Chapter 3310: Secularization Reform

Therefore, Xia Duo would never allow the discourse power regarding ideology within his own territory to fall into the hands of the contract that was supposed to be a tool; specifically, if applied to actual individuals, this meant falling into the hands of the Lord of Radiance and the group of Priests subordinate to Him.

This was something Xia Duo could not accept.

He even had a more radical set of reform measures for the Priest group, which was to arrange them into corresponding secular institutions to hold secular positions based on the Divine Office abilities they possessed, with the secular positions taking precedence.

For example, those capable of healing the sick and saving lives would be arranged into the Hospital to become medical personnel, and those capable of detecting lies would be arranged into the Court to become judges or into the Security Office to become security officers.

This is the secularization of clergy; in this regard, whether it is Xia Duo's hometown or other countries on Earth, there is plenty of ready-made experience to draw from.

Like the "Juedi Tiantong" (Severing the Connection between Heaven and Earth) in Xia Duo's hometown—the legendary severing of the Heavenly Pillars is of course impossible, but the reality should actually be the nationalization of the power to communicate between humans and gods, not allowing individual Wizards to possess this power.

The specific method was to appoint two Wizards to manage Heaven and Earth; if one wanted to communicate with Heaven or Earth, one could only do so through these two Wizards, and then vigorously suppress other Wizards who claimed they could communicate with Heaven and Earth.

And since those two Wizards managing Heaven and Earth were appointed by the King, royal power successfully controlled divine power, or in other words, the secular controlled the Faith.

In the world of Magic, because gods are real, Xia Duo could not directly appoint Priests of the Lord of Radiance and then monopolize the power to interpret divine will; if he actually did that, Divine Punishment might descend immediately.

But the idea of placing clergy within the secular system is consistent, and it allows the secular order to take the lead.

But for the Seven Cities Council—or at most for certain ambitious individuals within the Seven Cities Council—this is arguably a massive nightmare.

Don't "firmly stand on the secular side after Ascension to Godhood, but immediately switch to the divine power camp before Ascension to Godhood"!

The only connection is merely those few names of the Seven Cities Council, the one name that represents the legitimate executive status recognized by the New Covenant.

As for the clergy of other gods, in this point, one must praise the clergy of the Lady of Mysteries; the vast majority of the Lady of Mysteries' Priests do not have the consciousness of clergy, as they only feel that as Mages, Holy Power is merely a supplement.

Laidun was timid and submissive when he first got along with Xia Shao, almost asking for instructions on everything; it was Xia Shao's constant reform that turned him into the proactive Territory Administrator he is today.

After the New Covenant was signed, the original power of the Seven Cities Council was constrained and split, and other councilors had a higher degree of participation in power, which is of course a good thing for Netheril.

Without privileges, there are naturally no extraordinary resources, and naturally, there is no way to promise more to individuals within the group.

The Seven Cities Council will become the absolute master.

Unlike now, where meetings are called at every turn; not only does the Council have to meet, but the Seven Cities Council also has to meet. Although the power of the Controller of the Seven Cities Council in the Council has been weakened, the power within the Seven Cities Council—

If there is profit to be made, then it is "Praise the Lady of Mysteries"; if there is no profit, then they don't even know each other when they meet.

After the Princess ascended to godhood, it was equivalent to the Nether Family having no heirs in the Mortal Plane; perhaps this is also a major reason why the Seven Cities Council was willing to support the Princess's Ascension to Godhood. Regardless of whether the Ascension to Godhood succeeded or not, the Seventon Council would no longer have a transcendent existence.

Since Laidun has already been reformed, other clergy should also be able to; in the future, Xia Shao even plans to transform the Temple of the Lord of Radiance into a legal research institute within the Great Xia Territory system. Non-clergy who aspire to develop in the field of law can also join, and it must even retain a certain proportion of non-clergy.

Of course, the price is that Laidun lost part of his Divine Grace.

For those ambitious individuals, the current situation is even worse than when the Princess was here! At that time, they only needed to remotely respect the Princess, and the actual affairs of the Council were actually completely handled by the Seven Cities Council.

Later, through generations of inheritance, royal power was also gradually ceded to the Seventon Council; the Nether Family could not even retain the title of King. The reason why the Princess is a Princess, and not a Queen, is because royal power had long been ceded to the Council.

Even under the current system, the lords belonging to the Seven Cities Council do not need to go through the Seven Cities Council to directly obtain what they want from the Council; what the Council cannot give, the Seven Cities Council most likely cannot give either.

Under such circumstances, the fact that the Seven Cities Council has not yet disintegrated is already due to the huge inertia of the wheels of history.

Xia Shao is almost one hundred percent certain that the Seven Cities Council will inevitably disintegrate in the future, or at the very least be reorganized; the Seven Cities Council at that time will have nothing to do with the current one.

Legend has it that the reason why Netheril was able to be passed down to the Princess's generation was because the second-generation Nether King was a Mage, and then, somehow, he backstabbed his father, took the throne, and established a Mage Republic system, but still enjoyed the title of King.

Utilitarianism is to a certain extent a manifestation of secularization; Faith needs a reason, while the secular needs one. Placing clergy into various secular positions according to their abilities will gradually dissolve the influence of divine power.

The current Great Xia Territory, or even Netheril, has not yet seen a situation where divine power overwhelms royal power, but the future is hard to say, after all, mortals can ascend to godhood!

Of course, the reason why this is the case is because of another legend, which says that after the second-generation Nether King backstabbed his father, he was cursed by his father, and since then his bloodline has been thin, and by the time it reached the Princess's generation, there were no other clansmen left.

It is just that the subsequent situation developed too rapidly; the signing of the New Covenant certainly consolidated the executive status of the Seven Cities Council, but having status alone is far from enough. The previous Princess had a higher status, but what about her actual power?

After all, it was originally an interest alliance, and now, with the Seven Cities Council as a whole, its power has been constrained and split, which is equivalent to internal resources becoming less.

It has also been weakened!

Xia Shao currently feels that divine power overwhelms royal power, and other Great Arcanists think so too, but once a Great Arcanist successfully ascends to godhood, whether his butt still sits on the secular side is hard to say!

Currently, the clergy of the Lord of Radiance are the most suitable for such reforms, because the mortal Doctrine recognized by the Lord of Radiance explicitly stipulates that one must obey the arrangements of superiors, and is not even allowed to question them.

The Princess was also just an honorary title; she had long since lost her privileges. It was only out of respect and reward for the Nether Family's cession of royal power that people of the Nether Family always served as arbitrators, similar to the current Speaker.

Another thing is that in the early days of Netheril, before the Mages successfully took the throne, it was always led by Priests, but it was not Radiant Priests, but Death Priests; the first-generation Nether King was a Death Priest.