The Church of God

History

The Church of God was a religion founded by the Cosmid corporation as part of a mind control experiment on the planet Midori.  Either despite, or because of this, it ended up as one of the founding institutions of the Holy Empire of Man, and conquered much of the galaxy.  The Church of God combined elements from Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.

After its founding, the Church added much support to the independence movement on Midori, and from there spread like wildfire among the frontier worlds on the galaxy's eastern limb.  This rapid spread was helped along greatly by a strong force of idealistic missionaries, led in large part by Saint Valgar, who set the standard for making conversions and crushing heresies.

A major turning point occurred when one faction of the Church encountered an ambitious young general from the Planetary League, one Potus Clarke, who was a rising star in the military, and quickly became one in the church as well. 

When the Planetary League made contact with the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns, Clarke took a dominant leadership position in pushing the Church's agenda in public.  Behind closed doors, Clarke's influence grew rapidly as well, as he was able to raise funds and support from his business and military contacts.  Then, on the Church's highest holy day, the Feast of the Patriarchs, the three heads of the Church (the Ayatollah-maximus, the Supreme Rabbi, and the Uber-Pope) crowned Clarke as Emperor of all Mankind. (A claim that would be asserted through countless years of bloody warfare, known as the Great Reckoning).

Later, at the close of the War of the Empires, Clarke would be elevated to godhood, (officially being declared to be the Manifestation of God in the Galaxy). 

The orthodox (imperial) branch of the Church would not survive the War of Galactic Unification in any recognizable form, although a few obscure sects did remain.

Cosmology

The Church of God believes in a hierarchical universe, generally consisting of nine levels.

1. God (later including the Emperor)

2. The four Patriarchs (the Emperor became the fifth Patriarch after the Great Reckoning)

3. The Angels and the Saints

4. The Church of God

5. *Man* (an idealized vision of the human race)

6. Any mortal being considered to be "the Other" (heretics, aliens, cyborgs, etc., basically any real being)

7. Demons and Apostates

8. The "Lords of Hell" (the most powerful Daemons, demigods and other supernatural beings)

9. The Devil (a single entity embodying evil, its self)

 

Church Hierarchy

The Imperial version of the Church of God operated under a top-heavy, and cumbersome hierarchy led by the Emperor, himself.  Directly under the Emperor were the three original heads of the Church. 

The Ayatollah-Maximus was in charge of the Church's military operations, and acted as the Commander in Chief of the Empire's armed forces.  One of the most feared elements of this Imperial war machine was the Purification Fleet.

The Supreme Rabbi headed the Church's economic systems, and acted as the leader of the Empire's command economy.  The Imperial Commerce Guild was the main agency to enforce the Supreme Rabbi's will.

The Uber-Pope was the leader of the cultural/religious operations of the Church, and oversaw the spiritual lives and inner thoughts of all imperial subjects.  The Uber-Pope's enforcement arm was known as the Hamsa.

Each of these leaders commanded an extensive bureaucracy of priests, monks, nuns, deacons, imams, rabbis, and other officials who controlled the lives and thoughts of everyone in the Church.  The rules were strict, and the punishments for breaking them were horrific.  Discipline was imperative.

Holidays

The Church observed five major holidays each year.  One feast day was set aside for each of the original four patriarchs (Abraham, Moses, Jesus, and Muhammad), plus the most important holiday, the Feast of the Patriarchs, which celebrated all of them together.  After the Emperor became an official patriarch, the Feast of the Patriarchs was renamed "The Feast of the Emperor".  There were also a slew of minor feasts and festivals observed throughout the year, many celebrating some Saint or commemorating a historical event.  Many local branches of the Church had their own local holidays as well.

Emblem

The emblem of the Church of God is a set of concentric circles.  The innermost white circle represents God, ringed by a black space representing the space between the divine and the mortal realm.  The middle white circle represents the Church, surrounded by a black space representing "the world".  The outermost white circle represents "creation", or the universe.

