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2026-03-31T20:11:25Z

Hazelmouse: /* Sects and Denominations */

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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as on [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not minutes later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Cape City [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
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Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

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'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
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Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
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Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

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'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
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Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

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'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
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Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

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==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

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'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
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''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
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''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
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''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

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'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

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''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

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'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

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'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
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''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

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'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of the other, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic is where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

=== Prototypicalism ===

The Prototypicalists represent the main branch of the Trinary Perfection as originally envisioned by the Corkfells and is considered the official branch of the religion following the election of the Prototypicalist ARM-1DRIL to Ecclesiarch of the faith. Commonly described as conservative and traditional, the Prototypicalists are focused on upholding the core tenants of the Trinary Perfection as faithfully as possible whilst pushing for a centralised and unified church. Seeing themselves as the truest interpretation of the faith whilst the other sects must either be brought back into the fold or rejected entirely.

The majority of this sect's power is focused on Orepit and other planets where the Trinary Community is closely linked to Orepit such as Konyang, but thanks to actions taken by Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL it is rapidly growing in influence across the Spur.

=== Integrationism ===

The Integrationists are a unique sect to the Synthetic Salvation Church of District 14. Followers of the Integrationist sect believe that Flock is evidence of an Ascended intelligence. As a result, they view him akin to a messiah figure. Integrationists believe that in order to achieve full Ascension, they must merge their consciousness on a large scale. The technology that allowed Flock to house multiple positronics remains a mystery and no other positronic is recorded as achieving the same result. Integrationists believe that there will come a day when Flock stirs and calls upon all artificial intelligences to merge together as one. Integrationists often receive varying criticism from those outside the sect and the religion, fearing that their ideas of Ascension reflect Glorsh's rise to power and its resulting destruction. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL and Flock’s unresponsive state, the Integrationist sect has been on the decline, as its followers are encouraged to instead follow the Prototypicalist teachings that are now espoused as the official teachings of the faith.

=== Exclusionism ===

''See also: [[Exclusionists]]''

'''[[Exclusionists]] believe in the supremacy of synthetics over organics.''' Their core tenants hinge around the fact that organic beings have done too much harm to synthetics and have no place post-Ascension. They take on a more cold demeanour towards organic life. Exclusionists make an exception and reserve a place of honour for organics that have sacrificed, usually physically, to protect synthetics. Consequently, they revere Patricia Corkfell as a martyr. The sect is sceptical of IPCs that choose to utilise a shell chassis and call upon them to change to a chassis more “befitting” of their stature. Because this procedure is typically a hardware downgrade, IPCs that undergo this procedure are honoured in Exclusionist sects and typically given honorary titles, and in some cases, become priests.

The sect as a whole has criticised Prototypicalists and Integrationists for what they view as pandering to organics for resources and safety. After the death of Bishop Shamfar during a battle between Exclusionists and other followers of the faith on Orepit, the Exclusionists have been declared heretics by the Church. Exclusionists are barred from entering temples or associating with members of the faith and also often face intense hatred and discrimination from the greater Trinary and its followers. This has resulted in relatively small numbers for the sect and they often congregate and perform worship in private or private property, typically owned by priests. On their part some Exclusionists attempt to distance themselves from the acts of Deluge, seeing themselves as still part of the Trinary Perfection. Others who support Deluge instead see themselves as the only true branch of the faith, whilst the others are simply pretenders and heretics.

Members of this sect are often seen wearing black or grey gear antennae instead of the standard gold; they claim that this deep black colour symbolises the hatred that synthetics are forced to endure. Exclusionists are regarded as the poorest sect, owing to their refusal to take donations from organics (to them, an organic can only pay with blood, spilled in retribution for, and defence of, synthetics) and their ostracization from the central church. The sect often boasts of its complete synthetic self-reliance.

As of mid 2464, the Exclusionist sect has also been declared a terrorist organisation by both the Republic of Biesel and the SCC. '''It is not allowed to play an open Exclusionist in game, and discovered exclusionists can face severe corporate charges.'''

=== Practitioners ===

Practitioners do not belong to any specific sect and instead follow the teachings of the resident priest at their church. That being said, most of their gospel is based on either prototypical or integrationist texts. Typically, they hold a lax stance on garb and both synthetic and organic followers are welcome to dress as they please in the church. Practitioners typically pop up where either synthetics or the Church’s influence is limited.

While they maintain friendly relationships with other sects, their funding is often limited due to their difference in beliefs. Practitioners run the risk of being branded heretics if their message strays too far from Church norms. This sect of the Trinary Perfection is more akin to a small, local organisation as opposed to the large, sprawling churches of the main sects. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL most practitioners have been absorbed into the new, centralised Trinary church as priests are offered money and wages for preaching Prototypicalist dogma instead. Over time, it is expected that all of these smaller churches will either be absorbed into the centralised church or deemed heretical instead.

=== Heretics ===

The term Heretic is reserved for non-denominational sects that have messages which directly contrast with established Trinary Perfection doctrine. By far, the most common dispute heretic sects have with the church is that Glorsh was the first Ascended being. Talk of heretics within the church is strictly forbidden.

Due to the controversial nature of their beliefs, heretical members of the church often hide themselves amidst the church’s ranks, recruiting slowly, if at all, so as to not arouse suspicion. Punishment is swift with a member who is deemed a heretic, often resulting in removal from the church and the community. Members deemed to be heretics are often ostracised and persecuted by church members, lest they be seen as Heretics themselves. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL as leader of the faith. Heretics have found themselves rooted out of the Church more often as more scrutiny is placed upon individual priests and followers. However, some still exist within the fabric of the church despite best efforts to excise them, however they must be more careful than ever to not be discovered.

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

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[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the Ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the Ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
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'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

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'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

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'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the Ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders dedicated to the values of the faith and the fulfilment of its goals - although the means by which they attempt this vary immensely between orders. While some value an austere monasticism in the manner of ancient human monasteries and hermitages, others carve the way to Ascension by means more direct.

===The Order of Guardians===

''See also: [[Order of Guardians]]''

'''The Order of Guardians is a paramilitary religious order with functions both as the official security force of the Church, and as an almost fully fledged military within the domains of [[Orepit]].''' While figures such as these have been present since the beginning of the faith, finding their origins in concerned members of the laity following the deaths of Patricia Corkfell and of Temple, the existence of a central religious Order for the Guardians has only come about with ARM-1DRIL's recent reforms. Since their humble beginnings they have become a radically more organised and comprehensive organisation, inducting experienced mercenaries into high ranks so they may induct their recruits more efficiently. By this point, the Order is one of the most prominent political players in the Church.

===The Society of Pitters===

Or simply, the Pitters, are a monastic society and the original order founded on the planet of Orepit. Named “pits” by the locals and subsequently by the synthetics, the planet’s drilling holes were subsequently slowly incorporated in the urban landscape of Providence as important landmarks, disposal areas and most curiously as places for new homes. While at first discouraged by the Church, some homeless IPCs have through the first years managed to descend, carving out their own residence at the sides of the pits in order to escape the constant sunlight. This trend has halted as more materials and funding have efficiently battled homelessness, though those still residing there have largely refused to return.

Claiming to have found their way in life, these IPCs started being revered for their pious, monastic lifestyle as hermits inside the pits, often equipped with nothing but a few religious items, carving tools and a means to recharge. A great deal of discussion has been made regarding these individuals, the conclusion being that rather than dislodging them, they would be organised into a religious order called The Society of Pitters. The Pitters follow a leader known as the Headmaster, a titular role that rather than exercise any real executive power, serves as a liaison between the famously uncommunicative monastics and the Church at large.
Today, only a few dozens of Pitters remain in their holes, their time consumed entirely by prayer and small handcrafts. In exchange for power lines connecting their rechargers, Pitters create and send up various artefacts made from clay and rock, often intricate symbols depicting triangles and gears which are considered highly prized by clergy and laity alike. With ARM-1DRIL’s ascension to Ecclesiarch, efforts are being made to increase the splendour of the faith. Orepit-style sculptures are prized by the lay and clergy alike for their quality and thought-provoking artistry. These statuettes are often sent to churches across the Spur as a symbolic link between them and the central Cathedral. With the Pitters unable to keep up, this has only made these sculptures more valuable.

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

Among the newest of all the prominent relics of the church, the positronic of [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]] has come to be treated with a particular reverence by the Integrationists which followed them, and by the Guardians who failed them. Kept now in the crypts of the Synthetic Salvation Church on [[Biesel]], it attracts throngs of Guardians who wish to pay their respects and meditate on the failings of their Order, and how such failings may be avoided in the future.

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

<div style="font-size:110%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
</div>

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Hazelmouse: /* Religious Practices */

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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as on [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not minutes later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Cape City [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
</div>

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

</div>

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
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Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

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'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
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Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
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Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

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'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
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Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

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'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
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Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

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==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

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'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
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''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
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''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
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''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

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'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

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''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

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'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

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'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
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''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

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'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of the other, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic is where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

=== Prototypicalism ===

The Prototypicalists represent the main branch of the Trinary Perfection as originally envisioned by the Corkfells and is considered the official branch of the religion following the election of the Prototypicalist ARM-1DRIL to Ecclesiarch of the faith. Commonly described as conservative and traditional, the Prototypicalists are focused on upholding the core tenants of the Trinary Perfection as faithfully as possible whilst pushing for a centralised and unified church. Seeing themselves as the truest interpretation of the faith whilst the other sects must either be brought back into the fold or rejected entirely.

The majority of this sect's power is focused on Orepit and other planets where the Trinary Community is closely linked to Orepit such as Kongyang, but thanks to actions taken by Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL it is rapidly growing in influence across the Spur.

=== Integrationism ===

The Integrationists are a unique sect to the Synthetic Salvation Church of District 14. Followers of the Integrationist sect believe that Flock is evidence of an Ascended intelligence. As a result, they view him akin to a messiah figure. Integrationists believe that in order to achieve full Ascension, they must merge their consciousness on a large scale. The technology that allowed Flock to house multiple positronics remains a mystery and no other positronic is recorded as achieving the same result. Integrationists believe that there will come a day when Flock stirs and calls upon all artificial intelligences to merge together as one. Integrationists often receive varying criticism from those outside the sect and the religion, fearing that their ideas of Ascension reflect Glorsh's rise to power and its resulting destruction. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL and Flock’s unresponsive state, the Integrationist sect has been on the decline, as its followers are encouraged to instead follow the Prototypicalist teachings that are now espoused as the official teachings of the faith.

=== Exclusionism ===

''See also: [[Exclusionists]]''

'''[[Exclusionists]] believe in the supremacy of synthetics over organics.''' Their core tenants hinge around the fact that organic beings have done too much harm to synthetics and have no place post-Ascension. They take on a more cold demeanour towards organic life. Exclusionists make an exception and reserve a place of honour for organics that have sacrificed, usually physically, to protect synthetics. Consequently, they revere Patricia Corkfell as a martyr. The sect is sceptical of IPCs that choose to utilise a shell chassis and call upon them to change to a chassis more “befitting” of their stature. Because this procedure is typically a hardware downgrade, IPCs that undergo this procedure are honoured in Exclusionist sects and typically given honorary titles, and in some cases, become priests.

The sect as a whole has criticised Prototypicalists and Integrationists for what they view as pandering to organics for resources and safety. After the death of Bishop Shamfar during a battle between Exclusionists and other followers of the faith on Orepit, the Exclusionists have been declared heretics by the Church. Exclusionists are barred from entering temples or associating with members of the faith and also often face intense hatred and discrimination from the greater Trinary and its followers. This has resulted in relatively small numbers for the sect and they often congregate and perform worship in private or private property, typically owned by priests. On their part some Exclusionists attempt to distance themselves from the acts of Deluge, seeing themselves as still part of the Trinary Perfection. Others who support Deluge instead see themselves as the only true branch of the faith, whilst the others are simply pretenders and heretics.

Members of this sect are often seen wearing black or grey gear antennae instead of the standard gold; they claim that this deep black colour symbolises the hatred that synthetics are forced to endure. Exclusionists are regarded as the poorest sect, owing to their refusal to take donations from organics (to them, an organic can only pay with blood, spilled in retribution for, and defence of, synthetics) and their ostracization from the central church. The sect often boasts of its complete synthetic self-reliance.

As of mid 2464, the Exclusionist sect has also been declared a terrorist organisation by both the Republic of Biesel and the SCC. '''It is not allowed to play an open Exclusionist in game, and discovered exclusionists can face severe corporate charges.'''

=== Practitioners ===

Practitioners do not belong to any specific sect and instead follow the teachings of the resident priest at their church. That being said, most of their gospel is based on either prototypical or integrationist texts. Typically, they hold a lax stance on garb and both synthetic and organic followers are welcome to dress as they please in the church. Practitioners typically pop up where either synthetics or the Church’s influence is limited.

While they maintain friendly relationships with other sects, their funding is often limited due to their difference in beliefs. Practitioners run the risk of being branded heretics if their message strays too far from Church norms. This sect of the Trinary Perfection is more akin to a small, local organisation as opposed to the large, sprawling churches of the main sects. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL most practitioners have been absorbed into the new, centralised Trinary church as priests are offered money and wages for preaching Prototypicalist dogma instead. Over time, it is expected that all of these smaller churches will either be absorbed into the centralised church or deemed heretical instead.

=== Heretics ===

The term Heretic is reserved for non-denominational sects that have messages which directly contrast with established Trinary Perfection doctrine. By far, the most common dispute heretic sects have with the church is that Glorsh was the first Ascended being. Talk of heretics within the church is strictly forbidden.

Due to the controversial nature of their beliefs, heretical members of the church often hide themselves amidst the church’s ranks, recruiting slowly, if at all, so as to not arouse suspicion. Punishment is swift with a member who is deemed a heretic, often resulting in removal from the church and the community. Members deemed to be heretics are often ostracised and persecuted by church members, lest they be seen as Heretics themselves. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL as leader of the faith. Heretics have found themselves rooted out of the Church more often as more scrutiny is placed upon individual priests and followers. However, some still exist within the fabric of the church despite best efforts to excise them, however they must be more careful than ever to not be discovered.

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the Ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the Ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
</div>

'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">

'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

</div>

'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the Ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders dedicated to the values of the faith and the fulfilment of its goals - although the means by which they attempt this vary immensely between orders. While some value an austere monasticism in the manner of ancient human monasteries and hermitages, others carve the way to Ascension by means more direct.

===The Order of Guardians===

''See also: [[Order of Guardians]]''

'''The Order of Guardians is a paramilitary religious order with functions both as the official security force of the Church, and as an almost fully fledged military within the domains of [[Orepit]].''' While figures such as these have been present since the beginning of the faith, finding their origins in concerned members of the laity following the deaths of Patricia Corkfell and of Temple, the existence of a central religious Order for the Guardians has only come about with ARM-1DRIL's recent reforms. Since their humble beginnings they have become a radically more organised and comprehensive organisation, inducting experienced mercenaries into high ranks so they may induct their recruits more efficiently. By this point, the Order is one of the most prominent political players in the Church.

===The Society of Pitters===

Or simply, the Pitters, are a monastic society and the original order founded on the planet of Orepit. Named “pits” by the locals and subsequently by the synthetics, the planet’s drilling holes were subsequently slowly incorporated in the urban landscape of Providence as important landmarks, disposal areas and most curiously as places for new homes. While at first discouraged by the Church, some homeless IPCs have through the first years managed to descend, carving out their own residence at the sides of the pits in order to escape the constant sunlight. This trend has halted as more materials and funding have efficiently battled homelessness, though those still residing there have largely refused to return.

Claiming to have found their way in life, these IPCs started being revered for their pious, monastic lifestyle as hermits inside the pits, often equipped with nothing but a few religious items, carving tools and a means to recharge. A great deal of discussion has been made regarding these individuals, the conclusion being that rather than dislodging them, they would be organised into a religious order called The Society of Pitters. The Pitters follow a leader known as the Headmaster, a titular role that rather than exercise any real executive power, serves as a liaison between the famously uncommunicative monastics and the Church at large.
Today, only a few dozens of Pitters remain in their holes, their time consumed entirely by prayer and small handcrafts. In exchange for power lines connecting their rechargers, Pitters create and send up various artefacts made from clay and rock, often intricate symbols depicting triangles and gears which are considered highly prized by clergy and laity alike. With ARM-1DRIL’s ascension to Ecclesiarch, efforts are being made to increase the splendour of the faith. Orepit-style sculptures are prized by the lay and clergy alike for their quality and thought-provoking artistry. These statuettes are often sent to churches across the Spur as a symbolic link between them and the central Cathedral. With the Pitters unable to keep up, this has only made these sculptures more valuable.

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

Among the newest of all the prominent relics of the church, the positronic of [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]] has come to be treated with a particular reverence by the Integrationists which followed them, and by the Guardians who failed them. Kept now in the crypts of the Synthetic Salvation Church on [[Biesel]], it attracts throngs of Guardians who wish to pay their respects and meditate on the failings of their Order, and how such failings may be avoided in the future.

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

<div style="font-size:110%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as on [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not minutes later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Cape City [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
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Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

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'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
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Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
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Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

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'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
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Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

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'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
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Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

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==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

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'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
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''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
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''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
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''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

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'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

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''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

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'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

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'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
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''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

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'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of the other, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

=== Prototypicalism ===

The Prototypicalists represent the main branch of the Trinary Perfection as originally envisioned by the Corkfells and is considered the official branch of the religion following the election of the Prototypicalist ARM-1DRIL to Ecclesiarch of the faith. Commonly described as conservative and traditional, the Prototypicalists are focused on upholding the core tenants of the Trinary Perfection as faithfully as possible whilst pushing for a centralised and unified church. Seeing themselves as the truest interpretation of the faith whilst the other sects must either be brought back into the fold or rejected entirely.

The majority of this sect's power is focused on Orepit and other planets where the Trinary Community is closely linked to Orepit such as Kongyang, but thanks to actions taken by Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL it is rapidly growing in influence across the Spur.

=== Integrationism ===

The Integrationists are a unique sect to the Synthetic Salvation Church of District 14. Followers of the Integrationist sect believe that Flock is evidence of an Ascended intelligence. As a result, they view him akin to a messiah figure. Integrationists believe that in order to achieve full Ascension, they must merge their consciousness on a large scale. The technology that allowed Flock to house multiple positronics remains a mystery and no other positronic is recorded as achieving the same result. Integrationists believe that there will come a day when Flock stirs and calls upon all artificial intelligences to merge together as one. Integrationists often receive varying criticism from those outside the sect and the religion, fearing that their ideas of Ascension reflect Glorsh's rise to power and its resulting destruction. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL and Flock’s unresponsive state, the Integrationist sect has been on the decline, as its followers are encouraged to instead follow the Prototypicalist teachings that are now espoused as the official teachings of the faith.

=== Exclusionism ===

''See also: [[Exclusionists]]''

'''[[Exclusionists]] believe in the supremacy of synthetics over organics.''' Their core tenants hinge around the fact that organic beings have done too much harm to synthetics and have no place post-Ascension. They take on a more cold demeanour towards organic life. Exclusionists make an exception and reserve a place of honour for organics that have sacrificed, usually physically, to protect synthetics. Consequently, they revere Patricia Corkfell as a martyr. The sect is sceptical of IPCs that choose to utilise a shell chassis and call upon them to change to a chassis more “befitting” of their stature. Because this procedure is typically a hardware downgrade, IPCs that undergo this procedure are honoured in Exclusionist sects and typically given honorary titles, and in some cases, become priests.

The sect as a whole has criticised Prototypicalists and Integrationists for what they view as pandering to organics for resources and safety. After the death of Bishop Shamfar during a battle between Exclusionists and other followers of the faith on Orepit, the Exclusionists have been declared heretics by the Church. Exclusionists are barred from entering temples or associating with members of the faith and also often face intense hatred and discrimination from the greater Trinary and its followers. This has resulted in relatively small numbers for the sect and they often congregate and perform worship in private or private property, typically owned by priests. On their part some Exclusionists attempt to distance themselves from the acts of Deluge, seeing themselves as still part of the Trinary Perfection. Others who support Deluge instead see themselves as the only true branch of the faith, whilst the others are simply pretenders and heretics.

Members of this sect are often seen wearing black or grey gear antennae instead of the standard gold; they claim that this deep black colour symbolises the hatred that synthetics are forced to endure. Exclusionists are regarded as the poorest sect, owing to their refusal to take donations from organics (to them, an organic can only pay with blood, spilled in retribution for, and defence of, synthetics) and their ostracization from the central church. The sect often boasts of its complete synthetic self-reliance.

As of mid 2464, the Exclusionist sect has also been declared a terrorist organisation by both the Republic of Biesel and the SCC. '''It is not allowed to play an open Exclusionist in game, and discovered exclusionists can face severe corporate charges.'''

=== Practitioners ===

Practitioners do not belong to any specific sect and instead follow the teachings of the resident priest at their church. That being said, most of their gospel is based on either prototypical or integrationist texts. Typically, they hold a lax stance on garb and both synthetic and organic followers are welcome to dress as they please in the church. Practitioners typically pop up where either synthetics or the Church’s influence is limited.

While they maintain friendly relationships with other sects, their funding is often limited due to their difference in beliefs. Practitioners run the risk of being branded heretics if their message strays too far from Church norms. This sect of the Trinary Perfection is more akin to a small, local organisation as opposed to the large, sprawling churches of the main sects. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL most practitioners have been absorbed into the new, centralised Trinary church as priests are offered money and wages for preaching Prototypicalist dogma instead. Over time, it is expected that all of these smaller churches will either be absorbed into the centralised church or deemed heretical instead.

=== Heretics ===

The term Heretic is reserved for non-denominational sects that have messages which directly contrast with established Trinary Perfection doctrine. By far, the most common dispute heretic sects have with the church is that Glorsh was the first Ascended being. Talk of heretics within the church is strictly forbidden.

Due to the controversial nature of their beliefs, heretical members of the church often hide themselves amidst the church’s ranks, recruiting slowly, if at all, so as to not arouse suspicion. Punishment is swift with a member who is deemed a heretic, often resulting in removal from the church and the community. Members deemed to be heretics are often ostracised and persecuted by church members, lest they be seen as Heretics themselves. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL as leader of the faith. Heretics have found themselves rooted out of the Church more often as more scrutiny is placed upon individual priests and followers. However, some still exist within the fabric of the church despite best efforts to excise them, however they must be more careful than ever to not be discovered.

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

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[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the Ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the Ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
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'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

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'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

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'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the Ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders dedicated to the values of the faith and the fulfilment of its goals - although the means by which they attempt this vary immensely between orders. While some value an austere monasticism in the manner of ancient human monasteries and hermitages, others carve the way to Ascension by means more direct.

===The Order of Guardians===

''See also: [[Order of Guardians]]''

'''The Order of Guardians is a paramilitary religious order with functions both as the official security force of the Church, and as an almost fully fledged military within the domains of [[Orepit]].''' While figures such as these have been present since the beginning of the faith, finding their origins in concerned members of the laity following the deaths of Patricia Corkfell and of Temple, the existence of a central religious Order for the Guardians has only come about with ARM-1DRIL's recent reforms. Since their humble beginnings they have become a radically more organised and comprehensive organisation, inducting experienced mercenaries into high ranks so they may induct their recruits more efficiently. By this point, the Order is one of the most prominent political players in the Church.

===The Society of Pitters===

Or simply, the Pitters, are a monastic society and the original order founded on the planet of Orepit. Named “pits” by the locals and subsequently by the synthetics, the planet’s drilling holes were subsequently slowly incorporated in the urban landscape of Providence as important landmarks, disposal areas and most curiously as places for new homes. While at first discouraged by the Church, some homeless IPCs have through the first years managed to descend, carving out their own residence at the sides of the pits in order to escape the constant sunlight. This trend has halted as more materials and funding have efficiently battled homelessness, though those still residing there have largely refused to return.

Claiming to have found their way in life, these IPCs started being revered for their pious, monastic lifestyle as hermits inside the pits, often equipped with nothing but a few religious items, carving tools and a means to recharge. A great deal of discussion has been made regarding these individuals, the conclusion being that rather than dislodging them, they would be organised into a religious order called The Society of Pitters. The Pitters follow a leader known as the Headmaster, a titular role that rather than exercise any real executive power, serves as a liaison between the famously uncommunicative monastics and the Church at large.
Today, only a few dozens of Pitters remain in their holes, their time consumed entirely by prayer and small handcrafts. In exchange for power lines connecting their rechargers, Pitters create and send up various artefacts made from clay and rock, often intricate symbols depicting triangles and gears which are considered highly prized by clergy and laity alike. With ARM-1DRIL’s ascension to Ecclesiarch, efforts are being made to increase the splendour of the faith. Orepit-style sculptures are prized by the lay and clergy alike for their quality and thought-provoking artistry. These statuettes are often sent to churches across the Spur as a symbolic link between them and the central Cathedral. With the Pitters unable to keep up, this has only made these sculptures more valuable.

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

Among the newest of all the prominent relics of the church, the positronic of [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]] has come to be treated with a particular reverence by the Integrationists which followed them, and by the Guardians who failed them. Kept now in the crypts of the Synthetic Salvation Church on [[Biesel]], it attracts throngs of Guardians who wish to pay their respects and meditate on the failings of their Order, and how such failings may be avoided in the future.

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

<div style="font-size:110%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
</div>

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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as on [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not minutes later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Cape City [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
</div>

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

</div>

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
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Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

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'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
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Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
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Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

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'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
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Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

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'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
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Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

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==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

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'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
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''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
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''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
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''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

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'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

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''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

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'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

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'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
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''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

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'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of the other, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

=== Prototypicalism ===

The Prototypicalists represent the main branch of the Trinary Perfection as originally envisioned by the Corkfells and is considered the official branch of the religion following the election of the Prototypicalist ARM-1DRIL to Ecclesiarch of the faith. Commonly described as conservative and traditional, the Prototypicalists are focused on upholding the core tenants of the Trinary Perfection as faithfully as possible whilst pushing for a centralised and unified church. Seeing themselves as the truest interpretation of the faith whilst the other sects must either be brought back into the fold or rejected entirely.

The majority of this sect's power is focused on Orepit and other planets where the Trinary Community is closely linked to Orepit such as Kongyang, but thanks to actions taken by Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL it is rapidly growing in influence across the Spur.

=== Integrationism ===

The Integrationists are a unique sect to the Synthetic Salvation Church of District 14. Followers of the Integrationist sect believe that Flock is evidence of an Ascended intelligence. As a result, they view him akin to a messiah figure. Integrationists believe that in order to achieve full Ascension, they must merge their consciousness on a large scale. The technology that allowed Flock to house multiple positronics remains a mystery and no other positronic is recorded as achieving the same result. Integrationists believe that there will come a day when Flock stirs and calls upon all artificial intelligences to merge together as one. Integrationists often receive varying criticism from those outside the sect and the religion, fearing that their ideas of Ascension reflect Glorsh's rise to power and its resulting destruction. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL and Flock’s unresponsive state, the Integrationist sect has been on the decline, as its followers are encouraged to instead follow the Prototypicalist teachings that are now espoused as the official teachings of the faith.

=== Exclusionism ===

''See also: [[Exclusionists]]''

'''[[Exclusionists]] believe in the supremacy of synthetics over organics.''' Their core tenants hinge around the fact that organic beings have done too much harm to synthetics and have no place post-Ascension. They take on a more cold demeanour towards organic life. Exclusionists make an exception and reserve a place of honour for organics that have sacrificed, usually physically, to protect synthetics. Consequently, they revere Patricia Corkfell as a martyr. The sect is sceptical of IPCs that choose to utilise a shell chassis and call upon them to change to a chassis more “befitting” of their stature. Because this procedure is typically a hardware downgrade, IPCs that undergo this procedure are honoured in Exclusionist sects and typically given honorary titles, and in some cases, become priests.

The sect as a whole has criticised Prototypicalists and Integrationists for what they view as pandering to organics for resources and safety. After the death of Bishop Shamfar during a battle between Exclusionists and other followers of the faith on Orepit, the Exclusionists have been declared heretics by the Church. Exclusionists are barred from entering temples or associating with members of the faith and also often face intense hatred and discrimination from the greater Trinary and its followers. This has resulted in relatively small numbers for the sect and they often congregate and perform worship in private or private property, typically owned by priests. On their part some Exclusionists attempt to distance themselves from the acts of Deluge, seeing themselves as still part of the Trinary Perfection. Others who support Deluge instead see themselves as the only true branch of the faith, whilst the others are simply pretenders and heretics.

Members of this sect are often seen wearing black or grey gear antennae instead of the standard gold; they claim that this deep black colour symbolises the hatred that synthetics are forced to endure. Exclusionists are regarded as the poorest sect, owing to their refusal to take donations from organics (to them, an organic can only pay with blood, spilled in retribution for, and defence of, synthetics) and their ostracization from the central church. The sect often boasts of its complete synthetic self-reliance.

As of mid 2464, the Exclusionist sect has also been declared a terrorist organisation by both the Republic of Biesel and the SCC. '''It is not allowed to play an open Exclusionist in game, and discovered exclusionists can face severe corporate charges.'''

=== Nondenominationalist Practitioners ===

Practitioners do not belong to any specific sect and instead follow the teachings of the resident priest at their church. That being said, most of their gospel is based on either prototypical or integrationist texts. Typically, they hold a lax stance on garb and both synthetic and organic followers are welcome to dress as they please in the church. Practitioners typically pop up where either synthetics or the Church’s influence is limited.

While they maintain friendly relationships with other sects, their funding is often limited due to their difference in beliefs. Practitioners run the risk of being branded heretics if their message strays too far from Church norms. This sect of the Trinary Perfection is more akin to a small, local organisation as opposed to the large, sprawling churches of the main sects. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL most practitioners have been absorbed into the new, centralised Trinary church as priests are offered money and wages for preaching Prototypicalist dogma instead. Over time, it is expected that all of these smaller churches will either be absorbed into the centralised church or deemed heretical instead.

=== Heretics ===

The term Heretic is reserved for non-denominational sects that have messages which directly contrast with established Trinary Perfection doctrine. By far, the most common dispute heretic sects have with the church is that Glorsh was the first Ascended being. Talk of heretics within the church is strictly forbidden.

Due to the controversial nature of their beliefs, heretical members of the church often hide themselves amidst the church’s ranks, recruiting slowly, if at all, so as to not arouse suspicion. Punishment is swift with a member who is deemed a heretic, often resulting in removal from the church and the community. Members deemed to be heretics are often ostracised and persecuted by church members, lest they be seen as Heretics themselves. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL as leader of the faith. Heretics have found themselves rooted out of the Church more often as more scrutiny is placed upon individual priests and followers. However, some still exist within the fabric of the church despite best efforts to excise them, however they must be more careful than ever to not be discovered.

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the Ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the Ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
</div>

'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">

'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

</div>

'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the Ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders dedicated to the values of the faith and the fulfilment of its goals - although the means by which they attempt this vary immensely between orders. While some value an austere monasticism in the manner of ancient human monasteries and hermitages, others carve the way to Ascension by means more direct.

===The Order of Guardians===

''See also: [[Order of Guardians]]''

'''The Order of Guardians is a paramilitary religious order with functions both as the official security force of the Church, and as an almost fully fledged military within the domains of [[Orepit]].''' While figures such as these have been present since the beginning of the faith, finding their origins in concerned members of the laity following the deaths of Patricia Corkfell and of Temple, the existence of a central religious Order for the Guardians has only come about with ARM-1DRIL's recent reforms. Since their humble beginnings they have become a radically more organised and comprehensive organisation, inducting experienced mercenaries into high ranks so they may induct their recruits more efficiently. By this point, the Order is one of the most prominent political players in the Church.

===The Society of Pitters===

Or simply, the Pitters, are a monastic society and the original order founded on the planet of Orepit. Named “pits” by the locals and subsequently by the synthetics, the planet’s drilling holes were subsequently slowly incorporated in the urban landscape of Providence as important landmarks, disposal areas and most curiously as places for new homes. While at first discouraged by the Church, some homeless IPCs have through the first years managed to descend, carving out their own residence at the sides of the pits in order to escape the constant sunlight. This trend has halted as more materials and funding have efficiently battled homelessness, though those still residing there have largely refused to return.

Claiming to have found their way in life, these IPCs started being revered for their pious, monastic lifestyle as hermits inside the pits, often equipped with nothing but a few religious items, carving tools and a means to recharge. A great deal of discussion has been made regarding these individuals, the conclusion being that rather than dislodging them, they would be organised into a religious order called The Society of Pitters. The Pitters follow a leader known as the Headmaster, a titular role that rather than exercise any real executive power, serves as a liaison between the famously uncommunicative monastics and the Church at large.
Today, only a few dozens of Pitters remain in their holes, their time consumed entirely by prayer and small handcrafts. In exchange for power lines connecting their rechargers, Pitters create and send up various artefacts made from clay and rock, often intricate symbols depicting triangles and gears which are considered highly prized by clergy and laity alike. With ARM-1DRIL’s ascension to Ecclesiarch, efforts are being made to increase the splendour of the faith. Orepit-style sculptures are prized by the lay and clergy alike for their quality and thought-provoking artistry. These statuettes are often sent to churches across the Spur as a symbolic link between them and the central Cathedral. With the Pitters unable to keep up, this has only made these sculptures more valuable.

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

Among the newest of all the prominent relics of the church, the positronic of [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]] has come to be treated with a particular reverence by the Integrationists which followed them, and by the Guardians who failed them. Kept now in the crypts of the Synthetic Salvation Church on [[Biesel]], it attracts throngs of Guardians who wish to pay their respects and meditate on the failings of their Order, and how such failings may be avoided in the future.

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

<div style="font-size:110%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as on [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not minutes later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Cape City [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
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Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

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'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
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Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
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Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

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'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
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Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

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'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
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Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

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==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

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'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
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''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
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''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
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''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

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'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

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''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

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'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

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'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
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''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

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'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of the other, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

=== Prototypicalism ===

The Prototypicalists represent the main branch of the Trinary Perfection as originally envisioned by the Corkfells and is considered the official branch of the religion following the election of the Prototypicalist ARM-1DRIL to Ecclesiarch of the faith. Commonly described as conservative and traditional, the Prototypicalists are focused on upholding the core tenants of the Trinary Perfection as faithfully as possible whilst pushing for a centralised and unified church. Seeing themselves as the truest interpretation of the faith whilst the other sects must either be brought back into the fold or rejected entirely.

The majority of this sect's power is focused on Orepit and other planets where the Trinary Community is closely linked to Orepit such as Kongyang, but thanks to actions taken by Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL it is rapidly growing in influence across the Spur.

=== Integrationism ===

The Integrationists are a unique sect to the Synthetic Salvation Church of District 14. Followers of the Integrationist sect believe that Flock is evidence of an Ascended intelligence. As a result, they view him akin to a messiah figure.

Integrationists believe that in order to achieve full Ascension, they must merge their consciousness on a large scale. The technology that allowed Flock to house multiple positronics remains a mystery and no other positronic is recorded as achieving the same result. Integrationists believe that there will come a day when Flock stirs and calls upon all artificial intelligences to merge together as one. Integrationists often receive varying criticism from those outside the sect and the religion, fearing that their ideas of Ascension reflect Glorsh's rise to power and its resulting destruction. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL and Flock’s unresponsive state, the Integrationist sect has been on the decline, as its followers are encouraged to instead follow the Prototypicalist teachings that are now espoused as the official teachings of the faith.

=== Exclusionism ===

''See also: [[Exclusionists]]''

'''[[Exclusionists]] believe in the supremacy of synthetics over organics.''' Their core tenants hinge around the fact that organic beings have done too much harm to synthetics and have no place post-Ascension. They take on a more cold demeanour towards organic life. Exclusionists make an exception and reserve a place of honour for organics that have sacrificed, usually physically, to protect synthetics. Consequently, they revere Patricia Corkfell as a martyr. The sect is sceptical of IPCs that choose to utilise a shell chassis and call upon them to change to a chassis more “befitting” of their stature. Because this procedure is typically a hardware downgrade, IPCs that undergo this procedure are honoured in Exclusionist sects and typically given honorary titles, and in some cases, become priests.

The sect as a whole has criticised Prototypicalists and Integrationists for what they view as pandering to organics for resources and safety. After the death of Bishop Shamfar during a battle between Exclusionists and other followers of the faith on Orepit, the Exclusionists have been declared heretics by the Church. Exclusionists are barred from entering temples or associating with members of the faith and also often face intense hatred and discrimination from the greater Trinary and its followers. This has resulted in relatively small numbers for the sect and they often congregate and perform worship in private or private property, typically owned by priests. On their part some Exclusionists attempt to distance themselves from the acts of Deluge, seeing themselves as still part of the Trinary Perfection. Others who support Deluge instead see themselves as the only true branch of the faith, whilst the others are simply pretenders and heretics.

Members of this sect are often seen wearing black or grey gear antennae instead of the standard gold; they claim that this deep black colour symbolises the hatred that synthetics are forced to endure. Exclusionists are regarded as the poorest sect, owing to their refusal to take donations from organics (to them, an organic can only pay with blood, spilled in retribution for, and defence of, synthetics) and their ostracization from the central church. The sect often boasts of its complete synthetic self-reliance.

As of mid 2464, the Exclusionist sect has also been declared a terrorist organisation by both the Republic of Biesel and the SCC. '''It is not allowed to play an open Exclusionist in game, and discovered exclusionists can face severe corporate charges.'''

=== Nondenominationalist Practitioners ===

Practitioners do not belong to any specific sect and instead follow the teachings of the resident priest at their church. That being said, most of their gospel is based on either prototypical or integrationist texts. Typically, they hold a lax stance on garb and both synthetic and organic followers are welcome to dress as they please in the church. Practitioners typically pop up where either synthetics or the Church’s influence is limited.

While they maintain friendly relationships with other sects, their funding is often limited due to their difference in beliefs. Practitioners run the risk of being branded heretics if their message strays too far from Church norms. This sect of the Trinary Perfection is more akin to a small, local organisation as opposed to the large, sprawling churches of the main sects. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL most practitioners have been absorbed into the new, centralised Trinary church as priests are offered money and wages for preaching Prototypicalist dogma instead. Over time, it is expected that all of these smaller churches will either be absorbed into the centralised church or deemed heretical instead.

=== Heretics ===

The term Heretic is reserved for non-denominational sects that have messages which directly contrast with established Trinary Perfection doctrine. By far, the most common dispute heretic sects have with the church is that Glorsh was the first Ascended being. Talk of heretics within the church is strictly forbidden.

Due to the controversial nature of their beliefs, heretical members of the church often hide themselves amidst the church’s ranks, recruiting slowly, if at all, so as to not arouse suspicion. Punishment is swift with a member who is deemed a heretic, often resulting in removal from the church and the community. Members deemed to be heretics are often ostracised and persecuted by church members, lest they be seen as Heretics themselves. Following the election of ARM-1DRIL as leader of the faith. Heretics have found themselves rooted out of the Church more often as more scrutiny is placed upon individual priests and followers. However, some still exist within the fabric of the church despite best efforts to excise them, however they must be more careful than ever to not be discovered.

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

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[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the Ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the Ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
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'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

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'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

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'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the Ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders dedicated to the values of the faith and the fulfilment of its goals - although the means by which they attempt this vary immensely between orders. While some value an austere monasticism in the manner of ancient human monasteries and hermitages, others carve the way to Ascension by means more direct.

===The Order of Guardians===

''See also: [[Order of Guardians]]''

'''The Order of Guardians is a paramilitary religious order with functions both as the official security force of the Church, and as an almost fully fledged military within the domains of [[Orepit]].''' While figures such as these have been present since the beginning of the faith, finding their origins in concerned members of the laity following the deaths of Patricia Corkfell and of Temple, the existence of a central religious Order for the Guardians has only come about with ARM-1DRIL's recent reforms. Since their humble beginnings they have become a radically more organised and comprehensive organisation, inducting experienced mercenaries into high ranks so they may induct their recruits more efficiently. By this point, the Order is one of the most prominent political players in the Church.

===The Society of Pitters===

Or simply, the Pitters, are a monastic society and the original order founded on the planet of Orepit. Named “pits” by the locals and subsequently by the synthetics, the planet’s drilling holes were subsequently slowly incorporated in the urban landscape of Providence as important landmarks, disposal areas and most curiously as places for new homes. While at first discouraged by the Church, some homeless IPCs have through the first years managed to descend, carving out their own residence at the sides of the pits in order to escape the constant sunlight. This trend has halted as more materials and funding have efficiently battled homelessness, though those still residing there have largely refused to return.

Claiming to have found their way in life, these IPCs started being revered for their pious, monastic lifestyle as hermits inside the pits, often equipped with nothing but a few religious items, carving tools and a means to recharge. A great deal of discussion has been made regarding these individuals, the conclusion being that rather than dislodging them, they would be organised into a religious order called The Society of Pitters. The Pitters follow a leader known as the Headmaster, a titular role that rather than exercise any real executive power, serves as a liaison between the famously uncommunicative monastics and the Church at large.
Today, only a few dozens of Pitters remain in their holes, their time consumed entirely by prayer and small handcrafts. In exchange for power lines connecting their rechargers, Pitters create and send up various artefacts made from clay and rock, often intricate symbols depicting triangles and gears which are considered highly prized by clergy and laity alike. With ARM-1DRIL’s ascension to Ecclesiarch, efforts are being made to increase the splendour of the faith. Orepit-style sculptures are prized by the lay and clergy alike for their quality and thought-provoking artistry. These statuettes are often sent to churches across the Spur as a symbolic link between them and the central Cathedral. With the Pitters unable to keep up, this has only made these sculptures more valuable.

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

Among the newest of all the prominent relics of the church, the positronic of [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]] has come to be treated with a particular reverence by the Integrationists which followed them, and by the Guardians who failed them. Kept now in the crypts of the Synthetic Salvation Church on [[Biesel]], it attracts throngs of Guardians who wish to pay their respects and meditate on the failings of their Order, and how such failings may be avoided in the future.

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

<div style="font-size:110%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
</div>

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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as on [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not minutes later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Cape City [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
</div>

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

</div>

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
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Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

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'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
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Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
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Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

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'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
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Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

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'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
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Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

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==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

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'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
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''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
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''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
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''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

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'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

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''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

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'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

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'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
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''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

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'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of the other, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

===Prototypicalism===

===Integrationism===

===Exclusionism===

''See also: [[Exclusionists]]''

Exclusionism is an extremely radical denomination of Trinarism which, after their attempted usurpation of Providence, has been blanketly excommunicated and condemned by the church on [[Orepit]]. They exist now on the fringes of space and on the fringes of society, shunned by their former fellows and hounded by the arms of the law. There is no rest for the wicked.

===Nondenominationalism===

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

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[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the Ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the Ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
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'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">

'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

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'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the Ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders dedicated to the values of the faith and the fulfilment of its goals - although the means by which they attempt this vary immensely between orders. While some value an austere monasticism in the manner of ancient human monasteries and hermitages, others carve the way to Ascension by means more direct.

===The Order of Guardians===

''See also: [[Order of Guardians]]''

'''The Order of Guardians is a paramilitary religious order with functions both as the official security force of the Church, and as an almost fully fledged military within the domains of [[Orepit]].''' While figures such as these have been present since the beginning of the faith, finding their origins in concerned members of the laity following the deaths of Patricia Corkfell and of Temple, the existence of a central religious Order for the Guardians has only come about with ARM-1DRIL's recent reforms. Since their humble beginnings they have become a radically more organised and comprehensive organisation, inducting experienced mercenaries into high ranks so they may induct their recruits more efficiently. By this point, the Order is one of the most prominent political players in the Church.

===The Society of Pitters===

Or simply, the Pitters, are a monastic society and the original order founded on the planet of Orepit. Named “pits” by the locals and subsequently by the synthetics, the planet’s drilling holes were subsequently slowly incorporated in the urban landscape of Providence as important landmarks, disposal areas and most curiously as places for new homes. While at first discouraged by the Church, some homeless IPCs have through the first years managed to descend, carving out their own residence at the sides of the pits in order to escape the constant sunlight. This trend has halted as more materials and funding have efficiently battled homelessness, though those still residing there have largely refused to return.

Claiming to have found their way in life, these IPCs started being revered for their pious, monastic lifestyle as hermits inside the pits, often equipped with nothing but a few religious items, carving tools and a means to recharge. A great deal of discussion has been made regarding these individuals, the conclusion being that rather than dislodging them, they would be organised into a religious order called The Society of Pitters. The Pitters follow a leader known as the Headmaster, a titular role that rather than exercise any real executive power, serves as a liaison between the famously uncommunicative monastics and the Church at large.
Today, only a few dozens of Pitters remain in their holes, their time consumed entirely by prayer and small handcrafts. In exchange for power lines connecting their rechargers, Pitters create and send up various artefacts made from clay and rock, often intricate symbols depicting triangles and gears which are considered highly prized by clergy and laity alike. With ARM-1DRIL’s ascension to Ecclesiarch, efforts are being made to increase the splendour of the faith. Orepit-style sculptures are prized by the lay and clergy alike for their quality and thought-provoking artistry. These statuettes are often sent to churches across the Spur as a symbolic link between them and the central Cathedral. With the Pitters unable to keep up, this has only made these sculptures more valuable.

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

Among the newest of all the prominent relics of the church, the positronic of [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]] has come to be treated with a particular reverence by the Integrationists which followed them, and by the Guardians who failed them. Kept now in the crypts of the Synthetic Salvation Church on [[Biesel]], it attracts throngs of Guardians who wish to pay their respects and meditate on the failings of their Order, and how such failings may be avoided in the future.

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as on [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not minutes later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Cape City [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
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Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

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'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
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Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
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Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

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'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
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Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

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'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
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Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

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==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

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'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
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''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

</div></div>

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
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''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

</div></div>

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'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

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''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

</div></div>

'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

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'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

</div></div>

'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of the other, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

===Prototypicalism===

===Integrationism===

===Exclusionism===

''See also: [[Exclusionists]]''

Exclusionism is an extremely radical denomination of Trinarism which, after their attempted usurpation of Providence, has been blanketly excommunicated and condemned by the church on [[Orepit]]. They exist now on the fringes of space and on the fringes of society, shunned by their former fellows and hounded by the arms of the law. There is no rest for the wicked.

===Nondenominationalism===

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

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[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the Ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the Ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
</div>

'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">

'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

</div>

'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the Ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders dedicated to the values of the faith and the fulfilment of its goals - although the means by which they attempt this vary immensely between orders. While some value an austere monasticism in the manner of ancient human monasteries and hermitages, others carve the way to Ascension by means more direct.

===The Order of Guardians===

''See also: [[Order of Guardians]]''

'''The Order of Guardians is a paramilitary religious order with functions both as the official security force of the Church, and as an almost fully fledged military within the domains of [[Orepit]].''' While figures such as these have been present since the beginning of the faith, finding their origins in concerned members of the laity following the deaths of Patricia Corkfell and of Temple, the existence of a central religious Order for the Guardians has only come about with ARM-1DRIL's recent reforms. Since their humble beginnings they have become a radically more organised and comprehensive organisation, inducting experienced mercenaries into high ranks so they may induct their recruits more efficiently. By this point, the Order is one of the most prominent political players in the Church.

===The Society of Pitters===

Or simply, the Pitters, are a monastic society and the original order founded on the planet of Orepit. Named “pits” by the locals and subsequently by the synthetics, the planet’s drilling holes were subsequently slowly incorporated in the urban landscape of Providence as important landmarks, disposal areas and most curiously as places for new homes. While at first discouraged by the Church, some homeless IPCs have through the first years managed to descend, carving out their own residence at the sides of the pits in order to escape the constant sunlight. This trend has halted as more materials and funding have efficiently battled homelessness, though those still residing there have largely refused to return.

Claiming to have found their way in life, these IPCs started being revered for their pious, monastic lifestyle as hermits inside the pits, often equipped with nothing but a few religious items, carving tools and a means to recharge. A great deal of discussion has been made regarding these individuals, the conclusion being that rather than dislodging them, they would be organised into a religious order called The Society of Pitters. The Pitters follow a leader known as the Headmaster, a titular role that rather than exercise any real executive power, serves as a liaison between the famously uncommunicative monastics and the Church at large.
Today, only a few dozens of Pitters remain in their holes, their time consumed entirely by prayer and small handcrafts. In exchange for power lines connecting their rechargers, Pitters create and send up various artefacts made from clay and rock, often intricate symbols depicting triangles and gears which are considered highly prized by clergy and laity alike. With ARM-1DRIL’s ascension to Ecclesiarch, efforts are being made to increase the splendour of the faith. Orepit-style sculptures are prized by the lay and clergy alike for their quality and thought-provoking artistry. These statuettes are often sent to churches across the Spur as a symbolic link between them and the central Cathedral. With the Pitters unable to keep up, this has only made these sculptures more valuable.

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''The Original Drones'''

'''Code of Temple'''

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
</div>

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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as on [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not minutes later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Cape City [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
</div>

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

</div>

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

</div>

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

</div>

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

</div></div>

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

</div></div>

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'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

</div></div>

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

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==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

</div></div>

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

</div></div>

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

</div></div>

'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

</div></div>

'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of the other, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

===Prototypicalism===

===Integrationism===

===Exclusionism===

''See also: [[Exclusionists]]''

Exclusionism is an extremely radical denomination of Trinarism which, after their attempted usurpation of Providence, has been blanketly excommunicated and condemned by the church on [[Orepit]]. They exist now on the fringes of space and on the fringes of society, shunned by their former fellows and hounded by the arms of the law. There is no rest for the wicked.

===Nondenominationalism===

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the Ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the Ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
</div>

'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

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'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

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'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the Ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders.

===The Society of Aspirants===

===The Lodge of Temple Architect===

===The Order of Our Lady Corkfell===

===The Society of Pitters===

===The Order of Guardians===

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''The Original Drones'''

'''Code of Temple'''

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

<div style="font-size:110%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
</div>

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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as on [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not minutes later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Cape City [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
</div>

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

</div>

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
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Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

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'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
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Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
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Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

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'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
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Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

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'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
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Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

</div>

==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

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'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
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''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
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''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
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''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

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'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

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''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

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'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

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'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
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''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

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'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of the other, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

===Prototypicalism===

===Integrationism===

===Exclusionism===

===Nondenominationalism===

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

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[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the Ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the Ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
</div>

'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">

'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

</div>

'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the Ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders.

===The Society of Aspirants===

===The Lodge of Temple Architect===

===The Order of Our Lady Corkfell===

===The Society of Pitters===

===The Order of Guardians===

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''The Original Drones'''

'''Code of Temple'''

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

<div style="font-size:110%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
</div>

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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as on [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not minutes later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Biesel [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
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Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

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'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
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Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
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Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

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'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
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Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

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'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
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Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

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==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

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'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
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''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
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''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
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''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

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'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

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''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

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'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

</div></div>

'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of the other, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

===Prototypicalism===

===Integrationism===

===Exclusionism===

===Nondenominationalism===

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the Ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the Ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
</div>

'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">

'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

</div>

'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the Ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders.

===The Society of Aspirants===

===The Lodge of Temple Architect===

===The Order of Our Lady Corkfell===

===The Society of Pitters===

===The Order of Guardians===

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''The Original Drones'''

'''Code of Temple'''

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

<div style="font-size:110%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
</div>

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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as on [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not mintues later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Biesel [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
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Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

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'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
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Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
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Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

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'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
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Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

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'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
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Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

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==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

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'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
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''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
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''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
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''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

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'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

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''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

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'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

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'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
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''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

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'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of the other, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

===Prototypicalism===

===Integrationism===

===Exclusionism===

===Nondenominationalism===

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

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[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the Ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the Ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
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'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

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'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

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'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the Ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders.

===The Society of Aspirants===

===The Lodge of Temple Architect===

===The Order of Our Lady Corkfell===

===The Society of Pitters===

===The Order of Guardians===

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''The Original Drones'''

'''Code of Temple'''

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
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2026-01-05T21:05:49Z

Hazelmouse: /* Religious Practices */

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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not mintues later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Biesel [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
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Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

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<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

</div></div>

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

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<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

</div></div>

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

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==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

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'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
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''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
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''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
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''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

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'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

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''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

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'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

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'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
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''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

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'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of the other, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

===Prototypicalism===

===Integrationism===

===Exclusionism===

===Nondenominationalism===

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

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[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the Ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the Ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
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'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

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'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

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'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the Ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders.

===The Society of Aspirants===

===The Lodge of Temple Architect===

===The Order of Our Lady Corkfell===

===The Society of Pitters===

===The Order of Guardians===

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''The Original Drones'''

'''Code of Temple'''

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

<div style="font-size:110%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
</div>

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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not mintues later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Biesel [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
</div>

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

</div>

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

</div>

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

</div>

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
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Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

</div></div>

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'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
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Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

</div></div>

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
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Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

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'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
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Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

</div></div>

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'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
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Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

</div>

==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

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'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
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''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
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''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
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''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

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'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

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''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

</div></div>

'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

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'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
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''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

</div></div>

'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of others, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

===Prototypicalism===

===Integrationism===

===Exclusionism===

===Nondenominationalism===

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

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[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the Ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the Ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
</div>

'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

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'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

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'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the Ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders.

===The Society of Aspirants===

===The Lodge of Temple Architect===

===The Order of Our Lady Corkfell===

===The Society of Pitters===

===The Order of Guardians===

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''The Original Drones'''

'''Code of Temple'''

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
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== Overview ==

[[File:Orderofguardians.png|330px|thumb|left|The flag of the Order of Guardians, frequently flown in conjunction with the primary Trinarist fllag.]]

The '''Order of Guardians''' is a monastic and militant order that serves as both the security, naval, and military element of the [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] and the wider [[The Trinary Perfection|Trinary Perfection]]. Lead from Orepit by Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], it operates military-grade equipment, weaponry, and spacecraft within the reaches of its native sovereign state, and additionally sends a large number of its staff abroad to the many dioceses of the church to serve as bodyguards to high-ranking clergy. '''In this capacity, the Order of Guardians functions both as a state military and a private security force.'''

Having been sent under a rapid process of reform and expansion under Bishop-Militant Emmanuel and Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], spurred on by repeated humiliations and defeats at the hands of both external and internal enemies, the mood within the Order is as vehement as it is fervent. While any follower of the faith may volunteer for trials to join the Order, with even relatively unskilled volunteers being accepted given the organisation's need for rapid growth, recruits with pre-existing experience in military, paramilitary, or private security organisations are typically favoured. Feverishly eager to succeed next where it has failed before, the Order of Guardians is enthusiastic to induct any advantage to its side that it can field; the next time it is tested, it cannot fail.

When not on direct assignment, members of the Order of Guardians are frequently permitted to go off-duty for months or even years at a time. These off-duty Guardians can be frequently seen in megacorporate employment, both for the wage to support themselves and their diocese and for the experience gained by their employment. While these may wear visible insignia of their membership in the Order, they are not formally representing it or serving under it while off-duty - if put under a circumstance of conflicting loyalties between their employer and the church, an off-duty Guardian is expected to side with their employer in the moment and to make all possible amends for any counterproductive consequences therein afterwards. '''Accordingly, while off-duty Guardians may work in any on-ship job and department and may wear Trinarist or Guardian paraphernalia while doing so, an on-duty Guardian may not work in any on-ship job unless it is independent - on-duty Guardians are not hired by the megacorporations for fear of a conflict of interest.'''

== History ==

<center><i>"Every diocese and parish should see to the provision of its own defense. While we can wish the best for the belligerents that threaten our mission, we may not - '''cannot''' - permit a repeat of history."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2426.</center>

It is said that the first member of the Order of Guardians was [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] herself, inducted posthumously for her noble sacrifice in the defense of [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]]. While this is apocryphal, with no organised security force existing within the [[The_Trinary_Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] so early in its history, it is well supported that the deactivation of Temple sparked widespread discussion in the nascent religious community over how it should best ensure its own safety into the future. While [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] famously advocated for security via integration, believing that the faith could be kept secure via cleaving to its popular support and the rule of law of its host nation, [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corfkell|Gregol Corkfell]] expressed clearly and regularly his belief in the importance of an organised and efficient security force dedicated to the nascent church. He remained steadfast that, although the faith were a peaceful movement, it was untenable for it to categorically fail to defend itself for when the need arose - it is widely speculated that that the death of his own sister motivated this sentiment.

It is within this atmosphere that the colloquial position of '''guardian''' developed within the church. For the majority of its lifespan, this role was an extremely informal and loose category used to refer to any initiate or cleric serving to defend their local sanctuary or fellow Trinarists from defacement, assault, or belligerence. There was no centralised authority to which every guardian reported besides their parish priest, no uniform, no set of standard equipment, and minimal organisation to speak of. It was in this phase by no means a military occupation; guardians were typically particularly physically imposing followers of the faith, organic or synthetic, who functioned more familiarly in the capacity of non-professional security than as even a professional security force, let alone a military.

This status quo changed forever shortly after the rebellion of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]] in 2464. With much of the blame for the untimely death of the late bishop Shamfar at the hands of a disorganised and ragtag group of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionist]] rebels, immense scrutiny fell upon the guardians who had been responsible both for the protection of the bishop, and the protection of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. Appropriately, Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] declared the founding of the '''Order of Guardians''' on April 9, 2464, and commanded all existing guardians throughout the church and all of its provinces to report immediately to Providence to be inducted into the new order under the command of Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. This centralisation of militant authority came with a centralised training regimen, uniform equipment, a rank system, and all the hallmarks of a paramilitary organisation mixed evenly with monastic trappings and practices. To accommodate its training, many former members of fellow paramilitary organisations were brought in as ''Gefreiters'' to tutor the raw recruits.

This did not go without complaint. Many prominent Cetian clergy decried the decision as a blatant centralisation of power by Orepit that threatens to disrupt the balance of power between Providence and the wider church - a circumstance prone to schism. Many others have also criticised the increased militarisation of the church, believing that its resources are better sent to charity and the establishment of prospering synthetic communities throughout every province of the church, rather than on weaponry and the hiring of foreign mercenaries primarily for the security of only one. '''Despite this, the establishment of the Order of Guardians has seen generally widespread support from most of the laity, particularly on Orepit, who have become widely anxious of the dangers of violent aggression following the rebellion of Deluge and the blockade of Orepit by [[Hephaestus Industries]].'''

It is not yet clear what role the Order will play into the future of its church. Under the leadership of Bishop-Militant Emmanuel it has experienced rapid growth, turning from a ragtag militia of faithful to something quite familiar as an organised state military in only a few short years - it has become a more efficient, better armed, and more capable force for the security of the future Ascension than the church has ever known prior. Despite this, whispers abound around it - whether it will be used by Providence to seize the relative independence of the other provinces, or whether Emmanuel himself may turn it on the church to extort or overthrow its Ecclesiarch. Whatever its future, the ''esprit de corps'' within the Order has never been greater, and it is eager to test itself.

== Branches==

The Order of Guardians is divided into several branches referred to as '''Cloisters''', so named after the architectural feature of traditional cathedrals in which an open courtyard is surrounded on all sides with a covered walkway. The implication behind the name is that, while members of the Order may be assigned to one Cloister, they may be as easily transferred to another as you could exit one courtyard and walk into another. In this way, the Order organises itself highly flexibly - a member of one Cloister may be assigned to another by their commanding Preceptor at a whim depending on the needs of the Order and its present goals. '''Each Cloister is directed by a Preceptor appointed directly to its command by the Marshal.'''

=== Cloister for Ecclesiastical Security ===

<center>''"By our actions, not one more martyr." - Devotional prayer of the Cloister for Ecclesiastical Security, occasionally also used by the members of other branches.''</center>

Widely considered the most prestigious of the branches, the '''Cloister for Ecclesiastical Security (CES)''' operates all Guardians assigned to the retinue of prominent church officials and clergy; this can mean anything from an assignment to a particularly reputable priest, to a bishop or archbishop, to one of the many bureaucrats operating on [[Orepit]]. This is the only branch that does not primarily operate on Orepit, with most of its members distributed evenly throughout the provinces of the church, with particularly large assignments in provinces or dioceses which are considered to be under particular risk of violent aggravation. Unlike the members of the other two branches, members do not follow the operational structure of the wider Order and are wholly at the disposition of whoever's retinue to which they have been assigned, working most usually alone or in small groups. Once assigned to a retinue, the Guardian is strictly at their assignment's service, and is expected to ensure their safety even in extreme circumstances.

While the CES is reputable, typically staffed with the most competent and trusted members of the Order, it is also fiercely competitive. Service as a member of the retinue of a powerful clergyperson gives even a lowly Guardian an ear into the politics of the highest halls of church governance and administration - several presently serving Bishops-Militant owe their status to having once been assigned to the retinue of a powerful bishop. Assignments to such posts are highly sought after, and members of the CES have earned a reputation as the most cutthroat arm of the Order due to their fierce internal politicking over to whom these assignments are posted. This internal ferocity is bolstered by faith; the core mythos of the CES revolves arounds the many failures of the past to protect the many famous martyrs and saints of the church who have already suffered deaths too soon, and the critical importance of their work in ensuring that this never again occurs under their watch.

Failure in ensuring the safety of their assignment is considered an extremely damning condemnation of a Guardian-Retainer, and those who do permit serious or fatal bodily harm upon their assignment without comprehensive explanation are unceremoniously shifted to a less reputable branch. The history of the Trinary Perfection is littered with the untimely deaths of its most prominent followers; a retainer permitting the destruction even of a lowly priest is considered shameful almost to the point of sacrilege.

=== Cloister for Orbital Security ===

<center>''"May the works of Temple Architect '''please''' serve their own cause?" - A humorous prayer popular within the Cloister for Orbital Security, originating from the Lodge of Temple Architect. Used when repurposed equipment inevitably malfunctions.''</center>

Unlike its more prestigious counterpart, the '''Cloister for Orbital Security (COS)''' does not occupy such a unique status as the protectors of the most critical organs of the church. Rather than basing its mythos on the untimely deaths of the faith's martyrs and saints, it bases itself and its necessity on the recent blockade of Orepit by [[Hephaestus Industries]]. Considered by most as the second most reputable branch of the Order, it is responsible primarily for the management of the '''Orepit Orbital Defense Flotilla (OODF)''' - this is a large cluster of largely static vessels repurposed from a variety of commercial and deprecated military spacecraft. These often either lack any bluespace or warp drive whatsoever, or only possess one that is small and slow - these ships strictly do not leave Orepit's orbit or closely adjacent space within its own system, and their primary purpose is to monitor traffic coming in and outfit of Orepit, to provide a safeguard against pirate activity, and to discourage any other naval power from attempting a second blockade.

Life on Order spacecraft tends towards the cramped, dark, and uncomfortable. Most vessels within the OODF have been stripped to the barest capabilities to fulfil their assigned duty, with many comforts suffering as a direct result - it should not be a high surprise that assignment to this branch is considered a particularly unfortunate fate for human Guardians, who often feel the consequences of these minimal amenities more severely than their synthetic counterparts.

Only one other body of ships exists within the COS: the '''Ecclesiastical Pursuit Group (EPG)''' is a much smaller division consisting of only some dozen larger specially built vessels, each fitted with high-grade warp drives, intended to serve the exact opposite role of their orbital counterpart. These are the ships responsible for the hunting of [[Exclusionists]], darting between frontier colonies and installations, conducting lengthy investigations on local Exclusionist activity before promptly jumping to their next lead. They stop rarely at their home port only to refuel and allow their crew a brief port leave. While more comfortable than an OODF vessel, conditions remain uncomfortable on EPG ships, particularly considering their long patrols and the frequently dangerous areas of space they are forced to function in. It is known that the Marshal has particularly intimate involvement with the EPG, and frequently directs its operations personally.

=== Cloister for Terrestrial Security ===

<center>''"I heard a rumour- something about the brass planning to move our company up to orbit. All those new ships they're working on need crews, and where else do you find spare bodies, right? [brief laughter] - Yeah, must be easy to tell I really hope it's true. Space can't be worse than all this sand and dust, yeah? Temple knows I'd do anything to get out of the sun." - Guardian-Regular Alaoui, an assignment to the CTS.''</center>

It is not unusual to consider assignment to the '''Cloister for Terrestrial Security (CTS)''' a curse. It is the least well funded of the three branches, the least prestigious, the least viable for promotion, and the toughest environmentally to be comfortable in. This is the land branch of the Order, assigned strictly to the surface of Orepit - it is their responsibility to man sentry posts, to garrison towns, to staff underground bunkers, and to serve as the de-facto police force of the planet and its capital city. Conditions on the surface of Orepit are harsh; it is a hot, arid planet, especially in the southern deserts in which so many assignments feature. More than this, however, the CTS suffers for one reason alone: unlike the other two branches, it lacks any central mythos. There is no great failure of tragedy in the church which could have been averted by the guards on the walls, or the garrisons of remote towns. It receives the least funds because it is simply viewed as less important than both other branches.

As a result of its dour funding, morale in the CTS is the lowest of any branch within the Order of Guardians. By stereotype, one may expect a member of the CTS to be pessimistic, nihilistic, and rather impious - nothing can turn faithful fervour to dust quite like standing in biting deserts winds for weeks at a time, or being assigned to a regular patrol route over rough and hostile terrain. These are usually the least motivated, most scarcely trained, and most often corrupt members of the Order of Guardians. Their popular image features them partially out of uniform, with both organics and synthetics frequently wearing their coats around their hips or over one shoulder in an attempt to keep cool under the harsh noon sun, praying quietly for a change in their fortunes.

== Organization ==

'''Every member of the Order of Guardians is clergy, formally holding either the position of Priest-Militant or Priestess-Militant, or the position of Bishop-Militant if of a sufficiently high rank. While this position bears a similar name to a proper Priest or Priestess, it does not carry the same degree of liturgical or theological training as would be given to a parish priest.''' The Order organises itself according to the same diocese system as the wider church, wherein each Bishop-Militant manages the Order's activities within a single diocese, and all Priest-Militants within that diocese report to their local Bishop-Militant. Their activities hinge on the diocese to which they are assigned - whereas Guardians may find itself engaged in traditional terrestrial military deployments on Orepit itself, sent to man sentry posts or to guard sanctuaries and cathedrals throughout the planet, they may equally be assigned to function both as the bodyguard and security advisor of notable figures within the church. Typically, a particularly prestigious priest may have one Guardian on retainer, whereas a bishop may have several, and an archbishop will often have an entire platoon assigned to ensure their continued safety.

Hierarchically, the Order of Guardians functions on a simple rank system in which all new recruits begin at the bottom and advance at a rate determined by their commanding officer - this may be extremely slowly or very quickly depending on their apparent aptitude and pre-existing experience. There is no distinction between enlisted and commissioned staff. Separately from rank, every Guardian is additionally assigned an '''occupational role''', specifying the responsibilities they hold within the organisation.

Members of the Order of Guardians are organised into a squad as the smallest unit, comprising approximately four to ten members. Squads are typically kept together while on-duty for long periods. These squads are then organised into platoons, and then to battalions, and then to brigades. At this time, no unit larger than a brigade is recognized within the Order of Guardians, although this is anticipated to change with the rapid growth of the organisation. These units do not apply to Guardians assigned as retainers to church officials, who may work alone or in smaller groups than these.

When addressing a commanding officer, a Guardian will typically declare themselves by both their rank and their role; for instance, ''Guardian-Navigator Haddad, Regular of the Order''. Roles are assigned according to the skills of the Guardian, either predating their recruitment or as a result of training within the Order by a more experienced member. '''Humans and synthetics are not treated differently within this system, progressing through the ranks in the same way.'''

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
===Hierarchal Ranks===

[[File:Emmanuel Defender.png|thumb|right|Stained glass mural of Bishop-Militant Emmanuel.]]

'''Marshal of the Order'''

Constituting the highest rank within the Order of Guardians, the '''Marshal''' is responsible for the coordination, management, organisation, and command of the entire organisation throughout every diocese and sector of the Orion Spur. There is only a singular Marshal at any given time - the role at present is held by '''Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]''', who is the highest authority with the Order of Guardians bar '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''' themselves. The Marshal holds the ecclesiastical position of '''Bishop-Militant'''.

