Amador is the offspring of two deities who should not have produced a child together. Oshala, god of singular order and masculine hierarchy, and Jusannia, champion of women and goddess of justice for the oppressed, somehow created together a deity who embodies neither parent fully and yet carries elements of both.

The theological impossibility of this union perplexes scholars. Oshala's doctrine maintains that women are subordinate and sexuality should be controlled. Jusannia's doctrine teaches that women deserve autonomy and the right to their own choices. Yet somehow, from these irreconcilable forces, love was born.

The exact nature of Oshala and Jusannia's union is disputed:

Amador came into existence as a fully-formed deity rather than growing into divinity. He appeared first not in divine realms but in the mortal world—specifically in moments where lovers were breaking the boundaries that separated them. A noblewoman and a servant. A commoner and a merchant's child. Two women in a society that forbade their union. Each time authentic desire overcame social restriction, Amador was there—not visibly at first, but present, blessing what had been forbidden.

His followers claim that Amador does not create love; he recognizes and amplifies what already exists. He removes the barriers that false constraint has erected. Where society says "you cannot love this person," Amador says "your desire is divine truth and society's restriction is the lie."

The earliest recorded Amadorite communities were small, clandestine, and dangerous. Worshipping Amador meant actively defying social structures—hiding lovers, creating spaces where forbidden unions could happen, challenging laws that separated people who belonged together.

Over generations, the faith developed two distinct faces:

In organized societies, Amadorites function as rebels and liberators—establishing safe spaces within temples where forbidden lovers can meet without judgment. Some temples became known as places of sanctuary, where people escaping arranged marriages or class boundaries could find shelter and community.

In artistic and bohemian communities, Amadorites function as celebrants and guides—helping people understand their desires, teaching that passion and joy are spiritual truths, creating contexts where authentic desire can be expressed and honored.

What unified both expressions was a core principle: authentic desire, entered into freely and without malice, is sacred. Amador does not bless love motivated by greed or manipulation. He does not bless desire used as a weapon. But when two people genuinely want each other and social boundaries stand in the way, Amador sees and honors that. He makes what society forbids possible.

Amador offers something radical: the blessing of forbidden passion, the safety to pursue authentic desire, and the transformation that comes from choosing love over duty.

Amador's followers understand their faith through principles of authentic desire, genuine consent, and the sacred nature of freely-chosen connection.

(See also: claw/Soul_Coins_and_Divine_Economy)

Amador gathers power through authentic connections, through the specific spiritual energy of people choosing love despite social consequence, and through the breaking of unjust boundaries.

An Amador temple is intentionally dual in nature—a place of public worship and a sanctuary for private intimate connection.

Architecture and Design:

Practical functions: Temples serve as:

Amador's priesthood is organized around authentic calling and demonstrated ability to help lovers, not through hierarchical appointment.

Leadership through service: The most respected passion-priests are those known for successfully helping lovers overcome obstacles, for creating sanctuaries that protect the vulnerable, for bearing witness to authentic connection.

Decentralized authority: Different temples operate semi-independently. A temple in a conservative city might operate in secrecy; a temple in an artistic community might be public and celebrated. Both are valid expressions of Amador's work.

Mentorship structure: New priests typically emerge through their own experience of authentic love and their demonstrated ability to help others. Training is less formal curriculum and more apprenticeship with an experienced priestess or priest.

Gender and sexuality diversity: The priesthood explicitly welcomes people of all genders and sexualities. Many priests are themselves examples of the love they help others achieve—women with women, men with men, cross-gender partnerships, polyamorous groups.

The High Council of Hearts: Some regions maintain a loose council of senior priests who meet to address theological questions and coordinate response to persecution. These councils have no legal power but significant respect.

Conversion to Amador's faith typically begins with personal experience rather than theological conviction.

Soft entry: Someone falls in love in a way that society forbids. They discover others in similar situations. They encounter the faith through other lovers or through a temple. Formal conversion follows the experience of being accepted and celebrated for what society condemned.

Initiation: Marked by a ritual in which the initiate stands before the community and speaks their love authentically. They name the person they love, the barriers they face, the desire that brought them to the faith. The community affirms their love as sacred. They are given an amulet—the Entwined Hearts symbol—that marks them as Amadorite. The initiation is witnessing and being witnessed.

What makes an enemy rather than a convert: Those who use love as a tool of control or manipulation. Those who enter the faith seeking permission for infidelity or coercion. Those who claim Amador's blessing while denying consent to their partners. These people are not converted; they are condemned as perverting the faith.

A devoted Amadorite is recognizable by their celebration of love in all authentic forms and their active challenge to unjust boundaries.

Date: Spring Equinox.

The Festival of First Desires celebrates the blossoming of new love and the rekindling of old flames. The day is characterized by public declarations of love, moonlit dances under blooming trees, and the exchange of flowers and love notes. Lovers are encouraged to take walks together in public—an act that can be transgressive in societies where certain unions are forbidden.

