Divine Order of Christ's Blood

The Divine Order of Christ's Blood (Ordo Dīvīnē Sanguis Christi in Latin) or The Order for short, is a Christian Extremist paramilitary faction, founded by a secretive crime lord and extremist ex-Catholic priest Hector Van Reyes AKA "Padre". The group considers itself as a successor of medieval monastic orders, destined to revive militant Christianity and usher it to a new age of prosperity and domination.

Origins (1990)
The exact date of when The Order was founded is not clearly known, but it is believed that it was first declared sometime during the beginning of 90's when Van Reyes gathered 24 extremist Christian priests of various denominations. A lengthy theological debate was held in his own Alcantara castle in Spain, during which it was agreed that most aspects of Christianity are not compatible with some values of modern world and it will die off in 21 Century due to passiveness and growing complete secularism among most countries. To prevent this, the Convent of Christ's Blood was formed, which soon was reformed into the current Order.

Growth (1990-2015)
The newly founded monastic organization had few members, but had a great wealth, mainly from Padre's criminal establishments and other legal businesses. Using this wealth, Order started to schmooze and influence clergy in mainland Europe. A fair number of catholic, orthodox and a few protestant priests joined Order and started to recruit people from their local parishes. No hostile actions or bold moves were made from 1990 to 1997, which ensured that the growing organization was left alone by religious and state authorities.

By year 1997, the Order already had a solid supporter base, numbering in thousands in Europe. It was the time when Vatican noticed a steady rise in defecting clergy, and launched an investigation to find out more about this obscure group, calling itself "Divine Order of Christ's Blood". Soon enough, Vatican realized the danger it posed to their authority, as the number of Order's members grew much faster than they could counter it. An informational war soon began, in which Vatican hoped to extinguish Order's ability to recruit more people and remain the sole figure of religious authority among Catholics. Orthodox church in Eastern Europe and Russia remained inactive, largely ignoring Order's activities.

For a long time, confrontation between Vatican and Order was tame and little known about among people in Europe. This seemed a good thing for Holy See, as Order did not get full coverage and remained pretty much secretive. However, a sudden rise in far-right movements of Europe 2000's turned things around. Many nationalist parties had Order's members in it, and as a result Order became more ambitious in its goal to gain more support. A notable event was Order's involvement in assassination of a prominent Polish bishop who had anti-Order views. The bishop was killed by ultra-nationalist thugs, but it was Order's agents who planned and recruited them to carry out the assassination. Vatican finally published a message, describing Order's goals and pointing out its dangers, as well as blaming them for killing of bishop. Yet, this message was largely ignored as the stability of Europe was in crisis and among other, far bigger events shaking the entire continent, this incident was considered as too minor for local authorities to take action. Despite the growing Order's involvement in bigger groups conflicting with the governments, the organization was not persecuted, ensuring the further growth.

Ignorance of European governments proved that they severely underestimate Order's growing power. And so in 2006, the whole organization mysteriously gone silent. Vatican thought it was dissolved, but in reality, Padre started to arm and train Order's monastic members in warfare, while maintaining low profile to avoid attention by European governments. From 2006 to 2015, the entire monastic organization was turned into an exceptionally trained and disciplined paramilitary faction, driven by pure zeal and hardened with modern western military training.

The return and the First Crusade (2016 - 2018)
Order suddenly returned in year 2016. A concordate was signed with ERR the same year, allowing Order to test out its military abilities first in Bosnia, and then in war against Turkey. The assault on Islamic nation and drive towards historical Christian city - Constantinople (Istanbul), won the Order lots of attention, and in turn provided more recruits. This was the time when Order launched it's "Seraphim" plan, which involved extensive propaganda and recruitment campaign. The secrecy of the organization was replaced by full blown publicity and the entire world could now gaze what does Order want and how terrifyingly powerful they are becoming at such fast rate. The "Seraphim" plan was very successful as the manpower of Order increased by thousands, many donors all around the world contributed to the cause by donating millions of dollars and supplying the organization with various provisions.