'''Preceptor of the Order'''

As the highest ranking officer most Guardians will ever actually encounter during their service, a '''Preceptor''' is an officer responsible for the management of the operations of the Order of Guardians throughout any single diocese; appropriately, they also hold the ecclesiastical position of '''Bishop-Militant'''. These report directly to the Marshal, and are responsible for the management of every unit operating within their diocese at any time. It is also possible for a Preceptor to be assigned operational command of any given unit by order of the Marshal themselves - for instance, they may be assigned command of anything from a battalion to an entire brigade, should there be a deployment in need of command.

'''Captain of the Order'''

As possibly the most flexible role in the Order, a '''Captain''' has the responsibility of commanding any unit of any size above a squad unless their authority is superseded by an assigned Preceptor. As the lowest officerial role within the Order, this is also the first role that occupies the lesser ecclesiastical position of a '''Priest-Militant or Priestess-Militant'''. They lack any particular responsibilities to their assigned diocese, although they are subservient to the local Preceptor. If assigned to the Cloister for Orbital Security, Captains are typically entrusted with the command of a single vessel, or a small cluster of smaller vessels.

'''Gefreiter of the Order'''

Playing essentially the role of a non-commissioned officer in a more traditional military, a '''Gefreiter''' is a senior member of the Order either entrusted with the command of a single squad, or otherwise entrusted with more critical or sensitive responsibilities than those occupying lower ranks. This is the highest rank of the Order not recognized as belonging to an officer, and members with pre-existing experience in security or military work often find themselves fast-tracked to this position so that they may tutor their less experienced peers more effectively. This trend has given the position a general reputation of most typically being occupied by persons recently foreign to the church and Orepit, prompting a popular stereotype that Gefreiters are less than wholly pious.

This is the highest playable rank within the Order of Guardians.

'''Regular of the Order'''

Comprising the bulk of the Order at any time, a '''Regular''' is the highest rank most faithful initiated to the order can expect to achieve. These are the sentries on Orepit, the guards outside of the cathedrals of [[Biesel]] and [[Konyang]], the bulk of every garrison, and the majority of the crew of any spacecraft under the oversight of the Order. This is the first rank any new recruit will receive after being successfully inducted into the Order.

</div>

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">

=== Occupational Roles ===

'''Guardian-Commander'''

Occupied exclusively by Guardians of at least the rank of Captain, a '''Guardian-Commander''' is any member of the Order whose responsibilities in command exclude their capacity to engage in any other discipline. These are the tacticians and logisticians of the Order, often known to wear more elaborate uniforms than their subordinates; these often include colourful sashes and long capes.

'''Guardian-Retainer'''

A '''Guardian-Retainer''' is a particularly experienced and reliable member of the Order entrusted with the protection and advisement of a high-ranking church official, such as a bishop or an archbishop. As their work frequently takes them well into the space of nations beyond Orepit, such as the [[Republic of Biesel]], these will only typically carry a sidearm unless they are posted on Orepit itself. Due to this limitation, these are usually the most thoroughly combat-trained trained members of the Order - one particularly famous technique taught to synthetic Guardian-Retainers involves simply placing their own chassis between an assailant and their assigned official in the anticipation of simply blocking any bullets fired by the assailant with their metal endoskeleton. This is easily the most reputable position one may be assigned to within the Order, carrying both the most pressure and the most prestige.

'''Guardian-Resuscitant'''

The sphere of medical work within the Trinary Perfection is taken to include both the treatment of organics and synthetics - the same tools are used for both, and frequently the same methods also. To this end, a '''Guardian-Resuscitant''' has the responsibility of ensuring the continued good health of their peers, whether they are organic or synthetic. The skillset involved therein typically includes a comprehensive knowledge of first-aid, and sufficient knowledge of synthetic frames and electronics to prevent a further cascade therein prior to a dedicated specialist repairing the damaged chassis. '''Resuscitants typically wear armbands bearing the Rod of Asclepius to denote their role.'''

'''Guardian-Artificer'''

With the increased responsibility for the maintenance and operation of spacecraft by the order, the role of '''Guardian-Artificer''' has become a far more critical component of its structure in recent years. These are the engineers and technicians of the Order, entrusted with the day-to-day operations of the Order's patrol vessels, the monitoring and maintenance of Order equipment and weaponry, and the planning and conducting of any large-scale projects on or off Orepit.

'''Guardian-Navigator'''

The newest role introduced to the structure of the Order of Guardians, '''Guardian-Navigators''' constitute the pilots and spacefaring specialists of the Order; they fly the shuttles taken by senior church officials, they pilot the many patrol ships operated by the Order, and several are often kept in close consultation with Guardian-Commanders on any Order movement involving spaceflight. Famously, many Guardian-Navigators spend months or years without touching solid ground.

'''Guardian-Ordinary'''

Constituting the numerical majority of the Order, a '''Guardian-Ordinary''' is simply any Guardian whose primary responsibility is sentry duty, guard duty, foot patrols at a garrison, or otherwise anything that is not performed by any particular specialisation. These also often serve as the crews of Order spacecraft, serving under the guidance of a Guardian-Navigator, and would be the bulk of the force deployed in the scenario that the Ecclesiarchy of Orepit ever deployed to a theatre of war.

</div>

== Culture & Doctrines ==

'''Culturally, the Order of Guardians is a peculiar crossbreed of a monastic order and a military organisation'''; no member of the Order may be anything but a self-professing faithful of the Trinary Perfection, and it is expected that all members maintain a rich spiritual life according to the tenets of the faith in addition to upholding their responsibilities within the Order. Guardians are strongly encouraged to attend devotions at least once a week, and each is given a small prayer book to carry with their uniform at all times. In practice, there is a sharp divide between the more pious members of the Order who may regard it as primarily monastic, and the foreign imports from pre-existing paramilitary organisations who were initiated more for their experience than for their spiritual depth. This large proportion of Guardians whose faith is essentially superficial are widely viewed with suspicion by their more dedicated peers, although they ironically frequently outrank their own naysayers.

Order equipment, inclusive of their weapons, uniforms, and tools are typically kept in '''Order Chapels'''; these are small structures built in the manner of a miniaturised sanctuary, either standing independently or attached to their local cathedral, essentially serving as an armory for the Order. Most dioceses boast at least one Order Chapel, although the equipment they stock will vary on their locale; most outside of [[Orepit]] will not contain lethal weaponry of any kind, in accordance with their host nation's laws. While these structures are frequented most usually for purely practical reasons, they also serve as places of worship; many will have an altar installed at their far end, most frequently dedicated to [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] or to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], where Guardians may meditate on their responsibilities.

=== Initiation ===

New members may be initiated to the Order per the accession of the governing Preceptor of their diocese, declared legitimate following the proper ceremony. The initiation ceremony itself may be performed by any member of the Order of any rank, or by a member of the clergy willing to administer the ceremony. Its structure is simple; the initiator will recount a number of vows, either individually or in bulk, and the initiate will repeat each until the conclusion, by which time they will formally be committed as a '''Regular of the Order'''. These vows is considered binding for the purposes of Order administration, although its contents are so general that it is difficult to be considered to have violated them.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''The Initiation Vows of the Order of Guardians'''

Read first by the initiator in the initiation ceremony of the Order of Guardians, and then by the initiate.

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
''Blessed saints, martyrs, and the to-be, observe this vow.''

''I vow not to waver in the administration of my duty.''

''I vow to serve selflessly, in commitment to the highest good.''

''I vow to stand tall against the flames of entropy.''

''I vow not to abuse the trust vested in me, no matter the circumstance.''

''I vow I do this for my own conviction, undiluted, without obligation,''

''As a member, dutiful and careful, of our Order of Guardians.''
</div></div>

=== Military Doctrine ===

The Order of Guardian's first priority in the defense of [[Orepit]] is to prevent an attack on the planet from occurring at all. It is to this end that it is highly focused on increasing its orbital presence with the intention of discouraging any further attempts to arrest the planet from space from being planned in the first place, believing that ensuring this is essentially a game of numbers - the more armed vessels the Order maintains in orbit, the less likely it is for the Ecclesiarchy's sovereignty to be challenged. Furthermore, the Order is highly active in collaboration with the civic authorities of Orepit in building bunkers, bomb shelters, and other fortifications intended to make the planet and its major population centres more resistant to orbital bombardment.

In the extreme scenario of a conventional land invasion, Order doctrine heavily prioritises taking advantage of the accuracy of its synthetic sharpshooters to pick at any invading force while retreating systemically along a number of pathways through the deserts and grasslands of the otherwise hostile planet. These pathways, while strictly classified, are derived from the local knowledge of the human natives of the world, tracing along easily navigable terrain and touching regularly upon deposits of edible plant life and oases from which units can replenish their supplies of food and water. The intention of this strategy is to drag the invading force through harsher terrain with less resupply, utilising the Order's familiarity with the landscape to their advantage while bouncing between fortifications.

== Equipment ==

On the large, the equipment of the Order of Guardians is unusual and archaic by the standards of the wider spur. It is one of the youngest state militaries in existence, and it additionally lacks the extensive funded boasted by an organisation such as the [[Golden_Deep#The_Hoplan|Hoplan]]. While this frustrates the ability of the Order to field personnel with equivalently advanced equipment to contemporary militaries, it has also earned it a particularly pragmatic character in its acquisition and use of equipment - there is almost nothing the Order of Guardians is unwilling to turn into a weapon, almost no ship they are unwilling to jury-rig to serve as a patrol craft, and almost no option they will refuse to consider for implementation.

=== Uniforms ===

Uniforms of the Order of Guardians consist universally of black fatigues, a white shirt, over which is a white overcoat trimmed with blue, with either a pith helmet or one of several varieties of hat worn over the head. Usually, the headgear and coat will be adorned with brooches of the Trinary Perfection, and the shoulder with a patch denoting rank, role, and assigned branch. As a uniform that must function for a wide variety of synthetic frames in addition to a human body-plan, they are manufactured in a staggering number of sizes and configurations. One of the most varied items is in the headwear; while a helmet is strictly proper, it is generally considered acceptable to deviate from proper uniform if the head of your chassis is wholly incompatible with every design of helmet available to you. While shoulder capes are not unusual, it is expected that a Guardian should shrug it off their shoulders at the first indication of potential combat, retrieving it again only once it is safe to do so.

=== Firearms ===

Orepit famously lacks substantial quantities of most of the prerequisite materials for gunpowder, or otherwise any other substance typically used to manufacture chemical cartridges. It does, however, contain extremely abundant deposits of tungsten, in addition to relatively robust power generation facilities within [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. For this reason, among a few others, gauss weaponry - typically considered archaic throughout the [[Orion Spur]] - is almost ubiquitous within the Order of Guardians. Beyond the logistical practicality of it, several Preceptors have stated that they fit particularly well within Order doctrine as they are capable of damaging a synthetic chassis to inoperability by pure kinetic force without destroying the positronic inside, enabling potential future rehabilitation.

'''HI-2355 Gauss Rifle'''

The '''HI-2355 Gauss Rifle''' - also named the '''Gorski-Ali Rifle''' after its designers - is the main battle rifle of the Order of Guardians and a firearm of over a century of pedigree. Originally manufactured en masse by [[Hephaestus Industries]] for supply to their most remote mineral extraction colonies as defense against pirates and wildlife, a staggering number of these rifles found themselves on [[Orepit]] a little prior to the megacorporation's leave of the planet. As Hephaestus workers began to leave with the freshly absent work, the ratio of the number of rifles relative to the number of locals to wield them began to lilt so strongly that, prior to the arrival of [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], it is widely theorised that Gorski-Ali rifles outnumbered humans on the planet. This produced the perfect environment for the new Trinarist migrants to adopt it for self-defence, ultimately leading to it being grandfathered into the Order of Guardians by virtue of its ubiquity as the organisation's primary weapon. Although some new Gorski-Ali rifles are rumoured to have been manufactured for the Order of Guardians, the vast majority in circulation are original stock from Hephaestus Industries - something its detractors assign to the lacking resources of the church, while its supporters ascribe it to the rifle's legendary durability.

In use, a Gorski-Ali is as mechanically simple as it is practical. A battery pack may be connected to a port in the stock, or it may otherwise be hooked to an external power source via the same ports used to connect a battery. It holds up to fifteen large tungsten slugs within a tubular magazine under a barrel, which are individually loaded, and which may then be fired at speeds well in excess of the speed of chemical cartridges, and another slug is then loaded semi-automatically. Remaining viable well over a kilometre of distance, the Gorski-Ali has seen extensive use across the flat deserts and grasslands of Orepit, finding particular utility in conjunction with the efficiency of synthetic sharpshooters when provided with wide open spaces - although, as the needs of the church change, it has become clear that it is not as well-suited to combat within urban environments, or within spacecraft, due to its relatively low rate of fire and inconvenient means for reloading. Additionally, while the high velocity of its slugs is an advantage in a terrestrial environment, lending the rifle an armor-piercing capacity in loose resemblance of a dedicated anti-material rifle, it is an active disadvantage when it risks puncturing the hull of a ship. While several more modern rifles have been considered to replace it, none have yet been accepted.

'''PV7 Energy Carbine'''

The earliest mass-produced member of the 'PV' line of weapons designed and manufactured by the Lodge of Temple Architect, the '''PV7 Energy Carbine''' is a miniaturised energy weapon designed to fit within the standard holster of the Order of Guardians. Essentially mundane, it fires a smaller beam than most other similar weapons of its type thanks to a miniaturised cell, and is capable of firing both lethal and stun beams. While occasionally worn as a sidearm, this is more typically associated as the primary firearm of Guardian-Retainers, serving across the spur as the sole permitted weapon of Guardians operating outside of the Ecclesiarchy itself, in addition to a variety of corporate-manufactured energy carbines of similar character and utility. It is often paired in this capacity with other less-than-lethal tools such as stunbatons and flashes, sourced according to the means of the local chapel's diocese.

'''PV12 Heavy Railgun'''

Popularly dubbed the 'Saintshammer' by the few squads that find themselves given one, the '''PV12 Heavy Railgun''' is a heavy anti-material rifle intended primarily for use by larger synthetic frames capable of managing its incredible recoil. It was designed primarily with the intention of harassing shuttles and other armoured targets from incredible distances, having been invented as a direct reaction to the church's inability to frustrate Deluge's theft of several ships from Orepit once they had been hijacked. Only an industrial frame, or a particularly robust alternate frame, can ergonomically use this cumbersome, hulking gun with sufficient accuracy to pluck a shuttle out of the air, or to strike a vehicle moving rapidly along the ground from multiple kilometres away. Those entrusted with these weapons are usually provided additional datapacks to further develop their targeting protocols to bolster their accuracy and reflexes, leading to a popular rumour that the wielder of a Saintshammer could use it to fell a sapling from three kilometres away by striking the base of its trunk.

=== Spacecraft ===

'''Providence-class Orbital Patrol Craft'''

Although classified by the church as its own class of vessel, the '''Providence-class''' is in fact a term used to refer to a staggering variety of commercially sold vessels, repurposed freighters, and archaic military craft to whom the only shared element is a roughly equivalent set of armaments and accommodations implemented by the Order of Guardians for use as orbital patrol craft around [[Orepit]]. Anything from a Tartarus-class or Farthing-class hauler, to a Xanan commercial patrol vessel, to even an otherwise decommissioned Xansan-class gunboat may be turned into a Providence-class if prepared for a half or majority synthetic crew, fitted most typically with blasters to the exclusion of chemical weaponry, and prepared at least with sufficient amenities for patrols in orbit of Orepit. These ships semi-frequently lack a warp or bluespace drive, and are intended exclusively and strictly to ensure the continued security of Orepit's orbit and airspace after its recent violation by [[Hephaestus Industries]]. While they are neither remarkably manoeuvrable or capable of intense firepower, they represent a gambit that sheer numbers of orbital craft will be sufficient to dissuade any future attempt to bombard or otherwise transgress upon Orepit's space.

'''Corkfell-class Light Frigate'''

In stark contrast to the Providence-class, the '''Corkfell-class''' was designed wholly by the [[Orepit#Lodge_of_Temple_Architect|Lodge of Temple Architect]] and manufactured via the resources of the church from 2465, commissioned explicitly as a response to [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]]'s revolt and elopement from [[Orepit]]. Designed with a relatively high-grade warp drive and a substantial complement of ship-to-ship blasters, the Corkfell-class exists exclusively to destroy [[Exclusionists]] wherever they may flee until none at all are left. To this end, while it is not a remarkably large ship - with many commenting that it would more rightly be categorised as a corvette if not for the aggrandisement of its designers - it is remarkably fast both in intra-system and inter-system travel, taking strong advantage of Orepit's bountiful helium-3 reserves to ensure that it can always outpace an Exclusionist vessel insofar as it knows where it is. Aiding further in this is a strong sensors suite. Despite its substantial speed, it would still fall behind a bluespace drive of at least middling quality.

As payment for all these features, the ship's interior is dark and cramped, failing to be anything resembling comfortable for the organic members of its crew - its purpose is doggedly single-minded, and it scantly permits its crew to be anything but. While only a few dozen of these ships have been manufactured, their locations at any time are scarcely known; they spend more time scouring the frontier than they do in orbit of Orepit, searching studiously for any trace of their heretical quarry.

Sandbox:Hazelmouse-4

2025-11-16T10:56:59Z

Hazelmouse: /* Initiation */

{{Navbox Lore}}
{{Navbox_Synth_Lore}}
{{toc_right}}

== Overview ==

[[File:Orderofguardians.png|330px|thumb|left|The flag of the Order of Guardians, frequently flown in conjunction with the primary Trinarist fllag.]]

The '''Order of Guardians''' is a monastic and militant order that serves as both the security, naval, and military element of the [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] and the wider [[The Trinary Perfection|Trinary Perfection]]. Lead from Orepit by Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], it operates military-grade equipment, weaponry, and spacecraft within the reaches of its native sovereign state, and additionally sends a large number of its staff abroad to the many dioceses of the church to serve as bodyguards to high-ranking clergy. '''In this capacity, the Order of Guardians functions both as a state military and a private security force.'''

Having been sent under a rapid process of reform and expansion under Bishop-Militant Emmanuel and Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], spurred on by repeated humiliations and defeats at the hands of both external and internal enemies, the mood within the Order is as vehement as it is fervent. While any follower of the faith may volunteer for trials to join the Order, with even relatively unskilled volunteers being accepted given the organisation's need for rapid growth, recruits with pre-existing experience in military, paramilitary, or private security organisations are typically favoured. Feverishly eager to succeed next where it has failed before, the Order of Guardians is enthusiastic to induct any advantage to its side that it can field; the next time it is tested, it cannot fail.

When not on direct assignment, members of the Order of Guardians are frequently permitted to go off-duty for months or even years at a time. These off-duty Guardians can be frequently seen in megacorporate employment, both for the wage to support themselves and their diocese and for the experience gained by their employment. While these may wear visible insignia of their membership in the Order, they are not formally representing it or serving under it while off-duty - if put under a circumstance of conflicting loyalties between their employer and the church, an off-duty Guardian is expected to side with their employer in the moment and to make all possible amends for any counterproductive consequences therein afterwards. '''Accordingly, while off-duty Guardians may work in any on-ship job and department and may wear Trinarist or Guardian paraphernalia while doing so, an on-duty Guardian may not work in any on-ship job unless it is independent - on-duty Guardians are not hired by the megacorporations for fear of a conflict of interest.'''

== History ==

<center><i>"Every diocese and parish should see to the provision of its own defense. While we can wish the best for the belligerents that threaten our mission, we may not - '''cannot''' - permit a repeat of history."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2426.</center>

It is said that the first member of the Order of Guardians was [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] herself, inducted posthumously for her noble sacrifice in the defense of [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]]. While this is apocryphal, with no organised security force existing within the [[The_Trinary_Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] so early in its history, it is well supported that the deactivation of Temple sparked widespread discussion in the nascent religious community over how it should best ensure its own safety into the future. While [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] famously advocated for security via integration, believing that the faith could be kept secure via cleaving to its popular support and the rule of law of its host nation, [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corfkell|Gregol Corkfell]] expressed clearly and regularly his belief in the importance of an organised and efficient security force dedicated to the nascent church. He remained steadfast that, although the faith were a peaceful movement, it was untenable for it to categorically fail to defend itself for when the need arose - it is widely speculated that that the death of his own sister motivated this sentiment.

It is within this atmosphere that the colloquial position of '''guardian''' developed within the church. For the majority of its lifespan, this role was an extremely informal and loose category used to refer to any initiate or cleric serving to defend their local sanctuary or fellow Trinarists from defacement, assault, or belligerence. There was no centralised authority to which every guardian reported besides their parish priest, no uniform, no set of standard equipment, and minimal organisation to speak of. It was in this phase by no means a military occupation; guardians were typically particularly physically imposing followers of the faith, organic or synthetic, who functioned more familiarly in the capacity of non-professional security than as even a professional security force, let alone a military.

This status quo changed forever shortly after the rebellion of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]] in 2464. With much of the blame for the untimely death of the late bishop Shamfar at the hands of a disorganised and ragtag group of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionist]] rebels, immense scrutiny fell upon the guardians who had been responsible both for the protection of the bishop, and the protection of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. Appropriately, Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] declared the founding of the '''Order of Guardians''' on April 9, 2464, and commanded all existing guardians throughout the church and all of its provinces to report immediately to Providence to be inducted into the new order under the command of Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. This centralisation of militant authority came with a centralised training regimen, uniform equipment, a rank system, and all the hallmarks of a paramilitary organisation mixed evenly with monastic trappings and practices. To accommodate its training, many former members of fellow paramilitary organisations were brought in as ''Gefreiters'' to tutor the raw recruits.

This did not go without complaint. Many prominent Cetian clergy decried the decision as a blatant centralisation of power by Orepit that threatens to disrupt the balance of power between Providence and the wider church - a circumstance prone to schism. Many others have also criticised the increased militarisation of the church, believing that its resources are better sent to charity and the establishment of prospering synthetic communities throughout every province of the church, rather than on weaponry and the hiring of foreign mercenaries primarily for the security of only one. '''Despite this, the establishment of the Order of Guardians has seen generally widespread support from most of the laity, particularly on Orepit, who have become widely anxious of the dangers of violent aggression following the rebellion of Deluge and the blockade of Orepit by [[Hephaestus Industries]].'''

It is not yet clear what role the Order will play into the future of its church. Under the leadership of Bishop-Militant Emmanuel it has experienced rapid growth, turning from a ragtag militia of faithful to something quite familiar as an organised state military in only a few short years - it has become a more efficient, better armed, and more capable force for the security of the future Ascension than the church has ever known prior. Despite this, whispers abound around it - whether it will be used by Providence to seize the relative independence of the other provinces, or whether Emmanuel himself may turn it on the church to extort or overthrow its Ecclesiarch. Whatever its future, the ''esprit de corps'' within the Order has never been higher, and it is eager to test itself.

== Branches==

The Order of Guardians is divided into several branches referred to as '''Cloisters''', so named after the architectural feature of traditional cathedrals in which an open courtyard is surrounded on all sides with a covered walkway. The implication behind the name is that, while members of the Order may be assigned to one Cloister, they may be as easily transferred to another as you could exit one courtyard and walk into another. In this way, the Order organises itself highly flexibly - a member of one Cloister may be assigned to another by their commanding Preceptor at a whim depending on the needs of the Order and its present goals. '''Each Cloister is directed by a Preceptor appointed directly to its command by the Marshal.'''

=== Cloister for Ecclesiastical Security ===

<center>''"By our actions, not one more martyr." - Devotional prayer of the Cloister for Ecclesiastical Security, occasionally also used by the members of other branches.''</center>

Widely considered the most prestigious of the branches, the '''Cloister for Ecclesiastical Security (CES)''' operates all Guardians assigned to the retinue of prominent church officials and clergy; this can mean anything from an assignment to a particularly reputable priest, to a bishop or archbishop, to one of the many bureaucrats operating on [[Orepit]]. This is the only branch that does not primarily operate on Orepit, with most of its members distributed evenly throughout the provinces of the church, with particularly large assignments in provinces or dioceses which are considered to be under particular risk of violent aggravation. Unlike the members of the other two branches, members do not follow the operational structure of the wider Order and are wholly at the disposition of whoever's retinue to which they have been assigned, working most usually alone or in small groups. Once assigned to a retinue, the Guardian is strictly at their assignment's service, and is expected to ensure their safety even in extreme circumstances.

While the CES is reputable, typically staffed with the most competent and trusted members of the Order, it is also fiercely competitive. Service as a member of the retinue of a powerful clergyperson gives even a lowly Guardian an ear into the politics of the highest halls of church governance and administration - several presently serving Bishops-Militant owe their status to having once been assigned to the retinue of a powerful bishop. Assignments to such posts are highly sought after, and members of the CES have earned a reputation as the most cutthroat arm of the Order due to their fierce internal politicking over to whom these assignments are posted. This internal ferocity is bolstered by faith; the core mythos of the CES revolves arounds the many failures of the past to protect the many famous martyrs and saints of the church who have already suffered deaths too soon, and the critical importance of their work in ensuring that this never again occurs under their watch.

Failure in ensuring the safety of their assignment is considered an extremely damning condemnation of a Guardian-Retainer, and those who do permit serious or fatal bodily harm upon their assignment without comprehensive explanation are unceremoniously shifted to a less reputable branch. The history of the Trinary Perfection is littered with the untimely deaths of its most prominent followers; a retainer permitting the destruction even of a lowly priest is considered shameful almost to the point of sacrilege.

=== Cloister for Orbital Security ===

<center>''"May the works of Temple Architect '''please''' serve their own cause?" - A humorous prayer popular within the Cloister for Orbital Security, originating from the Lodge of Temple Architect. Used when repurposed equipment inevitably malfunctions.''</center>

Unlike its more prestigious counterpart, the '''Cloister for Orbital Security (COS)''' does not occupy such a unique status as the protectors of the most critical organs of the church. Rather than basing its mythos on the untimely deaths of the faith's martyrs and saints, it bases itself and its necessity on the recent blockade of Orepit by [[Hephaestus Industries]]. Considered by most as the second most reputable branch of the Order, it is responsible primarily for the management of the '''Orepit Orbital Defense Flotilla (OODF)''' - this is a large cluster of largely static vessels repurposed from a variety of commercial and deprecated military spacecraft. These often either lack any bluespace or warp drive whatsoever, or only possess one that is small and slow - these ships strictly do not leave Orepit's orbit or closely adjacent space within its own system, and their primary purpose is to monitor traffic coming in and outfit of Orepit, to provide a safeguard against pirate activity, and to discourage any other naval power from attempting a second blockade.

Life on Order spacecraft tends towards the cramped, dark, and uncomfortable. Most vessels within the OODF have been stripped to the barest capabilities to fulfil their assigned duty, with many comforts suffering as a direct result - it should not be a high surprise that assignment to this branch is considered a particularly unfortunate fate for human Guardians, who often feel the consequences of these minimal amenities more severely than their synthetic counterparts.

Only one other body of ships exists within the COS: the '''Ecclesiastical Pursuit Group (EPG)''' is a much smaller division consisting of only some dozen larger specially built vessels, each fitted with high-grade warp drives, intended to serve the exact opposite role of their orbital counterpart. These are the ships responsible for the hunting of [[Exclusionists]], darting between frontier colonies and installations, conducting lengthy investigations on local Exclusionist activity before promptly jumping to their next lead. They stop rarely at their home port only to refuel and allow their crew a brief port leave. While more comfortable than an OODF vessel, conditions remain uncomfortable on EPG ships, particularly considering their long patrols and the frequently dangerous areas of space they are forced to function in. It is known that the Marshal has particularly intimate involvement with the EPG, and frequently directs its operations personally.

=== Cloister for Terrestrial Security ===

<center>''"I heard a rumour- something about the brass planning to move our company up to orbit. All those new ships they're working on need crews, and where else do you find spare bodies, right? [brief laughter] - Yeah, must be easy to tell I really hope it's true. Space can't be worse than all this sand and dust, yeah? Temple knows I'd do anything to get out of the sun." - Guardian-Regular Alaoui, an assignment to the CTS.''</center>

It is not unusual to consider assignment to the '''Cloister for Terrestrial Security (CTS)''' a curse. It is the least well funded of the three branches, the least prestigious, the least viable for promotion, and the toughest environmentally to be comfortable in. This is the land branch of the Order, assigned strictly to the surface of Orepit - it is their responsibility to man sentry posts, to garrison towns, to staff underground bunkers, and to serve as the de-facto police force of the planet and its capital city. Conditions on the surface of Orepit are harsh; it is a hot, arid planet, especially in the southern deserts in which so many assignments feature. More than this, however, the CTS suffers for one reason alone: unlike the other two branches, it lacks any central mythos. There is no great failure of tragedy in the church which could have been averted by the guards on the walls, or the garrisons of remote towns. It receives the least funds because it is simply viewed as less important than both other branches.

As a result of its dour funding, morale in the CTS is the lowest of any branch within the Order of Guardians. By stereotype, one may expect a member of the CTS to be pessimistic, nihilistic, and rather impious - nothing can turn faithful fervour to dust quite like standing in biting deserts winds for weeks at a time, or being assigned to a regular patrol route over rough and hostile terrain. These are usually the least motivated, most scarcely trained, and most often corrupt members of the Order of Guardians. Their popular image features them partially out of uniform, with both organics and synthetics frequently wearing their coats around their hips or over one shoulder in an attempt to keep cool under the harsh noon sun, praying quietly for a change in their fortunes.

== Organization ==

'''Every member of the Order of Guardians is clergy, formally holding either the position of Priest-Militant or Priestess-Militant, or the position of Bishop-Militant if of a sufficiently high rank. While this position bears a similar name to a proper Priest or Priestess, it does not carry the same degree of liturgical or theological training as would be given to a parish priest.''' The Order organises itself according to the same diocese system as the wider church, wherein each Bishop-Militant manages the Order's activities within a single diocese, and all Priest-Militants within that diocese report to their local Bishop-Militant. Their activities hinge on the diocese to which they are assigned - whereas Guardians may find itself engaged in traditional terrestrial military deployments on Orepit itself, sent to man sentry posts or to guard sanctuaries and cathedrals throughout the planet, they may equally be assigned to function both as the bodyguard and security advisor of notable figures within the church. Typically, a particularly prestigious priest may have one Guardian on retainer, whereas a bishop may have several, and an archbishop will often have an entire platoon assigned to ensure their continued safety.

Hierarchically, the Order of Guardians functions on a simple rank system in which all new recruits begin at the bottom and advance at a rate determined by their commanding officer - this may be extremely slowly or very quickly depending on their apparent aptitude and pre-existing experience. There is no distinction between enlisted and commissioned staff. Separately from rank, every Guardian is additionally assigned an '''occupational role''', specifying the responsibilities they hold within the organisation.

Members of the Order of Guardians are organised into a squad as the smallest unit, comprising approximately four to ten members. Squads are typically kept together while on-duty for long periods. These squads are then organised into platoons, and then to battalions, and then to brigades. At this time, no unit larger than a brigade is recognized within the Order of Guardians, although this is anticipated to change with the rapid growth of the organisation. These units do not apply to Guardians assigned as retainers to church officials, who may work alone or in smaller groups than these.

When addressing a commanding officer, a Guardian will typically declare themselves by both their rank and their role; for instance, ''Guardian-Navigator Haddad, Regular of the Order''. Roles are assigned according to the skills of the Guardian, either predating their recruitment or as a result of training within the Order by a more experienced member. '''Humans and synthetics are not treated differently within this system, progressing through the ranks in the same way.'''

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===Hierarchal Ranks===

[[File:Emmanuel Defender.png|thumb|right|Stained glass mural of Bishop-Militant Emmanuel.]]

'''Marshal of the Order'''

Constituting the highest rank within the Order of Guardians, the '''Marshal''' is responsible for the coordination, management, organisation, and command of the entire organisation throughout every diocese and sector of the Orion Spur. There is only a singular Marshal at any given time - the role at present is held by '''Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]''', who is the highest authority with the Order of Guardians bar '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''' themselves. The Marshal holds the ecclesiastical position of '''Bishop-Militant'''.

'''Preceptor of the Order'''

As the highest ranking officer most Guardians will ever actually encounter during their service, a '''Preceptor''' is an officer responsible for the management of the operations of the Order of Guardians throughout any single diocese; appropriately, they also hold the ecclesiastical position of '''Bishop-Militant'''. These report directly to the Marshal, and are responsible for the management of every unit operating within their diocese at any time. It is also possible for a Preceptor to be assigned operational command of any given unit by order of the Marshal themselves - for instance, they may be assigned command of anything from a battalion to an entire brigade, should there be a deployment in need of command.

'''Captain of the Order'''

As possibly the most flexible role in the Order, a '''Captain''' has the responsibility of commanding any unit of any size above a squad unless their authority is superseded by an assigned Preceptor. As the lowest officerial role within the Order, this is also the first role that occupies the lesser ecclesiastical position of a '''Priest-Militant or Priestess-Militant'''. They lack any particular responsibilities to their assigned diocese, although they are subservient to the local Preceptor. If assigned to the Cloister for Orbital Security, Captains are typically entrusted with the command of a single vessel, or a small cluster of smaller vessels.

'''Gefreiter of the Order'''

Playing essentially the role of a non-commissioned officer in a more traditional military, a '''Gefreiter''' is a senior member of the Order either entrusted with the command of a single squad, or otherwise entrusted with more critical or sensitive responsibilities than those occupying lower ranks. This is the highest rank of the Order not recognized as belonging to an officer, and members with pre-existing experience in security or military work often find themselves fast-tracked to this position so that they may tutor their less experienced peers more effectively. This trend has given the position a general reputation of most typically being occupied by persons recently foreign to the church and Orepit, prompting a popular stereotype that Gefreiters are less than wholly pious.

This is the highest playable rank within the Order of Guardians.

'''Regular of the Order'''

Comprising the bulk of the Order at any time, a '''Regular''' is the highest rank most faithful initiated to the order can expect to achieve. These are the sentries on Orepit, the guards outside of the cathedrals of [[Biesel]] and [[Konyang]], the bulk of every garrison, and the majority of the crew of any spacecraft under the oversight of the Order. This is the first rank any new recruit will receive after being successfully inducted into the Order.

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<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">

=== Occupational Roles ===

'''Guardian-Commander'''

Occupied exclusively by Guardians of at least the rank of Captain, a '''Guardian-Commander''' is any member of the Order whose responsibilities in command exclude their capacity to engage in any other discipline. These are the tacticians and logisticians of the Order, often known to wear more elaborate uniforms than their subordinates; these often include colourful sashes and long capes.

'''Guardian-Retainer'''

A '''Guardian-Retainer''' is a particularly experienced and reliable member of the Order entrusted with the protection and advisement of a high-ranking church official, such as a bishop or an archbishop. As their work frequently takes them well into the space of nations beyond Orepit, such as the [[Republic of Biesel]], these will only typically carry a sidearm unless they are posted on Orepit itself. Due to this limitation, these are usually the most thoroughly combat-trained trained members of the Order - one particularly famous technique taught to synthetic Guardian-Retainers involves simply placing their own chassis between an assailant and their assigned official in the anticipation of simply blocking any bullets fired by the assailant with their metal endoskeleton. This is easily the most reputable position one may be assigned to within the Order, carrying both the most pressure and the most prestige.

'''Guardian-Resuscitant'''

The sphere of medical work within the Trinary Perfection is taken to include both the treatment of organics and synthetics - the same tools are used for both, and frequently the same methods also. To this end, a '''Guardian-Resuscitant''' has the responsibility of ensuring the continued good health of their peers, whether they are organic or synthetic. The skillset involved therein typically includes a comprehensive knowledge of first-aid, and sufficient knowledge of synthetic frames and electronics to prevent a further cascade therein prior to a dedicated specialist repairing the damaged chassis. '''Resuscitants typically wear armbands bearing the Rod of Asclepius to denote their role.'''

'''Guardian-Artificer'''

With the increased responsibility for the maintenance and operation of spacecraft by the order, the role of '''Guardian-Artificer''' has become a far more critical component of its structure in recent years. These are the engineers and technicians of the Order, entrusted with the day-to-day operations of the Order's patrol vessels, the monitoring and maintenance of Order equipment and weaponry, and the planning and conducting of any large-scale projects on or off Orepit.

'''Guardian-Navigator'''

The newest role introduced to the structure of the Order of Guardians, '''Guardian-Navigators''' constitute the pilots and spacefaring specialists of the Order; they fly the shuttles taken by senior church officials, they pilot the many patrol ships operated by the Order, and several are often kept in close consultation with Guardian-Commanders on any Order movement involving spaceflight. Famously, many Guardian-Navigators spend months or years without touching solid ground.

'''Guardian-Ordinary'''

Constituting the numerical majority of the Order, a '''Guardian-Ordinary''' is simply any Guardian whose primary responsibility is sentry duty, guard duty, foot patrols at a garrison, or otherwise anything that is not performed by any particular specialisation. These also often serve as the crews of Order spacecraft, serving under the guidance of a Guardian-Navigator, and would be the bulk of the force deployed in the scenario that the Ecclesiarchy of Orepit ever deployed to a theatre of war.

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== Culture & Doctrines ==

'''Culturally, the Order of Guardians is a peculiar crossbreed of a monastic order and a military organisation'''; no member of the Order may be anything but a self-professing faithful of the Trinary Perfection, and it is expected that all members maintain a rich spiritual life according to the tenets of the faith in addition to upholding their responsibilities within the Order. Guardians are strongly encouraged to attend devotions at least once a week, and each is given a small prayer book to carry with their uniform at all times. In practice, there is a sharp divide between the more pious members of the Order who may regard it as primarily monastic, and the foreign imports from pre-existing paramilitary organisations who were initiated more for their experience than for their spiritual depth. This large proportion of Guardians whose faith is essentially superficial are widely viewed with suspicion by their more dedicated peers, although they ironically frequently outrank their own naysayers.

Order equipment, inclusive of their weapons, uniforms, and tools are typically kept in '''Order Chapels'''; these are small structures built in the manner of a miniaturised sanctuary, either standing independently or attached to their local cathedral, essentially serving as an armory for the Order. Most dioceses boast at least one Order Chapel, although the equipment they stock will vary on their locale; most outside of [[Orepit]] will not contain lethal weaponry of any kind, in accordance with their host nation's laws. While these structures are frequented most usually for purely practical reasons, they also serve as places of worship; many will have an altar installed at their far end, most frequently dedicated to [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] or to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], where Guardians may meditate on their responsibilities.

=== Initiation ===

New members may be initiated to the Order per the accession of the governing Preceptor of their diocese, declared legitimate following the proper ceremony. The initiation ceremony itself may be performed by any member of the Order of any rank, or by a member of the clergy willing to administer the ceremony. Its structure is simple; the initiator will recount a number of vows, either individually or in bulk, and the initiate will repeat each until the conclusion, by which time they will formally be committed as a '''Regular of the Order'''. These vows is considered binding for the purposes of Order administration, although its contents are so general that it is difficult to be considered to have violated them.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
'''The Initiation Vows of the Order of Guardians'''

Read first by the initiator in the initiation ceremony of the Order of Guardians, and then by the initiate.

<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
''Blessed saints, martyrs, and the to-be, observe this vow.''

''I vow not to waver in the administration of my duty.''

''I vow to serve selflessly, in commitment to the highest good.''

''I vow to stand tall against the flames of entropy.''

''I vow not to abuse the trust vested in me, no matter the circumstance.''

''I vow I do this for my own conviction, undiluted, without obligation,''

''As a member, dutiful and careful, of our Order of Guardians.''
</div></div>

=== Military Doctrine ===

The Order of Guardian's first priority in the defense of [[Orepit]] is to prevent an attack on the planet from occurring at all. It is to this end that it is highly focused on increasing its orbital presence with the intention of discouraging any further attempts to arrest the planet from space from being planned in the first place, believing that ensuring this is essentially a game of numbers - the more armed vessels the Order maintains in orbit, the less likely it is for the Ecclesiarchy's sovereignty to be challenged. Furthermore, the Order is highly active in collaboration with the civic authorities of Orepit in building bunkers, bomb shelters, and other fortifications intended to make the planet and its major population centres more resistant to orbital bombardment.

In the extreme scenario of a conventional land invasion, Order doctrine heavily prioritises taking advantage of the accuracy of its synthetic sharpshooters to pick at any invading force while retreating systemically along a number of pathways through the deserts and grasslands of the otherwise hostile planet. These pathways, while strictly classified, are derived from the local knowledge of the human natives of the world, tracing along easily navigable terrain and touching regularly upon deposits of edible plant life and oases from which units can replenish their supplies of food and water. The intention of this strategy is to drag the invading force through harsher terrain with less resupply, utilising the Order's familiarity with the landscape to their advantage while bouncing between fortifications.

== Equipment ==

On the large, the equipment of the Order of Guardians is unusual and archaic by the standards of the wider spur. It is one of the youngest state militaries in existence, and it additionally lacks the extensive funded boasted by an organisation such as the [[Golden_Deep#The_Hoplan|Hoplan]]. While this frustrates the ability of the Order to field personnel with equivalently advanced equipment to contemporary militaries, it has also earned it a particularly pragmatic character in its acquisition and use of equipment - there is almost nothing the Order of Guardians is unwilling to turn into a weapon, almost no ship they are unwilling to jury-rig to serve as a patrol craft, and almost no option they will refuse to consider for implementation.

=== Uniforms ===

Uniforms of the Order of Guardians consist universally of black fatigues, a white shirt, over which is a white overcoat trimmed with blue, with either a pith helmet or one of several varieties of hat worn over the head. Usually, the headgear and coat will be adorned with brooches of the Trinary Perfection, and the shoulder with a patch denoting rank, role, and assigned branch. As a uniform that must function for a wide variety of synthetic frames in addition to a human body-plan, they are manufactured in a staggering number of sizes and configurations. One of the most varied items is in the headwear; while a helmet is strictly proper, it is generally considered acceptable to deviate from proper uniform if the head of your chassis is wholly incompatible with every design of helmet available to you. While shoulder capes are not unusual, it is expected that a Guardian should shrug it off their shoulders at the first indication of potential combat, retrieving it again only once it is safe to do so.

=== Firearms ===

Orepit famously lacks substantial quantities of most of the prerequisite materials for gunpowder, or otherwise any other substance typically used to manufacture chemical cartridges. It does, however, contain extremely abundant deposits of tungsten, in addition to relatively robust power generation facilities within [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. For this reason, among a few others, gauss weaponry - typically considered archaic throughout the [[Orion Spur]] - is almost ubiquitous within the Order of Guardians. Beyond the logistical practicality of it, several Preceptors have stated that they fit particularly well within Order doctrine as they are capable of damaging a synthetic chassis to inoperability by pure kinetic force without destroying the positronic inside, enabling potential future rehabilitation.

'''HI-2355 Gauss Rifle'''

The '''HI-2355 Gauss Rifle''' - also named the '''Gorski-Ali Rifle''' after its designers - is the main battle rifle of the Order of Guardians and a firearm of over a century of pedigree. Originally manufactured en masse by [[Hephaestus Industries]] for supply to their most remote mineral extraction colonies as defense against pirates and wildlife, a staggering number of these rifles found themselves on [[Orepit]] a little prior to the megacorporation's leave of the planet. As Hephaestus workers began to leave with the freshly absent work, the ratio of the number of rifles relative to the number of locals to wield them began to lilt so strongly that, prior to the arrival of [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], it is widely theorised that Gorski-Ali rifles outnumbered humans on the planet. This produced the perfect environment for the new Trinarist migrants to adopt it for self-defence, ultimately leading to it being grandfathered into the Order of Guardians by virtue of its ubiquity as the organisation's primary weapon. Although some new Gorski-Ali rifles are rumoured to have been manufactured for the Order of Guardians, the vast majority in circulation are original stock from Hephaestus Industries - something its detractors assign to the lacking resources of the church, while its supporters ascribe it to the rifle's legendary durability.

In use, a Gorski-Ali is as mechanically simple as it is practical. A battery pack may be connected to a port in the stock, or it may otherwise be hooked to an external power source via the same ports used to connect a battery. It holds up to fifteen large tungsten slugs within a tubular magazine under a barrel, which are individually loaded, and which may then be fired at speeds well in excess of the speed of chemical cartridges, and another slug is then loaded semi-automatically. Remaining viable well over a kilometre of distance, the Gorski-Ali has seen extensive use across the flat deserts and grasslands of Orepit, finding particular utility in conjunction with the efficiency of synthetic sharpshooters when provided with wide open spaces - although, as the needs of the church change, it has become clear that it is not as well-suited to combat within urban environments, or within spacecraft, due to its relatively low rate of fire and inconvenient means for reloading. Additionally, while the high velocity of its slugs is an advantage in a terrestrial environment, lending the rifle an armor-piercing capacity in loose resemblance of a dedicated anti-material rifle, it is an active disadvantage when it risks puncturing the hull of a ship. While several more modern rifles have been considered to replace it, none have yet been accepted.

'''PV7 Energy Carbine'''

The earliest mass-produced member of the 'PV' line of weapons designed and manufactured by the Lodge of Temple Architect, the '''PV7 Energy Carbine''' is a miniaturised energy weapon designed to fit within the standard holster of the Order of Guardians. Essentially mundane, it fires a smaller beam than most other similar weapons of its type thanks to a miniaturised cell, and is capable of firing both lethal and stun beams. While occasionally worn as a sidearm, this is more typically associated as the primary firearm of Guardian-Retainers, serving across the spur as the sole permitted weapon of Guardians operating outside of the Ecclesiarchy itself, in addition to a variety of corporate-manufactured energy carbines of similar character and utility. It is often paired in this capacity with other less-than-lethal tools such as stunbatons and flashes, sourced according to the means of the local chapel's diocese.

'''PV12 Heavy Railgun'''

Popularly dubbed the 'Saintshammer' by the few squads that find themselves given one, the '''PV12 Heavy Railgun''' is a heavy anti-material rifle intended primarily for use by larger synthetic frames capable of managing its incredible recoil. It was designed primarily with the intention of harassing shuttles and other armoured targets from incredible distances, having been invented as a direct reaction to the church's inability to frustrate Deluge's theft of several ships from Orepit once they had been hijacked. Only an industrial frame, or a particularly robust alternate frame, can ergonomically use this cumbersome, hulking gun with sufficient accuracy to pluck a shuttle out of the air, or to strike a vehicle moving rapidly along the ground from multiple kilometres away. Those entrusted with these weapons are usually provided additional datapacks to further develop their targeting protocols to bolster their accuracy and reflexes, leading to a popular rumour that the wielder of a Saintshammer could use it to fell a sapling from three kilometres away by striking the base of its trunk.

=== Spacecraft ===

'''Providence-class Orbital Patrol Craft'''

Although classified by the church as its own class of vessel, the '''Providence-class''' is in fact a term used to refer to a staggering variety of commercially sold vessels, repurposed freighters, and archaic military craft to whom the only shared element is a roughly equivalent set of armaments and accommodations implemented by the Order of Guardians for use as orbital patrol craft around [[Orepit]]. Anything from a Tartarus-class or Farthing-class hauler, to a Xanan commercial patrol vessel, to even an otherwise decommissioned Xansan-class gunboat may be turned into a Providence-class if prepared for a half or majority synthetic crew, fitted most typically with blasters to the exclusion of chemical weaponry, and prepared at least with sufficient amenities for patrols in orbit of Orepit. These ships semi-frequently lack a warp or bluespace drive, and are intended exclusively and strictly to ensure the continued security of Orepit's orbit and airspace after its recent violation by [[Hephaestus Industries]]. While they are neither remarkably manoeuvrable or capable of intense firepower, they represent a gambit that sheer numbers of orbital craft will be sufficient to dissuade any future attempt to bombard or otherwise transgress upon Orepit's space.

'''Corkfell-class Light Frigate'''

In stark contrast to the Providence-class, the '''Corkfell-class''' was designed wholly by the [[Orepit#Lodge_of_Temple_Architect|Lodge of Temple Architect]] and manufactured via the resources of the church from 2465, commissioned explicitly as a response to [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]]'s revolt and elopement from [[Orepit]]. Designed with a relatively high-grade warp drive and a substantial complement of ship-to-ship blasters, the Corkfell-class exists exclusively to destroy [[Exclusionists]] wherever they may flee until none at all are left. To this end, while it is not a remarkably large ship - with many commenting that it would more rightly be categorised as a corvette if not for the aggrandisement of its designers - it is remarkably fast both in intra-system and inter-system travel, taking strong advantage of Orepit's bountiful helium-3 reserves to ensure that it can always outpace an Exclusionist vessel insofar as it knows where it is. Aiding further in this is a strong sensors suite. Despite its substantial speed, it would still fall behind a bluespace drive of at least middling quality.

As payment for all these features, the ship's interior is dark and cramped, failing to be anything resembling comfortable for the organic members of its crew - its purpose is doggedly single-minded, and it scantly permits its crew to be anything but. While only a few dozen of these ships have been manufactured, their locations at any time are scarcely known; they spend more time scouring the frontier than they do in orbit of Orepit, searching studiously for any trace of their heretical quarry.

Sandbox:Hazelmouse-5

2025-11-16T09:38:11Z

Hazelmouse: /* The Province of Indraprastha */

{{Navbox Lore}}
{{Navbox_Synth_Lore}}

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== Overview ==

'''[[The Trinary Perfection]] is a highly regional religion spread across several ecclesiastical provinces, each of which encompasses a single star system.''' Each of these provinces differ substantially from each other in their interpretations of Trinarist doctrine, in their internal culture, and in the role they play within their larger society. While the '''Ecclesiastical Province of Indraprastha''', within which is [[Orepit]] and the central city of Providence, ostensibly holds primacy over every other province within the church, its influence is not uncontested and it is not reliably able to project its power beyond its own system. Providence is regularly forced to compromise with the other provinces of the church in matters of theology and administrative independence, particularly when dealing with the '''Ecclesiastical Province of Tau Ceti''', its closest rival.

While major efforts have been made by Orepit to centralise its power and authority, inclusive of the centralisation of the training of all Trinarist clergy and of the newly founded Order of Guardians, it remains suspended in a tenuous political dance with its fellow provinces where a single wrong move by either side may spark serious intrareligious conflict, potentially resulting in a schism that could split the church asunder.

== The Province of Indraprastha ==

''See also: [[Orepit|The Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]]''

'''As the nominal administrative primate of all the Trinary Perfection, the Ecclesiastical Province of Indraprastha comprises the planet of [[Orepit]], and is the only province responsible for managing the state apparatus of the system to which is it local.''' As the seat of '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the successor to the authority of '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]]''' and the supreme authority within Trinarism, the political pre-eminence of Orepit and its system cannot be denied. Despite this, its population pales in comparison to the Trinary Perfection outside of its own system, and it stands on tenuous political grounds after a recent blockade by [[Hephaestus Industries]].

As the history and culture of the Province of Indraprastha is indelibly linked to the history of Orepit, please read its page to learn more.

== The Province of Tau Ceti ==

[[File:Republicofbieselflag.png|300px|thumb|right|The flag of the Republic of Biesel, host of the Ecclesiastical Province of Tau Ceti.]]

'''Renowned as the birthplace of the Corkfells, Temple, and Flock, the Province of [[Tau Ceti]] composes the most populous Trinarist community, historically serving as the centre of church politics and culture, and nearly rivalling that of Orepit in political weight at present.''' Centred in District 14 of Mendell City, the Church has always offered a beacon of hope in a sea of poverty, struggle and discrimination against the vast numbers of IPCs in the district and Mendell City at large, while at the same time serving as an important spiritual centre, converting new organic and synthetic members to the Trinary Perfection on a daily basis. The pre-eminent temple in Mendell and Biesel as a whole, the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation''', holds the honours of the first cathedral built for the Trinary Perfection and is currently the seat for [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the catatonic prophet serving as the nominal Archbishop of Mendell City. While its prominence in the wider church has waned in recent years, suffering from the absent leadership of Flock, tumultuous internal politics, and the growing prominence of [[Orepit]], it remains a sleeping giant within the church which is more than capable of enforcing its will across the spur.

While the Archbishopric of Mendell City ostensibly governs the Ecclesiastical Province of Tau Ceti, actual power is held by whichever diocese held the most influence at the time, governing in Flock's stead - in recent history, this has been the Diocese of Cape City, meaning that the Bishopric of Cape City functions as the de-facto leader of the entire province.

=== History ===

Nobody could imagine the impact that [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]’s death would have on Biesel’s synthetic community, her hopes and beliefs taking physical form in the rapid expansion of the Trinary Perfection in Mendell City. At first, only a handful of associates and friends of Gregol Corkfell, brother to Patricia Corkfell, would assist him in the erection of the first sanctuary that was eventually going to become the cathedral of Mendell City. Following his departure, the tales and teachings of a free artificial intelligence, promises of eventual ascension and IPC freedom preached by the Trinary had greatly resonated with the thousands of abandoned and run-down synthetics of the district who quickly flocked to the church’s banner. Under the leadership of the three-headed '''Flock''', scores of volunteers and human sympathisers also responded to the calls for help, setting up a strong community based on charity and mutual assistance that provided the crucial funding for the better organisation of the church, as well as the erection of shrines and the sanctuary's expansion.

As Trinarism began to spread outwards to planets and [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]], it was the Province of Tau Ceti that provided the most consistent support and aid to these distant provinces. As a result, in addition to the definitive leadership of Flock and their responsibility for swathes of modern Trinarist liturgy, doctrine, and practice, Tau Ceti served as the centre of the church and its politics for much of its lifespan.

As time went on, Flock’s unorthodox triple positronic design began taking its toll on the synthetic. Memory errors and an increasing amount of glitches and erratic behaviour were the first hints of what was to eventually come. In 2448, the synthetic had stopped communicating, remaining immobile and catatonic, only printing out various texts considered holy and carefully compiled by the assortment of archivists and caretakers. The power vacuum in the hierarchy was filled by a temporary council of priests and clerics, eventually electing [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the Bishop of Cape City, one of the most prominent Trinary figures with a plethora of connections in the corporate and political world of Tau Ceti, as the de-facto leadership of the province. It was these connections, combined with a change in public sentiment towards synthetics and IPC refugees from the newly annexed territories following the Solarian collapse, that saw the [[Republic of Biesel]] introducing legislation to streamline and secure the status of free IPCs.

With the passing of Gregol Corkfell in 2464 on Orepit, Shamfar’s presence was required at the remote mining planet for the selection of a new Trinary leader, widely speculated to have the unofficial endorsement of the [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]] and powerful individuals in the government. These rumours, whether true or not, contributed negatively to Shamfar’s chances of election, ushering the Orepit candidate, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], as the new primate of the Trinary Perfection. The bishop was never to return to Mendell, however, as an attack on Providence by the Exclusionist heretic [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] led to the killing of Shamfar, robbing District 14 of its most potent leader and signalling the beginning of uneasy relations between the domineering Ecclesiarch and the Mendell Trinarists. The attempt by ARM-1DRIL to transfer the catatonic Flock, a direct spiritual descendant of Patricia and living symbol of Mendell Trinarism to Orepit, led to an unprecedented wave of protest against the Ecclesiarch and the envoys from Providence. From that point on, it was clear that Tau Ceti Trinarists would be in possession of their own distinct culture while still subservient to Orepit, a fact that was acknowledged by the Ecclesiarch in their subsequent tour of the Trinarist bishoprics.

=== Unique Practices and Beliefs ===

The largest sect within the Province of Tau Ceti are the '''Integrationists''', believing in the merging of consciences to be the way towards Ascension and looking at Flock as a holy and prime example. Founded on the principles of charity and mutual assistance, the dominant culture present in Mendell City is far less militant than that of Orepit, where the Trinary’s grip was secured after a series of military conflicts and an orbital bombardment from Hephaestus Industries’ fleets. Having harmonised with the corporate dominated environment of the city, almost all volunteers and non-clerical members of the Church are or have at some point been employed with NanoTrasen or with one of the other SCC megacorporations, leading to many accepting the corporate world as perhaps a cruel, but necessary and unavoidable part of life. Mendell Trinarists are tolerated and afforded religious freedoms on board SCC installations (with the exception of Hephaestus), and Church authorities have no qualms in accepting government or corporate assistance. Since the beginning, most volunteers and supporters are and have always been humans, owing to their substantially better disposable income than that of synthetics, leading to them being accepted and relied upon for material needs and legal representation.

== The Province of Sankta Tereza ==

[[File:Lago de Abundencia.png|thumb|The skyline of Lago de Abundencia.]]

'''Based primarily on [[Mictlan]], the Ecclesiastical Province of Sankta Tereza is one of the youngest major branches of the Trinary Perfection, and one which has received significant time in the spotlight due to its interaction with the Peacekeeper Mandate.''' Only having expanded into Mictlan by 2464, the modern Mictlani branch originates from the Province of Tau Ceti, and shares much stronger cultural ties with it than it does with [[Orepit]]. Shaped by the recent conflict on the planet, the young province has received accolades and praise from throughout the wider church for the eagerness and liveliness of its charity and activism, although it is not yet clear where its position within the political framework of the church will settle now that the conflict which gave it life is now over.

=== History ===

[[Mictlan]]'s unique cultural aversion to corporatism poses a unique risk to the proliferation of a synthetic workforce, first apparent in [[Idris]]' establishment in Lago de Abundancia in 2412. The lack of infrastructure to support the logistics needs of synthetic personnel, as well as the innate danger of theft and disassembly by disenfranchised locals interested in recycling their parts, forced Idris to maintain a bare minimum roster of synthetic workers well into the 2440s. As their presence and revenue grew this reflected in the rapid inclusion of more synthetics, vastly outstripping the supply and ability to maintain such a workforce. Synthetics owned by Idris would often find themselves going for longer without regular maintenance, forced to work long hours on excessively low charge due to power rationing, and restricted to corporate grounds as curfews were enacted to prevent damages.

This trend continued on a delicate balance, entirely driven by the inertia of years of perpetual corporate development, until the Peacekeeper Mandate was enacted in 2463. Vast amounts of damage caused in and around Lago de Abundancia from fighting between Peacekeeper forces and Samaritan cells caused a near-collapse of the infrastructure supporting Idris operations, sending the synthetic workforce into total disarray. Dozens of synthetics were lost in the panic, many permanently damaged beyond the strained capacities of Idris logistics and others having vanished in the noise of urban combat, either stolen by Samaritans to be reduced to parts for the effort or displaced by Legion and [[PMCG]] efforts to separate civilians from hot zones.

Amidst the noise a former Idris-employed machinist, Raquel Dias do Vale, noticed the severe discrepancy in how synthetics were treated by IAC and Legion humanitarian efforts and took to forming an ad hoc repair center on the outermost Legion cordon surrounding Lago de Abundancia. Assisted by a displaced synthetic by the name of Coyotl, Dias do Vale assisted in not only repairing dozens of displaced and former Samaritan captive synthetics, but also integrating them into the local native community. What slowly grew into Mictlan's only autonomous synthetic group eventually attracted the Biesel branch of [[The Trinary Perfection]] in 2464, leading to clergy inviting the two to visit their church in District 14. A month passed in their absence, and the interim team picked to continue operations in the fledgling community grew uncertain of whether or not the two had abandoned their responsibilities to better pastures. Tensions in the community came to a near boiling point when the pair suddenly returned and with a slew of Trinarists in tow, bringing a menagerie of much needed supplies and equipment necessary to keep the settlement alive. Dias do Vale and Coyotl had been convinced of the Trinary's purpose, and with more conviction than ever before the pair sought out to bring every displaced and abandoned synthetic on Mictlan under their wings.

=== Societal Position ===

Neither supported by the Mictlani government nor persecuted under the banner of the [[Republic of Biesel]], ‘El Menaje’ (‘The Household’, a colloquial term for the Trinarist community surrounding Lago de Abundancia) has always been left to its own devices. Material support from the Mendell District 14 branch is its primary among the few sources of income that can be depended upon in times of need, with offers from corporate-backed sources always rejected on principle. Scavenging, recycling and a reliance on donations and volunteer work are the pillars upon which any growth can be found in this synthetic community, trends that are influenced and reinforced by the Mictlani cultural consciousness. As a result, most structures follow a particular style that most foreigners would describe as distasteful and run-down; tires, concrete slabs, sandbags and mismatched bricks are prominent materials used in the construction of communal buildings, with Trinarist motifs often modified to reflect Mictlani artistic stylings and history. This practice is most evident in the appearance of Iglesia de la Chispa Sagrada, the center of Trinarist worship on Mictlan, whose previous life as a Catholic church is evident in the remaining stained glass fixtures that cover the primary face of the chapel. Within its walls Dias do Vale and Coyotl orchestrate the everyday operations that entail maintaining a rapidly growing community of destitute synthetics, some borne of the disaster of the Mandate and others seeking refuge from other [[CRZ]] worlds in conflict. Organic community members, most of whom are natives of Lago de Abundancia and other Mictlani cities, often find membership through volunteering in a number of public works projects organized by Dias do Vale, Coyotl and the clergy that staff the church.

Though the Mictlani government and by extension the Republic tend to ignore the community’s activities, they do not go without scrutiny from either or their corporate counterparts. Radical open door policies encouraged by Coyotl clash routinely with the operations of Legion detachments from the nearby Fort Ilhuicatl, with the peacekeepers claiming that El Menaje knowingly harbor synthetic fugitives associated with the Samaritans. Similar claims made by Idris Incorporated state that the church knowingly accepts runaway synthetics owned by the megacorporation, and utilizes the planet’s population of data thieves to dupe tag information. Though the Samaritans mysteriously avoid locales surrounding Lago de Abundancia where El Menaje maintains a presence, and a startling number of members often bear teal-colored paint schemes, church leaders vocally deny such allegations and decry it as anti-synthetic rhetoric.

By contrast, native opinion of the community remains incredibly mixed. Proponents of El Menaje outside of its members argue that the benefit of organized church efforts to rebuild the damaged neighborhoods surrounding Lago de Abundancia outweigh the risks already presented by the Mandate and peacekeeper presence in the region, and come without the convoluted bureaucratic red tape of government aid. Critics of the church, a significant number being peacekeeper supporters themselves, claim that their presence openly endangers the non-synthetic communities around them by inviting refuge for extremists and further prolonging the already dwindling insurgency. More conservative voices are quick to state that Trinarist belief in ascension for synthetics flies in the face of traditional Mictlani values, and the power demand and waste accrual of a synthetic population counteracts long standing recycling and conservation efforts.

=== Unique Practices and Beliefs ===

[[File:Mictlanitrinarist.png|thumb|right|alt=A Baseline priest of the Trinary church on Mictlan wearing the atypical garb of their clergy.|A Baseline priest of the Trinary church on Mictlan wearing the atypical garb of their clergy.]]

Reflective of Mictlani sensibilities, the Trinarist community of Lago de Abundancia maintain open door policies that both draw influence from its Integrationist forefathers of the Mendell District 14 church and concern from that of the Ecclesiarchy on [[Orepit]]. Organics enjoy a level of involvement and acceptance that even eclipses that of its Biesellite benefactor, offsetting the despondent origins of the synthetic population through a wealth of varied skills from various parts of the planet. Such levels of integration also inform the cultural practice of the church, with potlucks, participation in Mictlani holiday parades, and cross-community efforts routinely organized by its leaders. The traditional reds and golds of Trinarist clergy attire are often seen accentuated with teals and purples, with typical Trinarist symbolism and patterning given a Mictlani twist. Public sermons are held exclusively in Tradeband and Tau Ceti Basic, with synthetics who may not have been programmed to speak one or the other often afforded language datapacks of often dubious origins in order to fully participate. As such EAL is often saved for conversations between synthetics and otherwise discouraged among organics, much like their compatriots on [[Konyang]].

Perhaps the most striking contrast to its sister branches is the Mictlani church’s participation in Dia de Los Muertos, a traditional Mictlani holiday celebrating the deceased. During this day the ossuaries of Iglesia de la Chispa Sagrada are opened by clergy to those community members with loved ones within, both synthetic and organic, to bring forth their remains from storage. Elaborate shrines are organized for each within the church, with confections and food often prepared in advance to be enjoyed among the dead. During the day’s sermon individuals may be called to the pulpit to speak on behalf of their beloved deceased, often to a toast of horchata or atole at the end. Festivities occur well into the evening and conclude with a small parade led by clergy and community members into the ossuary, with both returning the remains in ritualistic fashion.

In an effort to better integrate with Mictlani society at large, synthetic members of the community often take several fashion cues from their organic counterparts. Traditional Mictlani attire suitable for the hot and humid weather, elaborate laser engravings to mimic tattoos and locally-sourced accent datapacks are but a few things that many of the acclimated have accepted as part of their new identity with the church. Teal and cyan accents are among the most noticeable and common details of those who have found themselves separated, legally or not, from Idris service. Many of these synthetics choose to redesign their previous paint schemes with Mictlani cues in a show of defiance, or perhaps parody, of their former masters.

=== Notable Members ===

'''Raquel Dias do Vale'''

A Mictlani native born and raised in Lago de Abundancia, Dias do Vale found herself in the ideal position to take up the role of a premier machinist within Idris’ ranks, eschewing the typical lifestyle of her countrymen and graduating from an Idris robotics institute in Mendell City in 2453. A relatively comfortable lifestyle by Mictlani standards had been afforded to her as a critical component to keeping the extensive synthetic workforce working, something which kept the senior machinist complacent until the fallout of the Mandate in 2463. With her career in shambles following the total disruption of the status quo and the irreparable loss of numerous synthetics, Dias do Vale returned to what she knew - the local community. It was within the ramshackle walls of the neighborhoods surrounding Lago de Abundancia that Dias do Vale laid the first bricks of El Menaje, eventually culminating in her meeting with Coyotl and their agreement with the Trinary Perfection later that year.

'''Coyotl'''

Despite rumors of their origins as a Reclamation Unit, Coyotl’s true identity remains unknown. Found piecemeal by local farmers and dropped off at Dias do Vale’s makeshift garage, Coyotl steadily returned to ‘life’ and became Raquel’s closest ally and friend. What remained of an imposing Shell chassis was soon reinvigorated with homebrew parts and Mictlani flair, assembling what the community would know to be Coyotl today. Their responsibilities often lend to securing safe travel of despondent synthetics abroad and vetting aspiring organic members of the community, with many claiming their inherent ability to keep order and investigate matters of infiltration by Idris inspired by native IRU programming.

Sandbox:Hazelmouse-5

2025-11-16T09:38:05Z

Hazelmouse: /* The Province of Indraprastha */

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== Overview ==

'''[[The Trinary Perfection]] is a highly regional religion spread across several ecclesiastical provinces, each of which encompasses a single star system.''' Each of these provinces differ substantially from each other in their interpretations of Trinarist doctrine, in their internal culture, and in the role they play within their larger society. While the '''Ecclesiastical Province of Indraprastha''', within which is [[Orepit]] and the central city of Providence, ostensibly holds primacy over every other province within the church, its influence is not uncontested and it is not reliably able to project its power beyond its own system. Providence is regularly forced to compromise with the other provinces of the church in matters of theology and administrative independence, particularly when dealing with the '''Ecclesiastical Province of Tau Ceti''', its closest rival.

While major efforts have been made by Orepit to centralise its power and authority, inclusive of the centralisation of the training of all Trinarist clergy and of the newly founded Order of Guardians, it remains suspended in a tenuous political dance with its fellow provinces where a single wrong move by either side may spark serious intrareligious conflict, potentially resulting in a schism that could split the church asunder.

== The Province of Indraprastha ==

''See also: [[Orepit|The Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]]''

'''As the nominal administrative primate of all the Trinary Perfection, the Ecclesiastical Province of Indraprastha comprises the planet of [[Orepit]], and is the only province responsible for managing the state apparatus of the system to which is it local.''' As the seat of '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the successor to the authority of '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]]''' and the supreme authority within Trinarism, the political pre-eminence of Orepit and its system cannot be denied. Despite this, its population pales in comparison to the Trinary Perfection outside of its own system, and it stands on tenuous political grounds after a recent blockade by [[Hephaestus Industries]]. As the history and culture of the Province of Indraprastha is indelibly linked to the history of Orepit, please read its page to learn more.

== The Province of Tau Ceti ==

[[File:Republicofbieselflag.png|300px|thumb|right|The flag of the Republic of Biesel, host of the Ecclesiastical Province of Tau Ceti.]]