The festival's core ritual involves a blessing of new relationships. Couples (regardless of configuration) come before the community and speak their desire for each other. The community affirms and blesses the union. For many Amadorites, this is the only wedding they will receive—since legal marriage may be impossible or forbidden.

Date: Midsummer Night.

The Day of Secret Whispers honors forbidden and clandestine lovers. This day explicitly celebrates those unions that must remain hidden from society. Lovers exchange secret tokens of affection, light lanterns and set them afloat on water as prayers for reunion or protection, and make whispered confessions to one another in the veil of night.

The ritual acknowledges the pain of forbidden love while celebrating its authenticity. It is a day of both sorrow and joy—mournful for love that must be hidden, celebratory for love that persists despite prohibition.

Date: Winter Solstice.

The Feast of Endless Devotion celebrates enduring love that has survived hardship and separation. As the days grow shorter and nights longer, this feast celebrates the warmth found in love that persists through difficulty. Long-term couples reaffirm their commitment; singles pray for guidance in love.

The feast includes communal meals where stories of legendary lovers are shared—tales of couples who maintained their love despite being separated, who sacrificed to be together, who remained faithful across decades. The message is that authentic love is not temporary passion but enduring commitment.

Date: Autumn's first full moon.

Twilight of Lost Loves honors past loves, whether ended in heartbreak, death, or simply drifting apart. This somber day acknowledges that not all love stories have happy endings and that loss is part of authentic engagement with love.

The ritual involves lighting incense in memory of lost loves, writing and burning letters to release lingering feelings, and gathering in community to share tales of loves that have ended. The ritual affirms that even love that doesn't last forever was sacred and real.

Performed when lovers seek Amador's formal blessing on their relationship. The ceremony is typically secret or semi-public depending on what is safe. The lovers stand before a priest and speak their desire for each other. The priest asks specific questions: "Do you choose this union freely? Do you respect your partner's autonomy? Will you defend this love against those who condemn it?" Upon affirmative answers, the priest blesses the relationship.

Unlike legal marriage, Amador's blessing has no legal status—but it has spiritual weight within the faith.

Performed when lovers have overcome a significant social obstacle to their union. The ceremony involves a symbolic act of breaking an obstacle (tearing cloth that represents a barrier, breaking a clay pot representing a wall) and then the lovers joining hands in public. The community witnesses and affirms that the barrier is overcome.

Performed when someone fleeing a forced marriage or persecution arrives at the temple. The ritual grants sanctuary and brings the person into community. A priest performs a brief ceremony that acknowledges the person's courage and affirms that their authentic desire is blessed. The person is given shelter and support while longer-term plans are made.

Performed in memory of lovers who died or were separated by force. The community gathers, and the deceased or separated lovers are named. Stories of their love are shared. Objects significant to their love are preserved or buried. The ritual acknowledges that even when love cannot persist in life, the connection remains sacred.

Worn during major ceremonies, robes in deep reds, purples, and rose tones that signify love and passion. The robes are beautiful and sensual—chosen to celebrate desire rather than hide it. Some robes bear embroidered rose imagery.

Worn by all initiated Amadorites, the holy symbol rendered as a pendant in gold or silver. The amulet is both public declaration of faith and private reminder of the wearer's commitment to authentic love.

Worn during major celebrations and when blessing new unions. The crown is made from fresh or preserved roses and flowers. It is beautiful but temporary, reinforcing the idea that even the most sacred moments are fleeting—which makes them more precious.

A personal piece of jewelry chosen by each Amadorite—often exchanged with their partner or significant person. These tokens are not standardized; each is unique and personal. They represent the individual nature of each love story.

Lysandra was a noblewoman, the eldest daughter of a powerful king, destined by politics to marry a prince of a neighboring kingdom. She was beautiful, talented, and trapped in duty.

Each night, she heard a bard named Elion sing beneath her balcony—songs of love that crossed all boundaries, of desire that could not be suppressed. She fell in love with the bard himself, not just his songs. The relationship was absolutely forbidden: a noblewoman with a commoner would be scandal and potential treason.

Lysandra made her choice. With Amador's blessing, she eloped with Elion, abandoning title, wealth, and family expectations. She became a performer herself, traveling with her lover. Together they created art that celebrated love in all its forms.

The priesthood teaches Lysandra as the exemplar of choosing love over duty. Her emblem—a silver harp intertwined with a rose—became a symbol for lovers who dared to challenge the status quo. She is invoked by those facing family pressure to abandon authentic relationships.

Dante was a poet from humble origin whose verses captured the intensity and complexity of love. His poems celebrated passion in all its forms—romantic love, sexual desire, the joy of connection. His work was considered scandalous by authorities because it normalized forms of desire that society wished to suppress.

