Discussion Government Control of Sects

Hello everybody. I'm currently building a cultivator world and i ran into a problem. Why would a government(empire) allow cultivators or sects to exist?

In my world cultivators can't destroy stars or planets and the few strongest(3-5) may be like nuclear bombs? And the empire has hundreds of thousands of soilders to suppress them with technology but they'd(cultivators) still be considered a threat.

Looking at real life weren't buddhist temples and monesteries(shaolin monks) hated by the chinese government?

So why would they (empire) allow the existence of cultivators?

Some thoughts i had was that they were
a. Exiled from the country
b. Kept on a tight leash to fight other cultivators and magic beast. Demons etc.
c. They exist hidden in society

Which do you think is better, or share your own thoughts.

 

If there are cultivators in this world why aren't they the government? Why isn't everyone cultivating?
Are they discriminated against, and if so then does the whole world discriminate against them or just certain countries?

 

Ties through blood.

 

AT your choices: Just some questions for your world building
A) this would be bad on the empire in question as the exiled cultivator can just go to the enemy of the empire. There must be a reason for why the cultivator is exiled instead of executed
B) How would they leash the cultivators? The methods could be having some tool that destroys cultivation should the cultivator rebel, an object or technique the neutralizes cultivation to allow ordinary people to kill or capture the rebel, or somethings like this
C) The secret would have gotten out sooner or later so how would the cultivators hide this and what is the punishment for those who reveal it to ordinary people. Mind wiping is usually the go to method in some stories like men in black and harry potter

 

Power of Sex.


Never underestimate it.

 

maybe it's a shadow world kind of thing, because resources are so few the knowledge doesn't get spread that much. tbh, in a world like that it seems like the cultivators would control things from behind the scenes, especially if they live longer due to cultivation, they would have the ability to outlast normie politicians and would eventually learn to manipulate the governments around them.

 

The sect is too weak and can be taken care of at "anytime".
The sect is weaker then the government but can't be destroyed without major cost to them.
Family "ties"
Probably a lot of other stuff but I dunno off hand.

 

The answer to your question is simply power. If the government had enough power over the sects than they would either control them or limit them. By limit them I mean that an independent sect highest cultivation method could only be, lets say, soul transformation stage. If a sect possessed any cultivation technique higher than this, or a cultivator above this stage, than that would be illegal.

But back to the main point power would be the dynamic in this situation. If the government had to power to restrict the sects without a great cost than they most likely would. The without great cost is important in this situation as well. If one cultivator was strong enough to destroy a city and was capable of sneaking into a city; would it be worth it to declare him/her an enemy of the state? How many cities would fall before the government can achieve victory? Is victory achievable? Would destroying all the sects be worth the risk of losing so much?

The Buddhist temples and monks are not truly comparable to this scenario because of the power difference between the opposing factions. We can all believe if we want that they were mystical in a way but there is a difference between believed power and real power.

 

The government should just use the carrot and stick method!

 

I answered other because I think the government using the sects' for their dirty work is quite a nice twist.

 

Imperial God Emperor has some interesting country/sect interactions. The Sects think they are above the 'mundane' world, country kinda turns a blind eye to the sects' shenanigans as they need them (atleast that's how it seemed when I stopped reading it.)

Gourmet of Another World also has interesting country/sect interactions. Country kicked out the sects, but always allowed individuals of the sects in their border, and well, there was a sect that was backing a prince in order to gain a foothold in said country.

 

From what you've written, most likely (c).

You can look at Campione for a similar theme. Rental Magica has roughly similar world setup. Ditto for Cultivation Chat Group. You can also look at the Illuminati-styled conspiracy theories.

Basically, to the normal world, magic and cultivation don't exist. The closest things are stage magic/sleight of hand and taichi/qigong/yoga. Any evidence otherwise will be quickly swept under the carpet.

Real magicians and cultivators basically live on the Under-side. The strongest ones may lead organisations, or there may be people who voluntarily create organisations to serve them. These organisations will have infiltrated or have influence over important or useful government departments. At the very least, they'll have methods to put certain ideas into the minds of movers and shakers in the Surface world.

 

My answer is other. How a government would feal with cultivator depends on more details than you put in your post.

1- how strong are the cultivator relative with government troops? The biger the difference less the government would interfer or more if the troops are stronger.

2- how common is cultivation and how easy it is on the earlier stages. This affects how cultivation is perceived by a average person. As a deity or as a ordinary.

3- cultivation already exist for a long time or it is recent development. Here you can think of X-Men and how the mutants are treated and why. Just exchange mutants for cultivator.

4- cultivation is hidden or not. If it is hidden why.

5- cultivator are part of the military and government.

Probably there are some more topics that you can think about. These one are only a beginning. Good luck.

 

At birth you either have mortal roots or spiritual roots. Only those with spiritual roots can cultivate and there are say, maybe 1 in 10000.
So compared to the military the number of cultivators is low. The attitude towards tgem would depend on where on the continent you were. Some countries have then killed on site and in others sects are the government

 

I think it's like nuclear weapons, they exist because they can be done and even though people think they are dangerous and unnecessary, the government won't stop keeping them for fear of the other countries that have the capability to do the same.

There are 4 ways it can be done.
- All the cultivators are in an other world near earth or a place in earth far way from civilization
- All the countries are secretly control by sects and/or cultivators
- There are sects and family clans of cultivators but they don't usually go out in the open and the most powerful cultivators work for the government
- Everyone knows about cultivators and everyone is governed by the countries and/or sects

You can decide everything according to what you want in your story

 

This is how I would believe what would occur in such a world.
The leaders of the government and the RIGHTEOUS sets would come together and make agreements/treaties on a number of issues.

Some of the main issues would be identification, mutual benefits, and a common enemy.
Identification would be that cultivators can't enter government cities secretly. They would have to identify themselves upon arrival and follow local laws.

Mutual benefits: For the cultivators it would be being able to recruit from the government cities. With cultivator's supposedly having bad birth rates they would need a source for new recruits.
For the government it would be ways to extended life, cure diseases, and other medical pills *wink wink* . . . Talking about hair lose you pervs.

Best way to make a friend is to have a common enemy. Devil cultivators would be the enemy of both the gov and righteous sects. Who knows how many people they will sacrifice for their techniques or how many gov. officials they have bewitched. Best way to fight a cultivator would not be with thousands upon thousands of troops, hit and run tactics would destroy human armies, but to have another cultivator fight him.

 

How is the government setup?

If there is a Imperial Family, they can be the number one cultivation family and have the power to suppress the other clans and groups.

Cultivators could be a private military force that hire themselves out, like the mercenary companies of medieval and renaissance period.

Cultivators cluld be a pharmaceutical company and sell the medical services.

 

A. You got a point there. Need to think about it.
B. The empire has guns and you should think of cultivators as powered down from xianxia closer to wuxia (martial arts, able to fly and use magic but no killing armies or worlds)
C. Everyone knows they exist. Cultivators just hide their powers or away from authority.

 

I would probably rethink your entire scenario because governments/empires with unnecessary amounts of power are dumb and overused.

 

Turn in to two types as traditional and scientific. As for the hidden make a one big hidden organisation (on the level of gathering of same benefits and not big as the gov) and a maybe small family or just ordinary family type not like those on the clan level.