Phobophobia

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Mortal beings are complex things; the best way for an alien to understand one is to view them through mortal eyes. What emotions make up the human experience are as unique as they are dangerous.

Pleasure. Passion. Fear. These things make up the genetic makeup of every creature. They mould our understanding of the universe around us into mutable shapes, granting us eyes to places previously misunderstood. You only understand anger because you have experienced anger before. You can empathize with a mother's loss of a child because you've experienced that loss, or at least some vague approximation of it. The death of a loved one. A beloved pet. 

The feeling doesn't have to be exact. It can be close or entirely off the mark. You wouldn't consider the loss of a pet even close to that of a child, but you can draw some conclusions. Both are a kind of grief. Both are debilitating, and yet one is far worse than the other.

Something that is not human could draw that conclusion. It may not understand, but it could try.

Fear in Faith

In Bromeilles, belief is power. Rumours carry genuine danger in their delivery. Wive's tales are more than just stories; their creation can actively spurn violence in the community. This was true long before the trappings of civilization and has only worsened in the wake of The Storm. 

Mankind has always feared its own thoughts. As necessities are met, tensions rise, and more esoteric concerns enter the fray. Once a home has been built, and physiological needs are met, what of improvement? What of one's social standing, achievements, and doubts? The hierarchy of needs states plainly that there is more to fullness than survival. 

This does not have to be a good thing. More requirements are simply more problems to fix. And in a world with so many issues, what harm could one more supplant?

Maslow had a pretty good framework.

La Republique has always known of The Mirages. It was founded with the things in mind; shaded beasts just beyond the vale. Creatures made from nightmares and whispers. Phenomena of the unknowable. When the republic's amendments were finally written, prefaced by a brief struggle for power, handling these mirages became a point of utmost importance. 

Hunting down mirages is a simple task. It is even easier to identify the things, which dwell where children speak to shadows and hunters say of tigers. Resistance arrives when one remembers that, while it is easy to tell someone to avoid a place or stop a slipshod habit, it is far more challenging to order an entire country to stop thinking.

Mirages spawn from mortal misunderstanding. A peasant girl who fears monsters in the woodlands may create one on accident. A child who sacrifices bones to the "well-thing" is curious, yes, but could just as likely conjure something to consume those bones. Once a Mirage has been fed its due diligence, it breaks free from its fear-ridden chains, granting it a sort of freedom it should never be allowed. These are the monsters which devour towns. These are the beasts who take children away.

Not all mirages are malevolent, nor alive. Some have brought good to the people of Bromeilles. Others are active in its continued subsistence. This does not make them any less undesirable.

Faith in Fear

There was no great fanfare when The Authority came to Seraphine, no blowing trumpets or grand parade. It came to the first king in a gust of wind, shapeless yet with booming voice, and ordered its will as it would be. The angels came later, strapped in jointless wings and molten chariots, but it was he who etched the first words on parchment.

The many manuscripts of the angels, conjoined with both the first king's writings and the complete work of The Manual, bring a somewhat complicated canon to the church. What all three of the works agree on, however, is their stance on mortality:

"Mortals are in a state of constant, perpetual suffering. This suffering is their fault, but it is not something they can control. We cannot simply remove this misery from them. Therefore, we shall work with what we have. They will be tormented as a result. We do not blame them, but it must be done."

This uncomfortable truth has led to several revelations in the world, most notably the existence of Devils. The official canon states that devils have always existed in the material plane, influencing mortal lives and inflicting pain upon them. It is their vulnerability to suffering which grants these devils such power. Devils are considered vile, despicable creatures. They are also considered a necessity.

According to church canon, Devils are the natural consequence of mortal will. Their freedom to both emote and inflict harm on one another is a sheer indicator of maliciousness, which these same creatures accept like parasites. By consequence of existing, the people of Seraphine have created vessels containing their worst parts. Beings which hate more than any living thing. Things which hunger to consume more than the world could possibly provide.

This is as expected, and therefore it is right. Angels give no hesitation in slaying the beasts, but it is known by all that they are under no false pretenses; they will continue to exist so long as man does.