“Rampant activity… and highly compatible with North Ufigan culture?”
Inside the passenger cabin of the cruise ship, Dorothy furrowed her brows slightly as she read Beverly’s response in the Literary Sea Logbook. She hadn’t expected a Radiance Church heresy to be highly compatible with North Ufiga’s traditional culture. Could they possibly be linked to the First Dynasty?
“What exactly is this so-called Savior’s Advent Sect? And what connection do they have with North Ufiga?”
Dorothy continued writing her questions into the pages of the Logbook, and not long after, Beverly responded almost instantly.
“The Savior’s Advent Sect can be considered the most powerful branch of heretical Radiance Church beliefs. Unlike the mainstream Three Saints faction centered around Holy Mount, they do not recognize that the Radiant Savior split into the Three Saints, nor do they acknowledge the Three Saints’ authority to rule in His stead. In the theology of the Savior’s Advent Sect, the Radiant Savior Himself remains the one supreme divine being of this world—He is the one true God, the sole Redeemer, and none may take His place.
“According to them, the Three Saints are false demons who deceive the world in the Savior’s name, and the Three Saints faction on Holy Mount are merely their lackeys. They proclaim that one day, the Radiant Savior will descend once more into the mortal world, to destroy the false Saints and their followers, and grant true salvation to those who have not been misled and remain faithful. That’s where the name ‘Savior’s Advent Sect’ comes from. Their belief system aligns very closely with North Ufiga’s traditional religious culture, so they hold considerable influence there.”
As Beverly’s neat printed script appeared on the page, Dorothy’s mind began to stir with thought.
“They don’t acknowledge the Three Saints and only worship the Savior? Damn… I didn’t expect the gap between the Savior’s Advent Sect and the mainstream Radiance Church to be this wide. It’s so wide, you could outright call it a different religion. This kind of heresy, which fundamentally rejects the Three Saints’ doctrine, must be a sworn enemy of Holy Mount.”
Dorothy reflected on this, but she still had more questions. With these in mind, she picked up her pen and wrote.
“I get the basic idea of what the Savior’s Advent Sect is, but you said it aligns well with North Ufiga’s traditional beliefs. Wasn’t North Ufiga once part of the First Dynasty? From my research, the people there used to worship something called the Heaven’s Arbiter, which was a deity of Revelation. How does that fit with a ‘Lantern’ faith like the Radiant Savior’s?” She wrote her confusion into the Logbook, and a moment later, Beverly responded again with even more information that took Dorothy by surprise.
“Who said it aligns with the Heaven’s Arbiter? The First Dynasty and Heaven’s Arbiter were things of the Second Epoch. That stuff’s been gone for about 7,000 years by now. We’ve been through a whole Third Epoch since then. Do you really think anyone in North Ufiga today remembers the traditions of the Heaven’s Arbiter or the First Dynasty? Those are all just lost souls and ruins buried in the sand.
“What I meant by North Ufiga’s ‘traditional’ belief is something else entirely—a religion known as the True Radiant Lord.”
“The True Radiant Lord? What’s that supposed to be?”
Dorothy responded, frowning in confusion at this unfamiliar divine name.
“The True Radiant Lord—or the Lord of True Radiance—was a widely followed faith during the early centuries of this current epoch. In North Ufiga, He was believed to be the one supreme god, the source of all light and salvation, the ruler of all. The True Radiant Lord had massive influence across North Ufiga in the early days of this century and was, without a doubt, a major worldly religion.
“When the Radiance Church began spreading from the mainland into North Ufiga, the followers of the True Radiant Lord resisted fiercely, eventually leading to a series of brutal holy wars. The Radiance Church held the advantage, but the cost was heavy. To reduce their losses, the Church adopted another approach: they integrated the True Radiant Lord into their theology by proclaiming that He and the Radiant Savior were one and the same. They told the North Ufigans: ‘Your god is also our god.’ They promised the original clergy that if they converted to the Radiance Church, they could retain their positions and continue their religious duties—as long as they acknowledged that the True Radiant Lord was simply another title of the Radiant Savior.”
