Editing Illumian (section)

===Ascension===
Among the more mysterious types of cabals, ascension cabals exist to help one or more of their members achieve godhood. After Tarmuid created the Ritual of Words Made Flesh, he spent the rest of his mortal life trying to find a way for the Illumian language to express a divine state. He succeeded on his deathbed, and Tarmuid’s final utterance has inspired other illumians to attempt the same feat. So far only a handful of illumians have successfully made final utterances. Despite the low success rate, dozens of cabals across the multiverse feverishly conduct magical research in hopes of making a chosen illumian ready to attempt a final utterance and take the mantle of godhood. Some ascension cabals are little more than cults of personality led by the most powerful illumian in residence. Others have made significant progress in unlocking the secrets of immortality and divine power. Ascension cabals are often named after the illumian who seeks godhood with the cabal’s help. Notable ascension cabals include Chelshae, Sons of Galadan, Zhukasti, Finalsteps, and Valak Ascendant.

'''Typical Directorates:''' Ascension cabals maintain the usual array of directorates, named in honor of the illumian deity-to-be. For example, the Sons of Galadan cabal refers to its intelligence directorate as The Eyes of Galadan, the defense directorate as the Fists of Galadan, and the resource directorate as the Bounty of Galadan. The personal retinue and servants of the would-be deity form a directorate unto themselves, and research-related directorates are as large as the cabal can manage.

'''Plots:''' Ascension cabals keep an eye on their neighbors — the better to protect the ascending illumian — but the majority of their plots involve tracking down lore about the final utterance and the ascension process. This means garnering lore from rival illumian cabals, whether ascension cabals or otherwise. A rival ascension cabal might possess previously unknown aspects of the final utterance, and cabals of different types might have clues to ascension in their histories and arcane tomes. Because cabals closely guard their knowledge, ascension cabals don’t hesitate to resort to trickery, theft, or violence to acquire the information they seek. Intracabal plotting is likewise fierce among ascension cabals. Mid- to high-level members of a cabal constantly jockey for position, try to curry favor with the deity-to-be, or even supplant the ascendant one’s place on the path to divinity.

'''Enemies and Allies:''' More ascension cabals collapse from within than are destroyed from without. Either the infighting over the illumian chosen for ascendancy tears the cabal apart, or the cabal disperses after a candidate for godhood fails to make a proper final utterance. More rarely, an ascension cabal falls to an outside force such as another ascension cabal, a stronger cabal angered by too-aggressive lore seeking, or some magical or monstrous force the cabal unwittingly unleashed. Ascension cabals have few external enemies, and likewise few allies. Ascension can bring little to an alliance other than a promise of a god’s favor when ascension occurs, and that’s a promise that few nonillumians take seriously. Particularly charismatic illumians in charge of an ascension cabal can sometimes found their own mystery cults and attract nonillumian worshipers.

'''Enclaves:''' The enclaves of ascension cabals look like temples or churches. They include sanctuaries, altars, and areas set aside for various ceremonies to honor the deity-in-waiting. The living quarters of the ascendant one are generally lavish, if for no other reason than the various directorates’ competition to please the future deity. Compared to other kinds of cabals, ascension cabals defend their enclaves lightly. They tend to possess less magic, lore, and riches than other cabals because they’re so focused on achieving ascension. An ascension cabal enclave is relatively easy to find, but the outside world regards it as just another cult out in the wilderness.