Slane Theocracy

Slane Theocracy (スレイン法国) is a human nation of the New World and one of three nations neighboring Nazarick. One of the strongest countries in the region; it is a highly religious state and promotes a doctrine of human supremacy.

Background
Being one of the oldest established human nations, the Slane Theocracy has a history of six hundred years based on fierce adherence to their country's religion. The doctrine of the Slane Theocracy revolves around the Six Great Gods, who appeared six hundred years ago. While so, the country is divided into six different religious sects, each with its own specialized intelligence agency focusing on one expertise they're skillfully good at. Each sect is devoted to one of the Six Great Gods by the Scripture group's color.

Despite being split into different factions, the groups will still cooperate when necessary during times of crisis. They all acknowledge the threat of demons and other races in the world. Additionally, Slane Theocracy's civilization was said to be more advanced in technology than any of the neighboring countries that surround it. The Slane Theocracy also has an institutionalized divine magic training system that is comparable with the Baharuth Empire in terms of arcane magic. One in which they possess a magic school that focuses on training faith-based magic casters. The overall literacy rate for citizens living in the Theocracy is fairly high.

Humanocentrism
Although the Theocracy promotes the discrimination of non-humans and the supremacy of humanity, it only serves to be a tactic from the higher-ups in order to unify all the humans with a common goal and increase their national power. Unlike the common folk, the high officials aren't blinded by xenophobic beliefs and prioritize the survival of humanity. In order to protect humans from the threat of other races, they wanted to bind people together with faith in the Six Great Gods. It was to the point where they tried to keep all God-Kin within their country's borders, even going as far as to detain their wives/potential mothers.

At the same time, the Cardinals recognized the fact that their nation's philosophy has a flaw to it. They feared that their nation's ideology might lead them in a dangerous direction if the Theocracy ever ends up being bordered next to a powerful non-human nation like the Argland Council State. The Cardinals believed that it could play a major factor in radicalizing the citizens to come together and form a militant movement against that nation. As far as this event being the worst-case scenario, the common folk would possibly shout for war with the Argland Council State in order to destroy the enemies of mankind.

The citizens of the Slane Theocracy often viewed people with nonhuman ancestry living in their country as second-class citizens.

Theocracy - Elf War
Despite the Theocracy's prejudice towards non-humans, the nation once had a friendly relationship with the neighboring Elf Country. However, this relationship came to an end when the Elf King abducted and impregnated the ace of the Theocracy's Black Scripture. Fortunately, the Theocracy rescued her and the child that was forced upon her grew up to become Theocracy's strongest God-kin.

Afterward, at the urging of the child, a war of retribution was waged against the Elves. However, despite the Theocracy's superior military strength, progress is slow since the Elf Country is mostly hard to traverse woodland. Thus, the war continues to this day. Elves have also become favored products in the Theocracy's slave trade.

Conspiracies
In order to achieve their goal of allowing humanity to survive in the face of demi-human threats, the Theocracy began to secretly manipulate the affairs of other human nations for what they saw as the greater good.

One of their actions was to shepherd the Re-Estize Kingdom, a human nation completely protected from demi-human nations by its neighbors and natural barriers. They believed this would allow the Kingdom to safely raise powerful individuals who could save mankind. However, its life of peace instead caused many nobles to become arrogant and delusional, resulting in the Kingdom to becoming nothing but a cesspool of corruption.

Deeming the Kingdom to be a failure, the Theocracy shifted its focus to the Baharuth Empire. Since the Theocracy couldn't directly take control of the Kingdom lest they share a border with the powerful Argland Council State, which would inevitably lead to war, they instead planned on letting the Empire conquer the Kingdom. During the Kingdom and Empire's Annual Wars at the Katze Plains, the Theocracy would usually send an envoy with a message stating their disappointment in both nations, yet never acting on their self-righteous claim.

The Undead King Arc
The Slane Theocracy received a request by some corrupt nobles from the Re-Estize Kingdom to assassinate Gazef Stronoff. To accomplish this task, the Sunlight Scripture was dispatched. During the operation, the Theocracy had the Sunlight Scripture under observation. However, for some reason, they lost the whereabouts of the entire force.

In addition, the Theocracy had received a prophecy of the Catastrophe Dragon Lord's resurrection. In response, the Black Scripture was deployed to slay it. The Theocracy even lend them their nations secret weapon, the World Item of the Six Great Gods; the Downfall of Castle and Country.

