Cleaning Association

Biodata

Feature	Information
Name	Cleaning Association (清洁协会)
Affiliation	Worships the Lord of the Abyss; ultimately led by the Lord of the Abyss's Divine Envoy 5 653
Occupation/Role	Global awakened criminal organization, religious movement, and political-commercial syndicate 556 625
Status	Active; expanded rapidly under High Shepherd Collector 653 656 742
First Appearance	5

Background / History

The Association was founded by Eisenke, head of a New Continent military supernatural unit. After researching Axis psychic and supernatural materials, including information concerning the Lord of the Abyss, Eisenke formed a spiritual connection that later researchers believed may have been abyssal mental contamination. He established the Association around worship of the Lord of the Abyss. 556

It initially operated as a civilian occult-research organization. Eisenke used this front to recruit wealthy and political figures, but its religious and political ambitions led New Continent authorities to declare it illegal. The Association went underground, relocated its network to Central New Continent, and re-emerged with awakened soldiers and major political-business connections. 556

By the present era, the Association has become a transnational criminal syndicate with commercial holdings and involvement in drug trafficking, organ trafficking, and human experimentation. In Central New Continent, it controls nearly all of the region and can influence national leadership; in other countries, it may function legally as a research organization, religion, or company. 556 656

Organization

Traditional hierarchy

Rank	Scope and duties
President	Singular top-level office; Golia holds the presidency after Eisenke's disappearance. 19 556
Grand Patriarch	Singular senior office within the original management system. 19
Patriarch	Nine exist globally, each overseeing major continents or island chains. 19
Shepherd	Regional rulers who can control Association forces across a region, one or more small countries, or part of a major country. 19
Cleaner	Lowest formal rank; spreads doctrine, manages local personnel and finances, and builds territory. 19

The Association also separates its awakened combat forces from its administrative and proselytizing hierarchy. Known forces include the Twelve Knights, Tool Room, and Purification Legion. This divided structure was designed to decentralize authority. 19 358

Leadership after the Purification Conference

Following the internal conflict at headquarters, Collector became the Lord of the Abyss's Divine Envoy and accepted the office of High Shepherd. Golia remained President, but the High Shepherd became the Association's effective leader. 653 654 655

Collector subsequently announced a restructuring that reduced the number of Shepherds and Knights and redistributed territories to loyal appointees. 654

Doctrine and Membership

The Association's central creed is devotion to the Lord of the Abyss and the anticipated arrival or descent of that being. Its members use the phrase:

“Everything is for the arrival of the Lord of the Abyss.” 5

Its stated doctrine prohibits oppressing the good and innocent: members are meant to be “cleaners” rather than evildoers. In practice, many regional operations have been criminal enterprises run by local forces, including fraud, prostitution, gambling, drug trafficking, and other illicit activity. 293 152

After Collector assumed leadership, the Association introduced extensive benefits for full and associate members:

• Tenfold increases to expense allowances. 655
• Housing, meal, transportation, seasonal heating, and summer allowances. 655
• Three mandatory months of paid annual leave. 655
• Public funds for weddings, funerals, and childbirth. 655
• The Dream Fund, offering interest-free loans for members' personal ambitions. 655
• Associate membership and base salary for applicants; official membership requires evaluation, though Awakened applicants pass directly. 694

The benefits program caused a global membership surge among ordinary people, awakened criminals, government officials, and members of rival organizations. 656 694

Forces and Resources

Combat forces

• Twelve Knights — elite awakened combatants; Collector was their leader. 19 338
• Purification Legion — headquarters' directly subordinate military force, used to guard headquarters and conduct special operations, including overthrowing small countries. It numbered 10,000 battle-hardened veterans before its annihilation during the Purification Conference. 628
• Black Mountain Guard Army — the High Shepherd's former private army of roughly 1,000 personnel equipped with anomalous technology; it later defected to Collector. 630 631
• Divine Envoy Guards — forces mobilized alongside the Purification Legion to support Collector in the New Continent. 742

Infrastructure and influence

• The Association maintains commercial holdings, experimental bases, media outlets, websites, and television stations. 556 625
• It possesses enough influence in parts of Central New Continent that local police and political authorities cooperate openly with its representatives. 556 584
• Its branches can operate public-facing recruitment campaigns; the Sang Country branch used a large call-center operation to promote “Gospel classes.” 405
• It has infiltrated governments and absorbed local armed groups, criminal organizations, corporations, and official agencies. 556 692 741

Story Role / Major Arcs

Expansion into Central Province

The Association appoints Collector as Shepherd of Central Province's Southwest region, granting him both military and political authority over the local pastoral district. 19 It expands through recruitment of underground figures, corporate infiltration, and alliances with groups such as Green Tech Group and Eternal Life Biological. 22 66 75

Its rapid covert expansion becomes a principal concern of the Central Province Anomaly Bureau, which considers curbing its foundations a higher priority than several local anomalous incidents. 191

Collector's internal faction

Collector's followers establish the Museum, a private organization within the Association built around his experimental base and awakening project. The group eventually chooses to remain loyal to him rather than headquarters. 295 296 327

Tensions grow between Collector and headquarters as he withholds funds, builds an independent power base, and receives repeated promotions despite his attempts to avoid them. 101 357

Conflict with the High Shepherd

The High Shepherd's faction attempts to isolate and eliminate Collector, including cooperation with the New Continent Soul Suppression Bureau and the use of the Phantom Spirit Party as a covert asset. 594

The High Shepherd convenes the Purification Conference, a crisis assembly attended by the Twelve Knights, regional High Shepherds, and institutional heads. 614 The Purification Legion is destroyed, the Black Mountain Guard Army defects, and the Association divides into competing factions. 628 631

Rebirth under Collector

Collector becomes the Divine Envoy and new High Shepherd after High Shepherd Gide's death. He restructures the organization, promotes loyal followers, and introduces the benefits system that drives unprecedented recruitment. 653 654 655 656

Under his leadership, the Association intensifies its global expansion, absorbing rival awakened organizations and deploying military and awakened forces abroad. 694 741 742

Relationships

• Lord of the Abyss — the Association's sole true god and ultimate object of worship. 5 556
• Eisenke — founder and first President; disappeared after building the Association into a major underground force. 556
• Golia — Eisenke's daughter and Association President; remains in office after Collector becomes High Shepherd. 556 654
• Collector / Li Fan — former leader of the Twelve Knights; later Divine Envoy and High Shepherd with effective control of the Association. 19 653 655
• High Shepherd Gide Vival — former High Shepherd whose conflict with Collector culminates in the Purification Conference and his death. 614 653
• Central Province Anomaly Bureau — longstanding enemy that monitors the Association's expansion, infiltrates its ranks, and prepares for its internal upheavals. 191 420 625
• New Continent Soul Suppression Bureau — hostile counterpart that has both infiltrated and temporarily cooperated with factions inside the Association. 355 594

Trivia

• The Association's original management system is described as five tiers, but because the President and Grand Patriarch are each singular offices, it functions as a flattened four-tier hierarchy. 19
• More than 10,000 Cleaners attended the Purification Conference, despite being the lowest-ranking attendees at headquarters. 623
• In many countries, the Association has successfully whitewashed itself into a legally recognized entity despite its criminal operations elsewhere. 656