider a cleric. The majority of the Meranzeum's members do not have divine gifts — such as clerical powers — instead simply being deeply religious worshippers. Those with clerical abilities are considered to be part of the actual clergy portion of the Meranzeum. This includes everyone of Holycoin rank or above — who are also required to have Meranzi's Gift. It also includes basically everyone in the Department of Divination, as well a minority of the rank-and-file members. Rank-and-file members outside the Department of Divination tend to serve dual roles, both filling their designated position as well as occasionally performing clerical services. If you're a rank-and-file member who only deal with clerical services then you're a member of the Department of Divination — since that is what they do.

The Meranzeum's membership base is incredibly varied. Most of the organization's leaders are former merchants, traders, artisans, and business-people — whose exceptional results made them the clear leaders and drivers of their fields. One must prove oneself through such a high level of success while part of the Meranzeum, as well as having clerical abilities and Meranzi's Gift, to even be considered for a leadership role within the Meranzeum

The Meranzeum is perhaps best known for the numerous merchants, traders, and artisans that exist among their rank-and-file members, as it is they who run the business-empire side of the Meranzeum. However, the Meranzeum also includes economists, accountants, analysts, bankers, librarians, scholars, researchers, administrators, secretaries, receptionists, assistants, and whatever other position the Meranzeum needs filled.

All members are required to be avid worshippers of Meranzi — one is not allowed to become a member if this criteria is not fulfilled. Worship of the other two deities that make up the Diostri — Callera and Fiori — is permitted, though Meranzi should be their primary deity. The Meranzeum also, to some extent, tolerate a member paying homage to other deities, so long as they are not considered adversaries of Meranzi, and so long as they are clearly secondary to Meranzi.

The Meranzeum also have numerous business partners that they've made through investments and sponsorships. These partners can come from all facets of Marcandrian society, or even be from abroad, though they all have in common that the Meranzeum has deemed their abilities exceptional enough to warrant investing into their future growth and progress. These partners are technically not members of the Meranzeum, though it's not uncommon for them to join the Meranzeum down the line.

### Visual identifiers

Members of the Meranzeum are easily identifiable by the pins, brooches, and pendants they wear depicting Meranzi's coin, which is borne by both clergy and non-clergy members alike. Artisans and merchants who the Meranzeum have partnered with/invested in also depict Meranzi's coin on their shop signs to show their affiliation. This symbol is seen as a badge of competency, telling potential customers that their goods are of such high quality that even the Meranzeum has taken notice of them. Shops depicting Meranzi's coin are therefore often seen as preferable in Marcandrian society.

High-ranking members of the Meranzeum are among the most lavishly dressed individuals one can find in Marcandria. Their ritual garbs are gaudy and ornate, and are often made of fine silk. Women typically wear extremely elaborate multi-layered flute-sleeved dresses for ritual purposes, while mean wear similarly elaborate doublets. Those with weakness in vision may also wear gold-trimmed pince-nez or lorgnettes. The entire ensemble is often covered by a gilded scarlet cloak or overcoat heavy with the weight of various precious metals. The Meranzeum also have several particularly intricate gold- and gem-embroidered cloaks that are used during larger official ceremonies. Members of the Meranzeum tend to always wear fine attires — always seeking to represent themselves in the best manner possible. These clothes are always made of the finest and most costly fabrics and furs, and are dyed and arranged for the most vibrant display possible. Clergy members always wear white silken gloves regardless of clothing. All attires include golden ornaments and gemstones, and most wear numerous pieces of jewelry. The lavishness of their attires are to the point where some even rival the nobility. Higher-ranking Meranzeum clerics will of course have more lavish than lower-ranking ones. A "regular" Abreeant will commonly have attires of the highest quality materials they can afford, dyed and arranged as vibrantly as they can. If they can afford it, they will also incorporate a few tiny gemstones or jewelry pieces in their attires.

