D∴G cult

The D∴G cult (D∴G教団; pronounced "D-G," meaning "D therefore G") was a radical religious cult that committed atrocious crimes in pursuit of its Aidios-rejecting ideals. It was active throughout Zemuria.
== Background ==
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The D∴G cult was a religious group that denied the existence of Aidios and is said to worship devils. It has kidnapped children all across the continent in order to subject them to human experimentation in the name of a ceremony.
In S.1198 the majority of the cult's lodges were destroyed and some survivors fled to neighboring nations. In spite of the large-scale extermination mission, the cult managed to survive. Led by Joachim Guenter, they continued the human experiment to complete the Gnosis project (the G stood for Gnosis, "true wisdom" as they called it). Backed with funds by Speaker Hartmann of Crossbell, to whom they promised a paradise later on, they managed to complete the Gnosis.
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It is revealed that the cult was established as an organization to assist in re-creating the Sept-Terrion of Mirage, Demiourgos (the D stood for this). They worship the homunculus, KeA, created by alchemists of the Middle Ages before even her awakening as a replacement to Aidios.
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At the age of 7, Van Arkride ended up in the cult when Edmond Auclair, a wealthy businessman who disapproved of the boy's relationship with his daughter, arranged for him to be adopted, which lead to him being taken in by the cult and experimented on due to his diabolic core. Later, when cult Prince Gerard Dantes received a report from a lodge that a diabolic core was successfully extracted from Van, he used his authority in the cult to take possession of it and gain demonic strength. As a result, he was able to survive and escape the assaults on the cult later launched by Ouroboros and the Guild. However, unlike Joachim, he did not hold any affinity for the cult, and left it to join Almata which he later took over.
It is also revealed that Quatre Salision was a victim of the cult but no details are provided.
What happened to the cult following its destruction is expanded upon: while Joachim continued it, Ellroy Harwood facilitated its remnants merging with the also-destroyed Order of the Moonlight Horse to form the Garden.
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At some point in the past, the book stolen the Book of Ezer from the church, using it in their rituals and forcing children to read from it. Van Arkride was one of these victims. During the purging operation, Bergard Zeman recovered the book.
Gerard was revealed to have, in order to preserve his dying bloodline, given birth to two children not long before the cult's end: Ixs and Jolda. He did not raise them and the two children were later absorbed into and raised in the Garden following the cult's extermination, but having Gerard's bloodline enabled them to use his Apeiron sword.
The location of Paradise was on Nemeth Island, which in the present day, is owned by Ellroy Harwood. When Van and his team visit it, they are able to access data that reveals further info on the cult and its goals. Much of this info wasn't previously known; due to the extreme danger the cult was posing to the public, priority was given to their destruction, rather than the investigation of their technologies during the extermination efforts.
Harwood reveals that the cult was not a monolith; it had many different factions that had radically different objectives and ideals concerning their rejection of Aidios and approach to encountering the alternative deities they believed in.
The approach of one of those factions was to create a perfect, angel-like human that could have god descend into its soul, and thus there was a need to artificially reproduce the legendary aspects of angels by creating an agender human. To this end, two of its members conceived a child, genetically manipulated it through drug administration before it had been born to make it agender, and then medicated and brainwashed it after it was born to erode its sense of self and belonging, with the intention of excising its personality to leave an empty vessel. This child was Quatre. Ultimately, the plan never came to fruition thanks to the extermination attempts, after which Quatre was adopted and raised by Latoya Hamilton.
Around 100 years ago, one of the Artifacts possessed by the cult preserved the soul and intense grudge of an executed Calvardian revolutionary known as Auguste Ardant. This artifact was passed down to the Garden following the cult's destruction. Following the Garden's destruction, Ardant's soul managed to possess a clone body of Ace Rayne (constructed by Melchior before his death using one of the cult's other technologies), and this allowed Ardant to manifest in the world and take the name of Garden-Master. The name and nature of the artifact used to preserve Ardant's soul is unknown.
== List of known members ==
*Joachim Guenter- High priest
*Gerard Dantes - High priest
*Ernest Reis
*Auguste Ardant
*Ixs & Jolda
*Quatre Salision's parents
== List of known victims ==
* Renne was kidnapped by the cult from a friend of her parents and experimented on. To financially support themselves, the cult lent Renne to Paradise, a child sex brothel. In order to cling onto her sanity, she absorbed the personalities of her fellow captives to numb herself to the pain. The brothel was destroyed when Ouroboros Enforcers Joshua and Loewe raided it, finding Renne as the only survivor. The trauma Renne suffered enabled her to later become an Enforcer.
* Tio Plato was kidnapped by the cult in S.1195. Guy Bannings rescued her during the extermination efforts. Tio was subjected to human experimentation as well, and this led to her gaining sensory receptivity that assisted her later in life when she joined the Special Support Section.
* Ennea was also a victim of the cult. She was rescued by Arianrhod and Duvalie, and later joined the Stahlritter in gratitude to them.
* Sheryll Sky, discovered in the Sun Fort.
* Van Arkride who was forced to read from the Book Of Ezer. He had the Diabolic core of Vagrants-Zion in him which was forcibly extracted.
* Quatre Salision who was part of an experiment to bring about divinity on Earth by creating a vessel that a god could inhabit- An angel. He was modified in the womb to make him a hermaphrodite, and his personality drained to better suit the qualities of angels.
== Locations ==
The D∴G cult operated throughout Zemuria and had more than ten lodges and hideouts, including:
* Nemeth Island, including the Paradise building
* Altair, Calvard
* Sigyn Forest, Remiferia
* Moon Temple, Crossbell
* Sun Fort, Ancient Battlefield, Crossbell
== Gallery ==
DG Cult Logo - Concept Art (Zero).jpg
DG Cult Logo - Concept Art 2 (Zero).jpg
D∴G Cult 1 - Visual (Kuro).png
D∴G Cult 2 - Visual (Kuro).png
Category:Organisations
Category:D∴G Cult