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Post by rumblymarrow on Sept 24, 2014 12:34:11 GMT -6
Sanct is a kingdom unlike all the other kingdoms in Gaianus. It is the oldest of all the kingdoms and it claims that faith is the only thing keeps it alive. No one is quite sure of their past because the archives of Sanct are so ancient that they have become unable to read the archives that were kept from their ancient past. However both Inquisitors and Clergymen are constantly trying to translate the ancient archives of Sanct. The Inquisition has recently made a breakthrough about the origins of the original settlers of Sanct. The Inquisition has discovered that they were refugees. The Inquisition don't know from what yet but they believe they are close to finding out. The Purist Church which is the main religious body in Sanct claims that magic is inherently evil and that magic will destroy all that use it The head of the Purist Church is the grand priest and as the head of the state religion he has a lot of power in the government. The church constantly releases anti-magic propaganda and punishes people who have been found guilty of various crimes and been declared heretics by themselves or the Inquisition. The civilians of Sanct are terrified of magic and work their hardest to find anyone who uses magic and to devoutly follow the teachings of the Purist Church. Despite the fear that the civilians hold many of the civilians are simple farmers or villagers trying to make a livelihood. Other than the Sanctum there are very few large cities in Sanct. Most of the civilian population lives in a small rural town with only a single church and most civilians have never seen an Inquisitor. The fear and hatred of magic in Sanct has been around for as long as anyone can remember and Sanct has changed how it works to better survive anything that magic can do to them. Like all the nations of Gaianus, Sanct does have a military as well but their military is mainly built around defense. It is split into two branches with one branch being and offensive branch and the other being a defense branch. Despite the fact that they have an offensive branch this doesn't mean that they are invasive. They use this branch to repel threats that exist outside of their borders. The two branches are the Zealots and the Repenters. The Zealots is an all volunteer branch that is made up of the people who have been driven to arms by propaganda or their dedication to the Church and they form the defensive branch of Sanct's military. The other branch is the Repentors. This branch is made of people who have been declared heretics but their crimes weren't severe enough to warrant immediate execution and the form the offensive branch of Sanct's military. They are conscripted into the military and told that if they live long enough that they will be put into the repentance camps. An inquisitor is always in charge of a Repentance unit and will execute anyone who moral or faith is shown to be wanting. The repentance camps are ghettos where most of the people who are living there are just in a waiting line to be sold into slavery to Drudgela. The government of Sanct is said to be a Democracy but in practice that is not entirely true. The citizens do elect officials to represent them but most of the representatives are corrupt politicians who take bribes and enjoy pleasures of the body and are easily manipulated by the Church and the Inquisition. However if an elected official's corruption is discovered they are usually swiftly executed by the Church or Inquisition to keep them quite about the corruption that is taking place. This practice has caused the people to believe that their government is working just like it should and has given them trust in the Inquisition and Church.
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Post by rumblymarrow on Sept 24, 2014 19:27:31 GMT -6
The Inquisition is the omnipresent secret police of Sanct. They are structured different than Sanct's government. The Inquisition is governed by the other senior Inquisitors who are called Inquisitor Lords. Whenever a huge decision need to be made in the Inquisition a council of Inquisitor Lords will convene and will sometimes come to a decision on what needs to be done. There are two dominate factions in the Inquisition, the Radical and the Puritan, this often causes a divide in the council and will keep things from being done. The radicals believe that you have to learn magic in order to defeat magic and that they are pure enough to avoid the negative consequences of using magic. They are opposed by the puritans who keep to the belief that magic is inherently evil and that magic should be destroyed and not studied. Now most inquisitors fall in between these ideals as that portrays the extremes of each side but there are still plenty of Inquisitors who fully believe the extremes of their doctrines and will attack anyone who disagrees with them. Inquisitors are highly independent and each is a master of the at least one form of the Inquisitions special form of martial arts. This martial arts targets the points on an enemy's body where magic flows through and disables those points temporally. This causes magic to be unable to be channeled or cast from the limb that was hit. In addition that limb goes numb and noodly until the effects of the strike go away. Depending on the strike and the Inquisitor who delivered it this can be anywhere from a couple of seconds to days after the strike was delivered. This can easily be translated to almost any weapon that an Inquisitor might wield to where any strike from them can disable a target. Most Inquisitors also have a knowledge of magic so that they know the effects and powers of many spells and are able to effective fight them. There is no standard equipment in the Inquisition for Inquisitors because they usually are given equipment from their master or from their family. Gowever there are some pieces of wargear that are extremely common.