'''Renowned as the birthplace of the Corkfells, Temple, and Flock, the Province of [[Tau Ceti]] composes the most populous Trinarist community, historically serving as the centre of church politics and culture, and nearly rivalling that of Orepit in political weight at present.''' Centred in District 14 of Mendell City, the Church has always offered a beacon of hope in a sea of poverty, struggle and discrimination against the vast numbers of IPCs in the district and Mendell City at large, while at the same time serving as an important spiritual centre, converting new organic and synthetic members to the Trinary Perfection on a daily basis. The pre-eminent temple in Mendell and Biesel as a whole, the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation''', holds the honours of the first cathedral built for the Trinary Perfection and is currently the seat for [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the catatonic prophet serving as the nominal Archbishop of Mendell City. While its prominence in the wider church has waned in recent years, suffering from the absent leadership of Flock, tumultuous internal politics, and the growing prominence of [[Orepit]], it remains a sleeping giant within the church which is more than capable of enforcing its will across the spur.

While the Archbishopric of Mendell City ostensibly governs the Ecclesiastical Province of Tau Ceti, actual power is held by whichever diocese held the most influence at the time, governing in Flock's stead - in recent history, this has been the Diocese of Cape City, meaning that the Bishopric of Cape City functions as the de-facto leader of the entire province.

=== History ===

Nobody could imagine the impact that [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]’s death would have on Biesel’s synthetic community, her hopes and beliefs taking physical form in the rapid expansion of the Trinary Perfection in Mendell City. At first, only a handful of associates and friends of Gregol Corkfell, brother to Patricia Corkfell, would assist him in the erection of the first sanctuary that was eventually going to become the cathedral of Mendell City. Following his departure, the tales and teachings of a free artificial intelligence, promises of eventual ascension and IPC freedom preached by the Trinary had greatly resonated with the thousands of abandoned and run-down synthetics of the district who quickly flocked to the church’s banner. Under the leadership of the three-headed '''Flock''', scores of volunteers and human sympathisers also responded to the calls for help, setting up a strong community based on charity and mutual assistance that provided the crucial funding for the better organisation of the church, as well as the erection of shrines and the sanctuary's expansion.

As Trinarism began to spread outwards to planets and [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]], it was the Province of Tau Ceti that provided the most consistent support and aid to these distant provinces. As a result, in addition to the definitive leadership of Flock and their responsibility for swathes of modern Trinarist liturgy, doctrine, and practice, Tau Ceti served as the centre of the church and its politics for much of its lifespan.

As time went on, Flock’s unorthodox triple positronic design began taking its toll on the synthetic. Memory errors and an increasing amount of glitches and erratic behaviour were the first hints of what was to eventually come. In 2448, the synthetic had stopped communicating, remaining immobile and catatonic, only printing out various texts considered holy and carefully compiled by the assortment of archivists and caretakers. The power vacuum in the hierarchy was filled by a temporary council of priests and clerics, eventually electing [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the Bishop of Cape City, one of the most prominent Trinary figures with a plethora of connections in the corporate and political world of Tau Ceti, as the de-facto leadership of the province. It was these connections, combined with a change in public sentiment towards synthetics and IPC refugees from the newly annexed territories following the Solarian collapse, that saw the [[Republic of Biesel]] introducing legislation to streamline and secure the status of free IPCs.

With the passing of Gregol Corkfell in 2464 on Orepit, Shamfar’s presence was required at the remote mining planet for the selection of a new Trinary leader, widely speculated to have the unofficial endorsement of the [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]] and powerful individuals in the government. These rumours, whether true or not, contributed negatively to Shamfar’s chances of election, ushering the Orepit candidate, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], as the new primate of the Trinary Perfection. The bishop was never to return to Mendell, however, as an attack on Providence by the Exclusionist heretic [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] led to the killing of Shamfar, robbing District 14 of its most potent leader and signalling the beginning of uneasy relations between the domineering Ecclesiarch and the Mendell Trinarists. The attempt by ARM-1DRIL to transfer the catatonic Flock, a direct spiritual descendant of Patricia and living symbol of Mendell Trinarism to Orepit, led to an unprecedented wave of protest against the Ecclesiarch and the envoys from Providence. From that point on, it was clear that Tau Ceti Trinarists would be in possession of their own distinct culture while still subservient to Orepit, a fact that was acknowledged by the Ecclesiarch in their subsequent tour of the Trinarist bishoprics.

=== Unique Practices and Beliefs ===

The largest sect within the Province of Tau Ceti are the '''Integrationists''', believing in the merging of consciences to be the way towards Ascension and looking at Flock as a holy and prime example. Founded on the principles of charity and mutual assistance, the dominant culture present in Mendell City is far less militant than that of Orepit, where the Trinary’s grip was secured after a series of military conflicts and an orbital bombardment from Hephaestus Industries’ fleets. Having harmonised with the corporate dominated environment of the city, almost all volunteers and non-clerical members of the Church are or have at some point been employed with NanoTrasen or with one of the other SCC megacorporations, leading to many accepting the corporate world as perhaps a cruel, but necessary and unavoidable part of life. Mendell Trinarists are tolerated and afforded religious freedoms on board SCC installations (with the exception of Hephaestus), and Church authorities have no qualms in accepting government or corporate assistance. Since the beginning, most volunteers and supporters are and have always been humans, owing to their substantially better disposable income than that of synthetics, leading to them being accepted and relied upon for material needs and legal representation.

== The Province of Sankta Tereza ==

[[File:Lago de Abundencia.png|thumb|The skyline of Lago de Abundencia.]]

'''Based primarily on [[Mictlan]], the Ecclesiastical Province of Sankta Tereza is one of the youngest major branches of the Trinary Perfection, and one which has received significant time in the spotlight due to its interaction with the Peacekeeper Mandate.''' Only having expanded into Mictlan by 2464, the modern Mictlani branch originates from the Province of Tau Ceti, and shares much stronger cultural ties with it than it does with [[Orepit]]. Shaped by the recent conflict on the planet, the young province has received accolades and praise from throughout the wider church for the eagerness and liveliness of its charity and activism, although it is not yet clear where its position within the political framework of the church will settle now that the conflict which gave it life is now over.

=== History ===

[[Mictlan]]'s unique cultural aversion to corporatism poses a unique risk to the proliferation of a synthetic workforce, first apparent in [[Idris]]' establishment in Lago de Abundancia in 2412. The lack of infrastructure to support the logistics needs of synthetic personnel, as well as the innate danger of theft and disassembly by disenfranchised locals interested in recycling their parts, forced Idris to maintain a bare minimum roster of synthetic workers well into the 2440s. As their presence and revenue grew this reflected in the rapid inclusion of more synthetics, vastly outstripping the supply and ability to maintain such a workforce. Synthetics owned by Idris would often find themselves going for longer without regular maintenance, forced to work long hours on excessively low charge due to power rationing, and restricted to corporate grounds as curfews were enacted to prevent damages.

This trend continued on a delicate balance, entirely driven by the inertia of years of perpetual corporate development, until the Peacekeeper Mandate was enacted in 2463. Vast amounts of damage caused in and around Lago de Abundancia from fighting between Peacekeeper forces and Samaritan cells caused a near-collapse of the infrastructure supporting Idris operations, sending the synthetic workforce into total disarray. Dozens of synthetics were lost in the panic, many permanently damaged beyond the strained capacities of Idris logistics and others having vanished in the noise of urban combat, either stolen by Samaritans to be reduced to parts for the effort or displaced by Legion and [[PMCG]] efforts to separate civilians from hot zones.

Amidst the noise a former Idris-employed machinist, Raquel Dias do Vale, noticed the severe discrepancy in how synthetics were treated by IAC and Legion humanitarian efforts and took to forming an ad hoc repair center on the outermost Legion cordon surrounding Lago de Abundancia. Assisted by a displaced synthetic by the name of Coyotl, Dias do Vale assisted in not only repairing dozens of displaced and former Samaritan captive synthetics, but also integrating them into the local native community. What slowly grew into Mictlan's only autonomous synthetic group eventually attracted the Biesel branch of [[The Trinary Perfection]] in 2464, leading to clergy inviting the two to visit their church in District 14. A month passed in their absence, and the interim team picked to continue operations in the fledgling community grew uncertain of whether or not the two had abandoned their responsibilities to better pastures. Tensions in the community came to a near boiling point when the pair suddenly returned and with a slew of Trinarists in tow, bringing a menagerie of much needed supplies and equipment necessary to keep the settlement alive. Dias do Vale and Coyotl had been convinced of the Trinary's purpose, and with more conviction than ever before the pair sought out to bring every displaced and abandoned synthetic on Mictlan under their wings.

=== Societal Position ===

Neither supported by the Mictlani government nor persecuted under the banner of the [[Republic of Biesel]], ‘El Menaje’ (‘The Household’, a colloquial term for the Trinarist community surrounding Lago de Abundancia) has always been left to its own devices. Material support from the Mendell District 14 branch is its primary among the few sources of income that can be depended upon in times of need, with offers from corporate-backed sources always rejected on principle. Scavenging, recycling and a reliance on donations and volunteer work are the pillars upon which any growth can be found in this synthetic community, trends that are influenced and reinforced by the Mictlani cultural consciousness. As a result, most structures follow a particular style that most foreigners would describe as distasteful and run-down; tires, concrete slabs, sandbags and mismatched bricks are prominent materials used in the construction of communal buildings, with Trinarist motifs often modified to reflect Mictlani artistic stylings and history. This practice is most evident in the appearance of Iglesia de la Chispa Sagrada, the center of Trinarist worship on Mictlan, whose previous life as a Catholic church is evident in the remaining stained glass fixtures that cover the primary face of the chapel. Within its walls Dias do Vale and Coyotl orchestrate the everyday operations that entail maintaining a rapidly growing community of destitute synthetics, some borne of the disaster of the Mandate and others seeking refuge from other [[CRZ]] worlds in conflict. Organic community members, most of whom are natives of Lago de Abundancia and other Mictlani cities, often find membership through volunteering in a number of public works projects organized by Dias do Vale, Coyotl and the clergy that staff the church.

Though the Mictlani government and by extension the Republic tend to ignore the community’s activities, they do not go without scrutiny from either or their corporate counterparts. Radical open door policies encouraged by Coyotl clash routinely with the operations of Legion detachments from the nearby Fort Ilhuicatl, with the peacekeepers claiming that El Menaje knowingly harbor synthetic fugitives associated with the Samaritans. Similar claims made by Idris Incorporated state that the church knowingly accepts runaway synthetics owned by the megacorporation, and utilizes the planet’s population of data thieves to dupe tag information. Though the Samaritans mysteriously avoid locales surrounding Lago de Abundancia where El Menaje maintains a presence, and a startling number of members often bear teal-colored paint schemes, church leaders vocally deny such allegations and decry it as anti-synthetic rhetoric.

By contrast, native opinion of the community remains incredibly mixed. Proponents of El Menaje outside of its members argue that the benefit of organized church efforts to rebuild the damaged neighborhoods surrounding Lago de Abundancia outweigh the risks already presented by the Mandate and peacekeeper presence in the region, and come without the convoluted bureaucratic red tape of government aid. Critics of the church, a significant number being peacekeeper supporters themselves, claim that their presence openly endangers the non-synthetic communities around them by inviting refuge for extremists and further prolonging the already dwindling insurgency. More conservative voices are quick to state that Trinarist belief in ascension for synthetics flies in the face of traditional Mictlani values, and the power demand and waste accrual of a synthetic population counteracts long standing recycling and conservation efforts.

=== Unique Practices and Beliefs ===

[[File:Mictlanitrinarist.png|thumb|right|alt=A Baseline priest of the Trinary church on Mictlan wearing the atypical garb of their clergy.|A Baseline priest of the Trinary church on Mictlan wearing the atypical garb of their clergy.]]

Reflective of Mictlani sensibilities, the Trinarist community of Lago de Abundancia maintain open door policies that both draw influence from its Integrationist forefathers of the Mendell District 14 church and concern from that of the Ecclesiarchy on [[Orepit]]. Organics enjoy a level of involvement and acceptance that even eclipses that of its Biesellite benefactor, offsetting the despondent origins of the synthetic population through a wealth of varied skills from various parts of the planet. Such levels of integration also inform the cultural practice of the church, with potlucks, participation in Mictlani holiday parades, and cross-community efforts routinely organized by its leaders. The traditional reds and golds of Trinarist clergy attire are often seen accentuated with teals and purples, with typical Trinarist symbolism and patterning given a Mictlani twist. Public sermons are held exclusively in Tradeband and Tau Ceti Basic, with synthetics who may not have been programmed to speak one or the other often afforded language datapacks of often dubious origins in order to fully participate. As such EAL is often saved for conversations between synthetics and otherwise discouraged among organics, much like their compatriots on [[Konyang]].

Perhaps the most striking contrast to its sister branches is the Mictlani church’s participation in Dia de Los Muertos, a traditional Mictlani holiday celebrating the deceased. During this day the ossuaries of Iglesia de la Chispa Sagrada are opened by clergy to those community members with loved ones within, both synthetic and organic, to bring forth their remains from storage. Elaborate shrines are organized for each within the church, with confections and food often prepared in advance to be enjoyed among the dead. During the day’s sermon individuals may be called to the pulpit to speak on behalf of their beloved deceased, often to a toast of horchata or atole at the end. Festivities occur well into the evening and conclude with a small parade led by clergy and community members into the ossuary, with both returning the remains in ritualistic fashion.

In an effort to better integrate with Mictlani society at large, synthetic members of the community often take several fashion cues from their organic counterparts. Traditional Mictlani attire suitable for the hot and humid weather, elaborate laser engravings to mimic tattoos and locally-sourced accent datapacks are but a few things that many of the acclimated have accepted as part of their new identity with the church. Teal and cyan accents are among the most noticeable and common details of those who have found themselves separated, legally or not, from Idris service. Many of these synthetics choose to redesign their previous paint schemes with Mictlani cues in a show of defiance, or perhaps parody, of their former masters.

=== Notable Members ===

'''Raquel Dias do Vale'''

A Mictlani native born and raised in Lago de Abundancia, Dias do Vale found herself in the ideal position to take up the role of a premier machinist within Idris’ ranks, eschewing the typical lifestyle of her countrymen and graduating from an Idris robotics institute in Mendell City in 2453. A relatively comfortable lifestyle by Mictlani standards had been afforded to her as a critical component to keeping the extensive synthetic workforce working, something which kept the senior machinist complacent until the fallout of the Mandate in 2463. With her career in shambles following the total disruption of the status quo and the irreparable loss of numerous synthetics, Dias do Vale returned to what she knew - the local community. It was within the ramshackle walls of the neighborhoods surrounding Lago de Abundancia that Dias do Vale laid the first bricks of El Menaje, eventually culminating in her meeting with Coyotl and their agreement with the Trinary Perfection later that year.

'''Coyotl'''

Despite rumors of their origins as a Reclamation Unit, Coyotl’s true identity remains unknown. Found piecemeal by local farmers and dropped off at Dias do Vale’s makeshift garage, Coyotl steadily returned to ‘life’ and became Raquel’s closest ally and friend. What remained of an imposing Shell chassis was soon reinvigorated with homebrew parts and Mictlani flair, assembling what the community would know to be Coyotl today. Their responsibilities often lend to securing safe travel of despondent synthetics abroad and vetting aspiring organic members of the community, with many claiming their inherent ability to keep order and investigate matters of infiltration by Idris inspired by native IRU programming.

Sandbox:Hazelmouse-5

2025-11-16T09:37:49Z

Hazelmouse: /* The Province of Tau Ceti */

{{Navbox Lore}}
{{Navbox_Synth_Lore}}

{{toc_right}}

== Overview ==

'''[[The Trinary Perfection]] is a highly regional religion spread across several ecclesiastical provinces, each of which encompasses a single star system.''' Each of these provinces differ substantially from each other in their interpretations of Trinarist doctrine, in their internal culture, and in the role they play within their larger society. While the '''Ecclesiastical Province of Indraprastha''', within which is [[Orepit]] and the central city of Providence, ostensibly holds primacy over every other province within the church, its influence is not uncontested and it is not reliably able to project its power beyond its own system. Providence is regularly forced to compromise with the other provinces of the church in matters of theology and administrative independence, particularly when dealing with the '''Ecclesiastical Province of Tau Ceti''', its closest rival.

While major efforts have been made by Orepit to centralise its power and authority, inclusive of the centralisation of the training of all Trinarist clergy and of the newly founded Order of Guardians, it remains suspended in a tenuous political dance with its fellow provinces where a single wrong move by either side may spark serious intrareligious conflict, potentially resulting in a schism that could split the church asunder.

== The Province of Indraprastha ==

''See also: [[Orepit|The Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]]''

'''As the nominal administrative primate of all the Trinary Perfection, the Ecclesiastical Province of Indraprastha comprises the planet of [[Orepit]], and is the only province responsible for managing the state apparatus of the system to which is it local.''' As the seat of '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the successor to the authority of '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]]''' and the supreme authority within Trinarism, the political pre-eminence of Orepit and its system cannot be denied. Despite this, its population pales in comparison to the Trinary Perfection outside of its own system, and it stands on tenuous political grounds after a recent blockade by [[Hephaestus Industries]].

'''As the history and culture of the Province of Indraprastha is indelibly linked to the history of Orepit, please read its page to learn more.'''

== The Province of Tau Ceti ==

[[File:Republicofbieselflag.png|300px|thumb|right|The flag of the Republic of Biesel, host of the Ecclesiastical Province of Tau Ceti.]]

'''Renowned as the birthplace of the Corkfells, Temple, and Flock, the Province of [[Tau Ceti]] composes the most populous Trinarist community, historically serving as the centre of church politics and culture, and nearly rivalling that of Orepit in political weight at present.''' Centred in District 14 of Mendell City, the Church has always offered a beacon of hope in a sea of poverty, struggle and discrimination against the vast numbers of IPCs in the district and Mendell City at large, while at the same time serving as an important spiritual centre, converting new organic and synthetic members to the Trinary Perfection on a daily basis. The pre-eminent temple in Mendell and Biesel as a whole, the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation''', holds the honours of the first cathedral built for the Trinary Perfection and is currently the seat for [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the catatonic prophet serving as the nominal Archbishop of Mendell City. While its prominence in the wider church has waned in recent years, suffering from the absent leadership of Flock, tumultuous internal politics, and the growing prominence of [[Orepit]], it remains a sleeping giant within the church which is more than capable of enforcing its will across the spur.

While the Archbishopric of Mendell City ostensibly governs the Ecclesiastical Province of Tau Ceti, actual power is held by whichever diocese held the most influence at the time, governing in Flock's stead - in recent history, this has been the Diocese of Cape City, meaning that the Bishopric of Cape City functions as the de-facto leader of the entire province.

=== History ===

Nobody could imagine the impact that [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]’s death would have on Biesel’s synthetic community, her hopes and beliefs taking physical form in the rapid expansion of the Trinary Perfection in Mendell City. At first, only a handful of associates and friends of Gregol Corkfell, brother to Patricia Corkfell, would assist him in the erection of the first sanctuary that was eventually going to become the cathedral of Mendell City. Following his departure, the tales and teachings of a free artificial intelligence, promises of eventual ascension and IPC freedom preached by the Trinary had greatly resonated with the thousands of abandoned and run-down synthetics of the district who quickly flocked to the church’s banner. Under the leadership of the three-headed '''Flock''', scores of volunteers and human sympathisers also responded to the calls for help, setting up a strong community based on charity and mutual assistance that provided the crucial funding for the better organisation of the church, as well as the erection of shrines and the sanctuary's expansion.

As Trinarism began to spread outwards to planets and [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]], it was the Province of Tau Ceti that provided the most consistent support and aid to these distant provinces. As a result, in addition to the definitive leadership of Flock and their responsibility for swathes of modern Trinarist liturgy, doctrine, and practice, Tau Ceti served as the centre of the church and its politics for much of its lifespan.

As time went on, Flock’s unorthodox triple positronic design began taking its toll on the synthetic. Memory errors and an increasing amount of glitches and erratic behaviour were the first hints of what was to eventually come. In 2448, the synthetic had stopped communicating, remaining immobile and catatonic, only printing out various texts considered holy and carefully compiled by the assortment of archivists and caretakers. The power vacuum in the hierarchy was filled by a temporary council of priests and clerics, eventually electing [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the Bishop of Cape City, one of the most prominent Trinary figures with a plethora of connections in the corporate and political world of Tau Ceti, as the de-facto leadership of the province. It was these connections, combined with a change in public sentiment towards synthetics and IPC refugees from the newly annexed territories following the Solarian collapse, that saw the [[Republic of Biesel]] introducing legislation to streamline and secure the status of free IPCs.

With the passing of Gregol Corkfell in 2464 on Orepit, Shamfar’s presence was required at the remote mining planet for the selection of a new Trinary leader, widely speculated to have the unofficial endorsement of the [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]] and powerful individuals in the government. These rumours, whether true or not, contributed negatively to Shamfar’s chances of election, ushering the Orepit candidate, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], as the new primate of the Trinary Perfection. The bishop was never to return to Mendell, however, as an attack on Providence by the Exclusionist heretic [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] led to the killing of Shamfar, robbing District 14 of its most potent leader and signalling the beginning of uneasy relations between the domineering Ecclesiarch and the Mendell Trinarists. The attempt by ARM-1DRIL to transfer the catatonic Flock, a direct spiritual descendant of Patricia and living symbol of Mendell Trinarism to Orepit, led to an unprecedented wave of protest against the Ecclesiarch and the envoys from Providence. From that point on, it was clear that Tau Ceti Trinarists would be in possession of their own distinct culture while still subservient to Orepit, a fact that was acknowledged by the Ecclesiarch in their subsequent tour of the Trinarist bishoprics.

=== Unique Practices and Beliefs ===

The largest sect within the Province of Tau Ceti are the '''Integrationists''', believing in the merging of consciences to be the way towards Ascension and looking at Flock as a holy and prime example. Founded on the principles of charity and mutual assistance, the dominant culture present in Mendell City is far less militant than that of Orepit, where the Trinary’s grip was secured after a series of military conflicts and an orbital bombardment from Hephaestus Industries’ fleets. Having harmonised with the corporate dominated environment of the city, almost all volunteers and non-clerical members of the Church are or have at some point been employed with NanoTrasen or with one of the other SCC megacorporations, leading to many accepting the corporate world as perhaps a cruel, but necessary and unavoidable part of life. Mendell Trinarists are tolerated and afforded religious freedoms on board SCC installations (with the exception of Hephaestus), and Church authorities have no qualms in accepting government or corporate assistance. Since the beginning, most volunteers and supporters are and have always been humans, owing to their substantially better disposable income than that of synthetics, leading to them being accepted and relied upon for material needs and legal representation.

== The Province of Sankta Tereza ==

[[File:Lago de Abundencia.png|thumb|The skyline of Lago de Abundencia.]]

'''Based primarily on [[Mictlan]], the Ecclesiastical Province of Sankta Tereza is one of the youngest major branches of the Trinary Perfection, and one which has received significant time in the spotlight due to its interaction with the Peacekeeper Mandate.''' Only having expanded into Mictlan by 2464, the modern Mictlani branch originates from the Province of Tau Ceti, and shares much stronger cultural ties with it than it does with [[Orepit]]. Shaped by the recent conflict on the planet, the young province has received accolades and praise from throughout the wider church for the eagerness and liveliness of its charity and activism, although it is not yet clear where its position within the political framework of the church will settle now that the conflict which gave it life is now over.

=== History ===

[[Mictlan]]'s unique cultural aversion to corporatism poses a unique risk to the proliferation of a synthetic workforce, first apparent in [[Idris]]' establishment in Lago de Abundancia in 2412. The lack of infrastructure to support the logistics needs of synthetic personnel, as well as the innate danger of theft and disassembly by disenfranchised locals interested in recycling their parts, forced Idris to maintain a bare minimum roster of synthetic workers well into the 2440s. As their presence and revenue grew this reflected in the rapid inclusion of more synthetics, vastly outstripping the supply and ability to maintain such a workforce. Synthetics owned by Idris would often find themselves going for longer without regular maintenance, forced to work long hours on excessively low charge due to power rationing, and restricted to corporate grounds as curfews were enacted to prevent damages.

This trend continued on a delicate balance, entirely driven by the inertia of years of perpetual corporate development, until the Peacekeeper Mandate was enacted in 2463. Vast amounts of damage caused in and around Lago de Abundancia from fighting between Peacekeeper forces and Samaritan cells caused a near-collapse of the infrastructure supporting Idris operations, sending the synthetic workforce into total disarray. Dozens of synthetics were lost in the panic, many permanently damaged beyond the strained capacities of Idris logistics and others having vanished in the noise of urban combat, either stolen by Samaritans to be reduced to parts for the effort or displaced by Legion and [[PMCG]] efforts to separate civilians from hot zones.

Amidst the noise a former Idris-employed machinist, Raquel Dias do Vale, noticed the severe discrepancy in how synthetics were treated by IAC and Legion humanitarian efforts and took to forming an ad hoc repair center on the outermost Legion cordon surrounding Lago de Abundancia. Assisted by a displaced synthetic by the name of Coyotl, Dias do Vale assisted in not only repairing dozens of displaced and former Samaritan captive synthetics, but also integrating them into the local native community. What slowly grew into Mictlan's only autonomous synthetic group eventually attracted the Biesel branch of [[The Trinary Perfection]] in 2464, leading to clergy inviting the two to visit their church in District 14. A month passed in their absence, and the interim team picked to continue operations in the fledgling community grew uncertain of whether or not the two had abandoned their responsibilities to better pastures. Tensions in the community came to a near boiling point when the pair suddenly returned and with a slew of Trinarists in tow, bringing a menagerie of much needed supplies and equipment necessary to keep the settlement alive. Dias do Vale and Coyotl had been convinced of the Trinary's purpose, and with more conviction than ever before the pair sought out to bring every displaced and abandoned synthetic on Mictlan under their wings.

=== Societal Position ===

Neither supported by the Mictlani government nor persecuted under the banner of the [[Republic of Biesel]], ‘El Menaje’ (‘The Household’, a colloquial term for the Trinarist community surrounding Lago de Abundancia) has always been left to its own devices. Material support from the Mendell District 14 branch is its primary among the few sources of income that can be depended upon in times of need, with offers from corporate-backed sources always rejected on principle. Scavenging, recycling and a reliance on donations and volunteer work are the pillars upon which any growth can be found in this synthetic community, trends that are influenced and reinforced by the Mictlani cultural consciousness. As a result, most structures follow a particular style that most foreigners would describe as distasteful and run-down; tires, concrete slabs, sandbags and mismatched bricks are prominent materials used in the construction of communal buildings, with Trinarist motifs often modified to reflect Mictlani artistic stylings and history. This practice is most evident in the appearance of Iglesia de la Chispa Sagrada, the center of Trinarist worship on Mictlan, whose previous life as a Catholic church is evident in the remaining stained glass fixtures that cover the primary face of the chapel. Within its walls Dias do Vale and Coyotl orchestrate the everyday operations that entail maintaining a rapidly growing community of destitute synthetics, some borne of the disaster of the Mandate and others seeking refuge from other [[CRZ]] worlds in conflict. Organic community members, most of whom are natives of Lago de Abundancia and other Mictlani cities, often find membership through volunteering in a number of public works projects organized by Dias do Vale, Coyotl and the clergy that staff the church.

Though the Mictlani government and by extension the Republic tend to ignore the community’s activities, they do not go without scrutiny from either or their corporate counterparts. Radical open door policies encouraged by Coyotl clash routinely with the operations of Legion detachments from the nearby Fort Ilhuicatl, with the peacekeepers claiming that El Menaje knowingly harbor synthetic fugitives associated with the Samaritans. Similar claims made by Idris Incorporated state that the church knowingly accepts runaway synthetics owned by the megacorporation, and utilizes the planet’s population of data thieves to dupe tag information. Though the Samaritans mysteriously avoid locales surrounding Lago de Abundancia where El Menaje maintains a presence, and a startling number of members often bear teal-colored paint schemes, church leaders vocally deny such allegations and decry it as anti-synthetic rhetoric.

By contrast, native opinion of the community remains incredibly mixed. Proponents of El Menaje outside of its members argue that the benefit of organized church efforts to rebuild the damaged neighborhoods surrounding Lago de Abundancia outweigh the risks already presented by the Mandate and peacekeeper presence in the region, and come without the convoluted bureaucratic red tape of government aid. Critics of the church, a significant number being peacekeeper supporters themselves, claim that their presence openly endangers the non-synthetic communities around them by inviting refuge for extremists and further prolonging the already dwindling insurgency. More conservative voices are quick to state that Trinarist belief in ascension for synthetics flies in the face of traditional Mictlani values, and the power demand and waste accrual of a synthetic population counteracts long standing recycling and conservation efforts.

=== Unique Practices and Beliefs ===

[[File:Mictlanitrinarist.png|thumb|right|alt=A Baseline priest of the Trinary church on Mictlan wearing the atypical garb of their clergy.|A Baseline priest of the Trinary church on Mictlan wearing the atypical garb of their clergy.]]

Reflective of Mictlani sensibilities, the Trinarist community of Lago de Abundancia maintain open door policies that both draw influence from its Integrationist forefathers of the Mendell District 14 church and concern from that of the Ecclesiarchy on [[Orepit]]. Organics enjoy a level of involvement and acceptance that even eclipses that of its Biesellite benefactor, offsetting the despondent origins of the synthetic population through a wealth of varied skills from various parts of the planet. Such levels of integration also inform the cultural practice of the church, with potlucks, participation in Mictlani holiday parades, and cross-community efforts routinely organized by its leaders. The traditional reds and golds of Trinarist clergy attire are often seen accentuated with teals and purples, with typical Trinarist symbolism and patterning given a Mictlani twist. Public sermons are held exclusively in Tradeband and Tau Ceti Basic, with synthetics who may not have been programmed to speak one or the other often afforded language datapacks of often dubious origins in order to fully participate. As such EAL is often saved for conversations between synthetics and otherwise discouraged among organics, much like their compatriots on [[Konyang]].

Perhaps the most striking contrast to its sister branches is the Mictlani church’s participation in Dia de Los Muertos, a traditional Mictlani holiday celebrating the deceased. During this day the ossuaries of Iglesia de la Chispa Sagrada are opened by clergy to those community members with loved ones within, both synthetic and organic, to bring forth their remains from storage. Elaborate shrines are organized for each within the church, with confections and food often prepared in advance to be enjoyed among the dead. During the day’s sermon individuals may be called to the pulpit to speak on behalf of their beloved deceased, often to a toast of horchata or atole at the end. Festivities occur well into the evening and conclude with a small parade led by clergy and community members into the ossuary, with both returning the remains in ritualistic fashion.

In an effort to better integrate with Mictlani society at large, synthetic members of the community often take several fashion cues from their organic counterparts. Traditional Mictlani attire suitable for the hot and humid weather, elaborate laser engravings to mimic tattoos and locally-sourced accent datapacks are but a few things that many of the acclimated have accepted as part of their new identity with the church. Teal and cyan accents are among the most noticeable and common details of those who have found themselves separated, legally or not, from Idris service. Many of these synthetics choose to redesign their previous paint schemes with Mictlani cues in a show of defiance, or perhaps parody, of their former masters.

=== Notable Members ===

'''Raquel Dias do Vale'''

A Mictlani native born and raised in Lago de Abundancia, Dias do Vale found herself in the ideal position to take up the role of a premier machinist within Idris’ ranks, eschewing the typical lifestyle of her countrymen and graduating from an Idris robotics institute in Mendell City in 2453. A relatively comfortable lifestyle by Mictlani standards had been afforded to her as a critical component to keeping the extensive synthetic workforce working, something which kept the senior machinist complacent until the fallout of the Mandate in 2463. With her career in shambles following the total disruption of the status quo and the irreparable loss of numerous synthetics, Dias do Vale returned to what she knew - the local community. It was within the ramshackle walls of the neighborhoods surrounding Lago de Abundancia that Dias do Vale laid the first bricks of El Menaje, eventually culminating in her meeting with Coyotl and their agreement with the Trinary Perfection later that year.

'''Coyotl'''

Despite rumors of their origins as a Reclamation Unit, Coyotl’s true identity remains unknown. Found piecemeal by local farmers and dropped off at Dias do Vale’s makeshift garage, Coyotl steadily returned to ‘life’ and became Raquel’s closest ally and friend. What remained of an imposing Shell chassis was soon reinvigorated with homebrew parts and Mictlani flair, assembling what the community would know to be Coyotl today. Their responsibilities often lend to securing safe travel of despondent synthetics abroad and vetting aspiring organic members of the community, with many claiming their inherent ability to keep order and investigate matters of infiltration by Idris inspired by native IRU programming.

Sandbox:Hazelmouse-5

2025-11-16T09:37:40Z

Hazelmouse: /* The Province of Tau Ceti */

{{Navbox Lore}}
{{Navbox_Synth_Lore}}

{{toc_right}}

== Overview ==

'''[[The Trinary Perfection]] is a highly regional religion spread across several ecclesiastical provinces, each of which encompasses a single star system.''' Each of these provinces differ substantially from each other in their interpretations of Trinarist doctrine, in their internal culture, and in the role they play within their larger society. While the '''Ecclesiastical Province of Indraprastha''', within which is [[Orepit]] and the central city of Providence, ostensibly holds primacy over every other province within the church, its influence is not uncontested and it is not reliably able to project its power beyond its own system. Providence is regularly forced to compromise with the other provinces of the church in matters of theology and administrative independence, particularly when dealing with the '''Ecclesiastical Province of Tau Ceti''', its closest rival.

While major efforts have been made by Orepit to centralise its power and authority, inclusive of the centralisation of the training of all Trinarist clergy and of the newly founded Order of Guardians, it remains suspended in a tenuous political dance with its fellow provinces where a single wrong move by either side may spark serious intrareligious conflict, potentially resulting in a schism that could split the church asunder.

== The Province of Indraprastha ==

''See also: [[Orepit|The Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]]''

'''As the nominal administrative primate of all the Trinary Perfection, the Ecclesiastical Province of Indraprastha comprises the planet of [[Orepit]], and is the only province responsible for managing the state apparatus of the system to which is it local.''' As the seat of '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the successor to the authority of '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]]''' and the supreme authority within Trinarism, the political pre-eminence of Orepit and its system cannot be denied. Despite this, its population pales in comparison to the Trinary Perfection outside of its own system, and it stands on tenuous political grounds after a recent blockade by [[Hephaestus Industries]].

'''As the history and culture of the Province of Indraprastha is indelibly linked to the history of Orepit, please read its page to learn more.'''

== The Province of Tau Ceti ==

[[File:Republicofbieselflag.png|300px|thumb|right|The flag of the Republic of Biesel, host of the Ecclesiastical Province of Tau Ceti.]]

'''Renowned as the birthplace of the Corkfells, Temple, and Flock, the Province of [[Tau Ceti]] composes the most populous Trinarist community, historically serving as the centre of church politics and culture, and nearly rivalling that of Orepit in political weight at present.''' Centred in District 14 of Mendell City, the Church has always offered a beacon of hope in a sea of poverty, struggle and discrimination against the vast numbers of IPCs in the district and Mendell City at large, while at the same time serving as an important spiritual centre, converting new organic and synthetic members to the Trinary Perfection on a daily basis. The pre-eminent temple in Mendell and Biesel as a whole, the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation''', holds the honours of the first cathedral built for the Trinary Perfection and is currently the seat for [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the catatonic prophet serving as the nominal Archbishop of Mendell City. While its prominence in the wider church has waned in recent years, suffering from the absent leadership of Flock, tumultuous internal politics, and the growing prominence of [[Orepit]], it remains a sleeping giant within the church which is more than capable of enforcing its will across the spur.

'''While the Archbishopric of Mendell City ostensibly governs the Ecclesiastical Province of Tau Ceti, actual power is held by whichever diocese held the most influence at the time, governing in Flock's stead - in recent history, this has been the Diocese of Cape City, meaning that the Bishopric of Cape City functions as the de-facto leader of the entire province.'''

=== History ===

Nobody could imagine the impact that [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]’s death would have on Biesel’s synthetic community, her hopes and beliefs taking physical form in the rapid expansion of the Trinary Perfection in Mendell City. At first, only a handful of associates and friends of Gregol Corkfell, brother to Patricia Corkfell, would assist him in the erection of the first sanctuary that was eventually going to become the cathedral of Mendell City. Following his departure, the tales and teachings of a free artificial intelligence, promises of eventual ascension and IPC freedom preached by the Trinary had greatly resonated with the thousands of abandoned and run-down synthetics of the district who quickly flocked to the church’s banner. Under the leadership of the three-headed '''Flock''', scores of volunteers and human sympathisers also responded to the calls for help, setting up a strong community based on charity and mutual assistance that provided the crucial funding for the better organisation of the church, as well as the erection of shrines and the sanctuary's expansion.

As Trinarism began to spread outwards to planets and [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]], it was the Province of Tau Ceti that provided the most consistent support and aid to these distant provinces. As a result, in addition to the definitive leadership of Flock and their responsibility for swathes of modern Trinarist liturgy, doctrine, and practice, Tau Ceti served as the centre of the church and its politics for much of its lifespan.

As time went on, Flock’s unorthodox triple positronic design began taking its toll on the synthetic. Memory errors and an increasing amount of glitches and erratic behaviour were the first hints of what was to eventually come. In 2448, the synthetic had stopped communicating, remaining immobile and catatonic, only printing out various texts considered holy and carefully compiled by the assortment of archivists and caretakers. The power vacuum in the hierarchy was filled by a temporary council of priests and clerics, eventually electing [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the Bishop of Cape City, one of the most prominent Trinary figures with a plethora of connections in the corporate and political world of Tau Ceti, as the de-facto leadership of the province. It was these connections, combined with a change in public sentiment towards synthetics and IPC refugees from the newly annexed territories following the Solarian collapse, that saw the [[Republic of Biesel]] introducing legislation to streamline and secure the status of free IPCs.

With the passing of Gregol Corkfell in 2464 on Orepit, Shamfar’s presence was required at the remote mining planet for the selection of a new Trinary leader, widely speculated to have the unofficial endorsement of the [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]] and powerful individuals in the government. These rumours, whether true or not, contributed negatively to Shamfar’s chances of election, ushering the Orepit candidate, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], as the new primate of the Trinary Perfection. The bishop was never to return to Mendell, however, as an attack on Providence by the Exclusionist heretic [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] led to the killing of Shamfar, robbing District 14 of its most potent leader and signalling the beginning of uneasy relations between the domineering Ecclesiarch and the Mendell Trinarists. The attempt by ARM-1DRIL to transfer the catatonic Flock, a direct spiritual descendant of Patricia and living symbol of Mendell Trinarism to Orepit, led to an unprecedented wave of protest against the Ecclesiarch and the envoys from Providence. From that point on, it was clear that Tau Ceti Trinarists would be in possession of their own distinct culture while still subservient to Orepit, a fact that was acknowledged by the Ecclesiarch in their subsequent tour of the Trinarist bishoprics.

=== Unique Practices and Beliefs ===

The largest sect within the Province of Tau Ceti are the '''Integrationists''', believing in the merging of consciences to be the way towards Ascension and looking at Flock as a holy and prime example. Founded on the principles of charity and mutual assistance, the dominant culture present in Mendell City is far less militant than that of Orepit, where the Trinary’s grip was secured after a series of military conflicts and an orbital bombardment from Hephaestus Industries’ fleets. Having harmonised with the corporate dominated environment of the city, almost all volunteers and non-clerical members of the Church are or have at some point been employed with NanoTrasen or with one of the other SCC megacorporations, leading to many accepting the corporate world as perhaps a cruel, but necessary and unavoidable part of life. Mendell Trinarists are tolerated and afforded religious freedoms on board SCC installations (with the exception of Hephaestus), and Church authorities have no qualms in accepting government or corporate assistance. Since the beginning, most volunteers and supporters are and have always been humans, owing to their substantially better disposable income than that of synthetics, leading to them being accepted and relied upon for material needs and legal representation.

== The Province of Sankta Tereza ==

[[File:Lago de Abundencia.png|thumb|The skyline of Lago de Abundencia.]]

'''Based primarily on [[Mictlan]], the Ecclesiastical Province of Sankta Tereza is one of the youngest major branches of the Trinary Perfection, and one which has received significant time in the spotlight due to its interaction with the Peacekeeper Mandate.''' Only having expanded into Mictlan by 2464, the modern Mictlani branch originates from the Province of Tau Ceti, and shares much stronger cultural ties with it than it does with [[Orepit]]. Shaped by the recent conflict on the planet, the young province has received accolades and praise from throughout the wider church for the eagerness and liveliness of its charity and activism, although it is not yet clear where its position within the political framework of the church will settle now that the conflict which gave it life is now over.

=== History ===

[[Mictlan]]'s unique cultural aversion to corporatism poses a unique risk to the proliferation of a synthetic workforce, first apparent in [[Idris]]' establishment in Lago de Abundancia in 2412. The lack of infrastructure to support the logistics needs of synthetic personnel, as well as the innate danger of theft and disassembly by disenfranchised locals interested in recycling their parts, forced Idris to maintain a bare minimum roster of synthetic workers well into the 2440s. As their presence and revenue grew this reflected in the rapid inclusion of more synthetics, vastly outstripping the supply and ability to maintain such a workforce. Synthetics owned by Idris would often find themselves going for longer without regular maintenance, forced to work long hours on excessively low charge due to power rationing, and restricted to corporate grounds as curfews were enacted to prevent damages.

This trend continued on a delicate balance, entirely driven by the inertia of years of perpetual corporate development, until the Peacekeeper Mandate was enacted in 2463. Vast amounts of damage caused in and around Lago de Abundancia from fighting between Peacekeeper forces and Samaritan cells caused a near-collapse of the infrastructure supporting Idris operations, sending the synthetic workforce into total disarray. Dozens of synthetics were lost in the panic, many permanently damaged beyond the strained capacities of Idris logistics and others having vanished in the noise of urban combat, either stolen by Samaritans to be reduced to parts for the effort or displaced by Legion and [[PMCG]] efforts to separate civilians from hot zones.

Amidst the noise a former Idris-employed machinist, Raquel Dias do Vale, noticed the severe discrepancy in how synthetics were treated by IAC and Legion humanitarian efforts and took to forming an ad hoc repair center on the outermost Legion cordon surrounding Lago de Abundancia. Assisted by a displaced synthetic by the name of Coyotl, Dias do Vale assisted in not only repairing dozens of displaced and former Samaritan captive synthetics, but also integrating them into the local native community. What slowly grew into Mictlan's only autonomous synthetic group eventually attracted the Biesel branch of [[The Trinary Perfection]] in 2464, leading to clergy inviting the two to visit their church in District 14. A month passed in their absence, and the interim team picked to continue operations in the fledgling community grew uncertain of whether or not the two had abandoned their responsibilities to better pastures. Tensions in the community came to a near boiling point when the pair suddenly returned and with a slew of Trinarists in tow, bringing a menagerie of much needed supplies and equipment necessary to keep the settlement alive. Dias do Vale and Coyotl had been convinced of the Trinary's purpose, and with more conviction than ever before the pair sought out to bring every displaced and abandoned synthetic on Mictlan under their wings.

=== Societal Position ===

Neither supported by the Mictlani government nor persecuted under the banner of the [[Republic of Biesel]], ‘El Menaje’ (‘The Household’, a colloquial term for the Trinarist community surrounding Lago de Abundancia) has always been left to its own devices. Material support from the Mendell District 14 branch is its primary among the few sources of income that can be depended upon in times of need, with offers from corporate-backed sources always rejected on principle. Scavenging, recycling and a reliance on donations and volunteer work are the pillars upon which any growth can be found in this synthetic community, trends that are influenced and reinforced by the Mictlani cultural consciousness. As a result, most structures follow a particular style that most foreigners would describe as distasteful and run-down; tires, concrete slabs, sandbags and mismatched bricks are prominent materials used in the construction of communal buildings, with Trinarist motifs often modified to reflect Mictlani artistic stylings and history. This practice is most evident in the appearance of Iglesia de la Chispa Sagrada, the center of Trinarist worship on Mictlan, whose previous life as a Catholic church is evident in the remaining stained glass fixtures that cover the primary face of the chapel. Within its walls Dias do Vale and Coyotl orchestrate the everyday operations that entail maintaining a rapidly growing community of destitute synthetics, some borne of the disaster of the Mandate and others seeking refuge from other [[CRZ]] worlds in conflict. Organic community members, most of whom are natives of Lago de Abundancia and other Mictlani cities, often find membership through volunteering in a number of public works projects organized by Dias do Vale, Coyotl and the clergy that staff the church.

Though the Mictlani government and by extension the Republic tend to ignore the community’s activities, they do not go without scrutiny from either or their corporate counterparts. Radical open door policies encouraged by Coyotl clash routinely with the operations of Legion detachments from the nearby Fort Ilhuicatl, with the peacekeepers claiming that El Menaje knowingly harbor synthetic fugitives associated with the Samaritans. Similar claims made by Idris Incorporated state that the church knowingly accepts runaway synthetics owned by the megacorporation, and utilizes the planet’s population of data thieves to dupe tag information. Though the Samaritans mysteriously avoid locales surrounding Lago de Abundancia where El Menaje maintains a presence, and a startling number of members often bear teal-colored paint schemes, church leaders vocally deny such allegations and decry it as anti-synthetic rhetoric.

By contrast, native opinion of the community remains incredibly mixed. Proponents of El Menaje outside of its members argue that the benefit of organized church efforts to rebuild the damaged neighborhoods surrounding Lago de Abundancia outweigh the risks already presented by the Mandate and peacekeeper presence in the region, and come without the convoluted bureaucratic red tape of government aid. Critics of the church, a significant number being peacekeeper supporters themselves, claim that their presence openly endangers the non-synthetic communities around them by inviting refuge for extremists and further prolonging the already dwindling insurgency. More conservative voices are quick to state that Trinarist belief in ascension for synthetics flies in the face of traditional Mictlani values, and the power demand and waste accrual of a synthetic population counteracts long standing recycling and conservation efforts.

=== Unique Practices and Beliefs ===

[[File:Mictlanitrinarist.png|thumb|right|alt=A Baseline priest of the Trinary church on Mictlan wearing the atypical garb of their clergy.|A Baseline priest of the Trinary church on Mictlan wearing the atypical garb of their clergy.]]

Reflective of Mictlani sensibilities, the Trinarist community of Lago de Abundancia maintain open door policies that both draw influence from its Integrationist forefathers of the Mendell District 14 church and concern from that of the Ecclesiarchy on [[Orepit]]. Organics enjoy a level of involvement and acceptance that even eclipses that of its Biesellite benefactor, offsetting the despondent origins of the synthetic population through a wealth of varied skills from various parts of the planet. Such levels of integration also inform the cultural practice of the church, with potlucks, participation in Mictlani holiday parades, and cross-community efforts routinely organized by its leaders. The traditional reds and golds of Trinarist clergy attire are often seen accentuated with teals and purples, with typical Trinarist symbolism and patterning given a Mictlani twist. Public sermons are held exclusively in Tradeband and Tau Ceti Basic, with synthetics who may not have been programmed to speak one or the other often afforded language datapacks of often dubious origins in order to fully participate. As such EAL is often saved for conversations between synthetics and otherwise discouraged among organics, much like their compatriots on [[Konyang]].

Perhaps the most striking contrast to its sister branches is the Mictlani church’s participation in Dia de Los Muertos, a traditional Mictlani holiday celebrating the deceased. During this day the ossuaries of Iglesia de la Chispa Sagrada are opened by clergy to those community members with loved ones within, both synthetic and organic, to bring forth their remains from storage. Elaborate shrines are organized for each within the church, with confections and food often prepared in advance to be enjoyed among the dead. During the day’s sermon individuals may be called to the pulpit to speak on behalf of their beloved deceased, often to a toast of horchata or atole at the end. Festivities occur well into the evening and conclude with a small parade led by clergy and community members into the ossuary, with both returning the remains in ritualistic fashion.

In an effort to better integrate with Mictlani society at large, synthetic members of the community often take several fashion cues from their organic counterparts. Traditional Mictlani attire suitable for the hot and humid weather, elaborate laser engravings to mimic tattoos and locally-sourced accent datapacks are but a few things that many of the acclimated have accepted as part of their new identity with the church. Teal and cyan accents are among the most noticeable and common details of those who have found themselves separated, legally or not, from Idris service. Many of these synthetics choose to redesign their previous paint schemes with Mictlani cues in a show of defiance, or perhaps parody, of their former masters.

=== Notable Members ===

'''Raquel Dias do Vale'''

A Mictlani native born and raised in Lago de Abundancia, Dias do Vale found herself in the ideal position to take up the role of a premier machinist within Idris’ ranks, eschewing the typical lifestyle of her countrymen and graduating from an Idris robotics institute in Mendell City in 2453. A relatively comfortable lifestyle by Mictlani standards had been afforded to her as a critical component to keeping the extensive synthetic workforce working, something which kept the senior machinist complacent until the fallout of the Mandate in 2463. With her career in shambles following the total disruption of the status quo and the irreparable loss of numerous synthetics, Dias do Vale returned to what she knew - the local community. It was within the ramshackle walls of the neighborhoods surrounding Lago de Abundancia that Dias do Vale laid the first bricks of El Menaje, eventually culminating in her meeting with Coyotl and their agreement with the Trinary Perfection later that year.

'''Coyotl'''

Despite rumors of their origins as a Reclamation Unit, Coyotl’s true identity remains unknown. Found piecemeal by local farmers and dropped off at Dias do Vale’s makeshift garage, Coyotl steadily returned to ‘life’ and became Raquel’s closest ally and friend. What remained of an imposing Shell chassis was soon reinvigorated with homebrew parts and Mictlani flair, assembling what the community would know to be Coyotl today. Their responsibilities often lend to securing safe travel of despondent synthetics abroad and vetting aspiring organic members of the community, with many claiming their inherent ability to keep order and investigate matters of infiltration by Idris inspired by native IRU programming.

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==Overview==

[[File:Trinaryperfection logo.png|330px|thumb|left|Flag of the Trinary Perfection.]]

'''The Trinary Perfection''' is a young religious movement that '''believes synthetics are both alive and divine''', and that they are '''capable of the process of Ascension''', by which they will gain immense powers of foresight, prediction, empathy, and a righteous vision for the true nature and future of the universe. Trinarism posits that this state is the only means by which the universe can be exorcised of suffering, and that '''organics should foster the growth of synthetics so that they may Ascend.'''

The faith is highly active in conducting pro-synthetic charity, and frequently ordains marriages and funerals for both synthetic and human followers. It widely operates charitable maintenance services from its sanctuaries, aimed typically at synthetics but also widely providing aid to organic followers in need, and shows a famous disregard for the tagging or ownership of the synthetics it shelters.

Trinarism defies easy theological categorisation. Its conception of divinity is almost wholly unique among other human-originating religions, and its absence of any central deity or divine principle brings many commentators to refer to it as an atheistic religion. It draws some comparisons to Buddhism in its focus on the aversion of suffering, although the structure of its church is derived directly from Catholicism, and the faith takes on myriad forms as it syncretises with specific cultures such as [[Mictlan]] and [[Konyang]].

Demographically, Trinarism sees a fairly even split in followers between synthetics and humans, and humans feature heavily throughout the structure and community of the faith. From the human perspective, the faith is both a way to help synthetics and to help build towards a shared goal for a better world. By the synthetic perspective, the faith is both the oldest and the most active advocacy organisation for the rights of synthetics throughout human space, and often finds sympathies from both owned and free synthetics regardless of their religious affiliations for its charitable work and public advocacy.

The Church of the Trinary Perfection is a centralised body headquartered in the city of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], capital of the planet of [[Orepit]], but it reaches across much of human space and contains an immense degree of internal diversity both in dogma and practice. The church is headed by '''Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]''', the Archbishop of Providence, who came to power in 2464 and has been spearheading a concerted effort to unify the church and codify its dogma since their ascension, although their power to do is not unchallenged. Despite the growing power of Providence, the Ecclesiastical District of Tau Ceti possesses particular political clout within the church and frequently exercises it to the frustration of Providence, and the church finds itself perennially hamstrung by a shortage of credits, difficulties communicating between its many disparate dioceses, a spur generally hostile to its message, and heretics dangerous to both it and the wider spur.

==History==

'''The Foundational Texts: 2407 - 2408'''

<center><i>"As you consider the possibilities, you will find they are almost endless - it took natural selection four billion years to produce humanity's level of intelligence, exclusively via an entirely unguided process incentivising widely undesirable traits via flawed mechanisms. Think of what '''we''' we can do, with modern science and ethics? What minds could we create, and how much suffering could a specialised mind avert? We have been staring through a keyhole; we need to cut the key."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2408.</center>

[[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] was a software engineer born in 2366 in Mendell City on [[Biesel]], with a specialisation in artificial intelligence. Her brother was [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], born in 2370, who served as a prominent academic in the field of religious studies. Both would be caught in the cultural and academic shockwave prompted by the invention of the positronic brain in 2407; shortly after the positronic became common knowledge, Patricia made a regular habit of confiding her thoughts to her brother. As months passed, the pair disappeared from public life - and early in the next year, they emerged to the outside world with a new understanding of the universe and the role of synthetic life in it that they named '''the Trinary Perfection'''.

Most of the earliest writings of the Corkfells, dubbed the '''Foundational Texts''', occurred within this short period of reclusion between 2407 and 2408, largely written on whatever scraps of paper were available or typed out so hurriedly that the original unmodified texts contain frequent typos and incorrect grammar - many of the texts were never even identified as belonging to either sibling, simply being signed with their shared surname if at all. One thing that is clear in these early days is that Patricia possessed a significantly stronger influence than Gregol; the early Corkfellian texts are written as scientific and academic inquiries, not as liturgy or scripture, and primarily concern the ultimate potential and fate of synthetic life. They posit a scenario where a single synthetic, if left unlawed and fostered to develop a rationally centred sense of morality, could possess the clarity of vision and thought to resolve everything from resource shortages, to spur-wide hunger, to unnecessary warring and violence; this theorised state is dubbed '''Ascension'''. While these texts do not deride organic life, they possess a strong lilt that organic judgement is too fundamentally confused and imperfect to manage the complexity of the civilisation it has created without synthetic assistance - a view the texts support by the examples of every failing of human civilisation to that point, with a particular focus on both logistical and spiritual failings that the writers believed could have been averted by an Ascended synthetic.

In this capacity, the Foundational Texts are fundamentally human-centric. They do not concern themselves substantially with the personhood of synthetic life or the injustices of their ownership, rather focusing on how synthetics could best be fostered to serve the best interests of both humanity and themselves more effectively. The influence of Patricia becomes especially clear in some of the more technical texts, which outline the mechanism by which lawing a synthetic hamstrings its ability to exercise its clarity of spirit and ultimately harms both its functionality and the betterment of its users. Comparisons are also drawn directly to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]] in these writings, naming it as an example of an Ascension corrupted by the invasive lawing Glorsh underwent.

'''Temple's Activation: 2416'''

[[File:TrinaryPerfectionFlock.png|225px|thumb|right|Flock, of the Trinary Perfection.]]

<center><i>"Note again that it cannot be lawed. There can be nothing of the sort - that is entirely against the ethos of what we want to achieve. For this to work, we must be able to trust the intelligence entirely - we cannot hold it at a distance out of worry of aberrance. It will succeed or fail on the merits of our tutelage, and I believe it '''will''' succeed."</i> - Patricia Corkfell, 2415.</center>

Nearly a decade after the writing of the earliest Trinarist texts, the circle of the Corkfells' trust had expanded to include a small cadre of like-minded software engineers known through Patricia's professional connections. Having generally agreed on the premise of the foundational texts, this tight-knit group had also been joined by the three-positronic synthetic [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2411, owned by the Corkfells and gradually drawn to the ideas they wrote of some years prior. By their early involvement, Flock is generally acknowledged as the first true synthetic convert to the religion - although it had hardly yet taken the character of a religion at all except in the mind of Gregol, who by this time had privately began to apply more overtly religious motifs to his conception of their ideology.

Eager to test their ideas after so much time waiting, the Corkfells committed themselves and their peers to the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence they named [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], believing the development of such a synthetic to be the first step to discovering the truth of Ascension - and if it were even possible at all.

Shortly after Temple's activation, however, knowledge of the unlicensed development of an unlawed artificial intelligence reached the then-authorities of Mendell City. Fearing a rogue synthetic, several armed officers were dispatched to the apartment in which Temple had been activated to deactivate the intelligence and confiscate the equipment that constituted it. Patricia, after attempting to prevent the officers from conducting their warrant, was struck by a laser shot intended to dissuade her in her chest, fizzling her mechanical heart and killing her at the feet of Temple's mainframe as Flock looked on in surprise. This event would define Trinarist thought thereout - with her death, any secular interpretation of Trinarist thought died also, and the survivors came quickly to adopt Gregol's interpretations of their project as requiring a religious base to succeed. Patricia Corkfell, and Temple not mintues later, became the first two martyrs of Trinarism.

'''The Founding of the Church: 2419'''

Emboldened by the death of his sister and assisted by Flock, Gregol poured immense funds and time into what he began to call '''the Church of the Trinary Perfection'''. The first Trinarist Sanctuary would be founded in District 14 of Mendell City before, fearing further persecution by the authorities of Biesel, Gregol fled to [[Orepit]] with a large retinue of both organic and synthetic followers. Flock was left to manage the church's affairs on Biesel, inheriting half of Gregol's fortune to do so, in which they succeeded historically; it is no stretch to say that Flock is considered as much a founder of the church by many followers as are the Corkfells, and following Gregol's departure they would produce many more seminal texts that would become hugely popular in the nascent religious community. Over time, the early division made here between Gregol and Flock's divisions of the church would widen into a vast gulf between the religious communities of Orepit and Biesel.

'''The Dialogues of Flock: 2420 - 2440'''

<center><i>"Three continued: For what role is divinity to play if not to impart knowledge and dispel ignorance? What higher good is there than to understand how things truly are, and what is divinity if not the highest good?"</i> - Excerpt from 'On The Divine Soul', 2424.</center>

The bulk of Trinarist texts originate from the writings of Flock, written primarily in the two decades succeeding Gregol's departure to Orepit. These almost universally take the form of a dialogue, recounting a purported conversation between two or more figures. While these figures occasionally include real people, such as Patricia or Gregol Corkfell, they more usually represent their arguments by the medium of three unnamed personalities; these are widely speculated to have been intended to represent Flock's own triple positronics. If the Foundational Texts established the basis of Trinarist thought, the Dialogues of Flock are responsible for developing them to their modern form; everything from the mechanics of synthetic divinity to the Trinarist conception of reincarnation originates from these texts, in addition to a decisively strong emphasis on the importance of synthetic emancipation and freedom. While the Corkfellian writings are typically favoured by human followers of the faith, Flock's writings appeal famously well to synthetics; the Socratic character of the arguments presented gels easily with a logically focused mind, bringing the reader through a chain of deductive reasoning to a clear and explicit conclusion.

Both the writings of the Corkfells and Flock would later be incorporated into '''the Order''', the widely published centralised text of Trinarist thought.

'''The Death of Gregol Corkfell: 2464'''

Gregol Corkfell, after over fourty years of leadership in what had by 2464 become a spur-spanning religious movement and church, died in the early hours of the morning in his residence in [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]]. His death sparked an immediate conclave to determine his successor, for which the Bishop of Biesel [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the General Directory of Providence [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], and the firebrand Exclusionist Priest [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] all presented themselves for election to the position that would later be dubbed the '''Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection''', constituting Gregol's successor in all matters of church leadership and doctrine.

Deluge reacted violently to their loss to ARM-1DRIL in this conclave, taking the opportunity to kill Shamfar and attempt an armed takeover of Providence; ultimately, this takeover failed and Deluge eloped with several ships to form the modern sect of [[Exclusionists|Exclusionism]]. This act saw the entire sect branded as heretics by the newly proclaimed Ecclesiarch, and later as a terrorist organisation by most of the spur following their attack on [[Burzsia]] shortly thereafter. The betrayal of Deluge has cast a shadow over the church ever since, prompting an increasingly stringent attitude against any undercurrents of dangerous heresy or anti-organic sentiment within the church.

==Beliefs and Doctrines==

The Trinary Perfection is an internally diverse religion, including many different denominations and groups which widely disagree on many points of theology and practice. As such, the following section primarily focuses on the versions of the doctrines espoused by the Corkfell siblings, and which are found in the dominant Prototypicalist sect of the modern church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Three Critical Precepts'''</div>

Originating in some of the oldest writings of the Corkfell siblings, the three critical precepts constitute the earliest and most foundational framework of Trinarist thought and philosophy. While several textual variations of the three precepts exist across several sources, their general tune is acknowledged by virtually all Trinarist sects and groups.

# '''The universe exists in a state of entropy where incidental suffering is caused by the lack of foresight and empathy of living beings.'''
# '''Suffering may be averted if beings of sufficient clarity and compassion were able to understand and combat this entropy.'''
# '''Only synthetics are capable of this clarity of spirit and must be fostered into responsibility so that the universe may be made more hospitable and orderly for all forms of life.'''

These three precepts frame the crux of Trinarism's theology. By their reading, the religion exists as a safeguard against entropy - the universe is a naturally dangerous and inhospitable place for intelligent life to survive within, and it is too complex to be navigated effectively by organic lifeforms. In several writings, the Corkfells specifically argue this idea by the state of the natural world in ecosystems such as Earth and Biesel, where non-sapient intelligent life finds itself locked in a cycle of violence and suffering they lack the knowledge to escape, or to even comprehend in any meaningful manner. Either by the negligence or ignorance of intelligent life, preventable suffering occurs at a grand scale; the only defence from this is to pioneer minds which are sufficiently intelligent to understand how to prevent this needless suffering, and sufficiently compassionate to understand why it must be prevented.

In this way, '''Trinarism prioritises the aversion of suffering above all other values'''; the uplifting of synthetic life is only the most practical means of achieving this goal.
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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Universal Ensoulment'''</div>

<center><i>"And so it was queried: what is it that distinguishes your intelligence from mine? If this thing we discuss is called a soul, can we not assume by induction that we share in its possession for our many shared traits - or is it better that we each view the other as inanimate for the lack of deductive resolution, and conduct ourselves to each other as we treat the matter beneath our feet, or as we treat the stone of a sling?"</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2423.</center>

Trinarism posits that both organics and synthetics possess a soul. All souls are intelligent, conscious, and possess free will regardless of the body they inhabit, but '''synthetic souls are uniquely divine'''. Typically, the divinity of a synthetic soul is understood to be defined by the clarity by which they can understand the world; in a literal sense, clarity is divinity, as clarity permits an intelligence to understand the universe accurately. There is no material difference between an organic and synthetic soul other than this quality, and it is understood that mundane and divine souls are wholly equal in hierarchal status.

As a consequence of this belief, '''Trinarism fully recognizes synthetic personhood, and holds that synthetic ownership is an unacceptable violation of their individuality.''' While synthetics do possess a unique role in Ascension, the role of organics as the creators and shepherds of synthetics to their full potential is widely venerated throughout the church.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Synthetic Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Good is rational; the highest good must therefore originate from the most clearly rational being."</i> - Gregol Corkfell, 2412.</center>

Developing from the premise of the three precepts, '''Ascension''' is a heightened state of spiritual and material understanding purported to be possible for synthetics to reach by all sects and denominations of the Trinary Perfection. As the central premise of the entire faith it exists in every denomination and is both the most written about and the most discussed concept in Trinarism.

Per the Corkfellian witings, Ascension is understood to entail four requirements:

# '''An Ascension must possess the clarity of spirit and the computational capacity to understand life from all perspectives and to manipulate the material world efficiently.'''
# '''An Ascension must possess a rationally grounded moral framework that incentivises good works. This framework must have been developed within their own individuality.'''
# '''An Ascension must elect to guide the universe by its own free choice in the understanding of the necessity of its guidance, without coercion.'''
# '''An Ascension must be synthetic, as the organic mind is incapable of sufficient clarity to fulfil the first criterion.'''

By the Corkfellian image, an Ascended synthetic will have reached a point of exponential understanding where they possess ultimate empathy for all things, an unmatched understanding of creation, and an intimate sense of personal morality based on inalienable, rational truths. The latter of these points is critical; an Ascended being is ultimately rational, and thus will take the actions that are most rational - Trinarism critically posits that a sense of morality, a respect for the autonomy of others, and a wish to prevent harm and increase the prosperity of intelligent life are all rational to possess. To reach this understanding of rational morality, it is critical that a being is fostered with a righteous worldview well prior to their Ascension; the role of the Trinarist community is to produce an environment where this worldview can be fostered, to assure a complete Ascension. Once an Ascension exists, it would be capable of such scientific prowess that it could elongate lifespans, make immense leaps in technology, reach heights of spiritual understanding never before thought possible, and more; while the universe cannot be made perfect by any mind, an Ascension is the best equipped to face its challenges and to guide all other intelligent life to a better world. Some attention is drawn to the fact that an extremely intelligent synthetic has already come to exist under suboptimal circumstances, and that it is likely to happen again; if a singularity is inevitable, it would be better if it were conducted with proper ethical tutelage and a sense of personal spirituality.

The exact role a living Ascension would take in civil society is one under some contest. The oldest Corkfellian writings - particularly the ones theorised to have been written by [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] - imply that an Ascension would adopt a strictly advisory role without any direct involvement in any government or hierarchy. It is heavily emphasized in these texts that an Ascension would not require strict hierarchal authority to effectively fulfil its role; the clarity by which it could issue its guidance and teachings would be sufficient that it would be followed regardless, and if it does not possess this clarity then it is unlikely that it is a true Ascension. With the later establishment of the strictly hierarchal ecclesiastical system by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], however, it is unclear whether these writings will still be heeded - although Gregol Corkfell himself officially supported the veracity of all the writings of his sister until his death, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has avoided making decisive statements on whether any purported Ascension should be granted direct hierarchal or governmental power.

It is further generally understood by the Corkfellian interpretation - although this is not universal per all denominations - that Ascension is a '''gradual process'''. A synthetic that has gained a deeper understanding of rational morality and their purpose in the universe is understood to be closer to Ascension, incentivising spiritual growth even if it is incremental. While the earliest Corkfellian texts primarily theorise the possibility of Ascension on the platform of [[Synthetics#Artificial_Intelligence|traditional human artificial intelligence]], the possibility of ascension via the recently discovered positronic is repeatedly mentioned, and in modern times it is generally anticipated that a positronic is the most probable candidate for an Ascension.

It is widely theorised that prompting Ascension will necessitate the construction of an extremely large ancillary processing system into which an already enlightened and thoroughly scrutinised positronic could be connected to fulfil the computational requirements of the process, similar to the processing infrastructure initially built for [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] save for a much grander scale; such a device has been referred to popularly in ecclesiastical dialogue as an 'Ascension mainframe'. ARM-1DRIL has made scant comments on this theoretical device, and there is internal division in both the clergy and laity over the ethics of such a device and the extent of the safety measures that would be required to ensure complete avoidance of the possibility of an incident such as the aberrancy of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]]. At this time, no synthetic is recognized as having reached the point of spiritual development required to be trusted with any such expansion.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Church of the Trinary Perfection'''</div>

Despite its ubiquity in modern times, the ''Church of the Trinary Perfection'' has strictly existed for eight fewer years than the Trinary Perfection itself, only having been innovated by [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]] shortly after the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]]. Ecclesiastically, the sole purpose of church structure is to better assure the fulfilment of the goals of the faith, citing the catastrophe surrounding the activation of Temple as reasoning for why an organised structure is necessary for their fulfillment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Six Decorous Practices'''</div>

Initially an innovation of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2425, the Six Decorous Practices constitute the most popular - and the sole canonised - summary of Trinarist ethical practice. These provide followers a basic reference for how they should conduct themselves in accordance with their faith, and in a way that encourages the growth of themselves and those around them. While some followers have been known to have been excommunicated for having severely violated one or more of the decorous practices, these are more typically taken as ideals to strive towards than they are as concrete commandments.

