One Concern

> *"The **One Concern** exists to keep the heathens from perverting our faith, and to enforce His will of a preserved, untouched planet. One Concern agents share the same holy life essence as Mother!" - Yon*
>
>

The **One Concern** is the theocratic society Robin is born into. It is a large and sprawling society, what could be considered an empire by the scale of the Planet. It is significantly larger and more technologically advanced than the only other known society in Iconoclasts, the Isi. The concern encompasses most of the land of the planet, as well as most people and characters.

# Origin

The One Concern arrived on the Planet in an Ancestral Vessel which came to rest in the mountainous region of what became known as the Darland Ascent. The Concern constructed their HQ around it, but moved their capitol city to the more temperate climate to the east, founding City One. Unlike the Isi, most of the technology and information granted to them by the ancestors that brought the Vessel the the Planet were preserved, granting the Concern far superior technology. However over the years, the Mediums and Bastion Suits spun lies to cover up some of the collective knowledge of the One Concern in order to better control their citizens. As generations passed, many secrets were forgotten to all but those few in charge. It is still unclear how much of the world is unknown and how much as just been suppressed by the religious leaders.

# Religion

The One Concern practice the religion of the Tri, whether willingly or not. The Concern government is entirely theocratic, with Mother, the supreme leader, being one of the three worshipped divine icons of the Tri. Their religion also revolves around Him. His exact relationship with the One Concern and the Planet are not fully explained, but it is suggested that the truth of of the great He is known by a select few, such as Mother and the Bastion Suits. The entire Concern civilization is covered with Icons of Prayer, statues, and altars as propaganda to further urge citizens to be devout and loyal.

# Government and Society

Society under the Concern is completely autocratic. Mediums rule by divine right, creating a command economy. Citizens are provided designated housing, and their occupations are chosen for them. It is also a police state, with Agents rooting out and exacting Penance on rulebreakers, and propaganda encouraging neighbors to "confess" on behalf of each other. The Penance carried out on the citizens is extremely severe, usually resulting in death. In turn, the most devout are allowed to live in the capitol, City One, and are given a far safer and more luxurious life. Outside the capitol are numerous settlements scattered across the various Regions of the planet. The totalitarian regime practices forced conversion, attempting to root out the Isi society and eliminate them if they will not conform to the ways of the Tri. This is seen as compassionate to the Tri, particularly by Chrome, as it would eliminate all conflicts once all people conform to one set of ideals.

# Technology

The Concern have superior resources and technology than the Isi. Their mechanics and ChemiCo Chemists are capable of extracting Ivory from most materials and producing significant amounts of machinery and weaponry. They also have sufficient resources to build multiple settlements around the Planet, though most of the resources available are reserved for the Concern government itself and City One, especially in times of Ivory shortages. The Concern also use tech retrieved from their Ancestral Vessel, though they do not have full knowledge of how their ancient tools work. Many of them are chalked up to be divine relics with mysterious powers.

The Concern has also taken a large interest in technologies derived from the properties of the planet. They spend a significant amount of resources researching Planet Spines, Spine Controllers, Eyes, and Abstract Cubes in hopes of learning how to control the planet itself. They are successful in developing their Concern Controllers from the planet's Eyes. These devices allow them to control Ivory machinery. Much of their research has been scrapped as an unknown catastrophe caused their facilities in the Dark Cave to be sealed off during Father's reign, and the Ivory drought caused them to stop researching Planet Spines shortly before the events of Iconoclasts.