Yevon

Yevon
Leader:	Grand Maester Yo Mika	Role:	Religious Oppression of Technology
Average Alignment:	Forces of Ruin	Appable:	Yes
Group Members: Seymour Guado
Yevon is the major religion of Spira. It is based on the teachings of Yu Yevon, a summoner from the fallen city of Zanarkand. Yevon teaches its followers how to live a righteous life, the evils of machine, and the atonement from the summoning of the monster that still plagues them today: Sin. It centers around the worship of the fayth, a collection of spirits who sacrificed themselves to the teachings in hopes of bettering the world around them. One of the principle practices of Yevon is the Summoner's Pilgrimage. During this pilgrimage, a summoner will visit many fayth shrines around Spira in order to ultimately learn the 'Final Summon', where they will sacrifice themselves in order to defeat Sin for a time. It is seen as a great honor and summoners are seen as heroes to the people they meet. However, behind these good intentions, Yevon has a somewhat corrupt core which eludes detection by a base of fanatical followers. The organization of Yevon can be broken into two parts: the Church itself and the militant body. These two sections work in harmony in order to see that yevon continues to hold its place in Spira. The Church of Yevon has many sections of its hierarchy. At the top of the church sits the position of "Grand Measter", who oversees the laws of the followers of Yevon and of who to interoperate the teachings of Yu Yevon. Directly under him, are the three positions known as "Measter", who each represent the three great races of Spira. These four positions control the head of Yevon and in addition to various trusted high priests, know the secrets of the religion itself. Under them are various high priests who over see the various shrines around Spira. At the lowest rung of the ladder are the Summoners, selfless men and women who travel Spira in order to learn the power of the faith. The militant body of Yevon isn't so much a hierarchy but a multiarmed organization that reports to different sections of the Church. The Warrior Monks are perhaps the most decorated part of this organization, serving as the protectors of the Meisters and the temples themselves. They are the elite of the militant body and are seen as position of authority. The next section are the Crusaders who are the more militant arm of Yevon. They serve to protect the people themselves from Sin and those who would do harm against Yevon. While being a Crusader is a great honor, the perils of the assignment often lead to high fatality rates. Finally, the more informal part of the organization are the guardians, those who protect the summoners on their pilgrimage. While they have no actual position of authority within the militant body of Yevon, being a guardian is seen as a great honor to those who are chosen.

History

Those of Spira always followed the Fayth - Yu Yevon's Teachings. Those who did not were seen as outcasts or heretics - such as the Machina using Al Bhed. After Yuna and her group decided to defy the Maesters and the Summoner in question rejected Seymour - they too became to be known as such. Still, she and her group managed to finish most of her pilgrimage and soon traveled into the depths of Zanarkand after defeating Seymour and convincing the Ronso of their plight. However... something went wrong. Yuna and her group never came back out.

The religion still held strong when the Heartless came from a dark place deep within Sin itself, which began to surface with increasing regularity. Devastation began to rain down upon Spira. Of course, those in the upper reaches had no explanation for what was occurring, as these new 'creatures' coming from Sin could not be sent. This meant that the need for Warrior Monks, Guardians, and The Crusaders became far more urgent.

Their world slowly was being drawn into darkness. More and more Machina were pulled out to try and quell the storm, while summoners hasted themselves to try and do what Yuna had failed to do. But temples were being overrun by Heartless. And mysterious people in black robes began to stop them from completing their journey. Soon enough, even after the Al Bhed's and Yevon Church's attempts to stop Sin, the world did fall.

In this new world - Causation implying correlation, the Maesters defined that more heartless came when more Machina were brought out. Those of Yevon are even stronger in their belief now, that Machina are the root of all evil and were the cause of the Heartless and the more common Sin occurrences.

Their summoners now seek out if anything resembling the olden Temples is left, whilst the Maesters prepare for war against nations such as Shinra and the Gestahlian Empire - who employ Machina in such large number.