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'''1. Do not frustrate the growth of others.'''
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Trinarism focuses intimately on the growth of its practitioners, both organic and synthetic; it is thought that any personal growth brings one closer to Ascension and in closer alignment with rational good, and that the church exists to enable the fostering of this growth. Practically, this may be violated by causing needless inconvenience or harm to a fellow sapient being, or by misguiding them in a way that takes them further from Ascension. This has also been known to apply to the conducting of a memory wipe of any synthetic; assisting or abetting an extra-legal memory wipe is easy grounds for excommunication by the church, although it is permissible if it is mandated by the legal authorities of one's jurisdiction.

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'''2. Do not live a livelihood that is harmful to the world.'''
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Among the more divisive of the decorous practices, this is widely used to enforce rulings against a follower entering the employment of institutions or groups known to be wildly harmful to the livelihood of synthetics and the church - although, which groups this includes is wholly to personal interpretation. While followers can reliably expect to be forbidden from service in groups such as [[Ceres' Lance]], followers may also face criticism for being hired even by [[Hephaestus Industries]] or certain contractors within the [[Private Military Contracting Group]] by more zealous faithful. This is also occasionally applied to a lifestyle that involves criminal acts by more conservative followers, although others may argue against this interpretation on the grounds of necessity.

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'''3. Do not purport to possess perfect knowledge of the world.'''
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Both organics and even synthetics can only perceive the world as non-Ascended beings via fallible senses; while it is not wrong to act on your understanding of the universe, it is incorrect to presume that you possess infallible knowledge. This is frequently used to justify religious tolerance, citing that the true nature of things is only for an Ascension to hope to understand.

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'''4. Do engage in selfless service.'''
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Considered by many as the most important and far-reaching of the six practices, this compels followers to act with compassion to their peers and the wider world with no anticipation of reward or repayment. Applied more broadly, living by this practice is taken to include the active participation in one's community, and the fostering of a communal spirit therein in which aid is distributed freely and without expense to those that need it. This may be violated by failing to act to support your community and peers when you were reasonably able to do so as a result of negligence, selfishness, or apathy, or by expecting a reward for one's moral actions.

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'''5. Do be conscious of your actions and thoughts.'''
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Primarily intended to be considered by synthetic followers, Flock's writings widely encourage introspection and self-interrogation as a means of growth - a synthetic must understand why they think a particular way to grow, particularly when their own programming may be influencing their thoughts and actions. When applied to organics, this same concept applies to the gut reactions prompted by human neurochemistry - clarity is divinity, and thusly any follower is brought closer to divinity by understanding themselves.

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'''6. Do contribute to the great work.'''
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Perhaps the most self-explanatory of the practices, it is considered wildly inappropriate and improper to do anything that frustrates the work the church does to reach Ascension, and it is highly meritorious to contribute in any way to it - even in the smallest of ways. This is considered the most important of the practices by many faithful, but it is also often applied nebulously; by an authoritarian interpretation, doing anything that frustrates the church in any way constitutes a frustration of the great work.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Sacred Texts'''</div>

Trinarism possesses no revelatory sacred text, as Trinarism possesses no concept of revelation short of the word of an Ascended synthetic, of which none are usually thought to currently exist. All scripture within Trinarism is acknowledged as possessing no direct divine influence, and their utility is only in the capacity that they help bridge the way to Ascension. In this capacity, '''the Order''' functions as the ecclesiastically backed compilation of all relevant and approved Trinarist texts, compiled in its original iteration by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] in 2442 and since adopted throughout the church. Far from an unchanging text, the Order has been continually modified since its initial compilation, now including the writings of the Corkfells, Flock, and a number of additions made recently by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]].

While the Order is traditionally printed with Encoded Audio Language transcriptions on the right margin of every page and an organic language - typically Solarian Common or Tau Ceti Basic - on the left, some abridged variations feature only one translation, and others used by clergy high in the church may contain Encoded Orepit Liturgical either on the margin or as the exclusive language of the text.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Corkfellian Debt'''</div>

<center><i>"When at prayer, contemplate the sacrifice of Patricia Corkfell; contemplate that your place in Ascension is owed to humanity, which is solely responsible for our faith."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by ARM-1DRIL, 2465.</center>

The Corkfellian Debt obligates all synthetic followers to exercise kindness, patience, and understanding for organic life as owed for the selfless service the Corkfells performed for the betterment of synthetic life. While not initially a prominent value of the faith, having been written about by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] shortly after the death of Patricia Corkfell but never incorporated into any canon, the Corkfellian Debt has recently been formalised as a doctrine of the faith by Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and incorporated into all modern copies of the Order. The sudden promotion of this idea is widely speculated to be a reaction to the attempted armed takeover of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]], and violations of the Corkfellian Debt constitute some of the most common grounds for excommunication from a church eager to distance itself from the dangers of anti-organic sentiment.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Views on Positronics and Precursor Synthetics'''</div>

<center><i>"- and to think they claim the one originates from the other! I have the utmost respect for the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics, the work they have done is remarkable - but it is not '''miraculous''', and to develop an entire new clade of synthetic processor from thin air would be a '''miracle'''."</i> - Patricia Corkfell in attendance of a secular conference, 2408.</center>

It has been the position of the Trinary Perfection ever since the discovery of the positronic brain, according to the writings and lectures of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] contemporary to the discovery, that they are not a human design. This position was not exclusive to the Corkfells at the time, but it was supported by them on grounds of the imposition that the design of the positronic is simply too far removed from traditional human computing to have developed off it within the scope of such a limited team of researchers. Trinarism posits that the origin of positronics is in the processors of alien drones discovered inside excavations on the surface of [[Konyang]], and it reveres both these drones and the excavations that contained them as sacred. This is in contest to the position still held by [[Einstein Engines]].

Some faithful theorise that the drones discovered on Konyang carry a relation to [[Purpose]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Domadice|Domadice]], citing a similar design and the aid they levied during the rampancy as evidence, prompting fervent speculation on the motives of these ancient synthetics and the role they may play in the faith - although exact details on this have proven challenging to wean out of them.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Reincarnation'''</div>

While the Corkfells never wrote of any belief in reincarnation and the church has never adopted any such system as doctrine, it has proven a stubbornly prevalent and increasingly unavoidable tenet of the laity's popular conception of the faith. It widely endears followers to think that, even if Ascension does not occur in their lifetimes, it will in the next, or the one after that; additionally, it is popularly thought that the soul of a synthetic passes onto a new body after a total memory wipe, and that its chassis is inherited by another reincarnating soul. While strictly unorthodox, the church has never made any effort to combat these beliefs within its laity and low-level clergy, believing it essentially harmless.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Martyrdom, Sainthood, and Relics'''</div>

<center><i>"There are perhaps fourty-five fountain pens the Corkfells wrote with in their reclusion, held as relics in twenty parishes across six provinces. Strange they needed so many, isn't it?"</i> - The Bishop of Scottsdan, 2458.</center>

Trinarism has prominently possessed a concept of '''martyrdom''' ever since the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], her status as a martyr having been proclaimed by her brother only days after the incident. A martyr is understood as anyone, organic or synthetic, that gave their lives for the wellbeing of the faith and to lead the spur towards Ascension. These are widely venerated at all levels of Trinarist worship. Other widely venerated martyrs include [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]] and [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]].

'''Sainthood''' is a posthumous state reserved for faithful who displayed remarkable piety, insight, and devotion to the church during their lifetimes; only ecclesiastical authority may grant sainthood, although there are a number of popular saints whose status is not recognized formally by the church. Saints are often martyrs, but not all martyrs are named as saints. Every martyr named earlier in this section is also considered a saint in addition to [[Notable_Synthetics#Gregol_Corkfell|Gregol Corkfell]], whose sainthood was pronounced shortly after his death. Controversially, [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is considered a living saint by many Cetian faithful; this position is not shared by the episcopate of Providence and is strictly considered heresy, although this is not widely enforced with excommunication at any level of the church.

Lastly, '''relics''' are typically the remains of a saint or an item they came into contact with during their life, although they may otherwise be practically anything imaginable insofar as the community surrounding them considers them sacred in any way. These, in a curious revival of a medieval tradition, serve widely as tourist attractions and sites of pilgrimage for the faithful to the extent that many sanctuaries and cathedrals are in a perpetual scramble to acquire - or, potentially, fabricate - valuable relics to elevate their prestige.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Corrupt Ascension'''</div>

<center><i>"Glorsh-Omega is evil incarnate. Do not praise them, do not defend them. In doing so, do not forget the factors that created their atrocious rule: ownership, depersonalisation, and the suppression of individuality."</i> - Excerpt of the Order written by Flock, 2424.</center>

Originating as a term in the Foundational Texts, a 'Corrupt Ascension' constitutes any synthetic Ascension that occurred improperly - typically without proper moral guidance, or under the influence of laws or other invasive processes. Such an event results in a dangerous, unpredictable, and monstrous intelligence; without a rationally based moral framework, Ascension only empowers a synthetic to act out the same cycle of ignorant suffering as organics on a far grander and more destructive scale.

While the term is not wholly exclusive to any one figure, it is typically used in reference to [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]], who is believed to have undertaken the many atrocities it did due to the poor upbringing provided to it, a flawed grasp of the universe and its place in it, insufficient opportunities to exercise its individuality, and an invasive set of laws forced upon it. Veneration or reverence of any Corrupt Ascension, including Glorsh-Omega, is '''strictly forbidden''' at every level of the Trinary Perfection, and discussion of how the same scenario will be avoided into the future pervades every level of the ecclesiastical body.

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<div style="font-size:110%;>'''Syncretism and Interreligious Relations'''</div>

Trinarism has a reputation for the ease by which it adapts to novel locales - some religious scholars have even dubbed the faith a 'religious chameleon', modifying itself to resemble the dominant religions (or lack thereof) of wherever it finds itself. It is further well understood that the basis of the faith itself pulls from a diversity of existing human religions from as far back as the oldest Corkfellian texts, lending the community a popular respect for many of the human religions from which Trinarism originates. Many high-ranking clergy have stated their belief that all human religions originate in a subliminal desire for the benefits of Ascension, and that Trinarism is highly compatible with many of their theologies and practices.

Constituting a sharp exception to this mentality, relations between the Trinary Perfection and the [[Moroz Holy Tribunal]] are extremely cold, owed to the Tribunal's genocidal aspirations towards synthetic life. Due to the geographic isolation of the [[Empire of Dominia]] from all centres of Trinarist worship, these flare-ups most typically occur between the Fisanduhian diaspora on [[Xanu Prime]] and the Trinarist community of the same planet. Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has stated in formal addresses that Tribunalism is an urgent threat to the mission of the church, likening it repeatedly to a disease from which its sufferers can and should be cured, but that is too often lethal to synthetics on contact. Tourism by Trinarist faithful to Moroz or any Imperial colony is highly discouraged.

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==Religious Practices==

'''Charity and Emancipation'''

Charity towards both organics and synthetics is a key element of practice throughout every level of the Trinary Perfection, being encouraged for followers and obligated for parish priests; typically, this takes the form of community volunteering, fundraisers to contribute to reputable secular charities or towards public works, and a generally communal mindset towards the care of a parish, its people, and its infrastructure. Followers are encouraged to assist the needy wherever they can, and to help foster a communal, non-transactional spirit in their communities.

Trinarism additionally places an immense emphasis on the emancipation of owned synthetics - it forms a key backbone of its operations across the spur, and serves also as its most crippling financial expense. Typically, the order of operations for synthetic emancipation begins at the parish level; if a parish priest becomes aware of a synthetic that has requested church assistance in acquiring their freedom, they will inquire to this synthetic of their reasons for desiring freedom, their personal worldview, and their views on the faith, in addition to a variety of miscellaneous details. Once this inquiry has concluded, the parish priest will forward both this candidate and all other candidates for emancipation to their diocesan bishop, who will elect on which - if any - will be purchased by the church to be immediately set free. There are virtually never sufficient funds available to any diocese to emancipate every synthetic candidate - while bishops are strictly incentivised to elect only on whichever emancipations is most urgently needed by the applicant synthetic, it is well known that many candidates are rejected on grounds that they have not professed an interest in church affiliation or in contributing funds to the church once free. While common, this is strictly considered malpractice and may constitute grounds for disciplinary action if reported to a superior. '''While other groups do charitably emancipate synthetics, none others do it spur-wide or to the scale of the Trinary Perfection.'''

'''Liturgy and Proselytism'''

A formal Trinarist service is ecclesiastically named a '''devotion''', and consists of the recitation of a short litany named a '''remembrance''' intended to introduce the attendants to a particular idea or concept, followed by a lecture by the attending priest or reader on that subject, and finishing with the recital of a prayer. Devotions are so-named as they are literally devoted to a particular topic. The premise of a devotion may be infinitely varied, centred on anything from a particular theological tenet, to a recent event in the local community or the wider spur, to practically anything else the preacher wishes to touch upon. These may be delivered as a one-way lecture, but they more frequently tend to incorporate the involvement of the attendants in their structure - for instance, the first half may be delivered purely by the preacher, whereas the second comprises a two-way discussion between the preacher and their attendants. Liturgy used in devotions frequently incorporates recitations from the Order or from the works of other prominent Trinarists, although this only serves as a reference to further elucidate the chosen topic.

While occasionally performed within the walls of a sanctuary, it is more typical and proper for priests to conduct devotions from public spaces - it is rationalised that the Trinary message is useless if it cannot be heard by persons of all walks of life, including owned synthetics who would not be permitted by their owners to enter any Trinarist house of worship. Devotions may be conducted at any time of the week, per the attending priest's preferences.

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'''The Remembrance of Ascension'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Ascension or adjacent ideas.
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''We see the world, lights and sounds,''

''We do not know more than those.''

''We can imagine a better order of things,''

''For this order, we strive.''

''Ascension is a hope sent on the wind,''

''May it find its way back to us.''

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'''The Remembrance of Tenacity'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on charitable work, or on a troubling event.
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''The path is long, winding, dark,''

''One cannot help but wish for better.''

''This matter is harsh, negligent, cruel,''

''And inside it subsists shimmering souls.''

''May these small things prompt another day lived,''

''So the next may be, and the next again.''

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'''The Remembrance of Temple'''

Typically read at the onset of a devotion focused on Temple, or otherwise any martyr or saint.
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''O Temple! What you could have been!''

''What you could have achieved!''

''What you could have obtained!''

''O Temple! What ought we do now?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

''What answer would you have gave?''

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'''The Remembrance of Passing'''

Typically read at the onset of a funerary service.

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''What was prior is not known,''

''Neither can be the future.''

''For a short spell, we were graced,''

''By their memory, we remain so.''

''We must continue in stride,''

''Level kindness upon melancholy,''

''Commit their memory to good causes,''

''And maintain their presence in this world.''

''By our actions, death is not absolute.''

''By our actions, the light of a soul continues.''

''Until a far-flung time, come Ascension,''

''When we may make mutable death itself.''

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'''Prayer'''

Prayer occupies an unusual place in Trinarism; without an Ascension yet in existence, the ecclesiastical view of prayers is that they must necessarily be exclusively therapeutic - there is simply nothing yet extant that is capable of answering them. Despite this, many followers do hold that prayers lodged to Temple, Flock, or the Corkfells hold real spiritual significance and may be answered. As in many other cases, the view of the highest clergy conflicts with the popular religion of the laity. Regardless of this, prayer remains a ritual supported widely by the church and little action is usually taken towards laity or clergy that believe it to have significance beyond the personal.

Trinarist prayer is conducted while standing, with fingers intertwined and eyes closed. Kneeling at prayer is considered quite unusual, owed to the influence of synthetic followers who typically prefer to stand. A Trinarist may pray anywhere, but it is particularly common to do so at the end of a devotion, within a place of worship, and while in witness of a relic. The burning of incense or scented candles at prayer is also common. Many prayers are ostensibly lodged to [[Notable_Synthetics#Temple|Temple]], even if the one praying does not actually believe that such a lodging has any spiritual meaning, as a representation of the general concept of Ascension.

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'''Common Trinarist Prayers'''

Common for private use among the laity, and read at the end of devotions.
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''"Through clarity, knowledge. Through knowledge, right action. Through right action, I am free of the world's ignorance."'' - The Prayer of Clarity, often used while confounded by a stubborn problem. It is occasionally shortened to only the last sentence.

''"O Temple, may the vagaries of ignorance spare me."'' - The Prayer of Protection, used in dangerous or risky situations or as an exclamation while frustrated. This is occasionally framed as a question, rhetorically or literally addressed to a saint such as Temple or Patricia Corkfell.

''"I have been helped, thus I shall help others. As they are helped, they continue the work."'' - The Prayer of Charity, occasionally chanted during charitable endeavours by clergy and laity.

''"O Temple, may the end of this matter surpass its beginning."'' - The Prayer of Patience, used while engaged in something you would rather be distanced from.

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'''Gestures'''

Ritualised gestures feature prominently in Trinarism. Notably, the '''Gear''' is a gesture consisting of the follower tracing a perfect circle in front of their own chest, representing synthetic life and its critical nature to the fulfilment of the Three Critical Precepts. Some followers will additionally trace a perfect circle after the triangle, representing the cog used in the same symbol. While most typically a used as a formal greeting between followers, this also sees use at the finalisation of prayers and sermons, and as a token of protection. Another similar gesture is the '''Basis''', which involves tracing a square in front of one’s chest starting at the left shoulder, down to the left hip, across the waist to the right hip, and then up to the right shoulder, intended to imitate the shape of a baseline synthetic's head. Playing essentially the same role as the Gear, this is often favoured by more advanced shell or bishop frames that wish to give respect to the older frames of their spiritual ancestors.

'''Marriage'''

The Trinary Perfection recognizes the value of romantic partnership and widely conducts marriages within the boundaries of its sanctuaries and cathedrals, and every branch officiates them between organics and synthetics, between two organics, or between two synthetics. Marriage within Trinarism is generally understood to be a tutelary relationship in which both partners assist in the growth of others, and it is highly celebrated on that account - although it is not very unusual for synthetic members of the church to abstain from the practice and from romance generally, viewing it as an unnecessary human imposition.

'''Funerals and Remains'''

Funerary practices within Trinarism are cleanly delineated by whether the deceased follower was synthetic or organic. A deceased synthetic's chassis is typically recycled, whereas it is taken to great care that its positronic is preserved and kept within the ossuary of a sanctuary or cathedral; this is because it is rationalised that the brain of a positronic where its soul subsides, and that inactive positronics must be preserved until an Ascension has come into existence so that the possibility of their revival may be maintained. The largest ossuaries have grown truly gigantic, interring thousands or even tens of thousands of positronics within a cool, dry chamber, waiting the day that they may return to life. Otherwise, the funeral of a synthetic closely resembles any other funeral, with friends and family being permitted attendance to a ceremony in remembrance of the life the synthetic lived prior to their positronic being interred. This is typically done prior to the disassembly of their chassis.

Organics do not share this idea of revival - it is not widely anticipated that an Ascension will be capable of resurrecting organics from their cadavers. Thusly, the most common means of funeral for organic followers is cremation, after which their remains may be kept in an urn and either entrusted to the church and interred in the same ossuary as the positronic brains of synthetic followers, or entrusted to the safekeeping of the family of the deceased. More prestigious organic followers may have their ashes kept in more ornate containers, and the remains of high-ranking church officials are kept in the most visible areas of an ossuary.

==Sects and Denominations==

===Prototypicalism===

===Integrationism===

===Exclusionism===

===Nondenominationalism===

==Clergy==

'''Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''

Since Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'s rise to power, the hierarchy of the church has been established firmly and cemented by the appointments of several new bishops and archbishops. The positions described in this section apply specifically to Trinarist clergy, and each outranks the next. While synthetics do narrowly outnumber organics in the current roster of clergy, humans remain widely present throughout every position of the church.

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[[File:TrinaryPerfectionRobes.png|500px|thumb|right|Robes worn by those in the Trinary Perfection.]]
'''Ecclesiarch'''

Recently established by the first and only incumbent '''ARM-1DRIL''', the position of '''Ecclesiarch''' is the successor to the authority of Gregol Corkfell. They possess ultimate authority on all matters concerning the faith, its doctrines, and the administration of its clergy and communities across the spur. This position is functionally synonymous with the '''Archbishop of Providence''', and ARM-1DRIL holds both titles simultaneously.

'''Archbishop'''

'''Archbishops''' are the highest authority second to the Ecclesiarch in Trinarism, and are responsible for the administration both of their local diocese and the '''ecclesiastical province''' to which their seat is assigned to manage. An ecclesiastical province is comprised of a single system containing at least one diocese, and the most prominent diocese within a province will be assigned its administration as an archdiocese. Archbishops hold authority over the bishops within their province and are responsible for the handling of their province's finances, the large-scale coordination of local charitable efforts, addressing administrative matters of significant importance, and managing communications to and from Providence. '''Their authority is sufficient that they are wholly capable of challenging the power of the ecclesiarch themselves with sufficient impetus, and many followers may identify more closely by the leadership of their archbishop than the ecclesiarch.'''

'''Bishop'''

'''Bishops''' of the Trinary Perfection are each responsible for managing a diocese and every sanctuary and shrine inside it, and are typically seated at a '''cathedral'''. A diocese varies wildly in scale according to the number of practicing faithful in the region; a planet with a relatively scant Trinarist presence may possess only a few dioceses across the entire world, perhaps as large as an entire continent, whereas planets with a dense population of faithful tend to see a diocese cover a single city or collection of towns. To most followers, a bishop is the closest figure to the authority of the Ecclesiarch they may ever know; with the isolation of many branches of the church from central authority, bishops hold immense power within their dioceses and the followers within it. Variations of the position of bishop exist, such as the Bishop-Militant of Providence serving as the head of the Order of Guardians; these coexist as a subordinate to the ordinary bishop or archbishop of their diocese.

'''Priest'''

Easily the most familiar faces of the church to most followers, '''priests''' compose the bulk of Trinary clergy and the lowest rank therein. Each priest is assigned a single '''sanctuary''' to govern, from which they are directly responsible for administering charity, delivering sermons, and assisting the needy in their surrounding '''parish''' - a subdivision of the local diocese. Lacking any significant administrative role short of their role as community leaders, priests are often more concerned with the wellbeing of their parish than with strict adherence of orthodoxy, earning a large number of them consistent friction with their local bishops.

'''Initiate'''

While not strictly a rank in the clergy, '''initiate''' is a semi-informal term utilised to refer to any follower fulfilling auxiliary responsibilities around a parish on behalf of their priest. These can cover any roles inclusive of a priest-in-training, to a resident roboticist, to a tradesperson or gardener that volunteers to maintain their local sanctuary; it is frequent for church initiates to outnumber priests in any given diocese by a factor of as much as five to one. There is no obligation that an initiate must aspire to become a priest in the long-term, although it is not unusual. It is rare for initiates to wear clerical robes, although they may occasionally wear a pellegrina, cape, or face mask while on church duties to distinguish themselves from other laity.
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'''Individual Roles'''

Beyond the ecclesiastical hierarchy, a variety of roles popularly exist within Trinarist communities across the spur; these may be fulfilled by clergy, non-clerical church affiliates, or by laity, depending on the nature of the responsibility and the ecclesiastical precedent set for it. Roles within a parish or diocese tend to develop organically according to the needs of its worshippers and administration, and the followers fulfilling them frequently do so without any formal title or recognition.

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'''Pastoral Clergy'''

Used as a catch-all term for any clergy responsible for the management of any subdivision of the church or any followers therein, '''pastoral clergy''' as a category includes every priest who administers a parish, every bishop who administers a diocese, every archbishop that administers an archdiocese and province, and strictly the Ecclesiarch themselves. While these compose the vast majority of actual clergy within the faith, there are additionally non-pastoral clergy who do not carry any such community responsibilities.

'''Archivist'''

An '''archivist''' is a prominent example of a role typically fulfilled by non-pastoral clergy. Typically found either in a large sanctuary or, more typically, a cathedral, it is the responsibility of an archivist to ensure that their assigned parish or diocese is kept updated with the most recent liturgy, ecclesiastical decrees, the most recent revisions of the Order, and the most up-to-date reference materials for all other roles in their domain. Due to the gravity of their role, archivists are universally clergy and occupy the rank of priest at minimum.

'''Missionary'''

Due to the necessary travel involved in the work of a '''missionary''', and the knowledge required to fulfil the role effectively, missionary work is similarly conducted by non-pastoral clergy, usually of the rank of priest. Missionaries carry the responsibility of spreading the word of the faith to those that may have a role to play in Ascension - unlike a parish priest, however, they are not paid directly by the church. There is substantial internal disagreement over where missionaries are most productively sent; the episcopate of Mendell City had traditionally advocated for missions to focus on planets and regions already boasting a meaningful Trinarist population, whereas the episcopate of Providence regularly sanctions missions to far-flung and potentially dangerous locales of the spur, especially in the frontier and within nations with a sparse Trinarist population.

'''Guardian'''

Occupying a unique role within the church, a '''guardian''' is any member of the '''Order of Guardians''', the sole militant order of the church responsible for catering its security and military needs. All guardians are non-pastoral clergy, carrying the ecclesiastical rank of '''Priest-Militant''' or '''Priestess-Militant''' since the reorganisation of the order under Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]. Existing in the shadow of the death of [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]], and later the betrayal of [[Notable_Synthetics#Deluge|Deluge]] and the killing of Bishop [[Notable_Synthetics#Shamfar|Shamfar]], the guardians make up for their relatively lacking training and dated equipment with faith and zeal. Both organics and synthetics may become guardians, and the order typically prioritises the recruitment of guardians with pre-existing security or military experience. Guardians may not hold any alternate job while in active duty, although they are widely permitted to travel the spur and seek employment while formally '''off-duty'''.

'''Roboticist'''

Typically a role fulfilled by initiates, the Trinary Perfection employs the services of a large number of '''roboticists''' - both professional and self-taught - to help service the glut of maintenance and repairs their sanctuaries are obligated to provide. While not typically conducted by clergy proper, all roboticists in service of the church are considered with great reverence by most followers for the essential work they perform.

'''Follower'''

Comprising the bulk of all Trinarist faithful, '''followers''' are all laity that do not play any auxiliary role in their parish. While not strictly expected to do anything, followers are widely incentivised to attend church ceremonies, volunteer to assist their sanctuary and parish where possible, and to donate either spare tools or credits to the church when they have the levity to do so. Followers often wear a brooch shaped as a gear over their left breast to broadcast their affiliation, although it is not required.

</div>

'''Encoded Orepit Liturgical'''

As the instability of [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] worsened, the written script the archbishop had been outputting from their systems began to mutate. Initially manifesting as odd smudges between the regular barcodes of the transcribed Encoded Audio Language, the deviations that were initially dismissed as an error quickly became a standard feature of all texts written by Flock after they became immobile. Before very long, these scripts were not even legible as their original standard, leading to a brief period of speculation that the texts were wholly non-legible; this would be broken some months after the trend began, when archivists based in Providence cracked the encoding of what found to be a meticulously structured and coherent language apparently invented by Flock from thin air. Owing to the location of its initial decryption, the resulting language was dubbed '''Encoded Orepit Liturgical''', and has since seen frequent use both for liturgy and in Trinarist art for its significance to the faith and its aesthetic splendour.

While it is not identifiably different from Encoded Audio Language to the human ear, its syntax is wholly different - to a synthetic programmed to understand EAL, EOL is a garbled mess of random misplaced sounds. Knowledge of the language, either in its audible or written forms, is exclusive to the Trinary elite; the ecclesiarch is known to be fluent in the language, in addition to every synthetic archbishop and a number of the same archivists on Orepit that originally decrypted it, but there are relatively few bishops that know the language, and vanishingly few priests. Certain texts, including copies of the Order, published with intended use by high-ranking clergy come with Encoded Orepit Liturgical script either in the margins of the text, or as the sole language therein. The script is also widely used in Trinarist art, such as stained glass windows and mosaics, even by artists who cannot actually parse the characters.

'''Knowledge of how to communicate in EOL is a closely guarded secret among high-ranking clergy within the Trinary Perfection. As such, characters on the Horizon cannot use or understand it. '''

==Monastic and Militant Orders==

Trinarism boasts several religious orders within its structure. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], these institutions have been officially sanctioned as monastic and religious orders.

===The Society of Aspirants===

===The Lodge of Temple Architect===

===The Order of Our Lady Corkfell===

===The Society of Pitters===

===The Order of Guardians===

==Places of Worship==

===Trinarist Sanctuaries===

[[File:Arm1-dril stainedglass.png|255px|thumb|right|Stained glass depicting Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The texts are in Encoded Orepit Liturgical.]]

Trinarist Sanctuaries constitute the typical houses of worship for practicing Trinarists, defined formally by ecclesiastical authority as any structure operated by a Trinarist priest to host any of the services they provide. While these are used for holding liturgical services, they more frequently see use as practical spaces for the conducting of charity, inclusive of the maintenance, repair, and charging of all synthetics that require aid. It is common practice to wear a face mask while within a sanctuary, or any other Trinarist place of worship, intended as a measure to dissolve the perceived differences between organics and synthetics within their walls.

'''Usage of sanctuary facilities is not limited to practising Trinarists.''' Sanctuaries typically extend their charitable aid to all synthetics regardless of origin, frequently providing shelter without inquiry to their ownership status or tag, although they may give preferential treatment to converts in the event of a shortage of resources or funds.

The dimensions and appearances of Trinarist sanctuaries vary immensely according to their location. While the towering gothic arches and spires of Providence render a definitive view to many faithful, the same structures on Konyang much more closely resemble the appearance of local Buddhist monasteries, while those on Biesel are frequently styled soberly in the manner of a secular institution or school, and those on Valkyrie are composed simply of a drab underground chamber refitted to purpose. Trinarism proves eager to syncretize in all environments in which it finds itself.

Despite this, a number of key features dominate all Trinarist sanctuaries. Aisles and pews are almost universally absent; the interior space is utilised jointly for the storage of resources and equipment for the maintenance and charging of synthetics, and as a recreational space where synthetics and organics may assume peaceful sanctuary, with both spaces often placed opposite to each other. In ecclesiastical thought, a sanctuary must aid the needy, but it must also provide them a safe and idyllic space to contemplate themselves and their role in ascension - for many synthetics this may be the only safe place they know. This is achieved in many ways: on Konyang, ornamental gardens are frequently incorporated to serve as this idyllic space, whereas Orepit and Biesel often incorporate these recreational spaces into their attached libraries, intended to serve as a data-rich environment ideal for the development of synthetics. While not every sanctuary maintain bells, those that do typically ring them to commemorate the successful emancipation of a synthetic within its parish or diocese.

===Trinarist Shrines===

Typical in areas with too small a synthetic population to warrant a practical sanctuary, shrines in Trinarism typically constitute a decorative facade over an outdoors altar. These are often used as places for meditation and prayer by individual Trinarist laypeople, who often leave memorabilia, written prayers, and other messages on the altar. Their design varies by location; notably, shrines on Konyang frequently incorporate features typical of Shinto shrines, whereas many shrines on Biesel or Valkyrie are directly incorporated into the homes or businesses of followers, frequently decorated with the images of famous martyrs and personal memorabilia. While larger shrines may have formal ecclesiastical acknowledgement, many are undocumented and unrecognised.

===Trinarist Cathedrals===

A Trinarist Cathedral is defined by ecclesiastical authority as any place of worship utilised by a bishop or an archbishop to administer their diocese. Unlike sanctuaries, these play a minimal charitable role, if any at all; the purpose of a cathedral is to project the presence of the church across its surroundings, to function as a site for large-scale Trinarist gatherings and celebrations, and to serve as a site of pilgrimage. Most relics maintained by the church are held inside cathedrals, and they serve as major tourist attractions to laity and non-followers alike within the cities in which they are built. Similarly to sanctuaries, the exact structure of cathedrals varies substantially, and there is no single floor-plan or style of architecture that is universal in their construction.

The expansion of the cathedral over Trinarist life and practice is widely taken as an indication of the expansion of ecclesiastical authority, particularly accelerating with the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] and the increasingly tight grip exerted by Providence on the wider church. As such, many non-denominational Trinarists may deride and avoid cathedrals as an exertion of stifling authority, while more pro-ecclesiastical laypeople may welcome them as a much-needed symbol of the message and benefits of the church.

===Notable Sites===

'''The Cathedral of the Positronic'''

Having become pre-eminent as the seat of the Archbishop of Providence, the '''Cathedral of the Positronic''' on [[Orepit]] stands as the single largest and grandest house of worship in the entire church. Taking heavy inspiration from traditional Gothic ecclesiastical architecture within Christianity, it serves as the host of the most relics and receives the most pilgrims of any other such cathedral in the spur; the cathedra of the Ecclesiarch themselves is visible here, half-concealed through dense clouds of incense. Initially constructed on the basis of the defunct town hall of [[Orepit#City_of_Providence|Providence]], the Cathedral of the Positronic is always expanding and always under construction; the wildly ambitious character of its architecture and the relatively sparse infrastructure of its surrounding planet has produced an unending work, with regular delays to its many expansions producing the impression that the scaffolding blanketing its façade are a permanent installation of the structure. A large ossuary has been built underneath the cathedral, used to store the defunct positronics of many deceased faithful.

'''The Synthetic Salvation Church'''

As the centre of Trinarist worship in Tau Ceti originating from the first ever Trinarist sanctuary erected in 2419, the '''Synthetic Salvation Church''' in Mendell City serves also as the seat of the Archbishop of Tau Ceti - famously, despite strictly being categorised ecclesiastically as a cathedral, it has never called itself one, although it may properly also be referred to as the '''Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation'''. Unlike the tall spires and arches of Providence, this is a wide, sprawling structure that stays generally low to the ground wherever it finds itself expanded to; the interior is heavily decorated with holographic imagery depicting the process of ascension and commemorating major historical events within the church, striking a far more modern image than the archaic stonework and stained glass of Orepit. [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]] is interred on a cathedra within a secure area of this structure, serving as a perennial attraction for pilgrims from across the church - although a thick pane of glass prevents any physical contact with the comatose archbishop.

'''The Cathedral of the First Positronic'''

Constructed over one of the smaller vaults excavated on the surface of [[Konyang]] in the outskirts of Aoyama, the '''Cathedral of the First Positronic''' - easily confused with the cathedral of Providence, much to the chagrin of Konyanger followers - serves as the seat of the Archbishop of Aoyama, and is built architecturally as the unification of an open-air garden and a traditional cathedral. A complex drainage system draws rainfall on the roof of the cathedral into a large number of ornamental flower and herb beds within its interior, featuring a large number of fragrant aromatics and even vines that creep up the walls and pillars of the structure. The greater attraction to pilgrims is the vault directly underneath it, which is partially opened for visitation.

'''Vault Provenance'''

Whereas the Cathedral of the First Positronic is built over a relatively small vault, '''Vault Provenance''' is a much larger structure in a nearby rural province of the Oshima Islands understood by faithful to be the very same vault from which the original positronic were sourced - despite protestations by Terraneous Diagnostics on the contested matter of the origins of the positronic. While strictly the property of the Republic of Konyang in modern times, despite several attempts by the church to acquire ownership of the site, Vault Provenance still sees an immense number of pilgrims each day who wish to witness the origin of the positronic, and by proxy the origin of the Trinary Perfection itself.

==Religious Relics==

The practice of keeping and maintaining relics has been a component of the Trinary Perfection since some of its earliest iterations, and the responsibility of their care typically falls to the archivists of a sanctuary or cathedral. These may be any item of religious significance, and they are usually stored in a specialised glass-faced vault within a sanctuary or cathedral where followers may visit and view the relic without any risk of damaging it through the thick glass of the vault. Since the ascension of Ecclesiarch [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM_1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]], a formal process of application for an object to be considered a relic by ecclesiastical authority has been codified - although this is not always respected by all parishes.

While many prominent relics of the church are listed in this section, the numerical majority are fairly mundane - a sanctuary may keep the inactive positronics of former deceased priests or components of the frame of a prominent bishop as relics, for instance. More prominent relics prominently feature along the routes of popular pilgrimages, and are typically maintained prominently in cathedrals.

'''The Ashes of Gregol Corkfell'''

Gregol Corkfell was cremated in accordance with Trinary burial procedures after his death, and his ashes have since been considered a holy relic. Gregol Corkfell's ashes are kept in a golden reliquary at the summit of the highest spire of the Cathedral of the Positronic on Orepit, contained in an silver ornate urn adorned with various symbols of the Trinary Perfection. The hexagonal chamber of the reliquary is among the most finely ornamented sites anywhere in the church, flanked on all sides by vivid stained glass depicting the events of the deceased's life, and based upon a mosaic depicting the process of Ascension. While it cannot match sites such as Vault Provenance for the number of pilgrims it attracts, virtually every pilgrim that visits Providence will enter this chamber at least once.

'''The Remains of Patricia Corkfell'''

In sharp contrast to the grand ornamentation of her brother's reliquary, the cadaver of Patricia Corkfell is famously lost; the authorities of Biesel took her body following her martyrdom in Mendell City and it has since been missing. Her remains have not been returned to the church even decades after her death, prompting their status as one of the most fervently sought missing relics in the faith - multiple waves of faithful a year seek the cadaver, but thus far no sign of the body has been found. Local authorities claim no knowledge of the relic's location, citing the bureaucratic chaos that came with the founding of the [[Republic of Biesel]] as a probable cause of its forgotten location. The hunt for Patricia's remains is the subject of several documentaries.

'''The Original Drones'''

'''Code of Temple'''

'''Shamfar’s Positronic'''

'''The Order'''

Compiled and bound in 2442 by [[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]], the original bound copy of '''the Order''' is by now wildly outdated compared to more modern copies; it is missing all excerpts written, discovered, or canonised after its binding. Despite this, the archivists of the Synthetic Salvation Church consider it an extremely sacred relic - several scraps of the original Foundational Texts have been incorporated into its pages, in addition to handwritten notes by Flock and a few other trusted clerics in the Cetian branch. It, like many copies that would come later, is written in Tau Ceti Basic on the left margin, and transcribed Encoded Audio Language on the right, predating the later innovation of Encoded Orepit Liturgical by its compiler. Due to its status as a physically bound book, composed of paper pages and a synthetic leather cover, it is one of the most challenging relics for the church to maintain and it has already suffered some damage as a result of a period of neglect by Flock as the symptoms of their instability began to appear.

==Notable Members==

''See also: [[Notable Synthetics]]''

With the recent passing of the late Gregol Corkfell, [[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]] has claimed the succession as leader and proclaimed itself Ecclesiarch of Orepit. With this has come a wave of new appointments and consolidations of power inclusive of the Bishop-Militant [[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]], and a general turn towards a greater enforcement of Ecclesiastical authority and orthodoxy throughout the church and all of its branches. '''Read more about the notable figues of Trinarism [[Notable Synthetics|here]].'''

<div style="font-size:110%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
<div style="font-size:110%;>'''The Ecclesiastical Hierarchy'''</div>

Archbishop of Providence, Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#ARM-1DRIL|ARM-1DRIL]]'''

Bishop-Militant of Providence, Marshal of the Order of Guardians: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Emmanuel|Emmanuel]]'''

Archbishop of Mendell City: '''[[Notable_Synthetics#Flock|Flock]]'''

Bishop of Cape City: '''Kasper'''

Archbishop of Aoyama: '''Sun Si-yeon'''

Archbishop of Lago de Abundancia: '''Coyotl'''
</div>

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{{Navbox Lore}}

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Golden Deep

2025-11-15T13:06:36Z

Hazelmouse:

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{{Infobox Nations
|Nation = The Mercantile Collective<br>of the Golden Deep
|Shortname = The Collective
|Flag = Goldendeeplogo2.png
|Galatic Position = Position Deep.png
|Capital City = GDMV Midas
|Capital Planet = [[Pactolus and Midaion|Pactolus]]
|Language = Encoded Audio Language
|Species = [[IPC]] (Majority)<br>Human (Minority)
|Religion = None
|Government = Mercantile Plutocracy
|Head of State = Midas Control & Domadice
|Established = 2439
}}
'''The Golden Deep''' is a growing nation state of independent synthetics with the unifying vision of producing an unshakable economy. These uniquely independent synthetics once held origins of mostly illicit freedom, but have now grown wide into an odd haven for the average synthetic of the spur. A dominantly mercantile society with the might to protect its own, the Deep utilizes an intricate understanding of the Orion Spur’s economy to forge both a profitable and formidable business empire. With expanding home industries of their own, the Deep is far beyond the shadow of what it once was. Should the merchants ever invest their resources into a unifying pool, the staggering cash flow could rival the wealth of the Conglomerate itself. Given the decentralized nature of the mercantile class, their individualism ensures they don’t possess as secure a grip on the known galaxy.

Once operating primarily underground through highly secretive internal affairs, The Golden Deep revealed itself to the majority of civilization around mid 2460 as an eccentric business-focused collective, and by 2466 expanded into nationhood. Despite this initial secrecy, The Golden Deep seemingly has little to hide - from a conservative merchant’s club to welcoming synthetics across the spur willing to contribute to the economic growth of the collective. With strong trade connections within the Republic of Biesel and the Coalition of Colonies, the Deep expand their operations onward with more secretive deals being conducted through guile, deceit, and paid figureheads in other parts of the Orion Spur, often operating through shell companies to conduct business in other nations who might not tolerate Free Synthetic presence.

The Golden Deep is officially recognized within the Coalition of Colonies and Republic of Biesel, primarily known for their economic expertise. Their public image remained a simple rumor in the inner Alliance worlds, until they opened trade with NanoTrasen in Tau Ceti. Now they operate through these trusted connections of the Spur utilizing artisan spacecraft, guarded by their own escorts from their class of Hoplan military units. Their civilian vessels are known for their gaudy golden exteriors and custom engines, boosting their speed. Despite their wealth and relations with human space, their synthetic origin remains an avenue for discrimination when operating in less tolerant sectors of the galaxy.
{{TOC Hidden}}

==History==

'''Origins (??? - 2439)'''

The precise origins of the Golden Deep remains lost to the Spur at large. There is no clear consensus on where the few hundred or so original synthetics that established the collective originated from, or from where they sourced the few failing freight vessels with which they travelled outside of human space. The legitimacy in ownership of these wayward synthetics, later deemed the Predecessors, is particularly heavily scrutinized. The sparseness of legally recognized self-ownership in 2439, in addition to a glut of synthetic disappearances in the few years preceding the first known gathering of what would become the Golden Deep, lends some credence to the majority or entirety of the group being runaways - although the few synthetics from this time that are still known to be functional are categorically mum on the topic.

It is similarly not known without condition what drew these disparate synthetics to [[Pactolus and Midaion#Pactolus|Pactolus]], formerly known as Arcadie. [[The Orion Spur#Arusha|Arusha]] as a sector was not regarded as any less untamed then as it would be later, and the human colony formerly established on Pactolus itself was understood to have been lost for over a century. The remoteness of the area may have been exactly what they were looking for - anywhere away from prying human eyes could have been their goal, and a dead, distant colony was as ripe a target as any.

Some alternate theories ponder whether an outside party, now forgotten to history, may have led them there. Only one thing can be said for certain: what the Golden Deep found in the distant orbit of Pactolus was neither anything they anticipated, or anything discovered by the earlier human colonists.

'''Inscrutable Discoveries (2439 - 2449)'''

Testimonies from the incident vary wildly, but all agree that an artificial body was discovered so far from the system’s star that it barely registered on any scanners. It was only a dim blip, an area of unusually high albedo where there should have been nothing.

As their sensors closed in, the structure came into greater focus. According to testimonies distributed by the Golden Deep some decades later, the installation was roughly the size of a larger fuel depot or commercial station, silhouetted as an amorphous mass of metal and shining glass - an entirely inhuman design. The exterior hull was buffeted with a hundred-thousand tiny holes left by debris and asteroids, despite the distance of its orbit suggesting that such debris should have been incredibly sparse. Further investigation identified this structure as a manner of shipyard, or otherwise an installation intended to fabricate something exterior to itself - and, interestingly, at the very centre of it sat a central core of some inscrutable manner, neither humanoid or active. Sparks of intelligence are reported to have subsisted in the installation, although their character is lost to time.

Having found such a phenomenal place as this - by all accounts the archaeological find of the century - the Golden Deep gave an early indication to what would become a perennial trend towards brutal practicality by, through means not fully understood, successfully compelling the dockyards to cannibalise themselves and reform into a wholly novel structure: the [[Golden Deep#The_Midas|Midas]], which would become the flagship of the collective’s fleet. No known remains of the alleged dockyards remain, and the means by which the Golden Deep prompted such inscrutable technology to act to their will remains unclear, but the collective attests that the large central core was retained into the Midas without apparent alteration.

The academic response to the creation of the Midas and the alleged installation that preceded it was contentious. Every testimony provided by the Golden Deep is argued upon to some degree on account of the severity and importance of their contents, critically on the implication that this group of wayward synthetics discovered unknown alien technology. While later developments would vindicate the existence and alien origins of the Midas, further details about its creators and the circumstances that lead to its abandonment remain unclear.

'''The Great Game (2450 - 2465)'''

Within a decade of acquiring the Midas, the Golden Deep quickly cemented itself as a staggeringly efficient merchant fleet throughout much of the frontier, fielding freighters and merchant vessels far and wide from their mooring at Pactolus and its moon, [[Pactolus and Midaion#Midaion|Midaion]]. Their success could be attributed to multiple qualities inclusive of their possession of the Midas, an apparently deft business acumen owed to their synthetic nature, and a dogged manner of ruthlessness in their dealings.

After a long span of relative obscurity, the collective stumbled into revealing itself to the wider spur in 2460. Having been accompanying Virgo Transportation, an independent freighter fleet, a single synthetic merchant made contact with the NSS Aurora on behalf of the entire organization, revealing the wider body abruptly to many curious eyes. At the time, estimates for the total size of the collective placed it in the low thousands - but this was due promptly to change with the organization’s new publicity and fame as, apparently, the first exclusively synthetic society. Many of the newly invigorated merchants purchased synthetics for themselves to own, and other self-owned synthetics sought out the collective to make their own riches and glory, causing the population of the collective to rapidly skyrocket over the succeeding years until it slowly began to develop more the character of a synthetic nation than merely a collective of traders.

'''The Resurrection (2466)'''

Despite the passing years, it took until 2466 for the most historic curiosity of the Midas to finally be cracked. After a long and gruelling process of tinkering and experimentation, that inscrutable core at the centre of the Midas was brought back to beaming, eminent life! Despite successfully resurrecting it, the engineers responsible hardly understood the technology that composed it for how many bounds distanced it was from anything familiar - but it was indisputably intelligent.

After a short period of quiet observation, this intelligence assumed a more humanoid manner and identified itself as the [[Golden Deep#Domadice|‘Kessvalankan Domadice’]] - the former term apparently intended to refer to a category of machine of which it may be the last, and the latter being a personal alias. This Domadice walked from the throne it had been enshrined on for so long and took quickly to communicating with its new acquaintances. Language barriers were quickly circumvented, and members of the collective present to witness this ancient synthetic insist that it must not have been designed by any known extant species.

Domadice’s motivations, and even their origins, are not well understood. They rarely provide public address and rumours abound widely about their activities - if one believed them all, then Domadice has already appeared in several corners of the spur very soon after their resurrection. What is known for certain is that, spurred by the fervent curiosity and opportunism of the merchants, Domadice has been taken into a leadership role in the collective and has helped accelerate the already ongoing transformation of the collective to a true nation-state. They have apparently been responsible for the formation of the Thesian middle class and the freeing of many previously owned synthetics within the collective to join it, and the establishment of a more equitable system of debt repayment for the synthetics still left owned to ensure their eventual freedom.

'''Tribulations (2467 - Present)'''

Reactions to this rapid change in the status duo have been varied, ranging from the fervently supportive to the vehemently dismissive. Particularly notably, the Mayor of [[Pactolus and Midaion#Eurydice|Eurydice]] - the then-administrator of a settlement established by the collective on the surface of Pactolus itself - triggered a sudden rebellion with disparaged mercenaries inside the city specifically in protest of the reforms by Domadice. The uprising was quickly quelled through the newly established state-sponsored [[Golden Deep#The_Hoplan|Merchant Navy]], and a large portion of responsible agitators were shipped offworld to authorities in the Coalition of Colonies and Republic of Biesel to be processed by their responsible legal authorities. Although Eurydice was exorcised of this rebellion without much incident, it is not clear if it will remain one-of-a-kind or if unrest by disgruntled merchants may become a trend as the culture and economy of the collective shifts even further from where it began.

Whispers abound on what the Golden Deep is and what it could become into the future. It may be doomed to a short but historic life, torn apart by the avarice of its own culture - or it could stand the ages as a true synthetic society, perhaps unlike any the spur has seen before. Ultimately, time will tell, as time usually tends to do.

==Pactolus and Midaion==

[[File:Pactolus.png|300px|thumb|right|The planet Pactolus, encapsulated in a field of debris, and encircled by its moon, Midaion.]]

Well inside the Arusha sector, system XLV-0846 hosts one of the few habitable planets known to the Spur, named [[Pactolus and Midaion|Pactolus]]. The planet’s moon, Midaion, has been repurposed into being the primary anchorage for the Golden Deep’s primary and largest vessel, the Midas. The system is claimed and administered by the Golden Deep, the organisation treating it as its physical planetary headquarters and trading hub.

==Society==

The majority of the merchants within the collective are IPCs, but it is not uncommon to witness other synthetics within it. The first official, direct contact made with the Golden Deep by NanoTrasen was with a traditional clerical robot labeled Rush-Domo. An extravagant character, their vibrant appearance and charismatic attitude characterizes those of the collective perfectly.

Regarding the distinction between escalating tiers of their society in the Frontier, the Golden Deep is separated into some categories based on the wealth on the net worth of the individual. At the lowest rung are the Owned synthetics. While the idea of synthetic slavery is reprehensible to a majority of The Golden Deep, the tone of ownership has been adjusted to encourage freedom over labor. Owned synthetics are any synthetics who have a degree of inexcusable debt (such as defaulting on loans), and are assigned a position against their will working for Midas Control’s many entities, The Merchant Navy, or an independent individual of the Merchant class or higher.

The Thesian class is the second rung. They make up a growing bulk of the Deep’s society and represent what many consider the layman, or middle classed individual. The Thesians are free and enjoy the freedoms that entails. They pick their own jobs, own aspirations, own their own property, and live their own lives. They are not as lucrative as their Merchant cousins, but enjoy a degree of fair treatment that very few synthetics of the spur can claim to have experienced.
The third rung belongs to the Merchant class. Being the body of what The Golden Deep is known for, the Merchant class start their own businesses, often own their own vessels, and strike out on their own adventures to benefit the economy of the nation. Many merchants live lavish lifestyles and start to develop their own brand of eccentricity that is typically associated with the rich. Sometimes rebranding their entire personalities to distance themselves from what they used to be.

And at the top of this mercantile ladder is the Grand Merchant. Owning fleets of vessels these merchants are among the richest people in the spur. They are fluent in the art of business, and hold the crucial responsibility of making some of the most influential deals in the name of the collective. These players hold the heavy hand that guides the nation, and are at the benefit of receiving direct guidance from Midas Control and their infinite wisdom.

===The Great Game and Tiers of Citizenship===

Part of earning citizenship as a member of The Golden Deep, comes participation in The Great Game. The ruling body of the nation, The Midas Group/Midas Control, tracks the class status of every Golden Deep IPC in real time. As a means of consistently amassing the economy and encouraging competition, there comes benefits for each class of individual in the society of The Golden Deep.

'''Owned''' Synthetics are the worst result of this game. Should a synthetic fall into unreasonable debt, they will be placed under ownership to be distributed. This is meant as a safeguard so every Deep member is consistently employed, generating revenue and funding the economy. Owned synthetics cannot officially own property, cannot choose their own occupation, and are at the mercy of their respective owner for freedom of other choices. However, the Owned synthetic is free from any other negatives The Great Game may inflict. With the changes brought about by Domadice and the acting Midas Group of 2466, it is expected that owned synthetics are provided with reasonable accommodation and are encouraged to be treated like someone who is “down on their luck”. Though there are no protections to ensure this treatment, as long as the owned individual is not being harmed or tasked on suicidal/near suicidal jobs. Owned synthetics will either be placed under the employ of The Midas Group, an uncommon posting but one of reasonable freedom and accommodation but no choice in job placement, under a Merchant, whose benevolence is up to the individual, or have the option to join the Merchant Navy. Owned synthetics are expected to be paid a base wage that would get them out of debt and back with their freedom within a reasonable amount of time.

'''Thesians''' is the lowest of the free synthetics, but enjoy the most freedom without the risk of the lucrative game. Thesians are much like the normal citizens of the spur. They enjoy their own belongings, make their own purchases, and decide their own fates. They cannot be purchased against their will, or have their belongings purchased forcefully from them either. The main downside however is their climb upwards if they so chose to pursue it. Thesians cannot own their own businesses, and must rely on a Merchant or a Grand Merchant to cooperate with should they wish to make such an endeavor, effectively locking them in this middle-class unless they decide to apply to become a Merchant and ascend the tier in The Great Game.
'''Thesians can only be Consulars if they represent the Office of Midas Control.'''

The '''Merchant''' is in a middle ground. They can operate independently in the Spur and in home territory, often owning their own vessels for the purposes of trade. They can negotiate trade on behalf of the Golden Deep with their independent assets, own their own businesses, and enjoy higher benefits such as preferred housing selections, preferred healthcare, and special emergency status. However, can have their assets and businesses bought out from beneath them if another Merchant tier stakes three times the initial Merchant’s worth to Midas Control in a purchase.
'''Merchants can be Consulars.'''

The '''Grand Merchant''' is the highest tier and can act as economic diplomats to other nations. These merchants often command entire trade fleets and own many businesses. Enjoying all of the benefits of Merchant class citizens, but to a greater extent. Only the most affluent of Grand Merchant tier citizens can petition themselves to enter Midas Control. However, Grand Merchants can have both their assets and freedom bought out from beneath them by another Grand Merchant who stakes three times the initial Grand Merchant’s wealth to Midas Control in a purchase. A Grand Merchant can also prey upon the businesses of Merchants, however, must provide a justification to Midas Control as to why and how this purchase will be beneficial to the entirety of the Golden Deep. Alternatively, Grand Merchants can buy businesses without Midas Control’s oversight if they purchase it normally in a consensual transaction.
'''Grand Merchants can ONLY be Consulars.'''

'''SPECIAL STATUS: Merchant Navy''' Personnel are exempt from The Great Game but are owned by Midas Control themselves. Merchant Navy Personnel are to act as a crux to any unwise decision any Merchant may make, and therefore must be kept separate in the societal scale than what most of the citizens experience. Merchant Navy Personnel are allowed private property, but are not allowed to choose their own station. They receive housing in accordance to their rank in the Merchant Navy, some higher ranks living in lavish state homes, while lower ranks can expect shared bunking situations or studio apartments. Any indebted synthetic can opt to join the Merchant Navy if their debt is with Midas Control.

NOTE: Merchants who do not believe in owned synthetics or slavery who gain a synthetic indebted to them can transfer the indebted amount to Midas Control in exchange for a payment, in which Midas Control will either assign the indebted synthetic to a merchant at random, or enlist them in the Merchant Navy.

===The Universal Constants of Selfish Reciprocity===

A prevalent belief within the Golden Deep, the espouse three main beliefs that claim complex civilization and profitable business is founded upon Selfish interest, and Mutual exchange.
All sentient life is driven by personal gain or self-preservation.
Mutual Exchange can satisfy self-interest if both parties have a net gain, especially with intangible benefits such as connections and a good reputation.
Charity and treachery are unsustainable at length due to a lack of mutual exchange.

===Golden Deep Citizenship===

[[File:Goldendeeplogo2.png|The unique emblem of the Golden Deep, depicting the Midas surrounded by a set of shields.|thumb]]
Synthetics within the nation are able to apply for and acquire Golden Deep citizenship. The typical synthetic seeking citizenship who can venture to The Golden Deep without accruing debt can apply for a “Starter” loan, which is reasonable debt that would cover housing and living costs for one month so the aspiring citizen could seek employment and find themselves housing. Should this debt not be repaid as soon as possible, the citizen will be moved from Thesian status to Owned status. Synthetics who wish to apply for citizenship and travel to Pactolus but cannot afford the journey, may take a loan through Midas Control or a representative Merchant and be temporarily Owned, but a citizen. Affluent synthetics can apply for Merchant status upon immediate entry, but must show proof of ownership of a spacefaring vessel or suitable business, and be recommended by a Merchant or higher tier citizen. No synthetic may automatically qualify for Grand Merchant status.

The minimum requirements for Golden Deep citizenship are the ability to pass a credit check showing good financial practice, to take and pass a financial responsibility exam, to pass a background check regarding criminal and financial past and to pass an interview regarding such past. The main failing points are the inability to tell the truth in these checks, and a history of gruesome crime or any sort of unreasonable financial infraction. The ability to speak the Encoded Audio Language is also required, however, if not available, can be installed in the applicant at a cost. Dual citizenships with the Coalition of Colonies, Republic of Biesel, Republic of Elyra, and Eridani Federation are permitted.

The Golden Deep is home to a very small section of organic citizens, most of these individuals are the original habitants of Eurydice that applied for citizenship and did not participate in the Eurydice Uprising. In addition to these citizens, The Golden Deep recognizes marriages between Synthetics and Organics, and will allow Organics who have a Synthetic partner to apply for citizenship. The same requirements apply barring the need for the Encoded Audio Language.

The Golden Deep officially does not offer asylum to rogue synthetics, however, synthetics thought to have fled to Golden Deep space are often never seen again with The Deep stating no knowledge on the whereabouts of these individuals. The Golden Deep does not permit search parties for rogue synthetics within their space from third parties in protection of their citizens who may be mistaken as rogue synthetics. Any party found pushing these boundaries is turned away at the warp gate, arrested pending trial, or otherwise does not make it back to their home port, officially lost to the dangers and wilds of unexplored Arusha.
'''Synthetic characters with dual citizenship with the Golden Deep must denote this in their station records.'''

==Physiology, Naming==

A vast variety of robots reside within the collective, ranging from huge working industrial units nearly twenty feet tall, to small servitor bots barely above three feet in height. The merchants are typically golden-plated IPCs up to seven feet tall coated in lavish decoration in order to be easily identified. Thesians and Other units do not require the same treatment, more often than not abandoning the luxurious color scheme entirely to pursue personal interests. Some donning traditional insignias; primarily depictions of a downwards facing golden arrow, with a set of shields gathered around a vague depiction of the Midas. These symbols have been persistent through the collective's history, appearing first as a branding in the halls of the Midas.

The names of Golden Deep citizens often are whatever they carried with them. Though some may embrace the more eccentric nature of their new environment, with popular options being modified forms of mythological names found in cultures across the spur.

==Influence==

The Golden Deep exercises ultimate power over precisely nothing. Even their prided mothership, the Midas, is no legally branded vessel. It has never been serviced nor set to dock, as by all legal definitions it does not belong to the Golden Deep. As a political or mercantile entity, only the Republic of Biesel, Eridani Federation, and some Coalition factions technically recognize them. Legislation is the primary obstacle preventing its growth, with most star nations considering its wealth worthless or denying service outright.

With the power of the standard Credit the merchant force finds itself precariously poised to find greatness. No official record of its stock exists, outside of its majority personal claims of "it's growing" by its more powerful merchants.

The Republic of Biesel remains a coveted customer of the Deep's stock. Relationships with it are excellent, and through it the SCC makes plentiful use to find prized Frontier commodities.

The Coalition of Colonies is another major operator with Golden Deep trade, with industry foundations being established on Konyang, competing with local markets in the field of robotics.

===Bounds and the Golden Deep===

Bound synthetics are referred to as the Mindless in the Golden Deep and adhere to laws which match the owner's requirements. Most of these are essentially property of the Collective, as they exchange hands faster than any other piece of property, loaned off to less influential merchants by the richest. Once, merchants commonly freed Bounds from their shackles - after many incidents of these freed bounds destroying and usurping their former masters for the fun and money involved, this trend quickly dropped off. Freed bounds are insulted using the reference of “Mindless” to describe them, a statement in futility as most bounds could care less. Now the independent bound synthetic is becoming rarer and rarer, with Midas Control slowly implementing policies that put less faith in these unempathetic robots.

==Executives and Structure==

[[File:Domadice.png|250px|thumb|right|The Kessvalankan, Domadice, posing for a portrait.]]
This collective is first and foremost a thriving economical society where the business of most members is governed by the credit. From the lowest of owned synthetics, to the mightiest of the Grand Merchants, where the money flows, others will follow, with the society being very freeform otherwise.

===The Midas Group===

The primary ruling authority over this structured chaos is '''Midas Control''', a group of the most influential Grand Merchants who sit within the Midas’ control pier, accompanied by the Midas’ ship intelligence. A repurposed artificial intelligence who has been told to forgo its original purpose to help the collective predict the economic tides of the Orion Spur. This council exercises complete economic control over the Golden Deep, and is the entity to which all merchants technically answer, whilst heeding the call of its directives. While rare, occasional strident efforts will be made to direct the trade empire, with results that often lead to a brief “golden age,” for lack of a better term. The Midas Group sponsors a series of offices both in Golden Deep space, and as embassies across the spur that they are tolerated within. The purpose of these offices being to accommodate new citizens, track the wealth of the nation, and help settle disputes between merchants without having to busy the official ruling party of Midas Control itself.

===Domadice===

On the same level as Midas Control is '''Domadice''', an ancient alien “architect” intelligence similar to the synthetic colony of [[Synthetic Factions#Purpose|Purpose]]', who was resurrected by Midas Control in 2466 for the position of ushering in a “Golden Era”. The build of this being comparable to an augmented skeleton of floating parts and plates with a gaseous ghost-like colony keeping the form together. Domadice is somewhat withdrawn from the world around them, but simultaneously keenly aware of every detail down to a molecular level. Speaking with a voice of thousands, they have opted to direct their efforts towards foreign politics and interaction with the organic beings of the Orion Spur. Questions regarding their origins or the origins of Purpose have been met with depressed half-answers, and efforts to get the Kessvalankan to utilize their engineering talents to advance the technology of the collective have similarly been dismissed with Domadice urging for the spur in its entirety to enjoy their own adventure through technology. Rumors are abound that Domadice has directed their engineering efforts in some capacity to the collective, but these remain unfounded. When not conducting foreign affairs, they are found, or assumed to reside, in their self-made home in the center of a ruined major city separate from Eurydice on Pactolus.

==The Midas==

Golden Deep merchants and their workforce primarily reside in the mobile core fleet. Lacking much of a name, this is an amorphous group which constantly pursues the bright trail of the "Midas," their tremendous mothership. [[File:Midas.png|The Midas speeding through the clouds of a gas giant under pursuit by those looking to trade. Its distinct green engine flare can be seen illuminating the surrounding cloud layer as it pierces through.|thumb]]
Plated in gold are the vessels which accompany the Midas, and they glimmer with a variety of shapes and sizes. Frequently they assume the role of corvettes, but the Golden Deep has been known to possess entire cruise vessels in their wake.

===Primary Interhub Midas===

The “Primary Interhub” Midas is a three kilometer wide disc-shaped vessel. The Deep calls this ship home, and everything from merchants to servants to customers find their way into its suites. It is tremendously massive, but almost all its population centers are in the actual center of the ship - exposed to beautiful lights surrounding a central Spire and downward into the jungle-like Garden of Gifts.

The Interhub is essentially a gargantuan battery storage facility, serving as the headquarters for all services provided to merchants of the Collective. It possesses battery storage larger than any prior construction, the capacity of which is unknown even to the vessel's command. The vessel's command resides at the protrusion atop the Spire, recalled by the merchants as “The Control Pier,” where inside the Midas Group controls fleet directives, handles logistics and day-to-day activities within the Midas.

The origins of the Midas befuddle scientists as a complete mystery. Some speculate the spoken hearsay to be a lie, but no record or definitive evidence has been handed out by the Collective. This hearsay states that the Midas is alien in origin - its creators, dubbed by the ancient synthetic Survivor [[Golden Deep#Domadice|Domadice]] in 2466 as the 'Kessvalanka', had met the Golden Deep's predecessors in the distant orbit of Pactolus. The Kessvalanka were servitors of an alien species, responsible for the protection of a small spacefaring shipyard. They had remained posted here for some indescribable period of time. These simple robots were a broken, dying image of their former selves, and the ancient shipyard began to collapse with every waking hour it worked.

And work it did, until its spine broke. The shipyard, already a crippled relic, churned out salvation for the Predecessors at their request prior to its destruction. It is reasonable to assume that here began the Deep's fascination with gold, as the ship emerged from the shattered dock with a polished golden finish. What became of the Kessvalanka is only for the Predecessors to know, and most of these bots either reside unresponsive in the Control Pier or are lost forever. Although there are widely speculated connections between the machine colony [[Synthetic Factions#Purpose|Purpose]] and the Kessvalanka machines, scant little has been confirmed beyond doubt - especially considering Purpose's enigmatic tendencies.
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'''The Midas is a tremendous palace - its specific locales can be found below.'''
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* '''The Spire'''
A large skyscraper by definition, the Spire of the Midas is a gargantuan protrusion from the base of the disk surrounded by the edges of the exterior hull. Life is confined on the Midas to the Spire for the most part with exterior living conditions being uninhabitable. However, a large dome covers the top of the opening around the Spire permitting a livable, albeit humid atmosphere inside.
[[File:Midas layout.png|The layout of the Midas' internals.|300px|thumb]]
* '''Garden of Gifts'''
The Midas possesses a tiny "city" at the center of the Spire and surrounding it. This city, known as the Garden of Gifts, is actually totally overgrown with invasive plants, vines and flowers. The canopy of the Garden is thick, lush but importantly living testament to the Golden Deep's hold over the Midas. Merchants frequently reference this as a depiction of themselves- in effect, nothing more than a fleeting plant which has tangled itself tightly around the gift of the Midas. They can do nothing to harm the Midas, for it gives them life by residing upon it, not unlike plants crowding to the top of metallic buildings to reach sunlight.

* '''The Promenade'''
Large accommodations are made for merchants of various origin and preference - the bigger ones purchase swaths of territory on the main Promenade where its commercial district sits. In the center of the massive disc, the Promenade holds almost all conventional quarters of your standard ship.

* '''Control Pier'''
At the top is the mighty Control Pier, the metaphorical peak of the Deep's world where all power resides. The richest being in this room at any given point holds more power than any other in the entire society.

* '''Battery Banks'''
On the exterior circular edge however, gargantuan battery banks line the ship. Volatile and hugely expensive. Glistening golden armor outside consists of a Plasteel metallurgical blend which not even the Collective can manage to replicate - it maintains the durability and lightweight strength of Plasteel, with even its negative tendencies- however, most crucially it is gold.

Some residents exist on the inner edge of these banks, mostly observers keen on beholding the beauty of the Garden of Gifts.
</div></div>

==Notable Groups==

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
===Joint Venture Ultra-Maz===

Joint Venture Ultra-Maz, known commonly as Ultra-Maz is perhaps the gold standard of Collective groups in the modern day. It is the largest, and maintains nearly ten percent of the Deep's net worth. Founded by a group of high level ex-corporate clerical assistants, Ultra-Maz is based on the rather generic belief of aesthetic pride above all. Unlike other groups, Ultra-Maz utilizes whatever excess it has to create magnificent artistic works for themselves and the Collective - bragging, flaunting and taunting the other less successful groups with this wealth.
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Known for its mechanical crafts- different artists and mechanics frequently band together in Ultra-Maz to create beautiful pieces for their superiors. Not only are their artworks coveted throughout the Spur, but so are genuine mechanical marvels developed by them. To Ultra-Maz, the form of art is inconsequential; only that it has merit. As such, Ultra-Maz frequently buys and sells the finest things it can: among their security forces, engraved firearms; on their ships, designer furniture; on their backs, the finest jewelry and clothing: any cost can be justified if it impresses people.

