Saint Mesit Theocracy

The Saint Mesit Theocracy is one of the Three Great Powers of the Sia Continent, ruled by the Xeclyde Royal Family. It monopolizes the Compassion Origin Attribute of the Three Main Origin Attributes.

The Xeclydes are known to be descendants of the angels, having inherited the Angel Bloodline. The patriarch of the Xeclydes is known as the Holy Eminence, and he doubles as the emperor of the Theocracy and the pope of the Genesis Goddess Church.

Aside from its powerful military might, a huge base of power for the Theocracy comes from the Genesis Goddess Church, a faith that worships the Goddess of Creation, Sia, which over 90% of the human populace are believers of. With the Xeclydes in firm grasp over the religion, they are able to exert significant influence on other countries.

The Theocracy is currently under the rule of Holy Eminence John Xeclyde, and the next successor in line is Nora Xeclyde.

It is also the home of the protagonist.

## Description

It's founded in the early years of the Third Epoch by the Xeclydes and the Five Eminent Noble Houses, namely the Lucerne Ducal House, Belfast Marquess House, Weiss Marquess House, Ascart Marquess House, and Elric Count House.

With the combined powers of these houses, they were able to swiftly clear out the monsters and establish the Saint Mesit Theocracy, allowing it to grow into prominence in West Sia. However, its founding appears to have been mired in several controversies, as evidenced by the records in the Austine Empire's Millennia Glory Repository.

In view of the merits of the Five Eminent Noble Houses in the founding of the Theocracy, the Xeclydes granted them a great degree of autonomy, resulting in the formation of a decentralized government and a system of fiefdoms. Each of the Five Eminent Noble Houses wield great influence in the politics and are allowed to build their private armies. The Xeclydes serves as a mediator between them and a uniting force as compared to a direct superior-subordinate relationship.

Due to the nature of the relationship, while the Xeclydes are able to issue commands to the Five Eminent Noble Houses, they are not able to touch their subordinates out of concerns of subversion of power.

## The Five Eminent Noble Houses

All of these (with the exception of the Ascart House) were introduced in Chapter 37.

### Ascart Marquess House

The Ascart House is a military house. It rules over Ascart City, a distinguished, safe city of the Theocracy. It has a long history and is also the closest with the Xeclydes. It's insignia is nicknamed Eye of the Candlelight.

Even though the Ascart House can be considered the leader of the Five Eminent Noble Houses, it never once rose to the top because most of the territory it had was undeveloped. The Ascart Fiefdom, which consisted mostly of mountainous terrain filled with huge swathes of forest, was a nightmare to develop. The Xeclydes lent the land to the Ascarts believing that if they worked diligently, the potential would be enormous. The patriarchs focused on the military since the House is a military house. For the past millennia, the economic activity of the Ascart Fiefdom had only been limited to their plains, which made up only 30% of their landmass. Roel, wanting to reduce the debt of the System, asked Carter for permission on working on the Ascart Fiefdom.

For more details, see Ascart House.

### Belfast Marquess House

The Belfast fiefdom is located at the northernmost border of the Theocracy, a place known to be freezing cold. Their people are known to be incredibly tough. The insignia is described to be a grey bear. The Belfasts were located right next to the North Sea

### Lucerne Ducal House

They are the only ducal house left in the Theocracy and have always maintained a politically neutral stance. Their insignia is the golden bird insignia. The Lucernes had massive forests.

### Elric Count House

They used to be a marquess house, but they were demoted for supporting Prince Wade during the March Turmoil. As their fiefdom is located next to the border, they have always been known for their great military might. Their insignia is of a tiger. While it no longer has a lot of territory, it quickly rose in power because of the plains in it's territory, suitable for agriculture.

### Weiss Marquess House

Over the past few decades, they have been standing on the same front as the Xeclydes, making them a part of the royal faction. However, it doesn’t seem like they are entirely steadfast in their stance. Their insignia is a campanula flower. The Weiss had a lot of mountains

## History

### March Turmoil

In Year 828, Prince Wade conspired with the Belfasts', Weiss', Elrics', and the heretics to launch a coup d'etat. His goal was to reform the basis of society so as to reduce discrimination against the heretics, which were rife at that point due to widespread fears and animosity against them. He believes that heretics have strengths that can help to further develop the Theocracy, and it would be a pity not to tap into this unused reserve of power.

Making use of an opportunity arising from Holy Eminence Ryan's visit to the Austine Empire, he gathered military forces in Holy Capital Loren and started purging the nobles while making a move on her twin sister, Princess Victoria, in hopes of eliminating the other successor to the throne. His aim was to become the sole successor of the Theocracy, which he would then use as leverage to force Holy Eminence Ryan to bow down to his demands or else risk the severance of the Xeclydes' lineage.