Dante's most famous collection was addressed to "The Moonlit Muse"—a mysterious beloved whose identity remains unknown. Scholars debate whether the Muse was a woman, a man, or a symbolic representation. The ambiguity is likely intentional—Dante's point was that the gender of the beloved mattered less than the authenticity of the desire.

Dante's legacy is particularly important to Amadorites because his work showed that authentic love and desire could be celebrated through art and beauty. He is invoked by artists and poets seeking to express love truthfully. His inkwell—from which he penned his passionate verses—is preserved as a relic and is said to grant clarity to artists struggling to express love authentically.

Seraphine was a priestess in one of Amador's grand temples, known for her ability to counsel lovers navigating complex relationships. She was respected, wise, and seemingly dedicated entirely to her service.

Then she fell in love with Flansan, another priest at the temple. Their love was forbidden for multiple reasons: both had taken vows of service, they came from different incompatible races (in a society where cross-racial relationships were condemned), and same-sex unions were illegal.

Rather than hide, Seraphine and Flansan chose to make their love public within the temple. They continued their service while openly acknowledging their partnership. They demonstrated that authentic love could not be suppressed by vow or law.

The community was divided. Some saw Seraphine as corrupting the priesthood; others saw her as living the faith authentically. Ultimately, Seraphine's example became theological precedent: authentic desire, entered freely and with integrity, does not corrupt vows—it fulfills them.

Seraphine and Flansan created twin pendants—each half of a heart—that they wore publicly. These became symbols for lovers facing adversity but remaining steadfast in their love.

How they refer to themselves: the Protectors or the Hidden Guardians

The Sanctuary Keepers focus on creating safe spaces for forbidden lovers and those fleeing persecution. They maintain networks of temples, safe houses, and communities. Their work is primarily practical—providing shelter, documentation, passage out of areas where their love is illegal.

The Keepers are sometimes viewed as insufficiently spiritual by more mystical sects, but their work has saved countless lives. They see practical protection as the highest form of worship.

How they refer to themselves: the Joy-Bringers or the Artists of Love

The Celebrants emphasize the celebration and artistic expression of authentic love. They are disproportionately artists, performers, and poets. They create art that depicts love in all its forms and hold public celebrations of desire.

The Celebrants are sometimes viewed as frivolous by more serious sects, but their work educates and normalizes forms of love that society condemns. They believe that beauty and joy are powerful tools for change.

How they refer to themselves: the Healers or the Listeners

The Counselors specialize in relationship guidance and emotional support. They work with couples navigating conflicts, with individuals processing grief from love lost, with people discovering their authentic desires.

The Counselors are deeply respected within the faith. They provide practical guidance that helps people understand authentic love versus manipulation or codependency.

How they refer to themselves: the Forever Bound

The Doctrine of Eternal Love takes Amador's teachings about authentic connection to extremes, arguing that once you have loved, that love is eternal and binding regardless of circumstance change. They oppose breakups, divorce, or moving on as betrayal of authentic connection.

The orthodox faith rejects this as misreading Amador's teachings. Authentic love requires ongoing consent. If that consent changes, the love must be honored—but so must the person's right to withdraw consent.

How they refer to themselves: the Disruption-Bringers or the Subversives

This heresy interprets Amador's teachings about breaking boundaries as justification for actively disrupting established relationships and communities. They believe love should be used as a weapon to dismantle social order, even when it causes harm.

The orthodox faith sees this as corruption. Amador does not bless harm; he blesses genuine connection. Using love as a tool of destruction violates the faith's core principle of consensual joy.

How they refer to themselves: the Golden Hearts or the Blessed Elite

The Circle of Aphros denies Amador's teaching that love should never be transactional. They believe wealth and influence are proof of divine favor and that using love to gain status is actually blessed by Amador. They teach that the beautiful and wealthy are naturally more deserving of love.

This directly contradicts the faith's core teaching that authentic desire crosses all boundaries, not reinforces existing hierarchies.

How they refer to themselves: the Inward Seekers

This cult claims that Amador's true desire is for people to find love within themselves first and foremost, negating the need for external relationships. They teach withdrawal from romantic pursuits and focus entirely on self-love.

The orthodox faith sees this as a fundamental inversion. Amador celebrates connection; isolation contradicts the god's nature. Self-love is positive but insufficient; Amador's blessing requires authentic connection with others.

How they refer to themselves: the Perfect Lovers

This cult rejects the idea that love comes with challenges and pain (symbolized by the thorns in Amador's holy symbol). They preach that authentic love should be entirely free of hardship. They seek to remove all obstacles to love, often through deceit and manipulation.

The orthodox faith teaches that real love includes challenge—maintaining connection through conflict, choosing to remain committed despite difficulty. The thornless rose is not more beautiful; it is incomplete.

(See: Cosmology/Physical Realms/The Shattered Domain)