As war dragged on, more soldiers were sent to support the further advance, this time while the routed and broken majority of Turkish army was on steady retreat deeper into their homeland, to more fortified and prepared cities. It was around the time of Battle of Bursa when large Inquisition presence was noticed. Almost 1500 of massacred POW's, civilians and other soldiers allied to Turkey were ruthlessly killed by Inquisition death squads. Those especially unlucky were impaled by the direct order of Blood Cardinal. At this point the war was dragging on for almost 2 years and after such extensive loss of life, this atrocity went almost unnoticed.

The war for Turkey was finally over on January 31st, 2018, ending with ERR and their allies victory. Order has since been actively aiding ERR to solidify their rule of the conquered regions, while also spreading their faith - forcefully or not.

Establishment of Crusader State of Attaleia
First month of ceasefire was noted by sporadic fighting in various parts of occupied Thrace between occupiers and an unified resistance movement, made up of guerrilla turned civilians, remnant police forces and Turkish army, who split from Turkish state to pursue their own goal of freeing western Thrace from Romans and their allies.

At this time, talk were held between Order and ERR on how to better solidify their new rule of newly conquered lands. Thousands of crusaders of Order were sharing the barracks with ERR army, causing a variety of supply and cohesion problems. By splitting spheres of influence between ERR and Order that chose to remain in Turkey to assist their allies in defeating the resistance, the leadership hoped to establish a much more rigid and stronger occupied state.

The ERR's Senate, now on very friendly terms with the christian organization, offered Hector Van Reyes to move the entire crusader force into southern territories, which were less war torn and more likely to erupt in widespread chaos if left unattended. At first, the idea didn't appear good as the leaders of Order feared the obscene amounts of upkeep it would require to control and police the region of Antalya by themselves. But It didn't took long for the clever arch-pontiff to understand what opportunity this presents to the still-growing crusader army.



Reyes suggested to grant the Antalyan region to the Order for their own self-governed state, which would allow Order to keep the southern provinces under their iron fist without much administrative and logistical burden that would arise if the region was governed solemnly by ERR. At first, the Senate was reluctant to accept the proposal as it was the matter of giving away vast amounts of strategic territory to foreign organization, which, even if religiously and ideologically similar, still foreign. The Legate of ERR whom had enormous influence in Senate managed to convince the senators that Order shed blood in this war only because they recognized the call of fellow Christians seeking to retake what's rightfully theirs and so shall be rewarded as such. The negotiations went for additional week after the entire senate voted to accept Reyes's proposal for establishment of Order's own state in Antalya region. The end of Senate session was marked by standing ovation of senators, Order representatives and other spectators.

Pacification of Attaleia
The very next day, thousands of Order troops and vehicles embarked south - to Attaleia. Several main urban centers were occupied by Order troops, while ERR army deployed to this province were slowly pulled away to other regions where they were required. The center of occupation was the city of Antalya, soon renamed to Attaleia. Order declared it the center of their operations, akin to capital city in which the main HQ of militant section, primary chapter of monks and Inquisition sectors were quickly set up to begin a long process of "christianization" of region.

The rebel forces that were active in region took this opportunity of slight chaos and change to try and wrestle some influence in Attaleia as Order forces were still unpacking their gear and moving their forces inside. Firefights broke out in several districts of Antalya, while Order suffered some casualties in ambushes set up by rebels that were hiding in city, waiting for such opportunity.

What followed was a number of small battles and crackdowns in all urban areas and rural regions where possible. Local Order authorities declared total martial law and unleashed their security forces to quell any unrest. Soon it became apparent that rebels overestimated their abilities to strike at Order whom they thought was less of a threat than ERR legions in area that were almost gone in this region. After successful crackdowns and raids in various cities, rebels lost a lot of manpower and were rooted out of urban areas where the support for them was vanishing under brutal regime. Remaining rebel elements retreated into mountains and woods of rural Attaleia, where they remain a threat to Order to this day. Even with Abolitor troopers launching raids and hunts, rebels still somehow manage to keep on causing a considerable trouble in many places.

Formation and further growth (2019 - onward)
By the beginning of 2019, Order has already established a strong state with effective local government and security apparatus to keep any form of mass unrest from ever rising. The population and manpower of the state is now slowly growing with influx of new immigrants - supporters of Order and families of Order militants and other servants that choose to settle in the state.

Ideology
The Order has its own ideology and holy book - the New Millennium Bible, which is basically a rewritten original Bible. Most of its contents are same as in the original book, but some chapters are altered to better fit Order's ideology. There is also a new book included inside, called Genesis of New Millennium, whose contents are more comparable to a political manifesto rather than a religious text.

