A theory on the Apostasia
Hello COTW fandom! I am here to provide a rough theory about the Apostasia, including their history, the daimonas creation process, as well as how Apostasia are selected. All images included will be based on the weebcentral translation of the manga. If there are any discrepancies, please dm @runawaythoughts on discord.
Firstly, I believe it’s important to brief what we know about the Apostasia. Their name in Greek translates to “apostate”, which is a person who renounces a religious or political belief or principle. Orca and Lykos’ family are known descendants of the Apostasia bloodline. Their family heirlooms include Hammy, who is the rudder for Karcharias, along with a key to a Nous fountain room. I believe that the Apostasia were the ones in possession of Karcharias before it was taken by the Allied Empire.
Before crashing Karcharias into Geraki, Orca states that “the current rudder, the child of the Nous Karcharias, is controlled by the emperor. It won’t go against the emperor’s wishes. It will now be a showdown between the current rudder, Marmargyas, and Afti, whom you call Hammy.”
This tells us several things about the structure of Nous ships. Ships like Skylos with nous children like Olivinis as their primary rudders are under Skia’s control. Meanwhile, rudders like Kokalo and Afti are free from Skia’s influence. It is not a wild leap to assume that once Skia came into possession of a new Nous, he would take away their rudder and replace it with a Nous child.
Our most likely candidate for this Nous is Karcharias. Orca’s family has its rudder and key. However, in flashbacks, we see Apostasia worshipping Nous Lykos instead.
So how is this possible? Our introduction to Daimonas comes in chapter 18 during Orca’s trial. His claims that “after the Rain of Kathartirio, our country sought to seize supremacy and the power of the Nouses created a most powerful soldier. But they were too powerful. They gained the ability to destroy even that which they worshipped, the Nouses. So, in fear, our country sealed them off.” His wording implies that the Daimonas were an effort to create a kind of super soldier for the Allied Empire. We know the Allied Empire has done several experiments on Nous and soldiers from the Geraki attack. Tree-zombie-soldiers that cannot die and a ship that can infect other Nous like a disease are all very helpful in battle. Therefore, I believe the Apostasia originally started out as a group of people living on Karcharias. They desired to create a creature that could destroy Nous, something considered sacrilegious. In order to preserve their knowledge, they transmitted their experiments via dreams as seen in chapter 70 with Rasha and Taisha. After being taken over by the Allied Empire, Afti and the key to Karcharia’s fountain room became family heirlooms. Afterwards, Apostasia were allowed to persist for some time under the supervision of Skia or the Ekklesia in hopes of creating the ultimate soldier. Unbeknownst to them, the Apostasia were hoping to create a person that could kill Nouses. When the first Daimonas was successfully created using Nous Lykos, they were deemed heretics, and became heavily oppressed. Because of this, it’s incredibly likely that Daimonas and Apostasia are exonyms given to them by the Allied Empire. Dyo always identified herself as “ from a family that bears angels.” The word Apostasia is never even spoken in her dialogue.
Now, this is where I propose a theory about the creation of Daimonas. According to Aima in chapter 93, there are four conditions for the creation of a Daimonas: a key, the powerful sasa of the Mud Whale’s chief, Ouni, and the apostasia girl (Lykos.) I believe this isn’t entirely accurate information. Logically speaking, having another Daimonas present cannot be a requirement for the creation of a new Daimonas. There was no such thing for Miden’s creation. We also know for a fact that there have been Daimonas before Miden, so “sasa from the Mud Whale’s chief” is impossible, given the Mud Whale has only existed for ~102 years. It’s also impossible for a blood Apostasia to be a requirement, because Dyo had no children. It’s impossible for Taisha or Rasha to be her direct descendants. This either means that Apostasia are not a bloodline, or they are not a requirement for creating Daimonas. Personally, I am inclined to believe the former.
The only explicit Apostasia in the story, Dyos, expresses her commitment to her 7 sisters even though they are not blood related. Therefore “family” doesn’t necessarily mean blood relations.
Taisha, Rasha, and Lykos all aid in the creation of Daimonas during the main story. Notably, all three of these women share a connection with Dyos. We know for a fact that Apostasia were proficient in dream magic. This is how they were able to transmit Shuan’s experiment to Rasha across spacetime. During Shuan’s flashback, we see that Rasha and Taisha shared the same dream about Dyos. I believe Apostasia likely refers to spiritually powerful women that are “chosen” by a Nous or previous Apostasia. Rasha and Taisha were chosen by Dyos, while Lykos was chosen by Thanatas. In order to create a Daimonas, one must have access to a Nous’ fountain room where the psychi resides. This is why a key is required. The only other requirements are powerful sasa and an Apostasia. Traditionally the sasa should come from the Apostasia, but it can be substituted with someone else’s.
Addendum:
The word “Apostasia” and “Daimonas” are derogatory exonyms created by the Allied Empire
Apostasia originally began as a group of spiritually powerful people living on Karcharias that wanted to create a Daimonas
They were eventually taken over by the Allied Empire. Karcharias’ rudder Afti was replaced with the Nous child Marmarygias.
The Apostasia were allowed to persist under the Allied Empire under the condition they created a super soldier using Nous Lykos
One of their initial experiments failed. This experiment was sent to Rasha in a dream
They eventually succeeded in creating Daimonas
It was discovered that Daimonas can kill Nous. Afterwards, the Apostasia were branded heretics and went into hiding
Apostasia are not a bloodline, but rather a word for spiritually powerful women chosen by Nous or other members of the school of thought