Pilgrimage

Pilgrimage Arks—ever since Duncan had first seen these "giant vessels," like miniature city-states, and learned of their ceaseless "pilgrimages" across the sea, he had harbored doubts about these astonishing creations.

What exactly did the Pilgrimage Arks signify? Were their peculiar "pilgrimages"... merely "patrols"?

People in the city-states often said that the Pilgrimage Arks represented the might of the Four Gods. They were symbols of the Church's highest military power, as well as the four true gods' "palaces" in the mortal world. The Church had the Arks patrol the Boundless Sea to deter heretics and protect the city-states from contamination by certain malevolent entities in Subspace. At first, Duncan had not doubted this explanation, but as he came into greater contact with the Four Gods Church—especially after learning more of the Church's inner workings from Vana, Morris, and Agatha—he began to spot inconsistencies.

Those truly responsible for combating heretics and evil entities were each city-state's inquisitors and guardians. Those truly responsible for intercepting cultists at sea and rescuing sailors were the Four Gods Church's regular fleets. Those truly responsible for guarding against Subspace contamination and reinforcing city-state defenses were the churches' bells, bishops' prayers, and meticulously planned church-belltower networks. Yet the four imposing Pilgrimage Arks... in truth, had never taken part in anything concerning the mortal world.

For three quarters of every year, they patrolled certain secret routes. Those routes were invisible and unmeasurable to the mortal world, seemingly lying between the cracks of reality and far from any city. During the remaining time, they took turns cruising near the Eternal Veil at the border, maintaining only the bare minimum of contact with the Church's border fleet and dealing with no city-state at all—even deliberately avoiding the patrol fleets of border city-states.

Only on exceedingly rare occasions did these Arks dock