The Mech Touch

Ves did it. He won the support and commitment of the vast majority of the faiths that sent a representative to the virtual meeting.

History would change forever as a result.

Although the representatives of the Diocese of New Rome, the Brothers and Sisters of the Cross and so on wanted to maintain their dignity and request a delay in order to convey their inevitable acceptance away from any witnesses, Ves did not let them have their way.

"I am a busy mech designer. My time and energy are limited. This is why I cannot oblige all of your requests at once. My policy on this matter is 'first come, first serve'. The sooner you accept all of the terms of my proposal, the sooner I will address your individual needs. If you doubt my capabilities, then by all means take your time. If you want to get a head-start in the competition for faith, then I advise you to be decisive."

That quickly got the representatives going. When the representative of the Brothers and Sister of the Cross acted first out of all of the old faiths, the remaining ones did not intend to let one of their chief rivals gain any further advantages!

In the end, no one refused aside from the ones that did not need his services in the first place.

This included groups like the Gaia Coven and the Temple of Hexism that already had the blessing of spiritual entities and most obviously the Hunting Association.

Aside from that, every other faith could not resist the allure of being able to 'bring' at least one of their gods to the Red Ocean in advance.

If they did not take advantage of this opportunity, then that gave a lot of room for rival faiths to come and steal away their flock by showing obvious miracles and only godly manifestations!

Whether they acknowledged it or not, every religion had no choice but to play by the new rules set by Ves.

He managed to dominate each of them to such a degree that no one questioned his right to leadership anymore!

Even if the largest faiths stood to gain a huge amount of power after Ves had 'created an avatar for their god to inhabit', they could not get away from the fundamental truth that he was the one who made it all possible!

If they dared to turn their backs on Ves, then not only would they appear as ungrateful, but they would also tarnish much of their credibility and trustworthiness.

What concerned the leaders of these religious organizations even more was whether Ves planted any backdoors in his works.

Even if Ves had not done so, he still knew more about the supposedly localized avatars than any other human.

Churches such as the Seekers of the Promised Land may claim that their god was all-powerful and all-knowing, but if that held any truth in humanity's native galaxy, it obviously did not apply in the Red Ocean.

Now that they were all stuck in Messier 87's orbit, humanity as well as their gods were operating on enemy territory.

The very real threat of alien gods, whether tangible or intangible, exerted enough pressure on the religious leaders to hold up their noses and agree to Ves' onerous terms.

Short of enjoying the protection of a god pilot, it was better if their faiths all received the care and attention of entities similar to Gaia and the Superior Mother.

"My schedule is packed, but I will endeavor to fulfill the needs of the earliest batch before the start of the next session of the Interim Leadership Council." Ves adopted a friendlier tone this time. "I will likely need to borrow your help in order to establish my authority during this crucial session."

"Understood. We shall try to assist as long as our God permits."

"Good. From today onwards, we are all on the same side. As long as we do not commit a blunder, we can form a potent power bloc that is backed by a multitude of gods. I know that many of you are still very much hostile towards each other. I do not ask or expect you to forcibly end your grudges. Disagreements are a part of life. As long as you do not harm the coalition itself, we will not involve ourselves in your individual disputes. That said, I would appreciate it if you focused more of your energies on combating the aliens as opposed to your rival faiths. One of the challenges our new coalition has to conquer is to gain widespread acceptance from our society. We cannot do that if many of us keep fighting against each other for reasons that they consider petty."

It would have been very difficult in normal times for many of these groups to put down their animosity towards their long-time enemies. Too much blood had been spilled for them to reconcile with each other.

However, the leaders should all be rational enough to place less emphasis on their usual vendettas and present a more respectable image of their faiths to the rest of red humanity.

Ves did not expect for his orders to keep them in line forever. They just couldn't help themselves. He just wanted them to behave long enough for the Red Tide Offensive to run its course. It was far more important to deal with the common threat first.

Several representatives looked pleased when Ves told them that they would get their 'godly avatars' first.

Much would change once their god became a lot more tangible and responsive to their prayers than before! They would no longer have to remain so passive when they got oppressed by secularists seeking to stifle their faith.

