Elite Salvation

Elite Salvation is a theological concept in the religion of Pratasam.

Elite Salvation is the idea that you don't need to necessarily uphold a certain level of goodness or correct belief as long as you act in absolute obedience to someone who does. After all, good behavior stems from good belief and knowledge, but not everyone can achieve good knowledge. So if you don't have proper education or knowledge and you have the humility to accept that, you can accept the guidance of someone who does have proper knowledge and derive your goodness from them.

 Spiritually, this makes two categories of believers: leaders and followers. Leaders must obey druidic law: they must avoid touching blood, they must avoid eating the meat of mammals, they must devote a certain part of their time to study. Leaders must seek penance through public displays of self-punishment if they fail or lapse in their goodness. Those who lack the humility to seek such forgiveness must face terrible punishment, which is often public. Monarchs, priests, magicians, and aristocrats are all examples of leaders in Pratasam. 

Followers, meanwhile, must openly show their lower status as a constant sign of humility. They must not accept positions of power reserved for leaders, and they must obey when their leaders make demands. Evil that is ordered by a corrupt leader to a follower is not morally culpable for that follower. As followers are spiritually bound to their leaders, it is the moral duty of good leaders to defeat heretical or heathen leaders and seize their followers for their own. 

If a realm is in disarray, Pratasam legalism looks at one of several sources: Failures of Leadership, Failures of Obedience, or Enemy Action. If failures of obedience cannot be proven, a leader can be condemned by other leaders (such as priests) to be either a failure of leadership or enemy action. This is a dangerous place for a leader to be, as even the possibility of a failure in leadership opens a prince or priest to either conquest by other Pratasa leaders or righteous uprisings by their followers.

This interpretation is based in religious history, as an extension of Halcyon's pact, the Covenant of Heaven, formed with the prophet Lily of Red. The fact that the Covenant was formed through the prophet Lily as an individual leader, and that her druidic heirs carry a magical burden tying them to her promises, implies that leaders or specialists should carry the burden of interpretation. Halcyon did not reveal herself to all people, or even to the Dawara clan more broadly, but only to a single leader who was given disproportionate authority and magical power but was also subject to greater divine scrutiny. Druidism is a model for this, as druids taught in the lineage of Lily are subject to the Sintree curse, which torturously kills the druid if they commit a dire sin. While Lily and her disciples were clearly chosen to guide and rule, the common people were given neither curses nor blessings - they were simply expected to follow. A combination of faith, humilty, and obedience is enough to satisfy the Covenant and ensure salvation even if the leaders fail and guide them into committing sins.