Part VIII
- Excerpt from the Imperial Book of Time
In late 1333, it had been widely known to the peoples of the Venerated Republic that the Church had been recruiting citizens to act as colonial settlers, pioneers that would be ferried across the great Pearl Sea into the mysterious reaches of the End of the World. What had not been common knowledge, however, was the purpose of their commission. Whilst the common man had been told that the old colonies would be the next great expanse of Republic territory, a place where the Torment and Resolve would never find nor molest those of the Decusian faith, in reality, it had been quite the opposite. The Church had known for quite some time that the Resolve had made their presence known in the old colonies, and that the cult’s interest had been focused upon one of the three colonial territories in the End of the World; the clerical city-state of MacArthur’s Gate.
Those fortunate enough to be part of the Legion and Church Templar commissioned to the colonies had been made aware of the secret behind the colonization efforts in the End of the World, but even they knew not the true purpose as to why the Gate had been so important to the Church. Every soldier sent to the End of the World had been given orders to protect and hold the city of MacArthur’s gate at all cost, and that the colonization efforts were focused upon supporting and aiding the Templar and Legion’s mission in any way it could. It had only been but a handful of the most powerful Church clergy that had known why MacArthur’s Gate had been so important; the besieged city held one of the most holy and sacred artifacts known to the Church.
It had been known to these select few as the Exsequiae, a Pricipatus term for “The Artifact”. It was a simple thing, naught but a scrap of paper to the laymen’s eye, but its significance had been great enough to some within the Church to send battalions of Republic soldiers half way across the world to ensure its safety. For to the most faithful of the Church of Decus, the Exsequiae was thought to be a map to the location of what was known as the Doctrine, the fabled contract between the forces of Heaven and Hell which ended the celestial war between them.
Such beliefs had been considered nonsense by most ladder day clergy within the Decusian Church, however, for no scholar in the past two hundred years had been able to interpret the Exsequiae. Yet since its discovery centuries ago, there had always been a select few within the Church whom had enough power to declare the Exsequiae as cannon, the impression of the artifact’s importance instilled upon them with each passing generation. And so, far from the bustling territories of the Venerated Republic, and across the near endless Pearl Sea, an entire city had been erected to house the hallowed artifact in secrecy, and battalions of Legionnaires and Templar commissioned to its protection.
Before the reign of Archbishop Anslem, those within the ruling caste of the Church had made the protection of the Exsequiae and MacArthur’s Gate a top priority when the first reports of the Resolve’s presence in the End of the World had reached the Church’s ears. Scores of Legionnaires, Templars, Consortium Magi and Foundry laborers had been sent across the great sea to aid in the defense of the city. This hasty move, however, came with a price, and with each Republic conscript sent to the old colonies, one less had been available to help secure and fortify the still weak main lands.
When each of the Republic’s factions could spare no further resources to the efforts in the End of the World, the Church had begun to conscript its own citizenry to make the journey to the far east. Under the impression that they would be responsible for developing new and prosperous cities and territories in the End of the World, countless hundreds of Decusians volunteered for the chance to leave the mainland in pursuit of a new life. Within months, however, many colonists had begun to learn the truth as to their purpose in the End of the World; there had been no plans to erect towns and cities in the End of the World, only to aid and help the efforts of a great battle that raged in a place known simply as the Gate.
Shortly after the colonial surge, the territory of MacArthur’s Gate had been lost to the Resolve and it’s army of cambion soldiers. Countless thousands had been lost in the long battle, yet in the end, it had been the Resolve who reigned victorious. When word of the Republic’s defeat at the Gate reached the Church in the mainland, those responsible for the execution of the efforts in the End of the World had been ostracized and scorned. Word of the defeat had quickly been leaked to the populace, and the precarious balance of power the Church held over the recovering Republic had begun to falter. Tales of the defeat of thousands of Republic soldiers at the hands of the Resolve spread quickly across the empire. The Church, reluctant to reveal the reasoning behind the operations in MacArthur’s Gate, remained silent. Riots had erupted across the kingdom, and protests against the Church became commonplace. Faith in the Church had dropped to an all-time low.
In the shadows of the Republic’s calamity, however, a predator stalked. It reveled in the madness that had consumed the Republic. It watched with delight as more and more of the citizenry turned away from the Church with each passing day. And, when the moment was right, it struck down its prey with unwavering prejudice.
This predator was known as Bishop Karl Anslem. Taking advantage of the deteriorating situation within the Republic, he had rose through the ranks of the clergy, wooing many with his plans as to how to bring the Church up from the depths it had reached. On Raven’s Eve, Stormsky 1335, Karl Anslem had lead a coup against those within the College of Bishops that had been responsible for the failed efforts in the End of the World. The execution of those that had lead to the Church’s fall from grace in the eyes of the citizenry had solidified Anslem’s favor amongst the remaining bishops, and that very night, he was appointed to the seat of Archbishop. The former Archbishop was allowed the privilege of taking his own life, out of shame for the defeat in the End of the World, and the loss of thousands of valuable Republic soldiers.
The newly appointed Archbishop had wasted no time in carrying out the rest of his plan. To the approval of most of the citizenry of the Republic, he had proclaimed that not another single Templar or Legionnaire would be sent to the far reaches of the world while their Republic needed them in the mainland. The heads of those bishops who had been responsible for the defeat in MacArthur’s Gate were displayed with grisly pride outside the gates of the Torian Senate, and within one night, a single man had seized control of the Venerated Republic without so much as a single protest.
And so marked what would be known as the Great Abandonment, the time in which hundreds of Decusians sent to the End of the World had been left their fates at the hands of the Resolve. Those left within the colonies had been declared deserters to the Republic, forever scorned by the Church and its new Archbishop. Many within the Church had accepted the Archbishop’s decision without protest, yet there had been some still faithful to the idea of the Exsequiae and the obligation to those left within the colonies that rose question…
…for to some within the Church, it seemed there had been more to the newly appointed Archbishop than met the eye.