As Beverly’s response rapidly scrolled across the page, Dorothy sat in stunned silence. She hadn’t expected the Church to use such a method in spreading to North Ufiga. It was strikingly similar to how she had faked conversions in Summer Tree—but this was on an entirely different scale. Unlike Summer Tree, which had no leverage, the True Radiant Lord’s faith was strong enough to force early Radiance Church missionaries into partial concessions.
“The Radiance Church actually conceded ground… That’s incredible. But would the believers of the True Radiant Lord really accept that?”
Dorothy wrote.
“Of course they would. You might not know this, but the overlap between the True Radiant Lord and the Radiant Savior is huge. The two Churches were already remarkably similar, even in their mystical inheritance—they both followed the Lantern path. Integrating the two was easy. Once the Church made its offer, the True Radiant Lord’s clergy accepted fairly quickly. Eventually, the Church fully incorporated the True Radiant Lord as an alternate title for the Radiant Savior, and the entire North Ufiga region was brought into the fold of the Radiance Church.”
Dorothy furrowed her brow and wrote again.
“You’re saying the True Radiant Lord’s church and the Radiance Church… were already very similar? They both even had Lantern-based systems? Why is that? What’s the origin of the True Radiant Lord’s church? Why is it so closely related to the Radiance Church?”
This time, Beverly’s response was less conclusive.
“That part… isn’t very clear. All I can tell you is that the connection between the two seems to go back to the Third Epoch—the so-called Imperial Age in the mysticism world.
“During the Third Epoch, both the mainland and North Ufiga were under the Empire’s rule. That means both regions were influenced by the Empire’s state religion—which was centered around worshiping the Emperor as a god. Whether it’s the Radiance Church or the True Radiant Lord’s church, both seem to have some connection to that Imperial faith. It’s possible they were both offshoots of the state religion that persisted into the Fourth Epoch. So maybe… when the Radiance Church says the Radiant Savior and the True Radiant Lord are the same being, it’s not entirely false~”
As Beverly’s words filled the page, Dorothy froze for a moment, overwhelmed by the flood of implications. Her thoughts spun in every direction.
“The Third Epoch Empire… the Imperial state religion… So the True Radiant Lord’s church and the Radiance Church might both be descendants of that religion carried into the Fourth Epoch? That’s why the Radiance Church could so easily merge with the True Radiant faith?
“If I remember correctly, the Empire was founded by the King of Light at the end of the Second Epoch—after he and his allies won the divine war known as the War of Dawn. The beginning of the Third Epoch is essentially marked by the establishment of that Empire by the King of Light. Which means the Empire’s state religion, which worshipped the emperor, was in essence worshipping the King of Light. And since the King of Light is a god of the Lantern path, then the Imperial Church would naturally also be a Lantern church… and so are the later Radiance Church and the True Radiant Lord Church.
“With this level of continuity, doesn’t it suggest that the Radiant Savior and the True Radiant Lord are essentially just the King of Light under different names? Could it be that the current Radiant Savior is actually the same being as the ancient emperor?”
Sitting in her cabin, Dorothy mused over Beverly’s words on the page, then picked up her pen and wrote down the question directly.
“The King of Light, the True Radiant Lord, and the Radiant Savior—are they essentially the same god?”
“That... I don’t really know.”
Beverly replied, her words appearing swiftly on the page.
“After all, I’m not some scholar of divine secrets—I’m just a construct. If you’re truly curious about the relationship between them, you’ll need to investigate it yourself. What I can say is that the connection between these deities is undeniably strong. It wouldn’t be unthinkable for them to be one and the same. In fact, that theory is pretty popular among scholars of mystic history. Most people who’ve looked into it a little tend to come to that conclusion.”
Dorothy let out a breath as she read Beverly’s answer. She didn’t dwell too long on the exact nature of the King of Light’s identity anymore and instead picked up her pen to ask a follow-up question.
“Alright, I think I have a good grasp now of the relationship between the Radiance Church and the True Radiant Lord Church. But what does this have to do with the Savior’s Advent Sect being so active in North Ufiga?”
“Oh, they’re very much related.”
Beverly replied immediately.
“Did you notice that the True Radiant Lord Church was originally exclusive in its worship? Its believers claimed that the True Radiant Lord was the supreme being of the world—there was no concept of divine avatars. The mainstream Radiance Church, however, upholds the Trinity, saying the Radiant Savior entrusted His duties to the Three Saints and withdrew to the Solar Palace. This created a major divergence from the True Radiant Lord Church.
