The empire's state faith — a sun-worship that traces the Aurean dynasty to divine right, its golden icons gazing down from every cathedral and taxhouse in the realm.
The Aurean Synod holds that the first Empress, Aurea the Unifier, rode a sun-chariot from the heavens to bring order to the lawless lands. Its priests wear gold-embroidered vestments, preach obedience as a virtue, and keep careful genealogies of every noble house — for the dynasty's divine blood must not be diluted. In practice, the Synod is a creature of the throne: it excommunicates guildmasters who defy imperial edicts, blesses the legions before they march into the Heartwood, and insists that the forest's shifting paths are tests of faith. The Rootbound call it a golden mask worn over a hollow faith.