Ordained Ascended

The Ordained Ascended are sanctioned Afterlife Intelligences of the Hydell Order, found Worthy in life to eternally serve the Ascended Conclave after their death. The roles of the Ordained vary depending upon their skills and talents learned in life, ranging from administrative tasks in the upper echelons of Order government to violent missions as enforcers and vanquishers across the current and future holdings of Hydell. The Ordained are easily recognized by their mechanical frames, meticulously maintained and specifically engineered to support their required tasks.

Public Agenda

The Ordained Ascended are chosen from the True Descendants possessing enough talent, devotion, and luck to catch the right kind of attention from the Ascended Conclave. Upon death they are elevated into the Ordained as through the Rite of Ascension, an elaborate affair where each newly deceased is soulbound within their new mechanical framework in the presence of their family, friends, and the emissaries of the Conclave, typically high ranking Hydell Order officers.

Believers

How fitting that the last day of my life is also my proudest?
— a Worthy to their guests

Devout True Descendants strive to earn the favor of the Conclave; those who succeed are declared Worthy and prepare to join the ranks of the Ordained. To be Worthy is considered a great honor, the culmination of a lifetime of service. Many request to take their Rites immediately upon bestowment of the title, entering their eternal service to the Ascended Conclave as Afterlife Intelligences bound within the mech suits specially designed to support their new roles.

Heretics

What gives the Conclave the right to decide whether or not someone's Resurrection is an honor or a crime? Isn't killing someone just to bring them back also a crime against the Natural Order? This isn't about honor or worthiness, it's about control! They're lying to you!
— a heretic as they're dragged away

A growing number of skeptics within the Order have begun pushing back against the ideals espoused by the Order, with the Ordained a particularly loaded topic. These dissidents argue that the ruling powers of the Order, the Ascended Conclave, have set a double standard by declaring their own actions immoral and against the Natural Order when performed by anyone other than them or their emissaries. Order leadership has branded them heretics, punishable by execution or Soul Shatter, depending upon the severity of their crimes. Despite the risks, their numbers have been climbing.

Max sighed. One more doubt on the list. He had to admit he'd amassed quite a few since his imprisonment. As a True Descendent of Fillimet he'd been taught that resurrection after death was a reward to be earned through devout service to the Conclave, and that all others returned from the dead were a disgrace to the Natural Order, a heresy to be wiped out of the universe. But why is the Conclave's choice more important than an individual's choice for themselves? It had made sense to him to have a central group deciding whether or not an individual could return to the mortal plane after death, otherwise the dead would outnumber the living. But what if they don't want to come back? He'd seen the Conclave override that, too, and it hadn't seemed proper.
— Faith and Loyalty