The ideology itself is a far more militant form of mainstream Christianity. It does not consider its denominations (such as Orthodox or Protestantism) as false, since the first members of the Convent of Christ's Blood were priest of various denominations. Enlightenment period is described as catastrophic event in history of Christian world, as it gave birth to secularism, which, as Hector Van Reyes believes, "took the flame from Christianity, defanged it and made it unable to resist fluctuations of modern age". The Order calls its followers to take up arms against "cowards and heretics" and bring it back to glory of times before Enlightenment.

The Order does not seek to establish theocracy, but to bring back conservative religious mindset to all Christian peoples. One of the aspects of their ideology, is that "Only the worldly leaders of Christ's nations can revive The Holy Faith, thus those leaders who accept the Order's word may be blessed by God and can lead their domains solemnly by themselves, with little guidance from clergy".

To sum up, these are the most important Order's tenets:
 * Christianity must be defended at all costs both from the outside enemies and heretics inside the church.
 * It doesn't matter how someone worships God - be it in Catholic way or any other denomination's way. The only condition is not to cross line between established christian culture and heresy.
 * Nations can be secular, as long as it doesn't endanger classical christian values and beliefs. Extreme liberalism is not tolerated by Order's followers.
 * Order's soldiers and employed people have divine right to punish Order's enemies in the name of God, be it imprisonment or death.
 * Recreational drugs are completely banned with no exceptions. Man's body is temple of the Holy Spirit - using drugs for pleasure is pagan and sinner practice.

Means of Expansion
Order's main course of action is to establish their Chapters in various Christian states and aid them in wars against their enemies, especially if the war is fought against the Order's ideological enemies. To achieve this, they offer their aid and if the state accepts, it "invites" the Order to its land and becomes a "host state". All such states are declared Divine, and their leaders Saints, making religious citizens who follow Order's ideology more loyal to their leaders and states.

The focal point of Order's expansion was the establishment of Crusader State of Attaleia right after the end of ERR - Turkey war. From that moment, Order gained lots of power and land to further use for their means of expansion and growth.

Titles
Order's supreme military commander is called Hochmeister. Currently, this title is held by Augustin Holub - a retired Czech army Sergeant Major and a veteran member of The Order.

The leader of Inquisition is called Grand Inquisitor and this title is held by the enigmatic Blood Cardinal.

Arch Pontiff is the ideological leader of clergy is taken by Van Reyes himself.

The title of Lord Commander is bestowed upon most distinguished officers in Militant and Monk military wings.

Abbot commander refers to leaders of chapter monasteries, who are always of supreme rank to other monks.

Order's military forces
The armed wing of Order. Commanded by Hochmeister Augustin Holub. Consists of 2 primary wings - Order's militants and Monk soldiers.

Monk soldiers

The hardened core of Order's military force. These men have dedicated their lives to Christ and in addition to usual monastic routines such as prayer, contemplation and labor, Order's monks train extensively to be ready for war. Rigorous training, excellent discipline and pure zeal turns these warriors into formidable unflinching force, capable of fighting in various environments. Urban terrain is especially favored by monks, where they make excellent shock troopers due to emphasis on close quarters combat during training. This role of Order's troops was very apparent in Turkey war, where monks managed to successfully storm and neutralize many Turkish strong-points. While not fighting, Order's monks live in their closed off monasteries-military bases. The usual day of average monk consists of hours of labor, prayer and training. Due to their life-commitment to religion, monks do not indulge in usual vices (drinking, smoking) that outsiders enjoy, though it is not prohibited. This makes the holy men of Order very hard, if not impossible, to corrupt and make them stray from their ascetic lifestyle.

Though all monk soldiers are trained to become elite fighters, specialized sub-units also exist, such as air cavalry unit and planned biochemical warfare unit. Only particular chapters train these types of soldiers.

