The Church

Biodata

Feature	Details
Name	The Church (教廷)
Alias(es)	Church of Dawn; Church of Morning Radiance
Affiliation	The Lord of Dawn / God of Light; Dawn Holy Mountain
Occupation/Role	Transnational religious institution, administrator of Dawn faith, and wielder of divine authority
Status	Active; engaged in a continuing struggle for religious authority against the Florian Empire and its Church of Light 891 923
First Appearance	Chapter 156

Organization

The Church is centered on Dawn Holy Mountain, where its clergy administer the Faith of Dawn and derive authority from the Lord of Dawn. The Pope and ten Cardinal Archbishops traditionally stand at the apex of its authority, though losses among the Cardinals have repeatedly destabilized its command structure 617 608.

Rank	Position in the Church
Pope	Supreme representative of the Lord of Dawn in the mortal world; controls the Church's faith and sits at Holy Mountain 608 617
Cardinal Archbishop	Highest-ranking clergy beneath the Pope; comparable in status to kings and central to Church governance 158 611
Archbishop	Regional authorities and frequent commanders of believer armies 632
Bishop	Senior clergy below archbishops 632
Priest	Oversees local churches; considered an upper-middle rank in the overt hierarchy 632 855
Missionary	Preaches and may advance by comprehending Divine Language 248 632
Believer	Foundation of the Church and source of its faith 632

Additional positions—including pastors, elders, monks, nuns, ascetics, and legion commanders—hold varying authority outside this main progression. Elders in particular can retain local influence even after leaving formal office 858.

Doctrine and Faith

The Church teaches that the Lord of Dawn's radiance should illuminate every darkness, and that believers must serve the Lord, spread His faith, and offer devotion to the light 471 510.

• The Lord of Dawn, the God of Light, and the Sun are identified as aspects of the same divine will, Chi 966.
• Faith functions as the deity's “eyes”; lands without faith are described as darkness beyond the Lord's gaze 432.
• Divine Language is required for a monk or nun to become a missionary, allowing believers to cultivate the power needed for divine arts 248.
• The Church considers impure or competing faith a form of heresy. Its historic expansion drove out other faiths through the Path of Dawn 471.
• The Pope's divine oracles carry greater force than ordinary papal commands; clergy ultimately claim to serve the Lord rather than one another 674.

Path of Dawn

The Path of Dawn originally described the Church's expansion along the first “ray” of dawn: clergy spread the faith, slaughtered resisting heretics, and established the Church as a dominant human institution 471.

Under Pope Solarian, the Path was later reframed as a campaign to spread Dawn without harassing nobles along the route, reflecting an attempted reform of the Church's public conduct 827.

Divine Arts and Religious Power

Healing Art and Holy Water

The Church's healing is a major source of popular support.

• Priests use Healing Art to treat injuries and illness, drawing crowds and new believers 157 258.
• Holy water is described as the ultimate form of Healing Art and can heal any injury 249.
• Divine arts can protect people from extreme cold and dispel exhaustion 249 258.

Faith-Based Enhancement

Church clergy empower believers and knights through Morning Radiance Holy Light.

• Holy Light Knights rely on holy radiance and divine arts rather than knightly blood and vitality alone 433.
• Believer soldiers can gain strength and speed comparable to knights when bathed in divine power 570.
• Faith Essence and Divine Grace can amplify the Church's Legendary combatants through the souls of dead believers 924.

Judgment and Transformation

The Church employs divine arts capable of fundamentally altering its followers.

• Holy Judgment turns Church soldiers into undying, mindless warriors 570.
• Forbidden Army sublimates selected Holy Light Knights into Saint Domain experts at the cost of their offered faith 581.
• Heavenly Kingdom is the strongest divine art available to Legendary-tier clergy, creating a domain-like white realm in which the caster holds overwhelming authority 531.
• Large-scale purification can turn ordinary soldiers into Fanatics who abandon their past lives for absolute devotion to the Lord 587.
• During the war at Dragon Bone Valley, the Church transformed believers into Human Angels; later, Saint Charlie enhanced believers into angelic soldiers in desperation 917 923.

Military Forces

The Church fields Extraordinary Legions, religious knight orders, believer armies, and specialized clandestine forces. The Holy Kingdom Knights were identified as one of nine Extraordinary Legions, while later accounts refer to ten legions 156 581 606.

