Let's roll yet another 1d20 for the God View of the next religion. Another 12 gives us another remote monotheim. That's actually kind of interesting: Azeyrenawt is the numerically dominant religion in the Guild-State (I think) and this gives it two foils: one with a very different take on shared origin and the other with a similar theology. That contrast continues into the religion's Spiritual Aim, as an 8 on 2d6+1 tells us that the faith's focus is more on the individual than on society as a whole like in Azeyrenawt. In fact, it shares an Aim with the Bio-Witches described in the last post, framing ethical decision as providing benefits in and of themselves. We'll see if this religion is more prescriptive about right and wrong than the Barnwells, however.
Oh, wow! It seems likely that this religion is much more willing to tell its followers what's right and what's wrong. What makes me say that? The 5 I rolled on 2d6+1 for Devotion Required. Unlike every other Isheean religion with their monthly, bimonthly, or once to a few times during your life requirements, here we have a religion that demands devotions several days per week! I can imagine that difference alone can build a distance between them and the overculture, complete with distrusting prejudices of them as a brainwashing cult.
Its Organizational Structure ~ roll of a 4 on 2d6-2 , which is a rigid hierarchy with most decisions made at the local level ~ adds yet more strength to both the religion's ethical proscriptivity and its image amongst the rest of Ishee as a brainwashy cult. Despite Azeyrenawt's human supremacist theology, this faith is probably the one considered dangerous by most Isheeans (and some of its resonances with the bioroid identity religion of Scientological Witchcraft probably doesn't help either faith).
Although . . . a 6 on 2d6-3 reveals that the faith's several required services a week consist of formal church ritual with only limited teaching. No, on the other hand, that makes perfect sense. The limited teaching amounts to a dripdripdrip of theological bits paired with a reminder that right and wrong are their own reward, followed by a list of good and bad things. It's honestly not far from the Roman Catholicism in which I was raised. Maybe this faith is descended from one of the Catholic faiths, one stripped of Heavenly rewards?
And yet another reason for the Isheean population to be wary of this faith: a 2 on d6-2 means that it's zealous in its proselytization efforts. Here, we have witnesses going door-to-door and people sitting and/or preaching at intersections, and friends who will inevitably mention that you should join their religion if you spend enough time with them. In fact, I'm now starting to see this faith as some sort of Calvinist Catholic faith tinged with elements from the Jehovah's Witnesses. Calvinist, because predestination of afterlife can create the view of ethics this faith possesses. That 2 also tells us that it's a one-species-only religion, the third on Ishee. It seems that there are deep, deep genetic rifts on this planet. The political conflicts ~ contractual hijinx, offworld wars finding a battleground here, etc. ~ seems to have at least two more societal conflicts joining them: the echoes of the schism in the Rose Brothers and conflicts between the species.
OK, let's work out the size and name of the religion before I begin speculating on what the one-species nature of this religion means. 5 on 2d6-2means there's hundreds of thousands of worshippers. I'm thinking that this will account for most of the remaining Ishee population, but random.org refuses to allow it, giving the faith 243,163 adherents, 78% of whom live on Ishee. And dWikipedia will name it . . . the Johnny Mellis Christian Church of the Blues-Metal Gospel? Naw, I don't like that. How about just Mellis?
OK, so that naming has pushed me to think of Mellis as an alien religion, rather than a human Christian-derived one. I don't yet rightly know the details of the alien species that follows Mellis, but I'll work that out! It does make me think that Mellis might be centered primarily in TCI, which tells me that TCI (which is a captive state) might be an alien outpost. Only, TCI has like ten times the number of sophots as Mellis does, so I think the dynamic needs to flip. Mellis is the dominant faith of the stateless captive state faction, the one that's pursuing an offworld conflict with TCI's masters here on Ishee. Might be time to name that group . . . Our Lord's Militant Mellis Church.
I'm not tryna decide right meow, but that does remind me that there's a stateless faction led by a messiah controlled by some sort of council. Obvi, that'll be tied to one of these religions . . .
The religious landcape of Ishee:
4,966,607 sophonts (31% of the population) atheist/agnostic/non-religious/other
7,690,230 sophonts (48%) Liberty Fellowship of Spirit-Listeners (known as Fellows, Associationists, or Listeners)
6 sophonts (essentially 0%) Lost Secrets of the Rose Brothers (generally just called gerontocrats or old fogies)
429,593 sophonts (app. 2.7%) Beaumont Cosmological Computing System (generally called Beaumonters, Algorithmists, or Systemites)
1,506,003 humans (9.4%) Azeyrenawt (generally called Azeyrenawti)
656,874 sophonts (4.1%) Clarencian Unit of Monastic Rose Brothers (generally known as Clarencians, Science-Monks, or (the) Unit)
67 bioroids (essentially 0%) Barnwell Tradition of Scientological Witchcraft (generally known as Bio-Witches or Barnwells)
189,667 alien!species#1 (app. 1.2%) Mellis (generally called Mellits)
582,307 sophonts (app. 3.6%) not yet accounted for
No comments:
Post a Comment