The Factions at play
The Spiral Church
The Spiral faith - known collectively as the Spiral or Spiral Church - is a religion that never stopped growing. Originally a small belief system in northeastern Europe, the Spiral shot to prominence during the early middle-ages. Spirality as it was later dubbed overtook large chunks of eastern Europe, even spreading as far as Africa and central Asia.
With this boom came power, differing beliefs, offshoots, and a complete abandoning of what originally started as the Spiral’s faith. A country was founded on the Spiral’s power, Verdusk, and that country sought to spread it as far and wide as possible. At the end of the Great War all of those inside, be they born or otherwise, were wiped out. This event became known as the ‘Cataclysm’, and the Spiral scattered to its other territories to reform under a more humble, penitent banner.
The Spiral today is worldwide, a religion located everywhere except its homeland. Spiralists of the modern day are cautious, careful, and always fearful of invoking Mother Predzkya’s wrath.
“We are blessed every day, and we thank Mother Predzkya in Her grace for today’s gifts.” - Spiral prayer
The Rizen
The Rizen sect is an evangelistic, some would say extremist, offshoot of the Spiral. They rose from Verdusk’s ashes at an alarming speed, seizing whatever was within reach.
The Rizen are the remnants of the Spiral’s origin, a corrupted piece of a trinity that seeks the unification of their Goddess Marianne. They now compete with the greater Spiral for dominance, their roots spreading like a poison across the world.
“Find what was taken from Her, for Marianne will unify us all.” - Rizen proverb
The Saintbloods
Long after the fall of Verdusk, strange accounts began passing through the Spiral. They didn’t come often, but they all involved confessions about visions of the war, encounters with the deceased, and a broken reflection of the real world.
These hushed words coalesced into a rumor - one especially strong within the Rizen church - that those with these visions were ‘Saintbloods’, the very people their God Marianne had ordered them to find.
Spiralists believe these rumors to be baseless and scoff at the idea that Predzkya’s vessel is hunting children. The Rizen, however, hunt for traces with alarming ferocity, and rumors of them abducting possibly candidates are heard often.
There are only a few accounts of possible Saintbloods post-Great War, and all of them are dubious at best. What kind of Goddess would hunt children, after all?
