View source for Church of Creation

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|negative1=Strike Craft Neglect
|negative2=Slow & Steady
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(Creationists / Cretons / The Church)
Slogan - Chosen by God

Information: Magic and sufficiently advanced technology are often indistinguishable, and the Church of Creation proves this on a regular basis. To the outside world, the Church is a highly technologically advanced society. On the inside, the devout follow leaders chosen by the Saints, and are gifted with the powers of God. To create and destroy, on a daily basis, is how these clergy enforce their divinity. The trick, as it goes, lies in advanced applications of nano-technology. Hand-held constructors that can shape almost anything the priest or priestess wills it to. From rose-pedals, to rice, to water, and all the way to things like daggers or weapons. It is because of these miracles, these gifts from the Almighty, that the people follow these clergy nearly blindly. Of course, not all the clergy follow each other blindly...

The faith itself is fairly simple. They believe in a god, but they understand that this god is so large, it/he/she has many names. But in all cases, God is a creator. Although there is a subtle distinction between the Church of Creation and Christianity, which it shares some similarities too; while both gods created, the Creationists believe more in a watchmaker god. God made the universe, and now has let it go, and is watching what happens. This gift of creation is proof that God still adds things from time to time, finds mechanisms that work and do good, and rewards them. Likewise, those that destroy or take away from creation are the vilest of blasphemers, and should be sent to God so that he may judge them. They say he because God made the world, but he does not nurture it. Men are usually creators in the Church, while women are the maintainers and shapers. Both equally important, if somewhat divided. And again, this is only usually. The faithful worship God and give thanks regularly, but they do not look to him for guidance or pray for things. They have been given a gift to forge their own path, and so must make their own guidance. Of course, this worship is mandatory at least once a day and takes some time, while the more devout take several times a day to worship. Most interesting are their views on death; they know every component of the human body, and can even reconstruct it. However, they have not been able to give any of their creations sentience, which proves the existence of a soul to them. The body is just what it is, while the soul gives it life and personality. When the body dies, it is recycled like everything else, in order to help the rest of the faithful, while the soul goes to God to be judged. Nobody worries a soul will not make it to a glorious after-life, since all the faithful live by the tenants of their belief. So death is rarely a sad time, or at least is not sad for very long. By the same token, death on the battlefield does not mean much to them, or is more acceptable to than than to other empires. So long as they can recover what was lost in battle, there is no need to hold such grudges. Of course, those that deny the Church the chance to recover the remains of their ships and their crews will be met with terrible vengeance for their blasphemy and arrogance. The worst insult the Church can do to an opponent is to leave their remains, unused and unusable.

The Hierarchy divides itself up into three parts, above the assorted devoted. There are the Faithful, which makes up the lowest rung of the Churches hierarchy. These are the smaller priests who own small community churches, the various functions that run amenities, and so on. The next run are the Clerics, who make up mid-level administrators, glorified secretaries, lead the larger churches, and specialized technicians. The final level, known as the Saints, are the grand administrators. These people run everything, and everyone reports to them sooner or later. Saints also make up the ruling Council of God, which currently holds seven members, although the Council has held as many as fifteen or as few as three in the past.

The Seekers are a sort of off branch of this hierarchy, holding a place of importance but not really involved with the Hierarchy proper. They are the scientists and lead technicians, querying the Librarian to provide data on their research while adding data as it becomes available. They don't keep records, so to speak, but they do record what they discover. Of course, its someone else's job to see if anything they put together actually works and how to use it...

The Librarian, mentioned in reverent voices and only accessed by the Seekers and the Saints, is a vast AI network that more or less runs much of the Church's cities. By itself, the Librarian spawned several subroutines that keep much of the Church's infrastructure running. While no doubt powerful and advanced, the AI has been steadfast in refusing to involve itself with those around it. The Hierarchy comes and goes, flows and ebbs, and the Librarian does not interfere. It keeps all records, and indeed may even be hording knowledge. None but the Saints and the Seekers are allowed to contact the Librarian directly.

The Zealous are the military branch of the Church. Dedicated troops who carry a proud history of smashing the uprisings of yester-year, along with smiting the infidel armies that once rose against the Church. These days, since the Church has only recently discovered the nodes once more, they aren't as vicious. Being a Zealot is important and earns one a certain amount of respect, but Zealots are forbidden to take Hierarchy positions. Keeps the military from staging a coup. They also work on a lot of theory these days, instead of actual combat experience. Not to say they aren't dangerous, and their weapons are certainly potent enough, but they haven't had a good war in a number of years.

