ADVENT: History

Declaration of the Tenth Crusade

"Hopefully this crusade will be the last."

- ADVENT Officer Qisma al-Vohra

CNN Article shortly after the conclusion of the Declaration

The news of the crusade declared by the Vatican sent shockwaves throughout the world. While in recent days the Pope has been a notable ally of ADVENT, the announcement even surprised high-ranking officials who have stated that they were unaware the announcement was coming. Chancellor Vyandar said this to media representatives soon after the announcement:

"ADVENT would like to commend Pope Marcellus and the Vatican for once more proving to be a model of cooperation and initiative. While there is of course significant weight to their declaration, such actions are required when our entire species is threatened, and their willingness to make these decisions should be commended. We will be involving the Vatican in certain aspects of our military operations and public relations campaigns."

When asked specifically how aware ADVENT was of the announcement, she answered as follows:

"Neither I, nor anyone in ADVENT was aware of the intentions of the Pope, which made it an extremely pleasant surprise. In the future, we would recommend that such pronouncements be shared beforehand so we can better coordinate in the future."

This declaration has brought both praise and criticism, as several have wondered if the casual declaration of some of the deadliest religious wars in history is justified, and if is abusing his influence by encouraging young Catholics to fight. However, many have also pointed out that the Pope made his justifications clear in his announcement; the alien invasion is something which threatens our entire species and the atrocities committed against us are something that cannot be ignored.

The more suspicious of commentary alleges that this is a calculated move by a much more notably politically-savvy Pope to establish a firm connection directly to ADVENT. Ever since the Purge of the Vatican, conspiracy theories have run rampant, from suspecting the Pope is an ADVENT puppet to that he is the antichrist himself by being so closely tied with ADVENT.

While the more inane conspiracy theories can be safely dismissed, none can deny that of all religions in the world, Catholics enjoy the best relationship under ADVENT, and based on statements by Chancellor Vyandar, both the Vatican and ADVENT will be working together more in the future. What this will entail is unknown, but it is unlikely to be entirely unexpected.

Based on previous actions of both ADVENT and the Vatican, it will likely be ADVENT using the Pope's declaration in shared media, or recruitment advertisements targeted towards Catholics. The Pope will also likely make visits to known battlefields, accompanied by ADVENT protection. It is unknown how hard ADVENT will emphasize the Pope's declaration, but they won't just ignore it.

However, the religious fervor has already swept across the world as Catholic Pastors repeated the words of the Pope to their congregations. The words ranged from a biblical basis for the declaration to a fiery condemnation of aliens and their godless masters. There is a noted concern that the declaration of another holy war will worsen xenophobia and foster anti-alien sentiments throughout ADVENT and the world – in contrast to the newly unveiled AEGIS Division which has been designed for aliens within ADVENT.

ADVENT officials have yet to make comments on this development.

The tangible results of this declaration have not yet been fully catalogued, but ADVENT has already reported a surge in recruits and applications, primarily from those of Catholic and evangelical faiths, quite a few of whom directly cited the words of the Pope.

ADVENT also revealed that many of these recruits stated they wished to work in support roles, as most did not wish to participate in combat. As a result the number of medics, ground engineers, cooks, architects, and mechanics has risen significantly. As ADVENT has made this public, it is likely to assure people that joining ADVENT does not mean you must fight on the front lines.

Interestingly, this has led to leaders of other religions also declaring their support for a war against the aliens. While clearly a reflexive response, and many of these denominations are small, it speaks to the impact this has had on religions across the world, and the numbers released do show a large uptick in applicants from Christians, not just Catholics.

It would also not be incorrect to comment on how certain aspects of the Internet have reacted to this. Already there are a significant amount of memes on the subject, as the crusades are, for some reason, popular among this crowd. Because of this it would not be unexpected if the infamous battle cries (Such as "Deus Vult") of the crusades are used once again in the fight against the aliens.

One final aspect of this declaration is the impact beyond ADVENT. There are many Catholics all across the world, many who are not in ADVENT, and both Europe and South American nations are likely concerned with the words of the Pope. There will almost certainly be a push for either joining ADVENT, or participating more against the alien threat from the local Catholic populations.

Regardless of what will happen in these uncharted waters, it can be safely said that ADVENT will come out ahead.

To the Battlemaster, Quisilia, and Sana'Ligna

While ADVENT continues to both exercise their diplomatic and military strength across the world while also pursuing multiple projects, many of which we are beginning to acquire hints of, there have also been other unexpected developments which will likely have a moderate impact on our own operations on Earth.

During a recent ADVENT conference which focused around religion and their role within ADVENT (The majority of Humans have some degree of religious belief, which is why ADVENT is spending any time on such a topic at all), the leader of the Catholic religion, Pope Marcellus the Third, declared a crusade against the Ethereal Collective.

Further research into this particular event is somewhat interesting. Crusades are defined as religious wars waged against others in the supposed name of their god. Nearly a millennia ago the Catholic Church fought in several declared crusades for control over what is now the Middle East, against the primarily Muslim Turks (Another religion which shares an interesting number of parallels with Christianity – And also the religion the Commander of XCOM fought against and was instrumental in its downfall).

It was an extremely violent and brutal war, which was host to executions, rapes, and forced conversions of captured populations, and the most well-known crusades usually ended in failure. There were a few more minor crusades, but they had many of the same elements as the larger ones. This is not entirely unique in Human history, but most modern Humans look back on the crusades as an example of dangerous religious fanaticism.

So the fact that the Pope is deliberately calling for one against us is curious. I expect that this crusade would be 'modern', in that it wouldn't intend to include the less savory aspects of historical crusades, and in truth it may be little more than a publicity stunt. The Pope, in essence, was simply calling for practicing Catholics to join in the defense of Earth. The Catholic Church is not a military power anymore, and so any impact such a declaration would have would be to strengthen the controlling military.

In this case, that is ADVENT.

With that said, this crusade is going to stoke religious fervor to a degree, especially as the Pope is viewed as speaking for God. It is equivalent to an Ethereal giving an order, and the Oyariah following without question. The Pope is viewed as holy and infallible, and thus someone who must be followed. I am expecting that this will begin a snowball effect where other religions will take similar stances against us.

ADVENT is going to benefit from this, and already they are receiving large numbers of recruits for their forces, in all roles. The announcement that ADVENT and the Vatican would be working together in certain areas is also curious, especially since ADVENT is notably anti-religious. This is quite possibly a shrewd move by the Pope to keep his religion relevant while most others will eventually fade into obscurity.

However, this has a greater effect on our own operations than more ADVENT recruits. There are Catholics all across the world, but there are a great many in South America. This could potentially cause issues for Nebulan and Volk as there will be pushes for the government to either join ADVENT, or even adopt anti-alien stances.

This could pose significant problems in the future for operations, as the population will already be disposed to be against us, and since I doubt the Pope is going to retract his words, we cannot do anything to really reverse that. I would also not recommend assassinating the Pope at this time either, as that would only backfire.

I would suggest that he be influenced to retract or modify his statements, but at this point I do not think that would work either. The best we can do is work with this, and hope that the effects are more limited than we expect.