The Church of Cruis of the Valleys is the main religion in Kemedal, but although it closely follows the doctrines of the Church of Cruisana, the King of Kemedal is recognised as the Head of the Church instead of the Archbishop of Cruishaven. This situation has existed since 377 BP, when king Derog III opposed the Church's orders to let his first wife Queen Aneira die a natural death, despite the fact that she was stark raving mad and had to be kept bound and locked up in a tower to prevent her from harming herself and others. Queen Aneira had birthed the king no children yet, and with her condition was unlikely to do so. Derog III therefore broke with the Church of Cruisana and founded the Church of Cruis of the Valleys (Yr Eglwys Crŵs y Cymoedd). Queen Aneira was subsequently put out of her misery and the king remarried, but none of the children his new wife gave him survived childhood and the crown passed to Derog III's halfbrother Gwrtheyrn.
In 334 BP the first Kingdom of Kemedal came to an end. The Church of Cruis of the Valleys, which didn't want to fall back under Cruisan doctrine again, struck a deal with the new power and was able to continue as long as it recognised the new authority. As the last king Derog IV the Miserable and his family were murdered or banished, the Church of Cruis of the Valleys saw itself without official head until king Caerwyn I converted in 194 AP. Between 334 BP and 194 AP the Archbishops of Aberban acted as Vicar, which developed to a most powerful office until Church officials were decimated by the Plague in the last decades BP.
Church officials, including the Archbishop of Aberban, can be men and women. Celibacy is observed.
Organisation[]
The main seat of the Church is the Saint Paul's Cathedral in Aberban. Although the King is the Head of the Church, the most important Church official is the Archbishop of Aberban. The incumbent Archbishop of Aberban has been the Most Reverend Mother Glenys Rhieunyddiog since 305.