Church of Longinus

The **Church of Longinus** is a massive religious organization that exists in the world of Memento Mori. They are the ones responsible for the Witch Hunt and the creation of the Witches of Qlipha, along with the attempted assassinations of the Successor, making them one of the main antagonistic forces of the story.

## Background

Nothing is known about how the Church began, but it is implied that they originally started with good intentions before their aims became twisted. What is known however is that they have massive sway and influence over the entire world, with the exception of the Lupus Confederacy, who are largely untouched by the Church because of it's remote location.

The Church is led by a single Pope whose job is to create and maintain the seal that keeps the Demons and their forces of evil at bay. Another goal of the Pope, and by extension the Church itself, was to maintain peace and safety throughout the world. It is also known that the Church possesses both a religious division, which spreads their teachings and messages, and a military division, which acts as a pseudo-police force to maintain order and safety.

At some point during the world's history, the world became decimated by an ongoing crisis known as the Calamity. The Pope, Elfriede, under the influence of demonic possession, began to spread propaganda throughout the Church and eventually the world that witches were the one's responsible for the Calamity and that the crisis would end when they have all been exterminated.

With their resources and propaganda, the Church would singlehandedly begin the Witch Hunt, leading to the executions of countless witches and innocents along with the persecution and suffering of even more.

## The Witch Hunt

Throughout the Witch Hunt, the Church would engage in cruel and unethical practices to target and kill witches or simply for their own gain.

Such activities included:

* Spreading baseless and false propaganda about witches, leading to public persecution by gullible townspeople.
* Torturing witches and non-witches for information on where more witches can be found.
* Murdering witches or any non-witches who attempted to harbor them.
* Engaging in fraud or scams to steal from people and benefit themselves financially.
* Allowing entire villages and people to be attacked and massacred by cursed creatures in the hopes that a witch would be created trying to protect them, who they can then capture and execute.
* Personally massacring villages who either harbor witches or have origins related to witches in any way.

Partially as a result of the cruel and horrendous actions undertaken by the Church during this event, the Witches of Qlipha, who suffered tragic and horrible traumas, were created. These witches would then go on to ravage the already ravaged world even further through the power of their Curses.

## In-Game

In the Main Story, the Church of Longinus act as one of the main antagonistic forces of the game, with many of their members and foot soldiers threatening the Successor and his witches on various occasions on their quest to save the world.

Upset by the Successor's attempts to save witches and stand against them, the Church attempts to have him assassinated while also spreading false propaganda about the Successor being an evil and odious man who is spreading disaster and chaos with his vanguard of vile witches.

It is not currently known for sure what becomes of the Church after Elfriede is defeated and restored, but it is likely that the Witch Hunt comes to an end and that Church itself becomes purged of it's villainous ways and restored to it's former glory.

## Known Members

The following is a list of known members or affiliates of the Church:

## Trivia

* "Longinus" is the name given to an unnamed Roman soldier who is credited with piercing the side of Jesus Christ with his lance, who later became a convert to Christianity.
* The Church's main headquarters is located in the Holy See of Hainz.