High-ranking members of the Meranzeum, as well as certain lower-ranking ones, are also easily recognizable from their brightly gold-colored eyes. These are often referred to as Meranzi's Gift, and is seen as proof that Meranzi favors the individual. This golden eye color is so vibrant that it's instantly noticeable when conversing.

### Members List

- Administrative
  - Chiara di Therano - Voice of the Coinmaiden / Chosen of Meranzi / Voice of Meranzi
- Department of Commerce and Trade
  - Bacenor Mees, Overgold of Commerce/Trade
- Department of Financing
  - Thessala Abineri, Overgold of Financing
- Department of Cultural Development
  - Burel Panayi, Overgold of Culture
- Department of Divination
  - Aleus Fearber, Overgold of Divinity
- Department of Arcane Research
  - Lissanta Baronti, Overgold of Arcana
    - Rafell Besisi, Overgold of Arcana (Died 1352AD)
  - Institute of Wards, Sigils, Protections, and Counter Curses
    - Euphemia Moretti
    - Magister Eraclide Laran
  - Institute of Arcane Biology
    - First Biologist Tarnan Heartfield
    - Magister Peneli Navara
  - Institute of Planar, Temporal, and Spatial Phenomena
    - High Conjurer Siniball Calvacanti
    - Magister Raoul Bougie
    - Magister Celia Lettiere
  - Institute of Material Enhancements and Transmutations
    - High Transmuter Rahier de Maromme
    - Magister Gerival Malpiere ((I-BL030) Malpiere's Rapid Growth Experimentation)
    - Magister Gael Alacron

## Beliefs

The Meranzeum are followers of the goddess Meranzi, and as such are followers of her dogma. They believe trade and commerce provides the best road to both personal and societal enrichment, and that both the sharing of wealth and investment in others will seed future success both for themselves and for society as a whole. Investing in a better educated populace is in their view one of the best way of investing in the future of Marcandrian society. The Meranzeum are firm believers in fair trade and fair exchanges, and will return any favor they receive with something they consider of equal worth. They are ardently against illicit deals and people who outright cheat others, viewing it as harmful for long-term business. However, a little underhandedness is acceptable, as this is in their view just part the maneuvering that takes place when doing business. It is important though to not upset people one want as future business partners.

The Meranzeum hold a very deep meritocratic view. They view those who are successful — especially those who create their own success — favorably. On the flip side, they view those who fall down the social rankings as incompetent and weak-willed. Those who inherit wealth or status, including nobility, are only viewed favorably by the Meranzeum once they've proven that they are deserving of the position they've inherited. Those who are truly driven, and truly competent are viewed most favorably and are of extreme interest, with the Meranzeum actively seeking out such individuals to nurture and partner up with them.

The Meranzeum hold a primarily neutral stance when it comes to the bickering between other people and factions, believing those who ultimately come out on top to be those who ultimately deserved to come out on top. The Meranzeum only breaks their neutrality when one party clearly goes against the interest of the Meranzeum or the interest of their goddess Meranzi.

The Meranzeum also have a special belief related to the golden colored irises that some people receive. These bright gold colored eyes holds a special place in the Meranzeum's beliefs, as this is considered to be a sign that the individual has received Meranzi's personal favor. All high-ranking members of the Meranzeum, as well as some lower-ranking ones, have these bright gold colored eyes. Most members who have this gift received it at some point in their lives, with it being extremely rare for an individual to be born with this gift. The Meranzeum takes in and nurtures any children they discover with Meranzi's Gift, believing Meranzi to have a grand purpose for them.

These golden eyes are often referred to as Meranzi's Gift, and is believed to be a sign of them having gained Meranzi's favor. Those that have these eyes are commonly referred to as Goldeneyes. Having this gift is a requirement for holding one of the higher positions within the Meranzeum.