==History==
It's hard to say exactly where the Church came from, since most records before that time are considered heresy and have thus been purged. However they came about, it was during the technological revolution that is their name sake. The advent of advanced nano-technology spurred a cultural revolution, bringing a new wave of religious fervor in this gift. The mastery of creation, which this new technology practically allowed, was considered holy, a divine blessing, for his followers faith and belief. Of course, this stir made the government at the time rather wary, and what must have been a rather vicious series of "police actions" cracked down on the budding religion. The eventual outcome should be self evident, given that the Church is now in control while there is no other government to speak of. Any scars left by the war have been ground away under time and reconstruction, leaving a virtual utopia. While there were other religions in the previous history, the patience, kindness, and openness shown by the Church of Creation eventually dissolved these boundaries. As such, the Church shows several ideas adopted from several religious, such as food restrictions, the times of prayer, mass, design, and so on. All blended into this new thing.

==System==
Long ago the system had a different name. Now, it is called Zion. The system contains several planets, although its most interesting feature are the two habitable planets. These two are locked together in geosynchronous orbit, spinning around each other as they orbit the sun. Kou and Otsu, as they are known, are jointly known as Israfel. They both share a similar climate and biology, and the society that was before the Church had settled onto both. They are joined by a massive, ancient space elevator, linking the two planets by an artificial umbilical. While both are self-sufficient, the link does allow the people to go from one planet to the other with ease, joining the two planets virtually as one.

Israfel, on the whole, is mostly arid. Both planets are relatively dry, even dusty, but it is this dust, a reddish-purple sand, that enables them to construct what they need. This dust is made up of all kinds of minerals and metals, and some theorize that there was an empire here even before the Church, before the Church was the church. God smote them, and all that is left of what must have been a vast empire is this valuable sand, ground down shards of composites, ceramics, and glass. The sun, Allah, and its light are almost as precious, with at least a small prayer being offered every sunrise and sunset. Their buildings make the most of any sunlight, either by directly letting it in or through clever use of mirrors both on the ground and in space to reflect it down, and there is not much in the way of artificial lighting. The comforting dusty orange glow of their star is used in their ships, where artificial lighting is needed.

The closest planet to Allah is known as Hel, and is a harsh and hazardous world. The day side is a boiling inferno, nearly impossible to settle. The dark side is a frozen wasteland. The Zealous send their recruits there for a two kilometer hike along the middle zone, a rare area where it is neither obscenely hot or excessively cold. The terrain is treacherous, and not all of the recruits make it, but to survive the journey is to be blessed, and the Zealous ground troops are hardened this way. The elite forces must survive a full rotation; understandably, the Zealous Elite are few in number, but are considered almost holy for surviving Allahs burning gaze.

Farther out, past the homeworlds, is a gas giant known as Sachiel. While the sand of Israfel provides the majority of the resources the Church needs, some elements are just too rare and cannot be found upon their homeworld. But Sachiel holds them, hidden within the colorful clouds and liquid core. Sachiel is a source of beauty and inspiration for the artists of the Church, who draw upon her and Allah both for inspiration to meld with their own worlds beauty.

'''Melchior''' (System 21) Devoid of any celestial bodies besides a massive asteroid field, Malchior has become the system of choice for the Church's resource needs. The mining operations are vast, and employ many of the Church's members.

'''Balthasar''' (System 23) Balthasar is a binary system, home to a pair of 'black rock' planets in close orbit, and a gas giant at the edge of the system. the one planet, just barely in colonizable orbit, might have proven a useful world. However, probes sent in discovered an unknown micro-organism that was found to be aggressively hostile to any other living matter. Tests conducted with tissue samples always ended with the micro-organism killing whatever it was put in with and devouring it to make more of itself. As such, the world is under strict quarantine. This system mostly serves as a boarder between Zion and other empires, with some axillary production in orbit over the second planet from the star.

'''Casper''' (System 30) Similar to Balthasar, Casper lacks any habitable planets. Three of the four planets are either too close to the sun or too far away from it to be useful. The last, seated within prime orbit, is simply too deadly to colonize or visit. An endless caustic storm, similar to a massive hurricane, constantly circles the planet, while the rest is saturated with ammonia and sulfur from open volcanic vents.