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{{Infobox government agency
| agency_name     = RELIC
| nativename      = Religious and Ecclesiastical Liberties Intelligence Center
| seal            = RELIC Symbol.png
| seal_width      = 150px
| seal_caption    = "Evil will slay the wicked; those who hate the righteous are condemned." ({{wp|Psalms}} 34:21)
| formed          = 1955
| headquarters    = [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]], [[Urcea]]
| employees       = Classified 
| budget          = Classified 
| chief1_name     = Sulpicio Lorcáin
| chief1_position = Director
| parent_agency   = [[Ministry_of_National_Security_(Urcea)#Department_for_Analysis|Department for Analysis]]
}}
The '''Religious and Ecclesiastical Liberties Intelligence Center''' ('''RELIC''') is a [[Urcea]]n {{wp|Intelligence assessment|intelligence gathering}} service that is a component of the [[Ministry_of_National_Security_(Urcea)#Office_for_Foreign_and_Domestic_Intelligence_Services|Office for Foreign and Domestic Intelligence Service]]'s  [[Ministry_of_National_Security_(Urcea)#Department_for_Analysis|Department for Analysis]]. RELIC is one of a number of specific region-or-topic based intelligence centers under the Department for Analysis. RELIC's specific mission is to identify threats to {{wp|religious liberty}} of the [[Catholic Church]] in general, minority Catholic groups, or individual prominent Catholics within its geographic mission area. Under its official mission, RELIC identifies such threats and identifies them either for local law enforcement, allied intelligence services, Urcea's own [[Ministry_of_National_Security_(Urcea)#Department_for_Operations|Department for Operations]], or in some specific instances to local non-state actors such as the [[Audonian Democratic Traditionalist Front]].

Beyond its official responsibilities, RELIC has been credibly described, though never acknowledged, as a clandestine {{wp|covert operations}} agency. Various intelligence agencies around the world, as well as domestic leaks of {{wp|classified documents}}, have described RELIC as the primary operator against targets it identifies. RELIC has been accused of {{wp|assassination}}s, {{wp|kidnapping}}s, providing direct operative support to pro-Catholic rebel organizations, operating {{wp|CIA black site|black sites}} in areas under which it operates among other types of covert actions. For these activities, RELIC has been criticized by the [[League of Nations]], many individual nations, and the [[Urcean Conference of Catholic Bishops]], though its alleged operations are continually denied by the [[Government of Urcea]].

==History==
RELIC was established in [[1955]] as part of a broadening of the Urcean intelligence services under the [[Ministry_of_National_Security_(Urcea)#Office_for_Foreign_and_Domestic_Intelligence_Services|Office for Foreign and Domestic Intelligence Service]] within the context of the [[Occidental Cold War]]. As such, for the first two decades of its existence, RELIC operated primarily with a focus in [[Sarpedon]] in support of Catholics resisting [[Caphiria]] and its [[Imperial Catholicism|state church]]. It is generally not known when RELIC transitioned from an intelligence gathering to covert operations organization, though [[Caphiria]]n documents declassified in [[2012]] suggest that RELIC was operating within the country as early as [[1962]].

[[Operation Kipling]] significantly broadened RELIC's mission. Threats to [[Occidental]] influence in [[Audonia]] necessitated the creation of a new RELIC component dedicated to protecting religious liberties there. In [[1976]] RELIC was divided into RELIC-WEST (comprising the [[Sarpedon]] area and based in [[Lariana]]) and RELIC-EAST (comprising the [[Audonia]] area and based in [[Antilles]]). RELIC-EAST was very active in the later stages of Operation Kipling, gathering intelligence from Audonian Catholics on communist insurgent activities and allegedly associating important insurgent leaders. 

The [[Assumption Accords]] and end of the [[Occidental Cold War]] shifted RELIC's priorities again. RELIC-WEST operations and personnel were scaled down significantly between [[1985]] and [[1995]], shifting most personnel and assets to RELIC-EAST. RELIC-WEST by [[1998]] existed largely on paper only. The inauguration of [[The Deluge]] with the [[War of the Northern Confederation]] sparked significant need for RELIC operations in northern [[Crona]], and as such in [[2011]] RELIC-WEST's headquarters in [[Lariana]] was closed and relocated to [[New Harren]]. RELIC-WEST became significantly involved with the Deluge in both official and unofficial capacities, most notably in providing material and organization for the establishment of the [[Unnuaq Mission State]] as part of [[Operation Mission Shield]]. RELIC-WEST was massively scaled up during the [[Final War of the Deluge]] as part of a de facto global intelligence effort against Varshan. Following Urcea's victory in that war, RELIC-WEST expanded again and relocated to [[Quetzenkel]]. RELIC-WEST had a very heavy presence in [[League-occupied Varshan]] and was relied upon by the government and occupation forces to help eliminate threats to the growing Catholic minority in the country. RELIC-WEST remains allegedly heavily present in [[Zy'ita]] and has been referred to in popular media as the "hammer of the Varshani Catholic ascendancy".

In [[2014]], RELIC created a {{wp|venture capital}} fund, RELIC-INVEST, to aid with acquisition of technology assets.

==Structure==
RELIC has four primary components, called CENTER, WEST, EAST, and INVEST. Of these, CENTER and INVEST are headquartered in or around [[Urceopolis (City)|Urceopolis]] and serve primarily administrative roles, while WEST and EAST are headquartered abroad and serve in operational capacities under the leadership of Resident Agents who answer nominally to the Director of RELIC. Beneath Resident Agents and their headquarters operations, a large and indeterminate number of regional "branch offices" and field teams operate within the operations areas.