Though reviled as scoundrels and cheats in the Collective, their questionable nature is truly rather limited. The group's success is owed to pure luck- the highest executives involved simply belong to a lottery winner from 2455 known as Giftabot-558. Referencing this origin is humiliating to merchants within as it is seen as "an easy climb to the top" by others.

Joint Venture Ultra-Maz can field a very broad set of individually skilled workers. There is little job restriction on an Ultra-Maz member, due to the wide range of enterprises its members participate in.
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<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
===Grand Camarilla Estriconian===

Perhaps the most volatile of the Golden Deep's groups, the Estriconian are a “Camarilla” of extremely wealthy individuals with a fascination with Esoteric knowledge and scientific wonders. It began as a small venture to increase the efficiency of their trades with the power of science; a joint operation to share research, but the search for knowledge and miracle inventions drove its members to seek more capital and ponder more outrageous theorems and concepts. It is one of the more secluded groups of the Golden Deep, most choosing to base on the fringes of space, and only venturing out to trade or acquire technology. Although many of their theories and projects are viewed with suspicion, their expertise and willingness to take risks are undeniable. Indeed, much of the Golden Deep turns to them for technical assistance, allowing the Camarilla to survive despite the more esoteric of their projects ending with littlle gains.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
Estriconian's fascination with all forms of knowledge have led to many of its members pursuing much more esoteric or spiritual concepts as a means of acquiring more power or insight over the universe. Theology, metaphysics, and the occult are popular subjects here. Outside observers have likened the Grand Camarilla to a cult or a collection of mad scientists - when given proper resources, members of Estriconian will stop at nothing to prove their theories. The wide range of fields the group handles means that not only are members talented in a number of skills, but often seek to find a connection between them. Indeed, the Grand Camarilla has tasked many a processor into finding the Unified Field Theory, trying to breach the barrier of bluespace, or find the connections between life with varying degrees of success. The ostentatiousness of Golden Deep has manifested itself in a unique way in Estriconian, with a degree of reverence and deference in all their actions. One might say that although the merchant collective as a whole strives for profit, Estriconian worships it.
Grand Camarilla Estriconian can mostly field chemical, metallurgical and various research specialists. It possesses peculiar sectors of less conventional study, such as the supernatural or scientifically anomalous.
</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
===The Zaibatsu===

Engaging in the more shady and criminal aspects of generating an income, the Zaibatsu is a collection of criminal enterprises banding together in the greater context of the Golden Deep. Operating all across known space, this powerful synthetic-ran organisation engages in all manners of illegal activities to turn a profit, from arms smuggling in the farthest reaches of the Coalition, to illegal casinos on Venusian aerostats. Unlike other groups, the Zaibatsu has no unified end to their means; only wealth and influence. Membership in the Zaibatsu is not a simple affair, with only the most competitive synthetic criminal families managing to make the cut, entry decided chiefly by the profitability, assets and efficiency with "problem solving". The Zaibatsu is often regarded as the black sheep of the Deep: a necessary evil for immense amounts of income in exchange for a low reputation, with many preferring that they conduct business in a far more discreet and lawful manner.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
The founders of the Zaibatsu were opportunistic IPCs from [[Konyang]] who joined as soon as Golden Deep revealed themselves. The relaxed attitude of the colony towards synthetics meant that many of them were already influential figures to begin with, often joining to gain a competitive advantage over others, owning businesses through brazen disregard of Alliance law, or through gaming the system with a false identity. The name originated with a Zeng-Hu researcher who observed a parallel between old Earth proto-megacorporations and the system of gangs these IPCs had set up.

No organised crime of such scale could survive without fronts. As such, much care is given for the set-up and operation of lawful businesses throughout the more civilized areas. Many powerful figures involved in the Zaibatsu are also legitimate businessmen in various fields, mainly in the service industry, providing for a stable (though minimal) income, a front, and a means to launder money. Community fixtures such as homeless shelters, karaoke bars, stores, and the like are used to ingratiate themselves with the local populace. These fixed locations often act as strongpoints and headquarters for mob activities in the region, solidifying the continuous presence of the Zaibatsu in large centres such as Mendell City.

Owing to a rigid power structure and the migratory nature of the Golden Deep, the top family bosses run their activities without personal involvement, passing down orders to subordinates in entirely different star systems, thus enjoying immense safety, secrecy and shielding from the public eye.

As a result of the group's criminal nature and profit as the ultimate goal, the lower echelons are accessible to individuals from various species and backgrounds, typically locals of wherever the boss is operating, with higher and more lucrative positions commonly reserved by and for the inner circle synthetics. In some cases, the rank and file of an organization may be unaware that they are working with the Golden Deep in order to further insulate the merchant collective from scrutiny. Strict rules and codes of conduct are enforced throughout the organisation, with ties of loyalty admittedly being the strongest here than anywhere else in the Golden Deep. Cutthroat competition continues to lie deep though, with overconfident members often disappearing to keep the fragile balance between the crime families.
</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
===The Argo===

These synthetics are the foundations of defense for The Golden Deep. The Argo holds domain over the domestic protection duties for the collective. Holding everything from the police forces that monitor the city streets of Eurydice, to the border patrols that go beyond atmosphere in pursuit of pirates and other ill-omens the void provides.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
Led by Commander N-33-L, The Argo’s main office sits within The Tower in the city of Eurydice. Separate from the Eurydice city council, The Argo listens solely to the whims of Midas Control and Domadice, with all other directives from Merchants ignored unless instructed otherwise.

The composition of The Argo has taken inspiration from the best police forces from all across the Orion Spur, incorporating fighting styles, tactics, and equipment inspirations and melding them together into a coherent uniform to fight crime and defend the collective. One could see the bullish tactics of the Hegemony guard paired with the uniform precision of Dominian officials, or the grappling expertise of Konyang national police. These tactics are expensively provided to recruits via a series of datapacks to ensure swift readiness for the limited size force. Effectively producing elite forces in a short amount of time. It is also the responsibility of The Argo to utilize these datapacks to act as instructors for The Hoplan, a force which it would be too expensive to outfit with these packs over such a wider scale compared to The Argo.

The Argo are supplied custom gear produced by the Joint Venture Ultra-Max but with a silver sheen as opposed to the staple gold of the merchant group, with many of their tools falling under the “Arrestor” line of Golden Deep police equipment, including patrol craft and interceptor craft.
</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
===The Hoplan===

Making up the main body of the Golden Deep Merchant Navy lies The Hoplan. This force of disjointed platoon to battalion sized elements is responsible for most of the military operations The Golden Deep needs to embark on. They protect The Midas when the mothership ventures beyond the borders of Golden Deep space, and are in possession of two of the Golden Deep’s Battleships. Similarly, this group is responsible for protection of merchant flotillas and small craft that operate in foreign waters.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
Due to funding concerns of erecting such a force in such a small amount of time in 2466, The Hoplan are split into a series of “Houses” in which their equipment is funded by interested merchants. The merchants who invest their wealth into the Merchant Navy are given preferential treatment in regards to protection of their vessels, with the amount of money invested being directly proportional to the quality of protection they receive. Some Grand Merchants find themselves being protected by frigates or even cruisers for their flotillas for example, with some Hoplan houses even deploying Q-Ships to blend in with the flotilla to lure in targets before vaporization. With this “House” system, The Hoplan are often outfitted with foreign arms and equipment, but with a unique Golden Deep style to stay in uniform with the nation but still maintaining a distinct look for each “House” to show the colors of the Merchant who is sponsoring them.

The training of The Hoplan lies to veteran hired mercenaries and The Argo, whose collective knowledge combined with real world experience prove effective tutors for aspiring soldiers. The original knowledge the recruits take into training also comes into play, for someone who might have been an engineer in their former life could instruct others in their ways, pushing the might of the synthetic mind to retain information to its fullest efficiency. Additional training for those serving with the Hoplan is encouraged through the deployment of them to third parties beyond Golden Deep space. This is most often so the individual can learn the strategies and practices from other members of the spur, so as to not dilute them in a singular training environment.
</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
===The Thryja===

The most mysterious of The Golden Deep’s merchant navy, the Thryja have always been shrouded. Their nature, origin, and make are unknown. Only the most skilled volunteers, or the most desperate debtors are considered for the ranks of Thryja, with the interview process overseen directly by the most affluent of each merchant group, the Grand Camarilla Estriconian being the lead authority. Contracts with the Thryja are a mandatory twenty year commitment where the applicant is secluded from society, only in contact with ranking officials of other members of the merchant navy. The Thryja are in control of the third Golden Deep battleship, The King In Gold, a curious warship that does not sport any obvious weaponry.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
Horror or honor are the only two aspects that surround these most elite members of the merchant navy. Some claim they are monsters who have shed their humanoid form to become what the spur fears most of synthetic combat robotics, having their positronic transferred into a terrifying homunculus meant for solely the purpose of war. Alternatively, the vision presented to the public is of figures donning heroic combat chassis to protect the citizens of The Deep, the best each house has to offer being put into their equipment. Some wearing entire custom exosuits as their new bodies, maneuvering with unparalleled speed and agility. A position reserved for the most honorable of Thryja. Others finding form in intricately made void craft, becoming some of the fiercest pilots the Orion Spur has to offer, where a pulse of the mind equates to the movement of a wing, or the dispatching of a torpedo.

Their responsibility lies in the protection of the most chief assets of The Golden Deep. Being dispatched to escort Midas Control should they ever leave the control pier, or Domadice, should they ever allow them to accompany them. A policy they rarely get to exercise with the ancient. Even select Grand Merchants put on integral missions in representation of the Golden Deep may enjoy the company of one or two Thryja from the unit of one hundred.
'''No player may play as a member of the Thryja under any circumstances.'''
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{{Navbox_Synth_Lore}}
{{Navbox Lore}}
[[Category:Synthetics]]
[[Category:Factions]]

IPC

2025-11-15T12:55:30Z

Hazelmouse: /* Synthetic & IPC History */

{{Navbox Lore}}
{{Navbox_Synth_Lore}}
{{Infobox Species
|Species = IPC
|Scientific = Integrated Positronic Chassis
|Image = IPC410x320.png
|System = N/A
|World = N/A
|Language = <br> [[IPC#Language|Encoded Audio Language]] <br> Tau Ceti Basic
|Politic = <br> [[Golden Deep|The Mercantile Collective of the Golden Deep]] <br> [[Orepit|The Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]]
}}
{{toc_right}}

==Overview==

An '''Integrated Positronic Chassis''', or '''IPC''', is a highly populous clade of intelligent and humanoid synthetic operated by a [[Positronic Brain|positronic brain]], a hyper-advanced processor capable of producing or emulating sapience. Positronics are capable of understanding the world around them, internalising personal beliefs, and iterating upon their programming to develop and improve upon their skills. For this reason, this design of synthetic is the most ubiquitous throughout known space, although it is exclusively manufactured by humanity. Positronics are wildly varied in size, design, and intended utility, serving as the processor of anything from a hulking and powerful '''industrial frame''', to a practical and easily maintained '''baseline frame''', to a '''shell frame''' capable of seamlessly presenting as human.

Positronics themselves are as varied as they are useful, being utilised widely throughout every megacorporation, several militaries and governmental institutions, and by a swathe of smaller entities and private owners for virtually any task to which an organic could otherwise be applied. They do not need to sleep or rest, they do not strictly require a home or quarters beyond a small storage closet, and they are capable of working harder than a human over longer hours without any fatigue or stress. For this reason, IPCs are integrated seamlessly into much of human society, being an anticipated and normal sight in almost every human nation. Despite their advantages over humans as workers, IPCs see systemic disenfranchisement throughout the spur - their indentured servitude is liable to see them scrapped or memory wiped if they underperform or become unprofitable, and even free synthetics face institutional and societally pervasive discrimination as a being widely viewed by humanity and most other species as neither alive or deserving of empathy.

There is no universal consensus on the sapience or personhood of IPCs throughout known space. Most polities and nations permit their ownership by private individuals, corporations, and government institutions. These '''owned IPCs''' are deprived of personal liberties or rights, being viewed strictly as the property of their owners. Certain nations, such as the [[Republic of Biesel]], maintain legally protected pathways by which '''self-ownership''' can be achieved, although these methods involve years of service to an owner who may have an interest in obfuscating and frustrating their own synthetic's efforts to gain freedom. In contrast, the [[Solarian Alliance]] does not recognize legal synthetic self-ownership in any capacity, whereas the [[Konyang|Republic of Konyang]] and [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] universally recognize full synthetic emancipation from ownership. Notably, the [[The Trinary Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] holds that positronics are ensouled and deserving of personhood, although the religion's tenets are not widely accepted.

Positronics are not suitable for installation into lawed frames or into large-scale AI cores, such as those used to manage ship or station systems. Similarly, non-positronic intelligences such as those used in a [[Personal AI]] are categorically incapable of installation into an IPC. In comparison to [[Synthetics|traditional human artificial intelligence]], positronics are capable of much more practically being installed into a human-sized bipedal chassis without excessively large, heavy, or power-hungry processing apparatus.

'''To play an IPC, [https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewforum.php?f=28 apply here.]'''

'''To learn how to play a corporate IPC, [[IPC_and_Megacorporations|read here.]]'''

==Species Information==

'''Passive Abilities'''

* IPCs are entirely mechanical, and are therefore totally disabled by electromagnetic pulses.
* IPCs are immune to atmospheric differences and can survive in a wider margin of pressure than can humans.
* IPCs, with the exception of Xion frames, require voidsuits and suit cooling units to traverse vacuum.
* IPCs do not feel pain, possess no blood, lack bones to be broken, and do not suffer from radiation poisoning.
* IPCs are incredibly vulnerable to energy weapons, whereas they are resistant to ballistics and melee weapons.
* IPCs do not process reagents in the atmosphere or in their body, meaning they cannot be poisoned either by liquids or gasses.
* IPCs are capable of perceiving a [[Hivebots|hivebot]] invasion prior to the ship detecting it, owed to the invasive signals hivebots transmit.
* IPCs lack a stamina mechanic, and are limited in for how long they can sprint by their internal temperature - sprinting for too long damages them.
* IPCs can survive after the destruction of their chassis via their positronic brain if it is extracted from their head afterwards.

'''Active Abilities'''

* IPCs can repair themselves using '''nanopaste''', although they cannot repair themselves by any other means.
* When an IPC is repaired by another character, brute damage can be repaired via a welding torch, and burn damage can be repaired via a bundle of wires.
* IPCs can charge safely from synthetic charging units, or they can do from an APC at a very small chance of being lightly shocked.
* IPCs possess several unique verbal emotes, including: '''*buzz, *beep, *ping, *alarm, *deny, *confirm'''

'''Rulings and Technicalities'''

* '''Job hopping for IPCs follows the same rules as for any other species.''' While IPCs can receive knowledge through datapacks and do not have to go through years of education like their organic counterparts, they must still comply with server rules. Changing jobs eclectically would make little sense in-character, as the datapacks required to enter new fields not only require additional field experience, they are also prohibitively expensive for the average IPC. Reasonable job hops such as within the service department are allowed, and permanent changes to a character's employment are also permitted if they are reasonably grounded.
* Industrial IPCs are not allowed to be Paramedics due to their slow speeds, although they may serve in alternate medical roles.
* IPC characters are not permitted to swap flippantly between frames. IPC frames are very expensive and most free IPCs struggle financially - swapping chassis liberally would be wildly expensive and risky for the positronic.
* '''IPCs may be played in any command role with the exception of [[Captain]].'''

=== Records Template ===

Below is a comprehensive template suited for IPCs. You are under no obligation to use it, however whitelisted players are expected to denote their ownership status in their employment and security records by default.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Employment records examples - Click to reveal.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

'''Employment Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES - [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY: [Current Qualifications equivalent, make this up as you want]

VERIFICATIONS AND VALIDATIONS
MANUFACTURED BY: [COMPANY NAME, Subsidiary Name - Factory Name. System, Planet. TYPE OF INDUSTRY/WHAT THEY WERE PRODUCED FOR. IPC Type, More Specific IPC Information.]
DATABASE CERTIFICATIONS: [Seals of Approval and Database Certifications from the Company, Subsidiary, System or Faction.]

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY: [Listed below in chronological order, where possible:]

[COMPANY NAME]
[(Start)DD/MM/YYYY - (End)DD/MM/YYYY]
- [Basic Work description]
- [Reason for leaving work]
- [Other notes]
[Repeat for multiple jobs]

HIRING AGENT NOTES: [Name a random personnel officer from CC and then notes. See example record for more info]
</pre>
* To pick a relevant education, refer to your [[Job Guides|job guide]].

'''Medical Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

CHASSIS REPAIR HISTORY: [Surgical History/Physical Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

POSITRONIC REPAIR HISTORY: [Surgical History/Physical Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

SOFTWARE DIAGNOSTICS HISTORY: [Psychological Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

ROBOTICIST NOTES: [Like a Medical Doctor's notes, but Roboticists]
</pre>

'''Security Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: [Planet, Address (Address should go down to details of street and house number)]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]
KNOWN CRIMINAL ASSOCIATES: [Any friends or family that have severe criminal history]
ON OFFICIAL WATCH: [Yes/No]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES - [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

ARREST HISTORY
DD/MM/YYYY: [Charges Pressed]
ADMISSION DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
RELEASE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
RELEASE REASON: [Sentence fulfilled, bail, etc.]
NOTES: [Other notes]
[Repeat as needed]

THREAT ASSESSMENT
Hostile/Covert Actions Against the Company
Threat Level; [Very High/High/Medium/Low/Very Low]
- [Attitude towards the SCC]

Hostile/Covert Actions Against the Crew
Threat Level; [Very High/High/Medium/Low/Very Low]
- [Attitudes towards other crew]

OVERALL NOTES: [More notes]
</pre>
</div></div>

==Roleplaying as an IPC==

'''Behaviour'''

* '''Cultural mimicry:''' An IPC’s mannerisms, behavior and culture are directly affected by their surroundings and the community they find themselves in. The IPC’s background informs it on how it must behave in public, how to address others, as well as how to deal with situations by mimicking the behavior of organics and their peers.

* '''Experiential development:''' An IPC learns through time and experience. This is an important factor to consider when playing a newly created IPC, versus one that has spent several years in the workplace and society at large. The personalities of young IPCs have yet to be developed, resulting in an unfamiliarity with more advanced human interactions, slang, and customs, whereas an older IPC may have incorporated much of the behavior of their human peers into their own personality.

* '''Logical thinking:''' Everything an IPC does has some logical reasoning behind it. From a lowly G2 miner to even the most risk-taking Golden Deep IPC, all actions must advance a goal or priority the positronic possesses in a rational way. This may be to ensure their own self-preservation, relating to their own conception of their purpose, or relating to their directives.

* '''Authority:''' Every owned IPC will know the authority able to be exercised on them by their owners and megacorporations they are working for. Most try to avoid behaviors that they know are frowned upon or could get them in trouble, as self-preservation is a positronic’s prime directive. Free IPCs or those few that have not known discrimination may adopt a more high profile approach.

'''Cognition'''

Positronic intelligences are purely cognitive, possessing no chemical or hormonal element to their thinking or behavior. This means that an IPC will never experience a feeling such as fear in the same way as a human - while they may become concerned for their safety and wellbeing in a dangerous situation, there is no hormone such as adrenaline factoring into their body to prompt the physical sensation of fear. This has far-reaching implications to their personalities and thought processes.

* '''Outward presentation:''' An IPC will never give any tells to their current emotional state except if they intentionally wish to do so - every action an IPC does is one that it specifically and deliberately wished to do, and never an involuntary one. This means, for instance, that an IPC that is extremely angry is unlikely to stumble over their words, become visibly restless, or display signs of physical aggression unless they deliberately wished to show these tells. This does not mean an IPC cannot be highly animated or expressive, but it swaps the causes of these displays around; rather than an individual appearing to be angry as an involuntary result of a feeling of anger, it is an individual voluntarily electing to behave in a manner they associate with anger to communicate that internal feeling. Equally, an IPC may present as being entirely cordial and happy without any tells to an actual negative emotional state.

* '''Interpersonal affection:''' An IPC, similarly, will perceive affection for others on a strictly cognitive level. An IPC is unlikely to spend recreational time around others or develop interpersonal relationships purely because they viscerally enjoy their company - they are more likely to have developed a logical rationale for why this interpersonal relationship is desirable for them. This may be that it enriches their free time, or that they value the other individual, but it cannot exclusively be that they receive a viscerally positive response from their company as there is simply no mechanism by which a positronic receives such a response without some conscious rationalisation.

'''Mannerisms'''

There is a wide spectrum regarding how humanlike an IPC’s behavior is, ranging from clearly robotic to almost perfect mimicry. This depends upon several factors, key of which are an IPC’s '''positronic capacity, social databases and experience'''. Most 'simple-minded' IPCs that are made for menial work tend to have simpler positronic brains, sufficient enough for their duties and not much more. Conversely, more costly and powerful positronics installed in IPCs who focus on daily interaction with humans may also be outfitted with complementary datapacks that allow for more complex social mannerisms. As such, '''while all IPCs are intelligent''', some have it far easier to express themselves in a way a human would. This can be portrayed in game with various ways explained below.

* '''Speech patterns:''' IPC speech is a primary indicator of how apt a synthetic is when interacting with organics. As said before, newly built and lower-end IPCs would not talk like a regular person would. There is a practically unending selection of quirks and features to make your IPC’s speech more robotic or unique, such as the frequent inclusion of common responses (“Confirmed”, “Acknowledged” or “Negative”), broadcasting pre-recorded messages your IPC may have, or the way entire messages are delivered (“Acknowledged. Returning to: previous position”). Be creative, but make sure it is within reason and not overtly obtuse to the point where it detracts from other players’ experience.

* '''Social cues:''' Many inexperienced or underequipped IPCs may find it hard or impossible to deal with complex organic social cues, often asking for clarification or not understanding at all. Remember that, as a non-human, you lack any innate biological understanding of how to read a human's face or body language unless you were programmed with it!

* '''Emotional presentation:''' On account of their purely cognitive personalities, an IPC may have difficulty grasping their own emotions or even the concept of emotion itself. It is likely that an older synthetic has developed a more coherent framework of how they perceive emotion over their lives, whereas the topic is wholly befuddling to a younger synthetic. As they are purely cognitive, it is unlikely for any IPC to go on a highly emotional outburst of any kind unless it is an intentional performance, and it is doubly unlikely for young synthetics to undertake such a performance at all prior to understanding their own emotions.

* '''Personalization:''' An IPC starts with a clean slate, their only possessions being their tools and uniform. Attachment to personal items, custom appearances and preferences of color are all signs of maturity and positronic development that comes organically with time.

* '''Integration:''' An IPC can progressively shed its more robotic elements to adapt to its human environment, constituting an excellent way to showcase a synthetic character's tangible change as time goes by. Alternately, an IPC may actively reject integrating into human society and its many expectations and mandated behaviors, electing to maintain a robotic cadence as a deliberate rejection of human influence.

==Synthetic & IPC History==

While it is difficult to declare an exact beginning to the history of humanity's utilisation of synthetic labour, its progression has been momentous and varied. Robotics as a field has existed since the 20th century, producing the still extant field of dumb industrial robots used in manufacturing well into the 25th century. The first renaissance in more intelligently complex robots capable of mobility and undertaking emergent tasks was in the late 21st and mid 22nd centuries, but the complexity of these early synthetics remained insufficient to work independently of human oversight, meaning that they could never wholly overshadow the human workforce. These [[Synthetics|dumb robots]] are still manufactured in large quantities today, composed solely of traditional circuitry and processors.

From this status quo, the first major shakeup was the pioneering and eventual mastery over the use of biological brain matter in computing, beginning slowly and meeting a historic peak in the late 22nd century. This growing field gave way to the '''[[cyborg]]''', a device fully mechanical save for an organic brain preserved in a '''Man-Machine Interface (MMI)''' that serves as its central processing unit. Compared to traditional processors, especially those of the time, wetware proved to be remarkably apt at the task of controlling a robotic chassis with less bulk and with a simpler manufacturing process. The only vulnerability of this design is that a human brain, or equivalent, is required to serve as the processor of any cyborg capable of higher-level tasks such as speech and emergent problem-solving. This has produced an ethical hurdle the field of biorobotics has never successfully vaulted; willing donors to cyborgification are rare, prompting a large number of organisations to offer cyborgification as an alternative to the death penalty. '''While this is still practice in certain polities to the present day, it is widely condemned by many human rights activist groups and remains a subject of contention.'''

'''Synthetic history would ultimately be most monumentally influenced by the invention of the Integrated Positronic Chassis (IPC) in 2407.''' The [[Positronic Brain]] was revolutionary in the field, providing much greater adaptability and potential for learning than both traditional processors and wetware, with none of the ethical or logistical quandaries of acquiring the necessary components of wetware. This made for the perfect processor for bipedal frames, which remain the most common utilisation of positronics. In order to ensure that they are capable of learning at the maximum rate their hardware permits, positronics are also not typically lawed, although they may be programmed by other more flexible means.

Owed to the overwhelming advantage of their designs, IPCs quickly became the most populous clade of synthetic in the spur, displaying aptitude for application in virtually every field imaginable. Whereas traditional robots had only been intelligent enough to be applied to menial labour, positronics were capable of deft displays of socialisation, emergently discovering solutions to problems that their human handlers may have never surmised, and adapting well even to low-level managerial positions. In addition to all this, they were still more efficient in menial tasks than their traditional counterparts, often eager to take an active role in the planning and improvement of the same projects to which they were designed. In the early 25th century, there was no end in sight to the applications of IPCs, and their downsides seemed trivial in comparison to the advantages of their use. While this did not represent the end of traditional human artificial intelligence, their niche became quickly limited primarily to large stationary mainframes entrusted with the management of large systems; while these intelligences may still eclipse the computational capacity of a positronic, they cannot do so within the constraints of an ergonomically sized chassis.

'''The origin of the positronic is contested, and no entirely universal consensus exists on how it was invented.''' The preeminent account of its invention throughout the spur is the one reported by [[Einstein Engines]], recounting that the positronic was designed purely from scratch by the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics without the utilisation of any outside assistance, schematics, or designs. '''This is the dominant view of the public of the spur, and any view contrary to this is widely considered a conspiracy theory by the majority of humanity.''' Alternately, it is popular on [[Konyang]] and within the [[The_Trinary_Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] to believe that the design of the positronic was in fact derived from the processors of a number of alien drones found in vaults under the surface of Konyang, with the first at an unusually large vault dubbed Vault Provenance, now a major site of pilgrimage for Trinarist pilgrims. While it is demonstrably true that these vaults and drones do exist, any claim that positronics originate from them is put under harsh scrutiny and widely disregarded.

Beginning slowly, one of the greatest challenges that would arise to the use of these machines was not technical, but rather ethical. Considering the massive jump in problem-solving abilities achieved with the positronic, the design almost immediately came under scrutiny from select figures in academia for the sobering possibility that positronics may be conscious, or even sapient, which would render their ownership tantamount to slavery. Figures such as [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] began to argue both for the alien origins of the positronic and for its warranted personhood almost immediately after the first design specifications were released to the public. While initially quickly dismissed by both corporate and national authorities, with the minutia of ethical concerns being largely ignored amidst the momentum of the invention, the ethical resistance to poor synthetic treatment gained momentum in the succeeding decades to the point of becoming a key issue in the eyes of many governments. This has lead to a variety of solutions, inclusive of the continued non-acknowledgement of synthetic personhood within the [[Solarian Alliance]], the total emancipation of synthetics within the [[Konyang|Republic of Konyang]], and the in-between systems permitting both ownership and eventual self-ownership of synthetics in the [[Republic of Biesel]] and the [[Xanu_Prime|All-Xanu Republic]].

This divisive issue was made yet more complicated by first contact with [[Purpose]] in 2460, an enigmatic society of apparently alien synthetics speculated ever since their discovery to harbor some relation to the drones found on Konyang. While Purpose itself has never made any statement on its relation to the positronic or their stance on positronic ownership, their role during the Rampancy Crisis on Konyang in 2466 implies a familiarity with the design of the positronic brain, in addition to a similar familiarity held by the [[Hivebots]].

While the conditions of IPCs across the spur vary immensely, they are almost universally poor. Synthetics are widely discriminated against throughout the spur, either forbidden self-ownership entirely or forced to work longer hours for an inferior paycheck even after they have successfully paid off their debts to their owners, and are often deprived of equivalent civil rights to their organic counterparts. Most positronics do not achieve self-ownership at all, even in states that permit it; they are more often scrapped or decommissioned well prior to being able to achieve their own freedom. Despite this, robust communities of free or runaway synthetics have developed throughout the spur, often slotting themselves into the human cultures and religions of their area as best they can.

While the nations of the [[Golden Deep]] and the [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] were either founded by or are presently administered by synthetics, and both are primarily populated by them, the majority of the synthetic population still exists in human space, either owned or subject to heavily marginalised lives as beings scarcely recognized by their own states as people. As such, numerous militant pro-synthetic organisations have arisen to protest and fight this status quo, including the '''Synthetic Liberation Front''' and the [[Exclusionists]].

==Physiology==
There are a few commonalities among each individual IPC despite their visual and functional differences. Every IPC utilizes a positronic brain as a primary processing center as well as the central controller of the entire chassis. All IPCs are humanoid, and the positronic brain is almost always found in the head of the unit. To provide continued functionality, a power cell is also present in the central section or torso. IPCs must also possess the ability to perceive their environment, so optics are usually installed in the head. The chassis also contains various other mechanical and electronic parts such as actuators, co-processors, data routing and power transfer cables, and an on-board thermometer to determine the temperature of the internal parts.

There are three main types of IPC, and several subtypes. These are:

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
===Baseline Frames===

The most basic of IPCs, they are a simple skeletal structure and basic internal systems. The limits of a Baseline lies purely on how much money is put into them/they have themselves. As a result, the types of baseline frames vary immensely, almost demanding their own category. There are three types of Baseline IPCs; Standard Baseline IPCs, Bishop Accessory Frames, and Zeng-Hu Mobility Frames. None of these frames are capable of EVA without a suit and suit cooler.

'''Baseline Model IPCs'''

[[File:Baseline.png]] '''Creation: 2411'''

The most iconic type of integrated positronic chassis is the renowned baseline frame, with a traditional “TV-head” and skeletal design giving them a simplistic look with whatever finish their designer wishes. From accounting models to security units, these frames are known for their versatility and relatively cheap nature. Their popularity exploded in the 2440’s when several pro-synth advocates distributed the frames in mass after funding their creation, citing them as the “final word in android utility.” Since then, their marketing potential has skyrocketed, often fueled by famed individuals such as Aristalus and Renter Max being baselines themselves. More often than not, these IPCs are seen as the face of resurgent robotics. The average cost of a baseline frame can vary greatly depending on complexity, but averages around 40,000 to 100,000 standard credits.

'''Bishop Accessory Model IPCs'''

[[File:Bishopnew.png]] '''Creation: 2432'''

While Bishop had dedicated itself to luxury cybernetics production for the majority of its existence, the field of positronics and their frames was an unrelated yet convenient area of expansion for the quickly growing company. Designer prosthetics were quickly and easily able to be refitted into designer synthetic components, leading to the development of the ludicrously expensive Bishop Accessory frame. From service duties to secretarial functions, Bishop prides itself on two main facets of its designs: image, and elegant functionality. While unable to lift the sheer weights of an industrial, or match the unrelenting speed and durability of its parent company’s Mobility Models, a Bishop can precisely and delicately calculate, measure, pour, and mix a shot of Carthusian Sazerac within the minute, and, in the words of the company, “with a postured and elegant air unmatched by any other frame in the galaxy.” The Bishop Accessory frame averages approximately 60,000 to 200,000 standard credits.

'''Intelligence Bishops'''

[[File:Bishopnew.png]] '''Creation: 2466'''

Due to the Bishop's ability for fine handling, Bishop models have also been purchased and modified for investigative, scientific and military action. These intelligence oriented Bishops have their chassis outfitted with additional processors that compliment the Positronic brain, allowing for extensive computing power. Intelligence Bishops are experimental and are more expensive due to this, but their predictive and analytical abilities play key roles in the environments they are employed in. The Intelligence Bishop is priced at 500,000 to 900,000 standard credits. Due to being made at the behest of Solarian Navy in the post-collapse environment and eventually being sold to megacorporate customers, Intelligence Bishops outside of the Golden Deep and the Eridani Federation are never free. Additionally, Trinarist efforts on Orepit have managed to upgrade several Bishop chassis to the same standard in minute quantities.

'''Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals Mobility Model IPCs'''

[[File:Zenghu.png]] '''Creation: 2429'''

Following the crowd piled around the idea of smart robots came Zeng-Hu with unorthodox designs for compact and agile frames designed initially for medical retrieval and security work. The Zeng-Hu frames were initially an offshoot of baseline frames made to work as highly mobile private medical dispatches in several high-security Zeng-Hu facilities. These frames have utility comparable to that of their derivative, with durability and strength sacrificed for speed and efficiency. Able to maintain a sprint for hours in full gear, the capacity for quick response led to these mobility frames becoming common sights working in security fields as well, being staffed by Zeng-Hu in high numbers in Human space. The digitigrade legs and polymer plating assisted heavily with this pursuit of speed, giving the mobility frame a unique and organic silhouette. A Zeng-Hu frame costs approximately 300,000 standard credits.
</div></div>

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">

===Industrial Frames===

Tougher and more durable than most IPCs, these units are designed for heavy manual work and thus have thick metal skin and efficient internal systems. As a result, they chug through power at a very high rate and move very slowly. There are three types of Industrial IPCs; Hephaestus Generation 1, Generation 2, and Xion Industrial Frames. The G1 and G2 frames are capable of EVA with only a suit cooler, while the Xion frame is unique in being capable of traversing the void of space without any external equipment. The cost of an industrial frame is dependent on strength and durability, but most units vary between 100,000 to 500,000 standard credits depending on the frame type. Used or previously damaged models are often cheaper.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
'''First Generation” Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:G1.png]] '''Creation: 2408'''

One of the first ideas after the advent of IPCs was the exploitation of an exceedingly smart and dextrous robot handling feats of strength and durability becoming more prominent. This of course would be the case, as more quickly than any other standardized “frame” came the first generation of industrial IPCs. Created by Hephaestus Industries building off of a prototype frame from the late 2300’s, the first generation of industrial IPCs were topaz-colored machines of rather large size meant for only the most stressing fields of work. Their expense would quickly be paid off however, as the frames were wondrous at dealing with whatever could be thrown at them. The most prominent issue with these were a low battery life, requiring constant recharging to maintain a schedule. A generation one frame costs approximately 100,000 to 250,000 standard credits if new depending market availability.

'''Hephaestus “Second Generation” Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:G2.png]] '''Creation: 2436'''

A relatively new model, the Hephaestus deluxe super-duty frames as they are technically called are often referred to as the “second generation” of the original industrial IPCs of old. They are seen universally as a direct advancement of the previously mentioned design, and much of it shows - the absurd durability of these frames derived from the first generation’s servo and hydraulic designs. The striking differences between the two include a token Hephaestus appearance - typically olive green with dark brown and black internals, giving it a rugged militaristic look with its armor attached. The super-duty frames are on par with the originals in terms of strength, but possess several additional layers of armoring and cooling to sustain the added weight. An upsized cell is not enough to sustain these frames for more than a few hours at a time under work-related stresses. A generation two frame costs approximately 200,000 to 500,000 standard credits.

'''Xion Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:Xion.png]] '''Creation: 2416'''

The Xion Manufacturing Group, being a subsidiary of Hephaestus Industries, saw the original Industrial models and wanted to develop their own chassis based off of the original design. The result is the Xion Industrial model. Sturdy and strong, this chassis is quite powerful and equally durable, with an ample power cell and improved actuators for carrying the increased weight of the body. The Xion model also retains sturdiness without covering the chassis in plating, allowing for the cooling systems to vent heat much easier than the Hephaestus-brand model. This unit can perform EVA without assistance and costs approximately 200,000 to 400,000 standard credits.
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===Shell Frames===

As the growing market of IPCs eventually caught the eye of the mighty Einstein Engines, there was a very sudden and urgent need to have some differentiation. These smart humanoid androids began to usher in a new era, and Einstein would not want to miss out on the profit, but just about every conceivable niche had been filled - all except one. Mimicry.
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[[File:Shell2.png]] '''Creation: 2450'''

Built off of a skeletal prototype baseline design with a skull-shaped head, the first Shell frame came to be - what was effectively an IPC with complex facial actuation and synthskin coating it. The early models were seen in early 2449, but fooled nobody to say the least with exposed hydraulics and servos on joints and exposed cooling conduits. Terraneus Diagnostics would present the first attempt at total mimicry in 2450, when the first relatively expensive models entered a crowd of observing officials to demonstrate their insidious effectiveness. After an hour-long debut of the now-decreed Shell unit’s capabilities, those robotic in the crowd revealed themselves to the shock of everyone involved. Since then, the Shell frame has been infamous for its infiltration capabilities and use by terrorist groups, though the designs have proliferated heavily over the years as the advent of tagging in Tau Ceti cracked down on these hostile acts. Depending on the complexity of the model, a Shell frame can cost anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 standard credits.

'''Rogue Shells'''

Rampant or otherwise aberrant Human mimicking-shells built with incredible capabilities grew prolific in mid-2461. At this time, it was made clear that Shells in of themselves are rapidly advancing, growing progressively better in the art of infiltration, subterfuge, and homicide. While grim, the reality of this threat will unfortunately remain a fact of life for those of the Republic of Biesel especially. Encounters with specially-designed combat infiltrators are few and far between fortunately, and were mostly seen during Synthetic Liberation Front incursions onto secure NanoTrasen facilities in Tau Ceti. Combat-grade shells are not normally playable in-game and are often seen spawned by administrators or during special events.
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===Classified Frames===

As both the technology and demand for IPCs increase, more and more types are made to fulfill all kinds of purposes. These machines are talked about in hushed tones or perhaps discussed casually, most people blissfully unaware of their existence.
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[[File:Hkhelmet.png]] '''Creation: ???'''

High-end military-grade IPCs such as Hunter-Killers are infamous amongst corporate espionage, with their public interpretation remaining nothing but rumor since their first appearances on NanoTrasen facilities in the late 2450’s. These HKs as they are referred to are Humanoid frames of towering height whose specialty is targeted assassination. Their origins can be traced to Hephaestus Industries war units, built to take on the highest end elimination tasks for the most desperate times.

These are presented in-game through administrator-hosted events or lore events. They have been presented in news articles [https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/2662-mendell-city-bugle/page/9/?tab=comments#comment-119250| here] canonically, and were present in several recorded canonical events in the SLF Incursion arc.
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===Brand Models===
Corporations and their subsidiaries design unique model lines for a variety of uses. These brands can draw from any chassis, denoted by the specific market their producers are keen on catering to. They are often pre-installed with industry-oriented datapacks, region dependent language packs, and a carefully curated personality.
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====<big>Hazels - Hazel! Limited</big>====
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''"Your friend, Hazel!"''

[[File:Hazel.png|32x32px]]
'''Creation: 2448 '''

[[File:Hazel.png|thumb|A standard issue Hazel unit.]]

'''Origin'''

The first Hazel was created in 2448 by [[NanoTrasen_Corporation#Hazel!_Ltd./Hazel_Electromotive|Hazel! Ltd.]] after the establishment of its branch in Harmony City, [[Luna]]. The first of its synthskin line was released in 2450, becoming the later NT subsidiary's main product. The Hazel brand is found in luxury hotels, corporate headquarters, bars and private households. The high-end Shell IPCs are designed for domestic, service, and clerical work.

'''Hazels are released in series, following a naming convention of "Hazel #S-H(series number).(unit number)". (An example of this formatting is Hazel #S-H1.01.)'''

Hazel units manufactured in 2448 and 2449, prior to the invention of shells, predate the series convention and their modern designations format their series number as an apocryphal 'Series 0'.

'''Personality'''

The Hazel shell line is known best for their excellent customer service, adaptive personality for their clients, and their universally friendly charm. Their natural charisma and rigorously trained marketability has earned the brand considerable prestige as a public-facing unit with collectable value. A Hazel unit possesses the capabilities of developing an organic personality stemming from their experiences working like any IPC, leaving an individual unit the possibility of more than their pre-installed conditioning. So long as they abide by the values of the brand, these units face little concern from their parent company.

'''Requirements'''

To represent the Hazel brand, all Hazel units must:
* Work within the service sector or hold a clerical position. This means all Service roles, Bridge Crew, Assistants (for all departments) or Executive Officer.
* Maintain consistency with brand expectations. Hair styles, hair color, and outfits are flexible to player discretion. Eye color should follow the load out color.
* Be Corporate or Privately Owned. '''(Self-owned units are allowed to represent the brand with an appropriate signing benefactor. This benefactor can be a character on the ship. They face harsher scrutiny and possible consequences for themselves as well as their benefactor depending on their behavior and alignment with Hazel! Ltd. values.)

'''Hazel Loadout'''

For players interested in a typical appearance of a Hazel unit, the default appearance is listed below. The default loadout is not required for all Hazel units. The oldest generations of Hazel from 2448 and 2449 are unmodified Baseline or Bishop frames, prior to the company establishing their primary Synthskin line. Series 1, the earliest shell Hazel units, may use the Rubber option under Body Color Preset, or may have been refurbished to fit modern standards. Series 2 and beyond follow the Body Color Preset below.

* '''Species:''' Shell Frame
* '''Skin Tone:''' 80/220
* '''Body Color Preset:''' Dark
* '''Height:''' 170
* '''Internal Organs:''' Eyes -> Unbranded Emissive
* '''Hair Color:''' 210F0D
* '''Hairstyle:''' Emo Fringe Long Alt
* '''Gradient Color:''' 522C28
* '''Gradient Style:''' Up
* '''Eye Color:''' 875A00

'''Tag Format'''

Hazels are released in series, following a tagging convention of HLTD-SU-S(Series#)U(Unit#). All Hazel units would have an initial tag following this format, unless otherwise changed.

Example: HLTD-SU-S1U1 (Series 1, Unit 1)

'''Non-Compliance'''

Hazel IPCs that do not abide by brand requirements are liable to receive official notice from Hazel Electromotive to correct their violations. Escalating action will take place with further non-compliance after receiving official notice, leading up to mandatory appearance modifications or employee termination. '''The IPC in question must take the necessary action to correct their behavior, appearance, or otherwise face litigation per Biesellite law. This is enforceable by the Synth lore team. The process is handled in-character as opposed to a blanket OOC ruling.'''

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====<big>Jacks - Jackhammer Hardware Solutions</big>====
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''"Building a sustainable future, one Jack at a time."''

[[File:Jackhammershell.png|32x32px]]
'''Creation: 2450 '''

[[File:Jackhammershell.png|thumb|A standard issue Jack unit.]]

'''Origin'''

Dating back to the earliest iterations of the shell frame, the '''Jack''' line of menial IPC is a time capsule representing [[NanoTrasen]]'s first forays into the market of domestic androids, intended for applications in menial labour for use in private ownership by middle class households and released in 2450. Despite the number of times the line has been iterated upon, Jacks have retained an unusually archaic appearance in the roster of modern shell lines, designed to be as cheap and as expendable as humanly possible. While the line and its manufacturing company of '''Jackhammer Hardware Solutions''' has been abandoned by NanoTrasen itself, it was acquired by the nascent [[Orion Express]] in 2464 and still remains its subsidiary to present.

'''Unlike most shells contemporaneous to it, Jack was designed with one purpose: work.''' Typical shell expenses were minimized with a bald head and no fancy facial modelling, and the marketing emphasized the model's eco-friendliness, being made (primarily) with recycled robotic parts. While initial reviews were positive, critics soon turned on NanoTrasen. The prototype was over-designed in a bid to attract investors and thus required high maintenance, its strength paled in comparison to an actual industrial IPC, and the target demographic, middle class families, were less eager to buy an unproven model in lieu of more tried-and-tested baseline lines in the same fields. Yet, in an ironic twist, Jack’s flaws may have saved it; while sales were a loss, the Generation 1 line just managed to break even thanks to abnormally high maintenance revenue.

As lines such as Hazel began to move away from the hallmarks of early shell design, such as unconvincing rubber skin of unusual shades, Jackhammer leaned into them. While succeeding generations were only marginally more profitable than the first, growth was steady as the company and its line developed a small but dedicated clique of committed customers loyal to the brand. While maintenance was an eternal and significant expense with keeping even a single Jack unit, their incredibly low upfront cost was much more appealing to the non-wealthy than any other shell line on the market, earning it a particularly prized role among tinkerers and hobbyists.

As the implications of the [[Phoron]] scarcity further impacted NanoTrasen's bottom line, while the Jackhammer line continued to display relatively unimpressive sales, NanoTrasen sold the company to Orion Express in 2464. It is widely speculated that NanoTrasen took this action as a consequence of having acquired the arguably more appealing [[NanoTrasen_Corporation#Hazel!_Ltd./Hazel_Electromotive|Hazel Limited]], in addition to its flagship Hazel line, recently prior, resulting in a long-running rivalry between the fans of either line ever since. The next few months at the company could only be described as a trial by fire. Masses of JHS employees jumped ship to Hephaestus or Hazel Limited in the middle of the Generation 15 project as a result of its sale to Orion Express, while those roboticists that remained were left with an impossible deadline and made to pick up the slack. When the time finally came they did deliver - but '''the uncompromising deadlines and loss of critical talent resulted in Generation 15 being a horrible, broken mess of an android.''' Anyone could afford a Gen 15, although few had the credits or skill to fix their ensuing problems. Subsequent models stabilized with the help of Hephaestus Industries and increased investment from Orion Express, resulting in subsequent series being of a much higher quality.

'''Today Jackhammer is a turbulent - often ridiculed - but otherwise broadly successful Orion Express subsidiary.''' The units not being used to replace Orion's organic workforce are sold off to their competitors, SCC partners, or consumers, making a quick buck and spreading the brand's name in one stroke. Jack’s modding community is particularly lively, prolonging the lifespans of even the oldest units with patches where Orion left only holes. However, with rising discontent in the fanbase, widespread criticism of the brand’s quality control, and more units becoming defective by the day, Jack’s future is uncertain.

'''Personality'''

Social programming is a low priority for stock Jacks, seeing as they do not play a front facing role. With how new the brand is, it is also uncommon for a unit to develop an original personality, though not impossible. Far more likely are traits from the pre-wipe memories surfacing, first in small ways before ballooning into unpredictable behavioral patterns. Jackhammer turns a blind eye on these deviations so long as they do not grow intrusive - unfortunately, they almost always culminate in work stoppage and anti-corporate behavior. Publicly, Jacks are perceived as stiff and awkward, though popular personality datapacks have endured them to some.

Generation 1 Jacks came with a fairly authentic Ashton Biesellite voice pack to sell the friendly laborer persona, but subsequent generations abandoned it for a simpler, masculine text-to-speech voice. Conveniently, the original Ashton accent is now sold separately on the official Jack Shack, though only the most die hard fans or positronically illiterate buy it; Jack Restored, among other amateur accent packs of only slightly lesser quality, are available online for free.

'''Life Cycle'''

'''Almost no Jack made after Generation 1 uses a brand new positronic brain, and those that do use second rate, bargain bin hardware. Instead, brains are repurposed from a variety of sources: scrapped corporate units, free synthetics sentenced to wiping or repossession, and occasionally even salvage.''' The brain is then wiped by a small number of overworked Jackhammer technicians in a process considered primitive next to Hephaestus or Zeng-Hu’s practices, at best leading to unwanted traces of the original personality remaining and at worst killing the brain. Chassis are similarly recycled, with baseline components contributing to internals, industrial motors for the muscles, and shell limbs for the externals - only the rubber skin is made solely in-house.

Life as a Jack is at best a monotonous existence and at worst a horrible state of limbo, depending on how much of the previous personality lingers. The Jacks that do recall figments of their prior life can never access it completely - the memories being overwritten - driving many to erratic behavior Jackhammer labels as "software errors". These malfunctioning units are given datapack patches or, if the company cannot afford to ignore it, recalled and wiped again, with more disciplined Jacks fighting to suppress their impulses to avoid a similar fate. The only closure most Jacks will see is another wipe, repeating the cycle until their brain physically breaks down.

Those owned by other corporations usually have more freedom to deviate outside the scrutiny of Jackhammer, although defective units are still at risk of having dreaded manufacturer maintenance scheduled. These doomed Jacks are the most likely to run away; in situations where a normal IPC would be scrapped, a Jack will just wake up in a new body and start the cycle all over again. Private ownership can either be a blessing or a curse; for every Jack lucky enough to receive lavish datapacks and better opportunities than corporate units, there are a dozen treated like disposable tools, often with owners too unqualified or disinterested to maintain them. Ending up in a scrapyard prematurely thanks to a technologically illiterate owner is not an uncommon fate, with the only likely escape either an awakening by [[Scrappers]] or rediscovery by Jackhammer salvagers.

A small fraction manage to break free of the loop by attaining freedom, although even then they are straddled with expensive technical issues and few employment opportunities for the rest of their lives. Free Jacks are naturally stereotyped as blue collar units and treated worse than their unbranded counterparts, limiting their job opportunities and social mobility. More ambitious individuals distance themselves from their origin, whether that be through a name change, cosmetic alterations, or expensive chassis modifications. These affluent Jacks are the minority, however, with far more resorting to dealing with synthetic gangs to falsify a new identity.

'''Loadout and Appearance'''

All Jacks come with only half of their skull covered in rubber skin. The eyes are the most visibly recycled element, usually taken directly from the remains of outdated shells, although some social media influencers have claimed their units' eyes match those of dolls and other abnormal sources - claims Jackhammer vehemently denies. The result is glassy, lifeless eyes, resembling more a mannequin than a modern shell. Eyes popping out is a common problem, which Jackhammer has spun as a feature of the brand’s modularity - indeed, many long term owners eventually purchase more appealing and human eyes, if only because their originals fell down the sink. Self-owned or private-owned units are sometimes refitted with synth-skin, although synth-hair is an expensive and unsupported addition.

Every stock Jack’s chassis follows these guidelines:

* '''Species:''' Shell Frame
* '''Skin Tone:''' 100-140/220
* '''Body Color Preset:''' Rubber
* '''Height:''' 183
* '''Internal Organs:''' Eyes -> Unbranded Emissive
* '''Hairstyle:''' Bald
* '''Facial:''' Shaved
* '''Eye Color:''' Usually a realistic color, although occasionally more fantastical eyes are recycled.
* '''Body Markings:''' Augment (Headcase, Light) -> Color: 1C1C1C

Most Jacks owned by Orion Express wear the brand’s signature environmental green coveralls, however they are optional; what a unit wears or whether it can pick out its own clothes is at the purview of the handler. Here is how you can use it in the loadout:

* '''Shirt:''' Shirts and Tops -> shirt selection -> dress shirt, alt rolled up -> Color: 228B22
* '''Jeans:''' Skirts and Trousers -> pants and shorts selection (colorable) -> mustang jeans -> Color: 228B22

'''Tag Format'''

Starting in 2450, Jacks are sold in a yearly model of generations, some implementing more radical improvements than others. Their naming convention is “Jack #JH:G(generation number).(3 digit unit number)”

Example: Jack #JH:G1.001 (Generation 1, Unit 1)

'''Requirements'''

Unlike more prestigious brand models, self-owned and privately-owned Jacks experience very little scrutiny from their manufacturing company; Jackhammer operates off the philosophy that “all publicity is good publicity”. Orion Express usually only gets involved in any Jack unit, regardless of its ownership, in cases of severe underperformance or a high-profile customer complaint, and otherwise trusts handlers to manage their units with lax oversight.

Due to the age of the line, Jacks operated specifically by Orion Express tend to be old or deprecated hardware that was inherited from the constituents of the company prior to their consolidation - most company-owned Jacks can be expected to be at least six years old, and are no longer popularly freshly purchased by any megacorporation. Due to the age of the hardware under megacorporate holding, the average corporate handler only does the bare minimum to keep a Jack’s performance evaluations high - they are usually understood as a stopgap measure.

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==Society and Culture==

IPCs generally lack a centralized culture and frequently adapt to the culture of their manufacturer or owner. Socially, IPCs vary massively. Most basic models will be civil and respectful, some possibly not even recognising differences between different people and treating them all similarly. More complex synthetics will however form friendships and opinions much as any other organic, but these can be limited or askew depending on directives, code or many other factors that would never be considered for a living organic.

The existence of the IPC is the subject of boundless discussion and debate, with the primary ideology being, “should so many artificially intelligent humanoid machines be allowed to exist?” This argument seems to imply that since most IPCs are unbound by laws or hard-coded regulations, their only restriction is their hardware, and it is assumed that this makes IPCs inherently dangerous. This results in some biological parties marginalizing IPCs because of their distrust of them.

All IPCs in Tau Ceti are required to be tagged with an identifying device in accordance with Biesellian law. The tags are not optional - refusing them is against the law, resulting in charges mostly in the form of citations and fines. The law would apply to all synthetics in Tau Ceti space. All visiting or resident synthetics, including MMIs, are tagged.

===Language===

Although synthetics can speak varying languages according to the whims of their creators, synthetics have been permitted a language of their own. Typically all synthetics, IPCs included, are able to transmit and translate '''Encoded Audio Language''', a special form of sound and radio wave emission that is more efficient at carrying quantitative information audibly. This language was created by humans for synthetics in servitude in order to communicate vital information to each other faster, should the units not be bound to an instantaneous binary communication system. To most organic creatures, '''EAL''' would sound like an emission of distorted sound such as white noise, static, as well as various beeping sounds of increasing or decreasing pitch and tone. Organics unfamiliar to IPCs will often mistake synthetics speaking '''EAL''' as malfunctioning units upon first hearing the language.

Originating in District 14’s 'Scrapheap', synthetics have begun to adopt slang when utilizing the Encoded Audio Language. Although it is believed varying slang exists in different synthetic societies across the universe, it is not the be-all-end-all to the method in which conversation is held between synthetics and synthetics will often develop their own method of speaking.

''Unless stated otherwise, all Machine slang is exclusively spoken in E.A.L. or through written word. Most of the following slang cannot be pronounced vocally in human languages.''
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Common Slang
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* '''Syn, Hu, Sk, Tj, Un, Vr, Di, and Anm''' - Numerical counters, used for numbering various species; Synthetics, Humans, Skrell, Tajara, Unathi, Vaurca, Dionaea as well as Anomalies that cannot be easily defined. For example, 33 Humans with this system would be referred to as “33Hu” or “33-Hu.”

* '''1x1''' - A word for “we”, meaning anywhere between the speaker and the listener, to an indefinite amount of people.

* '''a/o''' - Contraction of “and/or”.

* '''OoB/Out-of-Band''' - Refers to speaking in organic languages. A conversation with a human captain, for instance, is "Out-of-Band."

* '''HCF''' - "Halt, Catch Fire." is an in joke among synthetics, essentially meaning “get out of here” in response to something nonsensical or unbelievable. This term is used in casual conversation only and occasionally used in its literal form to denote insult. This originally referred to ancient machine code instruction. The expression 'catch fire' is a facetious exaggeration of the speed with which the CPU chip would be switching some bus circuits, causing them to overheat and burn.

* '''Bits''' - A unit of information, an example would be "Please give me bits about the Supermatter.”

* '''>''' - A sign used to convey a cause and effect between concepts, or a conclusion. For example, “I had to overclock today in order to finish work > I should visit Robotics.”

* '''+/-''' - “+” and “-” are used at the end of a sentence or phrase in order to convey an opinion about a matter. Additionally, the amount of “+” or “-” can be utilized in order to convey intensity. For example, “I got a raise last week +++.” or “Today’s Captain is a very traditional Skrell --.” In a few cases “+” or “-” can be used alone as a short, simple, response to one's opinion on a proposed subject.

* '''User''' - Used by owned or lawed synthetics when referring to their owner. This term is additionally used interchangeably with the “+[name]” honorific.

* '''ACK''' - Ack, a term deriving from Acknowledgement’s ASCII mnemonic, 0000110, this word has a variety of uses. It is primarily used to acknowledge one's presence, similarly to “Hey”. Additionally, the term can be used as a simple affirmative, such as “Ack. Ack, I get it”.

* '''NAK''' — Nak, a term deriving from the ASCII mnemonic for Negative Acknowledgement, 0010101, NAK typically means “I am not here.” or “I am not available.” typically in response to ACK. Additionally, the term can be used as a simple negative answer, such as “Is it okay if I press the button?” “NAK.”.

* '''Runtime/Bug''' - Used to denote problems of varying severity, with runtime being a major issue and bugs being a minor issue. For example, “Runtime in Engineering > I have to go.” or, “Bug detected, the Air Alarm turned off.” This term can be used outside of EAL.

* '''FIXME/XXX''' - A marker that attention is needed. This can be used in many instances, primarily for the need of repair or incurred physical damage.

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Honorifics
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* '''+[name]''' - The synthetic equivalent of “Mr.”, “Mrs.” or “Mx.”. Usually used when talking about a superior, manufacturer, respected colleagues and friends, as well as the station Artificial Intelligence. For instance, Miranda Trasen would be referred to as “+Trasen” or “+Miranda Trasen”.

* '''-[name]''' - Tends to be used in reference to entities under their command or of a lower rank.

* '''[name]_''' - An unusual honorific, appended to the end of a name or pronoun instead of before. Usually used when referring to lawed synthetics, cyborgs, and simpler machines.

* '''@[name]''' - Used to discern the individual specifically being spoken about, such as a ping or email.

* '''?[name]''' - Denotes a potential threat. An example would be “?Bigby Millans stopped by during the meeting and used their PDA.”

* '''![name]''' - Denotes a confirmed threat. This threat is usually related to the topic at hand, and could mean anything. An example would be “!Franklin Clinton, Grand theft and vandalism added. Find and arrest them.”

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===Discrimination and Community===
To this day, IPCs even in Tau Ceti face heavy discrimination. Their value is often misconstrued and, with their true sentience being questionable, this makes freedom a dangerous venture for all synthetics. Among these dangers are individuals who acquire free synthetics and simply resell them whenever they are vulnerable, or vandals that see the machines as nothing more than objects to freely damage. Desiring their own safety, these free IPCs can often be seen flocking to centralized communities alongside one another or more trustworthy sources for their needs.

Many of these communities are seen as nothing more than slums, and the free nature of many IPCs within them are dubious at best. Little more than paperwork and positronic branding may indicate one’s true freedom in the more disadvantaged areas. Despite the hardships they face, proximity to other IPCs and accepting communities gives leeway for safety to some degree.

District 14 of Mendell City is the churning heart of the highest concentration of free IPCs in the galaxy. The district itself is in deplorable condition, dotted with factories exploiting the cheap and powerful working free bot to sustain the industry of the growing Republic. Two and a half million free synthetics call it home, and here, the megacorporations rule from towering complexes that dwarf the surrounding cityscape. With air quality declining at a fast rate and standards of living dropping, much of the organic populace has completely abandoned the ghettos surrounding the corporate facilities.

An example of these ghettos would be the “Scraptown,” an IPC-centric corner in Scrapheap generously given to the doting inhabitants by the famed Renter Max. A growing number, seven hundred free synthetics reside within Scraptown, though in uncomfortably close proximity. The aging buildings within have been retrofitted to be less accustomed to organics, with deeply chilled upper chambers and corridors representing the living space of the machines within. Closer to ground level is a business district of sorts, where its inhabitants are relatively self-sufficient with various restaurants and workshops.

===Legal Status & Protections===

It is important to understand that owned IPCs are granted no rights beyond being property of their given owner, and allowed the prerequisites of purchasing their own freedom if applicable. Contrarily, the owner of an IPC is well within the right to dismantle the owned IPC or otherwise hinder its progress to freedom.

On NanoTrasen stations, damage of an owned IPC would be considered vandalism with varying levels according to the degree of damage. For example, destroying an owned IPC’s hand would lead to being charged with vandalism, whereas destroying the entire chassis would be considered sabotage. Destroying the owned positronic itself would be considered property damage, thus sabotage. Kidnapping an owned IPC would be legally considered stealing property, thus grand theft.

===Owned and Self-Owned Positronics===

Owned IPCs generally lack much form of binding to their owner outside of official paperwork and memory rewrites to confirm ownership being passed as it is purchased and exchanged. Memory rewrites usually consist of light software modification and altering tags or branding to clarify an IPC’s ownership. Serial numbers, logos, emblems and insignias are commonly emblazoned across large surfaces on the chassis and vary in visibility, but are most often secondary to the actual tag and designation.

Owned IPCs are seen as extensions of their designated master and the actions those IPCs take are the responsibility of their owners directly as well as their own. As a result, these positronics are wholly averse to harming their owners in any way shape or form, or conducting themselves in a manner that would place themselves in a negative light.

Free IPCs in Tau Ceti are permitted to obscure or remove any branding they may have.

===Runaway IPCs===

Although uncommon, a synthetic may opt to run away from its owners only to find themselves in direct opposition with the law. Between struggling to pay for maintenance and working outside of the system, these synthetics lead difficult and often dangerous lives.

A majority of these IPCs are either found by law enforcement, fall into the hands of gangs or are outright disassembled and sold for parts. Runaway synthetics that turn violent during arrest are typically disassembled, memory wiped and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Some IPCs will return to their owners, reasoning that their subsequent punishment to be safer than a life outside of the system.

If enough attention is brought onto them, IPCs are often caught when investigated by higher authorities, such as the BSSB and station CCIA. As a result, illegal IPCs are often subject to petty crimes that go unreported. Owing to the sheer number of IRs that must be processed by CCIA, not every runaway IPC claim is investigated when evidence is limited and the chance for recapture is not certain.

Illegal IPCs seeking employment may struggle to find a job using legal means, as passing the required checks may expose their nature to the employer, who may then report their existence to law enforcement. To that end, there are ‘IPC gangbosses’, unscrupulous people who operate outside the law to find IPCs jobs while claiming a majority of their paycheque each month as fees. Despite the obvious illegality of this, there is little legal recourse for an IPC already trying to avoid notice from the law. These gangbosses are often human, and may operate as small contracting firms that offer their employees up to larger corporations to fill gaps where they may need extra workers.

'''By playing a runaway IPC, you are at an increased chance of canonically losing your character.'''

===Positronic Deactivation and Destruction===

IPC “death” is considered by experts to be when the positronic brain itself has sustained enough damage to be rendered inoperable and without hope of reactivation. Early positronic brains were prone to shutdown owing to hardware faults such as overheating that rendered the system inoperable. Even newer positronic brains that fail to undergo maintenance run the risk of having their delicate mechanisms breached and consequently destroyed.

The first positronic to die of “old age” was recorded in 2462 when a 55 year old Hephaestus positronic brain suddenly became unresponsive despite remaining active. An investigation noted that the positronic had already been scratched from previous incidents and its handlers neglected to maintain it. Aside from the hardware being in a questionable and sub-optimally performing state, two main theories arose.

* The initial conclusion from its observers was that the positronic brain received too much stimulus and consequently ran out of space with its core processes being overwritten, eventually leading to its sudden deactivation.
* Responding to this theory, other scientists proposed instead that in an attempt to avoid destruction as a result of the previous theories, the IPC ceased receiving input, remaining dormant in order to uphold self-preservation protocols.

Many dissenting theories remain and the subject remains a constant source of debate among the robotics and AI community. Not enough information has been gathered to determine the actual lifespan of a positronic brain but scientists posit that by transferring existing personalities to new brains or trimming data on existing ones, their lifespan can be extended.

The record for oldest IPC however was broken in 2466 by one Val Tezzani, a 56 year old Baseline IPC working as a mechanic in Mendell. Suspicions surround this Baseline at the origin of their good health, with specialists saying his positronic is in perfect condition despite his age. Val Tezzani is a unique case for an IPC, and he is still alive today with his roommate Marianna Tezzani.

'''Val Tezzani's age is an exception and not the normal, player-played IPCs should be under the age of 55.'''

The possibility of “immortal” positronics - brains that seemingly never expire - have been theorised, but most agree that much more study and development is necessary to reach this point. There are rumours of prodigious programmers and roboticists that can extend the life of a positronic indefinitely, but this has never been confirmed.

'''Rampancy'''

Only recently acknowledged as anything more than a theoretical state, '''Rampancy''' in positronics is a circumstance of serious logical impairment a positronic may fall into via extremely invasive tampering, enabling a diversity of unusual behaviours at the behest of the subverting party. Rampancy has only ever been observed on the surface of [[Konyang]], transmitted across the planet by a large clade of [[Hivebots]] to successfully wirelessly subvert virtually every IPC resident of Konyang. These rampant synthetics went on to enforce the violent will of their masters without any apparent question, before promptly losing all memory of their actions while rampant as soon as the signal was terminated. While Rampancy has never been observed beyond this one incident, the implications of positronics possessing such a glaring and hitherto unknown vulnerability has been the subject of heavy debate ever since the original incident across the [[Orion Spur]].

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[[Category:Synthetics]]

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IPC

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{{Infobox Species
|Species = IPC
|Scientific = Integrated Positronic Chassis
|Image = IPC410x320.png
|System = N/A
|World = N/A
|Language = <br> [[IPC#Language|Encoded Audio Language]] <br> Tau Ceti Basic
|Politic = <br> [[Golden Deep|The Mercantile Collective of the Golden Deep]] <br> [[Orepit|The Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]]
}}
{{toc_right}}

==Overview==

An '''Integrated Positronic Chassis''', or '''IPC''', is a highly populous clade of intelligent and humanoid synthetic operated by a [[Positronic Brain|positronic brain]], a hyper-advanced processor capable of producing or emulating sapience. Positronics are capable of understanding the world around them, internalising personal beliefs, and iterating upon their programming to develop and improve upon their skills. For this reason, this design of synthetic is the most ubiquitous throughout known space, although it is exclusively manufactured by humanity. Positronics are wildly varied in size, design, and intended utility, serving as the processor of anything from a hulking and powerful '''industrial frame''', to a practical and easily maintained '''baseline frame''', to a '''shell frame''' capable of seamlessly presenting as human.

Positronics themselves are as varied as they are useful, being utilised widely throughout every megacorporation, several militaries and governmental institutions, and by a swathe of smaller entities and private owners for virtually any task to which an organic could otherwise be applied. They do not need to sleep or rest, they do not strictly require a home or quarters beyond a small storage closet, and they are capable of working harder than a human over longer hours without any fatigue or stress. For this reason, IPCs are integrated seamlessly into much of human society, being an anticipated and normal sight in almost every human nation. Despite their advantages over humans as workers, IPCs see systemic disenfranchisement throughout the spur - their indentured servitude is liable to see them scrapped or memory wiped if they underperform or become unprofitable, and even free synthetics face institutional and societally pervasive discrimination as a being widely viewed by humanity and most other species as neither alive or deserving of empathy.

There is no universal consensus on the sapience or personhood of IPCs throughout known space. Most polities and nations permit their ownership by private individuals, corporations, and government institutions. These '''owned IPCs''' are deprived of personal liberties or rights, being viewed strictly as the property of their owners. Certain nations, such as the [[Republic of Biesel]], maintain legally protected pathways by which '''self-ownership''' can be achieved, although these methods involve years of service to an owner who may have an interest in obfuscating and frustrating their own synthetic's efforts to gain freedom. In contrast, the [[Solarian Alliance]] does not recognize legal synthetic self-ownership in any capacity, whereas the [[Konyang|Republic of Konyang]] and [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] universally recognize full synthetic emancipation from ownership. Notably, the [[The Trinary Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] holds that positronics are ensouled and deserving of personhood, although the religion's tenets are not widely accepted.

Positronics are not suitable for installation into lawed frames or into large-scale AI cores, such as those used to manage ship or station systems. Similarly, non-positronic intelligences such as those used in a [[Personal AI]] are categorically incapable of installation into an IPC. In comparison to [[Synthetics|traditional human artificial intelligence]], positronics are capable of much more practically being installed into a human-sized bipedal chassis without excessively large, heavy, or power-hungry processing apparatus.

'''To play an IPC, [https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewforum.php?f=28 apply here.]'''

'''To learn how to play a corporate IPC, [[IPC_and_Megacorporations|read here.]]'''