The Dark Warrior Arc
According to the Adventurer's Guild receptionist, there were no adventurers in the Slane Theocracy. Furthermore, Ainz noted that if other players but himself were in the New World, they would most likely support the Slane Theocracy's aims for the sake of helping out humanity. That was the reason why Ainz was on guard against players and kept his distance from the Slane Theocracy. From what he learned from the captured Sunlight Scripture members, the Theocracy fought to allow the weak human race to prosper, grow strong, and defeat other species. Ainz told Narberal that he is planning to sell off the swords taken from the Slane Theocracy troops who were pretending to be the Baharuth Empire's knights before getting a job.

During a special meeting between Khajiit Dale Badantel and Clementine, he recognized the stolen Crown of Wisdom was used by the Miko Princess of Earth and it is one of the Slane Theocracy's treasures. In the end, he calls the item as trash, questioning Clementine why she did not steal the Six Great Gods' items instead. She responded back by stating that it will be next to impossible when such sacred relics are guarded by the most powerful monster in the Black Scripture. Clementine told Khajiit that if secret information about Zesshi Zetsumei become public, it would lead to total war with the surviving True Dragon Lords. At the same time, she theorized that it could possibly even drag the Slane Theocracy into the kind of war where they might likely get destroyed in the crossfire.

The Slane Theocracy was briefly mentioned by Ninya, a member of the Swords of Darkness to have academies dedicated for clerics or divine magic casters. She stated that the Theocracy has a very high standard of magical education but that leans particularly towards the province of divine magic.

The Bloody Valkyrie Arc
Another disaster struck the Theocracy when the Black Scripture encountered a powerful vampire. While the Black Scripture managed to partially brainwash the creature, this only caused it to indiscriminately attack anyone who approached it, forcing the Scripture to retreat.

The Lizard Man Heroes Arc
After the Black Scripture retreated back to the Theocracy, the captain had a meeting with the Cardinals. In the end, to avoid unnessissary losses, it was decided to let the vampire be and have a standard observation team to monitor it before gathering their forces and confronting it again. The Cardinals also figured that, if someone capable of defeating that monster were to appear, they would have to strengthen their national defense.

The Magic Caster of Destroy Arc
The Theocracy learned that the Baharuth Empire had formed an alliance with the newly-founded Sorcerer Kingdom, led by Ainz Ooal Gown, for their Annual War with the Kingdom. Not wanting to make an enemy out of him, the Theocracy send a message to the Kingdom acknowledging his claim to E-Rantel and declaring neutrality in the conflict.

Later, when a human boy threw a stone at Ainz while the latter was claiming E-Rantel, Momon believed he might have been [Charmed] and his action was part of a Theocracy plot to incite revolt.

The Ruler of Conspiracy Arc
During a meeting of the Supreme Council, they concluded to have made the right choice in staying neutral during the Annual War. Weighing their options, the Council decided that the Theocracy would continue to focus on their war with the Elf Country while sending spies to the Sorcerer Kingdom. They also wanted to bring former Black Scripture members out of retirement and dispatch them to the Dragon Kingdom as aid.

Later, Emperor Jircniv arranged a secret meeting with emissaries from the Theocracy supported by his country's high priests. This particular meeting was a focus on matters like how to deal with a powerful undead such as Ainz and so on. However, when Ainz was identified in the Grand Arena and then stumbled upon their meeting, it put a stop to Jircniv's plan of forging an alliance with the Theocracy. As Jircniv tries to explain the unexpected situations to the Theocracy's emissaries, they came to their own assumption that he was a traitor to humanity. Thus they angrily left before talks could initiate. Jircniv then concluded it was all part of Ainz's scheme to take control of the Empire's secret talks with the Theocracy as well as simultaneously applying pressure on both him and the emissaries to prevent their respective nations from allying with each other.

The Craftsman of Dwarf Arc
To speed up their invasion of the Elf Country, the Theocracy deployed the Holocaust Scripture to the battlefield. With them on the front lines, the nation is expected to overtake the elves in a few years.

The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom Arc
Following the Sorcerer Kingdom's founding, the Theocracy were in talks with the Roble Holy Kingdom to form an alliance against the non-human nation. However, this proved difficult due to both nation's religious differences.

