Chapter 100 Religious History and Dynamics

For a year after the outbreak of the magic tide, all believers lost the ability to listen to the revelation of the gods - not only those low-level priests and priests, but also the bishops of various denominations and even the Pope and the Holy See, They all lost this ability at the same time.

Of course, even under normal circumstances, humans cannot directly hear the voices of gods. The so-called "listening to gods' revelation" actually refers to the process of sincere prayers, sacraments, and covenants of devout believers, due to their own spiritual state. The "spirituality of God" of the gods, so that you can hear a little murmur-like whispers that are almost auditory hallucinations. These whispers will directly echo in the minds of believers and form a long-lasting and indelible "spiritual imprint", And this spiritual imprint will in turn change the spirit of the believers and bring them closer to the "spirit of God", which is the main way for the clergy in this world to advance and become stronger.

Because those vague whispers do have the power to transform the human spirit and make them stronger and purer, it is elevated from ordinary hallucinations and is regarded by the clergy as a sacred phenomenon.

However, in the year when the magic tide broke out, all believers could not hear this "whisper from the gods", and they were horrified to find that no matter how much they prayed and how strict the ceremony was, their gods Neither responded, as if the gods had disappeared en masse.

Because of the loss of divine grace, all clergymen could not be promoted in that year, and there was not a single new person who could master divine arts among the shallow believers and ordinary people, not even the babies born in that year. , it was later proved that he did not possess the slightest divine talent.

If the situation continues to deteriorate according to that trend, it is difficult to say what the future will be for the believers of the gods on this continent, but it seems like the last ray of hope in despair, and people find that the magic they have mastered has not failed— —Although the power is slightly weaker than before, at least the priests who have become official priests before the magic tide can still use the magic, and these priests who can still use the magic have managed to maintain the crumbling churches at that time. ——But even so, there were many small sects at that time that could not support it, and disappeared in the wasteland in the process of people fleeing from the Gondor Empire.

Gawain remembered that the leaders of the major sects had more than one secret talk and attempt at that time, and people gave up their prejudice and hostility in the past. beliefs and historical hatred, and instead come together to try to find a solution to the problem. Later, several large sects represented by the God of Light, the God of War, and the Three Gods of Harvest finally made some progress. After several emergency meetings, the leaders of several sects are now on the eastern border of the Ogure Tribal Nation. An attempt was made to communicate with the gods on the top of the "Peak of the Ancestors". That attempt was a closed-door meeting. Even Gawain Cecil didn't know what happened. , the gods have descended a new divine metaphor, revealing that mortals give up disputes and unite to survive - and the magic tide is a disaster caused by various folly of human beings.

The various sects signed an agreement called the "Holy Covenant" by later generations on the peak of the ancestors.

Announcing that all religious disputes will be abandoned, all sects will no longer be antagonistic, and will do their best to continue human civilization as their responsibility - and it seems that this action really pleases the gods. In the second month after the signing of the Holy Covenant, also On the anniversary of the year after the outbreak of the magic tide, the gods once again favored mankind.

Believers can hear the voice of the gods again.

This is what Gawain knows, the historical event that led to the fact that various sects on this continent today stand in abundance but maintain a relatively peaceful situation.

This historical event changed many things:

It ended the disputes between various beliefs in the mainland, and also united the clergy of various sects to jointly help human civilization resist the tide of magic and rebuild their homes, but there are also some too stubborn sects who cannot accept this fact, and they choose to degenerate , against all the sects that signed the "Holy Covenant", became a variety of distorted heresy beliefs, and gradually evolved into some of the most feared dark organizations in the world today, the magic they use is also called "" "Dark Magic"...

To this day, those depraved and twisted fanatics remain one of the world's most chilling shadows.

As a person with normal logic and no brains, of course Gawain has a high evaluation of the "Holy Covenant". Although he is not religious, he appreciates that those who have faith put aside disputes, unite and continue at the moment of crisis. Civilized effort—whether or not that effort is by divine command.

But he also knew that for a race with a short lifespan (relative to elves) like humans, even the divine covenant was not permanent.

Seven hundred years later, although the covenant of the year is still engraved on the cornerstones of various sects, just like the "brother agreement" between Typhon and Ansu that has long since disappeared, later generations have gradually forgotten those who lived in the ancestors. The meaning of the covenant made at the foot of the mountain.

