#used this as emmeryn voice practice and! not entirely ready for drafts yet but i have a list to get through so

[emblemartyr]

honesty - muse a wipes muse b’s tears away from under their eyes (if its easier you can place it post or during our thread 🫡)

TO BE GENTLE, AND TO ACCEPT GENTLENESS ・ accepting!

VULNERABILITY WAS A DELICATE FLOWER, naught to be unfurled by the reckless hands of another person lest they risk tearing the petals curled inwards over its heart. and that, truly, was all she could imagine as the boy broke into tears before her, his theatrics weakly caked into his voice to fruitlessly level what had already begun rasping and choking up. he made himself to be a sorrowful image; stepping away from her as he clutched onto his chest, as if to hug or curl in on himself.

had emmeryn said something she was not supposed to? all she could remember uttering was what he asked of her; an introductory to be shared between the pleasantry gap she had yet to bridge across. but, even a full sun after their last interaction, his wonderous eyes still water at the sight of her.

should she have given more of herself? laid her past, whether from her lips or anothers', bare at his feet until he was comfortable enough to poke and prod through it at his own pace?

the epitome of gentleness stepped forward, gloved hands raised to beckon and guide, to remind odin, once again, that she was a space of comfort rather than anguish.

"you. . . you poor thing. . . come," came her whisper, merely the ghost of an invitation, as her hands have already cradled the back of his head, gently pulling him closer until he was near enough to embrace. simply by instinct, had emmeryn's eyes closed, her focus entirely subjected to the physicality of something between them she could not understand. not yet, but she would learn to, until his gaze felt only the urge to brighten once fallen upon her.

his shoulders remained trembling when she pulled back, not far and not dismissive. instead, her hands moved in time with the soft curl of her lips, offering him an all - knowing and none - the - wiser smile as the pads of her thumbs brushed away the tears gathering at the corners of his eyes. there was much to say, yet too little time to articulate any if all thoughts properly.

thus, confident in her silence, emmeryn whispered, only, "you are. . . are safe, oh━━━odin." before embracing the golden - haired man once again, canting her hand slightly to press against his as he shuddered and shook in her arms; sudden, came the memory of little sister clutching her skirts and sobbing until the fabric became wet with her grief. and, just as she had before, in the body she remembered nothing of, the former exalt gently held unto the back of his head and cared not for the dress his sorrow stained.

[stainedglassmonk]

What IS up with War Monkhood/Clerichood?

this gets kinda long so: content under the cut

Important Disclaimer: Not all of this has not been run by Chrom-mun, so everything in this is Pure Speculation. Not Ferp-Canon. (Until such time as I and Chrom-mun can bang out the parts that don’t jive, and then we maybe can keep some of this as part of libra’s canon, but well. yeah! so, mun’s hc’s down below, not necessarily ferp-canon until the jiving of the minds has occured, but given both chrom-mun and i are very busy people with relatively conflicting schedules, i asked and received permission from them to go ahead and post, so long as i put up a disclaimer that this is not intended to be read as ferp-canon)

OKAY SO!! Crash Course in Explicitly Recent Ylissean History. (before i get to maybe answering questions in depth? This is the Recent History bit)

SO. an unnameable number of years ago, less because many and more because the timeline here is. hrm, vague, Dick Daddy The Genocidal was borthed. I imagine he was raised in a fashion similar to general heirs, and then he ascended the throne.

that’s not really the important part.

the important part is Dearest DIckfather The Genocidal rather hated his neighbors. And not in like, a suburban kind of way. no, D.D.T.G rather hated his neighbors in a “they’re different and they should die” way instead of a “they don’t water their lawns 3x a week like the continental aesthetic guidelines clearly indicate”

so, at some point he takes the country to war.

and it’s canon that the war goes on long enough to be devastating to both countries. plegia in that uh. Yeah, just about every way. and then ylisse in that the country basically drains itself of resources to sorta fuel the machine of war

and i’m assuming/running off canon that this makes him an Incredibly Unpopular Person.

like, maybe…assassination attempts unpopular. or “so we’re gonna smash through the forces of the exalt and target HIM SPECIFICALLY since we hate him so much. okay? cool. BREAK” plegian team huddle style

anyway

so eventually at some point DDTG decides that perhaps his dwindling army (due to death rates, desertion rates, lack of enlistment/draft dodging, depending on if a draft was enacted and other factors) isn’t The Best at keeping him seated firmly and power and allowing him to continue to breathe

BUT! OH BOY OH BOY! he has another avenue he can turn to that isn’t just the general population. because DDTG is the Exalt. And the Exalt is both kinda Pope-y and Kingly at the same time. A two-fer, if you will

And since he’s the head of the ylissean (the continent, rather than the country) church, he can decree things. and since he’s the king of ylisse (the country) he can enforce things!

and idk much about how this whole thing started but the easiest/best known way to get a buncha medieval peasantry up in arms for a significant period of time (as far as I know) is involving religion. so i’m kind of assuming that he tied in his reasons for going to war with something about the idea being a decree straight from naga

and since we know the voice sleeps….a lot, and is clear and away on the other side of the continent and then past an ocean and on a different continent…it sure would be easy not to contest that

SO

assuming all that, we can say he probably put it down as a decree (from naga, to him, disseminated to you the people, his beloved subjects [Naga came to me, specifically, since i’m the exalt, and told me to kill everyone who might look like [a plegian] or might worship grima [all plegians, or so the sources tell us], are you with me!])

and bound several but not all of the devotional orders to his personal defense/orders. probably two or three of the most populous monasteries/nunneries suddenly were called upon to join the war effort at the exalt’s side personally

regardless of popular opinion of the war effort itself, some likely/definitely saw this as an honor. the head of the church relying upon them specifically, asking for favors of them, specifically

yeah.

