Iver immediately understood what Pure White meant.
The way things were handled in the Theocracy was essentially, "Give me some face, and let this matter end here."
--In essence, it still came down to whose face carried more weight.
Put nicely, it was a "sectarian state." Put bluntly, it was a mafia state.
That was probably why Cardinal Loki's faction had been difficult to deal with before, but was easy to handle now.
It was because Loki was already dead.
As the leader of Controlled Fire, he was not only the leader of one of the Rings recognized by the Candle Holder, but also practically the object of worship for all the "Commoner Elves" in the Theocracy--or, more accurately, those elves whose parents could not find them a legacy to inherit.
The Theocracy did not value bloodlines or wealth. Its greatest resource was "influence." Under normal circumstances, influence could be inherited. For example, "so-and-so's son," "so-and-so's daughter," or "so-and-so's student"...
Therefore, if a person's parents had achieved nothing, had no friends, and carried no weight, then that person could not inherit any influence from them. They were essentially the equivalent of a "commoner" among other races.
And Controlled Fire's foundation consisted of precisely this group of elves--since they had no legacies, why not abandon the legacy system altogether? That way, resources would be distributed fairly.
Now that Loki was dead, his appeal and influence would inevitably decline. Furthermore, the Pope Guard had uncovered evidence of his crimes. Although the full conspiracy had yet to be confirmed, this would still cause tremendous wavering among Loki's followers.
With the man already dead, how many people would still be willing to follow him?
There would certainly still be fanatical followers, but for most people, a dead man could no longer lead them. If