Slane Theocracy

Slane Theocracy (スレイン法国) is a human nation of the New World and one of three human nations neighboring Nazarick. It is a highly religious country that worships the Six Great Gods and is considered the strongest human nation in the region, promoting 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.

War with the Elves
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.

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
According to Gazef Stronoff, the Slane Theocracy’s secret forces knew how the Re-Estize Kingdom was moving as they have successfully managed to show up at the right time and place. He then suspects that there is most likely a spy within the Kingdom working for the Theocracy secretly. In particular, he believes it to be one of the Noble faction’s people in cahoots with the Theocracy. When someone among the nobles discusses the identity of the magic caster who saved Gazef, he thought that person may have an alias in contrast to the Theocracy's people with a given name, a baptismal name, and a surname.

Another disaster struck the Theocracy when the Black Scripture encountered an abnormally strong vampire. While the Black Scripture succeeded in partially brainwashing the creature, it lost two of their own members in the confrontation along with Lady Kaire, holder of one of their gods' relics; the Downfall of Castle and Country.

When Momon shows off his Sealing Crystal, Theo Rakheshir was the first to be shocked at the discovery alongside his colleagues. Theo remembers an old tome he once read about in the past, saying that the Theocracy possesses powerful magic items said to be their country's national treasures and what Ainz has in possession looks to be one of them. Furthermore, Ainz regretted leaving the corpses of both Khajiit and Clementine behind. After obtaining information from the Sunlight Scripture, he learned that there were people within the Slane Theocracy who could use resurrection magic on them to find out the truth about him and Narberal.

The Lizard Man Heroes Arc
According to Captain of the Black Scripture, due to the incomplete mind control, the vampire attacked anyone who entered its area indiscriminately and ordered the Black Scripture to withdraw. After participating in a conference held by the Cardinals, he told Zesshi Zetsumei that they decided to place a standard observation team to monitor the vampire for the sake of maintaining the status quo.

In conclusion, the Cardinals figured that instead of suffering major losses from attacking the unknown vampire, it was better to let the monster be before gathering their forces. This was due to their idea that no other nations out there except the Slane Theocracy's God-Kins and the Dragon Lords were the only two potential candidates who could stand a chance against that undead and defeating it.

Nevertheless, they speculated that if someone like that were to turn up, that meant someone they had to be wary of appeared, and they had to tighten their national defense first in response to the potential threat. However, it's unclear if they have really followed through with the idea of strengthening their national defense, since learning of the fact that it was Momon who killed the vampire.

The Men in the Kingdom Arc
and The Men in the Kingdom II Arc Gagaran recalls the time where she and fellow members of Blue Roses fought the Theocracy's special ops unit, which was the Sunlight Scripture. When Gagaran condemns the Theocracy's discrimination against other races but humans, Evileye reasoned with the Theocracy's aims of defending all of humanity. She stated that the reason why there were no hostile demi-human countries near the Re-Estize Kingdom or the other human countries was due to the handiwork of the Slane Theocracy, who's focus has been going around and exterminating any demi-humans that show up in their proximity. Evileye believed all humans should be highly grateful towards the Theocracy, as no human nation out there has done more for mankind as a whole but them. She suspected the Theocracy to have been the nation who initially founded the Adventurer’s Guild two hundred years ago after the Evil Deities' defeat. She thought the reason why they set up that organization in the first place was due to the Theocracy's attempt to aid the various human nations without causing friction with them.

Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix asked Fluder Paradyne to investigate Ainz Ooal Gown’s actions against the Sunlight Scripture in Carne Village. Fluder noted that it was interesting to know that there was only two people to have taken care of dozens of the Theocracy’s special forces operatives.

Evileye briefly mentions that the Theocracy defined "God-kins" as those who are born with the blood of Six Great Gods, a group of players.

The Invaders of the Large Tomb Arc
After Nazarick took control of Eight Fingers and got access to their information network, Ainz Ooal Gown noted they had very little information regarding the Slane Theocracy. Later, when Rigrit Bers Caurau visits the Platinum Dragon Lord and the latter sees her ring is missing, he reminds her of the dangers of letting it fall into the hands of people like the Theocracy.

The Two Leaders Arc
When E-Rantel's magic caster was inspecting Enri's magic item under her possession, they discovered it as very powerful to the point that they even suspect the girl to have been given one by a priest from the Theocracy. They believed Enri was no ordinary village girl and that she might have some sort of involvement or connection with the Theocracy, but quickly dismissed it as the adamantite-ranked adventurer Momon vouched for her.