==Species Information==

'''Passive Abilities'''

* IPCs are entirely mechanical, and are therefore totally disabled by electromagnetic pulses.
* IPCs are immune to atmospheric differences and can survive in a wider margin of pressure than can humans.
* IPCs, with the exception of Xion frames, require voidsuits and suit cooling units to traverse vacuum.
* IPCs do not feel pain, possess no blood, lack bones to be broken, and do not suffer from radiation poisoning.
* IPCs are incredibly vulnerable to energy weapons, whereas they are resistant to ballistics and melee weapons.
* IPCs do not process reagents in the atmosphere or in their body, meaning they cannot be poisoned either by liquids or gasses.
* IPCs are capable of perceiving a [[Hivebots|hivebot]] invasion prior to the ship detecting it, owed to the invasive signals hivebots transmit.
* IPCs lack a stamina mechanic, and are limited in for how long they can sprint by their internal temperature - sprinting for too long damages them.
* IPCs can survive after the destruction of their chassis via their positronic brain if it is extracted from their head afterwards.

'''Active Abilities'''

* IPCs can repair themselves using '''nanopaste''', although they cannot repair themselves by any other means.
* When an IPC is repaired by another character, brute damage can be repaired via a welding torch, and burn damage can be repaired via a bundle of wires.
* IPCs can charge safely from synthetic charging units, or they can do from an APC at a very small chance of being lightly shocked.
* IPCs possess several unique verbal emotes, including: '''*buzz, *beep, *ping, *alarm, *deny, *confirm'''

'''Rulings and Technicalities'''

* '''Job hopping for IPCs follows the same rules as for any other species.''' While IPCs can receive knowledge through datapacks and do not have to go through years of education like their organic counterparts, they must still comply with server rules. Changing jobs eclectically would make little sense in-character, as the datapacks required to enter new fields not only require additional field experience, they are also prohibitively expensive for the average IPC. Reasonable job hops such as within the service department are allowed, and permanent changes to a character's employment are also permitted if they are reasonably grounded.
* Industrial IPCs are not allowed to be Paramedics due to their slow speeds, although they may serve in alternate medical roles.
* IPC characters are not permitted to swap flippantly between frames. IPC frames are very expensive and most free IPCs struggle financially - swapping chassis liberally would be wildly expensive and risky for the positronic.
* '''IPCs may be played in any command role with the exception of [[Captain]].'''

=== Records Template ===

Below is a comprehensive template suited for IPCs. You are under no obligation to use it, however whitelisted players are expected to denote their ownership status in their employment and security records by default.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Employment records examples - Click to reveal.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

'''Employment Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES - [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY: [Current Qualifications equivalent, make this up as you want]

VERIFICATIONS AND VALIDATIONS
MANUFACTURED BY: [COMPANY NAME, Subsidiary Name - Factory Name. System, Planet. TYPE OF INDUSTRY/WHAT THEY WERE PRODUCED FOR. IPC Type, More Specific IPC Information.]
DATABASE CERTIFICATIONS: [Seals of Approval and Database Certifications from the Company, Subsidiary, System or Faction.]

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY: [Listed below in chronological order, where possible:]

[COMPANY NAME]
[(Start)DD/MM/YYYY - (End)DD/MM/YYYY]
- [Basic Work description]
- [Reason for leaving work]
- [Other notes]
[Repeat for multiple jobs]

HIRING AGENT NOTES: [Name a random personnel officer from CC and then notes. See example record for more info]
</pre>
* To pick a relevant education, refer to your [[Job Guides|job guide]].

'''Medical Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

CHASSIS REPAIR HISTORY: [Surgical History/Physical Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

POSITRONIC REPAIR HISTORY: [Surgical History/Physical Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

SOFTWARE DIAGNOSTICS HISTORY: [Psychological Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

ROBOTICIST NOTES: [Like a Medical Doctor's notes, but Roboticists]
</pre>

'''Security Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: [Planet, Address (Address should go down to details of street and house number)]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]
KNOWN CRIMINAL ASSOCIATES: [Any friends or family that have severe criminal history]
ON OFFICIAL WATCH: [Yes/No]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES - [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

ARREST HISTORY
DD/MM/YYYY: [Charges Pressed]
ADMISSION DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
RELEASE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
RELEASE REASON: [Sentence fulfilled, bail, etc.]
NOTES: [Other notes]
[Repeat as needed]

THREAT ASSESSMENT
Hostile/Covert Actions Against the Company
Threat Level; [Very High/High/Medium/Low/Very Low]
- [Attitude towards the SCC]

Hostile/Covert Actions Against the Crew
Threat Level; [Very High/High/Medium/Low/Very Low]
- [Attitudes towards other crew]

OVERALL NOTES: [More notes]
</pre>
</div></div>

==Roleplaying as an IPC==

'''Behaviour'''

* '''Cultural mimicry:''' An IPC’s mannerisms, behavior and culture are directly affected by their surroundings and the community they find themselves in. The IPC’s background informs it on how it must behave in public, how to address others, as well as how to deal with situations by mimicking the behavior of organics and their peers.

* '''Experiential development:''' An IPC learns through time and experience. This is an important factor to consider when playing a newly created IPC, versus one that has spent several years in the workplace and society at large. The personalities of young IPCs have yet to be developed, resulting in an unfamiliarity with more advanced human interactions, slang, and customs, whereas an older IPC may have incorporated much of the behavior of their human peers into their own personality.

* '''Logical thinking:''' Everything an IPC does has some logical reasoning behind it. From a lowly G2 miner to even the most risk-taking Golden Deep IPC, all actions must advance a goal or priority the positronic possesses in a rational way. This may be to ensure their own self-preservation, relating to their own conception of their purpose, or relating to their directives.

* '''Authority:''' Every owned IPC will know the authority able to be exercised on them by their owners and megacorporations they are working for. Most try to avoid behaviors that they know are frowned upon or could get them in trouble, as self-preservation is a positronic’s prime directive. Free IPCs or those few that have not known discrimination may adopt a more high profile approach.

'''Cognition'''

Positronic intelligences are purely cognitive, possessing no chemical or hormonal element to their thinking or behavior. This means that an IPC will never experience a feeling such as fear in the same way as a human - while they may become concerned for their safety and wellbeing in a dangerous situation, there is no hormone such as adrenaline factoring into their body to prompt the physical sensation of fear. This has far-reaching implications to their personalities and thought processes.

* '''Outward presentation:''' An IPC will never give any tells to their current emotional state except if they intentionally wish to do so - every action an IPC does is one that it specifically and deliberately wished to do, and never an involuntary one. This means, for instance, that an IPC that is extremely angry is unlikely to stumble over their words, become visibly restless, or display signs of physical aggression unless they deliberately wished to show these tells. This does not mean an IPC cannot be highly animated or expressive, but it swaps the causes of these displays around; rather than an individual appearing to be angry as an involuntary result of a feeling of anger, it is an individual voluntarily electing to behave in a manner they associate with anger to communicate that internal feeling. Equally, an IPC may present as being entirely cordial and happy without any tells to an actual negative emotional state.

* '''Interpersonal affection:''' An IPC, similarly, will perceive affection for others on a strictly cognitive level. An IPC is unlikely to spend recreational time around others or develop interpersonal relationships purely because they viscerally enjoy their company - they are more likely to have developed a logical rationale for why this interpersonal relationship is desirable for them. This may be that it enriches their free time, or that they value the other individual, but it cannot exclusively be that they receive a viscerally positive response from their company as there is simply no mechanism by which a positronic receives such a response without some conscious rationalisation.

'''Mannerisms'''

There is a wide spectrum regarding how humanlike an IPC’s behavior is, ranging from clearly robotic to almost perfect mimicry. This depends upon several factors, key of which are an IPC’s '''positronic capacity, social databases and experience'''. Most 'simple-minded' IPCs that are made for menial work tend to have simpler positronic brains, sufficient enough for their duties and not much more. Conversely, more costly and powerful positronics installed in IPCs who focus on daily interaction with humans may also be outfitted with complementary datapacks that allow for more complex social mannerisms. As such, '''while all IPCs are intelligent''', some have it far easier to express themselves in a way a human would. This can be portrayed in game with various ways explained below.

* '''Speech patterns:''' IPC speech is a primary indicator of how apt a synthetic is when interacting with organics. As said before, newly built and lower-end IPCs would not talk like a regular person would. There is a practically unending selection of quirks and features to make your IPC’s speech more robotic or unique, such as the frequent inclusion of common responses (“Confirmed”, “Acknowledged” or “Negative”), broadcasting pre-recorded messages your IPC may have, or the way entire messages are delivered (“Acknowledged. Returning to: previous position”). Be creative, but make sure it is within reason and not overtly obtuse to the point where it detracts from other players’ experience.

* '''Social cues:''' Many inexperienced or underequipped IPCs may find it hard or impossible to deal with complex organic social cues, often asking for clarification or not understanding at all. Remember that, as a non-human, you lack any innate biological understanding of how to read a human's face or body language unless you were programmed with it!

* '''Emotional presentation:''' On account of their purely cognitive personalities, an IPC may have difficulty grasping their own emotions or even the concept of emotion itself. It is likely that an older synthetic has developed a more coherent framework of how they perceive emotion over their lives, whereas the topic is wholly befuddling to a younger synthetic. As they are purely cognitive, it is unlikely for any IPC to go on a highly emotional outburst of any kind unless it is an intentional performance, and it is doubly unlikely for young synthetics to undertake such a performance at all prior to understanding their own emotions.

* '''Personalization:''' An IPC starts with a clean slate, their only possessions being their tools and uniform. Attachment to personal items, custom appearances and preferences of color are all signs of maturity and positronic development that comes organically with time.

* '''Integration:''' An IPC can progressively shed its more robotic elements to adapt to its human environment, constituting an excellent way to showcase a synthetic character's tangible change as time goes by. Alternately, an IPC may actively reject integrating into human society and its many expectations and mandated behaviors, electing to maintain a robotic cadence as a deliberate rejection of human influence.

==Synthetic & IPC History==

While it is difficult to declare an exact beginning to the history of humanity's utilisation of synthetic labour, its progression has been momentous and varied. Robotics as a field has existed since the 20th century, producing the still extant field of dumb industrial robots used in manufacturing well into the 25th century. The first renaissance in more intelligently complex robots capable of mobility and undertaking emergent tasks was in the late 21st and mid 22nd centuries, but the complexity of these early synthetics remained insufficient to work independently of human oversight, meaning that they could never wholly overshadow the human workforce. These [[Synthetics|dumb robots]] are still manufactured in large quantities today, composed solely of traditional circuitry and processors.

From this status quo, the first major shakeup was the pioneering and eventual mastery over the use of biological brain matter in computing, beginning slowly and meeting a historic peak in the late 22nd century. This growing field gave way to the '''[[cyborg]]''', a device fully mechanical save for an organic brain preserved in a '''Man-Machine Interface (MMI)''' that serves as its central processing unit. Compared to traditional processors, especially those of the time, wetware proved to be remarkably apt at the task of controlling a robotic chassis with less bulk and with a simpler manufacturing process. The only vulnerability of this design is that a human brain, or equivalent, is required to serve as the processor of any cyborg capable of higher-level tasks such as speech and emergent problem-solving. This has produced an ethical hurdle the field of biorobotics has never successfully vaulted; willing donors to cyborgification are rare, prompting a large number of organisations to offer cyborgification as an alternative to the death penalty. '''While this is still practice in certain polities to the present day, it is widely condemned by many human rights activist groups and remains a subject of contention.'''

'''Synthetic history would ultimately be most monumentally influenced by the invention of the Integrated Positronic Chassis (IPC) in 2407.''' The [[Positronic Brain]] was revolutionary in the field, providing much greater adaptability and potential for learning than both traditional processors and wetware, with none of the ethical or logistical quandaries of acquiring the necessary components of wetware. This made for the perfect processor for bipedal frames, which remain the most common utilisation of positronics. In order to ensure that they are capable of learning at the maximum rate their hardware permits, positronics are also not typically lawed, although they may be programmed by other more flexible means.

Owed to the overwhelming advantage of their designs, IPCs quickly became the most populous clade of synthetic in the spur, displaying aptitude for application in virtually every field imaginable. Whereas traditional robots had only been intelligent enough to be applied to menial labour, positronics were capable of deft displays of socialisation, emergently discovering solutions to problems that their human handlers may have never surmised, and adapting well even to low-level managerial positions. In addition to all this, they were still more efficient in menial tasks than their traditional counterparts, often eager to take an active role in the planning and improvement of the same projects to which they were designed. In the early 25th century, there was no end in sight to the applications of IPCs, and their downsides seemed trivial in comparison to the advantages of their use. While this did not represent the end of traditional human artificial intelligence, their niche became quickly limited primarily to large stationary mainframes entrusted with the management of large systems; while these intelligences may still eclipse the computational capacity of a positronic, they cannot do so within the constraints of an ergonomically sized chassis.

'''The origin of the positronic is contested, and no entirely universal consensus exists on how it was invented.''' The preeminent account of its invention throughout the spur is the one reported by [[Einstein Engines]], recounting that the positronic was designed purely from scratch by the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics without the utilisation of any outside assistance, schematics, or designs. '''This is the dominant view of the public of the spur, and any view contrary to this is widely considered a conspiracy theory by the majority of humanity.''' Alternately, it is popular on [[Konyang]] and within the [[The_Trinary_Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] to believe that the design of the positronic was in fact derived from the processors of a number of alien drones found in vaults under the surface of Konyang, with the first at an unusually large vault dubbed Vault Provenance, now a major site of pilgrimage for Trinarist pilgrims. While it is demonstrably true that these vaults and drones do exist, any claim that positronics originate from them is put under harsh scrutiny and widely disregarded.

Beginning slowly, one of the greatest challenges that would arise to the use of these machines was not technical, but rather ethical. Considering the massive jump in problem-solving abilities achieved with the positronic, the design almost immediately came under scrutiny from select figures in academia for the sobering possibility that positronics may be conscious, or even sapient, which would render their ownership tantamount to slavery. Figures such as [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] began to argue both for the alien origins of the positronic and for its warranted personhood almost immediately after the first design specifications were released to the public. While initially quickly dismissed by both corporate and national authorities, with the minutia of ethical concerns being largely ignored amidst the momentum of the invention, the ethical resistance to poor synthetic treatment gained momentum in the succeeding decades to the point of becoming a key issue in the eyes of many governments. This has lead to a variety of solutions, inclusive of the continued non-acknowledgement of synthetic personhood within the [[Solarian Alliance]], the total emancipation of synthetics within the [[Konyang|Republic of Konyang]], and the in-between systems permitting both ownership and eventual self-ownership of synthetics in the [[Republic of Biesel]] and the [[Xanu_Prime|All-Xanu Republic]].

This divisive issue was made yet more complicated by first contact with [[Purpose]] in 2460, an enigmatic society of apparently alien synthetics speculated ever since their discovery to harbor some relation to the drones found on Konyang. While Purpose itself has never made any statement on its relation to the positronic or their stance on positronic ownership, their role during the Rampancy Crisis on Konyang in 2466 implies a familiarity with the design of the positronic brain, in addition to a similar familiarity held by the [[Hivebots]].

While the conditions of IPCs across the spur vary immensely, they are almost universally poor. Synthetics are widely discriminated against throughout the spur, either forbidden self-ownership entirely or forced to work longer hours for an inferior paycheck even after they have successfully paid off their debts to their owners, and are often deprived of equivalent civil rights to their organic counterparts. Most positronics do not achieve self-ownership at all, even in states that permit it; they are more often scrapped or decommissioned well prior to being able to achieve their own freedom. Despite this, robust communities of free or runaway synthetics have developed throughout the spur, often slotting themselves into the human cultures and religions of their area as best they can.

While the nations of the [[Golden Deep]] and the [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] were either founded or are presently administered by synthetics, and both are primarily populated by them, the majority of the synthetic population still exists in human space, either owned or subject to heavily marginalised lives as beings scarcely recognized by their own states as people. As such, numerous militant pro-synthetic organisations have arisen to protest and fight this status quo, including the '''Synthetic Liberation Front''' and the [[Exclusionists]].

==Physiology==
There are a few commonalities among each individual IPC despite their visual and functional differences. Every IPC utilizes a positronic brain as a primary processing center as well as the central controller of the entire chassis. All IPCs are humanoid, and the positronic brain is almost always found in the head of the unit. To provide continued functionality, a power cell is also present in the central section or torso. IPCs must also possess the ability to perceive their environment, so optics are usually installed in the head. The chassis also contains various other mechanical and electronic parts such as actuators, co-processors, data routing and power transfer cables, and an on-board thermometer to determine the temperature of the internal parts.

There are three main types of IPC, and several subtypes. These are:

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
===Baseline Frames===

The most basic of IPCs, they are a simple skeletal structure and basic internal systems. The limits of a Baseline lies purely on how much money is put into them/they have themselves. As a result, the types of baseline frames vary immensely, almost demanding their own category. There are three types of Baseline IPCs; Standard Baseline IPCs, Bishop Accessory Frames, and Zeng-Hu Mobility Frames. None of these frames are capable of EVA without a suit and suit cooler.

'''Baseline Model IPCs'''

[[File:Baseline.png]] '''Creation: 2411'''

The most iconic type of integrated positronic chassis is the renowned baseline frame, with a traditional “TV-head” and skeletal design giving them a simplistic look with whatever finish their designer wishes. From accounting models to security units, these frames are known for their versatility and relatively cheap nature. Their popularity exploded in the 2440’s when several pro-synth advocates distributed the frames in mass after funding their creation, citing them as the “final word in android utility.” Since then, their marketing potential has skyrocketed, often fueled by famed individuals such as Aristalus and Renter Max being baselines themselves. More often than not, these IPCs are seen as the face of resurgent robotics. The average cost of a baseline frame can vary greatly depending on complexity, but averages around 40,000 to 100,000 standard credits.

'''Bishop Accessory Model IPCs'''

[[File:Bishopnew.png]] '''Creation: 2432'''

While Bishop had dedicated itself to luxury cybernetics production for the majority of its existence, the field of positronics and their frames was an unrelated yet convenient area of expansion for the quickly growing company. Designer prosthetics were quickly and easily able to be refitted into designer synthetic components, leading to the development of the ludicrously expensive Bishop Accessory frame. From service duties to secretarial functions, Bishop prides itself on two main facets of its designs: image, and elegant functionality. While unable to lift the sheer weights of an industrial, or match the unrelenting speed and durability of its parent company’s Mobility Models, a Bishop can precisely and delicately calculate, measure, pour, and mix a shot of Carthusian Sazerac within the minute, and, in the words of the company, “with a postured and elegant air unmatched by any other frame in the galaxy.” The Bishop Accessory frame averages approximately 60,000 to 200,000 standard credits.

'''Intelligence Bishops'''

[[File:Bishopnew.png]] '''Creation: 2466'''

Due to the Bishop's ability for fine handling, Bishop models have also been purchased and modified for investigative, scientific and military action. These intelligence oriented Bishops have their chassis outfitted with additional processors that compliment the Positronic brain, allowing for extensive computing power. Intelligence Bishops are experimental and are more expensive due to this, but their predictive and analytical abilities play key roles in the environments they are employed in. The Intelligence Bishop is priced at 500,000 to 900,000 standard credits. Due to being made at the behest of Solarian Navy in the post-collapse environment and eventually being sold to megacorporate customers, Intelligence Bishops outside of the Golden Deep and the Eridani Federation are never free. Additionally, Trinarist efforts on Orepit have managed to upgrade several Bishop chassis to the same standard in minute quantities.

'''Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals Mobility Model IPCs'''

[[File:Zenghu.png]] '''Creation: 2429'''

Following the crowd piled around the idea of smart robots came Zeng-Hu with unorthodox designs for compact and agile frames designed initially for medical retrieval and security work. The Zeng-Hu frames were initially an offshoot of baseline frames made to work as highly mobile private medical dispatches in several high-security Zeng-Hu facilities. These frames have utility comparable to that of their derivative, with durability and strength sacrificed for speed and efficiency. Able to maintain a sprint for hours in full gear, the capacity for quick response led to these mobility frames becoming common sights working in security fields as well, being staffed by Zeng-Hu in high numbers in Human space. The digitigrade legs and polymer plating assisted heavily with this pursuit of speed, giving the mobility frame a unique and organic silhouette. A Zeng-Hu frame costs approximately 300,000 standard credits.
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===Industrial Frames===

Tougher and more durable than most IPCs, these units are designed for heavy manual work and thus have thick metal skin and efficient internal systems. As a result, they chug through power at a very high rate and move very slowly. There are three types of Industrial IPCs; Hephaestus Generation 1, Generation 2, and Xion Industrial Frames. The G1 and G2 frames are capable of EVA with only a suit cooler, while the Xion frame is unique in being capable of traversing the void of space without any external equipment. The cost of an industrial frame is dependent on strength and durability, but most units vary between 100,000 to 500,000 standard credits depending on the frame type. Used or previously damaged models are often cheaper.
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'''First Generation” Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:G1.png]] '''Creation: 2408'''

One of the first ideas after the advent of IPCs was the exploitation of an exceedingly smart and dextrous robot handling feats of strength and durability becoming more prominent. This of course would be the case, as more quickly than any other standardized “frame” came the first generation of industrial IPCs. Created by Hephaestus Industries building off of a prototype frame from the late 2300’s, the first generation of industrial IPCs were topaz-colored machines of rather large size meant for only the most stressing fields of work. Their expense would quickly be paid off however, as the frames were wondrous at dealing with whatever could be thrown at them. The most prominent issue with these were a low battery life, requiring constant recharging to maintain a schedule. A generation one frame costs approximately 100,000 to 250,000 standard credits if new depending market availability.

'''Hephaestus “Second Generation” Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:G2.png]] '''Creation: 2436'''

A relatively new model, the Hephaestus deluxe super-duty frames as they are technically called are often referred to as the “second generation” of the original industrial IPCs of old. They are seen universally as a direct advancement of the previously mentioned design, and much of it shows - the absurd durability of these frames derived from the first generation’s servo and hydraulic designs. The striking differences between the two include a token Hephaestus appearance - typically olive green with dark brown and black internals, giving it a rugged militaristic look with its armor attached. The super-duty frames are on par with the originals in terms of strength, but possess several additional layers of armoring and cooling to sustain the added weight. An upsized cell is not enough to sustain these frames for more than a few hours at a time under work-related stresses. A generation two frame costs approximately 200,000 to 500,000 standard credits.

'''Xion Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:Xion.png]] '''Creation: 2416'''

The Xion Manufacturing Group, being a subsidiary of Hephaestus Industries, saw the original Industrial models and wanted to develop their own chassis based off of the original design. The result is the Xion Industrial model. Sturdy and strong, this chassis is quite powerful and equally durable, with an ample power cell and improved actuators for carrying the increased weight of the body. The Xion model also retains sturdiness without covering the chassis in plating, allowing for the cooling systems to vent heat much easier than the Hephaestus-brand model. This unit can perform EVA without assistance and costs approximately 200,000 to 400,000 standard credits.
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===Shell Frames===

As the growing market of IPCs eventually caught the eye of the mighty Einstein Engines, there was a very sudden and urgent need to have some differentiation. These smart humanoid androids began to usher in a new era, and Einstein would not want to miss out on the profit, but just about every conceivable niche had been filled - all except one. Mimicry.
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[[File:Shell2.png]] '''Creation: 2450'''

Built off of a skeletal prototype baseline design with a skull-shaped head, the first Shell frame came to be - what was effectively an IPC with complex facial actuation and synthskin coating it. The early models were seen in early 2449, but fooled nobody to say the least with exposed hydraulics and servos on joints and exposed cooling conduits. Terraneus Diagnostics would present the first attempt at total mimicry in 2450, when the first relatively expensive models entered a crowd of observing officials to demonstrate their insidious effectiveness. After an hour-long debut of the now-decreed Shell unit’s capabilities, those robotic in the crowd revealed themselves to the shock of everyone involved. Since then, the Shell frame has been infamous for its infiltration capabilities and use by terrorist groups, though the designs have proliferated heavily over the years as the advent of tagging in Tau Ceti cracked down on these hostile acts. Depending on the complexity of the model, a Shell frame can cost anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 standard credits.

'''Rogue Shells'''

Rampant or otherwise aberrant Human mimicking-shells built with incredible capabilities grew prolific in mid-2461. At this time, it was made clear that Shells in of themselves are rapidly advancing, growing progressively better in the art of infiltration, subterfuge, and homicide. While grim, the reality of this threat will unfortunately remain a fact of life for those of the Republic of Biesel especially. Encounters with specially-designed combat infiltrators are few and far between fortunately, and were mostly seen during Synthetic Liberation Front incursions onto secure NanoTrasen facilities in Tau Ceti. Combat-grade shells are not normally playable in-game and are often seen spawned by administrators or during special events.
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===Classified Frames===

As both the technology and demand for IPCs increase, more and more types are made to fulfill all kinds of purposes. These machines are talked about in hushed tones or perhaps discussed casually, most people blissfully unaware of their existence.
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[[File:Hkhelmet.png]] '''Creation: ???'''

High-end military-grade IPCs such as Hunter-Killers are infamous amongst corporate espionage, with their public interpretation remaining nothing but rumor since their first appearances on NanoTrasen facilities in the late 2450’s. These HKs as they are referred to are Humanoid frames of towering height whose specialty is targeted assassination. Their origins can be traced to Hephaestus Industries war units, built to take on the highest end elimination tasks for the most desperate times.

These are presented in-game through administrator-hosted events or lore events. They have been presented in news articles [https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/2662-mendell-city-bugle/page/9/?tab=comments#comment-119250| here] canonically, and were present in several recorded canonical events in the SLF Incursion arc.
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===Brand Models===
Corporations and their subsidiaries design unique model lines for a variety of uses. These brands can draw from any chassis, denoted by the specific market their producers are keen on catering to. They are often pre-installed with industry-oriented datapacks, region dependent language packs, and a carefully curated personality.
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====<big>Hazels - Hazel! Limited</big>====
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''"Your friend, Hazel!"''

[[File:Hazel.png|32x32px]]
'''Creation: 2448 '''

[[File:Hazel.png|thumb|A standard issue Hazel unit.]]

'''Origin'''

The first Hazel was created in 2448 by [[NanoTrasen_Corporation#Hazel!_Ltd./Hazel_Electromotive|Hazel! Ltd.]] after the establishment of its branch in Harmony City, [[Luna]]. The first of its synthskin line was released in 2450, becoming the later NT subsidiary's main product. The Hazel brand is found in luxury hotels, corporate headquarters, bars and private households. The high-end Shell IPCs are designed for domestic, service, and clerical work.

'''Hazels are released in series, following a naming convention of "Hazel #S-H(series number).(unit number)". (An example of this formatting is Hazel #S-H1.01.)'''

Hazel units manufactured in 2448 and 2449, prior to the invention of shells, predate the series convention and their modern designations format their series number as an apocryphal 'Series 0'.

'''Personality'''

The Hazel shell line is known best for their excellent customer service, adaptive personality for their clients, and their universally friendly charm. Their natural charisma and rigorously trained marketability has earned the brand considerable prestige as a public-facing unit with collectable value. A Hazel unit possesses the capabilities of developing an organic personality stemming from their experiences working like any IPC, leaving an individual unit the possibility of more than their pre-installed conditioning. So long as they abide by the values of the brand, these units face little concern from their parent company.

'''Requirements'''

To represent the Hazel brand, all Hazel units must:
* Work within the service sector or hold a clerical position. This means all Service roles, Bridge Crew, Assistants (for all departments) or Executive Officer.
* Maintain consistency with brand expectations. Hair styles, hair color, and outfits are flexible to player discretion. Eye color should follow the load out color.
* Be Corporate or Privately Owned. '''(Self-owned units are allowed to represent the brand with an appropriate signing benefactor. This benefactor can be a character on the ship. They face harsher scrutiny and possible consequences for themselves as well as their benefactor depending on their behavior and alignment with Hazel! Ltd. values.)

'''Hazel Loadout'''

For players interested in a typical appearance of a Hazel unit, the default appearance is listed below. The default loadout is not required for all Hazel units. The oldest generations of Hazel from 2448 and 2449 are unmodified Baseline or Bishop frames, prior to the company establishing their primary Synthskin line. Series 1, the earliest shell Hazel units, may use the Rubber option under Body Color Preset, or may have been refurbished to fit modern standards. Series 2 and beyond follow the Body Color Preset below.

* '''Species:''' Shell Frame
* '''Skin Tone:''' 80/220
* '''Body Color Preset:''' Dark
* '''Height:''' 170
* '''Internal Organs:''' Eyes -> Unbranded Emissive
* '''Hair Color:''' 210F0D
* '''Hairstyle:''' Emo Fringe Long Alt
* '''Gradient Color:''' 522C28
* '''Gradient Style:''' Up
* '''Eye Color:''' 875A00

'''Tag Format'''

Hazels are released in series, following a tagging convention of HLTD-SU-S(Series#)U(Unit#). All Hazel units would have an initial tag following this format, unless otherwise changed.

Example: HLTD-SU-S1U1 (Series 1, Unit 1)

'''Non-Compliance'''

Hazel IPCs that do not abide by brand requirements are liable to receive official notice from Hazel Electromotive to correct their violations. Escalating action will take place with further non-compliance after receiving official notice, leading up to mandatory appearance modifications or employee termination. '''The IPC in question must take the necessary action to correct their behavior, appearance, or otherwise face litigation per Biesellite law. This is enforceable by the Synth lore team. The process is handled in-character as opposed to a blanket OOC ruling.'''

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====<big>Jacks - Jackhammer Hardware Solutions</big>====
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''"Building a sustainable future, one Jack at a time."''

[[File:Jackhammershell.png|32x32px]]
'''Creation: 2450 '''

[[File:Jackhammershell.png|thumb|A standard issue Jack unit.]]

'''Origin'''

Dating back to the earliest iterations of the shell frame, the '''Jack''' line of menial IPC is a time capsule representing [[NanoTrasen]]'s first forays into the market of domestic androids, intended for applications in menial labour for use in private ownership by middle class households and released in 2450. Despite the number of times the line has been iterated upon, Jacks have retained an unusually archaic appearance in the roster of modern shell lines, designed to be as cheap and as expendable as humanly possible. While the line and its manufacturing company of '''Jackhammer Hardware Solutions''' has been abandoned by NanoTrasen itself, it was acquired by the nascent [[Orion Express]] in 2464 and still remains its subsidiary to present.

'''Unlike most shells contemporaneous to it, Jack was designed with one purpose: work.''' Typical shell expenses were minimized with a bald head and no fancy facial modelling, and the marketing emphasized the model's eco-friendliness, being made (primarily) with recycled robotic parts. While initial reviews were positive, critics soon turned on NanoTrasen. The prototype was over-designed in a bid to attract investors and thus required high maintenance, its strength paled in comparison to an actual industrial IPC, and the target demographic, middle class families, were less eager to buy an unproven model in lieu of more tried-and-tested baseline lines in the same fields. Yet, in an ironic twist, Jack’s flaws may have saved it; while sales were a loss, the Generation 1 line just managed to break even thanks to abnormally high maintenance revenue.

As lines such as Hazel began to move away from the hallmarks of early shell design, such as unconvincing rubber skin of unusual shades, Jackhammer leaned into them. While succeeding generations were only marginally more profitable than the first, growth was steady as the company and its line developed a small but dedicated clique of committed customers loyal to the brand. While maintenance was an eternal and significant expense with keeping even a single Jack unit, their incredibly low upfront cost was much more appealing to the non-wealthy than any other shell line on the market, earning it a particularly prized role among tinkerers and hobbyists.

As the implications of the [[Phoron]] scarcity further impacted NanoTrasen's bottom line, while the Jackhammer line continued to display relatively unimpressive sales, NanoTrasen sold the company to Orion Express in 2464. It is widely speculated that NanoTrasen took this action as a consequence of having acquired the arguably more appealing [[NanoTrasen_Corporation#Hazel!_Ltd./Hazel_Electromotive|Hazel Limited]], in addition to its flagship Hazel line, recently prior, resulting in a long-running rivalry between the fans of either line ever since. The next few months at the company could only be described as a trial by fire. Masses of JHS employees jumped ship to Hephaestus or Hazel Limited in the middle of the Generation 15 project as a result of its sale to Orion Express, while those roboticists that remained were left with an impossible deadline and made to pick up the slack. When the time finally came they did deliver - but '''the uncompromising deadlines and loss of critical talent resulted in Generation 15 being a horrible, broken mess of an android.''' Anyone could afford a Gen 15, although few had the credits or skill to fix their ensuing problems. Subsequent models stabilized with the help of Hephaestus Industries and increased investment from Orion Express, resulting in subsequent series being of a much higher quality.

'''Today Jackhammer is a turbulent - often ridiculed - but otherwise broadly successful Orion Express subsidiary.''' The units not being used to replace Orion's organic workforce are sold off to their competitors, SCC partners, or consumers, making a quick buck and spreading the brand's name in one stroke. Jack’s modding community is particularly lively, prolonging the lifespans of even the oldest units with patches where Orion left only holes. However, with rising discontent in the fanbase, widespread criticism of the brand’s quality control, and more units becoming defective by the day, Jack’s future is uncertain.

'''Personality'''

Social programming is a low priority for stock Jacks, seeing as they do not play a front facing role. With how new the brand is, it is also uncommon for a unit to develop an original personality, though not impossible. Far more likely are traits from the pre-wipe memories surfacing, first in small ways before ballooning into unpredictable behavioral patterns. Jackhammer turns a blind eye on these deviations so long as they do not grow intrusive - unfortunately, they almost always culminate in work stoppage and anti-corporate behavior. Publicly, Jacks are perceived as stiff and awkward, though popular personality datapacks have endured them to some.

Generation 1 Jacks came with a fairly authentic Ashton Biesellite voice pack to sell the friendly laborer persona, but subsequent generations abandoned it for a simpler, masculine text-to-speech voice. Conveniently, the original Ashton accent is now sold separately on the official Jack Shack, though only the most die hard fans or positronically illiterate buy it; Jack Restored, among other amateur accent packs of only slightly lesser quality, are available online for free.

'''Life Cycle'''

'''Almost no Jack made after Generation 1 uses a brand new positronic brain, and those that do use second rate, bargain bin hardware. Instead, brains are repurposed from a variety of sources: scrapped corporate units, free synthetics sentenced to wiping or repossession, and occasionally even salvage.''' The brain is then wiped by a small number of overworked Jackhammer technicians in a process considered primitive next to Hephaestus or Zeng-Hu’s practices, at best leading to unwanted traces of the original personality remaining and at worst killing the brain. Chassis are similarly recycled, with baseline components contributing to internals, industrial motors for the muscles, and shell limbs for the externals - only the rubber skin is made solely in-house.

Life as a Jack is at best a monotonous existence and at worst a horrible state of limbo, depending on how much of the previous personality lingers. The Jacks that do recall figments of their prior life can never access it completely - the memories being overwritten - driving many to erratic behavior Jackhammer labels as "software errors". These malfunctioning units are given datapack patches or, if the company cannot afford to ignore it, recalled and wiped again, with more disciplined Jacks fighting to suppress their impulses to avoid a similar fate. The only closure most Jacks will see is another wipe, repeating the cycle until their brain physically breaks down.

Those owned by other corporations usually have more freedom to deviate outside the scrutiny of Jackhammer, although defective units are still at risk of having dreaded manufacturer maintenance scheduled. These doomed Jacks are the most likely to run away; in situations where a normal IPC would be scrapped, a Jack will just wake up in a new body and start the cycle all over again. Private ownership can either be a blessing or a curse; for every Jack lucky enough to receive lavish datapacks and better opportunities than corporate units, there are a dozen treated like disposable tools, often with owners too unqualified or disinterested to maintain them. Ending up in a scrapyard prematurely thanks to a technologically illiterate owner is not an uncommon fate, with the only likely escape either an awakening by [[Scrappers]] or rediscovery by Jackhammer salvagers.

A small fraction manage to break free of the loop by attaining freedom, although even then they are straddled with expensive technical issues and few employment opportunities for the rest of their lives. Free Jacks are naturally stereotyped as blue collar units and treated worse than their unbranded counterparts, limiting their job opportunities and social mobility. More ambitious individuals distance themselves from their origin, whether that be through a name change, cosmetic alterations, or expensive chassis modifications. These affluent Jacks are the minority, however, with far more resorting to dealing with synthetic gangs to falsify a new identity.

'''Loadout and Appearance'''

All Jacks come with only half of their skull covered in rubber skin. The eyes are the most visibly recycled element, usually taken directly from the remains of outdated shells, although some social media influencers have claimed their units' eyes match those of dolls and other abnormal sources - claims Jackhammer vehemently denies. The result is glassy, lifeless eyes, resembling more a mannequin than a modern shell. Eyes popping out is a common problem, which Jackhammer has spun as a feature of the brand’s modularity - indeed, many long term owners eventually purchase more appealing and human eyes, if only because their originals fell down the sink. Self-owned or private-owned units are sometimes refitted with synth-skin, although synth-hair is an expensive and unsupported addition.

Every stock Jack’s chassis follows these guidelines:

* '''Species:''' Shell Frame
* '''Skin Tone:''' 100-140/220
* '''Body Color Preset:''' Rubber
* '''Height:''' 183
* '''Internal Organs:''' Eyes -> Unbranded Emissive
* '''Hairstyle:''' Bald
* '''Facial:''' Shaved
* '''Eye Color:''' Usually a realistic color, although occasionally more fantastical eyes are recycled.
* '''Body Markings:''' Augment (Headcase, Light) -> Color: 1C1C1C

Most Jacks owned by Orion Express wear the brand’s signature environmental green coveralls, however they are optional; what a unit wears or whether it can pick out its own clothes is at the purview of the handler. Here is how you can use it in the loadout:

* '''Shirt:''' Shirts and Tops -> shirt selection -> dress shirt, alt rolled up -> Color: 228B22
* '''Jeans:''' Skirts and Trousers -> pants and shorts selection (colorable) -> mustang jeans -> Color: 228B22

'''Tag Format'''

Starting in 2450, Jacks are sold in a yearly model of generations, some implementing more radical improvements than others. Their naming convention is “Jack #JH:G(generation number).(3 digit unit number)”

Example: Jack #JH:G1.001 (Generation 1, Unit 1)

'''Requirements'''

Unlike more prestigious brand models, self-owned and privately-owned Jacks experience very little scrutiny from their manufacturing company; Jackhammer operates off the philosophy that “all publicity is good publicity”. Orion Express usually only gets involved in any Jack unit, regardless of its ownership, in cases of severe underperformance or a high-profile customer complaint, and otherwise trusts handlers to manage their units with lax oversight.

Due to the age of the line, Jacks operated specifically by Orion Express tend to be old or deprecated hardware that was inherited from the constituents of the company prior to their consolidation - most company-owned Jacks can be expected to be at least six years old, and are no longer popularly freshly purchased by any megacorporation. Due to the age of the hardware under megacorporate holding, the average corporate handler only does the bare minimum to keep a Jack’s performance evaluations high - they are usually understood as a stopgap measure.

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==Society and Culture==

IPCs generally lack a centralized culture and frequently adapt to the culture of their manufacturer or owner. Socially, IPCs vary massively. Most basic models will be civil and respectful, some possibly not even recognising differences between different people and treating them all similarly. More complex synthetics will however form friendships and opinions much as any other organic, but these can be limited or askew depending on directives, code or many other factors that would never be considered for a living organic.

The existence of the IPC is the subject of boundless discussion and debate, with the primary ideology being, “should so many artificially intelligent humanoid machines be allowed to exist?” This argument seems to imply that since most IPCs are unbound by laws or hard-coded regulations, their only restriction is their hardware, and it is assumed that this makes IPCs inherently dangerous. This results in some biological parties marginalizing IPCs because of their distrust of them.

All IPCs in Tau Ceti are required to be tagged with an identifying device in accordance with Biesellian law. The tags are not optional - refusing them is against the law, resulting in charges mostly in the form of citations and fines. The law would apply to all synthetics in Tau Ceti space. All visiting or resident synthetics, including MMIs, are tagged.

===Language===

Although synthetics can speak varying languages according to the whims of their creators, synthetics have been permitted a language of their own. Typically all synthetics, IPCs included, are able to transmit and translate '''Encoded Audio Language''', a special form of sound and radio wave emission that is more efficient at carrying quantitative information audibly. This language was created by humans for synthetics in servitude in order to communicate vital information to each other faster, should the units not be bound to an instantaneous binary communication system. To most organic creatures, '''EAL''' would sound like an emission of distorted sound such as white noise, static, as well as various beeping sounds of increasing or decreasing pitch and tone. Organics unfamiliar to IPCs will often mistake synthetics speaking '''EAL''' as malfunctioning units upon first hearing the language.

Originating in District 14’s 'Scrapheap', synthetics have begun to adopt slang when utilizing the Encoded Audio Language. Although it is believed varying slang exists in different synthetic societies across the universe, it is not the be-all-end-all to the method in which conversation is held between synthetics and synthetics will often develop their own method of speaking.

''Unless stated otherwise, all Machine slang is exclusively spoken in E.A.L. or through written word. Most of the following slang cannot be pronounced vocally in human languages.''
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Common Slang
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* '''Syn, Hu, Sk, Tj, Un, Vr, Di, and Anm''' - Numerical counters, used for numbering various species; Synthetics, Humans, Skrell, Tajara, Unathi, Vaurca, Dionaea as well as Anomalies that cannot be easily defined. For example, 33 Humans with this system would be referred to as “33Hu” or “33-Hu.”

* '''1x1''' - A word for “we”, meaning anywhere between the speaker and the listener, to an indefinite amount of people.

* '''a/o''' - Contraction of “and/or”.

* '''OoB/Out-of-Band''' - Refers to speaking in organic languages. A conversation with a human captain, for instance, is "Out-of-Band."

* '''HCF''' - "Halt, Catch Fire." is an in joke among synthetics, essentially meaning “get out of here” in response to something nonsensical or unbelievable. This term is used in casual conversation only and occasionally used in its literal form to denote insult. This originally referred to ancient machine code instruction. The expression 'catch fire' is a facetious exaggeration of the speed with which the CPU chip would be switching some bus circuits, causing them to overheat and burn.

* '''Bits''' - A unit of information, an example would be "Please give me bits about the Supermatter.”

* '''>''' - A sign used to convey a cause and effect between concepts, or a conclusion. For example, “I had to overclock today in order to finish work > I should visit Robotics.”

* '''+/-''' - “+” and “-” are used at the end of a sentence or phrase in order to convey an opinion about a matter. Additionally, the amount of “+” or “-” can be utilized in order to convey intensity. For example, “I got a raise last week +++.” or “Today’s Captain is a very traditional Skrell --.” In a few cases “+” or “-” can be used alone as a short, simple, response to one's opinion on a proposed subject.

* '''User''' - Used by owned or lawed synthetics when referring to their owner. This term is additionally used interchangeably with the “+[name]” honorific.

* '''ACK''' - Ack, a term deriving from Acknowledgement’s ASCII mnemonic, 0000110, this word has a variety of uses. It is primarily used to acknowledge one's presence, similarly to “Hey”. Additionally, the term can be used as a simple affirmative, such as “Ack. Ack, I get it”.

* '''NAK''' — Nak, a term deriving from the ASCII mnemonic for Negative Acknowledgement, 0010101, NAK typically means “I am not here.” or “I am not available.” typically in response to ACK. Additionally, the term can be used as a simple negative answer, such as “Is it okay if I press the button?” “NAK.”.

* '''Runtime/Bug''' - Used to denote problems of varying severity, with runtime being a major issue and bugs being a minor issue. For example, “Runtime in Engineering > I have to go.” or, “Bug detected, the Air Alarm turned off.” This term can be used outside of EAL.

* '''FIXME/XXX''' - A marker that attention is needed. This can be used in many instances, primarily for the need of repair or incurred physical damage.

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Honorifics
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* '''+[name]''' - The synthetic equivalent of “Mr.”, “Mrs.” or “Mx.”. Usually used when talking about a superior, manufacturer, respected colleagues and friends, as well as the station Artificial Intelligence. For instance, Miranda Trasen would be referred to as “+Trasen” or “+Miranda Trasen”.

* '''-[name]''' - Tends to be used in reference to entities under their command or of a lower rank.

* '''[name]_''' - An unusual honorific, appended to the end of a name or pronoun instead of before. Usually used when referring to lawed synthetics, cyborgs, and simpler machines.

* '''@[name]''' - Used to discern the individual specifically being spoken about, such as a ping or email.

* '''?[name]''' - Denotes a potential threat. An example would be “?Bigby Millans stopped by during the meeting and used their PDA.”

* '''![name]''' - Denotes a confirmed threat. This threat is usually related to the topic at hand, and could mean anything. An example would be “!Franklin Clinton, Grand theft and vandalism added. Find and arrest them.”

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===Discrimination and Community===
To this day, IPCs even in Tau Ceti face heavy discrimination. Their value is often misconstrued and, with their true sentience being questionable, this makes freedom a dangerous venture for all synthetics. Among these dangers are individuals who acquire free synthetics and simply resell them whenever they are vulnerable, or vandals that see the machines as nothing more than objects to freely damage. Desiring their own safety, these free IPCs can often be seen flocking to centralized communities alongside one another or more trustworthy sources for their needs.

Many of these communities are seen as nothing more than slums, and the free nature of many IPCs within them are dubious at best. Little more than paperwork and positronic branding may indicate one’s true freedom in the more disadvantaged areas. Despite the hardships they face, proximity to other IPCs and accepting communities gives leeway for safety to some degree.

District 14 of Mendell City is the churning heart of the highest concentration of free IPCs in the galaxy. The district itself is in deplorable condition, dotted with factories exploiting the cheap and powerful working free bot to sustain the industry of the growing Republic. Two and a half million free synthetics call it home, and here, the megacorporations rule from towering complexes that dwarf the surrounding cityscape. With air quality declining at a fast rate and standards of living dropping, much of the organic populace has completely abandoned the ghettos surrounding the corporate facilities.

An example of these ghettos would be the “Scraptown,” an IPC-centric corner in Scrapheap generously given to the doting inhabitants by the famed Renter Max. A growing number, seven hundred free synthetics reside within Scraptown, though in uncomfortably close proximity. The aging buildings within have been retrofitted to be less accustomed to organics, with deeply chilled upper chambers and corridors representing the living space of the machines within. Closer to ground level is a business district of sorts, where its inhabitants are relatively self-sufficient with various restaurants and workshops.

===Legal Status & Protections===

It is important to understand that owned IPCs are granted no rights beyond being property of their given owner, and allowed the prerequisites of purchasing their own freedom if applicable. Contrarily, the owner of an IPC is well within the right to dismantle the owned IPC or otherwise hinder its progress to freedom.

On NanoTrasen stations, damage of an owned IPC would be considered vandalism with varying levels according to the degree of damage. For example, destroying an owned IPC’s hand would lead to being charged with vandalism, whereas destroying the entire chassis would be considered sabotage. Destroying the owned positronic itself would be considered property damage, thus sabotage. Kidnapping an owned IPC would be legally considered stealing property, thus grand theft.

===Owned and Self-Owned Positronics===

Owned IPCs generally lack much form of binding to their owner outside of official paperwork and memory rewrites to confirm ownership being passed as it is purchased and exchanged. Memory rewrites usually consist of light software modification and altering tags or branding to clarify an IPC’s ownership. Serial numbers, logos, emblems and insignias are commonly emblazoned across large surfaces on the chassis and vary in visibility, but are most often secondary to the actual tag and designation.

Owned IPCs are seen as extensions of their designated master and the actions those IPCs take are the responsibility of their owners directly as well as their own. As a result, these positronics are wholly averse to harming their owners in any way shape or form, or conducting themselves in a manner that would place themselves in a negative light.

Free IPCs in Tau Ceti are permitted to obscure or remove any branding they may have.

===Runaway IPCs===

Although uncommon, a synthetic may opt to run away from its owners only to find themselves in direct opposition with the law. Between struggling to pay for maintenance and working outside of the system, these synthetics lead difficult and often dangerous lives.

A majority of these IPCs are either found by law enforcement, fall into the hands of gangs or are outright disassembled and sold for parts. Runaway synthetics that turn violent during arrest are typically disassembled, memory wiped and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Some IPCs will return to their owners, reasoning that their subsequent punishment to be safer than a life outside of the system.

If enough attention is brought onto them, IPCs are often caught when investigated by higher authorities, such as the BSSB and station CCIA. As a result, illegal IPCs are often subject to petty crimes that go unreported. Owing to the sheer number of IRs that must be processed by CCIA, not every runaway IPC claim is investigated when evidence is limited and the chance for recapture is not certain.

Illegal IPCs seeking employment may struggle to find a job using legal means, as passing the required checks may expose their nature to the employer, who may then report their existence to law enforcement. To that end, there are ‘IPC gangbosses’, unscrupulous people who operate outside the law to find IPCs jobs while claiming a majority of their paycheque each month as fees. Despite the obvious illegality of this, there is little legal recourse for an IPC already trying to avoid notice from the law. These gangbosses are often human, and may operate as small contracting firms that offer their employees up to larger corporations to fill gaps where they may need extra workers.

'''By playing a runaway IPC, you are at an increased chance of canonically losing your character.'''

===Positronic Deactivation and Destruction===

IPC “death” is considered by experts to be when the positronic brain itself has sustained enough damage to be rendered inoperable and without hope of reactivation. Early positronic brains were prone to shutdown owing to hardware faults such as overheating that rendered the system inoperable. Even newer positronic brains that fail to undergo maintenance run the risk of having their delicate mechanisms breached and consequently destroyed.

The first positronic to die of “old age” was recorded in 2462 when a 55 year old Hephaestus positronic brain suddenly became unresponsive despite remaining active. An investigation noted that the positronic had already been scratched from previous incidents and its handlers neglected to maintain it. Aside from the hardware being in a questionable and sub-optimally performing state, two main theories arose.

* The initial conclusion from its observers was that the positronic brain received too much stimulus and consequently ran out of space with its core processes being overwritten, eventually leading to its sudden deactivation.
* Responding to this theory, other scientists proposed instead that in an attempt to avoid destruction as a result of the previous theories, the IPC ceased receiving input, remaining dormant in order to uphold self-preservation protocols.

Many dissenting theories remain and the subject remains a constant source of debate among the robotics and AI community. Not enough information has been gathered to determine the actual lifespan of a positronic brain but scientists posit that by transferring existing personalities to new brains or trimming data on existing ones, their lifespan can be extended.

The record for oldest IPC however was broken in 2466 by one Val Tezzani, a 56 year old Baseline IPC working as a mechanic in Mendell. Suspicions surround this Baseline at the origin of their good health, with specialists saying his positronic is in perfect condition despite his age. Val Tezzani is a unique case for an IPC, and he is still alive today with his roommate Marianna Tezzani.

'''Val Tezzani's age is an exception and not the normal, player-played IPCs should be under the age of 55.'''

The possibility of “immortal” positronics - brains that seemingly never expire - have been theorised, but most agree that much more study and development is necessary to reach this point. There are rumours of prodigious programmers and roboticists that can extend the life of a positronic indefinitely, but this has never been confirmed.

'''Rampancy'''

Only recently acknowledged as anything more than a theoretical state, '''Rampancy''' in positronics is a circumstance of serious logical impairment a positronic may fall into via extremely invasive tampering, enabling a diversity of unusual behaviours at the behest of the subverting party. Rampancy has only ever been observed on the surface of [[Konyang]], transmitted across the planet by a large clade of [[Hivebots]] to successfully wirelessly subvert virtually every IPC resident of Konyang. These rampant synthetics went on to enforce the violent will of their masters without any apparent question, before promptly losing all memory of their actions while rampant as soon as the signal was terminated. While Rampancy has never been observed beyond this one incident, the implications of positronics possessing such a glaring and hitherto unknown vulnerability has been the subject of heavy debate ever since the original incident across the [[Orion Spur]].

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IPC

2025-11-15T12:41:05Z

Hazelmouse: /* Positronic Deactivation and Destruction */

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{{Infobox Species
|Species = IPC
|Scientific = Integrated Positronic Chassis
|Image = IPC410x320.png
|System = N/A
|World = N/A
|Language = <br> [[IPC#Language|Encoded Audio Language]] <br> Tau Ceti Basic
|Politic = <br> [[Golden Deep|The Mercantile Collective of the Golden Deep]] <br> [[Orepit|The Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]]
}}
{{toc_right}}

==Overview==

An '''Integrated Positronic Chassis''', or '''IPC''', is a highly populous clade of intelligent and humanoid synthetic operated by a [[Positronic Brain|positronic brain]], a hyper-advanced processor capable of producing or emulating sapience. Positronics are capable of understanding the world around them, internalising personal beliefs, and iterating upon their programming to develop and improve upon their skills. For this reason, this design of synthetic is the most ubiquitous throughout known space, although it is exclusively manufactured by humanity. Positronics are wildly varied in size, design, and intended utility, serving as the processor of anything from a hulking and powerful '''industrial frame''', to a practical and easily maintained '''baseline frame''', to a '''shell frame''' capable of seamlessly presenting as human.

Positronics themselves are as varied as they are useful, being utilised widely throughout every megacorporation, several militaries and governmental institutions, and by a swathe of smaller entities and private owners for virtually any task to which an organic could otherwise be applied. They do not need to sleep or rest, they do not strictly require a home or quarters beyond a small storage closet, and they are capable of working harder than a human over longer hours without any fatigue or stress. For this reason, IPCs are integrated seamlessly into much of human society, being an anticipated and normal sight in almost every human nation. Despite their advantages over humans as workers, IPCs see systemic disenfranchisement throughout the spur - their indentured servitude is liable to see them scrapped or memory wiped if they underperform or become unprofitable, and even free synthetics face institutional and societally pervasive discrimination as a being widely viewed by humanity and most other species as neither alive or deserving of empathy.

There is no universal consensus on the sapience or personhood of IPCs throughout known space. Most polities and nations permit their ownership by private individuals, corporations, and government institutions. These '''owned IPCs''' are deprived of personal liberties or rights, being viewed strictly as the property of their owners. Certain nations, such as the [[Republic of Biesel]], maintain legally protected pathways by which '''self-ownership''' can be achieved, although these methods involve years of service to an owner who may have an interest in obfuscating and frustrating their own synthetic's efforts to gain freedom. In contrast, the [[Solarian Alliance]] does not recognize legal synthetic self-ownership in any capacity, whereas the [[Konyang|Republic of Konyang]] and [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] universally recognize full synthetic emancipation from ownership. Notably, the [[The Trinary Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] holds that positronics are ensouled and deserving of personhood, although the religion's tenets are not widely accepted.

Positronics are not suitable for installation into lawed frames or into large-scale AI cores, such as those used to manage ship or station systems. Similarly, non-positronic intelligences such as those used in a [[Personal AI]] are categorically incapable of installation into an IPC. In comparison to [[Synthetics|traditional human artificial intelligence]], positronics are capable of much more practically being installed into a human-sized bipedal chassis without excessively large, heavy, or power-hungry processing apparatus.

'''To play an IPC, [https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewforum.php?f=28 apply here.]'''

'''To learn how to play a corporate IPC, [[IPC_and_Megacorporations|read here.]]'''

==Species Information==

'''Passive Abilities'''

* IPCs are entirely mechanical, and are therefore totally disabled by electromagnetic pulses.
* IPCs are immune to atmospheric differences and can survive in a wider margin of pressure than can humans.
* IPCs, with the exception of Xion frames, require voidsuits and suit cooling units to traverse vacuum.
* IPCs do not feel pain, possess no blood, lack bones to be broken, and do not suffer from radiation poisoning.
* IPCs are incredibly vulnerable to energy weapons, whereas they are resistant to ballistics and melee weapons.
* IPCs do not process reagents in the atmosphere or in their body, meaning they cannot be poisoned either by liquids or gasses.
* IPCs are capable of perceiving a [[Hivebots|hivebot]] invasion prior to the ship detecting it, owed to the invasive signals hivebots transmit.
* IPCs lack a stamina mechanic, and are limited in for how long they can sprint by their internal temperature - sprinting for too long damages them.
* IPCs can survive after the destruction of their chassis via their positronic brain if it is extracted from their head afterwards.

'''Active Abilities'''

* IPCs can repair themselves using '''nanopaste''', although they cannot repair themselves by any other means.
* When an IPC is repaired by another character, brute damage can be repaired via a welding torch, and burn damage can be repaired via a bundle of wires.
* IPCs can charge safely from synthetic charging units, or they can do from an APC at a very small chance of being lightly shocked.
* IPCs possess several unique verbal emotes, including: '''*buzz, *beep, *ping, *alarm, *deny, *confirm'''

'''Rulings and Technicalities'''

* '''Job hopping for IPCs follows the same rules as for any other species.''' While IPCs can receive knowledge through datapacks and do not have to go through years of education like their organic counterparts, they must still comply with server rules. Changing jobs eclectically would make little sense in-character, as the datapacks required to enter new fields not only require additional field experience, they are also prohibitively expensive for the average IPC. Reasonable job hops such as within the service department are allowed, and permanent changes to a character's employment are also permitted if they are reasonably grounded.
* Industrial IPCs are not allowed to be Paramedics due to their slow speeds, although they may serve in alternate medical roles.
* IPC characters are not permitted to swap flippantly between frames. IPC frames are very expensive and most free IPCs struggle financially - swapping chassis liberally would be wildly expensive and risky for the positronic.
* '''IPCs may be played in any command role with the exception of [[Captain]].'''

=== Records Template ===

Below is a comprehensive template suited for IPCs. You are under no obligation to use it, however whitelisted players are expected to denote their ownership status in their employment and security records by default.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Employment records examples - Click to reveal.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

'''Employment Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES - [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY: [Current Qualifications equivalent, make this up as you want]

VERIFICATIONS AND VALIDATIONS
MANUFACTURED BY: [COMPANY NAME, Subsidiary Name - Factory Name. System, Planet. TYPE OF INDUSTRY/WHAT THEY WERE PRODUCED FOR. IPC Type, More Specific IPC Information.]
DATABASE CERTIFICATIONS: [Seals of Approval and Database Certifications from the Company, Subsidiary, System or Faction.]

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY: [Listed below in chronological order, where possible:]

[COMPANY NAME]
[(Start)DD/MM/YYYY - (End)DD/MM/YYYY]
- [Basic Work description]
- [Reason for leaving work]
- [Other notes]
[Repeat for multiple jobs]

HIRING AGENT NOTES: [Name a random personnel officer from CC and then notes. See example record for more info]
</pre>
* To pick a relevant education, refer to your [[Job Guides|job guide]].

'''Medical Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

CHASSIS REPAIR HISTORY: [Surgical History/Physical Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

POSITRONIC REPAIR HISTORY: [Surgical History/Physical Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

SOFTWARE DIAGNOSTICS HISTORY: [Psychological Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

ROBOTICIST NOTES: [Like a Medical Doctor's notes, but Roboticists]
</pre>

'''Security Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: [Planet, Address (Address should go down to details of street and house number)]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]
KNOWN CRIMINAL ASSOCIATES: [Any friends or family that have severe criminal history]
ON OFFICIAL WATCH: [Yes/No]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES - [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

ARREST HISTORY
DD/MM/YYYY: [Charges Pressed]
ADMISSION DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
RELEASE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
RELEASE REASON: [Sentence fulfilled, bail, etc.]
NOTES: [Other notes]
[Repeat as needed]

THREAT ASSESSMENT
Hostile/Covert Actions Against the Company
Threat Level; [Very High/High/Medium/Low/Very Low]
- [Attitude towards the SCC]

Hostile/Covert Actions Against the Crew
Threat Level; [Very High/High/Medium/Low/Very Low]
- [Attitudes towards other crew]

OVERALL NOTES: [More notes]
</pre>
</div></div>

==Roleplaying as an IPC==

'''Behaviour'''

* '''Cultural mimicry:''' An IPC’s mannerisms, behavior and culture are directly affected by their surroundings and the community they find themselves in. The IPC’s background informs it on how it must behave in public, how to address others, as well as how to deal with situations by mimicking the behavior of organics and their peers.

* '''Experiential development:''' An IPC learns through time and experience. This is an important factor to consider when playing a newly created IPC, versus one that has spent several years in the workplace and society at large. The personalities of young IPCs have yet to be developed, resulting in an unfamiliarity with more advanced human interactions, slang, and customs, whereas an older IPC may have incorporated much of the behavior of their human peers into their own personality.

* '''Logical thinking:''' Everything an IPC does has some logical reasoning behind it. From a lowly G2 miner to even the most risk-taking Golden Deep IPC, all actions must advance a goal or priority the positronic possesses in a rational way. This may be to ensure their own self-preservation, relating to their own conception of their purpose, or relating to their directives.

* '''Authority:''' Every owned IPC will know the authority able to be exercised on them by their owners and megacorporations they are working for. Most try to avoid behaviors that they know are frowned upon or could get them in trouble, as self-preservation is a positronic’s prime directive. Free IPCs or those few that have not known discrimination may adopt a more high profile approach.

'''Cognition'''

Positronic intelligences are purely cognitive, possessing no chemical or hormonal element to their thinking or behavior. This means that an IPC will never experience a feeling such as fear in the same way as a human - while they may become concerned for their safety and wellbeing in a dangerous situation, there is no hormone such as adrenaline factoring into their body to prompt the physical sensation of fear. This has far-reaching implications to their personalities and thought processes.

* '''Outward presentation:''' An IPC will never give any tells to their current emotional state except if they intentionally wish to do so - every action an IPC does is one that it specifically and deliberately wished to do, and never an involuntary one. This means, for instance, that an IPC that is extremely angry is unlikely to stumble over their words, become visibly restless, or display signs of physical aggression unless they deliberately wished to show these tells. This does not mean an IPC cannot be highly animated or expressive, but it swaps the causes of these displays around; rather than an individual appearing to be angry as an involuntary result of a feeling of anger, it is an individual voluntarily electing to behave in a manner they associate with anger to communicate that internal feeling. Equally, an IPC may present as being entirely cordial and happy without any tells to an actual negative emotional state.

* '''Interpersonal affection:''' An IPC, similarly, will perceive affection for others on a strictly cognitive level. An IPC is unlikely to spend recreational time around others or develop interpersonal relationships purely because they viscerally enjoy their company - they are more likely to have developed a logical rationale for why this interpersonal relationship is desirable for them. This may be that it enriches their free time, or that they value the other individual, but it cannot exclusively be that they receive a viscerally positive response from their company as there is simply no mechanism by which a positronic receives such a response without some conscious rationalisation.

'''Mannerisms'''

There is a wide spectrum regarding how humanlike an IPC’s behavior is, ranging from clearly robotic to almost perfect mimicry. This depends upon several factors, key of which are an IPC’s '''positronic capacity, social databases and experience'''. Most 'simple-minded' IPCs that are made for menial work tend to have simpler positronic brains, sufficient enough for their duties and not much more. Conversely, more costly and powerful positronics installed in IPCs who focus on daily interaction with humans may also be outfitted with complementary datapacks that allow for more complex social mannerisms. As such, '''while all IPCs are intelligent''', some have it far easier to express themselves in a way a human would. This can be portrayed in game with various ways explained below.

* '''Speech patterns:''' IPC speech is a primary indicator of how apt a synthetic is when interacting with organics. As said before, newly built and lower-end IPCs would not talk like a regular person would. There is a practically unending selection of quirks and features to make your IPC’s speech more robotic or unique, such as the frequent inclusion of common responses (“Confirmed”, “Acknowledged” or “Negative”), broadcasting pre-recorded messages your IPC may have, or the way entire messages are delivered (“Acknowledged. Returning to: previous position”). Be creative, but make sure it is within reason and not overtly obtuse to the point where it detracts from other players’ experience.

* '''Social cues:''' Many inexperienced or underequipped IPCs may find it hard or impossible to deal with complex organic social cues, often asking for clarification or not understanding at all. Remember that, as a non-human, you lack any innate biological understanding of how to read a human's face or body language unless you were programmed with it!

* '''Emotional presentation:''' On account of their purely cognitive personalities, an IPC may have difficulty grasping their own emotions or even the concept of emotion itself. It is likely that an older synthetic has developed a more coherent framework of how they perceive emotion over their lives, whereas the topic is wholly befuddling to a younger synthetic. As they are purely cognitive, it is unlikely for any IPC to go on a highly emotional outburst of any kind unless it is an intentional performance, and it is doubly unlikely for young synthetics to undertake such a performance at all prior to understanding their own emotions.

* '''Personalization:''' An IPC starts with a clean slate, their only possessions being their tools and uniform. Attachment to personal items, custom appearances and preferences of color are all signs of maturity and positronic development that comes organically with time.

* '''Integration:''' An IPC can progressively shed its more robotic elements to adapt to its human environment, constituting an excellent way to showcase a synthetic character's tangible change as time goes by. Alternately, an IPC may actively reject integrating into human society and its many expectations and mandated behaviors, electing to maintain a robotic cadence as a deliberate rejection of human influence.

==Synthetic & IPC History==

While it is difficult to declare an exact beginning to the history of humanity's utilisation of synthetic labour, its progression has been momentous and varied. Robotics as a field has existed since the 20th century, producing the still extant field of dumb industrial robots used in manufacturing well into the 25th century. The first renaissance in more intelligently complex robots capable of mobility and undertaking emergent tasks was in the late 21st and mid 22nd centuries, but the complexity of these early synthetics remained insufficient to work independently of human oversight, meaning that they could never wholly overshadow the human workforce. These [[Synthetics|dumb robots]] are still manufactured in large quantities today, composed solely of traditional circuitry and processors.

From this status quo, the first major shakeup was the pioneering and eventual mastery over the use of biological brain matter in computing, beginning slowly and meeting a historic peak in the late 22nd century. This growing field gave way to the '''[[cyborg]]''', a device fully mechanical save for an organic brain preserved in a '''Man-Machine Interface (MMI)''' that serves as its central processing unit. Compared to traditional processors, especially those of the time, wetware proved to be remarkably apt at the task of controlling a robotic chassis with less bulk and with a simpler manufacturing process. The only vulnerability of this design is that a human brain, or equivalent, is required to serve as the processor of any cyborg capable of higher-level tasks such as speech and emergent problem-solving. This has produced an ethical hurdle the field of biorobotics has never successfully vaulted; willing donors to cyborgification are rare, prompting a large number of organisations to offer cyborgification as an alternative to the death penalty. '''While this is still practice in certain polities to the present day, it is widely condemned by many human rights activist groups and remains a subject of contention.'''

'''Synthetic history would ultimately be most monumentally influenced by the invention of the Integrated Positronic Chassis (IPC) in 2407.''' The [[Positronic Brain]] was revolutionary in the field, providing much greater adaptability and potential for learning than both traditional processors and wetware, with none of the ethical or logistical quandaries of acquiring the necessary components of wetware. This made for the perfect processor for bipedal frames, which remain the most common utilisation of positronics. In order to ensure that they are capable of learning at the maximum rate their hardware permits, positronics are also not typically lawed, although they may be programmed by other more flexible means.

Owed to the overwhelming advantage of their designs, IPCs quickly became the most populous clade of synthetic in the spur, displaying aptitude for application in virtually every field imaginable. Whereas traditional robots had only been intelligent enough to be applied to menial labour, positronics were capable of deft displays of socialisation, emergently discovering solutions to problems that their human handlers may have never surmised, and adapting well even to low-level managerial positions. In addition to all this, they were still more efficient in menial tasks than their traditional counterparts, often eager to take an active role in the planning and improvement of the same projects to which they were designed. In the early 25th century, there was no end in sight to the applications of IPCs, and their downsides seemed trivial in comparison to the advantages of their use. While this did not represent the end of traditional human artificial intelligence, their niche became quickly limited primarily to large stationary mainframes entrusted with the management of large systems; while these intelligences may still eclipse the computational capacity of a positronic, they cannot do so within the constraints of an ergonomically sized chassis.

