Novian Temple

Novian Temple
Symbol
Organised Religion
Ideological doctrine:	Cargo cult, Millenarianism, Novian traditionalism
Operation
Region(s) of operation:	Wolf 1061 System
Based in:	Nova
Status & relations
Internal factions:	Moderates, Hardliners
Historical information
Founded:	33rd century
Founded by:	Crew of the Nova Generation Ship
Notable splinter factions:	Paradise Temple
[Source]

“	Our ways may seem strange to you, but they have yet to lead us wrong. Solar values do not dictate our society, and they never will!	”
–Sameer Kead

The Novian Temple is the state religion of the Republic of Nova, and the result of a cargo cult formed on the Nova Generation Ship, the ship that brought the first colonists to Nova. The religion gives spiritual importance to the tasks carried out on the generation ship and members of the Novian Temple see Nova as their promised land. It is heavily centered upon community, recycling, and utilitarianism.

History

Background

The history of the Novian Temple is intertwined with the history of Nova and its colonisation. Wolf 1061 was selected to be the second system to be colonised by humankind (after Proxima Centauri b), and the first ever for permanent habitation. As part of a joint Earth-Mars effort - combining Earth's industrial strength with Mars's experience with terraforming - the Nova Generation Ship was constructed on Luna, and Nova itself pre-seeded by terraforming drones, with the colony ship eventually setting sail in 3083. Hopes, however, changed in the centuries after launch, with continual technological innovation seeing the prowess of this first fleet overtaken by superior Kimber Drives. Nova was thus beaten to the title of first by the Tranquility Launch Arco entering the orbit of Gliese 832 c in 3222, and the once-aligned hopes for Nova by Earth and Mars began to diverge.

Meanwhile, the Nova Generation Ship was inching its way through the interstellar medium, and its crew struggled to adapt to their new life in space. Aboard the Nova Generation Ship, every action was influenced by an overwhelming need to maintain the integrity of the ship and the survival of the crew. Over two hundred years, the stresses of living this way produced something entirely new: a bizarre understanding of ship doctrine that imbued the previous meaning of simple acts of maintenance and repair with spiritual significance. The Great Manifest and the Original Protocols were codified at this time, with initially no conflict between the two. Crew members with a more secular understanding of their mission initially firmly opposed the new spiritualism, but they were outbred by the spiritualists who also transformed the entire ship into a temple to their new religion. By the dawn of the thirty fourth century, the Nova Generation Ship had become a millenarianist cult that saw Nova as their promised land, a place where work and suffering were replaced by eternal rest.

When the Nova Generation Ship finally landed upon the soil of Nova in 3307, the crew found it to be slightly less heavenly than they expected. Nevertheless, the religion adapted to these circumstances by many decided that 'Nova' represented the afterlife, not only the physical planet. The landing and the establishment of formal institutions led to formal creation of the Novian Temple. The non-material paradise explanation was largely accepted by the populace outside a small sect known as the Paradise Temple, who continued to insist that Nova was in fact was heaven made material. Members of Paradise Temple lived a life of lawlessness without contributing to the larger community, so it was quickly suppressed by the much larger Novian Temple. The conflict between the Novian Temple and the Paradise Temple would persist for years, even after a second wave of settlers arrived until the Paradise Temple dissolved almost a century later. There were also members of the crew who fell into religious apathy after landing on Nova, but they rarely voiced their opinions in opposition unlike the more vocal Paradise Temple.

The codification of Novian Temple practices and texts occurred simultaneously to the conflict with the Paradise Temple, as the first settlers adapted to their new reality. The decision to make the Novian Temple decentralised without any religious head or hierarchical priesthood was altogether uncontested along with their acceptance of the Great Manifest and the Original Protocols, but the presence of physical temples was somewhat of a sticking point between Novians due to fear of an eventual centralisation of power by the temple's owners and the Paradise Temple's use of them. However, the temple issue was eventually resolved in the buildings' favor, and the argument rarely comes up in the current day.

The arrival of the Late Settlers in the late thirty-forth century led to an immense culture shock between them and the Novians, also known as Walfbashe. The Novian Temple (and the then fading Paradise Temple) seemed very bizarre to the new arrivals, and many Walfbashe were hostile to the Late Settlers, either fearing outside influences or not willing to share their 'paradise'. Negotiations between the Late Settlers and the Walfbashe prevented any bloodshed, but the arrival of the Late Settlers would begin a split that divides the Novian Temple into the present day.