The Magic Caster of Destroy Arc
It was noted that the Slane Theocracy is among the two alongside the Re-Estize Kingdom to have those who are capable of using resurrection magic.

Jircniv considers the thought of hiring Ijaniya as counter-assassins against the forces of the Slane Theocracy and the Re-Estize Kingdom in the event that they tried to kill him. He believed the Theocracy's reason behind doing so was their way of thwarting his attempt on making the Baharuth Empire stronger and prosper. Regardless if that ever happens, the Empire is willing to seek help out from the Theocracy concerning the matter of improving their country's lack of development in terms of divine magic. In that regard, they believed the Theocracy has done an excellent job taking control of their nation's religious temples several hundred years ago.

After his meeting with Ainz Ooal Gown, Jircniv plans to make a secret grand coalition with the Slane Theocracy and other countries, aimed at defeating the magic caster and his newly-founded nation.

The Slane Theocracy once again sent an envoy with a message to the Kingdom and Baharuth Empire during their annual war at the Katze Plains over the ownership of E-Rantel. In the past, when the Kingdom and the Empire read the Theocracy's message, both countries wanted to tell them to stop cutting in from the side, but to date, the Theocracy had never once attempted to mobilize their troops, so they believed that their disagreement was purely verbal. However, this time around, the Empire had allied itself with the newly founded Sorcerer Kingdom to take the city of E-Rantel. The Theocracy thus sent a different message from usual, accepting the Sorcerer King, Ainz Ooal Gown, as E-Rantel's rightful ruler and declaring neutrality in the conflict. In other words, the Theocracy had no intention of antagonizing Ainz Ooal Gown on a national level, ever since he wiped out the entirety of the Sunlight Scripture.

According to Draudillon Oriculus, the Theocracy had always sent their troops to aid the Dragon Kingdom against invading beastmen in secret.

After Ainz's visit to E-Rantel, Pandora's Actor under the guise of Momon inquires the child why he threw a rock at the undead, suspecting it was probably the result of magical control. In all likelihood, he believed it’s a plot committed by the Theocracy, trying to force him into a direct confrontation with Ainz Ooal Gown. He advises the people of E-Rantel to keep close watch over the Theocracy's movement if they were to make a move on this city, plotting to incite conflict and have them revolt.

The Ruler of Conspiracy Arc
The Slane Theocracy had the Thousand Leagues Astrologer observe the massacre at the Katze Plains to ascertain the extent of Ainz Ooal Gown's power. However, she was left traumatized by what she witnessed.

The highest authority in the Slane Theocracy, the Supreme Council, gathered for their usual meeting with their main topic being the founding of the Sorcerer Kingdom. While initially debating whether they should have intervened, after all, the Cardinals concluded that remaining neutral was the right decision upon receiving the report on the extent of the Sorcerer Kingdom's military strength. Their despair only increased upon learning that Ainz Ooal Gown wiped out most of the Kingdom's Army with a single spell. This caused the Council to consider the possibility that the Sorcerer King might be one of the entities known as "Players." They were further shocked upon learning that E-Rantel was at peace despite being ruled by an undead.

Weighing their options, the Council decided how to proceed after learning what they did from the report. The Theocracy would continue to focus on their war with the Elf Country while sending the Clearwater Scripture to E-Rantel to collect information. Meanwhile, an envoy would be sent to the Empire to check if Emperor Jircniv is still on their side. They also wanted to bring former Black Scripture members out of retirement to have them aid the Dragon Kingdom against the Beastman Country.

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
In order to speed up the invasion of the Elf Country, the Slane Theocracy deployed the Holocaust Scripture to the battlefield. With the Holocaust Scripture on the front lines, it's expected that the Theocracy will overtake the elves in a matter of a few years.

The Paladin of the Holy Kingdom Arc
Pavel Baraja mentioned that the Roble Holy Kingdom initially planned to work alongside the Theocracy on dealing with the Sorcerer Kingdom, but were are still setbacks to such an alliance, due to both nation's religious differences.

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:
 * 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.

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. 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.

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.

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.

Known Characters

 * Zesshi Zetsumei
 * Cedran
 * Beaumarchais
 * Kaire
 * Clementine
 * Nigun Grid Luin
 * Belius
 * Londes Di Clamp
 * Captain of the Black Scripture
 * 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 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.

Gallery
Teokracja Slane