The Exaltists

Description

Profile

The Exaltists are a group of fanatics who embrace the Hollow disaster that befell the world long ago and adore the Creator: their goal is to "refine" humanity into the next step of evolution and make it enter the Age of Hollows,^[1] with reaching the Gate of the Final Domain, located inside Hollow Zero,^[2] as seemingly one of the necessary steps to meet the Creator.^[3] They have influential connections and moles within New Eridu's high society and government, such as Public Security (Justin Bringer), the White Star Institute (Alowyn Mystik)^{[4][Note 2]} and big corporations (Sarah, who infiltrated Vision), but also with powerful hackers such as Null_Face and White Noise.

The Exaltists are extremely faithful to the grand cause of their cult, and are thus willing to sacrifice themselves fully, to the point of killing themselves in the process. In fact, the people who go through "refinement" are called Sacrifices.^[5][6]

After Mevorakh's death, Sarah was chosen as the next Overseer.^[7]

History

It is unknown when The Exaltist church was founded, but it is safe to assume it was after the first Hollow disasters began occurring. One of their leaders, the Exaltist Overseer (Chinese: 称颂会司教 "Minister of the Church of Praise"), was taken down by "Swordmaster" immediately prior the founding of Eridu.^[8] It is reported that they were publicly active as a religious group before the Fall of the Old Capital, holding rallies in the open;^[9] however, it is unknown why they went undercover in New Eridu.

The Hollow Zero disaster seems to be tied to the Exaltists, as someone attempted to retrieve the Sacrifice sealed inside the monument at Pioneer's Memorial Plaza the night before the Fall. On the same night Carole Arna was abducted by one of the Creator's hands while the Helios Academy was under siege by mysterious armed groups and "monsters".^[10] Moreover, their chanting can be heard inside Hollow Zero.^[11]

After the death of her comrades from Agamemnon Squad during the Fall of the Old Capital, Isolde started investigating, eventually joining the Exaltists under the name Mevorakh to gather more information.^[7]

Several years ago, Landon, the head of the Janus Quarter Exaltists who developed a first version of the Sacrifice Serum,^[12] adopted Vivian Banshee and treated her like her own daughter, due to her gift of foreseeing calamities. When Vivian shed tears in front of an Exaltist member, they were claimed to be "blessed" and got injected with the serum: those who transformed in Ethereals were taken down on the spot, while the successful Sacrifices were given to Exaltist higher-ups; however, the low success rate, together with the fact Landon's Sacrifices did not hold human consciousness, brought the higher-ups to see his serum as a failure, with Landon gradually losing influence within the Exaltists. At some point, Vivian cried in front of Dina, Landon's own daughter. In a gamble to try to regain the favour of the higher-ups, Landon decided to inject Dina with the serum. To try to save her adopted sister, Vivian told everyone present that Landon should be the one to receive the "blessing," and forcibly shed tears in front of him. Landon tried to kill Vivian, but was stopped by Camille, and in the altercation he accidentally shot himself. Dina blamed Vivian for her father's death and succeeded him as the head of the sect, while many lost and uncertain followers, including Vivian, left.^[13]

At the same time, a now-Exaltist official Mevorakh came to Janus Quarter and relocated many of Landon's followers in Waifei Peninsula, where they struck a deal with Ferox, Porcelumex co-CEO, who would have provided the Exaltists with funding and shelter in exchange of the tech obtained from Sacrifice research. When the previous Overseer died, Mevorakh got chosen as their successor, and immediately publicly declared that the Creator would not mold unwilling subjects, thus rejecting Porcelumex's proposal to carry human experiments similar to Project New Leaf.^[14]

The Exaltists were also behind the attack at the Arpeggio Fault Old Laboratory two years ago, but at the last moment Alowyn betrayed the mission and instead saved the Institute researchers she got attached to, dying in the process. However, The Exaltists managed to enter the Laboratory nonetheless, leaving a message behind.^[4]

They were aware of the White Noise attack on Phaethon's original Inter-Knot account, and were implicated in Lucius' conspiracy to take over the Outer Ring, the Vision Corporation case (with the subsequent attempt to steal the Sacrifice sample, Rain's kidnapping, airship hijacking and Perlman huntdown), and the pursuit of Tailless (which includes Null_Face's attack against Section 6 during the VR test and Miyabi's abduction.^[15][16]

After Mevorakh's death, the Exaltists' structure and hierachy had crumbled, and only a few believers, guided by Sarah, were still striving to meet the Creator. ^[17]

Powers and Abilities

With the direct help of the Creator, the Exaltists have developed Elixir P07 to refine humans into Sacrifices able to retain their human consciousness.^[18] They can also evoke Ethereals out of Miasma and control them,^[19][20] while Overseer Mevorakh is able to create Ethereal copies of existing people from the memories the Miasma has absorbed, while retaining their combat prowess, general features and memories.^[21]

Hierarchy & Members

Gallery

As Enemies

A Messenger crafted by the Creator

Overseer Mevorakh's last stage before reaching the Final Domain

Refined form of Mevorakh, an Overseer

Bringer, a successful Sacrifice

Heretic Jester, a successful Sacrifice

Covenant Guardian, a successful Sacrifice

Flame Cantors

Hymnists

Notes

Other Languages

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References

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