Doseu

The Doseu is the moral leader of the Cardinal Cleric faith. Cardinalism is separated into a wide variety of sects and promotes a personal relationship with the One King, inviting its adherents to read and interpret its holy books on their own. Thus, the role of the Doseu throughout much of the church's history was largely ceremonial, speaking only on issues for which the entire body of believers could unite. The primary role of the Doseu was also a as good-will ambassador, promoting unity and collaboration between churches, and directing charitable efforts over a large scale. The Doseu was supposed to be the embodiment of everything a Cardinal Cleric should strive to be, and they were often quite influential when chosen carefully enough. The Doseu, however, did not have the authority to make law or dictate doctrine.

The Oath

Following The Death of Hope, Samuel Fate sought to speed up his subjugation of the known worlds by forcing the Doseu to bow before him and declare him the One King whom the clerics revered. The Doseu refused, and was beheaded. The same fate befell the next doseu, and the one after that. Several other Doseu cut out their own tongues and were killed.

Eventually, a succession of forty Doseu died at the direct hands of Samuel Fate. When the forty-first Doseu was brought before Fate, but before Fate could make his demands, the Doseu swore an oath: no Doseu was to speak to anyone besides the Pendragon of Slayer Dragons, and if the Doseu were to speak to anyone else, every Cardinal Cleric in the known worlds was to rise up against that person and be their end. The Doseu then stood quietly and waited to hear what Fate had to ask of him.

Wisely, Samuel Fate decided to subjugate the verse well enough without the passing himself off as the Cardinal Clerics' god, and left well enough alone. The strength of the oath and the brutal war that followed drove countless converts to Cardinalism, which became the dominant religion all over the verse by the end of the Long Night.