## Goals

The primary unifying goal of the Meranzeum is to bring Meranzi's Golden Age to the Marcandrian society — an age in which all will prosper and live in happiness. All of the Meraneum's efforts and endeavors are in some way meant to help steer Marcandrian society towards this goal. They deal in trade and commerce because Meranzi preaches that this is the best road towards progression and enrichment. They provide educational services ingrain and nurture Meranzi's values, teachings, and goals into the populace, and they invest in promising talented individuals so that they may help drive further progress and innovation for Marcandrian society. Even their research in both the divine and the arcane are efforts to make sure they remain on track and avoid major hinderances from others actors. They are servants of their goddess Meranzi, and thus seek to increase her influence and aid her in achieving her goals — and the Golden future is seen as the ultimate goal.

They also seek to increase the wealth of Marcandrians — which of course includes their own wealth. Meranzi is a goddess of commerce and trade, and as such the Meranzeum also seek to continuously increase the commerce and trade flowing through Marcandria. They simultaneously seek to avoid any sort of limitations put on trade — the only exception being on clearly dangerous and illicit goods. Goods that would hamper Marcandrian society would harm its progress after all, and thus result in a net negative toward the goal of a golden age.

They also want Marcandrian society to constantly improve and drive forward. They seek to elevate and nurture those of exceptional skill, both because the Meranzeum's meritocratic views make them believe they deserve it, and because they want those who are exceptional to be the primary drivers of innovation and societal progression in Marcandria.

## Organization

The Meranzeum follows a hierarchical organizational structure with a clear line of authority and decision-making power, flowing from top to bottom. At the top sits the Voice of the Coinmaiden — also called the Chosen of Meranzi and the Voice of Meranzi — as the overall leader and highest authority within the organization. The Voice of the Coinmaiden decide on the Meranzeum's overall direction and strategy in collaboration with the five Overgolds — the leaders of each of the five departments that make up the Meranzeum. It is also they who make all the major decisions within the Meranzeum — meaning deciding on matters that impact more than just one of their temple-compounds. It is also they who decide on the larger business ventures the Meranzeum will pursue; and are the ones who decide on the high-level budgeting. They may also make decisions on any other lesser-reaching topic at their own discretion, even if it's normally something handles further down the organizational hierarchy.

The Voice of the Coinmaiden also directly leads the administrative portion of the Meranzeum — specifically on tasks that go across the other departments. This administrative portion works similar to what a department would, though is not officially recognized to be one. Their tasks includes record keeping, the distribution of new findings and knowledge to other archives, and general cross-department communication. Administration of tasks that are contained within a department tends to be handled by the department itself.

Highest ranking members of the administrative portion — not including the Voice of the Coinmaiden — are the Holycoins. Holycoins are the leaders of the temple-compounds the Meranzeum operates. However, the Voice of the Coinmaiden and the Overgolds also take on the role of Holycoin in the temple-compounds they themselves operate from. This essentially mean you have one Holycoin for each temple-compound that isn't the home of an Overgold of the Voice of the Coinmaiden. Holycoins have their own subordinates that help with necessary administrative duties at the location.

All leadership positions of rank Holycoin or higher receives a small portion of the Meranzeum's overall profits. They thus tend to be rather wealthy. The official reasoning for having this system is to enticing talented individuals to seek out leadership positions within the Meranzeum.

The remainder of the hierarchy hold the titles of goldeneye, manycoin, abreeant, and telchar — which is also commonly referred to as coin. The telchar (coins) are the novices and initiates, while abreeant is the title held by the regular rank-and-file members.

Manycoins form a sort of middle-management position — they are the most favored and successful within a field in an specific area. They are thus put to oversee the efforts there and act as an intermediary between the leadership and the front-line workers. If you for example have a region that has a lot of fabric-related trade and industry, then a manycoin within the Department of Commerce there would typically be the largest and most successful of the Meranzeum's fabric-merchants in the area. They are also the ones who generally coordinate collaborations between everyone operates in said field in the area. Each temple-compound will have multiple manycoins, with the number depending on how many different fields the Meranzeum is involved in at that location.

Manycoin, abreeant, and telchar are universal titles used across the entirety of the Meranzeum. These titles can be rather vague as to what the individual's role is, and thus people tend to have a job-describing title in addition. An abreeant may also be a banker or a teacher; a manycoin may be a head-merchant or headmaster; a telchar may be an initiate or apprentice.

