Church of the Umbral Popes

The Church of the Umbral Popes aka The Eternal Religion or The Eternal Church, is a religous empire that spans several realms of the Umbra and is centered around following the edicts of the Popes who are divine sons of god with their authority handed down apostolically. The current Pope is Pope Hope III and it is the 15th year of his reign. They are at war with The Eternal Empire.

They don't know the name of Jesus, however their first Pope is referred to as He of Nazarus. He was blessed born of Mary and Joseph (a carpenter), 3 wise men visited his birth, a star at the edge of time marked that birth and his coming shocked many realms. who God gave his energy and divinity to wield, he was persecuted by The Eternal Empire and chased from his home realm, setting up his throne and the dynasty in the Papal Estate where he rules from The Citadel and has a grand throne (150% size) in the Plaza outside, he designated one after who became divine when he sat on the throne.

They are one church, apostolic and catholic, believe in one god, the father, the holy spirit and the throne (the Eternal Throne). God gave energy to his incarnate son who ruled a just empire of peace, enlightenment, and calm. Through his works at the end of days those without sin will be in a place in heaven beyond the 4 great guardians. Only those who have done due works and respect the throne will have an eternal life in paradise by the fathers right hand, through your own merits, by the test of life you can achieve heaven. They never directly use the name of god, always using very oblique names to refer to him. They have a concept of "the end times" but we're unclear what that contains.

If you have sinned you find a Sister/Brother of the White to atone for your sins, then tend to the sick, needy, poor, or go to purgatory, or take the healing touch for a while. They see miracles daily in The Eternal Religion and seem to pass around the power of the holy spirit by touch.

They are broken into 4? main orders, the Brothers/Sisters of the...

• Order of Red - who are front line fighters
• Order of White - who bless and purify, directly blessed by the Popes own hand and hence can pass it on
• Order of Black - engage with the discipline of the Papal Estate
• Order of Grey - oversee purgatory and the redemption of souls

There are also Papal Nuncio's who are probably similar to Earth's Papal nuncio's in that they are sort of ambassadors or diplomats.

Known Popes:

• 3rd Pope: Was executed by The Eternal Empire
• Leo XII: Introduced reform of the orders (see above)
• Papa Lumos III: Witnessed a great sundering of Purgatory (which used to be a beautiful/contemplative place for souls to rest
• Pope Hope III: The current Pope

In Season_Five#2021-11-29 the Pack learns that The Emperor controls The Legion and the Pope controls the church/religion and the 4 orders. These two groups frequently go to war with each other.

The whole culture is also bound up with ideas of the the Exalted One's or High Born who are closer to the image of god, and are people of african descent, everyone else is Low Born and those of Nam are just referred to as "them". This all makes Carlie very uncomfortable.

In Season Ten they manifest in London as the New Catholic Church.