Lightbearers

The **Lightbearers** (Late Palguenian: **Sulloirez**) are a religious sect that ruled over Tulon during World War III.

They were notorious for their rude, selfish attitude, and arrogantly showing off their own policies to boast about their devotion to their God, Deithe, or simply to anger their opponents. Like their Minastanian counterparts in the north, they were destroyed after World War III, their religion extinct.

## History

The Lightbearers were elected to power in Tulon, as the only nation with a Lightbearer state church. It grew richer with donations from its churches back in Randros, but it only kept its wealth for its churches and preachers, rather than building the rest of the country.

The ban on a popular comedy series about the Norse god Thor led to a nationwide revolt, and the near-destruction of the entire religion from Tulon. Nearly all Lightbearers were either killed or expelled.

Tulon itself was destroyed during the Great Renewal, its jungles burned to ash by the resulting global bombardment. Its Lightbearer episode became a lesson in morality classes in the Denlotia and other societies afterwards.

The 10,000 children of Sarchelon, members of a commune, were a common topic in whataboutist memes by Lightbearer cyberwarriors. The actual number of kills was around 456, most of them being teenagers who were hooligans and Internet trolls. That was due to mass arrests and a gang war with a rival church, according to church documents recovered from ruins and databases after the Third World War.

After the destruction of the Tulonian church colony, the Lightbearer main church suffered a schism between two factions: Cyberwarriors, the main faction; and Purists, the new faction. Both sought to turn Palguenia into a harsh, corrupt theocracy, but both of them were destroyed during the Third World War, and their surviving members exiled.

## Beliefs

The Lightbearers worshipped a single god, Deithe.

Originally, the Lightbearers were meant to be a charity and activist group, who dedicated themselves to their Lord of Light by helping the poor. Over time, as the church grew richer, the Lightbearers became more corrupt and hypocritical, if not militant.

Among the practices documented among the Lightbearers were: whataboutism, bragging, forced conversion, Internet slang, trolling, and desecration of native deities. Instead of functioning schools and hospitals, Lightbearers preferred massive cathedrals in the style of Palguenian sun temples.

## Trivia

* The Lightbearers were inspired by Christian extremists and ultraconservatives, especially online trolls. It may also be based on how religion is manipulated in Malaysia by politicians for wrongful ends.
	+ Ultimately, their story was derived from the Malaysian ban on Thor: Love and Thunder from cinemas, as one UMNO politician stated that it had lesbian references, which the politician considered as an attack on his country. This ban, along with its support by various conservatives (mostly Muslims, with some Christians), made the author so angry that he hated conservatism afterwards.
* "Deithe" is the Irish word for "gods". The author chose Celtic languages, especially Gaulish, Proto-Celtic, and Irish for the Ardeschen language and its relatives, like Palguenian (which was supposed to be Gaulish or French).