The last organization-wide title within the Meranzeum is that of goldeneye. Goldeneye refers to anyone whose received the Gift of Meranzi — a pair of golden colored irises. Only people who are goldeneyes are eligible to become Holycoins, Overgolds, or the Voice of the Coinmaiden. Those who receive said gift are also immediately promoted to the rank of manycoin, unless that position is already held by a more successful individual who's also a goldeneye. Should this be the case then you instead end up as an abreeant with some added prestige. The Meranzeum is not in the habit of moving people around to allow both goldeneyes to hold the title of manycoin. This whole automatic promotion aspect can cause friction between members in the Meranzeum. A very successful and well-connected manycoin whose not a goldeneye would not exactly be pleased if they loose their position to a far less-successful peer just because they happened to have received Meranzi's gift.

Those with clerical abilities are also considered part of the actual clergy within the Meranzeum. This includes all members of rank Holycoin or above — since they are required to both Meranzi's gift and clerical powers to be eligible for the position. This also includes all members of the Department of Divination, as well as a minority of the remaining rank-and-file members in the other departments. Being part of the clergy means leading and performing religious rituals and ceremonies. This is mostly done by the Department of Divination, though special occasions may require someone from the leadership to conduct the ritual or ceremony instead. Rank-and-file members outside the Department of Divination do the occasional religious rituals and ceremonies in additional to their regular position within the Meranzeum.

Each department have their own hierarchy from overgold down to telchar, and are each responsible for an aspect of the Meranzeum's endeavors. These five departments are:

- The Department of Commerce and Trade - the business/trade enterprise portion of the Meranzeum. Department name is typically shortened to “Department of Commerce”. Here sits the Meranzeum's merchants, traders, and artisans and conduct trade on behalf of the Meranzeum. They are also the one's initializing investments and sponsorships into promising merchants, traders, artisans, and craftsmen in Marcandria.
- The Department of Financing - Handles budgeting, approves and allocates funds for ventures and investments — with approval from leadership if large ventures, and operate the Golden Bank. Many of their members are bankers and economists.
- The Department of Cultural Development - Responsible for ingraining Meranzi's values into Marcandrian society. They do this through the spreading of knowledge, which they achieve through public access to their archives — except the parts that contains what they deem as dangerous knowledge, as well as through offering educational services.
- The Department of Divination - Responsible for most public clerical ceremonies and rituals. Also the one's who spends the most time trying to discern Meranzi's wishes through interpreting signs and omens. They are thus responsible for making sure the Meranzeum stays on course and aligned to Meranzi's wishes.
- The Department of Arcane Research - Conducts research in the fields of the arcane, as well as producing some magical goods. This branch exists as an effort by the Meranzeum to control and benefit from the use of the arcane in Marcandria.

Organization-wide ranks as a list:

1. Voice of the Coinmaiden / Chosen of Meranzi / Voice of Meranzi - Overall leader of the Meranzeum. Also directly leads administration portion of Meranzeum that operate across the different departments. This includes being the direct superior of all Holycoins.
2. Overgold - Leads one of the Meranzeum's five departments.
3. Holycoin - leader of a Meranzeum temple-compound, if said compound is not already being led by an Overgold or the Voice of the Coinmaiden. They are part of the Voice of the Coinmaiden's administration.
4. Manycoin - oversees a specific field at one of the temple-compounds. The manycoin for each field is commonly the most successful and well-connected member that operates in said field.
5. Abreeant - regular member title that can serve a myriad of roles.
6. Telchar - also commonly referred to as coins. Telchars are the initiates/apprentices.

## Operations and endeavors

The Meranzeum is a massive organization with a wide reach both in terms of influence and in the activities they partake in. They put a great deal of effort into ingraining themselves and Meranzi's beliefs into Marcandrian society while working towards their collective goal of reaching Meranzi's promised Golden future — one in which all Marcandrians may prosper.