The Witch of the Falling Kingdom Arc
The Theocracy had sent several spies to infiltrate the Sorcerer Kingdom. Unbeknownst to them, however, the nation's leadership was fully aware of their presence, but chose to merely observe their movements for now.

When the Sorcerer Kingdom went to war with the Kingdom, the Theocracy sent the Black Scripture to the latter country when it's defeat was certain. However, rather than give aid, they were instead ordered to recruit powerful adventurers by offering them sanctuary within the Theocracy. One of the groups they approached was Blue Roses along with Red Drop's Azuth Aindra, but all of them turned them down. Despite this, though, many other Adventurers did accept their offer and migrated to the Theocracy.

Culture
The Theocracy preaches human supremacy and the persecution of other "lesser" races. With its religion revolving around the Six Gods and their descendants, the Theocracy is effectively divided into six different religious sects, each with its own unique culture and practices. One factor all groups shared is that the names of the people in the Slane Theocracy consist of a given name, a baptized name, and a family name.

Religion
In addition to worshiping the Six Great Gods, the citizens of the Slane Theocracy hold their descendants in veneration. The preservation of their gods' bloodline is of utmost priority and they make an effort to ensure their legacy carries on to the next generation. To achieve this, the Theocracy practices polygamy. Not only is such a practice considered to be a rare occurrence, but the husband is also restricted to have two wives at most.

Another central part of the Slane Theocracy's religion is the Miko Princesses, who by description are the nation's religious figures vital in performing some of their important rituals. So far, there seem to be Six Miko Princesses, which are related to the elements of the Six Great Gods. Though seemingly an esteemed position of power, in contrast, it appears that the Miko Princesses are effectively living sacrifices. They are chosen from the population with great care and scrutiny, due to the items they are given from their pedestals, which pose many risks to the user.

In the Web Novel, the Six Miko Princesses comprises Miko Princess of Water, Miko Princess of Fire, Miko Princess of Wind, Miko Princess of Earth, Miko Princess of Light and Miko Princess of Darkness. Likewise, all of them are users of priest-type 5th tier magic, but this is a national secret.

There also exists a special temple dedicated to the God of Water. Within this temple is a special chamber filled with water called "Eye of the Water God."

Politics
As a Theocracy, the Slane is governed by a Pontifex Maximus with a position similar to that of an Emperor, elected in a conclave by the Six Cardinals.

The Pontifex Maximus is assisted by a board of advisers from the highest executive authorities in the Slane Theocracy, the council. It consists of the representatives of the Six Great Gods, the Cardinals, and from the government the heads of Executive, Legislature, and the Judiciary, plus the head of the Research Institute in charge of magic affairs, and the Grand Marshal as the highest appointment-holder in the military. The council sits on a round table within a sacred room where everyone is equal. There are no superiors or inferiors on the table, everyone is a collaborator and a comrade, including the Pontifex Maximus.

Cardinals are the highest appointment holders of the six sects that are devoted to the Six Gods. The position of a Cardinal is higher than that of a representative of governmental affairs; the demerit is that they get no wages so that people aspiring to become Cardinals would not be motivated to rise through the ranks by greed. Hence, there were many individuals who took high office with the intention of serving their nation. The current Cardinals are: There were only two countries that had the capability to set up national-level organizations. One of the two was said to have been the Slane Theocracy.
 * Berenice Nagua Santini, the Cardinal of Fire.
 * Ginedine Delan Guelfi, the Cardinal of Water.
 * Dominic Ihre Partouche, the Cardinal of Wind.
 * Raymond Zarg Lauransan, the Cardinal of Earth and commander of the Six Scriptures.
 * Yvon Jasna Dracrowa, the Cardinal of Light.
 * Maximilian Oreio Lagier, the Cardinal of Darkness.

Military Strength
The knights from the Slane Theocracy are said to be far stronger than those of the Baharuth Empire.

Additionally, there are God-kin among them with great influence over the country. Those special individuals were viewed as demigods who are descendants of their ancestors known as "players." When compared to both the Kingdom's or Empire's clerics, the Theocracy's faith-based magic casters (clerics) are usually more skilled than any of them. The average skill levels in the Theocracy are generally quite high. Also, the Theocracy has at least five artifacts left behind by the Six Great Gods.