Inquisition
Order's very own secret police and intelligence unit, which also operates a peacekeeping and public police force in Order's State of Attaleia. Inquisitors mingle with common populace in many countries, seeking new recruits for their organization, spying on governments and church, and keeping contact with Order's cells. True to their name, some Inquisitors work as assassins, interrogators, torturers and executioners for Order's enemies. Inquisition cells are spread throughout the world, particularly in areas the Order is most concerned about. Every major European city is guaranteed to have large (starting from 500 inquisitors) cells. Differently from monks, most Inquisitors do not practice monastic lifestyle and are usual people who express radical christian ideas and due to that were hired by Order. Many Inquisitors are violent, extremely radical and sadistic - these traits are required for many Inquisition tasks. Inquisitors usually work in shadows, utilizing clandestine "cloak and dagger" tactics. Before establishment of Attaleia, Inquisition was a single organization with only several main goals of clandestine information gathering, recruitment and other secret goals. Now, Inquisition has been reformed into far more over-reaching security apparatus with various specialised departments:

Justiciar Department - justiciars of inquisition carry out the traditional work of historical inquisition, which includes looking for apostates and heretics, putting them on trials and sentencing them for failure to adhere to Christian faith or working against Order. Justiciars are high ranking inquisitors with wide powers, with each justiciar working as prosecutor, judge and executioner at the same time. Even thought they are allowed to perform these steps on their own judgement, they are still required to submit any information to central Inquisitorial Authority, which has the official duty to perform trial and punishment to those unlucky enough to be caught performing forbidden practices. Thus, it's rare for justiciars carry out executions and judgements themselves, but it's not unheard of and for this reason, justiciars are widely feared by everyone, including even the most fanatical christians under order's rule.

Department of Espionage, Unity and Security (DEUS)- this particular department of inquisition operates as intelligence gathering, counter-espionage and covert ops agency, working to protect Order from hostile foreign powers that might try to infiltrate its ranks, gather intel on various targets of high interest to Order and keep contact with many cells of Order that are spread throughout the globe.

Department of Public Obedience - only found in Crusader State of Attaleia, men working in this department are basically police officers that are tasked with upholding law and order in the State. They often accompany justiciars on their raids and are known to be quite aggressive towards citizens of the state who disobey their orders. Officers of Public Obedience carry pistols, submachine guns and batons they often use to beat up criminals and those who disrupt the peace. During rare and troublesome moments when large numbers of citizens start causing mayhem, they appear in riot gear and carry non-lethal arms to disperse rioting crowds.

Abolitores unit - a unit within Inquisition famously known as Abolitor ("destroyer" in Latin) is currently active in Order. This particular unit is specialised in counter-insurgency warfare training and equipment they receive, as well as their gruesome sadism and fierce attitude. An abolitor will never turn down an opportunity to fight Order's enemies, especially if there's a chance to inflict great pain and suffering to them.

Abolitor inquisitors favor guerrilla warfare over direct engagements, though are well suited for conventional combat as well. Abolitor cells are able to stealthily infiltrate enemy lines and disrupt logistics, ambush the enemy and sabotage targets of high importance.

Clergy
Priests of various rank, starting from lowly deacons all the way to powerful bishops and the supreme Arch Pontiff himself.

Priests are well educated and carefully trained to ensure full loyalty, ability to manipulate people and spread the faith successfully. It's not rare for priests to be skilled in eloquence and psychology which they use to control masses of Order's followers and attract more believers.

Battle priests

Members of Order's clergy who have been trained in skills of war and go to battle together with their brothers of faith. These men are noted for extreme zeal and ability to muster and rally Order's troops under any circumstances. Though very skilled soldiers in combat, they are usually observed reciting holy scriptures and encouraging soldiers to fight for their faith. Battle priests are opponents that should be reckoned with - every priest will fight to the last breath and will ensure others will do so too. While not in battle, they can be found preaching, blessing their comrades or doing any other religious work that is required on site.

Current Chapters
Capitulum Primor - the first original Chapter of The Order, located in Villalpando castle, Spain. Right now it serves as the seat of Order's leadership, including Hector Van Reyes himself.

Capitulum Romanus - the very first foreign Chapter established. Mainly operates in ERR annexed territories, where its forces are Christianizing local non-christian populations, suppressing resistance and aiding ERR to spread their ideals. Main base of operations - Valchedram castle in southwestern ERR.

Capitulum Attaleia - so far the largest chapter in terms of monasteries, bases and members, this chapter is established in Crusader State of Attaleia and encompasses all monasteries found in the state.