The Meranzeum has almost an omnipresence in settlements that house one of their temple-compounds. If the Meranzeum is in the area, then they are always one of the most powerful and influential players. It is extremely difficult for someone to entirely avoid dealing with the Meranzeum or one of their affiliates while in a settlement where they have a presence. This interaction may not always be clear or on-the-nose. It can be as simple as dealing with a craftsman whose affiliated with the Meranzeum; having bought goods that have gone through a merchant from the Meranzeum; or that your kid went to a lesson where the teacher was from the Meranzeum. The Meranzeum have some very deep claws when it comes to influence, though they go to great lengths to avoid this being experienced as intimidating by the Marcandrian citizenry.

The Meranzeum is — again — huge, and they thus partake in a large array of different activities, operations, and endeavors. The organization is officially sub-divided into five different departments, each of which is responsible for a different set of activities that the organization is involved with.

#### Departmenty of Commerce and Trade

The Department of Commerce and Trade makes out the business-empire portion of the Meranzeum. It is made up of hundreds of deeply religious merchants, traders, and artisans — along with all of the their assistants and workers. Each of these merchants, traders, and artisans have operational control of their own businesses as well as their own network of suppliers, buyers, and business partners. These businesses, with their networks, are built and run on behalf of the larger Meranzeum organization as part it its enterprise, and are built using resources that the organization has allotted to them.

The sum of all these subsidiary networks create the vast inter-connected network of trade and business partners that the Meranzeum has as a whole. Merchants, traders, and artisans who join the Meranzeum will often continue expanding their pre-existing endeavors, though now with them acting as subsidiaries of the larger Meranzeum enterprise. The Meranzeum leadership — be that the department's leadership or the organization's overall leadership — may also decide to appoint a member of the Department of Commerce to oversee new business ventures, that if successful will become part of said member's own network. This could be the Meranzeum seeking to expand to a new area — creating new trade and business partners in the process. It could also be expanding into a new field in an area where the Meranzeum already has a presence. The organization is not shy about initiating endeavors to interconnect its numerous subsidiary networks. This is meant to foster and strengthen the organization's collective network and to reduce the impact of loosing a member, partner, or important link in the subsidiary network. After all, the Meranzeum would like to avoid loosing an entire subsidiary network just because one member or partner decides to no longer cooperate. The Meranzeum will also bring together a group of their merchants, traders, and artisans and assign them with the responsibility of a new, larger, venture.

Subsidiary networks created by merchants and traders can typically consist of buying products from suppliers in one area, transport them to another, and then sell them for a profit in a different area. They may also focus on buying raw materials, paying craftsmen to make them into other goods, and then sell the finished goods for profits. An artisan's network works similarly, except they tend to produce goods themselves instead of having others do all of the manufacturing for them. Subsidiary networks within the Meranzeum are also suppliers for one another.

The Meranzeum does a lot of investments into other merchants, artisans, and craftsmen who they deem to have exceptional skill or exceptional potential within their field — be that a young apprentice who's improving at an incredible rate, or a veteran whose had or that is close to a break-through within the field. It is the members of the Department of Commerce that initiate this investment process — typically by discovering such a promising individual while looking for new partners for their network. Once they've found one such individual, they'll submit an investment plan for approval at the Department of Financing. This is due to the funds of such an investment going from the Meranzeum itself, and not directly from the pockets of the one who found them. If approved, the member who discovered them will return with a proposed investment and partnership deal with the Meranzeum. The general terms for such investment and partnership deals tend to be the same. The Meranzeum on its part will provide funds and access to resources in order to boost the person's business/endeavor. In return, any new discovery the person makes is to be shared with the Meranzeum and added to their archives. The Meranzeum will also demand first-priority on buying a certain percentage of their produced goods at a discounted price. The new discovery aspect tends to last in perpetuity, while the discount of goods tend to have a set end-point in the agreement (be that in years or in total value).