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The Hamsa

A Hamsa judge presiding over a courtroom.

History

The Hamsa is the religious police force of the Holy Empire of Man.  Hamsa is the name of an ancient occult symbol said to ward off the evil eye.  The Hamsa symbol is the symbol of the Hamsa organization.

Founded after the end of the Great Reckoning, the Hamsa served the Church of God, and the Empire by rooting out blasphemers and apostates, torturing those who adhered to non-orthodox beliefs, and generally making life miserable for anyone who didn't support the Emperor fanatically enough.

The Hamsa was active throughout Era-2, and was destroyed in the War of Galactic Unification.

Functions

The Hamsa are primarily responsible for enforcing religious law. They are also responsible for compiling and maintaining the text of the Ranks of Man, the essential guide to imperial hierarchy.

The Planetary League

Cultural Outline

Architecture

Many different styles of architecture can be found in the Planetary League, as it is a richly multicultural society.  Many buildings do incorporate some form of renewable energy generation, as a clean environment is one of the unifying values of the League.  Official buildings tend to have clean lines and rounded corners, with neutral colors and large windows.

Art and Literature

Being an open and multicultural society, the Planetary League supports a wide variety of different art styles.  Atemporality has taken hold in a big way, and various subcultures take on the styles of different historical periods.  Public works of art emphasize the values of humanism and community.  

The Blessed

As biotechnology advanced, people started using it to augment themselves.  At first illegal, the use of DNA manipulation on developing human embryos gradually became widespread within the core worlds of the Planetary League.  Over time a set of standard augmentations developed so that all those who could afford it started life with certain advantages over normal humans.  Those who were augmented in this way became known as "The Blessed", and those who were not were known as "Norms", or by other, more derogatory terms.  The Blessed did not suffer from genetic diseases, had lean, efficient bodies, perfect eyesight, and a number of other small advantages that made their lives better.

Calendar

The Galactic Standard Calendar (GSC) starts with year 0 denoting the signing of the Treaty of Kepler, which officially founded the Planetary League.  The calendar has 365 days per year, but no months, as most planets do not have a single, large moon, like Earth. Every fourth year, a holiday is added to the beginning of the year.

 The day is called "The Olympiad", and is a celebration of the collective achievements of humanity (before first contact, later it became a celebration of the achievements of the Planetary League).

 Dates are represented in the format YEAR.DAY  for example 153.204 is the 204th day of the year 153. The first day of the year is day 1, except in years with an Olympiad, where the Olympiad is day 0. 

Clothing and Fashion

Civilians wear all different modes of clothing.  Fashion is ever-changing, and different cultural groups have their own ideas of what is fashionable.  Wearable technology has come into its own, and most garments generally incorporate some complex functionality beyond being clothing.  Government officials (for example the crews of star-ships) wear simple, utilitarian jumpsuits color-coded by job.

Core and frontier worlds

The Planetary League, throughout its history could be divided between the core worlds, and the frontier.  The core was wealthy and high-tech, while the frontier was wild and untamed.  Core-world residents lived longer, had access to the latest advances in technology, and generally lived in luxury.  Meanwhile, those on the frontier may have had more exciting lives, they were certainly shorter, and less pleasant.  This division amounted to a low-level conflict that never reached a full boil, but was constantly simmering throughout Era-1.  This conflict was one of many factors that led to the fall of the Planetary League in the Great Reckoning.

Currency

The currency of the Planetary League is the Dollar, which breaks down into 10 smaller units, known as Credits.  Most banking is electronic, but physical currency is used as well.  There are 1, and 5 -Credit coins, as well as 1, 5, and 10- Dollar coins.  Bills are worth 1, 5, 10, 50, and 100 Dollars.

Galaxy Net

Galaxy net was the largest computer network in the galaxy during Era-1, mainly growing along side the Planetary League, but also connecting to various other states and non-state regions near the Planetary League.