and then i imagine that a bunch of previously peaceful monks/clerics suddenly being given cheaply produced weaponry with no experience with weapons, being thrust into battle / defending the exalt didn’t exactly have a huge survival rate.

it’s likely that many of the bound monasteries and nunneries were wiped off the map, just their entire “war-ready” population destroyed.

and then after DDTG’s death, the decimated orders went home to heal, as emmeryn took the thrown and began making reparations to plegia and healing her own country

the order binding the monks/clerics forgotten in the upheaval.

and, well. since the order isn’t rescinded, the nunneries/monasteries practice with their armor and their weapons, to get better, for when next they are called.

and everyone knows which (surviving) monasteries are obligated to the exalt, and the remaining ill-will that DDTG inspired in the people hit acolyte induction very hard

(this is why all of Libra’s monks are older. they were survivors of the first war, and all the acolytes are libra’s age, having been children when the war ended and grown up loving emmeryn. This is a snapshot of every monastery and nunnery sworn to the exalt at this moment. All with similarly aging avowed members and then a huge age gap between the incoming young acolytes and freshly graduated new devotees)

And this brings us to the beginning of LIbra’s backstory, where Calum picks him up and he joins in with the first influx young, babyfaced acolytes (the older batches of acolytes having just barely taken their vows), and only a scant four or so years later Emmeryn is kidnapped to Plegia and the monks and presumably some clerics as well mobilize in her defense

We know what happens to Libra’s monks. They die in the desert, before ever reaching Emmeryn. I believe this is because the older monks went alone, leaving the young ones behind. Though in Libra’s monastery, none of the acolytes had taken their vows yet, due to that specific monasteries choice in extended acolyte periods.

I think that the other sworn orders would do the same, explaining why Libra is alone. (There is a chance that some just didn’t make it in time, and I don’t doubt that some did arrive too late, after the armies had both abandoned the area, and had to go home without even knowing if Chrom’s rescue had been successful or not)

And, since Chrom doesn’t ascend the throne to Exalt right away, leaving the sworn orders leaderless, and the way the War Against Plegia: Take Two, The Emmeryning escalates and then concludes fairly quickly, giving the delayed/late clerics/monks little time to re-mobilize to Chrom’s defense (so little time in fact, that none even leave Ylisse’s borders before the conflict is over)

While normally this might have brought the law binding the monks/clerics to Chrom’s attention, other things were pressing, and being the Exalt is TRULY a busy job, and neither Libra nor the sworn orders ever think to bring it up

AND THAT’S THE RECENT HISTORY OF THE YLISSEAN MONKS/CLERICS (so onto the more specific questions)

So. IN RESPECT TO HOW PREVALENT THEY ARE.

Numbers: At the beginning there were minimum 4 and maximum 6 orders sworn to DDTG. Each being chosen primarily for their strength of population, it can be assumed that each had a population in the hundreds varying in ages from the very young to the very old.

So i’m going to give a middling estimate of a war-ready force in the 200-350s but an overall population of 400-800

After DDTG’s war, this war ready population dove down to maybe at most 100. Probably more in the 60s or below. (I’m leaning more. 30)

And with the lack of incoming new generations, the overall population crashed to a bottom at probably overall 200-550s, though each monastery’s/nunnery’s losses varied (Libra’s in particular had been from a relatively large area with an exceptionally hard hit populace due to the war itself, so even the monks who’d stayed behind and hadn’t gone off to war had suffered, leaving the population of the monastery at <80 people)

Distribution-wise, the monasteries/nunneries are likely from all over Ylisse. From the far north towards the feroxi border to the plegian border, to the lands around the ocean

Libra’s monastery inducts acolytes from a large area near the Plegian border. The others probably are centered in large population areas, or service large areas (i don’t have any hcs in regards to placement but i know exactly where libra’s monastery is)

(below you will see libra’s monastery in dark blue, and primary potential monastery positions in purple with secondary potential locations in green; the capitol is marked in red)

Other monasteries, which have/had smaller populations are steady, quiet establishments that keep to themselves and have varying practices and routines. The Exalt doesn’t bother them and many of them have vows of pacifism.

What they do: so. Basically what other monasteries/nunneries do

But the sworn ones in particular: they function as general monasteries/nunneries, but they train themselves to be tough, to defend the Exalt, defend the faith

Some of the monks/clerics work towards helping the monastery/nunnery be self-sufficient, some of them devote themselves literally to the word of naga, some specifically choose to focus on charity, or service or any number of things

Regardless, they are still functional places of contemplation and devotion, with a side of defense-ready combat skill

Relations with the Exalt: in this case i’m a little fuzzy. The sworn are meant to protect the exalt/are under the exalt’s explicit command, but Chrom and Emmeryn likely knew nothing about this

So I think it’s safe to say that there’s an advisor somewhere, leftover from DDTG’s reign, marshalling the forces to the Exalt’s aid whenever ordered, or whenever they feel the war monks/clerics can be of use

And while normally they would run these decisions by the exalt, since DDTG left office, emmeryn and chrom both seem like the kind of people who’d frown upon this sort of abuse of power

And well, this position does hold power. Not an especially massive amount of power, but power nonetheless, and attention drawn to this position would mean its erasure

So despite being under Chrom/Emmeryn/(Lucina)/(Lissa)’s direct command, it’s probably, hell, almost certain imo that after DDTG dies the monks and clerics are handled by some character like the Hierarch who betrayed Emmeryn unbeknownst to the exalt