These investments are also an effort by the Meranzeum into elevating and nurturing the most exceptional and promising individuals in Marcandrian society, hoping it will help them become business partners and innovators in the future, and that may help propel Marcandrian society forward towards the Golden Age the Meranzeum is working towards. The Meranzeum also hopes to make them full-fledged members in the future, though only if their skills live up the the Meranzeum's expectations.

Merchants, traders, and artisans under the Department of Commerce get to keep a portion of the profit they bring in, while the rest goes to the Meranzeum itself. This is meant to encourage its members into aggressively expanding their ventures while the Meranzeum serves as a safety net. After all, for an organization as huge as the Meranzeum, a few failed ventures mean little in the grand scheme of things. Members who are repeatedly unable to make a profit will have their venture's put under someone else's charge, with them being given a different role within the Meranzeum — typically that of an assistant.

#### Department of Financing

The Department of Financing controls budgeting and funds allocation within the Meranzeum. When a member of the Department of Commerce wishes to initiate a new business venture, it is the Department of Financing that decides whether they'll get the funds for it. When a member wishes to bring in another promising individual for an investment and partnership deal, it's the Department of Financing who evaluates the individual and decides whether to offer them such a deal. It is also they who decide how much the Meranzeum will invest in said individual. While decisions on large matters, such as massive new ventures, require a decision by the leadership of the Meranzeum, smaller ones are generally up to the Department of FInancing to decide on its own. This means budgeting decisions such as how much is allocated to each department; how much money to pour into public-facing education services; and how much funds is to be allocated for arcane research; is decided by the leadership. The Department of Financing will then be responsible for hammering out the finer details. The leadership will of course have certain guidelines and restrictions that the Department of Financing must follow, meaning a member cannot just do simply as they please when dealing with smaller matters.

Most members of the Department of Financing are essentially bankers and economists — or assistants and workers of said bankers and economists. Aside from determining budgets and investments — as described above — they also operate the Golden Bank. This bank offers loans in return for collateral and a payment plan to businesses and wealthy individuals — people who will use the loan directly to create more business and thus more mercantile trade. An example here could be one of the people they've decided to invest in seeking additional funds for their business in order to further their business past what the initially investments allowed on their own. This bank is targeted specifically at business and trade related endeavors, and thus does not offer loans like mortgages to common citizens.

#### Department of Cultural Development

The Department of Cultural Development is responsible for keeping Meranzi's teachings and influence deeply ingrained in Marcandrian society. They also seek to spread her worship to new worshippers. Meranzi is a goddess who values knowledge, and the Department of Cultural Development seeks to spread Meranzi's influence primarily through the spreading of knowledge. The Department of Cultural Development seeks to accomplish this by gathering as much knowledge as they can, and make (most of) it available to the public through the Meranzeum's massive archives; as well as through the offering educational services both for the general populace and through private tutoring for the wealthy. Most of the members here consists of teachers, scholars, librarians, and other knowledge seekers.

The Meranzeum's massive archives are a very noticeable part of their temple compounds, and are also among the most visible of the Meranzeum's operations. These archives operates as public libraries that contain vast amount of knowledge, with everything the organization considers safe for the general populace being accessible to the public. Any new design or technique discovered by a craftsman associated with the Meranzeum is added to their archives and (if not deemed dangerous) made available for everyone who peruses them. The Meranzeum does not believe in hoarding knowledge for themselves, as they see the temporary benefit it would gain them as being far outweighed by the accelerated pace of societal progression and further innovation yielded by sharing it. The Meranzeum thus view operating these archives as an investment into the Marcandrian society — one that will lead to future enrichment for everyone involved. Access to these libraries is still not free however. Everything with the Meranzeum is a trade, and they thus demand a fee in return for gaining access to the knowledge held in these archives. This fee is somewhat special, in that the amount is relative to the person's wealth. This fee exists because the Meranzeum believes knowledge will be valued more if it had a cost associated with it, and thus make people more driven in utilizing it. This fee does have an upper cap, as it's not meant to go out-of-hand when dealing with particularly wealthy individuals. It's also supposed to always be at a level that makes it affordable for everyone. Someone who's dirt poor may have to sweep the floors in return for access, while a wealthy individual will have to give up some coin.