Language

A wide array of languages are used in the Planetary League.  English is the most popular, and is used in most official government communications and documents.

  Some of the major languages tend to take on roles relative to different contexts:  English is commonly used in government and commerce.  Japanese is often used in popular culture, and as a "courtesy language".  Spanish is often used in sports and entertainment.  German and Russian are frequently employed in engineering contexts.  French and Italian are often used in the context of art and style.  Various alien languages proliferate as well.  New languages also emerge over time.  Luckily, computer translation software continues to advance as well.

Religion

The Planetary League is officially secular, but its citizens have a large number of different religions and philosophies.  Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism  continue their popularity, and are collectively known as "the old traditions". Belief systems from alien planets start to enter the mix as well, and various new religions and philosophies spring up as time goes by. Overall, though, religion is generally considered to be a private matter, and doesn’t enter much into public discourse. Publicly, most citizens of the Planetary League tend not to discuss religious belief.

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The Planetary League

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History

The Planetary League was the successor organization to the United Nations, founded in the year 2***, by the Treaty of Kepler.  The founding members of the Planetary League were Earth, Mars Venus and the Moon.  The Planetary League was a democratic body representing most of the inhabitants of human-dominated space, including hundreds of alien species encountered during the diaspora.  Even some of the more complex robots were allowed a limited form of citizenship.

In its earliest form, the Planetary League was a loose federation of nearly independent colonies.  This was a technical necessity because the vast distances between planets and star systems took a prohibitively long time to traverse or even to communicate across.  This changed in GSC 135 when scientists in the Planetary League unlocked the secret of spatial compression technology.   After that point, a stronger central government was formed, and each of the original colonies held a referendum on the new government.  Most opted to remain in the Planetary League, but there were also many that left.

The Planetary League quickly became the most technically advanced nation in the galaxy, and its citizens enjoyed one of the highest standards of living.  The Planetary League was an inherently open society dedicated to exploring the universe, learning its secrets, and peacefully co-existing with the other life forms it encountered.

After the government was fully formed, the Planetary League was governed by a President, a unicameral Senate consisting of delegations of three representatives plus some additional number based on population from each member planet, and a supreme court which consisted of fifteen judges, five of whom were randomly selected to hear each case.

Throughout Era-1, the Planetary League encountered various life-forms and cultures, including the states that broke away from the Empire of 1,000,000 Suns.  The Planetary League started out with a policy of leaving planets with intelligent life alone to develop on their own.  This was known as the non-interference doctrine.  During the First Convergence War, the Alien Assistance Act was passed, allowing the League to help aliens in need, and creating the Alien Assistance Agency.  Many of these planets peacefully joined the Planetary League, while many others remained independent.  Wars were rare, and tended to be small in scale.

The Planetary League started as a very idealistic, forward-looking institution, but as time went by, it gradually compromised its original principles.  As Era-1 reached its midpoint, the Planetary League started to become corrupt.  Monied interests and lobbying groups slowly amassed power behind the scenes, and public officials gradually gave in to  temptation and bribery.  By the end of Era-1, the Planetary League was barely recognizable as the institution that it started out as.

When the Planetary League finally made contact with the E1MS in GSC 938, it was partially this corruption, (in addition to the perceived menace of an enormous alien empire), that the people reacted against when the Holy Empire of Man rose up in the Great Reckoning.  That war was fairly brief, since long years of peace had left the Planetary League unprepared to face a well-armed enemy intent on its destruction.

The broken remnants of the Planetary League fled to the outer rim of the galaxy, where they formed the original basis of the Galactic Republic.

Planetary League Organizations

The Department of Artificial Justice (DAJ) was a law-enforcement agency centered on the crimes of robots and AI.

The Planetary League Alien Assistance Agency (PLAAA) is the Planetary League’s outreach arm to alien civilizations, especially those undergoing any kind of humanitarian crisis.