As Nova grew increasingly cosmopolitan, dome cities expanded and the population increased. This brought further economic prosperity while also bringing great change to Nova. The influx of the Late Settlers from the Solar System led to a new diversity of views rather the overwhelming power of the Novian Temple. The Novian Temple and the Paradise Temple had clashed in the past, but the Paradise Temple had never truly threatened the majority viewpoint. Now, large numbers of religious and political dissenters had entered into Novian society and caused further internal trouble within the Walfbashe and between the Walfbashe and the Late Settlers. A particular issue was the acceptance of Late Settlers into the Novian Temple, a practice many insular Novian communities objected to.

The Commonwealth Wars brought further change to Nova and the Novian Temple. The Commonwealth fleet that arrived in the system demanded submission, and the leaders of Nova’s IGSA administration decided to become a client state of Earth rather than resist, despite their military readiness. This new status brought in free trade policies and more Earthers to Nova, leading to more culture conflict both with the Walfbashe and between Walfbashe and non-Walfbashe. Within a decade of Nova’s submission, doctrinal conflict between the Wolfbashe had reached a boiling point with the point contention being over the primacy of the Great Manifest and the Original Protocols. Supporters of the Great Manifest, moderates, supported the pro-Earth government and integration of Late Settlers while supporters of the Original Protocols, hardliners, opposed the pro-Earth government and favored endogamy. It had started as a purely scholarly dispute but had since spiraled into a larger conflict between Novians, leading to riots and street battles. This eventually led to the demolition of a moderate temple containing an original copy of the Great Manifest led to communal violence that lasted nearly a week, later know as Flaming Week. After that, Novian government stepped in quash the violence and effectively pull the two sides apart. After that, the doctrinal differences between moderates and hardliners became more concrete, and the two sides settled into their own communities.

After that violence, there have been little conflict or disputes within the Novian Temple. The influx of Martian refugees in the 3600s and 3700s led a growth in the faith as many put aside Martian folk religion in favor of the moderate temples of the Novian Temple, but that concerned hardliners very little as they remained isolated in their own communities, interacting very little with the outside world. This continues even as technology progressed even further and the gulf between moderates and hardliners widened.

Current Era

In the modern day, the Novian Temple continues to be the predominant religion on Nova and an integral part of Novian identity. Nevertheless, the religion has been losing some of its grip on Novian society for centuries as the non-Walfbashe proportion of the population slowly but steadily increases. The arrival of the Extrasolar Martians and closer relations with Mars have led to more conflicts, as some moderates and most hardliners despise the influence of ALIAS due to anti-AI passages from the Original Protocols. Hardliner Walfbashe have been the loudest voices on Nova against ALIAS, while moderates have had a more tempered reaction to ALIAS and its proxy MaND. The Novian Temple also is against involvement in the brewing Interstellar Cold War, and most members are staunch non-interventionists; whatever their opinion on ALIAS.

Ship doctrine still dictates the lives of billions on Nova, Walfbashe or Late Settler. There have been reform movements within the Novian Temple in the past to make adaptations to the Great Manifest in the past to better reflect the reality on Nova, but even the moderates have resisted efforts to modify or even translate their foundational text. This resistance to changes in conditions have been a feature of Novian Temple since the landing on Nova, and the religion seems unlikely to change anytime soon.

Structure

Although it is the state religion on Nova, the Novian Temple is surprisingly decentralised without an overall leadership. Temples service local communities, with the members acting as a universal priesthood. The temple acts a meeting place, a credit union, and a charity for the poor (even non-Walfbashe). The overall doctrine of the Novian Temple varies somewhat due to its decentralised nature, with some temples being strict in their observance of the Original Protocols versus the more pliant Great Manifest. The temples that follow the Original Protocols eschew technology brought by later colonists and tend to live in separatist communities, typically shunning non-Walfbashe. Meanwhile, moderate temples contain more Late Settlers due to their exclusion from more those more strict. Moderates and hardliners have their disagreements, but they usually respect one another's traditions without violent sectarian disputes.

Membership

The Novian Temple is prevalent throughout the Wolf 1061 System with the titular Nova being the center of the religion. Nova is regarded as the holy world of the religion promised to them in both the Original Protocols and the Great Manifest. The majority of Novians are members of the Novian Temple to some degree, though significant religious minorities still exist. Due to Nova's importance to the religion, the Novian Temple has few adherents outside the Wolf 1061 System.