The Meranzeum's educational services are similarly seen as an investment. The Meranzeum believes that a better educated population will better enrich Marcandrian society long-term, and are better equipped to help accelerate societal progression and innovation. Educating the populace is thus seen as an investment that will bear considerable benefits later down the line. The Meranzeum provides education that's open to the public, though with a relatively-prized fee that works in the same manner as the fee to access their archives. This service is supposed to be affordable to everyone, though it is only available in the larger Marcandrian settlements due to this being where the Meranzeum is primarily located. Providing education is also seen as an efficient way to keep and further ingrain the Marcandrian populace with Meranzi's teachings and values. This is seen as part of the trade between the Meranzeum and the populace — they provide educational services in return for the populace becoming more closely aligned to Meranzi's dogma. Public education services focus primarily on reading and writing, as well as basic topics the Meranzeum views as necessary for people to become good business partners and innovators.

The Department of Cultural Development also offers one-on-one tutoring for those who can afford it — meaning the nobility and the wealthy upper-class. This works similar to the public educational service, though it goes deeper into politics, history, economics, and whatever other topic the buyer wants them to teach.

They also often help with supplies and funds for public celebrations in Marcandria, such as its massive festivals. Though, the allocation of funds here will have to go through the Department of Financing and up to be approved by the leadership, be that a Holycoin or all the way up to the Voice of the Coinmaiden and the Overgolds.

#### Department of Divination

The Department of Divination is responsible for making sure the Meranzeum stays on course towards Meranzi's goal of a Golden prosperous future. It is they who try to divine the omens and signs given by the Coinmaiden, and use them to determine whether the Meranzeum is on track and acting according to Meranzi's wishes. They also conduct research on the history of the different deities and their followers, and also try to gather information about the current undertakings of other religious organizations. This is to better understand what such forces are currently up to, in order to identify and deal with potential adversaries of Meranzi's vision early and efficiently. They are in a way responsible for making sure the Meranzeum is on the best track possible to serve Meranzi and to help further her goals.

The Department of Divination are also the public-facing part of the Meranzeum when it comes to clerical services. Whenever the Meranzeum conducts ceremonies or rituals for the public, it tends to be a member of the Department of Divination that is assigned to perform it.

The Department of Divination does not have a lot of members compared to the Departments of Commerce, Financing, or Cultural Development; but what's unique about the Department of Divination is that every single one of its members have clerical abilities. This is due to most of the tasks being assigned to them requiring the use of such divinely given abilties.

#### Department of Arcane Research

The Department of Arcane Research is commonly referred to as the Conciri Meranzeum — named after the ancient Concalian Empire whose ruins have been used to make the Conciri's main compound in Alatri; and whose uncovered texts form the basis for much of the ancient magical knowledge the Conciri possess. The members of this department consists of arcane practitioners, scholars, researchers, artificers, and the likes — people who in general seek to develop new or re-discover lost arcane knowledge. It is this search for arcane knowledge which is the publicly-known goal of this department. Any new knowledge discovered, or any ancient knowledge re-discovered, is added to the Meranzeum's archives — just as every other discovery is. However, most arcane discoveries are not available to the public.

A religious organization having its own department dedicated to the research and practice of the arcane arts may at first seem strange; but to the Meranzeum, it's simply a matter of strategy. Arcane magic has the potential to be incredibly powerful, and can thus be either a great boon or a massive obstacle depending on who controls it and who it's used for or against. The Meranzeum shares this view, and specifically views rogue arcane users as potentially very dangerous. A skilled arcane practitioner that decides to work against the goals of the Meranzeum can bring a lot of harm to their progress. Meranzi is also a deity of knowledge, with arcane knowledge of course being seen as a kind of knowledge.