However, Princess Victoria had noticed her twin brother's intent and sought help from her mentor, Ponte Ascart, who immediately dispatched forces over to the Holy Capital. Unfortunately, they weren't able to gather sufficient military to counter Prince Wade's forces within a short period of time. The situation was further worsened when Prince Wade's forces took control of the city, which allowed them to block off further reinforcements for the Princess Victoria.

They fought for a month. Cornered, Princess Victoria and Ponte retreated to the Labyrinth Manor, where Ponte activated a magic tool to construct a labyrinth around the area. The labyrinth is shrouded in mist and would change forms every half a day, thus making it highly difficult for Prince Wade's forces to breach despite their superior military might. At the same time, Princess Victoria successfully sent a messenger out of the city to inform Holy Eminence Ryan of the coup d'etat in the Holy Capital, prompting the latter to quickly return.

Eventually, Holy Eminence Ryan was able to return before Prince Wade's forces were able to overcome the Labyrinth Manor, and the latter was taken into custody, thus ending the March Turmoil.

Prince Wade was eventually spared due to Holy Eminence Ryan's determination of not wanting to lose his son and Princess Victoria's massive influence, but he was still sentenced to life imprisonment. He eventually died at a young age.

Felder Elric, Prince Wade's key conspirator during the March Turmoil, was sentenced to death. The Elric House was stripped of most of their land, leaving only places that were close to the border where conflicts were strife. The land taken away from them were bestowed to the Ascarts for their merit in protecting Princess Victoria. At the same time, severe restrictions were imposed on the Elrics' personal army so to prevent them from rising up once more. It was mentioned that the other two houses that helped Wade were also punished.

The heretics also left the Saint Mesit Theocracy in droves out of fear of persecution, and the number of heretics in the country has remained low ever since.

## Relationships

### Austine Empire

The Saint Mesit Theocracy is on hostile terms with the Austine Empire.

### Rosa Merchant Confederacy

The Saint Mesit Theocracy interfered in the civil war between the Austine Empire and Rosa, offering weapons and resource toward the rebels in Rosa under the pretext of humanitarian aid. The Ascarts also offered direct military support when the rebels intentionally lured Austine soldiers across the border of the Ascart Fiefdom, which allowed the Ascarts to attack them in the name of self-defense. Eventually, the rebels in Rosa were able to win the war and establish the Rosa Merchant Confederacy.

Due to that, Rosa is on amiable terms with the Saint Mesit Theocracy and continues to maintain close military ties with the Ascart House.

In recent years, the Sorofyas have also been partnering the Ascart Fiefdom in support of its massive economic development, especially after the reforms made by its proxy fief lord, Roel Ascart.

### Evil Cults

Due to the nature of the Theocracy, it generally takes on an antagonistic view toward evil cults. It would crush any evil cults who goes overboard with their deeds. However, it also understands that it's infeasible to attempt to wipe out all evil cults and it could incur heavy backlash if it pushes its antagonism against the evil cults too far, so out of practical concerns, it would turn a blind eye to evil cults that have been lying low.

As it is a country controlled by the Genesis Goddess Church, it has the lowest amount of operating evil cults amongst all the countries. Like the Connoisseur Guild, evil cults usually ally each other. These are considered to be behemoths, not at all weak as one might expect evil cults in the Theocracy would be.

There are very few evil cults in Holy Capital Loren due to Holy Eminence John, who was said to have a perfect view of what was constantly going on in the city.

## Known Locations

* Holy Capital Loren: Holy Capital Loren is the base of the operations of the Xeclydes House. It is said that John Xeclyde protects the city and all that happens in here is known by him. It also has the famous Labyrinth Villa and The Holy Capital’s Royal Library, one of the Three Great Libraries of the Sia.Continent.
* Each of the Five Eminent Noble Houses rule over cities in the Saint Mesit Theocracy. For example, the Ascart House rules over Ascart City.
* Tark Stronghold: A fortress that has never been breached before. Carter works in the Logistics Department here.

## Trivia

* Angels are known to be the race closest to Goddess Sia, having served as her envoy. It's based on this legitimacy that the Xeclydes were able to hold onto power over the Genesis Goddess Church for the past millennia.

* Inheritors of the Angel Bloodline would only have one partner in their entire lives.
* The Holy Capital's Royal Library was founded by Holy Eminence Lukas, son of Prince Wade, in response to a provocation by the Austine Empire when he visited their library.