“After the True Radiant Lord Church was mostly absorbed into the Radiance Church, the latter began pushing the Trinity doctrine across North Ufiga. But many of the church structures there were converted from True Radiant Lord churches and retained high levels of autonomy. Moreover, the belief in the True Radiant Lord remained deeply rooted in the hearts of North Ufiga’s people.
“As a result, even while the Trinity doctrine gained traction, worship of the Radiant Savior continued unabated in North Ufiga—far more strongly than on the mainland. In fact, some even began rejecting the Three Saints entirely, acknowledging only the Savior. This ideological environment became fertile ground for the Savior’s Advent Sect to thrive. Many countries in North Ufiga have signs of their activity. The current civil war in Addus is just one example.
“So the root cause of the Addus conflict lies in the corruption of the Baruch dynasty.”
Beverly continued.
“Major mainland powers like Falano, Pritt, and Ivengard have long had significant influence over the country. As puppets of those powers, the Baruch royal family sold out national interests and brutally suppressed its people. Coupled with their own deep corruption, rebellion was inevitable. But this time, the rebellion was amplified by the Savior’s Advent Sect.
“The rebel leaders used the sect’s ideology to win support and even sought mystical aid from them. With their help, the rebellion’s momentum surpassed all previous uprisings in Addus, even breaching the capital. But it was precisely because they leveraged the Savior’s Advent Sect that the Church took notice.
“The old nobles of the Baruch dynasty have already petitioned the Church for military intervention, backed by mainland support. Normally, the Church would respond by force immediately, but in an unexpected twist, they sent a diplomatic mission instead to try and defuse the conflict. No one expected this move. It’s completely unlike the Church’s usual style—I suspect there’s some internal political struggle going on behind the scenes.”
As Beverly’s clear and detailed information unfolded across the page, Dorothy grasped the tangled complexity of the Addus situation.
The Church, the Savior’s Advent Sect, the rebels, the old Baruch faction nobles… so many factions were entangled in this. Just from one glance, Dorothy could tell that Vania’s mission would be fraught with danger.
“I thought that making Vania a political flower vase in the upper ranks of the Church would keep her out of harm’s way. But it looks like I was being naïve. To those in power, even a flower vase is still a chess piece. If it’s meant to be used, it must be used… Looks like I’ll have to stay close to her on this trip.”
Dorothy sighed and picked up her pen to reply.
“I’ve got a rough understanding of the North Ufiga situation now. Thanks for the intel. So… how much are you charging me for all that?”
“Pssh, charge for that? Come on, everything I just told you is practically ‘public knowledge’ in the local mysticism world. You’re a regular customer—charging for that would be too petty.”
“Your old man would’ve charged anyway. He tried to profit off every scrap of info…” Dorothy thought to herself.
Given all the business she’d done with the White Craftsmen’s Guild—including helping them take down a Dark Gold Society stronghold—surely she counted as a VIP client by now. Getting waived on minor fees was only fair.
Just as she was about to close the conversation, another question suddenly popped into her mind. So she picked up her pen again and asked.
“By the way—you said earlier that the Radiance Church and the True Radiant Lord Church fought a holy war at first, but later merged through worship. During all that… did neither the Radiant Savior nor the True Radiant Lord issue any oracles?”
Dorothy posed the question thoughtfully. If the two were truly the same god, wouldn’t one of them have issued an oracle beforehand to stop the bloodshed between followers? And if they weren’t, wouldn’t the True Radiant Lord have issued a warning or rejection when his followers were absorbed into a new faith?
But the fact was, no oracles were recorded. Neither the Radiant Savior nor the True Radiant Lord seemed to object in any way. In a world where true gods were real, this struck Dorothy as extremely odd.
Shortly after, Beverly replied.
“No clue. All divine revelations within the Radiance Church are strictly confidential. Only the cardinals have access to them—nothing is ever made public. But from what I know, during that early Fourth Epoch holy war, there were no records of direct divine intervention. And the True Radiant Lord side apparently didn’t receive any oracles either.”