Divine Blessings

Divine Blessings is one of Tsunia's four Shadow Cults. Their religion is centred around the truth of Arcerra that has been reduced to myths by Era IV.

History
Divine Blessing was founded by the followers of Silva, a long-dead Eidolon from Era I who taught L.U.C.Y how to Program Ethraksha.

babbled on about some prophecy

did a bunch of cool shit with ethraksha

got a bunch of followers

took lucy under his wing

said that shes the chosen one (false)

followers believed him

cue The Divine Blessing and the Bedrock Solution

Silva is killed by L.U.C.Y in a fit of rage.

followers get angry.

they decide to spread their religion around the continent, skewing so that L.U.C.Y is seen as a demon.

religion gets pretty popular

cue the great kings

non-hardcore silvanists see them as the people the prophecy was talking about (The prophecy is "incomplete" since L.U.C.Y didnt do it properly)

hardcore silvanists get pissed off at this and try to convince the masses otherwise.

Great Kings and other arkin usher in a technological age and Silvanism is reduced to a bunch of myths

Divine Blessings cult is formed and is positioned to be in control of the main church.

But eventually people stop caring about religion all together

Come Era IV, people doubt the Arkin ever even existed and Silva is totally forgotten about by the masses.

Philosophy
They praise a long-dead Eidolon called Silva and his teachings, which is what Silvanism is centred around (believe it or not), but the impact The Great Kings had on the continent have been pissing them off for ages. They want to rid Arcerra from everything related to them before they continue. They also dislike L.U.C.Y for killing silva, and want her to atone. They don't mind the whole divine blessing thing since that was her job.

Philosophies held by Divine Blessings based on Silva's teachings include:

Being against man-made weapons, since the natural magical power a person is born with (thanks to The Divine Blessing) proves to be more than a match for anything made out of steel. Magical weaponry is ok since they require that same power to use in the first place, but not the Artifacts since they were made by the Great Kings and fuck them. Mechanical weapons are FORBIDDEN.

They reject Science completely. They believe that the Third Calamity was much worse because it was brought about by the neglect to Arcerra's environment thanks to the demands of technology. Technology, whether Magical or Mechanical, always leads to disaster one way or another. They wish to see it erased off the face of Arcerra. There is no problem that the Intuitive application of Flow, Ethraksha, and Pallobalt can solve.

They refer to Ethraksha as the Blessing. Those who possess EthrA are blessed

They also wish to cause another Calamity, for two main reasons:
 * 1) To force L.U.C.Y to return and fulfil the prophecy, since they know that she was the one who Silva's Prophecy was about, and not the Great Kings (which is why they hate them)
 * 2) To further redo scientific advancement. It's a product of the heretic's knowledge; can't be allowed to exist.

But since this wasn't anything that Silva said himself, nobody really cares. And you know, it's 2017 come on guys lets be progressive science isn't that bad this book was written like over 1000 years ago.

But of course, the only people who think like that are Silvanists of little faith, not even worthy of being ranked a Pawn.

The main conflict between Divine Blessings and The High Houses of Tsunia/The King's Agency/The Diarchy centers around whether the Arkin Preventative Measure was used maliciously or not and about the Distinguished Mages within each group being lap dogs or traitors, respectively.

Entry 6 & Proving.
You need to pass two rituals to join. Those who do not pass both are seen as unblessed, and refused into the Cult. The Entry test requires you to Transmute all the Flow inside of a small room that's been saturated in it before it kills you. The Proving test has you be injected with some Ethraksha from the Predater being hosted by one of the Queens, Bubon. It tests whether you have a higher than average EthrA or not. If it's the standard amount of 0%, it will kill you.

Enlightenment
If a member feels as if they are straying from the light, they can just get their mind-wiped of whatever it is that unease them. This ritual can only be accessed by Rooks and above; Knights and pawns are just killed off instead.

Current Plan
If one were to create a simple flowchart of everything Divine Blessings stands for, then
 * 1) Fuck the great kings.
 * 2) Fuck L.U.C.Y.
 * 3) Praise Silva.
 * 4) Take control of Tsunia.
 * 5) Fuck the King's Agency, they're too loyal to the Great Kings. Them stealing artifacts and indoctrinating capital academy students is probably one of their short term goals to inhibiting the king’s agency’s power.
 * 6) Fuck the SAC, they think science is cool. (its not)
 * 7) Fuck the Druids, they want to kill everyone and our Predaters don't agree with those two.
 * 8) The Ethr Hosts aren't that important, but not having them on our side isn't the best. WE need all of them.
 * 9) Abandon Science. It stinks of the Great Kings. We don't need it.
 * 10) L.U.C.Y was the person the prophecy was about. But she abandoned the continent.
 * 11) Bring L.U.C.Y back to Arcerra
 * 12) Force L.U.C.Y to revert everything to after Era II but before Era III
 * 13) Steal Tomahtra from L.U.C.Y, then kill her. (they dont know it was destroyed)
 * 14) Make a better version of Tomahtra and use it to make everyone Arkin again. (they plan to reverse engineer a weapon that doesnt exist. They'll probably end up taking the Druid's Ethraksha Stealing Proxy Weapon and modifying that)
 * 15) Resurrect Silva. (somehow??)
 * 16) Job done

Hierarchy
Divine Blessings uses a chess hierarchy. The higher up you are, the more EthrA you have. You have complete authority over everyone below your own rank.

Pawns
Commoners who don't really know what's going on. The guys who do all the devout worship and shit.

Knights
Promoted Pawns who still don't see the bigger picture and just follow orders, but they can fight.
 * 1) Knight #264 was the second in command during the Entrance Exam Ambush. They breed and maintain most of Divine Blessing's dangerous animals.

Knightriders
Stronger Knights that are specifically used for assassinating for low-priority targets.

Rooks
Members ranked Rook and above know the full story. Order around groups of Knights and Pawns. They're in charge of most of the dirty work. Ttopia Adonna is the only Rook I have so far.

Chancellors
They probably handle stuff outside of Tsunia, like acquiring Ethr Hosts. Finding shards of Silva.

Bishops
Strongest members that do any actual fighting. They normally just protect the queens since they can't fight. Used when someone strong needs to be killed, a fatal blow to an enemy cult needs to be made, or when acquiring valuable assets. Nobuo G. Warholm and Gozeebo are the only known Bishops.

Queens
Four Predater hosts that deal with anything that involves Ethraksha. Determine who is worthy of joining Divine Blessings and who can be promoted. These four Predaters were some of the weaker ones that listened to the Original when he said: "Don't hate humanity".

They're weaker than the Nightriders.

Anti-King
The King's protector. 90% EthrA.

King
A kid who awoke to his L.U.C.Y Gene. In Era IV. A full blown Elementalist.