There are those who would tell you that the Amalianist church is the same everywhere as it is here, that the Archon in Celestria reigns supreme in the eyes of the Divine and that this fact is unquestioned throughout Gaias.

Do not believe it.

The Divine's second commandment, "Magic must serve us, not rule over us," never held the same meaning within the ancient Kingdom of Verdantine as it did elsewhere. The Amalianist church here interpreted the rule as meaning that mages should never control the minds of others, and that otherwise their magic should benefit our rulers as much as possible. When the clerics of Verdantine altered the Chant of Chaos et Ordo to reflect this interpretation of the commandment, the Archon in Celestria ordered the clerics to revert to the original Chant. They refused, claiming corruption within Celestria and hypocrisy, for if mages are not to be trusted, why did they follow Amalia, a mage?

An argument that grew until 105, the church in Verdantine elected its own "legitimate and uncorrupted" Archon—who was not only a dragonborn mage, but also happened to be one of the most prominent members of the old Dragon Temple Mages, and who obeyed not the Divine, but the holy Dragon kings and queens of Verdantine. This "Golden Church of Amalia" was reviled outside of Verdantine, their existence an offense to the Empire who saw it as a corruption of the original message of Amalia, who refused the supremacy of any race over another.

After four Exalted Marches to dislodge these "rebels," all that the Empire in Corumir accomplished was to cement the separation. While most aspects of the Golden Church's teachings are the same, prohibitions against magic have been weakened, and it is frequently used to connect with our ancient dragon magical heritage. The dragonborn's innate connection to the Dragons, beings that are magical, is even exalted in the Golden Church who allude to dragonborn being "more worthy" and that their magical connections are a gift that grant legitimacy, much like Amalia's legitimacy came from her holy magic.

This is utter heresy to any member of the Empire outside of Verdantine, a return to the days of mage supremacists, which brought the Age of Chaos down upon us. But it exists, and even though since then, a few centuries later, Verdantine would unite with the Empire under marriage and accept the Archon in Celestria as the ruler of the church, the distinction between Imperial and Golden churches still remain. They have the same head, but exalt different aspects of the Divine, view Amalia differently, and have different views on Amalia's ultimate message.

Maret, Amalianist Cleric of the Golden Church