The Treaty of Flesh and Steel

The Treaty of Flesh and Steel is the name given to of both the documentation and surrounding debates that bound The Church of the Crossed Heart and The Technocult together. The Treaty itself dictates a number of rules to which both sides must follow throughout their continued existence. However this agreement does not stop the extreme elements on both sides clashing from time to time.

## ​The Clash of Ideals

Soon after the implant technology became available a cult arose who believed them to be the next step in the evolution of the lives of all races. They viewed knowledge as a sacred entity from a single deity and began hoarding it. However, the already prevalent, Church of the Crossed Heart was after the same knowledge the cult was hiding and thus began a prolonged period of conflict against them. No real progress was gained by either side; the ancient knowledge being copied as fast as it was being destroyed, the only loss was that of lives and resources. Eventually a pause to the conflict was called in 610 NP.

## The Nature of Sin

Upon the conflict halting theologians on both sides met to discuss how best to proceed, neither wanted further bloodshed but neither wanted the other to get hold of the lost knowledge. Early conversations proved unconstructive, often resorting to threats of violence, however as time went on the discussions became more civilised and rational and as a result ground was made to forming some sort of an agreement. In the middle of 611 NP a revelation came from the Crossed Hearts Holy Book that changed the situation drastically, am often overlooked passage read:

> "*For thou to sin one must first know of sin, a humble beast may not sin for it is unaware of sin. Secondly thou must commit thine sin with thou's own flesh, for if thou must simply think of sin to be punished then non shall pass into the divine light"*
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This passage gave The Technocult a viable point of existence within The Church of the Crossed Heart for if, as the eventual goal was, they were to remove their flesh and replace it with cybernetics then no sin could be committed. Later it became known that, in essence, the Omnissiah was a combination of all of The Twelve Angels and therefore inseparable from them in all but name. From these standpoint the Treaty was formed.

## The Terms of The Treaty of Flesh and Steel

The treaty laid out the framework for an alliance between the two groups with amendments further solidifying the relationship as the need arose. In it's current form the treaty's main rulings are:

* All Old World knowledge is to be passed onto The Technocult to be copied down into a compendium of all knowledge prior to the original copy being destroyed. Once copied it is to be returned to The Church of the Crossed Heart where in it will promptly be destroyed.
* Conflict between the members of the two groups over ideological reasons is prohibited, however members can still fight over normal things and healthy debate between the two viewpoints is encouraged to gain a better understanding of the other sides views.
* In the event of an external attack on one group the other must step in to defend them.
* Both groups are allowed one Flagship craft the opposite side can be prohibited from entering. What goes on inside of this ship, as long as it does not break the treaty, is none of the other groups business. The exception to this is that if sufficient evidence of a breach of treaty is presented to an independent court a ruling may be passed down for both sides to perform a thorough investigation of each others ships simultaneously. If the Treaty is proven to have been breached then an unknown punishment shall be dealt to the offending side (this punishment is yet to be decided and will only be decided if this clause is ever needed)