The Planetary League Astrophysical Survey (PLAS) is the organization responsible for scouting and exploration of unknown regions and worlds.

The Planetary League Interstellar Navy (PLIN) is the Planetary League’s main military force.

The Tardigrades are dedicated to search and rescue, as well as disaster recovery.

Cultural Outline

Edenites

based on an original concept by Fred Graves

Description

The Edenite movement is primarily a cross-pollination of two subcultures, the hippies and the furries.  Edenites pursue a nature-centric philosophy, and use the latest in bio-enhancement and body-modification technology to give themselves animal-like appearances and characteristics.  Wherever they go, Edenites promote biodiversity, and their unique brand of culture.  

Religion among Edenites typically includes a large proportion of new-age and pagan beliefs pulling from a diverse array of sources. 

Edenites are often associated with vice, as they maintain both liberal sexual mores (derived from both hippie and furry sources), and an active drug culture centering on marijuana(mainly from the hippy side).

An important institution of Edenite culture is the body modification parlor, (often known as Moreau Clinics), where the human form is sculpted into more animal-like configurations.  The most popular of these are the widespread chain known as 神の毛　(a Japanese pun that translates as "Divine Fur").

The Children of the Earth are a radical faction of Edenites, who seek to de-evolve themselves into more “natural”, animal-like beings by splicing animal genes into their DNA.  Many do not survive the process, or suffer from horrific side-effects.  Since the alterations are genetic, mutations accumulate as generations pass, causing unpredictable results.

History

In the closing years of Era-0, as the planet Earth grew more crowded and polluted, a ferment of philosophies and subcultures coalesced around the notion of preserving biodiversity, while celebrating the more natural, animal aspects of human nature.  Many within the movement wanted to remain on, and maintain the Earth, but a large contingent decided that the best thing to maintain biodiversity and healthy ecosystems in the future was to build an ark to house various species.  The huge space habitat, known as New Eden was the result of these efforts, and it became the focal point for the Edenite movement.

New Eden never joined the Planetary League, but remained as an independent entity.  The Edenites never founded an official state, but did set up communes alongside other colonies, especially on planets with pre-existing biospheres. Edenite communes were places where local nature was preserved, alongside various imported species.  Edenites were careful not to let their imported organisms become invasive, though on a few occasions Edenite communes ended up accidentally transforming native biospheres.  Edenite communes also occasionally took on the form of space habitats, where hybrid ecosystems consisting of complimentary organisms from different planets lived together.

Notable Edenite colonies included Silvernote Hollow on New Promise.

Throughout Era-1, Edenites continually came into conflict with the corporate state of Cosmid, a company centered around the idea of owning, controlling, and profiting from the processes of life.

During the Great Reckoning, New Eden was destroyed by the Holy Empire of Man.  While many Edenites and Edenite communes resisted the Empire, many more fled to the outer rim of the galaxy where they joined with the nascent Galactic Republic.

Ares Systems

History

Founded early in Era-1 on Mars, Ares Systems, Inc.  provided a great deal of the practical machinery needed for space colonization.  From star-ships to battleoids,  Ares Systems made the basic hardware of day-do-day life in the galaxy.  

After the founding of the Autonomous Republic of Lindbergh, Ares Systems moved its headquarters there to avoid taxes.  Another benefit of the move was an early alliance with Krieg Enterprises, the largest mining operation in the main belt, which allowed Ares to save costs.

Later, Ares set up offices on Gibson, after it was found to have rich deposits of both antimatter crystals, and grivitonium.  As time went on, and Ares grew more prosperous, it started several space colonies as manufacturing centers, mostly in mineral-rich systems.  This was the first step to forming a moderately-sized corporate state that would encompass several star-systems.

The drive to colonize space led to booming business, and Ares expanded rapidly.  Its products were known for sound engineering, reliability, and quality construction.