One of those being Inquisitorial armor. This armor can come in any size or shape but what makes it special is that it is made with a liquid that is called Inquisitorial dye. The dye is designed to be able to mixed into fabrics and liquid metals. While it's in the armor it is able to deflect magical attacks with ease and can easily protect the user from some of the most dangerous spells out there.
Due to their strict beliefs however most extreme puritan Inquisitor will not wear runic armor because he feel that using runes is a form of harnessing magic. How a person because an Inquisitor is a unique process. Each Inquisitor usually has a retinue of apprentices who are called Inquisitorial Acolytes. They will accompany the Inquisitor on missions and will be trained in the field for most of their training. The only parts that aren't in the field is their study of magic and them learning the martial arts, those skills they then practice in battle. When an Inquisitor feels that his acolyte is ready to become a full Inquisitor he will submit his name for peer review. Then two other Inquisitors will asses them and if that they are ready then the will promote them to a full Inquisitor.
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Post by rumblymarrow on Oct 2, 2014 12:32:59 GMT -6
The head of the Purist church is a man known throughout all the kingdom. His name is Vitalian VII and he is one of the most influential and feared Hierophant in history. As is tradition all history from his previous life has been erased as soon as he became Hierophant and chose his new name and he wears a crown to show being head of the church. The only place any records on him exist is the infinite archives of the inquisition. In his lifetime he has spread the influence and power of the church more than any other Hierophant. To many in the Church this is a great accomplishment and has made him many allies in the Church; However the Inquisition doesn't see their growth as positively and this has caused him to make many enemies in the Inquisition. Vitalian's only threat to complete supremacy of Sanct is the Inquisition. This is why they are at constant odds with each other. As he is competing with them for power he has put countless amounts of money into politics to try and gain a foothold over them. This has caused him to be one of the single most corrupting men in the entire history of Sanct. His pockets are filled to the brim with supporters and devote worshipers who will do anything for their Hierophant. He has also changed the structure of the church making it more and more of a military power. He will without hesitation offer absolution to anyone for any crimes they have done if they are useful to him or execute those who aren't. He however is human as well. He is one who loves the pleasures of the body and in particular virgins. He has "blessed" many virgins with his holy seed and while many are willing to give themselves up to him they are not the types of virgins that he enjoys. He is particular about wanting his women to be as pure as possible and unwilling to lose their purity. Now virgins aren't his only love as well. Just as holy Hierophants before him has feasted so has he. His table is constantly filled with rare ans exotic meats and only meats as his holiness refuses anything else. On the table there are glasses full of wine and young men and women who wish to be forgiven for past sins. Of course there is no better way to finish a meal then by offering forgiveness to them. They are adorned in the traditional attire of forgiveness which is the natural bodies that they were blessed with. After feasts His Holiness and his apostles spend all night giving them the forgiveness that they deserve. However most of them are unable to be forgiven in a single session and must be forgiven hundreds of times. He is so merciful however that he is willing to forgive them as many times as needed. For those who can't be forgiven in that way he must regretfully take them to the chambers of solace. Their screams to be heard by no one under the city. This type of forgiveness takes longer than his preferred forgiveness but satisfies him all the same. It is very unfortunate that most don't make it through the first hour of that forgiveness. He prays for their souls after they depart from this world. This shows how great of a Hierophant he is and why the people care for him in the way they do. He gives them his forgiveness all the time and they are grateful that they made it through it.
