The Holy Church

"To serve the common good over yourself and realize the ideal destiny, not just for yourself but also the community. Even if it requires sacrifice."^[1]

The Holy Church also puts a great deal of emphasis on the what is best for the collective, uplifting the strong with the weak supporting them. This occurs in a number of ways:

• If a member finds a natural treasure, they are supposed to give it to the Church so it can be given to someone who'd be better able to utilize it for the Church's goals.
• As a very large faction with reaches into every universe, it has a vast membership. As such, its preferred fighting technique is using the souls and life force of many weak individuals to help the strong win.
• When a member of the holy faithful dies, their true soul is sent to the Holyland where they'll be able to peacefully live out the remainder of their lifespan. A soul's absolute maximum lifespan is determined by grade due to the qualitative change a race evolution brings.^[2]

The Holyland stems from a transcendent skill of the Holy Mother. Opinions of the realm depends on whether the speaker believes the Holy Church is multiversal force for good or a tyrannical organization duping people into sacrificing their Path to power the Church.

For those who believe in the Holy Church, the holyland is a paradise where they can live in peace, making friends and engaging in mundane hobbies. They are relieved of the horrors and pressures of leveling and survival. They also can take comfort in knowing that they will be reunited with their loved ones, provided their loved ones have been baptized in the name of the Holy Mother.

For those who believe the Holy Church to be an exploitive force, the holyland is "a faith farm... a fancy prison for willing prisoners." The Viper personally believes that the Holy Church is deceiving its believers into believing they have been granted access to a different form of immortality. In reality, their time in the Holyland is finite. They will be allowed to live out their lives to the absolute limit of their lifespan. Afterwards, they will cease to exist and their Truesoul will return to the System.^[3] The Viper also asserts that the holyland serves as a tool of control and punishment. A holy spirit can be dispersed at any time on the whim of a god or high-ranking official. Gods can revoke their blessings, cutting off access to the Holyland.

After death, anyone carrying a blessing from the Holy Mother or from a god in her pantheon will automatically go to the Holyland.^[4] There, their true souls are transformed into new beings known as Holy Spirits. These Spirits live similarly to humans, having the same form as they did in life. However, they can never leave the Holyland and they will never again level up.^[2] Holy Spirits have a greatly simplified status screen^[3]:

Status

Name: Joanna Elkmann

Race: [Holy Spirit (E)- Lvl 39]

Holy Energy: 301/390

Stats

Holy Power: 39

Titles: [Forerunner of the New World], [Holy Spirit]

Blessing: [Baptism of the Holy Mother (Baptism)]

Race Skills: [Holy Spirit (Unique)]

In the Holyland, everyone in the same grade is equal. The realm is split up with each grade living separately, but free to travel to other areas. Holy Spirits can communicate with the living world through seances.

The Holy Mother is the founder and leader of the Holy Church. She is also one of 12 Primordials, gods who ascended to godhood during the 1st Era.

The Lodestar Matron is an influential goddess from the Holy Church with a Bloodline allowing those that follow her to gain increased Experience and Records. She is referred to as 'Fourteenth of the Holy Light', meaning she was the fourteenth god to ever ascend in the Holy Church, making her one off the most ancient gods in both her faction and the Multiverse. She is not a combat focused god but rather has a path built on guidance, similar to the Augur of Hope. The Lodestar Matron has a very high position serving in the faction responsible for recruiting.

The Lodestar Matron was pivotal in the internal faction of the Church that pushed for the Holy Church to ally with Ell'Hakan and to interfere with Jake's attempt to disperse Ell'Hakan's Truesoul.^[5]

Jacob originates from the 93rd Universe and participated in the same survive tutorial as Jake, Casper, Bertram, and William. Because of divine interference, Jake emerged as the sole survivor of the tutorial. However, in the days leading up to their deaths, Jacob worked hard to bolster the dwindling hope of the surviving tutorial participants. In recognition of his efforts, he is offered the class of Augur of Hope. Upon accepting, he was invited to meet with the Holy Mother. He agreed to join the Holy Church, contingent upon the Holy Mother allowing the unbaptized souls of the crafters (including Jacob's co-worker Joanna ) to enter the Holyland.^[6]

Jacob is protected by his long time confidant, Bertram, who serves as the Augur's Guardian.^[7]

Throughout history the Holy Church has been in conflict with the Empire of Blight. The two factions are engaged in a never ending war and rarely see eye to eye. Notably, in the 7th Era, the Church joined the Risen in an holy war against the Vampires. The goal was to exterminate the fledgling races, as The Holy Mother and Blightfather viewed Sanguine and his new race as genuine threats to the tenuous balance of the multiverse.

Until the return of the Malefic Viper, the Holy Church had standing orders for vampires to be executed on sight.

• The Church is the 3rd party to claim a Pylon of Civilization on Earth.
• Those with bloodlines cannot enter the Holyland, likely because it requires a level of soul binding which is impossible for bloodline holders.^[8]