The Meranzeum simultaneously views arcane practitioners as potentially very useful in aiding their cause — if controlled — particularly to deal with the old Concalian ruins (see Conciri Meranzeum page for details). The Meranzeum thus decided that the best way to keep tabs and control the use of arcane, while also benefitting from the potential boons they can discover, was to bring arcane practitioners directly under the Meranzeum's control. The Meranzeum's strategy for accomplishing this was to utilize what they know best — a deal of sorts. The Meranzeum would offer an extremely lucrative environment for arcane practitioners to conduct their research, with access to the Meranzeum's massive resources. The drawback for the practitioners would be having the Meranzeum looking over their shoulder and dictating what is to be considered off-limits research. The Meranzeum's goal here was that the tradeoff between getting access to Meranzeum's resources would outweigh the drawback of not being entirely free to research whatever you pleased. It must also be said that the Meranzeum has actively sought to make it as close to impossible to seriously practice the arcane arts without being beneath the Meranzeum's umbrella, something they've done through hoarding goods and monopolizing the supply of important components. Must known arcane practitioners of noticeable skill in Marcandria are thus affiliated with the Meranzeum.

These arcane practitioners are typically allowed to research whatever they want, granted their means and intended results have been approved and not considered off-limits by the Meranzeum. This may seem like an arrangement that allows a great room of freedom and flexibility for the practitioner, though most arcane practitioners would say they do not enjoy having a religiously motivated cleric — a practitioner of the divine — tell them what is and what is not allowed in the field of the arcane. The relationship between the arcane practitioners of the Conciri and the greater Meranzeum organization can best be described as difficult, with the Conciri members trying to circumvent the restrictions placed upon them by the Meranzeum. The Meranzeum is simultaneously trying to balance the leash to be tight enough to keep the practitioners under control, but loose enough to entice them to continue working under the Meranzeum (see Conciri Meranzeum page for details).

## Locations

The Meranzeum operates out of massive temple-compounds that are exclusively located in the larger and busier cities and settlements in Marcandria, where commerce and trade flows in its fullest flower and where people of numerous backgrounds mingle. Here, knowledge and techniques can easily be shared, and the Meranzeum can thus better help enrich and progress. While one may find a small temple in some out-of-the-way settlement, these are merely the result of one or a few individuals' endeavors, and not part of the Meranzeum's overall strategy. The Meranzeum's locations are temple-compounds rather than simply temples due to their locations having facilities meant to accommodate for all the different endeavors and operations the organization partakes in at said location. This means workshops for their artisans; offices for their merchants and traders; storage areas for their goods; studies for their researchers; vault to keep their money, valuable, and artifacts; room for their massive archives; and so on.

The Meranzeum's temples and compounds are massive, often soaring above everything that surrounds it. They are always made with the finest materials available, with no expenses spared. Their floors, walls, and ceiling if possible, are always filled with ornate decorations. These decorative elements are often baroque, intricate, brightly colored, and lavish. The décor also feature as much precious metal and as many gemstones as can be fitted into the design. Despite all this lavish adornment, both inside and outside, these golden-leaf covered structures are designed to be impregnable fortresses meant to safeguard their archives, collections, and assets from those who would seek to steal from them.

Exactly what facilities each temple-compound includes depends on what activities are offered there. Common for all is that they include an actual temple, where worship, rituals, ceremonies, and offerings to Meranzi are made. A publicly available archive and areas for their artisans and merchants to operate out of are also always included.

Specific temple-compounds:

- Grand temple-compound of Vessina - headquarters for Meranzeum as a whole, led directly by the Voice of the Coinmaiden
- Conciri temple-compound in Alatri - home to the Department of Arcane Research of the Meranzeum. The Overgold of Arcana leads this temple-compound.

## Relations with other factions

- have a lot of business partners, which it of course is in the Meranzeum's interest to support when they're dealing with rivals. Otherwise ardently neutral.
- Not particularly happy with things having gone to hell over the past few years, as it's turning into a set-back for the progression they want, and thus a hinderance to their golden future. Still, they remain neutral since it's basically nobodys and everybodys fault at the moment.

## Stance of Succession conflict