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Post by rumblymarrow on Oct 2, 2014 14:16:40 GMT -6
The capital city of Sanct is Sanctum. It is the oldest city in all of Sanct and the headquarters of both the Inquisition and the Purist church. The city is divided into two rings. The inner ring where the influential members of the church, government, and inquisition live and work and the outer ring where everyone else lives. The inner ring of the city is filled with majestic and awe inspiring gothic libraries and churches. This part of the city is where priests will bless people and offer them forgiveness. They will go through the streets of the outer ring and gather people who are in need of absolution and offer them the kind of freedom from sin that only a priest can. Each priest has their own special process that they go through to make sure that they will be forgiven but they all end with the person being forgiven. At the same time this is where the inquisition interrogates heretics and studies the daemonic. The laws of Sanct are strict but vague. This is to allow the inquisition the ability to find heretics better and without restriction. It is an Inquisitor's right to be able to go through the streets and gather anyone who can be a heretic. This is a right that is practiced very often and as a result this means that the inquisition is holding daily witch hunts and public executions. Of course the public executions aren't limited to just the Inquisition both sides love to kill their enemies and display their bodies with their message clearly shown. The capitol has a constant influx of people from the rural areas of Sanct who are wanting a better life from heavy taxation or are pilgrims wanting to see their savior. They are welcomed with open arms into the loving embrace of the city. There are plenty of civilians who are in need work and even more who love the fresh country side smell. Of course not many are able to adjust to the city as well as others. The city has many temptations and it's the citizen's job to stay pure and not fall for them but not everyone is as pure and strong as Vitalian VII so casualties are bound to happen. Many civilians find the local brothels that are run by the drug lords and decide to take a break and relax there. Not many make it out, those that stay become incubi or sucubi addicted to impure substances and forced to sell themselves to get what they crave. Many are found by Priests who like how they look but are sad at how impure they are and need to offer them forgiveness. They will offer them bed and room as the first step of forgiveness. The streets are just as dangerous as the bed. Many roam the streets searching for their next victim for their sadistic practices and assassins move through the streets. Those who are found by the dangerous men are heard screaming throughout the night. Their painful cries form a symphony that can be heard throughout the city but those who have managed to stay clear of the city's taint have no need for fear. The Church and Inquisition shall find the taint and eliminate it to protect the people as they've done since the founding.
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Post by rumblymarrow on Nov 7, 2014 11:19:21 GMT -6
Anti-magic weapons are most commonly found in Sanct in the hands of Inquisitors and High ranking priests. These weapons are powerful tools in the hands of someone trained to use their powers. These weapons come from the original settlers of Sanct and the Inquisition holds their only remaining blade. All anti-magic blades were reverse engineered from the original blades but were imperfectly made and aren’t as powerful as the original. However they are still just as deadly as any blade to a non-magic user and much worse to someone who uses magic. When someone gets cut by an anti-magic blade not only does it cut their person but it cuts the magical energy inside them as well. The cut of the stream inside them initially releases a burst of energy that causes them pain. The pain and the burst is in proportional to how powerful a mage they were. If they are a powerful mage sparks may fly off their skin and cause extreme pain but if they are a weak mage there may be a few sparks that run along their skin and hurt them. Since the stream of magic in them is cut it makes it very hard to channel magic near or through any wounds caused by an anti-magic blade and if they try to force energy to a place which suffered an anti-magic wound the spell could backfire and injure the person casting the spell. Along with injuring them if they force magic to the area near the wound they could permanently sever the stream which could cripple that limb magically and physically. However from most anti-magic blades if you don’t do that both the physical and magical wound will heal. Normally they heal about the same time since the body and its magic is very closely linked. Shadow realm creatures, Demigods, and Gods must be especially weary of anti-magic blades. Since they are either creatures of magic or have magical blood flowing through them. The effects of an anti-magic blade on any of these is much worse despite if they are from a magic based god or not. Anti-magic weapons can be made into any weapon but the secrets on how to make them is kept in the Inquisition. While there are magical blades that aren’t in Inquisitorial hands they all originated from the Inquisition..
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