Navarr religious beliefs

Navarr priests are called guides, partly because of the guidance they try to give the Navarr, 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 spirits or virtues compliment each other. The guides seek to ensure that the people they encounter are given the best opportunity to flourish and in turn add to the Empire and the Great Dance. This might involve 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.

Although all Navarr see life in terms of the Great Dance, what makes the guides unique is their concern for the virtue of the people they help. Guides understand that virtue is not inherent in an individual, that it is a product of the person and their circumstances. By helping a person change their circumstances, by guiding them to a place more suited to their temperament, they can help that person become more virtuous.

This has led to friction – in some places running away to join the Navarr is seen as irresponsibly betraying one’s own life and family. In other circles it’s seen as a desirable goal and a path to high adventure. The idea of joining the Navarr is a common daydream in the Empire for people who feel underappreciated or "stuck in a rut." The truth is a little more prosaic. Few outsiders stay with the stridings for long, but the Navarr 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 Navarr 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 Navarr 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 Navarr 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 Navarr 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 Navarr individual self-identifies as a Caller they keep it to themselves.

The exception are those Navarr who actively seek a place in the Navarr 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 Navarr Assembly can be considered as akin to Callers, but better that the Navarr have a voice in the Synod than none at all.