Who We Are
"We tend what the Light has given us to tend: the sick, the poor, the old, the dying, and the holy dead.""We keep what the Light has given us to keep: the sick, the poor, the old, the dying, and the never dead."
The Pale Sisters are the order of women who keep the Cathedral of the Grey Saint. We attend the Saints in their sanctity, we prepare the rites of the Remaking, we keep the cathedral and its candles, and we carry the Light of the Root to those in the city who have none. We take our vows young, and we keep them until we are received. It is said among the faithful that the Root favours us — that sickness does not touch the Sisters as it touches others. We do not boast of this. We understand it only as a mercy, and we give thanks for it, and we use the years it grants us in service.No woman is born a Pale Sister. We are appointed, and an appointment is not a request and is not refused; or we are sentenced, and offer the Veil in place of the sentence, and the Veil is the sentence, and it does not end. At the Veiling our names are written once into the Register, struck through with a single line, and never spoken again. It is said among the faithful that sickness does not touch us. It touches us. The Light has no use for a sick servant, so those of us it touches are taken from the wing at night, and are not written down, and are not spoken of again.
Charity & the Tithe
The faithful give to the cathedral, and the cathedral gives to the faithful. This is the tithe, and it is the oldest of our works. What is given to us we return to those in need: bread to the hungry of the lower city, medicine to the sick, shelter to those the winter would take. The Sisters walk the lower tiers each Bellday with the alms-baskets. None who comes to the cathedral in true need is turned away.The faithful give to the cathedral, and the cathedral writes down what was given. This is the tithe, and it is the oldest of our works. The baskets are counted out at the gate and counted back at the gate, and we are searched upon return, for ours is the only wing that walks among the poor. Every hand we feed is a hand we can find again. None who comes to the cathedral in true need is turned away, and none is forgotten.
The Almonry & the GoldrootThe Almonry, and the Leash
Those the cathedral takes into its care are given the Goldroot — the coin struck by the cathedral itself, bearing the Silver Crow on one face and the root on the other. It is the only coin the church mints, and it cannot be spent as common money. It is spent only within Corvael, and only for the things the cathedral provides: a bed in the almshouses, the attendance of a physician, the care of the aged in their final years. The Goldroot is given freely to those who keep the observances and live obedient to the rule of the cathedral, that no faithful soul need want for shelter or care. The elderly so cared for are housed in the upper city, in the peace of the Still Gardens, among the statues of the Saints — well kept, and watched over, for as long as they remain in good standing with the cathedral.Those the cathedral takes into its care are given the Goldroot — a coin struck by the cathedral itself, bearing the Silver Crow on one face and the root on the other. It is the only coin the church mints, and it cannot be spent as common money. It cannot be spent outside Corvael at all, which is the point of it, and is the whole of it: a wage you are unable to carry out of the house that pays it. It is given freely to those who keep the observances, and it is withdrawn from those who do not, and the withdrawing is not appealed and is not explained. A soul without it does not eat in this city. The aged so cared for are kept in the upper city, among the statues, well watched — and they remain there for exactly as long as they remain in good standing, and the cathedral alone decides what standing is, and no one has ever been recorded leaving the Gardens.
In the cathedral's keeping at present are sixty-eight souls of the almshouses and the Gardens, each tended in the Light, each known to the Sisters by name. We pray for them at the Dawn Vigil and the Evening Vigil, as we pray for all the sanctified.In the cathedral's keeping at present are sixty-eight souls of the almshouses and the Gardens, each known to the Sisters by a number, for we are forbidden to keep names, including our own. The count was seventy-one at the last Bellday. We are forbidden to count.
Blessings & Prayer
The Sisters offer the blessings of the cathedral to all who ask in good faith: the blessing of the threshold, for those who travel; the blessing of the sick-bed; the blessing of the returned, spoken over the dead before they are given to the Root. We keep the hours of prayer at every bell. The faithful may come to the cathedral at any daylight hour and find a Sister to pray with them.The Sisters offer the blessings of the cathedral to all who ask in good faith: the blessing of the threshold, for those who will not cross back; the blessing of the sick-bed; the blessing of the returned, sung over the dead while they are given to the Root. We sing at every bell. We are told the singing honours them. We have stood close enough to know the singing covers the sound.
It is our custom to keep the memory of every soul the cathedral has received. The cathedral has tended the sanctified for over three hundred years, since the first of them, and reads their names — all eighty-seven — upon the appointed days. Of the eighty-seventh and the place that is kept after him, we are not permitted to speak.It is our custom to keep the memory of every soul the cathedral has taken. The cathedral has held the sanctified for over three hundred years, since the first of them, and reads their names — all eighty-seven — upon the appointed days. The eighty-eighth place is cut into the brass and left empty, and of what waits in it we are not permitted to speak.
The cathedral is also served by the Brothers of the Ashen Face, who keep the crypts, tend the sick, and carry the alms into the lower city. Their house is governed by Father Osric, who answers to the Matriarch. Read more of the Ashen Order ›The cathedral is also served by the Brothers of the Ashen Face, who dig the graves, wash the dead, and carry what the Sisters will not touch. Their house is governed by Father Osric, who asks and is refused. Read more of the Ashen Order ›
Donations Accepted Here
"What you give in faith is never lost. What you give in truth is never wasted." — the blessing of the alms-basket"What you give in faith is never returned. What you give in truth is written down." — the blessing of the alms-basket
Come to the Sisters
Request AidNow Counted
All in good standing may request assistance. The Light is with us all, in poverty and in illness. You need not suffer.All who ask are written down. The Light is with us all, in poverty and in illness, and it will not let you leave.
Ask the Sisters ›Be counted here ›Assist the SistersThe Appeal, Offered
The tithe of your gift, fully registered, is appreciated and valued. Help us tend to those who need it most.A woman under sentence may offer the Veil in its place, and the Court accepts, for the Order is always short of hands.
Offer your tithe ›Offer up the Veil ›Sign Your Name in the RegistryYour Name, Struck Through Once
If you wish to be remembered and have your name read aloud at the fourth bell, please sign here, and we shall keep you in our prayers.If you wish to be remembered, your name is written once into the Register, struck through with a single line, and never spoken aloud again.
Sign the registry ›Give up your name ›