Sanctuary

Biodata

Geography and Layout

• Outer barrier: Visitors pass through a barrier before reaching Sanctuary’s mountain temples and settlement 22.
• Sacred Mountain: Ancient white-stone temples rise along the mountain, appearing radiant in sunlight. Stone steps connect the ascent through the Golden Temples 22 36.
• Lower settlement: Stone houses, squares, platforms, training grounds, and arenas form a miniature city beneath the mountain. Apprentice Saints and Saint Candidates conduct most of their activities here 22 23.
• Restricted access: Beginning at the Aries Temple, those who are not official Saints cannot enter the Sacred Mountain without permission 23.
• Coastal surroundings: The sea is close enough for a fleeing Specter to attempt an escape toward it and for Wuxin to practice freezing seawater nearby 27 39.

Notable Locations

Leadership and Personnel

• Sasha / Athena — The deity served by all Saints. She participates directly in recruitment decisions, mission assignments, and the recognition of new Saints 3 4 35 40.
• Pope Sage — Sanctuary’s Pope and the former Cancer Gold Saint. He oversees investigations, military preparations, and assignments alongside Sasha 1 3 40.
• Altar Hakurei — Sage’s elder twin brother and a respected survivor of the previous Holy War. Although he lives in seclusion in Jamir, he trains warriors for Sanctuary and remains in contact with its leadership 4 25.
• Sagittarius Sisyphus — Sage’s chosen successor as Pope. He welcomes Wuxin’s defensive recommendations and promises to relay them to Sage 37.
• Ophiuchus Odysseus — Described as Sanctuary’s most skilled physician. He treats combat injuries and prepares medicinal herbs to support trainees 23 29.

Population

Training and Recruitment

Admission and Loyalty

• Loyalty is a selection criterion: Candidates judged insufficiently loyal are eliminated before becoming official Saints. Apprentice Saints are expelled from Sanctuary every year 4.
• Outsiders face scrutiny: Sanctuary seldom communicates with the outside world, and detailed knowledge of its personnel is closely guarded. Wuxin’s unexplained familiarity with its members therefore arouses suspicion 1 7.
• Training can occur elsewhere: Wuxin begins his service under Hakurei in Jamir before traveling to Sanctuary to obtain a Cloth 4 15.

Cosmo Training

• Purpose: The basic regimen uses extreme physical exertion to exhaust mental power repeatedly, tempering the soul and will until the Sixth Sense, Manas, can manifest 5 6.
• Environment: Sanctuary is rich in natural power, supporting recovery during intensive training. Wuxin finds its environment even more favorable than Jamir’s 6 26.
• Duration and danger: Many trainees begin as children and require five, ten, or more years to awaken the Sixth Sense. Training beyond one’s limits can kill those unable to sustain the process 5 6.
• Medical support: Odysseus’s medicines remove hidden injuries from excessive training and accelerate physical recovery 23.
• Limitations: Wuxin concludes that the system emphasizes mental development while neglecting the body, with Cloths compensating through protection and Cosmo amplification. This is his assessment rather than an established doctrine 26.

Saint Status and Ranks

Cloths and Selection Contests

Sanctuary possesses 84 Cloths, but mastery of Cosmo alone does not guarantee ownership 7.

• Mutual selection: Cloths are sentient. A candidate must earn a Cloth’s recognition; forcing an unsuitable match prevents the wearer from using its true power 23.
• Unclaimed inventory: During Wuxin’s initial survey, twelve Silver Cloths and fifteen Bronze Cloths remain without suitable bearers 23.
• Contest schedule: Tournaments normally occur roughly every six months. Mounting casualties before the Holy War increase their frequency to almost weekly 26.
• Separate divisions: Bronze- and Silver-level candidates compete in separate groups, with medical treatment available beside the arena 29.
• Inherited instruction: Cloths record their wearers’ skills as spiritual imprints, providing guidance even to Saints without masters. Only the preceding bearer’s imprint is retained 36 39.

Wuxin’s Selection

Wuxin wins the Silver division but receives no recognition from the twelve unclaimed Silver Cloths. Instead, the already-owned Crateris Cloth abandons Baker and chooses him, creating a dispute over its ownership. Sasha subsequently recognizes Wuxin as the new Crateris Saint 32 33 35.

Defenses and Wartime Security

• Gold Saint deployment: With the Holy War approaching, Gold Saints cannot leave Sanctuary lightly. Manigoldo’s intervention in Tehran requires a specific assignment from its leadership 20.
• Uneven protection: Although the Twelve Golden Temples remain secure, Specters infiltrate the lower settlement and kill Apprentice Saints and Bronze Saints 25.
• Counter-assassination operations: El Cid and other Saints lie in wait during the investigation into the killings. Wuxin’s alarm exposes an attack, allowing El Cid to pursue and kill Terrestrial Darkness Star; the second attacker escapes 27.
• Morale damage: Repeated attacks leave the weakest trainees fearful and pessimistic, prompting Hasgard to patrol the settlement 36.
• Proposed paired patrols: Wuxin recommends that Gold Saints patrol and stand guard in pairs against enemies capable of matching or surpassing them. Sisyphus agrees to submit the proposal; its implementation is not confirmed 37.
• Suppressing resurrection: Sanctuary can preserve and seal Specter corpses, preventing their souls from reuniting with their bodies and thereby obstructing resurrection 32.

History

Wuxin’s Recruitment and Arrival

After losing his personal memories, Wuxin seeks admission to Sanctuary to learn Cosmo and investigate his origins. Hakurei and Sage initially regard his knowledge of their organization as suspicious, but Sasha senses a profound connection between him and Sanctuary and advocates training him. Hakurei keeps him in Jamir for instruction and observation 1 3 4.

Hakurei later sends Wuxin toward Sanctuary to obtain a Cloth, first assigning him to investigate the murder of Athena’s priestess in Tehran. The investigation brings Sanctuary’s Saints into conflict with the mysterious Defiler. After Manigoldo’s intervention, the survivors reach Sanctuary, where Odysseus treats their injuries. Its leadership cannot identify the Defiler or his hidden patron from the available evidence 15 20 22 23 25.

Escalation of the Holy War

During the Silver Cloth tournament, Wuxin’s opponent Number Two awakens as a Specter and attempts to escape before lunging toward Sasha. The Gold Saints stop him, and Manigoldo preserves his corpse to suppress his resurrection 31 32.

Three days after Wuxin obtains the Crateris Cloth, the Underworld sends the controlled corpses of three slain Silver Saints back to attack Sasha. The attempt fails, but marks a sharp escalation. Sanctuary dispatches Libra Dohko and Aries Shion to investigate in Italy 36.

Tenma’s Rescue and the Rosary Plan

The investigation uncovers Alone’s awakening as Hades. Tenma is left near death, with his soul cast into the Underworld, and Sasha and Sage assign Wuxin to retrieve him 40.

The same mission supports Sanctuary’s plan to create a Demon-Subduing Rosary capable of preventing Specter resurrection. A divine messenger supplied the crafting instructions, which require fruit from the divine Soapberry tree near Hell’s Great Waterfall of Blood. Only Pegasus’s Cosmo can cause the tree to bear fruit, making Tenma essential to the operation 40.