• Holy Kingdom Knights — The Church's highest-ranking knight order and most revered Extraordinary Legion. They represent righteousness, strength, protection of the weak, and hope; each Extraordinary Legion is said to possess the power to destroy a kingdom 156.
• Holy Light Knights — Faith-enhanced knights who form a major part of Church armies and can be elevated through divine arts 433 581.
• Mute Ascetics — Thirteen fanatical ascetic warriors whose presence suppresses Magic Factors and weakens or prevents spellcasting. Their spoken words can invoke devastating divine arts 511 515.
• Crusaders / Atonement Army — An army of sinners seeking redemption through battle and service to Dawn 517 531.
• Judgment Imperial Guard — An Extraordinary Legion associated with the Pope's authority and the divine art Forbidden Army 581.
• Temple Knight Legion — A Church Extraordinary Legion commanded by Kiartiel 570 609.
• Angel Attendants — An Extraordinary Legion whose members reveal monstrous true forms in battle 586 609.
• Divine Revelation Warlock Army — Descendants of warlocks once imprisoned and judged by the Church; later incorporated into its military system 606.
• Oath of Faith — A legion descended from the Church's original oath-bound faithful and tasked with monitoring sincerity of faith 606.
• Black Swan Assassins — A secret, unacknowledged assassination force that targeted Imperial nobles during the Church's internal crisis 617.

History

The Church's early rise is tied to the Pope's role in humanity's development. It guided human civilization, elevated humanity among extraordinary races, and violently displaced peoples and faiths connected to foreign gods 612.

Its dominance eroded after the War of the Deities Across Planes. The war weakened its believer base, while nobles and royal authorities gained influence. The Church's own clergy became increasingly dependent on noble patronage, wealth, slaves, and privilege 472 500.

The Florian Empire eventually challenged and expelled the Church from its territory. In response, the Church attempted to reclaim faith through military pressure, preaching, and repeated Paths of Dawn 156 163.

Decay and Fragmentation

By the later period, the Church had become vast, decentralized, and deeply compromised by factional interests.

• Many clergy neglected prayer, embezzled offerings, abused believers, and used Church authority for wealth and indulgence 511 567 673.
• The deaths of three Cardinal Archbishops created a power vacuum, allowing clergy and factions to launch independent campaigns of vengeance 617.
• The Black Swan Assassins operated without a clear chain of command, leaving even the Pope unable to reliably recall them 617 674.
• The internal faction Flame of Dawn emerged to destroy the Church's “rot” and revive Sunbird Ifrit 617.

Solarian's Purification

Pope Solarian later began a major purge of corrupt clergy after receiving evidence of abuses in Corland Cathedral. He commended Cleric Sven, named him a bishop candidate, and declared his intention to restore the Church to a sacred and pure form 673.

The purge removed numerous bishops, archbishops, elders, and obscure Church departments. By the time of the Imperial coronation crisis, the Church had been substantially centralized around Solarian and the Holy Son of Dawn, Saint Charlie 891.

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Return to the Imperial Capital — Cardinal Archbishop Tom Walter and the Holy Kingdom Knights enter the Imperial Capital during the Divine Grace Festival, reopening the struggle between divine authority and Royal Authority 156 157.
• War against the Empire — The Church publicly declares war after denouncing Imperial rule as heresy and reactivates the Crusaders 163.
• Northwind Missionary Crisis — Missionary Buffett's death leads Archbishop Adriana to demand justice within Imperial territory; Church investigators later identify his fatal heart injury through divine arts 246 249.
• Sera Kingdom Power Struggle — Leaderless and corrupt local clergy exploit taxation and wealth until nobles of Carlos blood expel the Church, triggering wider conflict 567.
• Southern Faith War — Church armies employ Holy Judgment, Fanatic purification, Extraordinary Legions, and divine arts against Imperial forces in major campaigns 570 587 606.
• Solarian's Reform — The Pope suppresses internal corruption, centralizes the Church, and sends the Holy Kingdom Knights on a renewed Path of Dawn 673 827.
• Abyssal Purges — Holy Kingdom Knights under Damon purge Cultists and suspected heretics in Abyss-corrupted lands, escalating tensions with nobles and Imperial forces 839 848 856.
• Dragon Bone Valley and Dawn Holy Mountain — The Church commits transformed believers, Human Angels, and divine intervention against the Empire, but suffers severe military pressure as Imperial forces advance on Holy Mountain 917 920 923.

Relationships

• Lord of Dawn / God of Light / Chi — The Church's supreme deity and source of its divine arts, Divine Grace, and religious legitimacy 966.
• Pope Solarian — Supreme Pope who purges Church corruption, centralizes authority, and prepares to judge the Florian Emperor as a blasphemer 673 891.
• Archbishop Adriana — Influential archbishop whose faith and authority rival the Pope's prestige among believers; she often pursues a more restrained approach than extremist Church factions 246 432 1001.
• Holy Kingdom Knights — The Church's foremost knightly order, commanded by Damon Rayner and used to enforce the Path of Dawn 156 827.
• Florian Empire — Principal political and religious rival. The Empire contests the Church through royal authority, the Faith of Light, and the Church of Light 157 259.
• Church of Light — Imperial rival faith that adopts similar doctrine while recognizing the God of Light rather than the Lord of Dawn; its rise directly threatens the Church's authority 245 836.
• Dawn Followers — Independent believers led by figures such as Sven. They prioritize serving the Lord over obedience to either the Church of Dawn or Church of Light 821 851.