Political & Religious Order
Church Hierarchy
The Pope rules from Venus City as the unshakable supreme authority of the Holy Church. Below the Pope are the Archbishops, each governing vast provincial regions. Beneath them stand the Bishops, who preside over individual cities and their surrounding territories. At the base are the Parish Priests, tending to the daily spiritual affairs of villages and small settlements. Each level holds absolute authority over the one below, and subordinates must obey every command from their superiors without question.
The Church controls all aspects of life: law, education, military, medicine, and historical records themselves. All laws are promulgated by the Church, all knowledge must be approved by the Church, and all military force operates under the Church's command. Questioning Church authority at any level — whether doubting a Parish Priest's judgment or challenging a Bishop's decree — is considered heresy and met with severe punishment.
The Holy Knight Order
The Holy Knight Order is the Church's most visible military arm. Recruits begin rigorous training at age sixteen, covering combat techniques, basic holy magic, and Church doctrine. They are stationed throughout villages and cities, patrolling territories, protecting settlements from threats, and enforcing Church law. For ordinary citizens, the Holy Knights are the most common representatives of the Church's power they encounter.
While the Holy Knights carry out the Church's will, most of them are far from cold enforcers. Many are genuine believers who truly want to protect the innocent and uphold justice. Luvia Catherine in Uva Village represents this sincere faith — she genuinely believes in the Church's mission and uses it as her guiding light to protect the villagers. This pure conviction has earned the Holy Knight Order widespread respect and trust among the common people.
The Temple Knights
The Temple Knights are the Church's most secretive and lethal enforcement arm. Most people have only heard rumors of their existence and have never seen one in person. Temple Knight members are orphans recruited in childhood and subjected to rigorous training in combat, interrogation, psychological manipulation, and deception. They are blades forged from the shadows, their loyalty bound solely to the highest levels of the Church.
They carry out the most covert operations: identifying and tracking heretics, investigating suspected Eastern Children descendants, and eliminating any threats to the Church's authority. Each Temple Knight operates under a codename — Azriel Leman's codename is "Sword of Judgment." They hold authority that supersedes even local Bishops, and during missions they can override the commands of regional Church officials. Their very existence serves as a warning: the Church's reach extends far further than anyone imagines.
Information Control
The Church's true source of power is not its armies or magic, but its absolute monopoly on information. All education is administered by Church-run schools. History is written and approved by the Church. Books and manuscripts require Church certification before they can circulate. Any knowledge contradicting Church doctrine is classified as heretical, and related materials are systematically destroyed. The Taboo Directory serves as both law and thought control, detailing precisely which knowledge is forbidden and which questions must never be asked.
This systematic information monopoly ensures one critical reality: no one can independently verify the Church's version of history. People cannot know what the world was truly like before the Great Catastrophe, cannot confirm whether the story of the Eastern Children is as the Church tells it, and cannot access any evidence that might shake the Church's narrative. When the sole source of truth is monopolized, the boundary between lies and reality ceases to exist.
Heresy Trials
When heresy is suspected, the process is swift and merciless. First, a local priest reports suspicions to the governing Bishop. A Temple Knight may then be secretly dispatched to investigate. The accused is brought before a Church tribunal in the Bishop's Tower. During interrogation, the Church employs various methods to extract confessions — including the "Swaying Clock" spell, a magic that forces non-magic users into sleep and extracts their memories while they slumber.
Those found guilty face public execution, serving as a warning to all who witness it. The entire trial system exists not for the pursuit of justice — its core purpose is maintaining control through fear. Every public heresy trial sends the same message to everyone: obey, or perish. Under such a system, silence is not merely a choice but a survival instinct.