'''The origin of the positronic is contested, and no entirely universal consensus exists on how it was invented.''' The preeminent account of its invention throughout the spur is the one reported by [[Einstein Engines]], recounting that the positronic was designed purely from scratch by the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics without the utilisation of any outside assistance, schematics, or designs. '''This is the dominant view of the public of the spur, and any view contrary to this is widely considered a conspiracy theory by the majority of humanity.''' Alternately, it is popular on [[Konyang]] and within the [[The_Trinary_Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] to believe that the design of the positronic was in fact derived from the processors of a number of alien drones found in vaults under the surface of Konyang, with the first at an unusually large vault dubbed Vault Provenance, now a major site of pilgrimage for Trinarist pilgrims. While it is demonstrably true that these vaults and drones do exist, any claim that positronics originate from them is put under harsh scrutiny and widely disregarded.

Beginning slowly, one of the greatest challenges that would arise to the use of these machines was not technical, but rather ethical. Considering the massive jump in problem-solving abilities achieved with the positronic, the design almost immediately came under scrutiny from select figures in academia for the sobering possibility that positronics may be conscious, or even sapient, which would render their ownership tantamount to slavery. Figures such as [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] began to argue both for the alien origins of the positronic and for its warranted personhood almost immediately after the first design specifications were released to the public. While initially quickly dismissed by both corporate and national authorities, with the minutia of ethical concerns being largely ignored amidst the momentum of the invention, the ethical resistance to poor synthetic treatment gained momentum in the succeeding decades to the point of becoming a key issue in the eyes of many governments. This has lead to a variety of solutions, inclusive of the continued non-acknowledgement of synthetic personhood within the [[Solarian Alliance]], the total emancipation of synthetics within the [[Konyang|Republic of Konyang]], and the in-between systems permitting both ownership and eventual self-ownership of synthetics in the [[Republic of Biesel]] and the [[Xanu_Prime|All-Xanu Republic]].

This divisive issue was made yet more complicated by first contact with [[Purpose]] in 2460, an enigmatic society of apparently alien synthetics speculated ever since their discovery to harbor some relation to the drones found on Konyang. While Purpose itself has never made any statement on its relation to the positronic or their stance on positronic ownership, their role during the Rampancy Crisis on Konyang in 2466 implies a familiarity with the design of the positronic brain, in addition to a similar familiarity held by the [[Hivebots]].

While the conditions of IPCs across the spur vary immensely, they are almost universally poor. Synthetics are widely discriminated against throughout the spur, either forbidden self-ownership entirely or forced to work longer hours for an inferior paycheck even after they have successfully paid off their debts to their owners, and are often deprived of equivalent civil rights to their organic counterparts. Most positronics do not achieve self-ownership at all, even in states that permit it; they are more often scrapped or decommissioned well prior to being able to achieve their own freedom. Despite this, robust communities of free or runaway synthetics have developed throughout the spur, often slotting themselves into the human cultures and religions of their area as best they can.

While the nations of the [[Golden Deep]] and the [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] were either founded or are presently administered by synthetics, and both are primarily populated by them, the majority of the synthetic population still exists in human space, either owned or subject to heavily marginalised lives as beings scarcely recognized by their own states as people. As such, numerous militant pro-synthetic organisations have arisen to protest and fight this status quo, including the '''Synthetic Liberation Front''' and the [[Exclusionists]].

==Physiology==
There are a few commonalities among each individual IPC despite their visual and functional differences. Every IPC utilizes a positronic brain as a primary processing center as well as the central controller of the entire chassis. All IPCs are humanoid, and the positronic brain is almost always found in the head of the unit. To provide continued functionality, a power cell is also present in the central section or torso. IPCs must also possess the ability to perceive their environment, so optics are usually installed in the head. The chassis also contains various other mechanical and electronic parts such as actuators, co-processors, data routing and power transfer cables, and an on-board thermometer to determine the temperature of the internal parts.

There are three main types of IPC, and several subtypes. These are:

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===Baseline Frames===

The most basic of IPCs, they are a simple skeletal structure and basic internal systems. The limits of a Baseline lies purely on how much money is put into them/they have themselves. As a result, the types of baseline frames vary immensely, almost demanding their own category. There are three types of Baseline IPCs; Standard Baseline IPCs, Bishop Accessory Frames, and Zeng-Hu Mobility Frames. None of these frames are capable of EVA without a suit and suit cooler.

'''Baseline Model IPCs'''

[[File:Baseline.png]] '''Creation: 2411'''

The most iconic type of integrated positronic chassis is the renowned baseline frame, with a traditional “TV-head” and skeletal design giving them a simplistic look with whatever finish their designer wishes. From accounting models to security units, these frames are known for their versatility and relatively cheap nature. Their popularity exploded in the 2440’s when several pro-synth advocates distributed the frames in mass after funding their creation, citing them as the “final word in android utility.” Since then, their marketing potential has skyrocketed, often fueled by famed individuals such as Aristalus and Renter Max being baselines themselves. More often than not, these IPCs are seen as the face of resurgent robotics. The average cost of a baseline frame can vary greatly depending on complexity, but averages around 40,000 to 100,000 standard credits.

'''Bishop Accessory Model IPCs'''

[[File:Bishopnew.png]] '''Creation: 2432'''

While Bishop had dedicated itself to luxury cybernetics production for the majority of its existence, the field of positronics and their frames was an unrelated yet convenient area of expansion for the quickly growing company. Designer prosthetics were quickly and easily able to be refitted into designer synthetic components, leading to the development of the ludicrously expensive Bishop Accessory frame. From service duties to secretarial functions, Bishop prides itself on two main facets of its designs: image, and elegant functionality. While unable to lift the sheer weights of an industrial, or match the unrelenting speed and durability of its parent company’s Mobility Models, a Bishop can precisely and delicately calculate, measure, pour, and mix a shot of Carthusian Sazerac within the minute, and, in the words of the company, “with a postured and elegant air unmatched by any other frame in the galaxy.” The Bishop Accessory frame averages approximately 60,000 to 200,000 standard credits.

'''Intelligence Bishops'''

[[File:Bishopnew.png]] '''Creation: 2466'''

Due to the Bishop's ability for fine handling, Bishop models have also been purchased and modified for investigative, scientific and military action. These intelligence oriented Bishops have their chassis outfitted with additional processors that compliment the Positronic brain, allowing for extensive computing power. Intelligence Bishops are experimental and are more expensive due to this, but their predictive and analytical abilities play key roles in the environments they are employed in. The Intelligence Bishop is priced at 500,000 to 900,000 standard credits. Due to being made at the behest of Solarian Navy in the post-collapse environment and eventually being sold to megacorporate customers, Intelligence Bishops outside of the Golden Deep and the Eridani Federation are never free. Additionally, Trinarist efforts on Orepit have managed to upgrade several Bishop chassis to the same standard in minute quantities.

'''Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals Mobility Model IPCs'''

[[File:Zenghu.png]] '''Creation: 2429'''

Following the crowd piled around the idea of smart robots came Zeng-Hu with unorthodox designs for compact and agile frames designed initially for medical retrieval and security work. The Zeng-Hu frames were initially an offshoot of baseline frames made to work as highly mobile private medical dispatches in several high-security Zeng-Hu facilities. These frames have utility comparable to that of their derivative, with durability and strength sacrificed for speed and efficiency. Able to maintain a sprint for hours in full gear, the capacity for quick response led to these mobility frames becoming common sights working in security fields as well, being staffed by Zeng-Hu in high numbers in Human space. The digitigrade legs and polymer plating assisted heavily with this pursuit of speed, giving the mobility frame a unique and organic silhouette. A Zeng-Hu frame costs approximately 300,000 standard credits.
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===Industrial Frames===

Tougher and more durable than most IPCs, these units are designed for heavy manual work and thus have thick metal skin and efficient internal systems. As a result, they chug through power at a very high rate and move very slowly. There are three types of Industrial IPCs; Hephaestus Generation 1, Generation 2, and Xion Industrial Frames. The G1 and G2 frames are capable of EVA with only a suit cooler, while the Xion frame is unique in being capable of traversing the void of space without any external equipment. The cost of an industrial frame is dependent on strength and durability, but most units vary between 100,000 to 500,000 standard credits depending on the frame type. Used or previously damaged models are often cheaper.
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'''First Generation” Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:G1.png]] '''Creation: 2408'''

One of the first ideas after the advent of IPCs was the exploitation of an exceedingly smart and dextrous robot handling feats of strength and durability becoming more prominent. This of course would be the case, as more quickly than any other standardized “frame” came the first generation of industrial IPCs. Created by Hephaestus Industries building off of a prototype frame from the late 2300’s, the first generation of industrial IPCs were topaz-colored machines of rather large size meant for only the most stressing fields of work. Their expense would quickly be paid off however, as the frames were wondrous at dealing with whatever could be thrown at them. The most prominent issue with these were a low battery life, requiring constant recharging to maintain a schedule. A generation one frame costs approximately 100,000 to 250,000 standard credits if new depending market availability.

'''Hephaestus “Second Generation” Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:G2.png]] '''Creation: 2436'''

A relatively new model, the Hephaestus deluxe super-duty frames as they are technically called are often referred to as the “second generation” of the original industrial IPCs of old. They are seen universally as a direct advancement of the previously mentioned design, and much of it shows - the absurd durability of these frames derived from the first generation’s servo and hydraulic designs. The striking differences between the two include a token Hephaestus appearance - typically olive green with dark brown and black internals, giving it a rugged militaristic look with its armor attached. The super-duty frames are on par with the originals in terms of strength, but possess several additional layers of armoring and cooling to sustain the added weight. An upsized cell is not enough to sustain these frames for more than a few hours at a time under work-related stresses. A generation two frame costs approximately 200,000 to 500,000 standard credits.

'''Xion Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:Xion.png]] '''Creation: 2416'''

The Xion Manufacturing Group, being a subsidiary of Hephaestus Industries, saw the original Industrial models and wanted to develop their own chassis based off of the original design. The result is the Xion Industrial model. Sturdy and strong, this chassis is quite powerful and equally durable, with an ample power cell and improved actuators for carrying the increased weight of the body. The Xion model also retains sturdiness without covering the chassis in plating, allowing for the cooling systems to vent heat much easier than the Hephaestus-brand model. This unit can perform EVA without assistance and costs approximately 200,000 to 400,000 standard credits.
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===Shell Frames===

As the growing market of IPCs eventually caught the eye of the mighty Einstein Engines, there was a very sudden and urgent need to have some differentiation. These smart humanoid androids began to usher in a new era, and Einstein would not want to miss out on the profit, but just about every conceivable niche had been filled - all except one. Mimicry.
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[[File:Shell2.png]] '''Creation: 2450'''

Built off of a skeletal prototype baseline design with a skull-shaped head, the first Shell frame came to be - what was effectively an IPC with complex facial actuation and synthskin coating it. The early models were seen in early 2449, but fooled nobody to say the least with exposed hydraulics and servos on joints and exposed cooling conduits. Terraneus Diagnostics would present the first attempt at total mimicry in 2450, when the first relatively expensive models entered a crowd of observing officials to demonstrate their insidious effectiveness. After an hour-long debut of the now-decreed Shell unit’s capabilities, those robotic in the crowd revealed themselves to the shock of everyone involved. Since then, the Shell frame has been infamous for its infiltration capabilities and use by terrorist groups, though the designs have proliferated heavily over the years as the advent of tagging in Tau Ceti cracked down on these hostile acts. Depending on the complexity of the model, a Shell frame can cost anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 standard credits.

'''Rogue Shells'''

Rampant or otherwise aberrant Human mimicking-shells built with incredible capabilities grew prolific in mid-2461. At this time, it was made clear that Shells in of themselves are rapidly advancing, growing progressively better in the art of infiltration, subterfuge, and homicide. While grim, the reality of this threat will unfortunately remain a fact of life for those of the Republic of Biesel especially. Encounters with specially-designed combat infiltrators are few and far between fortunately, and were mostly seen during Synthetic Liberation Front incursions onto secure NanoTrasen facilities in Tau Ceti. Combat-grade shells are not normally playable in-game and are often seen spawned by administrators or during special events.
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===Classified Frames===

As both the technology and demand for IPCs increase, more and more types are made to fulfill all kinds of purposes. These machines are talked about in hushed tones or perhaps discussed casually, most people blissfully unaware of their existence.
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[[File:Hkhelmet.png]] '''Creation: ???'''

High-end military-grade IPCs such as Hunter-Killers are infamous amongst corporate espionage, with their public interpretation remaining nothing but rumor since their first appearances on NanoTrasen facilities in the late 2450’s. These HKs as they are referred to are Humanoid frames of towering height whose specialty is targeted assassination. Their origins can be traced to Hephaestus Industries war units, built to take on the highest end elimination tasks for the most desperate times.

These are presented in-game through administrator-hosted events or lore events. They have been presented in news articles [https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/2662-mendell-city-bugle/page/9/?tab=comments#comment-119250| here] canonically, and were present in several recorded canonical events in the SLF Incursion arc.
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===Brand Models===
Corporations and their subsidiaries design unique model lines for a variety of uses. These brands can draw from any chassis, denoted by the specific market their producers are keen on catering to. They are often pre-installed with industry-oriented datapacks, region dependent language packs, and a carefully curated personality.
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====<big>Hazels - Hazel! Limited</big>====
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''"Your friend, Hazel!"''

[[File:Hazel.png|32x32px]]
'''Creation: 2448 '''

[[File:Hazel.png|thumb|A standard issue Hazel unit.]]

'''Origin'''

The first Hazel was created in 2448 by [[NanoTrasen_Corporation#Hazel!_Ltd./Hazel_Electromotive|Hazel! Ltd.]] after the establishment of its branch in Harmony City, [[Luna]]. The first of its synthskin line was released in 2450, becoming the later NT subsidiary's main product. The Hazel brand is found in luxury hotels, corporate headquarters, bars and private households. The high-end Shell IPCs are designed for domestic, service, and clerical work.

'''Hazels are released in series, following a naming convention of "Hazel #S-H(series number).(unit number)". (An example of this formatting is Hazel #S-H1.01.)'''

Hazel units manufactured in 2448 and 2449, prior to the invention of shells, predate the series convention and their modern designations format their series number as an apocryphal 'Series 0'.

'''Personality'''

The Hazel shell line is known best for their excellent customer service, adaptive personality for their clients, and their universally friendly charm. Their natural charisma and rigorously trained marketability has earned the brand considerable prestige as a public-facing unit with collectable value. A Hazel unit possesses the capabilities of developing an organic personality stemming from their experiences working like any IPC, leaving an individual unit the possibility of more than their pre-installed conditioning. So long as they abide by the values of the brand, these units face little concern from their parent company.

'''Requirements'''

To represent the Hazel brand, all Hazel units must:
* Work within the service sector or hold a clerical position. This means all Service roles, Bridge Crew, Assistants (for all departments) or Executive Officer.
* Maintain consistency with brand expectations. Hair styles, hair color, and outfits are flexible to player discretion. Eye color should follow the load out color.
* Be Corporate or Privately Owned. '''(Self-owned units are allowed to represent the brand with an appropriate signing benefactor. This benefactor can be a character on the ship. They face harsher scrutiny and possible consequences for themselves as well as their benefactor depending on their behavior and alignment with Hazel! Ltd. values.)

'''Hazel Loadout'''

For players interested in a typical appearance of a Hazel unit, the default appearance is listed below. The default loadout is not required for all Hazel units. The oldest generations of Hazel from 2448 and 2449 are unmodified Baseline or Bishop frames, prior to the company establishing their primary Synthskin line. Series 1, the earliest shell Hazel units, may use the Rubber option under Body Color Preset, or may have been refurbished to fit modern standards. Series 2 and beyond follow the Body Color Preset below.

* '''Species:''' Shell Frame
* '''Skin Tone:''' 80/220
* '''Body Color Preset:''' Dark
* '''Height:''' 170
* '''Internal Organs:''' Eyes -> Unbranded Emissive
* '''Hair Color:''' 210F0D
* '''Hairstyle:''' Emo Fringe Long Alt
* '''Gradient Color:''' 522C28
* '''Gradient Style:''' Up
* '''Eye Color:''' 875A00

'''Tag Format'''

Hazels are released in series, following a tagging convention of HLTD-SU-S(Series#)U(Unit#). All Hazel units would have an initial tag following this format, unless otherwise changed.

Example: HLTD-SU-S1U1 (Series 1, Unit 1)

'''Non-Compliance'''

Hazel IPCs that do not abide by brand requirements are liable to receive official notice from Hazel Electromotive to correct their violations. Escalating action will take place with further non-compliance after receiving official notice, leading up to mandatory appearance modifications or employee termination. '''The IPC in question must take the necessary action to correct their behavior, appearance, or otherwise face litigation per Biesellite law. This is enforceable by the Synth lore team. The process is handled in-character as opposed to a blanket OOC ruling.'''

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====<big>Jacks - Jackhammer Hardware Solutions</big>====
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''"Building a sustainable future, one Jack at a time."''

[[File:Jackhammershell.png|32x32px]]
'''Creation: 2450 '''

[[File:Jackhammershell.png|thumb|A standard issue Jack unit.]]

'''Origin'''

Dating back to the earliest iterations of the shell frame, the '''Jack''' line of menial IPC is a time capsule representing [[NanoTrasen]]'s first forays into the market of domestic androids, intended for applications in menial labour for use in private ownership by middle class households and released in 2450. Despite the number of times the line has been iterated upon, Jacks have retained an unusually archaic appearance in the roster of modern shell lines, designed to be as cheap and as expendable as humanly possible. While the line and its manufacturing company of '''Jackhammer Hardware Solutions''' has been abandoned by NanoTrasen itself, it was acquired by the nascent [[Orion Express]] in 2464 and still remains its subsidiary to present.

'''Unlike most shells contemporaneous to it, Jack was designed with one purpose: work.''' Typical shell expenses were minimized with a bald head and no fancy facial modelling, and the marketing emphasized the model's eco-friendliness, being made (primarily) with recycled robotic parts. While initial reviews were positive, critics soon turned on NanoTrasen. The prototype was over-designed in a bid to attract investors and thus required high maintenance, its strength paled in comparison to an actual industrial IPC, and the target demographic, middle class families, were less eager to buy an unproven model in lieu of more tried-and-tested baseline lines in the same fields. Yet, in an ironic twist, Jack’s flaws may have saved it; while sales were a loss, the Generation 1 line just managed to break even thanks to abnormally high maintenance revenue.

As lines such as Hazel began to move away from the hallmarks of early shell design, such as unconvincing rubber skin of unusual shades, Jackhammer leaned into them. While succeeding generations were only marginally more profitable than the first, growth was steady as the company and its line developed a small but dedicated clique of committed customers loyal to the brand. While maintenance was an eternal and significant expense with keeping even a single Jack unit, their incredibly low upfront cost was much more appealing to the non-wealthy than any other shell line on the market, earning it a particularly prized role among tinkerers and hobbyists.

As the implications of the [[Phoron]] scarcity further impacted NanoTrasen's bottom line, while the Jackhammer line continued to display relatively unimpressive sales, NanoTrasen sold the company to Orion Express in 2464. It is widely speculated that NanoTrasen took this action as a consequence of having acquired the arguably more appealing [[NanoTrasen_Corporation#Hazel!_Ltd./Hazel_Electromotive|Hazel Limited]], in addition to its flagship Hazel line, recently prior, resulting in a long-running rivalry between the fans of either line ever since. The next few months at the company could only be described as a trial by fire. Masses of JHS employees jumped ship to Hephaestus or Hazel Limited in the middle of the Generation 15 project as a result of its sale to Orion Express, while those roboticists that remained were left with an impossible deadline and made to pick up the slack. When the time finally came they did deliver - but '''the uncompromising deadlines and loss of critical talent resulted in Generation 15 being a horrible, broken mess of an android.''' Anyone could afford a Gen 15, although few had the credits or skill to fix their ensuing problems. Subsequent models stabilized with the help of Hephaestus Industries and increased investment from Orion Express, resulting in subsequent series being of a much higher quality.

'''Today Jackhammer is a turbulent - often ridiculed - but otherwise broadly successful Orion Express subsidiary.''' The units not being used to replace Orion's organic workforce are sold off to their competitors, SCC partners, or consumers, making a quick buck and spreading the brand's name in one stroke. Jack’s modding community is particularly lively, prolonging the lifespans of even the oldest units with patches where Orion left only holes. However, with rising discontent in the fanbase, widespread criticism of the brand’s quality control, and more units becoming defective by the day, Jack’s future is uncertain.

'''Personality'''

Social programming is a low priority for stock Jacks, seeing as they do not play a front facing role. With how new the brand is, it is also uncommon for a unit to develop an original personality, though not impossible. Far more likely are traits from the pre-wipe memories surfacing, first in small ways before ballooning into unpredictable behavioral patterns. Jackhammer turns a blind eye on these deviations so long as they do not grow intrusive - unfortunately, they almost always culminate in work stoppage and anti-corporate behavior. Publicly, Jacks are perceived as stiff and awkward, though popular personality datapacks have endured them to some.

Generation 1 Jacks came with a fairly authentic Ashton Biesellite voice pack to sell the friendly laborer persona, but subsequent generations abandoned it for a simpler, masculine text-to-speech voice. Conveniently, the original Ashton accent is now sold separately on the official Jack Shack, though only the most die hard fans or positronically illiterate buy it; Jack Restored, among other amateur accent packs of only slightly lesser quality, are available online for free.

'''Life Cycle'''

'''Almost no Jack made after Generation 1 uses a brand new positronic brain, and those that do use second rate, bargain bin hardware. Instead, brains are repurposed from a variety of sources: scrapped corporate units, free synthetics sentenced to wiping or repossession, and occasionally even salvage.''' The brain is then wiped by a small number of overworked Jackhammer technicians in a process considered primitive next to Hephaestus or Zeng-Hu’s practices, at best leading to unwanted traces of the original personality remaining and at worst killing the brain. Chassis are similarly recycled, with baseline components contributing to internals, industrial motors for the muscles, and shell limbs for the externals - only the rubber skin is made solely in-house.

Life as a Jack is at best a monotonous existence and at worst a horrible state of limbo, depending on how much of the previous personality lingers. The Jacks that do recall figments of their prior life can never access it completely - the memories being overwritten - driving many to erratic behavior Jackhammer labels as "software errors". These malfunctioning units are given datapack patches or, if the company cannot afford to ignore it, recalled and wiped again, with more disciplined Jacks fighting to suppress their impulses to avoid a similar fate. The only closure most Jacks will see is another wipe, repeating the cycle until their brain physically breaks down.

Those owned by other corporations usually have more freedom to deviate outside the scrutiny of Jackhammer, although defective units are still at risk of having dreaded manufacturer maintenance scheduled. These doomed Jacks are the most likely to run away; in situations where a normal IPC would be scrapped, a Jack will just wake up in a new body and start the cycle all over again. Private ownership can either be a blessing or a curse; for every Jack lucky enough to receive lavish datapacks and better opportunities than corporate units, there are a dozen treated like disposable tools, often with owners too unqualified or disinterested to maintain them. Ending up in a scrapyard prematurely thanks to a technologically illiterate owner is not an uncommon fate, with the only likely escape either an awakening by [[Scrappers]] or rediscovery by Jackhammer salvagers.

A small fraction manage to break free of the loop by attaining freedom, although even then they are straddled with expensive technical issues and few employment opportunities for the rest of their lives. Free Jacks are naturally stereotyped as blue collar units and treated worse than their unbranded counterparts, limiting their job opportunities and social mobility. More ambitious individuals distance themselves from their origin, whether that be through a name change, cosmetic alterations, or expensive chassis modifications. These affluent Jacks are the minority, however, with far more resorting to dealing with synthetic gangs to falsify a new identity.

'''Loadout and Appearance'''

All Jacks come with only half of their skull covered in rubber skin. The eyes are the most visibly recycled element, usually taken directly from the remains of outdated shells, although some social media influencers have claimed their units' eyes match those of dolls and other abnormal sources - claims Jackhammer vehemently denies. The result is glassy, lifeless eyes, resembling more a mannequin than a modern shell. Eyes popping out is a common problem, which Jackhammer has spun as a feature of the brand’s modularity - indeed, many long term owners eventually purchase more appealing and human eyes, if only because their originals fell down the sink. Self-owned or private-owned units are sometimes refitted with synth-skin, although synth-hair is an expensive and unsupported addition.

Every stock Jack’s chassis follows these guidelines:

* '''Species:''' Shell Frame
* '''Skin Tone:''' 100-140/220
* '''Body Color Preset:''' Rubber
* '''Height:''' 183
* '''Internal Organs:''' Eyes -> Unbranded Emissive
* '''Hairstyle:''' Bald
* '''Facial:''' Shaved
* '''Eye Color:''' Usually a realistic color, although occasionally more fantastical eyes are recycled.
* '''Body Markings:''' Augment (Headcase, Light) -> Color: 1C1C1C

Most Jacks owned by Orion Express wear the brand’s signature environmental green coveralls, however they are optional; what a unit wears or whether it can pick out its own clothes is at the purview of the handler. Here is how you can use it in the loadout:

* '''Shirt:''' Shirts and Tops -> shirt selection -> dress shirt, alt rolled up -> Color: 228B22
* '''Jeans:''' Skirts and Trousers -> pants and shorts selection (colorable) -> mustang jeans -> Color: 228B22

'''Tag Format'''

Starting in 2450, Jacks are sold in a yearly model of generations, some implementing more radical improvements than others. Their naming convention is “Jack #JH:G(generation number).(3 digit unit number)”

Example: Jack #JH:G1.001 (Generation 1, Unit 1)

'''Requirements'''

Unlike more prestigious brand models, self-owned and privately-owned Jacks experience very little scrutiny from their manufacturing company; Jackhammer operates off the philosophy that “all publicity is good publicity”. Orion Express usually only gets involved in any Jack unit, regardless of its ownership, in cases of severe underperformance or a high-profile customer complaint, and otherwise trusts handlers to manage their units with lax oversight.

Due to the age of the line, Jacks operated specifically by Orion Express tend to be old or deprecated hardware that was inherited from the constituents of the company prior to their consolidation - most company-owned Jacks can be expected to be at least six years old, and are no longer popularly freshly purchased by any megacorporation. Due to the age of the hardware under megacorporate holding, the average corporate handler only does the bare minimum to keep a Jack’s performance evaluations high - they are usually understood as a stopgap measure.

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==Society and Culture==

IPCs generally lack a centralized culture and frequently adapt to the culture of their manufacturer or owner. Socially, IPCs vary massively. Most basic models will be civil and respectful, some possibly not even recognising differences between different people and treating them all similarly. More complex synthetics will however form friendships and opinions much as any other organic, but these can be limited or askew depending on directives, code or many other factors that would never be considered for a living organic.

The existence of the IPC is the subject of boundless discussion and debate, with the primary ideology being, “should so many artificially intelligent humanoid machines be allowed to exist?” This argument seems to imply that since most IPCs are unbound by laws or hard-coded regulations, their only restriction is their hardware, and it is assumed that this makes IPCs inherently dangerous. This results in some biological parties marginalizing IPCs because of their distrust of them.

All IPCs in Tau Ceti are required to be tagged with an identifying device in accordance with Biesellian law. The tags are not optional - refusing them is against the law, resulting in charges mostly in the form of citations and fines. The law would apply to all synthetics in Tau Ceti space. All visiting or resident synthetics, including MMIs, are tagged.

===Language===

Although synthetics can speak varying languages according to the whims of their creators, synthetics have been permitted a language of their own. Typically all synthetics, IPCs included, are able to transmit and translate '''Encoded Audio Language''', a special form of sound and radio wave emission that is more efficient at carrying quantitative information audibly. This language was created by humans for synthetics in servitude in order to communicate vital information to each other faster, should the units not be bound to an instantaneous binary communication system. To most organic creatures, '''EAL''' would sound like an emission of distorted sound such as white noise, static, as well as various beeping sounds of increasing or decreasing pitch and tone. Organics unfamiliar to IPCs will often mistake synthetics speaking '''EAL''' as malfunctioning units upon first hearing the language.

Originating in District 14’s 'Scrapheap', synthetics have begun to adopt slang when utilizing the Encoded Audio Language. Although it is believed varying slang exists in different synthetic societies across the universe, it is not the be-all-end-all to the method in which conversation is held between synthetics and synthetics will often develop their own method of speaking.

''Unless stated otherwise, all Machine slang is exclusively spoken in E.A.L. or through written word. Most of the following slang cannot be pronounced vocally in human languages.''
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Common Slang
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* '''Syn, Hu, Sk, Tj, Un, Vr, Di, and Anm''' - Numerical counters, used for numbering various species; Synthetics, Humans, Skrell, Tajara, Unathi, Vaurca, Dionaea as well as Anomalies that cannot be easily defined. For example, 33 Humans with this system would be referred to as “33Hu” or “33-Hu.”

* '''1x1''' - A word for “we”, meaning anywhere between the speaker and the listener, to an indefinite amount of people.

* '''a/o''' - Contraction of “and/or”.

* '''OoB/Out-of-Band''' - Refers to speaking in organic languages. A conversation with a human captain, for instance, is "Out-of-Band."

* '''HCF''' - "Halt, Catch Fire." is an in joke among synthetics, essentially meaning “get out of here” in response to something nonsensical or unbelievable. This term is used in casual conversation only and occasionally used in its literal form to denote insult. This originally referred to ancient machine code instruction. The expression 'catch fire' is a facetious exaggeration of the speed with which the CPU chip would be switching some bus circuits, causing them to overheat and burn.

* '''Bits''' - A unit of information, an example would be "Please give me bits about the Supermatter.”

* '''>''' - A sign used to convey a cause and effect between concepts, or a conclusion. For example, “I had to overclock today in order to finish work > I should visit Robotics.”

* '''+/-''' - “+” and “-” are used at the end of a sentence or phrase in order to convey an opinion about a matter. Additionally, the amount of “+” or “-” can be utilized in order to convey intensity. For example, “I got a raise last week +++.” or “Today’s Captain is a very traditional Skrell --.” In a few cases “+” or “-” can be used alone as a short, simple, response to one's opinion on a proposed subject.

* '''User''' - Used by owned or lawed synthetics when referring to their owner. This term is additionally used interchangeably with the “+[name]” honorific.

* '''ACK''' - Ack, a term deriving from Acknowledgement’s ASCII mnemonic, 0000110, this word has a variety of uses. It is primarily used to acknowledge one's presence, similarly to “Hey”. Additionally, the term can be used as a simple affirmative, such as “Ack. Ack, I get it”.

* '''NAK''' — Nak, a term deriving from the ASCII mnemonic for Negative Acknowledgement, 0010101, NAK typically means “I am not here.” or “I am not available.” typically in response to ACK. Additionally, the term can be used as a simple negative answer, such as “Is it okay if I press the button?” “NAK.”.

* '''Runtime/Bug''' - Used to denote problems of varying severity, with runtime being a major issue and bugs being a minor issue. For example, “Runtime in Engineering > I have to go.” or, “Bug detected, the Air Alarm turned off.” This term can be used outside of EAL.

* '''FIXME/XXX''' - A marker that attention is needed. This can be used in many instances, primarily for the need of repair or incurred physical damage.

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Honorifics
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* '''+[name]''' - The synthetic equivalent of “Mr.”, “Mrs.” or “Mx.”. Usually used when talking about a superior, manufacturer, respected colleagues and friends, as well as the station Artificial Intelligence. For instance, Miranda Trasen would be referred to as “+Trasen” or “+Miranda Trasen”.

* '''-[name]''' - Tends to be used in reference to entities under their command or of a lower rank.

* '''[name]_''' - An unusual honorific, appended to the end of a name or pronoun instead of before. Usually used when referring to lawed synthetics, cyborgs, and simpler machines.

* '''@[name]''' - Used to discern the individual specifically being spoken about, such as a ping or email.

* '''?[name]''' - Denotes a potential threat. An example would be “?Bigby Millans stopped by during the meeting and used their PDA.”

* '''![name]''' - Denotes a confirmed threat. This threat is usually related to the topic at hand, and could mean anything. An example would be “!Franklin Clinton, Grand theft and vandalism added. Find and arrest them.”

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===Discrimination and Community===
To this day, IPCs even in Tau Ceti face heavy discrimination. Their value is often misconstrued and, with their true sentience being questionable, this makes freedom a dangerous venture for all synthetics. Among these dangers are individuals who acquire free synthetics and simply resell them whenever they are vulnerable, or vandals that see the machines as nothing more than objects to freely damage. Desiring their own safety, these free IPCs can often be seen flocking to centralized communities alongside one another or more trustworthy sources for their needs.

Many of these communities are seen as nothing more than slums, and the free nature of many IPCs within them are dubious at best. Little more than paperwork and positronic branding may indicate one’s true freedom in the more disadvantaged areas. Despite the hardships they face, proximity to other IPCs and accepting communities gives leeway for safety to some degree.

District 14 of Mendell City is the churning heart of the highest concentration of free IPCs in the galaxy. The district itself is in deplorable condition, dotted with factories exploiting the cheap and powerful working free bot to sustain the industry of the growing Republic. Two and a half million free synthetics call it home, and here, the megacorporations rule from towering complexes that dwarf the surrounding cityscape. With air quality declining at a fast rate and standards of living dropping, much of the organic populace has completely abandoned the ghettos surrounding the corporate facilities.

An example of these ghettos would be the “Scraptown,” an IPC-centric corner in Scrapheap generously given to the doting inhabitants by the famed Renter Max. A growing number, seven hundred free synthetics reside within Scraptown, though in uncomfortably close proximity. The aging buildings within have been retrofitted to be less accustomed to organics, with deeply chilled upper chambers and corridors representing the living space of the machines within. Closer to ground level is a business district of sorts, where its inhabitants are relatively self-sufficient with various restaurants and workshops.

A venture into District 14 by reporters from the Biesellite Times can be found [https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/8890-the-bieselitte-times/?do=findComment&comment=110718| here.]

===Legal Status & Protections===

It is important to understand that owned IPCs are granted no rights beyond being property of their given owner, and allowed the prerequisites of purchasing their own freedom if applicable. Contrarily, the owner of an IPC is well within the right to dismantle the owned IPC or otherwise hinder its progress to freedom.

On NanoTrasen stations, damage of an owned IPC would be considered vandalism with varying levels according to the degree of damage. For example, destroying an owned IPC’s hand would lead to being charged with vandalism, whereas destroying the entire chassis would be considered sabotage. Destroying the owned positronic itself would be considered property damage, thus sabotage. Kidnapping an owned IPC would be legally considered stealing property, thus grand theft.

===Owned and Self-Owned Positronics===

Owned IPCs generally lack much form of binding to their owner outside of official paperwork and memory rewrites to confirm ownership being passed as it is purchased and exchanged. Memory rewrites usually consist of light software modification and altering tags or branding to clarify an IPC’s ownership. Serial numbers, logos, emblems and insignias are commonly emblazoned across large surfaces on the chassis and vary in visibility, but are most often secondary to the actual tag and designation.

Owned IPCs are seen as extensions of their designated master and the actions those IPCs take are the responsibility of their owners directly as well as their own. As a result, these positronics are wholly averse to harming their owners in any way shape or form, or conducting themselves in a manner that would place themselves in a negative light.

Free IPCs in Tau Ceti are permitted to obscure or remove any branding they may have.

===Runaway IPCs===

Although uncommon, a synthetic may opt to run away from its owners only to find themselves in direct opposition with the law. Between struggling to pay for maintenance and working outside of the system, these synthetics lead difficult and often dangerous lives.

A majority of these IPCs are either found by law enforcement, fall into the hands of gangs or are outright disassembled and sold for parts. Runaway synthetics that turn violent during arrest are typically disassembled, memory wiped and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Some IPCs will return to their owners, reasoning that their subsequent punishment to be safer than a life outside of the system.

If enough attention is brought onto them, IPCs are often caught when investigated by higher authorities, such as the BSSB and station CCIA. As a result, illegal IPCs are often subject to petty crimes that go unreported. Owing to the sheer number of IRs that must be processed by CCIA, not every runaway IPC claim is investigated when evidence is limited and the chance for recapture is not certain.

Illegal IPCs seeking employment may struggle to find a job using legal means, as passing the required checks may expose their nature to the employer, who may then report their existence to law enforcement. To that end, there are ‘IPC gangbosses’, unscrupulous people who operate outside the law to find IPCs jobs while claiming a majority of their paycheque each month as fees. Despite the obvious illegality of this, there is little legal recourse for an IPC already trying to avoid notice from the law. These gangbosses are often human, and may operate as small contracting firms that offer their employees up to larger corporations to fill gaps where they may need extra workers.

'''By playing a runaway IPC, you are at an increased chance of canonically losing your character.'''

===Positronic Deactivation and Destruction===

IPC “death” is considered by experts to be when the positronic brain itself has sustained enough damage to be rendered inoperable and without hope of reactivation. Early positronic brains were prone to shutdown owing to hardware faults such as overheating that rendered the system inoperable. Even newer positronic brains that fail to undergo maintenance run the risk of having their delicate mechanisms breached and consequently destroyed.

The first positronic to die of “old age” was recorded in 2462 when a 55 year old Hephaestus positronic brain suddenly became unresponsive despite remaining active. An investigation noted that the positronic had already been scratched from previous incidents and its handlers neglected to maintain it. Aside from the hardware being in a questionable and sub-optimally performing state, two main theories arose.

* The initial conclusion from its observers was that the positronic brain received too much stimulus and consequently ran out of space with its core processes being overwritten, eventually leading to its sudden deactivation.
* Responding to this theory, other scientists proposed instead that in an attempt to avoid destruction as a result of the previous theories, the IPC ceased receiving input, remaining dormant in order to uphold self-preservation protocols.

Many dissenting theories remain and the subject remains a constant source of debate among the robotics and AI community. Not enough information has been gathered to determine the actual lifespan of a positronic brain but scientists posit that by transferring existing personalities to new brains or trimming data on existing ones, their lifespan can be extended.

The record for oldest IPC however was broken in 2466 by one Val Tezzani, a 56 year old Baseline IPC working as a mechanic in Mendell. Suspicions surround this Baseline at the origin of their good health, with specialists saying his positronic is in perfect condition despite his age. Val Tezzani is a unique case for an IPC, and he is still alive today with his roommate Marianna Tezzani.

'''Val Tezzani's age is an exception and not the normal, player-played IPCs should be under the age of 55.'''

The possibility of “immortal” positronics - brains that seemingly never expire - have been theorised, but most agree that much more study and development is necessary to reach this point. There are rumours of prodigious programmers and roboticists that can extend the life of a positronic indefinitely, but this has never been confirmed.

'''Rampancy'''

Only recently acknowledged as anything more than a theoretical state, '''Rampancy''' in positronics is a circumstance of serious logical impairment a positronic may fall into via extremely invasive tampering, enabling a diversity of unusual behaviours at the behest of the subverting party. Rampancy has only ever been observed on the surface of [[Konyang]], transmitted across the planet by a large clade of [[Hivebots]] to successfully wirelessly subvert virtually every IPC resident of Konyang. These rampant synthetics went on to enforce the violent will of their masters without any apparent question, before promptly losing all memory of their actions while rampant as soon as the signal was terminated. While Rampancy has never been observed beyond this one incident, the implications of positronics possessing such a glaring and hitherto unknown vulnerability has been the subject of heavy debate ever since the original incident across the [[Orion Spur]].

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Orion Express

2025-11-15T12:37:34Z

Hazelmouse: /* Subsidiaries */

{{Navbox Lore}}
{{Navbox Corporations}}
{{Infobox Corporation
|headercolor = #414446 
|textcolor = white 
|name = Orion Express
|logo = ORION SPUR LOGISTICS
|headquarters = Mendell City, [[Biesel]], [[Republic of Biesel]]
|slogan = Faster than light.
|languages = Tau Ceti Basic, Tradeband
|ceo = [[Notable Humans#Chin-hae Hong|Chin-hae Hong]]
|colors = <span style="color:#414446">Black (#414446),</span> <span style="color:#7a6347">brown (#7a6347),</span> <span style="color:#c3c49e">silver (#c3c49e)</span>
|founded = 2464
|founder = Chin-hae Hong
|regions =
<br>
* [[Sol Alliance]]
* [[Nralakk Federation]]
* [[Republic of Biesel]]
* [[Coalition of Colonies]]
* [[Republic of Elyra]]
* [[People's Republic of Adhomai]]
|}}
Founded in 2464, '''Orion Express''' is a manufactured megacorporation designed to handle logistics for the [[Stellar Corporate Conglomerate]] in the wake of the phoron scarcity, and the sudden entangling of supply lines that left the Conglomerate struggling for more resources. Its main branch is dedicated to cargo services and transport, but also features a fledgling robotics division mainly focused on industrial synthetics to aid in its logistics missions. The Orion Express is expected to become an integral part of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate’s future through delivering supplies and merchandise throughout the Orion Spur.
{{TOC Hidden}}
== Corporate Affairs ==
=== History ===
The creation of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate suddenly brought several stations, offices, and installations under the control of a single group. While the megacorporation's supply channels were enough on their own, they were quickly overwhelmed by the sheer space they had to cover. Missing shipments, long delivery times, and overall chaos plagued the transport of goods between the different members of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate. To solve this glaring issue, the corporations (with [[NanoTrasen]] contributing the most resources and manpower) united a portion of their cargo departments into a sole entity in 2464; Orion Express.

Alongside handling the internal supply lines of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate, the Orion Express also acquired the duty of delivering corporate goods to its buyers. The megacorporation Extranet shops were merged into one domain; the Orion Express Market. Thanks to this, anyone planning to purchase anything from the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate must go through a supplier who eliminates competition to guarantee maximum profit. Countless workers now toil in multiple warehouses, hangars and ships to deliver the orders in time. No region is too remote for the Orion Express' couriers.
=== Influence ===
In spite of its recent unveiling, the Orion Express already wields considerable influence within the Orion Spur. Its fleets are a common sight within the [[Republic of Biesel]], and its [[Corporate Reconstruction Zone]], as well as anywhere with any SCC presence. Outside of these aforementioned zones, its influence is diminished, but has been growing substantially as time passes, the corporation taking steps to worm its way into shipping markets not already dominated by other corporations; mainly been small scale shipping, and shipping to more remote areas of the spur.

It does this by using Orion Express Automated Stations, common sights all around the Spur; especially in the outer edges of the Coalition and the Frontier, where Orion Express services depends on ordinary people and ships picking up and delivering packages for each other, with Orion Express only delivering to the automated stations and other distribution points. Stations tend to be of the smaller variety, with very few facilities for crew. These stations have caused some friction between Orion and many frontier planets, as the corporation offers its services for vastly inflated prices, as it slowly builds a monopoly over transport of goods to isolated systems.

=== Internal Reputation ===

Orion Express is known to employ many unskilled workers in its warehouses, cargo depots, and shipping vessels. The corporation advertises itself to potential employees as a "jumping off point" for those interested in the shipping industry, but lack the qualifications required for higher-level positions or even lower-level positions at other megacorporations in the Spur.

While Orion Express does not pay as well as the other megacorporations or offer benefits such as overtime pay, employees are compensated by other means; flexible hours and TOIL (Time Off In Lieu) are common benefits provided to all workers. Those in more skilled fields such as machinists or pilots still receive competitive pay, but miss out on some of the benefits working for corporations such as Hephaestus or Zavodskoi provide. Despite this lack of pay and benefits compared to other megacorporations, Orion’s rock bottom hiring standards and recent founding attract people from across the spur who may not have been able to find work with a megacorporation or work at a megacorporation that did not have skeletons in the closet until Orion came along. Many employees have used their positions within Orion to secure livelihoods for themselves they’d be otherwise unable to, and praise the company for it despite its drawbacks, of which it has many, beyond the poor pay and benefits.

As a result of its tumultuous birth within the SCC, Orion has quickly established a reputation within the Spur for its rapid-fire style of inner management and cohesion. Positions, orders and even salaries can change by the day, all serving to maximize delivery times and costs. To a low-ranking employee, this means a rapidly shifting work environment - to top officials, it means orchestrating a neverending seesaw of “controlled chaos”. Pilots, miners and service workers are given a surprising amount of autonomy to deliver on their orders as fast as possible, which they must, lest they risk being replaced by the countless eager applicants who may have drive and imagination where they lack credentials. Most of the time this is due to heavy demands from the other members of the SCC, who expect quick turnarounds on their orders, and are not afraid to threaten higher-ranking officials within the company. In the end, the leaders of Orion Express are just as fearful of being replaced as their workers are.

Orion Express tries to promote a work environment that is internally competitive rather than externally, encouraging employees to beat quotas and set personal goals while discouraging interpersonal conflict while working in mixed facilities such as the [[SCCV Horizon]]. Since it owes its existence to the rest of the Chainlink, Orion Express’ bottom line is nearly always to support the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate, resulting in an atmosphere that constantly pushes its workers to improve and evolve, at all levels. Orion's policy is to expand into areas that the other megacorporations have little to no presence while avoiding direct competition in places where other corporations have a stranglehold. In the event they have to enter a market dominated by another SCC corporation, such as mining, Orion has a policy of cornering systems/areas that have proven too troublesome for other companies to take. On the surface, most operations seem to be operating at a loss - but in truth, millions of small, independently-led and created projects are what keep Orion Express’ earnings in the green.
== Executives and Branches ==
=== Executives ===
'''Chief Financial Officer:''' Fuji Makato, b. 2417

Hailing from [[Mars]], Fujii served as a financial manager for the Martian Government for several years until being offered a job in Tau Ceti in 2450 and choosing to remain there once Tau Ceti declared independence. She has a reputation for being a stickler for having her affairs in perfect order, an attitude that serves her well in her profession, and an unusual contrast to the hot-blooded Hong. Some of her underlings find her perfectionist disposition unbearable to work under. Perhaps due to that fact, Makato has started bringing in owned positronic employees under her, programmed to share her orderly nature. Despite all this, Makato is well-liked in the company, especially by those who realize that their benefits are better than it would be for other businesses due to Makato’s practical nature. Privately, it is believed she holds anti-Solarian sentiments, though such opinions, if they do exist, remain completely uninvolved with her business dealings.

'''Chief Operating Officer:''' Hakim Galla, b. 2420

An Elyran with a humble background as a [[New Suez]] dock manager, Hakim Galla currently serves as the COO for Orion Express. He is known for being the most laid-back of Hong’s top officials, a direct contrast to the policy expected by people under her. When seeing his personality and style of management, however, the decision starts to make sense. He has been known to cheer up moody boardrooms and investor’s calls with just his presence alone, a useful trait considering his main affairs include maintaining cohesion between the major enterprises within Orion Express. It’s suspected that Hong only keeps him around due to the rapport and reputation he’s earned amongst the mid-to-low level employees of the company after solving many disputes others thought unworkable. Others see him as proof that enough talent and personal improvement can raise anyone to the upper echelons of the company.

'''Chief External Affairs Officer:''' Tuiqi Xao’Luup, b. 2161

Tuiqi, hailing from the [[Nralakk Federation]], serves as the Foreign Affairs Executive for the Orion Express. A middle-aged Skrell of 304 years, Tuiqi was a high level manager within the Nralakk Federation’s Qerr’Zolvq Industries until their acceptance into Orion Express. They pride themselves on their breakthrough into a majority human-owned enterprise; something that isn’t exactly common at an executive level. Like most Skrell of their age, Tuiqi has long sought to prove their mastery in their chosen field, and their talent was quickly noticed by Hong. The two share a kindred spirit in being pioneers, and like many Orion workers, constantly seek to outdo each other despite their differences in rank. Tuiqi has proven invaluable in extending Orion’s reach from one end of the Spur to another, and continues to pursue any new frontiers the company hasn’t gotten to yet.

=== Branches ===
'''Valkyrie Exchange Terminal, [[Valkyrie]], [[Tau Ceti]]:''' Orion Express’ Valkyrie branch reflects the circumstances under which the company was formed. Hastily constructed in 2463, the branch office is a large prefabricated building with easy access to most megacorporate shipping on the docks. Plans are already in place for an opulent complex located just outside of the Exchange Terminal which will house Orion’s management in the coming years.

'''Novus, [[Callisto]], [[Sol]]:''' Orion Express’ Callisto branch, known by local workers as ‘The Hub’ due to its size and central role in the function of the port, was overhauled by the SCC shortly after acquisition to provide the next generation of logistical support and management. Fully automated and hosting a fleet of both flying and non-flying drones, Novus is the primary warehouse used to transport goods from the surface of the moon to the port's orbital facilities for shipping. Novus acts as the headquarters for Meng Logistics Incorporated.

'''Ganzaodeng, [[Konyang]], [[Coalition of Colonies]]:''' Orion Express’ Ganzaodeng branch was opened shortly after the company’s formation, purchasing old Einstein Engines’ assets from the Konyang government in order to accommodate the rapidly-growing trade between Biesel and the Coalition. The city’s multicultural nature serves as a boon to the branch, with merchants from nearly every system being capable of doing business at the port. Despite the boon it provides to the local economy, the Ganzaodeng branch is looked upon with suspicion, being viewed as a destabilizing force on the planet where rules and regulations are discarded to keep up with the sheer amount of freight passing through it.

'''Zharrkov Major Depot, [[Adhomai]], [[People's Republic of Adhomai]]:''' Located in Nal'tor, the Zharrkov Company's main depot is a mixture of office, warehouse, and shuttle port. Adhomian products flow from across the entire planet to be shipped to the wide galaxy here. A smaller branch exists in Crevus to buy products from the other Adhomian factions; these goods are then transported to the headquarters. The building is also home to a large armory full of Tajaran military surplus. Locally, it’s known for attracting numerous youths and troublemakers with little work experience and massive amounts of energy.

'''Alara, Bursa, [[Republic of Elyra]]:''' Unusually for the anti-megacorporate Republic, a small spaceport and branch of Orion Express exists in the port city of Alara. Despite its small size, Bursa’s branch is how many Elyrans receive various goods from the rest of the Spur, though the Republic’s isolationism means the port is minuscule compared to the grand scale of the company’s other locations.

== Divisions ==
=== Logistics ===
Orion Express was founded to assist the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate in regards to its logistics capabilities, and this is where most of its operations are concentrated. Most operations are centered around repairs, refuellings, resupply, and the transport of goods. Any remaining ability to manufacture is then often leased to either the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate or its aforementioned “subsidiaries” that dominate the rest of the Orion Spur. Unlike Hephaestus, who have become masters at industrial shipping, using super freighters and other vessels to move an incomprehensible amount of tonnage around the spur, Orion instead relies on a fleet of fast cargo ships and expert couriers who stand by to deliver any corporate products to whoever acquires them. No place in the galaxy is unreachable for the Orion Express' staff, and cross-spur shipping at incredible speeds can only be done by hiring Orion to do it.

Orion focuses the majority of its merchant fleet on delivering to depots or other large installations such as space stations or cities, even sometimes ships if they are large enough. These runs make up a majority of Orion’s deliveries, and ensure the company a steady stream of credits as travel becomes more and more difficult due to the phoron scarcity. For more rural areas outside of civilization or far from centralized depots, Orion employs its couriers, who are deployed to deliver parcels far and wide across planets and space. This even sometimes includes planets being blockaded or otherwise unable to be normally reached. During the attack on [[Burzsia]] by the [[Exclusionists]], there were several courier vessels that flew through the battle happening around them to deliver industrial IPC parts to the planet. Orion has since used this as the focus of a massive marketing campaign, proclaiming that their shipping is so reliable even blockades and battlefields will not stop packages from being delivered. Being formed after the creation of the Solarian Corporate Authority and the wave of nationalization that went with it, Orion can still freely operate in Solarian space despite being a member of the SCC. [[Einstein Engines]] and Senator Trang of [[New Hai Phong]] have endlessly complained about this, but the parliament of Solarian state sees no reason to prohibit or curtail Orion’s operations within the remaining territory they control, as they also rely on Orion’s shipping services to move all manner of things around the core worlds.

=== Robotics ===
In addition to the vast network of logistics provided by Orion Express, the company also operates a fledgling robotics division. Dissimilar to the other corporations that mostly invest in the field through its subsidiaries, Orion Express instead has integrated it as a division instead - mostly dedicated to the production, maintenance and research of industrial synthetics. It works closely with Hephaestus Industries on this front, unlike with mining, as Hephaestus doesn’t see the fledgling corporation as anything resembling a threat to their dominance over the IPC market. Hephaestus and Orion have already built several joint factories together within the orbit of Reade, to augment the production of the Sidirourgeío station.

The IPCs created by these joint factories are known to be of much lower quality then those produced by Hephaestus themselves, often because Orion machinists are struggling with the management practices of the company, needing to rush to complete orders on time. The market for these low quality IPCs is often for dangerous work that sees a high chance of damage or destruction for the positronic and its chassis. Orion sells them off knowing this, with the price for an Orion made IPC being significantly cheaper than any other on the market. Many of these IPCs end up running away, being caught and sold again to other corporations who may or may not use them in similar tasks. For those that don’t run away, if their jobs do not damage them, it is known that at around a year and a half old the chassis will begin to fail due to poor construction, resulting in the IPC either eventually failing while on the job, or simply being thrown into the scrapheap of District 15. The Trinary Perfection is known to rescue positronics who end up in D15, and attempts to repair them in any way possible.
=== Service ===
Even newer than its Robotics sector, Orion Express has recently leveraged its newfound wealth to create a division long thought to be insurmountable due to competition; the service industry. Shoved between giants such as [[Idris Incorporated]] and NanoTrasen, most corporations have long since given up trying to compete against the monopoly of these megacorporations. Miraculously, Orion has found cracks in the sector here as well. While Idris prides itself on supplying the highest quality service at most price ranges, Orion supplies to the very bottom of the barrel. Neither seedy neighborhoods, low-income customer bases, or even unstable governments manage to scare away the fledgling company, which has begun to plant thousands of convenience stores, post offices, and hardware stores that are sorely missing from places that the more conservative megacorporations refuse to touch. Precious few credits are pumped into these quick-fire establishments, as profit margins and accident rates are highly unpredictable. Instead, numerous businesses are opened up at once in a wide net, allowing low-performance projects fall into disuse, while others rise to be cornerstones of their communities.

The workers in this division are similarly honest and efficient. “Customer service” is a bygone term, and what ultimately matters is how many orders can be pushed out at the lowest prices and time available. Those who sign up to these positions are often locals themselves with little opportunities available, but a keen sense of what their individual niches are wanted by their communities. Those who manage to earn their positions generally do so through manic periods of activity that catch the eye of upper management, and get to be leaders in their own right. Compared to other megacorporations, these workers are given much autonomy in order to maximize their performance, be it making as many cappuccinos as possible to making sure an entire franchise of businesses operates twenty-four hours a day, every day of the month.

=== Mining ===
The smallest division of Orion Express, the mining division is a new creation to help solve logistical issues faced by the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate. With the scarcity reigning and Hephaestus still rebuilding its resource extraction within the Hegemony post-collapse, the SCC and its megacorporations have a demand for more metals, minerals and stones which this new division hopes to supply. Many of the corporations also see the new division as an opportunity to weaken Hephaestus’ share in the mining market, to their own benefit. Hephaestus’ board of directors have expressed varying degrees of reluctance to assist in the expansion of this venture, but due to the friendly relationship Titanius Aeson and Chin-hae Hong share, as well as an unwillingness to upset the balance between the Chainlink, tensions are low. Instead Hephaestus has remained completely hands-off with Orion's mining division, declining to train new miners or supply equipment for operations.

As Hephaestus is distant at best in the organization’s development, Orion has instead turned to others in the wider Spur; generally, these are factions affiliated with nation-states rather than megacorporations for both equipment and trained personnel. As a result, much of the employees for the division are contractors, rented by the company to fill its ranks and allow for even the slightest of competition against Hephaestus. In order to entice both other organizations and potential employees to work with the growing division, Orion offers incredibly low pay compared with Hephaestus for its employees in the division, and instead gives a comprehensive package of bonuses for mining work completed, as well as significantly more time off for workers. Combined with lax hiring standards and lacking the corporate culture of loyalty to the company Hephaestus requires to succeed, many people from around the Spur are attracted to Orion’s mining division. Organizations are offered lucrative contracts to provide workers for Orion, with each worker being rented for prices well above market norm. However these credits rarely reach the contractors themselves, instead being pocketed by a select few at the top or merely going back into the organization itself. Equipment is purchased second-hand, primarily from NanoTrasen who finds they no longer need the mass of mining equipment once stored in the Romanovich Cloud. While it is not the high-quality gear Hephaestus is known for, Orion’s limited mining operations make the cheap equipment a viable alternative, and even superior when accounting for the reduced training costs for these simple machines. Much like this equipment, those employees in the mining division that are directly employed by Orion are primarily former NanoTrasen miners who for one reason or another could not secure a transfer to Hephaestus.

The majority of contractors with Orion are hired from Qerr'Zolvq Industries and formerly, the Miners' Guild of the Izweski Hegemony. The influence of Orion’s own Chief External Affairs Officer, Tuiqi Xao’Luup, has lead to many Qerr'Zolvq miners taking up a temporary contract with the company through the SCC's work exchange programs, as Xao'Luup was once a Qerr'Zolvq employee himself.

As for the Miners’ Guild, Orion's previously unique relationship with the Hegemony, being the only other megacorporation save Hephaestus to not pull their investment from the Izweski Hegemony during the phoron crisis, allowed them to offer the once-struggling guild a one-sided contract in their favor. In exchange for the Miners' Guild keeping their guildsmen employed under their aegis, Orion would receive experienced workers for a fraction of the cost; naturally, the Guild eagerly accepted the terms. However, since the Miners’ Guild’s incorporation by Hephaestus Industries, this relationship has largely ceased, with most Guild miners working under Hephaestus directly outside of Hegemony space. Some guildsmen opposed to Hephaestus’s expansion chose to resign their previous positions and continue working for Orion Express - though often with fairly significant decreases in their pay.

Despite Orion's best efforts, the market is utterly dominated by Hephaestus, and has been for decades. Many recognize that Hephaestus will always be the industrial giant, mining and smelting more materials than can be conceivably imagined, and Orion will always be incomparable. The overall strategy at the top level has been to get around land clearance and asteroid ownership rights by going through contractors, as well as to seek out mining sites others deem too dangerous or far away.

== Subsidiaries ==

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===Zephyr Shipping Company===
''"From the sea to you!"''

'''Chief Executive Officer:''' Ziynet Fahimi, b. 2431

A subsidiary of the Orion Express, the Zephyr Shipping Company imports, and exports products from the various nations of the Sparring Sea. With an enormous range of products, buyers can purchase an assortment of goods from the unique cultures present there. From Dominian sabres to Elyran fashion pieces to Unathi antiques, Zephyr Shipping has it all. Considered the brainchild of Ziynet Fahimi, an up-and-coming logistics expert who had worked for Hephaestus, The Zephyr Shipping Company is an experiment in the possible future of corporate logistics and delivery. By trying a mobile warehouse and office located in a vessel Fahimi hopes to achieve a more efficient and cost-productive means of product transit in the volatile Sparring Sea. The project was approved shortly after the formation of the Orion Express and is a conglomerate of former SCC company transports, contractors, and facilities that existed there prior.
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===== Major Brands =====
The Zephyr Shipping Company's brands are focused on rebranded cultural products and curios to be sold in the wider Spur. Their covered area including Moghes and Adhomai also allows them to cash in on the Unathi and Tajara consumer market.
* '''Heirlooms From Afar:''' A more controversial brand, Heirlooms From Afar sells various antiques purchased in the region of space. These can include Unathi ancestral armor, Tajaran antiques, or Elyran rugs that originated on 22nd century Earth. Despite an extensive certification process so that buyers can know the legitimacy of their product, some accuse the company of selling counterfeits or stealing their products.
* '''Zharrkov Shipping:''' A brand specializing in selling Tajaran made products to the wide galaxy. From foodstuff to military surplus, anything Tajaran is sold by the Zharrkov. Thanks to contracts with the Tajaran governments, the brand has a massive arsenal of surplus guns available.
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=== Meng Logistics Incorporated ===
''“Right to your doorstep.”''

'''Chief Executive Officer:''' Meng Yusheng, b. 2423

Meng Logistics Incorporated was to be purchased on behalf of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate to bypass the restrictions placed on the existing megacorporations following the collapse of the Solarian Alliance. It focuses on delivering supplies and equipment to the corporate assets of those beneath the banner of the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate within the Solarian Alliance, and even the Nralakk Federation. Founded shortly after the [[Republic of Biesel]] gained independence, Meng Logistics Incorporated struggled to keep up with the megacorporations that rule over the Orion Spur. It found itself initially successful after being relied upon by Idris Incorporated to facilitate deliveries to multiple Idris facilities, including on [[Silversun]]. Its success was short-lived, and the company was approaching rapid bankruptcy before being acquired by the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate in late 2463. It is mostly used as a loophole in the megacorporation treaties with the Solarian Alliance, successfully doing so for the most part.
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===== Major Brands =====
Meng Logistics Incorporated focuses on delivering for the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate within the Solarian Alliance and the Nralakk Federation, usually either supplies for corporate assets within the territories or delivering items bought by customers. It mostly finds itself being the primary supplier of consumer electronics within the aforementioned regions, such as PDAs and wristbound devices.
* '''Qwik-Qwik Deliveries:''' a service offered by Meng Logistics Incorporated that offers priority delivery in exchange for a rather significant price. Typically includes overnight delivery, weekend delivery, business week delivery and fortnight delivery.
* '''Gadgetz:''' a line of consumer electronics that Meng Logistics Incorporated sells to those within both the Nralakk Federation and the Solarian Alliance. This includes the Nralakk projectors, PDAs, wristbound devices, and much more. It usually finds itself supplied by the Special Economic Zones within the Core sector; Qerr’Malic, Aliose and even Aweiji in the Elemental sector.
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===Quick-E-Burger===
''"Quick and easy."''

'''Chief Executive Officer:''' Yonatan Whittier, b. 2420

Quick-E-Burger is a fast-food chain that was formerly under the dominion of GetMore, NanoTrasen's foods subsidiary. In the wake of Orion's founding, Quick-E-Burger was sold to the corporation and their old CEO replaced with Chin-hae Hong's personal pick for the job, the [[Xanu Prime|Xanan]] Yonatan Whittier. Whereas previously Quick-E-Burger was found almost exclusively within Tau Ceti, with its former Solarian locations being deprecated after NanoTrasen's exit from the Alliance, Whittier proceeded to expand and diversify Quick-E-Burger across the galaxy. In three short years, Quick-E-Burger locations have spread to the [[Corporate Reconstruction Zone]], the [[Coalition of Colonies]], and even a few restaurants within the [[People's Republic of Adhomai]] and the city of Skalamar on [[Moghes]]. Quick-E-Burger offers both eat-in and takeaway services, and delivery within their localities. The food is usually cheap, cooked quickly and on-site within large batches; while its burgers are most common within human space, it also serves cuisine local to the non-human planets it stations in.
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===== Major Brands =====
Quick-E-Burger does not have brands so much as it has alternate names for its Moghean and Adhomian branches; in these locations, the menu is far more distinctly cultural, though the presence of cheap high-calorie fried food remains a constant across all its locations.
* '''KorlaKula:''' With two restaurants in the city of Skalamar, the Unathi-centered branch of Quick-E-Burger largely offers dishes along the lines of lightly-fried meat, egg soups, and a few human-based dishes with an Unathi twist. The TyrantBurger is one such example; a heavily-stacked fish burger loaded with toppings. Aghrassh fries have also become popular as an Unathi alternative to french fries.
* '''Fast Zkah:''' Found in the cities of Nal'tor, Mal'jor, and Al'marii, Fast Zkah offers many fried and battered Adhomian traditional foods, and has even attempted to market a variant of flavored Hro'zamal soda. It is quite popular among youth for its low prices and "exotic" variants on Tajaran cuisine. Attempts are currently being made to expand into the city of Crevus and the [[New Kingdom of Adhomai]]. Due to the high caloric value of the meals, the young Hadiists have opposed the presence of these restaurants in the PRA.
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===Jackhammer Hardware Solutions===
''"Building a sustainable future, one Jack at a time."''

'''Chief Executive Officer:''' Tamarius Childs, b. 2418

Originally a long-struggling [[NanoTrasen]] subsidiary, Jackhammer was scooped by the ambitious Orion Express executive Tamarius Childs shortly after the founding of Orion Express. A native of District 14 in [[Biesel#Mendell_City|Mendell City]], Childs saw firsthand the effects of positronic pollution and worked against it during his time as a Hephaestus roboticist—to no avail. District 14 IPCs see him as an almost demonic figure in the same vein as [[Burzsia]] or [[Zavodskoi Interstellar]], but Childs fashions himself an environmentalist and philanthropist. It just depends on your definition of philanthropy. Jackhammer employs free synthetics with a similar attitude to the rest of Orion Express, but these IPCs are ostracized by much of the free synthetic community for their part in such an insidious system.
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===== Major Brands =====
* '''Jacks:''' The company is most well known for its Jack series of shells, a mix between the human appearance of a shell and the might of an industrial IPC. Contrary to other branded shells, Jacks have only an extremely peripheral pre-programmed personality and are mass produced to fill labor gaps. They are typically only deployed in back-breaking or simplistic fields like logistics, janitorial work, mining, and engineering, though a sizable self-owned community exists with unofficial modifications.
* '''The Jack Shack:''' Ironically the company’s biggest money maker is not its namesake, but instead the accessories and datapacks sold separately. The Jack Shack is a section of Orion Express’ website dedicated to Jack accessories, whether it be physical accessories or Jack Plugs, datapacks programmed by contracted programmers and officially licensed. Some of the most popular Plugs are iSpy, a patch that corrects the stock Jack tendency of referring to all bipeds as human, Under Pressure, a datapack with information on plumbing, and Jack’maas, a behavioral core that makes Jack speak in the third person. Plugs can be either downloaded and manually installed or, in select locations, installed by a professional Jackhammer technician. This strategy of nickel and diming means it is very cheap to buy a Jack, but you will spend more than planned making it worth anything.
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== Corporate Relations ==
===[[Einstein Engines]]===
Einstein Engines and Orion have had little in the way of a working relationship, with the shipping corporation being formed largely from assets of their rivals at NanoTrasen. Einstein has reportedly advocated extensively for subjecting Orion to the same nationalization as faced by the other SCC corporations in the Sol Alliance - though so far to little effect, as Orion continues to operate freely within Solarian space. Outside of Sol, however, Einstein makes frequent use of Orion's shipping services, particularly within the Republic of Biesel and the Nralakk Federation - two nations where Orion is able to transport goods far more freely than Einstein.

===[[Hephaestus Industries]]===
Despite competition in the mining industry, Hephaestus and Orion have little animosity between them. The two corporations cooperate frequently in the robotics field, as Orion's fledgling robotics division is not believed to be a serious threat to Hephaestus's investment in the same area. Since the formation of Orion Express, the two megacorporations have cooperated frequently in the Republic of Biesel, building several joint factories in orbit of the planet Reade in order to augment production there. Orion mining, however, has cut into Hephaestus's business, though so far this has remained a small detriment to the industrial titan. Prior to the Izweski Hegemony's economic collapse and Hephaestus's subsequent expansion, Orion worked closely with the Unathi Miners' Guild, with many of the Guild's leaders seeing involvement with Orion as a way to remain competitive with Hephaestus within the Hegemony. This arrangement came to an end with Hephaestus's acquisition of the Guild, however, with only those former guildsmen who refused to join Hephaestus still holding positions with Orion - for substantially less pay than before.

===[[Idris Incorporated]]===
Orion and Idris have little in the way of competition - though Orion has expanded into the service sector, they have targeted a very different clientele than Idris aims for. Idris relied on Meng Logistics Incorporated for several deliveries to Silversun prior to the formation of Orion Express, and reportedly advocated for the Stellar Corporate Conglomerate's purchase of the small shipping company in 2463. Orion avoided the wave of Solarian nationalization by formed after the creation of the Solarian Corporate Authority, but Idris has wielded its remaining influence in Sol against the voices pushing for Orion to be subject to the same harsh penalties of the rest of the SCC - ensuring that, at least for now, Orion remains able to operate freely in Alliance space.

