Spreading it to them did not seem to be a problem for the god of the sky. Clerics and paladins were able to channel the divine powers of their deity at their discretion. We were a very small group. With only 18 NPCs, the god of the sky could not afford to be too picky. To be a paladin you needed to be at least level 10. The PEP units were static NPCs at level 15. If they wanted to become paladins or clerics it was almost guaranteed. This allowed them to use holy magic. Unfortunately, they were all still considered constructs. Healing magic did not work on them. Whether a human or they themselves casted it, the spell would automatically fail. That did not mean that the other spells did not work for them. They could do any other spell available to their class. Depending on the one initiating them, they actually were not allowed to choose to become paladins or clerics. The acceptance of some members of the clergy only went so far. If they were given a new class, we helped spread them around. Grander cathedrals had dozens of cleric running around. We were not at that point here yet.
Moving them around allowed us to also help spread the allure. This was a cyberpunk setting. No one cared whether or not the gods had made you. Especially not when some people were more machine than man from all the parts and upgrades you could take. Nothing about the human body was considered sacred anymore. The major ideology of the world here was transhumanism. As long as your brainstem could handle it, you could take on dozens of surgeries to give you abilities way beyond what is capable of an average human. There was no need for a god. In fact, being religious and/or pure of modifications was seen as weird. There was something that this world could not ignore though. That was magic. You could chemically alter your brain to make you feel anything. You could use those surgeries to do whatever you pleased as long as you had the cash for it. No one could call pillars of fire or bolts of light down from the sky with a flick of the wrist like I could. It was something that a lot of people would like to take advantage of. Anyone could appreciate and see the power of god.
Gaining this new and amazing power for themselves was sought by many. Adult or child. Man or woman. Strong or weak. Rich or poor. It made no difference to us. We all took them in. Why should it? In Ether, all of the major religions were open to all that sought it. The only restriction was that they all found apostacy a crime punishable by death. Once you dedicated yourself or your children, you were to serve your patron for life. It would not do well here. People had guns and super human abilities. It would be extremely hard for our small sect, already on the verge of bifurcating, to enforce this law. Those that were robophobic were probably only one more problem in their churches away from declaring themselves a separate entity. That was fine with Paul, Brett and I. A little competition never hurt anyone. Still those that came in were all given the same initiation as the cyborgs. If they made it in the faith, they were then new members. If they wanted to be clerics or monks, that was up to the god of the sky. We did not want evil people taking it to do crime. We made them swear a vow.
A religious vow of stability forced them to stay and serve at the church or cathedral they were ordained. This way, they would not be able to leave and spread chaos. All of the power they would have gained would leave them if the ordained tried to flee from their vows. Clerics and paladins derived their magic from the divine power of their deity after all. Why would the god of the sky bother with those that ran away from him and their mission? It made everything more secure. Now, it was up to them to keep the faith alive and grow it in the eastern quadrant. Hopefully we would take root and find a way to communicate back with the people in Ether. These 9 months were filled with purpose and it was nice to see. All of the cyborg members of our clan took the initiation and became members of the church. The only exceptions were all the PEA units that were on their bodyguard assignment. They would be back soon. I would welcome them back with open arms and get them to become paladins. I could do that due to my high rank in their mission. No one there would question me when I did it.