In the Web Novel, if compared with purely human countries, the Theocracy possesses the strongest national power of them all due to its powerful military presence. Let alone their national power, the Theocracy also has the top fighting ability on the continent than any other human country. For instance, they conducted military operations within the nations bordering the Theocracy with the intention of suppressing demi-humans and other races. On the other hand, the Theocracy is capable of conducting large-scale rituals or have the highest class of priest to cast resurrection magic.

The Slane Theocracy was also shown to have access to the Six Miko Princesses, whose usage of the Crown of Wisdom allows them to perform High-Tiered Magic normally impossible for humans to use or achieve.

There are Six Scriptures, who are deeply rooted into separate branches of the Theocracy:
 * Sunlight Scripture: The anti-demi-human response unit.
 * Black Scripture: The special black operations military unit.
 * Windflower Scripture: The intelligence and espionage unit.
 * Clearwater Scripture: The infiltration and undercover unit.
 * Holocaust Scripture: The assassination and counter-terrorism unit.

After losing the entire Sunlight Scripture, several Black Scripture members, Kaire, and one of the Miko Princesses alongside her Crown of Wisdom, one of the Six Cardinals estimated that it will take at least ten years for the Theocracy to fully recover their military strength.

Foreign Relations
The Slane Theocracy is feared as one of the strongest human nations in its corner of the world. While there exist various political and cultural issues with the other neighboring nations, many people see the Theocracy as a necessary evil. In an ironic twist of fate, the actions of the Theocracy have allowed the neighboring human nations time to advance into their own strong societies as they would have disappeared from history, in the face of encroachment from the more populous demi-human nations.

Re-Estize Kingdom
In the past, the Slane Theocracy secretly shepherded the Kingdom in the hopes this would allow humanity to grow and thrive as well as produce strong individuals to be the protectors of Mankind in relatively safe location from the abundant Demi-Human and Heteromprph Nations surrounding the rest of the continent. However, this backfired, as their safer and more comfortable lifestyle caused them to become nothing but a cesspool of corruption that even the Theocracy wished to eradicate. They would even go so far as to allow the Empire to conquer the Kingdom in hopes they would make better use of its resources. The only reason why they didn't go to war with them themselves was out of fear of retaliation by the Argland Council State.

Currently, religious tensions exist between the Kingdom and the Theocracy, though the nations do not appear to be openly aggressive. Conflicts exist behind the scenes in cases such as espionage and small clashes between different parties among the Kingdom. In addition, adventurer parties such as Blue Roses have been known to interfere in the Sunlight Scripture's demi-human purges.

Eventually, due to the actions done by a single foolish Noble, stealing grains meant for humanitarian aid to the ravaged Holy Kingdom from the Sorcerer Kingdom, and the latter's response of declaring full on war against the Re-Estize Kingdom as a result. The Slane Theocracy quietly approved of the Inhuman Nation's declaration of war, in hopes to finally get rid of the Re-Estize Kingdom, due to now completely deeming the nation as a failed state. The Noble Responsible being the final proof to the Theocracy, on how hopeless the Kingdom has become.

However, despite the quite condemnation to the Kingdom, wanting to still salvage what they could of it, the higher ups of the Slane Theocracy sent their strongest unit; the Black Scripture into the Kingdom. Their orders are to recruit several adventurers from the Kingdom, in order to bring in talented individuals into their nation, particularly in hopes of acquiring the Kingdom's Adamantite Adventurers; Blue Roses and Red Drop into their ranks. However, both talks turned to failure, as Blue Roses denied their offer and talks broke down with Red Drop's leader, due to him insulting the Black Scriptures patron god, and ending with a violent altercation with one of the Scripture member. In the end, despite this failure to acquire the Adamantite level adventurers, they still managed to successfully convince several dozen adventurers to join their ranks, and successfully brought them into the Theocracy's borders.

Baharuth Empire
The Empire has made many appeals to the Theocracy for its assistance in sharing their teachings on divine magic. However, the Theocracy has yet to make any response back to the Empire's request on the issue.

In truth, the Theocracy has long been monitoring its activities and political movements and considered it to be the more successful nation compared to its neighbor, the Re-Estize Kingdom, which they considered a failure. Because of this, they planned to permit its conquest of the Kingdom.

