The Emperor’s Angel of Death

Chapter 2777: The Holy Flame Order

Standard Terra Calendar 41, Brakato System, Ramdong Star, Central Highlands

The morning sun cut across the horizon, like a golden halo, illuminating the cold and dark winter night of Ramdong's northeastern hemisphere.

Beatrix, having finished washing and carefully applying her makeup, was prostrate on the ground, performing her morning prayers. As a member of the Black Flame Rose Sisterhood, her black, red-trimmed armor was engraved with elegant and delicate patterns, and her helmet and sword were placed beside her.

She was grateful for the holy flame bestowed by the God-Emperor, which had brought forth this dawn. She could also feel the warm sunlight on her armor, bringing light and heat, as if the Lord of the Holy Flame was gently stroking her with his own hand.

When she straightened up, her beautiful face and smooth brown hair were bathed in sunlight. Through the open tracery window, she saw the endless array of buildings in the distance, as well as the magnificent and majestic Inquisition Cathedral, also bathed in the morning light—the heart of the Order.

It originated from the first arrival of the angels, where the chosen ones would be judged by the angels of light. A very few lucky ones would be promoted, and they would become members of the angels. The only regret was that such a great and glorious ceremony was only open to boys; the angels only accepted strong, agile, and intelligent males. Under the influence of this tradition, for a long time, the Inquisition Cathedral was only staffed by male priests, and women were not allowed to set foot in this sacred place.

But all of this changed, even fundamentally, with the rise of the Holy Flame Order.

During the ancient cataclysm (the Imperial purge of the Crimson Sabres' homeworld), although Ramdong's original state religion system did not disappear as directly as the Adeptus Mechanicus, it also suffered heavy damage. The foreign priests and bishops all withdrew, and only some local priests chose to defend their homeland. At the same time, due to the Imperial punishment, the state religion faction here changed from the orthodox faction to the more radical redemption faction. However, long-term isolation from the Imperial state religion system meant that their ideas were not further developed, but instead, the local religious groups became fragmented. Each 'nation' or region on Ramdong had its own independent religious order, and secular regimes also used religion as a means of competition.

This meant that Ramdong had a widespread belief in the God-Emperor, but no unified religious organization. The influence of the state religion was only maintained in the scriptures. In fact, after so many generations, the concept of 'state religion' had become very diluted. Residents mostly referred to their faith as the God-Emperor religion.

Therefore, Vilettes immediately took a fancy to this world with a strong religious atmosphere but a fragmented structure, and established the Holy Flame Order here.

As a former Grand Canoness, Vilettes' knowledge of religious theory was definitely solid, so with the assistance of some priests, she quickly drafted a 'most perfect' Order doctrine, also known as the Book of Holy Fire.

Compared to the state religion, it added several core doctrines—

Flame and sunlight represent the power of the God-Emperor. Believers should value fire and take the golden sun as their symbol.

The Adeptus Astartes are the practitioners of the Emperor's will, and their authority is higher than everything secular.

Women are also bathed in the light of the God-Emperor. They are another aspect of the Angels of Death, representing the God-Emperor's benevolence.

Except for the God-Emperor and the Astartes created by Him, among believers, regardless of gender, family, skin color, wealth, everyone's soul is equally subject to the God-Emperor's judgment. Only Astartes who follow the God-Emperor's will can use mortals; mortals cannot enslave each other.

Sosyhyan Alexey, the Lord of the Holy Flame, is the eternal champion appointed by the Throne. His words represent the Holy Edict, and he is also the executor of the God-Emperor on earth. His rule is supreme and inviolable, and naturally, he is also the sole authority of the Holy Flame Order.

Although he didn't want to admit it, Sosyhyan's original intention in establishing the Holy Flame Order was indeed to unify thought and stabilize society. Even if he didn't like this approach, he had to admit that it was useful, at least in the current environment, it was much easier than 'enlightening the people'. Moreover, the state religion was indeed deeply rooted, not only among the natives but also among the immigrants, who were basically all believers in the state religion. Forcibly weakening the faith would only shake the foundation of society.

Between stability and 'rationality,' Sosyhyan could only choose stability.

After completing the Book of Holy Fire, the rest was naturally the 'promotion' work.

Normally, this is the most difficult part. After all, creating something is easy, but creating something that others will accept is not so easy, especially when that something is a belief. The Holy Flame Order established not just a new set of doctrines, but even a new papacy or central Order.

But all obstacles, under the push of an invisible hand, were as vulnerable as fortresses piled on the beach.

Anyone with a little bit of brains could easily see something from these doctrines, so the only choice left to them was how to accept them faster.

In less than half a year, all the local religious orders in Ramdong announced that they accepted the Book of Holy Fire as the sole doctrine and implemented all the religious rituals established by the Holy Flame Order. The bishop-priest-deacon hierarchy established by the Holy Flame Order was also naturally accepted. Vilettes then took the Inquisition Cathedral as the location of the Holy Flame Order's papacy and convened the first Holy Fire Conference.

Sosyhyan also attended this conference. At the conference, in his capacity as the Lord of the Holy Flame, he personally honored Vilettes as Saint Vilettes, confirming her status as the 'Holy Mother,' the leader of the Order.

Therefore, the Holy Flame Order is also referred to as the Holy Mother Order in some places.

At this religious conference, Vilettes re-divided the planetary dioceses and appointed the bishops of each diocese. To ensure the purity of the Order, she also established a supervisory system. These people were called Inspectors, publicly declared to be composed of women, but in reality, they were all semi-mechanical assassins created by Ulanhuda using Gulam composites. Their duty was to monitor the situation in each diocese, on the one hand, to prevent the emergence of heresy, and on the other hand, to ferret out those priests who did not abide by the precepts, were corrupt, or derelict in their duties.

In addition, Vilettes also emphasized that the Order would never tolerate attempts to make religious power hereditary. Although the Holy Flame Order did not have a doctrine of enforced celibacy, the DNA information of all priests would be collected and compared. If there was a family relationship, they would never be allowed to serve in the same diocese.

Although this greatly infringed upon the interests of the local religious leaders, Sosyhyan, who sat silently on the Throne of Fire, left them with no choice but to swear to abide by the doctrines.

After all, doctrines can be debated, but bolters are unreasonable.

But Vilettes knew that it was useless to rely solely on the constraints of precepts and doctrines. These local religious orders had grown wildly for so many years and were already bizarre, so there had to be a 'scissors' to trim them, and this was the origin of the Black Flame Rose Sisterhood.

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