Per leaked information, RELIC's alleged covert operations are decentralized; the Resident Agents in charge of RELIC-WEST and RELIC-EAST are given full autonomy to conduct operations, informing RELIC-CENTER after the fact. Some sources allege the Resident Agents are actually responsible directly to the [[Ministry of State (Urcea)|Minister of State]] or even the [[Procurator]], though this information is sometimes conflicted by other sources.
===RELIC-CENTER===
RELIC-CENTER is the administrative portion of RELIC which includes the Director's office, government liaison offices, as well as basic human resources and payroll divisions for all of RELIC. As a component of the Director's office, RELIC-CENTER also serves as the hub of all intelligence gathered by RELIC-WEST and RELIC-EAST, which it provides to foreign governments, other Urcean agencies, or law enforcement as the need presents.  RELIC-CENTER has offices in both the borough of [[Urceopolis_(City)#Crescent|Crescent]] as well as outside Urceopolis in [[Aguntum]].
===RELIC-WEST===
RELIC-WEST is responsible for intelligence and alleged covert operations in the north [[Crona]] area, defined as [[Varshan]] and all territories north of it. It is headquartered in Akwesasne, [[Quetzenkel]]. RELIC-WEST is known to generally operate within [[Varshan]] itself as of the late 2030s. Most of the sources and leaked documents about RELIC operations originate with RELIC-WEST, which is considered the more "open" of the two operational branches. RELIC-WEST is headquartered in [[Antilles]], an overseas possession of [[Burgundie]].
===RELIC-EAST===
RELIC-EAST is responsible for intelligence and alleged covert operations for the entire continent of [[Audonia]]. RELIC-EAST is the larger of the two operational components in terms of both funding and personnel.
===RELIC-INVEST===
RELIC maintains a {{wp|venture capital}} fund, established in [[2014]], which it uses to invest in technology startups. While the types of businesses invested in have never been disclosed, various leaks indicate that RELIC invests heavily in both surveillance software as well as anti-surveillance software, and many technology sector analysts have speculated that RELIC has access to {{wp|Backdoor (computing)|backdoor}}s in several major encryption services that have become widely used since the 2010s. RELIC-INVEST is based in [[Urceopolis_(City)#Kingswood|Kingswood]], Urceopolis's central business district.

==Activities==
RELIC in its official capacity is responsible for intelligence gathering, analysis, and dissemination for threats to [[Catholic Church|Catholic]] religious liberty in northern [[Crona]] and [[Audonia]]. In this function, it has a large number of informants, surveillance teams, and liaisons with other on-the-ground intelligence sources including government intelligence and law enforcement. Through this it identifies threats to Catholic religious liberty both in terms of state actors, private groups, and even specific individuals inside the operations area. RELIC's official public-facing response to this information is disseminating it to relevant actors who have legal authority to function. This happens most publicly and frequently in [[Varshan]], where neo-[[Arzalism|Arzalist]] threats to Catholic communities are referred to local law enforcement and arrested usually under charges of {{wp|terrorism}}.
===Alleged operations===
{{Template:Incomplete list}}
RELIC has been accused of a large number of extrajudicial killings, assassinations, and kidnappings.

RELIC is believed to have played a significant role in undermining the insurgents in the [[Pachoy Rebellion]], through both official (use of informants, spreading of disinformation) and unofficial (kidnapping or killing key leaders, sabotaging insurgent equipment) means.

===Alleged black sites===
RELIC allegedly operates {{wp|CIA black sites|black sites}} - unofficial prisons for detainment and interrogation - in three countries. RELIC-WEST is supposed to operate a facility in [[New Veltorina]], while RELIC-EAST is alleged to operate these facilities in both [[Bulkh]] and [[Mehristan]]. RELIC-EAST's facility in Bulkh was revealed accidentally as an unredacted reference in a declassified [[Burgundie|Burgoignesc]] intelligence file indicating joint interrogations between RELIC and Burgundie occuring at the site. More spurious and poorly sourced claims of black sites exist in at least four other countries. To date, the Urcean government has not acknowledged the existence or affiliation of any of these facilities, and the number of individuals detained at them is unknown.

==International response==
RELIC has been broadly condemned both for its official and unofficial operations. Objections to its official operations are loudest in both [[Daxia]] and [[Ardmore]], which characterize RELIC as a "Urcean interior ministry for other nations' sovereign territory" and as a {{Wp|spy organization}}. As such, in both countries, Urcean nationals are regularly targeted and searched to find connections to RELIC, real or imagined. Its unofficial activities have drawn more wide condemnation worldwide, including by the [[League of Nations]].
===Cooperation===
While RELIC's alleged activities have been highly condemned by some actors, leaked documents indicate a general widespread cooperation with RELIC by a variety of states. Most prominently, sources and documents have indicated a close working relationship between RELIC and [[Burgundie]]'s intelligence agencies due to an overlap of anti-Catholic, anti-[[Occidental]] organizations in Audonia. Due to the presence of alleged black sites in their countries, [[Bulkh]], [[Mehristan]], and [[New Veltorina]] are understood to have at least some cooperation with RELIC.
[[Category: Intelligence agencies]]
[[Category:IXWB]]
[[Category:Urcea]]