After the massacre at the Katze Plains and the founding of the Sorcerer Kingdom, the Theocracy became wary of the Empire, as they allied themselves with an undead. The Theocracy thus sends an envoy to the Empire to confirm if Emperor Jircniv was still on the side of humanity. However, when the Sorcerer King walked in on their meeting, the envoys assumed the Emperor had sold them out and left. Afterward, the Theocracy severed all ties with the Empire.

Argland Council State
Slane Theocracy's doctrine, promotes discrimination and eradication of all demi-humans and non-humans. The formation and existence of a nation of demi-humans, is seen as a grave threat to the supremacy of humanity. The Slane Theocracy's military, has been known to wipe out entire villages of demi-humans in zealous fervor to their doctrine.

Despite the Theocracy's obvious hatred of all non-humans, the nation knows its military limits, as the Cardinals were reluctant to wage direct war against the Argland Council State. This reluctance has also prevented them from expanding and conquering the Re-Estize Kingdom, whose nation lies at the doorstep of the Argland Council State.

Sorcerer Kingdom
So far, no official contact has been established between the Slane Theocracy and the Sorcerer Kingdom besides two small skirmishes during Nazarick's first emergence into the New World, and Shalltear's clash with the Black Scripture.

If the Theocracy learned of the existence of Nazarick, being a potential power base for unholy creatures who lived there, it would mean great calamity for the human race. When Nazarick did reveal its existence to the world, claiming the large swathe of the Re-Estize Kingdom, the Slane Theocracy chose to remain neutral.

After E-Rantel was annexed by the newly arisen nation of non-humans, the benevolent actions of the Sorcerer King and relative peace of E-Rantel confused the higher-ups on how to proceed. Due to the reports about the power of its army, lack of reliable information, and ongoing war with the Elf Country, they decided not to proceed any further on establishing any official conflict with that country for the time being. Instead, the nation decided to send its own spies to infiltrate the capital of the Sorcerer Kingdom to acquire more information about their situation.

Despite their general contempt for the inhuman nation, due to its pro-equality to all races in contrast to the Theocracy's central human radicalization. The Theocracy has secretly cooperated with the Sorcerer Kingdom, regarding the inhuman nation's declaration of war of annihilation, against the failed state of the Re-Estize Kingdom.

Due to the Kingdom's massive corruption in its government, and the degradation of its nobility in decadence from its relative peacefulness, the Theocracy had initially wanted the Baharuth Empire to conquer the Re-Estize Kingdom. However, ever since the Empire was assimilated into the Sorcerer Kingdom, that thought began to change and shift elsewhere. Learning about the Sorcerer Kingdom's declaration of international war against the Re-Estize Kingdom, due to the foolish actions of a single nobleman, the Theocracy had quietly condemned their fellow human nation to its demise. They deem and admonish the sheer stupidity of the one nobleman who was responsible for sparking the war to happen as a prime example of the Kingdom's failure. Seeing how this war will play out, the Theocracy has instead decided to take advantage of the Sorcerer Kingdom's war by recruiting several of its most talented adventurers into their nation by inviting them to immigrate to their borders for their own safety. This operation was done by taking advantage of the fear the adventurers had knowing that they might become the next target of the Sorcerer Kingdom's invasion and be slaughtered together with the rest of the Kingdom. As a result, while the Sorcerer Kingdom was busy massacring the civilians, the Theocracy silently carry out their operation in the hopes of trying to strengthen themselves, having the kingdom's most gifted join the ranks of their military forces.

Dragon Kingdom
The Dragon Kingdom pays tribute to the Slane Theocracy each year, in order for them to dispatch troops against the beastmen harassing the Dragon Kingdom.

Currently, the Theocracy decided to honor its agreement by sending retired Black Scripture members to their aid as their current forces have been severely depleted due to the unexpected loss of the Sunlight Scripture and weakening of several current Black Scripture members.

Elf Country
Originally, the Theocracy and the elves had a cooperative relationship. That ended when its reigning monarch kidnapped and violated one of the Slane Theocracy's Godkin. Presently, the Elf Country and the Slane Theocracy are engaged in a war.

Roble Holy Kingdom
Relations between the two nations was a bit volatile due to some religious differences between them. However, they still share a common enemy that are the demi-human tribes that live in the Abelion Hills. The Holy Kingdom still acknowledges its great power and even considered forming an alliance with the Slane Theocracy to defeat the Sorcerer Kingdom, who they saw as a common threat.

