by Max Barry

Latest Forum Topics

Advertisement

The Holy Order of
Psychotic Dictatorship

Overview Factbook Dispatches Policies People Government Economy Rank Trend Cards

5

The Most Moral Priesthood (WIP, Updated 6/13)

The Most Moral Priesthood is a body of thirteen arch-priests that each are responsible for the administration of a region's ecclesiastical affairs. They discuss, vote upon and enact all policy relating to every aspect of society. The arch-priests are decided by a vote from every priest in a given region and their position is held for life. They are afforded every comfort and technological marvel in order to best serve the needs of the Order.

The Most Moral Priesthood's membership is not known to anybody but the highest officers of the Order. This is intentional to prevent targeted assassinations from ruining the cohesion of the Order at large. Instead, these secretive arch-priests meet in a variety of assembly halls to mete out the business of the state from top to bottom, making decisions and announcing them as a single unit rather than offering rulings and dissenting opinions. The goal of TMMP's method of governance is to show cohesion and earn the blind obedience and trust of their people who they are not accountable to in any fashion, including threat of violence. They never make televised appearances, they never visit rival nations and it is unknown if they do any broadcasting.

- - -

OUR EFFORT, YOUR FREEDOM
FOR PRESIDENT MCNICHOL'S EYES ONLY

Mr. President,

As you have requested, here is all of our intelligence available on the individual actors of the "Most Moral Priesthood" as aggregated from our informants. We are uncertain as to everyone's identities, as the Children of Mercy keep even basic bureaucratic records under the strictest security. For these people, we have simply lifted codenames that we could retrieve from the scant documents we've received. Per your request, we are offering the conclusion before the rest of the document: the Most Moral Priesthood is broken into several schools of thought, currently spearheaded by the 'Rejuvenationist' faction which represents the Children of Mercy as it is now. We suspect that carrying out successful assassination operations against four of the following would irreparably destabilize the Order ahead of any invasion. It is the Agency's opinion that we should invest significant effort into carrying out OP_Antivenom. Operative URIAH has established a cell and is ready for confirmation.

The following members are in the 'Rejuvenation' faction suggested for elimination:

"GABRIEL": elderly man, credited as the 'primary messenger', suspected head of the Rejuvenationists
"LEVITICUS": middle-aged man, credited with creating missives on 'social cohesion.' Suspected Propaganda Minister.
"ALBERT": younger male, credited with preparing presentation on labor allocation. Economic minister?
"PHILIP": middle-aged man, note: it's a reach, but the name 'Philip' was referenced at one point as "Supreme Commander of the Sword of the Order". It is our current assumption that he is responsible for internal security forces. If he doesn't directly control the military, he has overwhelming influence in it.

The following are also Rejuvenationists
"RIGHTEOUS" age and present role unclear, voted in unanimously by the rest of the faction, opposition faced internally.

UNKNOWN ELEMENTS (where factional alignment isn't clear)
FRED PHELPS (codename TENCENDUR) is one of the most extreme elements, looped into so many meetings of the Most Moral Priesthood that he can safely be considered in their ranks. He leads the loathed Cleansers, which you may recall from briefings on the 1969 attack on Cheyenne. From what we could acquire, he is one of the most, if not the most fundamentalist of the Most Moral Priesthood.
JIM JONES (codename AUGUSTINE) is an anomaly. His communist leanings and lack of actual ties to the region the Children of Mercy calls home is jarring. Our best guess is that his raging oratory has been put to use by the Order and that he has flipped to the Mercyite line out of convenience. Agent URIAH is keeping a close eye on him, and it is the current opinion of the intelligence community that Jones will be our best bet to execute OP_Antivenom. According to URIAH, he has grown close with a scribe in order to falsify order completions.

Agent URIAH alleges spotting Charles Coughlin in the Lexium Superior, though not much else has been confirmed. His membership in the Most Moral Priesthood is merely speculation at present.

Report