"If everything goes right during the next council session, then our Coalition of Faiths should have gained a solid foothold in the existing power structure of human civilization." Ves continued to explain his plan. "We will form a united faction within the Red Collective to ensure that we will never be denied a voice at the highest level of human governance again. Your worshipers along with the gods they sustain through their faith will legitimize our coalition and justify our place within the Collective. Under my leadership, each of you will gain more room to develop your organizations and more freedom to spread your faith in every human settlement."

As he spoke more about his vision for the future, the representatives and the leaders who stood behind them all became captivated.

This was the first time that all of these people gained genuine hope that their faith would no longer endure oppression from many corners of society.

To be able to talk about and spread their beliefs freely without enduring constant opposition from the mechers and other opponents was a dream come true!

After Ves explained a few more goals and aspirations, he gave the representatives an opportunity to ask questions in order to gain further clarification.

The representative of an old faith as well as the largest polytheistic religions asked an important question.

"Our religious order encompasses as much as 330 million gods. How will you be able to bring all of our gods to this hostile location of the universe?"

"I won't." Ves simply replied. "Are you kidding? 330 million gods? I will die long before I can complete such a massive order by myself! Even if I can delegate or automate the process, I very much doubt that you possess enough information to identify and specify all of them! Just stick to the major ones. You don't need to bring over the whole gang to the Red Ocean. Just bring your best warrior deities first. In fact, I will only create a divine avatar for one of your gods before I go down the list. If you want to bring any other gods over, then I will add your group to the bottom of the list and I will eventually get to you again. Do you understand?"

"We understand, professor."

"By the way, I think it is not appropriate to call me professor while I am acting in the capacity of the leader of our new coalition. I should hold a different title that is rare but also distinguishable from my other positions. What do you think about appointing me as your Hierarch?"

Nobody held any strong objections to this proposed word. Perhaps they preferred to call Ves by a different title, but none of them could beat the original suggestion.

"Hierarch Ves Larkinson it is, then."

He deliberately imposed a fancy-sounding title on himself in order to increase his authority and strengthen people's impression that he was the undisputed leader of the Coalition of Faiths.

This would not only strengthen internal cohesion, but also present a stronger and more organization image of the coalition to outsiders!

"Any other questions?"

Another representative raised her hands. "Our gathering only encompasses a fraction of the full religious landscape of red humanity. Other faiths will seek to join our coalition and request 'divine avatars' from you as well. How will you treat these latecomers?"

Ves already thought about that. "Each of you are the founding members of the Coalition of Faiths. You can rest assured that you will benefit more than the others due to your greater contributions. Not only will you get your 'divine avatars' sooner than the latecomers, but you will also gain slightly greater voting rights irrespective of your membership numbers and other factors. Without your support, our coalition would have never been able to turn into reality. I will not forget what you have done to help us. You will always come first before the others, particularly the remaining faiths in the top 50."

That caused many representatives to smirk or look smug. There was nothing like a shared sense of luck and superiority to bind them all together. Ves knew that they would all consider themselves part of the most privileged group within the coalition and take advantage of that to look down on the latecomers.

"Once we all manage to bring our gods to the Red Ocean and strengthen our participation in society, what do you wish for us to do next?"

"I have two broad demands from you. Many of you are already doing this, but I desire for you to form sacred armies and send them out to the frontlines so that you can contribute to the survival of human civilization. Branding is important. Do not try to hide or obscure what your forces are fighting for. We need to show everyone that we are just as brave and selfless as the others struggling in the front."

"What else do you require from us, Hierarch?"

"I need you to reserve a large amount of professionals to join the Red Collective as soon as it comes into existence. It will require a lot of personnel to turn from an idea into a strong institution, and we cannot make that happen unless you volunteer or encourage large amounts of your own worshipers to staff its offices. I do not need to tell you how helpful it is to plant your own people all across the Red Collective. The more our people have become a part of its hierarchy, the more we can steer it to satisfy our own interests."

This was a golden opportunity for them to take over control of a future member of the Red Three!

Although it would be rather costly for them to reassign their best personnel from their own organizations and plant them into the Red Collective, the benefits should be substantial enough to make it worthwhile.

Infiltration was important because the Coalition of Faiths would never be able to exert enough influence over the Red Collective if the two were fully separate from each other.

If many of the members of the Red Collective turned out to be worshipers of different gods, then the chance that the new organization would turn against organized religion should be much lower!

This was important because Ves did not wish to lose the brand-new power base that he had worked hard to conquer!

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