However upon the Kingdom's destruction and occupation by Demonic/Demi-Human during Jaldabaoth invasion of the Holy Kingdom and upon the Theocracy's own inability to send help to them in time along with the growing popularity of the Sorcerer King and his newfound religion within the Northern Region, the Theocracy's stance and relationship with the Holy Kingdom is now unsure due to the latter's people now being divided between the North and South. It's unlikely that a full alliance between the Theocracy and the Holy Kingdom against the Sorcerer Kingdom will ever form due to the Sorcerer Kingdom's own positive relationship with the Northern Half of the Holy kingdom and the hidden puppet ruler placed by the Sorcerer Kingdom on the Holy Kingdom's Throne.

Players
Due to the Theocracy's long history and them being founded by the Six Great Gods, The Theocracy's Higher ups, the Six Cardinals, have become aware of the existence of "Players" that appear every few centuries within the New World, having officially dubbed the Player incursion into the World as the "Great Tremors" due to the new technologies,powers and shift in the world's status quo due to the Newly Arrived beings tendency to alter and change the very face of the world by their actions and presence.

Due to the actions done by the Eight Greed Kings and the death of their final God,Surshana by the Greed King's hands, the Theocracy's is in constant guard against these beings due to them possibly being threats to the continued survival of the Human Race they are sworn to protect.

Known Characters

 * Zesshi Zetsumei
 * Cedran
 * Beaumarchais
 * Kaire
 * Clementine
 * Nigun Grid Luin
 * Belius
 * Londes Di Clamp
 * Captain of the Black Scripture
 * Quaiesse Hazeia Quintia
 * Ian Als Heim ( Mass for the Dead )
 * Enhela Read Gahi ( Mass for the Dead )

Trivia

 * The banner of the Slane Theocracy resembles the seven-branch menorah, or candelabrum, one of the oldest symbols of Judaism.
 * The Slane Theocracy is the only nation with a population register so as to aid in finding proper candidates for the positions of the Miko Princesses.
 * The Rubik's Cube was introduced by the Six Great Gods and is a popular toy in the Theocracy.
 * Slaves are a popular and expensive commodity in the Slane Theocracy, especially elves. The elves themselves are psychologically broken and their ears are mutilated. Elves who have skills and are good looking are worth a huge sum, about the same as a magical weapon.
 * There is a slim possibility that the Slane Theocracy's banner is actually the Six Great Gods' guild flag.
 * According to the author Maruyama, if the Slane Theocracy collapses, so will the Kingdom, Empire, and the Holy Kingdom that will fall to monsters soon after.
 * The Slane Theocracy did not have royal families of their own in contrast to the Re-Estize Kingdom, the Baharuth Empire, and the Roble Holy Kingdom.
 * Unknowingly to the Slane Theocracy's higher ups of the connections between the incidents, their nation has already have had up to three altercations with the Sorcerer Kingdom, more specifically with the Sorcerer Kingdom's true core of the Great Tomb of Nazarick, each ending with a massive blow to the Theocracy's military that left their nation shorthanded.
 * The First incident being Ainz Ooal Gown annihilating Nigun Grid Luin and the rest of the Sunlight Scripture and the loss of one of their national treasures. A incident that effectively caused the dissolution of the Scripture and leaving a giant hole in the Theocracy's military.
 * The Second incident being Ainz Ooal Gown in his adventurer persona, Momon, killing and defeating the traitor and former Black Scripture member Clementine in battle and destroying the stolen Crown of Wisdom, a national treasure of the Slane Theocracy and a vocal point in their arcane military before they could retrieve the item.
 * The Third incident occurred when the Theocracy's strongest; The Black Scripture encountered an unknown Vampire, who was unknowingly a Floor Guardian of the Tomb and suffering massive casualties with two members dead and a user of one of their God's treasure's being severely injured that eventually killed her days after during the scuffle.
 * Although unknown if true or false, its been implied that the Slane Theocracy were the first ones to coin and invent the system of the Adventurer's Guild during after the chaos caused by the Evil Deities done in order to stabilize the war-wrecked human nations victimized by the deities rampage.

Gallery
Teokracja Slane