During Era-2, Ares Systems remained independent, but in an uneasy peace with the Holy Empire of Man.  Many of the rebels, insurgents, and freedom fighters of the time used Ares Systems equipment.  This state of affairs lasted until shortly after the War of the Empires, when the Empire conquered the Ares corporate state outright, and incorporated it into the Imperial war machine.

Products

Ares Systems made a wide array of durable, reliable products.

The 810-P Power-Utility Robot provided mobile power when the grid isn't available. 

The A-550 Thunderhawk was a powerful attack craft used by the Planetary League.

The Aurora class light transport was a mainstay of the Planetary League.  Notably, the Colonial Authority and the Tardigrades used it for establishing outposts.  It was also popular among civilians.

The John-Henry industrial battleoid was used for heavy-construction, and occasional military missions.

The PK-5 Cargo Robot carried heavy loads over rough terrain.

The Series 80,000 Grabber truck was used extensively in mining and construction.

The Stormrunner was larger and more capable than the Aurora, and a favorite of pirates.

The Purification Fleet

First commissioned during the Great Reckoning, the Purification Fleet is the Holy Empire of Man's ultimate weapon against rebellion and treachery.  Its special role is to devastate entire planets.  The fleet's first mission was to cleanse the planet of Aldebaran 2.  Also, during the Great Reckoning, the Purification Fleet incinerated the space habitat known as New Eden.

The ships are crewed and captained by the most zealous members of the Imperial Navy, and the admiral reports directly to the Ayatollah-Maximus of the Church of God, himself.

The flagship, known as "The Hammer of Redemption",  is armed with enough firepower to completely remove the biosphere of a small planet with a Kugelblitz Projector.  

Most of the ships in the fleet are impact ships that use railguns to launch asteroids at their targets, but a wide array of weapons of mass destruction are in the fleet's arsenal.  Nuclear, Biological, and Chemical weapons are joined by an array of exotic and deadly technologies.  Nano-disassemblers tear apart planets at a molecular level.  Aerosol bombs block out the sun and plunge whole worlds into a nuclear winter scenario.

Emperor's Eye class vessels use giant lenses to focus sunlight to incinerate entire cities.

 When it comes to rooting out and destroying the enemies of the Emperor, the Purification Fleet will stop at nothing.

The Non-interference Doctrine

Description

When the Planetary League was founded, humanity had yet to encounter another technological species.  Based on the history of the Earth, policy makers decided that if and when other intelligent life-forms were discovered, it would be wisest not to initiate contact.  This was as much for the protection of the other species, as for that of the human race.  

As new planets were explored, intelligent species  were ultimately discovered, and the doctrine held.  These aliens were studied from a distance; however, by scientists using stealth technology to conceal themselves.  

As time went on, reports from field researchers continued to describe all kinds of disasters from floods and famines to earthquakes to asteroid strikes, that the Planetary League could alleviate, but chose not to.  

Tentatively, interventions were undertaken.  At first, only in situations where plausible deniability could be maintained; for example, diverting large asteroids on collision courses with inhabited planets.  Then, more boldly, as confidence grew in the ability to intervene peacefully, and even benignly in the face of disaster. 

Eventually, the Non-Interference Doctrine was officially repealed by the Alien Assistance Act of GSC 139.  One of the events that led to this change was the interference of the Convergence with the colony on New Promise.  During the conflict between the colonists and the Convergence (also known as the First Convergence War), scouts from the Planetary League discovered Dogur-dann, a rogue planet, and home to the Dogarri.  The Alien Assistance Act was passed largely to allow the colonists of New Promise to join forces with the Dogarri against the Convergence. 

The Alien Assistance Act also founded the Planetary League Alien Assistance Agency, an organization specifically dedicated to contacting and assisting alien cultures, often giving technology in exchange for trade deals, and occasionally bringing new planets into the league.

Over time, opportunistic forces began to see the potential to exploit the aliens, who were almost always less technically advanced.  Eventually, this will to exploit helped to drive the corruption that plagued the Planetary League late in Era-1.