Although many spiritual religions on the mainland today still maintain a peaceful situation, in fact, there have never been many tit-for-tat confrontations, exclusions, and squeezes in private.

After all, no one can really hear what the gods are saying to them. Even the Pope of the Holy Light Sect hears only vague whispers from the gods, and the vagueness of divine enlightenment gives Space for people to play -

"What if the gods asked us to fight the infidels? Anyway, I think so. It definitely doesn't matter if I ate too much dream grass before I prayed..." - Many people think so.

But in any case, the Holy Covenant is still a little more authoritative than the alliance agreement between several human kingdoms (after all, it is in the name of God). It’s not uncommon for the priests of different factions to look up and not look down to see each other in a big town with several churches clustered together—of course, after the priests greet each other, they turn their heads and spit and go home to fight villains. The situation is also very common.

It's just that no one will explain this situation on the surface, especially the high-level priests of various sects, and it is impossible to say anything in public, "Although there are many gods, my boss is better than you. "In this case.

Veronica said so.

Gawain didn't know whether the holy princess was intentionally hinting at it or whether there was a heart that didn't speak out of her mind hidden under her holy and intelligent appearance. Anyway, he was very concerned about this matter, and the one who appeared with Veronica seemed like a light. Casting the general high-level priestess made him full of doubts. In this case, he would not dare to rashly accept anything thrown by the other party.

As for whether to build or introduce churches in the territory in the future, he really does not have much resistance. After all, there are gods in this world, and divine arts are indeed a part of people's daily production and life. As a pragmatic person , even if he doesn't believe in God himself, he won't stop others from believing in it - he's already in such a fantasy world, and if he still insists on atheism, it's too idealistic.

It's just that he will definitely strengthen supervision of the church at that time to ensure that everything is under his control: the magic is true or not, it is also true that theocracy will affect the political power, and he is not willing to plant a hole in this regard.

Just like every qualified traverser - divine arts, in Gawain's mind, it is used as a means of production.

Of course, planning these things is a little too far away. In the case that the territory cannot even build a small church, it is better to think about how to control the faith in the land than to think about how to toss the reality of infrastructure, so Gawain decided to take advantage of the foreign invasion. During this period of temporary peace, first lay down the foundation of the territory.

The news about the eastern border brought by Veronica and others reminded him that in this unstable world, the dangerous things are far more than the magic tide in the wasteland of Gondor. After enjoying seven hundred years of peace, there are too many things that are just about to move under the appearance of peace, and if you want to live comfortably in such a situation, you have to get nervous first.

Gawain returned to his tent - saying that more and more tents are now becoming more sturdy and warm wooden houses or even masonry houses, it is time for his tent to be upgraded - he woke up and was curling up on the mat. Betty, who was sleeping and drooling, asked the girl to bring all the drawings he had accumulated in the past few days.

He unfolded the drawings one by one, then removed the impractical things from them (but didn't plan to destroy them, in case they would be useful in the future?), and finally found what he wanted: some kind of simplified machinery , the metal wheels, connecting rods and cylinders are cleverly combined, and several sub-pictures show the disassembly and detailed description of these mechanical structures, but under the main picture, there is a line of striking red letters: Initially the power cannot be Solved, put on hold for now.

"Go and call Rebecca and Heidi," Gawain looked at the little maid who was standing beside the table stunned, "Just say I have something... Forget it, just remember to call them."

Betty trotted out, leaving Gawain in front of a few half-finished drawings and thinking, Amber's voice suddenly came from behind him: "What are you drawing? Why can't I understand it?"

"Some kind of power mechanism," Gao Wen said without raising his head, and at the same time slapped the half-elf thief's claws off his silver seal, "Theoretically, this is a kind of Something that keeps moving on its own and can drive other mechanical structures, but it’s not finished yet.”

Amber's entire body was detached from the shadow form, and she looked down at the blueprints on the table curiously: "Oh? You mean those golems powered by elemental cores?"

Gawain shook his head: "No, it's not a thing at all, this is a more general and basic device, but its value is far beyond those golems... Unfortunately, it still lacks the most important part."

Yes, the part that doesn't boil water...