Recaps

Theus strengthened Castel’s defenses and trade while forging an alliance with Moth Chasing Flame and expanding its industry. The arc left Chloe preparing to travel north for Nora or refugees as Castel developed new ways to produce and secure its resources.

• Theus discovered that his Symbiotic Pact abilities did not work through his other vessels, but he could understand the Machine Soul inside Monica’s steam engine and began helping her care for it.
• Theus prepared the manor for a banquet, where Chloe admitted Moth Chasing Flame planned to summon an evil god to remove Pollution, and Beatrice searched for evidence of an infiltration.
• Theus introduced Jeremiah to gunpowder and demonstrated its destructive power, then learned from Chloe that Pollution came from the Abyssal Trench and that the Sea God Church had once been one of the Five Great Churches.
• Theus and Chloe agreed to share knowledge, and Chloe later exposed Lina to Isaac as a suspected traitor while arranging for Moth Chasing Flame to settle on Castel.
• Josh returned with profits from selling Castel’s soap, and Theus offered to help him obtain a pirate authorization letter if he secured a ship.
• Theus oversaw the successful installation of a steam engine and allied with Moth Chasing Flame, offering shelter and research funding in exchange for shared results.
• Jeremiah agreed to seek five merchant-ship authorization letters, while Theus arranged to expand warehouses and sell Castel’s surplus soap at coastal ports.
• Chloe prepared to travel to the Northern Territory to contact Nora or gather refugees, while Nini used summoned sea serpents to drive Moonfish ashore as emergency food for Castel.

Theus built Castel’s plans for trade and intelligence while investigating the Church’s secrets and helping Chloe survive the Pollution bound to her body. The Banshees’ reconnaissance then revealed a Fishman settlement with strange Pollution-like creatures and unexplained Blackstone mining.

• Theus planned to draw abyssal Pollution through a pipeline and recruited Isaac to build an intelligence network against the Candlelight Society.
• Theus arranged Jeremiah’s ship and Josh’s merchant venture, then sent the Black Pearl toward the Empire with Ken, Jeremiah, Isaac, Josh, and Beatrice aboard.
• Theus offered factory work to workers brought from Rhine and learned that Chloe’s associate Lina was trapped in a hidden vessel beneath the church.
• Chloe explained the dangers of evil gods, and Theus purified the Pollution fused with her body using the Symbiotic Pact, leaving them with a mysterious connection.
• Theus and Chloe agreed to investigate their connection and move Lina’s vessel to the Eastern Test Site, while Ash reported trouble during the Banshees’ outer-seas reconnaissance.
• Ash and Nini showed Theus a map of the Fishmen’s main force near the Masha Archipelago and said the Fishmen appeared to have tamed Pollution.
• Theus questioned Ash and Nini about the Fishmen’s miners and warriors, learned they mined Blackstone, and suspected it was connected to Pollution and Transcendence.

Theus and the Banshees fought the Fishmen and Pollution creatures while Castel mobilized its factories and defenses. As Castel lost contact with the outside world, Theus repurposed the church’s protective inscriptions and planned a knowledge-based faith called Empire Truth.

• Theus sent Ash and the Banshees to scout the Fishmen settlement and collect a sample from a Pollution Serpent, but sea urchin monsters forced them to retreat without it.
• Theus ordered Ash to scout the serpents’ territory and Nini to prepare bombs, then mobilized the Banshees and Castel for total war.
• Theus began shifting Castel’s industry toward steam power and war production, and asked Zoe to use her writing to sustain the people’s hope.
• Chloe, Monica, and Gaia performed a Mechanical Cathedral ritual that awakened Silly in a steam engine, but adding Pollution brought an unfamiliar presence into the machine until Theus purified it.
• Theus and the Banshees built defenses, planned the Webway tunnel network, and prepared to test the Clamorer, while Chloe reported that Castel had lost contact with the outside world.
• Beatrice entered the Sea of Unconsciousness to search for Castel’s beacon and speak with Theus, then found herself in a corridor lined with doors.
• Chloe showed Theus how Guardian Inscriptions could protect Castel from impacts and Pollution, and Theus ordered the church rebuilt alongside the coastal defenses.
• Theus rejected founding a new church and proposed Empire Truth, an academic organization that would spread knowledge under the guise of scripture and doctrine.

Theus turned Castel into a fortified industrial center, founded Empire Truth, and armed its new Faithguard Army as Fishmen gathered to attack. After the army routed the first major assault with rifled muskets, Theus prepared Alexei and Ash to test their weapons against an arm monster.

• Theus assigned Alexei to expand the church, Chloe to develop its inscriptions and energy core, and Una to revise the underground webways, then named it Empire Truth.
• Zoe introduced Castel’s residents to Nini’s achievements and the Banshees, while Theus learned that sailors sent to Gem Bay had gone missing.
• After patrols encountered Fishmen, Theus declared that war had begun and ordered the island’s soldiers, defenses, and weapons research accelerated.
• Theus brought the Banshees aboveground to help build defenses, and Castel’s workers welcomed them during the Central Furnace’s successful ignition.
• Ash and the Banshees routed a group of Fishmen near the northern docks, while Theus learned their corpses dissolved into Pollution and ordered them monitored.
• Using Richard’s Nymph vision, Theus guided Ash’s team against more Fishmen and a sea urchin monster, which the Banshees killed in an ambush.
• Alexei reported the discovery of a saltpeter mine and Chloe’s successful ammunition production, while Connor revealed 112 steam rifles that matched the army’s 112 soldiers.
• Chloe explained how Cognitive Interference, Pollution, and shared belief affected reality, as Theus considered how Castel’s Clamorer-filled factories and cathedral might protect the island.
• When Fishmen and arm monsters approached Castel, Theus sent Alexei’s eighty Faithguard soldiers to fight, and their rifled muskets killed or scattered most of the Fishmen at long range.
• After the battle, Theus told Alexei to rest before joining Ash to test the weapons against the arm monster.