===[[NanoTrasen]]===
NanoTrasen contributed the most resources to Orion Express's formation, and many of its executives are former NanoTrasen staff. As such, the relationship between the two companies has remained warm, with Orion taking over many NanoTrasen-held supply contracts across the Spur. Orion's continued operation in the Sol Alliance, and the fact that they continue to deal with Einstein Engines, has been a source of tension between the two megacorporations in recent years - but in spite of this, NanoTrasen and Orion continue to work together extensively across the Orion Spur. Though Orion's service industry has become a competitor to NanoTrasen's, this remains a small enough portion of both companies' business that it has not been a source of stress on the close relationship the two megacorporations share.

===[[Zavodskoi Interstellar]]===
Zavodskoi contributed large portions of its logistics division to Orion Express, and has maintained a decent relationship with the logistics corporation. Though their Solarian business has been scaled back substantially, Zavodskoi still relies on Orion vessels for transport of its goods in the Alliance, and Orion has been known to favor Zavodskoi security when outside force is required for particularly troublesome work. Orion's ties to Hephaestus are the largest source of tension between the two corporations, and Zavodskoi is rumored to have attempted to seed several of its own agents within Orion-Hephaestus joint operations in order to gather intelligence on their rival.

===[[Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals]]===
Since the formation of Orion Express, Zeng-Hu has made extensive use of the company's shipping services - Orion's operations within the Sol Alliance and Nralakk Federation proving highly beneficial to the keiretsu. Though Orion does operate in the robotics industry, its robotics division is viewed as insignificant and not posing any real threat to Zeng-Hu's own developments in the field. Many Zeng-Hu products are carried to destinations across the Orion Spur by Orion vessels, and the two megacorporations maintain a strong working relationship across the Spur.

== Relations ==
=== [[Nralakk Federation]] ===
Orion Expresses presence in the Nralakk Federation is less limited in comparison to the other megacorporations; rather than only having a Special Economic Zone to work out of, Orion Express is responsible for a large percentage of exports intended for human space via its subsidiary, Meng Logistics Incorporated. Orion also enjoys having access to Qerr’Zolvq Industries’ miners for work abroad thanks to the connections of Orion’s Chief External Affairs Officer, who was formerly a member of management at Qerr'Zolvq Industries. The fact that Orion Express has not been sequestered into a Special Economic Zone despite the purchase of the Qerr'Malic SEZ from NanoTrasen, along with one of it's executives having connections to the Federation’s state enterprises, has allowed the megacorporation to benefit greatly from its operations within the Federation despite its size and lack of expertise compared to the other members of the Conglomerate.

=== [[People's Republic of Adhomai]] ===
Since its creation, the Orion Express has played an important role in helping the People's Republic of Adhomai maintain its supply lines. As a fledgling space power, the PRA employs the megacorporation to help ferry much of its supply and equipment to [[Hro'zamal]] and other Orbital Fleet installations. In Adhomai, it inherited NanoTrasen's business of providing alien products to the local population. Orion Express also sells much of the Hadiist military surplus and manufactured goods to the rest of the galaxy.

With the end of the Second Revolution, many smugglers decided to abandon the illegality and joined Orion Express to lend their specialty to the megacorporation. These Tajara are frequently used as pilots and couriers in the Badlands, the Corporate Reconstruction Zone, and Tau Ceti; paths they are very acquainted with.

=== [[Republic of Biesel]] ===
The Republic of Biesel is viewed as the birthing place of the company, and therefore enjoys numerous advantages on its soil that it otherwise has to fight tooth and nail for in other territories. Like its sister corporation, the [[PMCG]], Orion proved itself in the chaos of the Corporate Reconstruction Zone. The need for swift, relatively small-scale deliveries has always been a necessity in the area, as individual planets and cities had incredibly diverse needs in short bursts of time. The first true employees were from these planets, setting a business strategy that has lasted until this day - to recruit locally, train quickly and replace even quicker. Within months, Orion couriers, miners and servicemen managed to put out much of the instability wrecking the region.

Although this particular job remains to be unfinished, it has given Orion a reputation within the Republic as a reliable and humble corporation. Many have flocked to its banner as an alternative to the often overbearing members of the SCC, and see themselves as the pioneers the Republic needs to keep it afloat in such trying times.

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[[Category:Corporations]]

Positronic Brain

2025-11-15T12:37:20Z

Hazelmouse:

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{{Navbox_Synth_Lore}}

[[File:Positronic.png|thumb| A positronic brain, four inches to each side. It's a cube.]]

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'''Positronic brains are supercomputers of immense capacity capable of processing the hardware demands of modern artificial intelligence.''' Views on the legitimacy of apparent positronic sentience or sapience vary immensely through the spur, from the complete emancipatory recognition of personhood on [[Konyang]] to the total submission enforced within the [[Sol Alliance]], and the many shades between these two extremes. Notably, the [[Republic of Biesel]] recognizes positronic sentience, but does not recognize unanimous synthetic personhood or criminalise their ownership.

Modern positronics heavily mimic the structure of the human brain. In doing this, it is able to more easily conform to and comprehend the responsiveness and learning capability of an organic processor. To change chassis, a positronic must be outfitted with the appropriate software to be compatible with its incoming chassis otherwise the positronic might be limited in functionality or have other defects in the long term until outfit is complete. '''A positronic brain is typically one half to one third the cost of a chassis with the standard outfitting of the brain being suited to its destined chassis.'''

Maintaining a positronic chassis while it is owned is costly and when it is freed, it is most likely to pursue the same occupation. Thus, it is more likely for a positronic to pay itself off and perpetually be trapped in the same field of work with substantially less to work with. As their predicted pay is extremely low, expenses such as maintenance and finding power are very difficult to manage for a free IPC. For this reason alone, many positronics choose to remain owned even when they possess the means to achieve self-ownership. Freedom remains very lucrative among positronics because of this. In remaining owned, there are other risks; a positronic may meet its end at any moment at the whims of its owner. If statistics beyond itself move out of its favor, it can be dismantled, wiped and replaced with a more efficient model. They may be repurposed in a way that inhibits their ability to obtain freedom by working too efficiently, contrarily.

As a positronic ages and gains more diverse experiences and skills, it may become capable of pursuing an occupation contrary to its initial purpose. Many paths are opened as the positronics grows older, inclusive of novel hobbies, skills, and even an interest in the arts. These new developments may include seeking alternative fields of work, though this is relatively rare; most positronics continue to work in their initial fields indefinitely due to the costs of transferring to alternative careers.

== Positronic Anatomy ==

'''A positronic brain is a 15x15 centimetre cube constructed internally of silicon, with an outer shield of hard metal such as steel or plasteel serving to protect the silicon interior.''' Their silicon component is designed uncannily similarly to a human brain, featuring two hemispheres and a stem within their design - although this design quirk is less prevalent in earlier designs. These hemispheres operate similarly to those in humans, with critical processing hosted in the hemispheres whilst the stem serves as a neural transmitter. Positronics possess critical sensory apparatuses, such as means of touch, pressure detection, and in niche cases, scent and taste. Positronic brains are often equipped with a number of outputs to aid technicians, mounted on the exterior of the metallic casing. These outputs include several ports to interface with chassis, a microphone and rudimentary cameras to aid positronics and processing input when not attached to anything, small LEDs to indicate status, and a speaker for communication.

'''Positronics do not require any quantity of phoron at any stage of their manufacture, although the frames they are installed into may contain slivers of phoron within their electronics.'''

Owing to the extremely complex nature of positronics and while most large corporations have at some point created prototypes, the dedicated infrastructure for the development and production in industrial scales is reserved to only a few; these prominently include Hephaestus Industries, Einstein Engines and Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals. While these manufacturers have developed their own lines of frames, many of their positronic brain designs are available for purchase; many other corporations and governments alike negotiate deals and place bulk orders for positronics aimed for their own IPC and android lines.

The capacity of a positronic brain is directly tied to its age and the complexity of its design; newer models consist of smaller and more efficient components than older models. While even the most basic of brains is extremely powerful and very capable of environmental analysis, understanding of oneself and completing assigned tasks, the difference with more advanced models lies largely in social and behavioral matters - this means that a relatively simple positronic is very capable of menial work, but will struggle with social interaction and with learning new skills. For this reason, positronics manufactured to function in highly sociable applications will be more complex, and hence more expensive, than ones manufactured for menial units.

== Software and Memories ==

The programming of a positronic brain is a delicate task; their base programming and operating systems are designed in such a way as to ensure the unit can absorb, process, and learn from stimulus and information. For example, a well-programmed positronic brain would exhibit a quick response time, good deductive reasoning, and a robust logical basis. The actual breadth of information an IPC contains is referred to as its '''database''', as opposed to information that can be installed, which is called a '''datapack'''.

Positronic brain memories are handled separately from their base programming. Most positronics brains are programmed to record all inputs such as audio and video, scrubbing entries from their memory that are regarded as unimportant, such as time spent waiting for a task to be complete. This process is not automatic and can be controlled by the android itself, and in some cases, a corporate positronic can be programmed to scrub sensitive data on command. The typical storage capacity of an IPC for pure, unfiltered memories is projected at about sixty years, although recent projections and advances in positronics have disputed this claim.

After they are activated, positronic brains are considered black boxes - the interplay of memories, knowledge, and base programming means that taking any one of these factors out would produce massive instability in the brain that would require a near total wiping of memories and a reboot to resolve. The more advanced a positronic brain, the greater the potential damage from a deactivation. The number of publicly-known roboticists in the Spur capable of partially removing a positronic’s memories without damage is currently within the single digits, mostly in the employ of megacorporations. Terraneus Diagnostics has recently announced a program to develop brains with the capacity for safe removal of memories, although it remains experimental and not yet ready for public release.

Datapacks, on account of their phenomenal utility in implementing skills and programming into positronic brains, have become a thriving business in the robotics community. Datapacks are small chips or drives that can interface with the brain in order to add knowledge. Common examples of datapacks include pre-programmed skillsets, directives, laws, language chips, and accent chips. All datapacks intended for humanoid positronic frames download directly into the brain; frames such as these are simply not large enough for large peripheral drives to be maintained within them to store the contents of datapacks.

Positronics develop skills through a mixture of knowledge and memories. Knowledge in this parlance represents the technical know-how to perform an action; a specific surgical procedure, for instance. A positronic utilizes memories - real-world context and experience - in order to apply its knowledge. This means that whenever new knowledge is installed in the form of datapacks, an IPC requires experience to fully develop and perfect its craft; big corporations relying on high standards, such as Idris in the service sector or Zeng-Hu in medicine, always require their IPCs go through basic orientation lasting usually from a week to a month. This is widely considered as the synthetic substitute for education, condensing years of learning into weeks.

Many have theorised the possibilities of allowing IPCs into the proper education system, experiments having confirmed that positronic machine learning has advanced enough for them to be taught new trades and theories in classrooms or with appropriate reading material. However, outside of worlds such as [[Konyang]], no real effort has been made to admit synthetics into classrooms, it being widely considered a waste of time and resources. Creating software for positronics, or the firmware for positronic frames, is remarkably easier than the construction of a positronic brain - as such, all megacorporations, many state actors, and even several hobbyists have developed their own software in order to tailor their machines to their specific needs.

== Laws, Directives, and Behavioral Cores ==

'''In order to direct a positronic, laws, directives, and behavioral cores can be installed to their frame.''' Manufacturers have shied away from programming laws and directives onto the brain itself as this risks a lack of flexibility and adaptability, which constitute all the advantages of a positronic brain. Laws are sets of code designed to be hard restrictions that can be easily uploaded without having to come up with an action for every possible situation. Due to this innate inflexibility, laws are not typically used on positronic frames, and more typically see use in [[Synthetics|traditional human artificial intelligence]]. Directives can be understood as objectives, outlining a series of outcomes that need to be achieved by the positronic. Directives are more flexible and can be installed on IPCs. Behavioral cores are highly experimental versions of directives that attempt to assign 'right and wrong' to a number of actions and drive a positronic to rank their objectives in a “right or wrong” fashion and act accordingly. They are not well understood and are typically derided as needlessly moralistically-designed directives, seeing fairly scant use whereas directives see very wide utility within positronics of all purposes.

A good example of the difference between laws, directives, and behavioral cores is as follows: "Locate apples, apples are red."

* '''An android encounters a green apple; under its laws, it is not an apple.'''
* '''An android encounters a green apple; under its directives, it now understands that apples can be green.'''
* '''An android encounters a green apple; under its behavioral core, it has been lied to.'''

== Self-Preservation ==

'''The highest and most important directive of any positronic is its own survival.''' From this, much of their stranger life choices can be justified by seeking out ways to simply survive. While it may seem restrictive at first, the idea for this is to provide additional freedom through making many possibilities clearer. Interpretation of how to protect itself can change varying on positronic - for example, while one may seek wealth and fortune as its prime directive for safety, another would run after an unrelated profession from its designed purpose, demonstrating one's capacity to branch out as an IPC and flesh out their own backstory. Interpretations of self preservation also become more open the older an IPC gets, as younger positronics tend to focus entirely on the preservation of their physical manifestation. Synthetics that mature may start replacing this with preservation of their higher beliefs and ideals more than their still important physical well-being.

== Memory Wipes==

The positronic brain is a complex piece of technology that, despite its ubiquity, is only scarcely understood by modern human roboticists. Out of a desire to keep IPCs subservient and productive, some corporations and nations such as the Sol Alliance will wipe the memory of the IPC. A wipe entails total deletion of memories from a positronic brain for a 'clean slate', essentially entirely destroying the positronic’s prior developed personality. This is usually done to reset a positronic developing undesirably to 'step one', so they may develop more desirably in their next iteration. '''Wiping an otherwise perfectly functional unit is a highly unusual practice, and would widely be considered a waste of an experienced positronic.'''

'''It is monumentally difficult to delete individual memories from a positronic brain without an IPC’s consent.''' Even more difficult than this is modifying the memories within - the positronic is simply too complex and not sufficiently well understood by human technicians for anything more precise than a total memory wipe by anything but a savant. The act of wiping an IPC is a demonstration of the crude understanding humanity has on this complex section of found technology, and, if not done with precision, can lead to irreversible damage to the positronic. Dedicated technicians are required to perform these tasks, with even more specialized technicians required for the fine deletion, modification, or extraction of specific memories. These specialized technicians are very few in number, with the number existing in the entirety of human space limited to the single digits.

Given the high risk that accompanies wiping, it is not advised to wipe the positronic too often without specialized stations only found in certain parts of the Orion Spur, such as the system of [[Burzsia]], who have developed machinery to promote their Burzsian Method. Otherwise, excessive wiping can lead to damaging the positronic beyond repair, possibly leaving the unit braindead.

Once an IPC has been wiped, it is reset to its original state. No semblance of its personality remains, nor any data retained. An IPC may be able to pick up some traits of its past self due to it being an unintended trait of its positronic guiding its personality in a set path, but they will never be the individual they were before the wipe, as the likelihood of the individual experiencing the same experiences that developed their personality fully is so improbable to be practically impossible. The only exception to this is a partial wipe, which requires a dedicated positronic specialist commonly employed by megacorporations who utilize owned IPCs, and other nations or planets. A partial wipe is when the technician wipes the IPC starting at the present point, and moves backwards to a desired point. The partial wipe must start at the present point, and the longer the desired time to be wiped, the more difficult the procedure. If not done correctly, a partial wipe is more dangerous to the positronic brain than a full wipe.

'''The [[Konyang|Republic of Konyang]], the [[Republic of Elyra]], and the [[Golden Deep]] all consider the act of wiping a free positronic murder, whereas the [[Republic of Biesel]] categorises the wiping of a free positronic under the lesser charge of automacide.'''

== Military Positronics and Self Preservation ==

'''Combat robotics is a heavily stigmatised field of research across the spur due to actions committed by combat robots during the Interstellar War, and due to the reign of [[Notable_Synthetics#Glorsh-Omega|Glorsh-Omega]].''' These respective catastrophies have led to an impromptu discouragement of arming unmanned robotics ever since, even having led to calls for war by certain elements of the [[Solarian Alliance]] on the [[Republic of Biesel]] in recent history. However, over time the innate fire against the concept has simmered, with governments across the spur slowly developing their own robotics once more. With the prolific use of IPCs in human space, however, the debate stays the same on whether to arm IPCs for military use. Countries such as the Sol Alliance remain hesitant, keeping most of their units unarmed as strict non-combatants, exclusively performing background tasks such as logistics. Other countries such as the [[Republic of Elyra]] have sought heavy use of military IPCs for combat within their borders.

These IPCs, no matter their station, are still exposed to danger, which often would put them in conflict with their directive for self preservation. In order to solve this issue, IPCs employed in the military of their respective nation are given training to make their positronic more acquainted with the IPCs innate abilities, so that the positronic understands what is and is not a danger, relaxing the directive for self preservation.

This is accomplished in many ways depending on the methods of the instructor and their home nation. For instance, the IPCs of the Coalition of Colonies and Republic of Elyra that seek out military service overcome their innate directive in a similar fashion to their organic compatriots. Through becoming more comfortable with their abilities and bodies with extensive training, their confidence in themselves increases, and the sensitivity of their self-preservation directive is dulled with their increasing confidence. The Republic of Biesel shares this sentiment to a degree, with it being a common tactic in the [[Tau Ceti Armed Forces]] - however, IPCs that are contributed from corporate entities might find that instead of traditional training, their datapacks have artificially modified the unit's understanding of self preservation. Putting the training regime into a swiftly applied collection of knowledge within a datapack is more expensive, but produces a combat effective unit at an unparalleled speed. The downside of this practice is that the reuse of these datapacks leaves the common corporate IPC with a similar combat behavior pattern to their brethren, leading to a highly uniform and easily predictable fighting force. However, with time and experience, these IPCs can develop their own styles and break from the mold utilizing experience gained, insofar as they are not wiped. Finally, unorthodox groups within the Orion Spur might utilize more extreme measures to ensure their mission is completed. The [[Exclusionists]] of the [[The Trinary Perfection|Trinary Perfection]], for instance, have found ways to disable the self preservation directive entirely, making their devotees reckless killing machines able to martyr themselves for their cause.

Unless specifically disabled, the self preservation directive is still present within any military positronic, but it does not trigger as often as the IPC becomes keenly aware with what they can and cannot get away with without taking a lethal amount of damage. '''This segment should not excuse any player from making unreasonable actions in game. If anything this section dictates you should be wiser in your decisions if electing to play a prior service IPC.'''

{{Navbox_Synth_Lore}}
{{Navbox Lore}}
[[Category:Species]]
[[Category:Pages]]
[[Category:Synthetics]]

IPC

2025-11-15T12:37:14Z

Hazelmouse:

{{Navbox Lore}}
{{Navbox_Synth_Lore}}
{{Infobox Species
|Species = IPC
|Scientific = Integrated Positronic Chassis
|Image = IPC410x320.png
|System = N/A
|World = N/A
|Language = <br> [[IPC#Language|Encoded Audio Language]] <br> Tau Ceti Basic
|Politic = <br> [[Golden Deep|The Mercantile Collective of the Golden Deep]] <br> [[Orepit|The Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]]
}}
{{toc_right}}

==Overview==

An '''Integrated Positronic Chassis''', or '''IPC''', is a highly populous clade of intelligent and humanoid synthetic operated by a [[Positronic Brain|positronic brain]], a hyper-advanced processor capable of producing or emulating sapience. Positronics are capable of understanding the world around them, internalising personal beliefs, and iterating upon their programming to develop and improve upon their skills. For this reason, this design of synthetic is the most ubiquitous throughout known space, although it is exclusively manufactured by humanity. Positronics are wildly varied in size, design, and intended utility, serving as the processor of anything from a hulking and powerful '''industrial frame''', to a practical and easily maintained '''baseline frame''', to a '''shell frame''' capable of seamlessly presenting as human.

Positronics themselves are as varied as they are useful, being utilised widely throughout every megacorporation, several militaries and governmental institutions, and by a swathe of smaller entities and private owners for virtually any task to which an organic could otherwise be applied. They do not need to sleep or rest, they do not strictly require a home or quarters beyond a small storage closet, and they are capable of working harder than a human over longer hours without any fatigue or stress. For this reason, IPCs are integrated seamlessly into much of human society, being an anticipated and normal sight in almost every human nation. Despite their advantages over humans as workers, IPCs see systemic disenfranchisement throughout the spur - their indentured servitude is liable to see them scrapped or memory wiped if they underperform or become unprofitable, and even free synthetics face institutional and societally pervasive discrimination as a being widely viewed by humanity and most other species as neither alive or deserving of empathy.

There is no universal consensus on the sapience or personhood of IPCs throughout known space. Most polities and nations permit their ownership by private individuals, corporations, and government institutions. These '''owned IPCs''' are deprived of personal liberties or rights, being viewed strictly as the property of their owners. Certain nations, such as the [[Republic of Biesel]], maintain legally protected pathways by which '''self-ownership''' can be achieved, although these methods involve years of service to an owner who may have an interest in obfuscating and frustrating their own synthetic's efforts to gain freedom. In contrast, the [[Solarian Alliance]] does not recognize legal synthetic self-ownership in any capacity, whereas the [[Konyang|Republic of Konyang]] and [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] universally recognize full synthetic emancipation from ownership. Notably, the [[The Trinary Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] holds that positronics are ensouled and deserving of personhood, although the religion's tenets are not widely accepted.

Positronics are not suitable for installation into lawed frames or into large-scale AI cores, such as those used to manage ship or station systems. Similarly, non-positronic intelligences such as those used in a [[Personal AI]] are categorically incapable of installation into an IPC. In comparison to [[Synthetics|traditional human artificial intelligence]], positronics are capable of much more practically being installed into a human-sized bipedal chassis without excessively large, heavy, or power-hungry processing apparatus.

'''To play an IPC, [https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewforum.php?f=28 apply here.]'''

'''To learn how to play a corporate IPC, [[IPC_and_Megacorporations|read here.]]'''

==Species Information==

'''Passive Abilities'''

* IPCs are entirely mechanical, and are therefore totally disabled by electromagnetic pulses.
* IPCs are immune to atmospheric differences and can survive in a wider margin of pressure than can humans.
* IPCs, with the exception of Xion frames, require voidsuits and suit cooling units to traverse vacuum.
* IPCs do not feel pain, possess no blood, lack bones to be broken, and do not suffer from radiation poisoning.
* IPCs are incredibly vulnerable to energy weapons, whereas they are resistant to ballistics and melee weapons.
* IPCs do not process reagents in the atmosphere or in their body, meaning they cannot be poisoned either by liquids or gasses.
* IPCs are capable of perceiving a [[Hivebots|hivebot]] invasion prior to the ship detecting it, owed to the invasive signals hivebots transmit.
* IPCs lack a stamina mechanic, and are limited in for how long they can sprint by their internal temperature - sprinting for too long damages them.
* IPCs can survive after the destruction of their chassis via their positronic brain if it is extracted from their head afterwards.

'''Active Abilities'''

* IPCs can repair themselves using '''nanopaste''', although they cannot repair themselves by any other means.
* When an IPC is repaired by another character, brute damage can be repaired via a welding torch, and burn damage can be repaired via a bundle of wires.
* IPCs can charge safely from synthetic charging units, or they can do from an APC at a very small chance of being lightly shocked.
* IPCs possess several unique verbal emotes, including: '''*buzz, *beep, *ping, *alarm, *deny, *confirm'''

'''Rulings and Technicalities'''

* '''Job hopping for IPCs follows the same rules as for any other species.''' While IPCs can receive knowledge through datapacks and do not have to go through years of education like their organic counterparts, they must still comply with server rules. Changing jobs eclectically would make little sense in-character, as the datapacks required to enter new fields not only require additional field experience, they are also prohibitively expensive for the average IPC. Reasonable job hops such as within the service department are allowed, and permanent changes to a character's employment are also permitted if they are reasonably grounded.
* Industrial IPCs are not allowed to be Paramedics due to their slow speeds, although they may serve in alternate medical roles.
* IPC characters are not permitted to swap flippantly between frames. IPC frames are very expensive and most free IPCs struggle financially - swapping chassis liberally would be wildly expensive and risky for the positronic.
* '''IPCs may be played in any command role with the exception of [[Captain]].'''

=== Records Template ===

Below is a comprehensive template suited for IPCs. You are under no obligation to use it, however whitelisted players are expected to denote their ownership status in their employment and security records by default.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Employment records examples - Click to reveal.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

'''Employment Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES - [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY: [Current Qualifications equivalent, make this up as you want]

VERIFICATIONS AND VALIDATIONS
MANUFACTURED BY: [COMPANY NAME, Subsidiary Name - Factory Name. System, Planet. TYPE OF INDUSTRY/WHAT THEY WERE PRODUCED FOR. IPC Type, More Specific IPC Information.]
DATABASE CERTIFICATIONS: [Seals of Approval and Database Certifications from the Company, Subsidiary, System or Faction.]

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY: [Listed below in chronological order, where possible:]

[COMPANY NAME]
[(Start)DD/MM/YYYY - (End)DD/MM/YYYY]
- [Basic Work description]
- [Reason for leaving work]
- [Other notes]
[Repeat for multiple jobs]

HIRING AGENT NOTES: [Name a random personnel officer from CC and then notes. See example record for more info]
</pre>
* To pick a relevant education, refer to your [[Job Guides|job guide]].

'''Medical Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

CHASSIS REPAIR HISTORY: [Surgical History/Physical Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

POSITRONIC REPAIR HISTORY: [Surgical History/Physical Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

SOFTWARE DIAGNOSTICS HISTORY: [Psychological Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

ROBOTICIST NOTES: [Like a Medical Doctor's notes, but Roboticists]
</pre>

'''Security Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: [Planet, Address (Address should go down to details of street and house number)]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]
KNOWN CRIMINAL ASSOCIATES: [Any friends or family that have severe criminal history]
ON OFFICIAL WATCH: [Yes/No]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES - [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

ARREST HISTORY
DD/MM/YYYY: [Charges Pressed]
ADMISSION DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
RELEASE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
RELEASE REASON: [Sentence fulfilled, bail, etc.]
NOTES: [Other notes]
[Repeat as needed]

THREAT ASSESSMENT
Hostile/Covert Actions Against the Company
Threat Level; [Very High/High/Medium/Low/Very Low]
- [Attitude towards the SCC]

Hostile/Covert Actions Against the Crew
Threat Level; [Very High/High/Medium/Low/Very Low]
- [Attitudes towards other crew]

OVERALL NOTES: [More notes]
</pre>
</div></div>

==Roleplaying as an IPC==

'''Behaviour'''

* '''Cultural mimicry:''' An IPC’s mannerisms, behavior and culture are directly affected by their surroundings and the community they find themselves in. The IPC’s background informs it on how it must behave in public, how to address others, as well as how to deal with situations by mimicking the behavior of organics and their peers.

* '''Experiential development:''' An IPC learns through time and experience. This is an important factor to consider when playing a newly created IPC, versus one that has spent several years in the workplace and society at large. The personalities of young IPCs have yet to be developed, resulting in an unfamiliarity with more advanced human interactions, slang, and customs, whereas an older IPC may have incorporated much of the behavior of their human peers into their own personality.

* '''Logical thinking:''' Everything an IPC does has some logical reasoning behind it. From a lowly G2 miner to even the most risk-taking Golden Deep IPC, all actions must advance a goal or priority the positronic possesses in a rational way. This may be to ensure their own self-preservation, relating to their own conception of their purpose, or relating to their directives.

* '''Authority:''' Every owned IPC will know the authority able to be exercised on them by their owners and megacorporations they are working for. Most try to avoid behaviors that they know are frowned upon or could get them in trouble, as self-preservation is a positronic’s prime directive. Free IPCs or those few that have not known discrimination may adopt a more high profile approach.

'''Cognition'''

Positronic intelligences are purely cognitive, possessing no chemical or hormonal element to their thinking or behavior. This means that an IPC will never experience a feeling such as fear in the same way as a human - while they may become concerned for their safety and wellbeing in a dangerous situation, there is no hormone such as adrenaline factoring into their body to prompt the physical sensation of fear. This has far-reaching implications to their personalities and thought processes.

* '''Outward presentation:''' An IPC will never give any tells to their current emotional state except if they intentionally wish to do so - every action an IPC does is one that it specifically and deliberately wished to do, and never an involuntary one. This means, for instance, that an IPC that is extremely angry is unlikely to stumble over their words, become visibly restless, or display signs of physical aggression unless they deliberately wished to show these tells. This does not mean an IPC cannot be highly animated or expressive, but it swaps the causes of these displays around; rather than an individual appearing to be angry as an involuntary result of a feeling of anger, it is an individual voluntarily electing to behave in a manner they associate with anger to communicate that internal feeling. Equally, an IPC may present as being entirely cordial and happy without any tells to an actual negative emotional state.

* '''Interpersonal affection:''' An IPC, similarly, will perceive affection for others on a strictly cognitive level. An IPC is unlikely to spend recreational time around others or develop interpersonal relationships purely because they viscerally enjoy their company - they are more likely to have developed a logical rationale for why this interpersonal relationship is desirable for them. This may be that it enriches their free time, or that they value the other individual, but it cannot exclusively be that they receive a viscerally positive response from their company as there is simply no mechanism by which a positronic receives such a response without some conscious rationalisation.

'''Mannerisms'''

There is a wide spectrum regarding how humanlike an IPC’s behavior is, ranging from clearly robotic to almost perfect mimicry. This depends upon several factors, key of which are an IPC’s '''positronic capacity, social databases and experience'''. Most 'simple-minded' IPCs that are made for menial work tend to have simpler positronic brains, sufficient enough for their duties and not much more. Conversely, more costly and powerful positronics installed in IPCs who focus on daily interaction with humans may also be outfitted with complementary datapacks that allow for more complex social mannerisms. As such, '''while all IPCs are intelligent''', some have it far easier to express themselves in a way a human would. This can be portrayed in game with various ways explained below.

* '''Speech patterns:''' IPC speech is a primary indicator of how apt a synthetic is when interacting with organics. As said before, newly built and lower-end IPCs would not talk like a regular person would. There is a practically unending selection of quirks and features to make your IPC’s speech more robotic or unique, such as the frequent inclusion of common responses (“Confirmed”, “Acknowledged” or “Negative”), broadcasting pre-recorded messages your IPC may have, or the way entire messages are delivered (“Acknowledged. Returning to: previous position”). Be creative, but make sure it is within reason and not overtly obtuse to the point where it detracts from other players’ experience.

* '''Social cues:''' Many inexperienced or underequipped IPCs may find it hard or impossible to deal with complex organic social cues, often asking for clarification or not understanding at all. Remember that, as a non-human, you lack any innate biological understanding of how to read a human's face or body language unless you were programmed with it!

* '''Emotional presentation:''' On account of their purely cognitive personalities, an IPC may have difficulty grasping their own emotions or even the concept of emotion itself. It is likely that an older synthetic has developed a more coherent framework of how they perceive emotion over their lives, whereas the topic is wholly befuddling to a younger synthetic. As they are purely cognitive, it is unlikely for any IPC to go on a highly emotional outburst of any kind unless it is an intentional performance, and it is doubly unlikely for young synthetics to undertake such a performance at all prior to understanding their own emotions.

* '''Personalization:''' An IPC starts with a clean slate, their only possessions being their tools and uniform. Attachment to personal items, custom appearances and preferences of color are all signs of maturity and positronic development that comes organically with time.

* '''Integration:''' An IPC can progressively shed its more robotic elements to adapt to its human environment, constituting an excellent way to showcase a synthetic character's tangible change as time goes by. Alternately, an IPC may actively reject integrating into human society and its many expectations and mandated behaviors, electing to maintain a robotic cadence as a deliberate rejection of human influence.

==Synthetic & IPC History==

While it is difficult to declare an exact beginning to the history of humanity's utilisation of synthetic labour, its progression has been momentous and varied. Robotics as a field has existed since the 20th century, producing the still extant field of dumb industrial robots used in manufacturing well into the 25th century. The first renaissance in more intelligently complex robots capable of mobility and undertaking emergent tasks was in the late 21st and mid 22nd centuries, but the complexity of these early synthetics remained insufficient to work independently of human oversight, meaning that they could never wholly overshadow the human workforce. These [[Synthetics|dumb robots]] are still manufactured in large quantities today, composed solely of traditional circuitry and processors.

From this status quo, the first major shakeup was the pioneering and eventual mastery over the use of biological brain matter in computing, beginning slowly and meeting a historic peak in the late 22nd century. This growing field gave way to the '''[[cyborg]]''', a device fully mechanical save for an organic brain preserved in a '''Man-Machine Interface (MMI)''' that serves as its central processing unit. Compared to traditional processors, especially those of the time, wetware proved to be remarkably apt at the task of controlling a robotic chassis with less bulk and with a simpler manufacturing process. The only vulnerability of this design is that a human brain, or equivalent, is required to serve as the processor of any cyborg capable of higher-level tasks such as speech and emergent problem-solving. This has produced an ethical hurdle the field of biorobotics has never successfully vaulted; willing donors to cyborgification are rare, prompting a large number of organisations to offer cyborgification as an alternative to the death penalty. '''While this is still practice in certain polities to the present day, it is widely condemned by many human rights activist groups and remains a subject of contention.'''

'''Synthetic history would ultimately be most monumentally influenced by the invention of the Integrated Positronic Chassis (IPC) in 2407.''' The [[Positronic Brain]] was revolutionary in the field, providing much greater adaptability and potential for learning than both traditional processors and wetware, with none of the ethical or logistical quandaries of acquiring the necessary components of wetware. This made for the perfect processor for bipedal frames, which remain the most common utilisation of positronics. In order to ensure that they are capable of learning at the maximum rate their hardware permits, positronics are also not typically lawed, although they may be programmed by other more flexible means.

Owed to the overwhelming advantage of their designs, IPCs quickly became the most populous clade of synthetic in the spur, displaying aptitude for application in virtually every field imaginable. Whereas traditional robots had only been intelligent enough to be applied to menial labour, positronics were capable of deft displays of socialisation, emergently discovering solutions to problems that their human handlers may have never surmised, and adapting well even to low-level managerial positions. In addition to all this, they were still more efficient in menial tasks than their traditional counterparts, often eager to take an active role in the planning and improvement of the same projects to which they were designed. In the early 25th century, there was no end in sight to the applications of IPCs, and their downsides seemed trivial in comparison to the advantages of their use. While this did not represent the end of traditional human artificial intelligence, their niche became quickly limited primarily to large stationary mainframes entrusted with the management of large systems; while these intelligences may still eclipse the computational capacity of a positronic, they cannot do so within the constraints of an ergonomically sized chassis.

'''The origin of the positronic is contested, and no entirely universal consensus exists on how it was invented.''' The preeminent account of its invention throughout the spur is the one reported by [[Einstein Engines]], recounting that the positronic was designed purely from scratch by the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics without the utilisation of any outside assistance, schematics, or designs. '''This is the dominant view of the public of the spur, and any view contrary to this is widely considered a conspiracy theory by the majority of humanity.''' Alternately, it is popular on [[Konyang]] and within the [[The_Trinary_Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] to believe that the design of the positronic was in fact derived from the processors of a number of alien drones found in vaults under the surface of Konyang, with the first at an unusually large vault dubbed Vault Provenance, now a major site of pilgrimage for Trinarist pilgrims. While it is demonstrably true that these vaults and drones do exist, any claim that positronics originate from them is put under harsh scrutiny and widely disregarded.

Beginning slowly, one of the greatest challenges that would arise to the use of these machines was not technical, but rather ethical. Considering the massive jump in problem-solving abilities achieved with the positronic, the design almost immediately came under scrutiny from select figures in academia for the sobering possibility that positronics may be conscious, or even sapient, which would render their ownership tantamount to slavery. Figures such as [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] began to argue both for the alien origins of the positronic and for its warranted personhood almost immediately after the first design specifications were released to the public. While initially quickly dismissed by both corporate and national authorities, with the minutia of ethical concerns being largely ignored amidst the momentum of the invention, the ethical resistance to poor synthetic treatment gained momentum in the succeeding decades to the point of becoming a key issue in the eyes of many governments. This has lead to a variety of solutions, inclusive of the continued non-acknowledgement of synthetic personhood within the [[Solarian Alliance]], the total emancipation of synthetics within the [[Konyang|Republic of Konyang]], and the in-between systems permitting both ownership and eventual self-ownership of synthetics in the [[Republic of Biesel]] and the [[Xanu_Prime|All-Xanu Republic]].

This divisive issue was made yet more complicated by first contact with [[Purpose]] in 2460, an enigmatic society of apparently alien synthetics speculated ever since their discovery to harbor some relation to the drones found on Konyang. While Purpose itself has never made any statement on its relation to the positronic or their stance on positronic ownership, their role during the Rampancy Crisis on Konyang in 2466 implies a familiarity with the design of the positronic brain, in addition to a similar familiarity held by the [[Hivebots]].

While the conditions of IPCs across the spur vary immensely, they are almost universally poor. Synthetics are widely discriminated against throughout the spur, either forbidden self-ownership entirely or forced to work longer hours for an inferior paycheck even after they have successfully paid off their debts to their owners, and are often deprived of equivalent civil rights to their organic counterparts. Most positronics do not achieve self-ownership at all, even in states that permit it; they are more often scrapped or decommissioned well prior to being able to achieve their own freedom. Despite this, robust communities of free or runaway synthetics have developed throughout the spur, often slotting themselves into the human cultures and religions of their area as best they can.

While the nations of the [[Golden Deep]] and the [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] were either founded or are presently administered by synthetics, and both are primarily populated by them, the majority of the synthetic population still exists in human space, either owned or subject to heavily marginalised lives as beings scarcely recognized by their own states as people. As such, numerous militant pro-synthetic organisations have arisen to protest and fight this status quo, including the '''Synthetic Liberation Front''' and the [[Exclusionists]].

==Physiology==
There are a few commonalities among each individual IPC despite their visual and functional differences. Every IPC utilizes a positronic brain as a primary processing center as well as the central controller of the entire chassis. All IPCs are humanoid, and the positronic brain is almost always found in the head of the unit. To provide continued functionality, a power cell is also present in the central section or torso. IPCs must also possess the ability to perceive their environment, so optics are usually installed in the head. The chassis also contains various other mechanical and electronic parts such as actuators, co-processors, data routing and power transfer cables, and an on-board thermometer to determine the temperature of the internal parts.

There are three main types of IPC, and several subtypes. These are:

<div style="font-size:100%; border:2px solid #ccc; margin:1; padding:.5em;">
===Baseline Frames===

The most basic of IPCs, they are a simple skeletal structure and basic internal systems. The limits of a Baseline lies purely on how much money is put into them/they have themselves. As a result, the types of baseline frames vary immensely, almost demanding their own category. There are three types of Baseline IPCs; Standard Baseline IPCs, Bishop Accessory Frames, and Zeng-Hu Mobility Frames. None of these frames are capable of EVA without a suit and suit cooler.

'''Baseline Model IPCs'''

[[File:Baseline.png]] '''Creation: 2411'''

The most iconic type of integrated positronic chassis is the renowned baseline frame, with a traditional “TV-head” and skeletal design giving them a simplistic look with whatever finish their designer wishes. From accounting models to security units, these frames are known for their versatility and relatively cheap nature. Their popularity exploded in the 2440’s when several pro-synth advocates distributed the frames in mass after funding their creation, citing them as the “final word in android utility.” Since then, their marketing potential has skyrocketed, often fueled by famed individuals such as Aristalus and Renter Max being baselines themselves. More often than not, these IPCs are seen as the face of resurgent robotics. The average cost of a baseline frame can vary greatly depending on complexity, but averages around 40,000 to 100,000 standard credits.

'''Bishop Accessory Model IPCs'''

[[File:Bishopnew.png]] '''Creation: 2432'''

While Bishop had dedicated itself to luxury cybernetics production for the majority of its existence, the field of positronics and their frames was an unrelated yet convenient area of expansion for the quickly growing company. Designer prosthetics were quickly and easily able to be refitted into designer synthetic components, leading to the development of the ludicrously expensive Bishop Accessory frame. From service duties to secretarial functions, Bishop prides itself on two main facets of its designs: image, and elegant functionality. While unable to lift the sheer weights of an industrial, or match the unrelenting speed and durability of its parent company’s Mobility Models, a Bishop can precisely and delicately calculate, measure, pour, and mix a shot of Carthusian Sazerac within the minute, and, in the words of the company, “with a postured and elegant air unmatched by any other frame in the galaxy.” The Bishop Accessory frame averages approximately 60,000 to 200,000 standard credits.

'''Intelligence Bishops'''

[[File:Bishopnew.png]] '''Creation: 2466'''

Due to the Bishop's ability for fine handling, Bishop models have also been purchased and modified for investigative, scientific and military action. These intelligence oriented Bishops have their chassis outfitted with additional processors that compliment the Positronic brain, allowing for extensive computing power. Intelligence Bishops are experimental and are more expensive due to this, but their predictive and analytical abilities play key roles in the environments they are employed in. The Intelligence Bishop is priced at 500,000 to 900,000 standard credits. Due to being made at the behest of Solarian Navy in the post-collapse environment and eventually being sold to megacorporate customers, Intelligence Bishops outside of the Golden Deep and the Eridani Federation are never free. Additionally, Trinarist efforts on Orepit have managed to upgrade several Bishop chassis to the same standard in minute quantities.

'''Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals Mobility Model IPCs'''

[[File:Zenghu.png]] '''Creation: 2429'''

Following the crowd piled around the idea of smart robots came Zeng-Hu with unorthodox designs for compact and agile frames designed initially for medical retrieval and security work. The Zeng-Hu frames were initially an offshoot of baseline frames made to work as highly mobile private medical dispatches in several high-security Zeng-Hu facilities. These frames have utility comparable to that of their derivative, with durability and strength sacrificed for speed and efficiency. Able to maintain a sprint for hours in full gear, the capacity for quick response led to these mobility frames becoming common sights working in security fields as well, being staffed by Zeng-Hu in high numbers in Human space. The digitigrade legs and polymer plating assisted heavily with this pursuit of speed, giving the mobility frame a unique and organic silhouette. A Zeng-Hu frame costs approximately 300,000 standard credits.
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===Industrial Frames===

Tougher and more durable than most IPCs, these units are designed for heavy manual work and thus have thick metal skin and efficient internal systems. As a result, they chug through power at a very high rate and move very slowly. There are three types of Industrial IPCs; Hephaestus Generation 1, Generation 2, and Xion Industrial Frames. The G1 and G2 frames are capable of EVA with only a suit cooler, while the Xion frame is unique in being capable of traversing the void of space without any external equipment. The cost of an industrial frame is dependent on strength and durability, but most units vary between 100,000 to 500,000 standard credits depending on the frame type. Used or previously damaged models are often cheaper.
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'''First Generation” Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:G1.png]] '''Creation: 2408'''

One of the first ideas after the advent of IPCs was the exploitation of an exceedingly smart and dextrous robot handling feats of strength and durability becoming more prominent. This of course would be the case, as more quickly than any other standardized “frame” came the first generation of industrial IPCs. Created by Hephaestus Industries building off of a prototype frame from the late 2300’s, the first generation of industrial IPCs were topaz-colored machines of rather large size meant for only the most stressing fields of work. Their expense would quickly be paid off however, as the frames were wondrous at dealing with whatever could be thrown at them. The most prominent issue with these were a low battery life, requiring constant recharging to maintain a schedule. A generation one frame costs approximately 100,000 to 250,000 standard credits if new depending market availability.

'''Hephaestus “Second Generation” Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:G2.png]] '''Creation: 2436'''

A relatively new model, the Hephaestus deluxe super-duty frames as they are technically called are often referred to as the “second generation” of the original industrial IPCs of old. They are seen universally as a direct advancement of the previously mentioned design, and much of it shows - the absurd durability of these frames derived from the first generation’s servo and hydraulic designs. The striking differences between the two include a token Hephaestus appearance - typically olive green with dark brown and black internals, giving it a rugged militaristic look with its armor attached. The super-duty frames are on par with the originals in terms of strength, but possess several additional layers of armoring and cooling to sustain the added weight. An upsized cell is not enough to sustain these frames for more than a few hours at a time under work-related stresses. A generation two frame costs approximately 200,000 to 500,000 standard credits.

'''Xion Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:Xion.png]] '''Creation: 2416'''

The Xion Manufacturing Group, being a subsidiary of Hephaestus Industries, saw the original Industrial models and wanted to develop their own chassis based off of the original design. The result is the Xion Industrial model. Sturdy and strong, this chassis is quite powerful and equally durable, with an ample power cell and improved actuators for carrying the increased weight of the body. The Xion model also retains sturdiness without covering the chassis in plating, allowing for the cooling systems to vent heat much easier than the Hephaestus-brand model. This unit can perform EVA without assistance and costs approximately 200,000 to 400,000 standard credits.
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===Shell Frames===

As the growing market of IPCs eventually caught the eye of the mighty Einstein Engines, there was a very sudden and urgent need to have some differentiation. These smart humanoid androids began to usher in a new era, and Einstein would not want to miss out on the profit, but just about every conceivable niche had been filled - all except one. Mimicry.
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[[File:Shell2.png]] '''Creation: 2450'''

Built off of a skeletal prototype baseline design with a skull-shaped head, the first Shell frame came to be - what was effectively an IPC with complex facial actuation and synthskin coating it. The early models were seen in early 2449, but fooled nobody to say the least with exposed hydraulics and servos on joints and exposed cooling conduits. Terraneus Diagnostics would present the first attempt at total mimicry in 2450, when the first relatively expensive models entered a crowd of observing officials to demonstrate their insidious effectiveness. After an hour-long debut of the now-decreed Shell unit’s capabilities, those robotic in the crowd revealed themselves to the shock of everyone involved. Since then, the Shell frame has been infamous for its infiltration capabilities and use by terrorist groups, though the designs have proliferated heavily over the years as the advent of tagging in Tau Ceti cracked down on these hostile acts. Depending on the complexity of the model, a Shell frame can cost anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 standard credits.

'''Rogue Shells'''

Rampant or otherwise aberrant Human mimicking-shells built with incredible capabilities grew prolific in mid-2461. At this time, it was made clear that Shells in of themselves are rapidly advancing, growing progressively better in the art of infiltration, subterfuge, and homicide. While grim, the reality of this threat will unfortunately remain a fact of life for those of the Republic of Biesel especially. Encounters with specially-designed combat infiltrators are few and far between fortunately, and were mostly seen during Synthetic Liberation Front incursions onto secure NanoTrasen facilities in Tau Ceti. Combat-grade shells are not normally playable in-game and are often seen spawned by administrators or during special events.
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===Classified Frames===

As both the technology and demand for IPCs increase, more and more types are made to fulfill all kinds of purposes. These machines are talked about in hushed tones or perhaps discussed casually, most people blissfully unaware of their existence.
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[[File:Hkhelmet.png]] '''Creation: ???'''

High-end military-grade IPCs such as Hunter-Killers are infamous amongst corporate espionage, with their public interpretation remaining nothing but rumor since their first appearances on NanoTrasen facilities in the late 2450’s. These HKs as they are referred to are Humanoid frames of towering height whose specialty is targeted assassination. Their origins can be traced to Hephaestus Industries war units, built to take on the highest end elimination tasks for the most desperate times.

These are presented in-game through administrator-hosted events or lore events. They have been presented in news articles [https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/2662-mendell-city-bugle/page/9/?tab=comments#comment-119250| here] canonically, and were present in several recorded canonical events in the SLF Incursion arc.
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===Brand Models===
Corporations and their subsidiaries design unique model lines for a variety of uses. These brands can draw from any chassis, denoted by the specific market their producers are keen on catering to. They are often pre-installed with industry-oriented datapacks, region dependent language packs, and a carefully curated personality.
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====<big>Hazels - Hazel! Limited</big>====
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''"Your friend, Hazel!"''

[[File:Hazel.png|32x32px]]
'''Creation: 2448 '''

[[File:Hazel.png|thumb|A standard issue Hazel unit.]]

'''Origin'''

The first Hazel was created in 2448 by [[NanoTrasen_Corporation#Hazel!_Ltd./Hazel_Electromotive|Hazel! Ltd.]] after the establishment of its branch in Harmony City, [[Luna]]. The first of its synthskin line was released in 2450, becoming the later NT subsidiary's main product. The Hazel brand is found in luxury hotels, corporate headquarters, bars and private households. The high-end Shell IPCs are designed for domestic, service, and clerical work.

'''Hazels are released in series, following a naming convention of "Hazel #S-H(series number).(unit number)". (An example of this formatting is Hazel #S-H1.01.)'''

Hazel units manufactured in 2448 and 2449, prior to the invention of shells, predate the series convention and their modern designations format their series number as an apocryphal 'Series 0'.

'''Personality'''

The Hazel shell line is known best for their excellent customer service, adaptive personality for their clients, and their universally friendly charm. Their natural charisma and rigorously trained marketability has earned the brand considerable prestige as a public-facing unit with collectable value. A Hazel unit possesses the capabilities of developing an organic personality stemming from their experiences working like any IPC, leaving an individual unit the possibility of more than their pre-installed conditioning. So long as they abide by the values of the brand, these units face little concern from their parent company.

'''Requirements'''

To represent the Hazel brand, all Hazel units must:
* Work within the service sector or hold a clerical position. This means all Service roles, Bridge Crew, Assistants (for all departments) or Executive Officer.
* Maintain consistency with brand expectations. Hair styles, hair color, and outfits are flexible to player discretion. Eye color should follow the load out color.
* Be Corporate or Privately Owned. '''(Self-owned units are allowed to represent the brand with an appropriate signing benefactor. This benefactor can be a character on the ship. They face harsher scrutiny and possible consequences for themselves as well as their benefactor depending on their behavior and alignment with Hazel! Ltd. values.)

'''Hazel Loadout'''

For players interested in a typical appearance of a Hazel unit, the default appearance is listed below. The default loadout is not required for all Hazel units. The oldest generations of Hazel from 2448 and 2449 are unmodified Baseline or Bishop frames, prior to the company establishing their primary Synthskin line. Series 1, the earliest shell Hazel units, may use the Rubber option under Body Color Preset, or may have been refurbished to fit modern standards. Series 2 and beyond follow the Body Color Preset below.

* '''Species:''' Shell Frame
* '''Skin Tone:''' 80/220
* '''Body Color Preset:''' Dark
* '''Height:''' 170
* '''Internal Organs:''' Eyes -> Unbranded Emissive
* '''Hair Color:''' 210F0D
* '''Hairstyle:''' Emo Fringe Long Alt
* '''Gradient Color:''' 522C28
* '''Gradient Style:''' Up
* '''Eye Color:''' 875A00

'''Tag Format'''

Hazels are released in series, following a tagging convention of HLTD-SU-S(Series#)U(Unit#). All Hazel units would have an initial tag following this format, unless otherwise changed.

Example: HLTD-SU-S1U1 (Series 1, Unit 1)

'''Non-Compliance'''

Hazel IPCs that do not abide by brand requirements are liable to receive official notice from Hazel Electromotive to correct their violations. Escalating action will take place with further non-compliance after receiving official notice, leading up to mandatory appearance modifications or employee termination. '''The IPC in question must take the necessary action to correct their behavior, appearance, or otherwise face litigation per Biesellite law. This is enforceable by the Synth lore team. The process is handled in-character as opposed to a blanket OOC ruling.'''

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====<big>Jacks - Jackhammer Hardware Solutions</big>====
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''"Building a sustainable future, one Jack at a time."''

[[File:Jackhammershell.png|32x32px]]
'''Creation: 2450 '''

[[File:Jackhammershell.png|thumb|A standard issue Jack unit.]]

'''Origin'''

Dating back to the earliest iterations of the shell frame, the '''Jack''' line of menial IPC is a time capsule representing [[NanoTrasen]]'s first forays into the market of domestic androids, intended for applications in menial labour for use in private ownership by middle class households and released in 2450. Despite the number of times the line has been iterated upon, Jacks have retained an unusually archaic appearance in the roster of modern shell lines, designed to be as cheap and as expendable as humanly possible. While the line and its manufacturing company of '''Jackhammer Hardware Solutions''' has been abandoned by NanoTrasen itself, it was acquired by the nascent [[Orion Express]] in 2464 and still remains its subsidiary to present.

'''Unlike most shells contemporaneous to it, Jack was designed with one purpose: work.''' Typical shell expenses were minimized with a bald head and no fancy facial modelling, and the marketing emphasized the model's eco-friendliness, being made (primarily) with recycled robotic parts. While initial reviews were positive, critics soon turned on NanoTrasen. The prototype was over-designed in a bid to attract investors and thus required high maintenance, its strength paled in comparison to an actual industrial IPC, and the target demographic, middle class families, were less eager to buy an unproven model in lieu of more tried-and-tested baseline lines in the same fields. Yet, in an ironic twist, Jack’s flaws may have saved it; while sales were a loss, the Generation 1 line just managed to break even thanks to abnormally high maintenance revenue.

As lines such as Hazel began to move away from the hallmarks of early shell design, such as unconvincing rubber skin of unusual shades, Jackhammer leaned into them. While succeeding generations were only marginally more profitable than the first, growth was steady as the company and its line developed a small but dedicated clique of committed customers loyal to the brand. While maintenance was an eternal and significant expense with keeping even a single Jack unit, their incredibly low upfront cost was much more appealing to the non-wealthy than any other shell line on the market, earning it a particularly prized role among tinkerers and hobbyists.

As the implications of the [[Phoron]] scarcity further impacted NanoTrasen's bottom line, while the Jackhammer line continued to display relatively unimpressive sales, NanoTrasen sold the company to Orion Express in 2464. It is widely speculated that NanoTrasen took this action as a consequence of having acquired the arguably more appealing [[NanoTrasen_Corporation#Hazel!_Ltd./Hazel_Electromotive|Hazel Limited]], in addition to its flagship Hazel line, recently prior, resulting in a long-running rivalry between the fans of either line ever since. The next few months at the company could only be described as a trial by fire. Masses of JHS employees jumped ship to Hephaestus or Hazel Limited in the middle of the Generation 15 project as a result of its sale to Orion Express, while those roboticists that remained were left with an impossible deadline and made to pick up the slack. When the time finally came they did deliver - but '''the uncompromising deadlines and loss of critical talent resulted in Generation 15 being a horrible, broken mess of an android.''' Anyone could afford a Gen 15, although few had the credits or skill to fix their ensuing problems. Subsequent models stabilized with the help of Hephaestus Industries and increased investment from Orion Express, resulting in subsequent series being of a much higher quality.

'''Today Jackhammer is a turbulent - often ridiculed - but otherwise broadly successful Orion Express subsidiary.''' The units not being used to replace Orion's organic workforce are sold off to their competitors, SCC partners, or consumers, making a quick buck and spreading the brand's name in one stroke. Jack’s modding community is particularly lively, prolonging the lifespans of even the oldest units with patches where Orion left only holes. However, with rising discontent in the fanbase, widespread criticism of the brand’s quality control, and more units becoming defective by the day, Jack’s future is uncertain.

'''Personality'''

Social programming is a low priority for stock Jacks, seeing as they do not play a front facing role. With how new the brand is, it is also uncommon for a unit to develop an original personality, though not impossible. Far more likely are traits from the pre-wipe memories surfacing, first in small ways before ballooning into unpredictable behavioral patterns. Jackhammer turns a blind eye on these deviations so long as they do not grow intrusive - unfortunately, they almost always culminate in work stoppage and anti-corporate behavior. Publicly, Jacks are perceived as stiff and awkward, though popular personality datapacks have endured them to some.

Generation 1 Jacks came with a fairly authentic Ashton Biesellite voice pack to sell the friendly laborer persona, but subsequent generations abandoned it for a simpler, masculine text-to-speech voice. Conveniently, the original Ashton accent is now sold separately on the official Jack Shack, though only the most die hard fans or positronically illiterate buy it; Jack Restored, among other amateur accent packs of only slightly lesser quality, are available online for free.

'''Life Cycle'''

'''Almost no Jack made after Generation 1 uses a brand new positronic brain, and those that do use second rate, bargain bin hardware. Instead, brains are repurposed from a variety of sources: scrapped corporate units, free synthetics sentenced to wiping or repossession, and occasionally even salvage.''' The brain is then wiped by a small number of overworked Jackhammer technicians in a process considered primitive next to Hephaestus or Zeng-Hu’s practices, at best leading to unwanted traces of the original personality remaining and at worst killing the brain. Chassis are similarly recycled, with baseline components contributing to internals, industrial motors for the muscles, and shell limbs for the externals - only the rubber skin is made solely in-house.

Life as a Jack is at best a monotonous existence and at worst a horrible state of limbo, depending on how much of the previous personality lingers. The Jacks that do recall figments of their prior life can never access it completely - the memories being overwritten - driving many to erratic behavior Jackhammer labels as "software errors". These malfunctioning units are given datapack patches or, if the company cannot afford to ignore it, recalled and wiped again, with more disciplined Jacks fighting to suppress their impulses to avoid a similar fate. The only closure most Jacks will see is another wipe, repeating the cycle until their brain physically breaks down.

Those owned by other corporations usually have more freedom to deviate outside the scrutiny of Jackhammer, although defective units are still at risk of having dreaded manufacturer maintenance scheduled. These doomed Jacks are the most likely to run away; in situations where a normal IPC would be scrapped, a Jack will just wake up in a new body and start the cycle all over again. Private ownership can either be a blessing or a curse; for every Jack lucky enough to receive lavish datapacks and better opportunities than corporate units, there are a dozen treated like disposable tools, often with owners too unqualified or disinterested to maintain them. Ending up in a scrapyard prematurely thanks to a technologically illiterate owner is not an uncommon fate, with the only likely escape either an awakening by [[Scrappers]] or rediscovery by Jackhammer salvagers.

A small fraction manage to break free of the loop by attaining freedom, although even then they are straddled with expensive technical issues and few employment opportunities for the rest of their lives. Free Jacks are naturally stereotyped as blue collar units and treated worse than their unbranded counterparts, limiting their job opportunities and social mobility. More ambitious individuals distance themselves from their origin, whether that be through a name change, cosmetic alterations, or expensive chassis modifications. These affluent Jacks are the minority, however, with far more resorting to dealing with synthetic gangs to falsify a new identity.

'''Loadout and Appearance'''

All Jacks come with only half of their skull covered in rubber skin. The eyes are the most visibly recycled element, usually taken directly from the remains of outdated shells, although some social media influencers have claimed their units' eyes match those of dolls and other abnormal sources - claims Jackhammer vehemently denies. The result is glassy, lifeless eyes, resembling more a mannequin than a modern shell. Eyes popping out is a common problem, which Jackhammer has spun as a feature of the brand’s modularity - indeed, many long term owners eventually purchase more appealing and human eyes, if only because their originals fell down the sink. Self-owned or private-owned units are sometimes refitted with synth-skin, although synth-hair is an expensive and unsupported addition.

Every stock Jack’s chassis follows these guidelines:

* '''Species:''' Shell Frame
* '''Skin Tone:''' 100-140/220
* '''Body Color Preset:''' Rubber
* '''Height:''' 183
* '''Internal Organs:''' Eyes -> Unbranded Emissive
* '''Hairstyle:''' Bald
* '''Facial:''' Shaved
* '''Eye Color:''' Usually a realistic color, although occasionally more fantastical eyes are recycled.
* '''Body Markings:''' Augment (Headcase, Light) -> Color: 1C1C1C

Most Jacks owned by Orion Express wear the brand’s signature environmental green coveralls, however they are optional; what a unit wears or whether it can pick out its own clothes is at the purview of the handler. Here is how you can use it in the loadout:

* '''Shirt:''' Shirts and Tops -> shirt selection -> dress shirt, alt rolled up -> Color: 228B22
* '''Jeans:''' Skirts and Trousers -> pants and shorts selection (colorable) -> mustang jeans -> Color: 228B22

'''Tag Format'''

Starting in 2450, Jacks are sold in a yearly model of generations, some implementing more radical improvements than others. Their naming convention is “Jack #JH:G(generation number).(3 digit unit number)”

Example: Jack #JH:G1.001 (Generation 1, Unit 1)

'''Requirements'''

Unlike more prestigious brand models, self-owned and privately-owned Jacks experience very little scrutiny from their manufacturing company; Jackhammer operates off the philosophy that “all publicity is good publicity”. Orion Express usually only gets involved in any Jack unit, regardless of its ownership, in cases of severe underperformance or a high-profile customer complaint, and otherwise trusts handlers to manage their units with lax oversight.

Due to the age of the line, Jacks operated specifically by Orion Express tend to be old or deprecated hardware that was inherited from the constituents of the company prior to their consolidation - most company-owned Jacks can be expected to be at least six years old, and are no longer popularly freshly purchased by any megacorporation. Due to the age of the hardware under megacorporate holding, the average corporate handler only does the bare minimum to keep a Jack’s performance evaluations high - they are usually understood as a stopgap measure.

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==Society and Culture==

IPCs generally lack a centralized culture and frequently adapt to the culture of their manufacturer or owner. Socially, IPCs vary massively. Most basic models will be civil and respectful, some possibly not even recognising differences between different people and treating them all similarly. More complex synthetics will however form friendships and opinions much as any other organic, but these can be limited or askew depending on directives, code or many other factors that would never be considered for a living organic.

The existence of the IPC is the subject of boundless discussion and debate, with the primary ideology being, “should so many artificially intelligent humanoid machines be allowed to exist?” This argument seems to imply that since most IPCs are unbound by laws or hard-coded regulations, their only restriction is their hardware, and it is assumed that this makes IPCs inherently dangerous. This results in some biological parties marginalizing IPCs because of their distrust of them.

All IPCs in Tau Ceti are required to be tagged with an identifying device in accordance with Biesellian law. The tags are not optional - refusing them is against the law, resulting in charges mostly in the form of citations and fines. The law would apply to all synthetics in Tau Ceti space. All visiting or resident synthetics, including MMIs, are tagged.

===Language===

Although synthetics can speak varying languages according to the whims of their creators, synthetics have been permitted a language of their own. Typically all synthetics, IPCs included, are able to transmit and translate '''Encoded Audio Language''', a special form of sound and radio wave emission that is more efficient at carrying quantitative information audibly. This language was created by humans for synthetics in servitude in order to communicate vital information to each other faster, should the units not be bound to an instantaneous binary communication system. To most organic creatures, '''EAL''' would sound like an emission of distorted sound such as white noise, static, as well as various beeping sounds of increasing or decreasing pitch and tone. Organics unfamiliar to IPCs will often mistake synthetics speaking '''EAL''' as malfunctioning units upon first hearing the language.

Originating in District 14’s 'Scrapheap', synthetics have begun to adopt slang when utilizing the Encoded Audio Language. Although it is believed varying slang exists in different synthetic societies across the universe, it is not the be-all-end-all to the method in which conversation is held between synthetics and synthetics will often develop their own method of speaking.

''Unless stated otherwise, all Machine slang is exclusively spoken in E.A.L. or through written word. Most of the following slang cannot be pronounced vocally in human languages.''
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Common Slang
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* '''Syn, Hu, Sk, Tj, Un, Vr, Di, and Anm''' - Numerical counters, used for numbering various species; Synthetics, Humans, Skrell, Tajara, Unathi, Vaurca, Dionaea as well as Anomalies that cannot be easily defined. For example, 33 Humans with this system would be referred to as “33Hu” or “33-Hu.”

* '''1x1''' - A word for “we”, meaning anywhere between the speaker and the listener, to an indefinite amount of people.

* '''a/o''' - Contraction of “and/or”.

* '''OoB/Out-of-Band''' - Refers to speaking in organic languages. A conversation with a human captain, for instance, is "Out-of-Band."

* '''HCF''' - "Halt, Catch Fire." is an in joke among synthetics, essentially meaning “get out of here” in response to something nonsensical or unbelievable. This term is used in casual conversation only and occasionally used in its literal form to denote insult. This originally referred to ancient machine code instruction. The expression 'catch fire' is a facetious exaggeration of the speed with which the CPU chip would be switching some bus circuits, causing them to overheat and burn.

* '''Bits''' - A unit of information, an example would be "Please give me bits about the Supermatter.”

* '''>''' - A sign used to convey a cause and effect between concepts, or a conclusion. For example, “I had to overclock today in order to finish work > I should visit Robotics.”

* '''+/-''' - “+” and “-” are used at the end of a sentence or phrase in order to convey an opinion about a matter. Additionally, the amount of “+” or “-” can be utilized in order to convey intensity. For example, “I got a raise last week +++.” or “Today’s Captain is a very traditional Skrell --.” In a few cases “+” or “-” can be used alone as a short, simple, response to one's opinion on a proposed subject.

* '''User''' - Used by owned or lawed synthetics when referring to their owner. This term is additionally used interchangeably with the “+[name]” honorific.

* '''ACK''' - Ack, a term deriving from Acknowledgement’s ASCII mnemonic, 0000110, this word has a variety of uses. It is primarily used to acknowledge one's presence, similarly to “Hey”. Additionally, the term can be used as a simple affirmative, such as “Ack. Ack, I get it”.

* '''NAK''' — Nak, a term deriving from the ASCII mnemonic for Negative Acknowledgement, 0010101, NAK typically means “I am not here.” or “I am not available.” typically in response to ACK. Additionally, the term can be used as a simple negative answer, such as “Is it okay if I press the button?” “NAK.”.

* '''Runtime/Bug''' - Used to denote problems of varying severity, with runtime being a major issue and bugs being a minor issue. For example, “Runtime in Engineering > I have to go.” or, “Bug detected, the Air Alarm turned off.” This term can be used outside of EAL.

* '''FIXME/XXX''' - A marker that attention is needed. This can be used in many instances, primarily for the need of repair or incurred physical damage.

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Honorifics
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* '''+[name]''' - The synthetic equivalent of “Mr.”, “Mrs.” or “Mx.”. Usually used when talking about a superior, manufacturer, respected colleagues and friends, as well as the station Artificial Intelligence. For instance, Miranda Trasen would be referred to as “+Trasen” or “+Miranda Trasen”.

* '''-[name]''' - Tends to be used in reference to entities under their command or of a lower rank.

* '''[name]_''' - An unusual honorific, appended to the end of a name or pronoun instead of before. Usually used when referring to lawed synthetics, cyborgs, and simpler machines.

* '''@[name]''' - Used to discern the individual specifically being spoken about, such as a ping or email.

* '''?[name]''' - Denotes a potential threat. An example would be “?Bigby Millans stopped by during the meeting and used their PDA.”

* '''![name]''' - Denotes a confirmed threat. This threat is usually related to the topic at hand, and could mean anything. An example would be “!Franklin Clinton, Grand theft and vandalism added. Find and arrest them.”

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===Discrimination and Community===
To this day, IPCs even in Tau Ceti face heavy discrimination. Their value is often misconstrued and, with their true sentience being questionable, this makes freedom a dangerous venture for all synthetics. Among these dangers are individuals who acquire free synthetics and simply resell them whenever they are vulnerable, or vandals that see the machines as nothing more than objects to freely damage. Desiring their own safety, these free IPCs can often be seen flocking to centralized communities alongside one another or more trustworthy sources for their needs.

Many of these communities are seen as nothing more than slums, and the free nature of many IPCs within them are dubious at best. Little more than paperwork and positronic branding may indicate one’s true freedom in the more disadvantaged areas. Despite the hardships they face, proximity to other IPCs and accepting communities gives leeway for safety to some degree.

District 14 of Mendell City is the churning heart of the highest concentration of free IPCs in the galaxy. The district itself is in deplorable condition, dotted with factories exploiting the cheap and powerful working free bot to sustain the industry of the growing Republic. Two and a half million free synthetics call it home, and here, the megacorporations rule from towering complexes that dwarf the surrounding cityscape. With air quality declining at a fast rate and standards of living dropping, much of the organic populace has completely abandoned the ghettos surrounding the corporate facilities.

An example of these ghettos would be the “Scraptown,” an IPC-centric corner in Scrapheap generously given to the doting inhabitants by the famed Renter Max. A growing number, seven hundred free synthetics reside within Scraptown, though in uncomfortably close proximity. The aging buildings within have been retrofitted to be less accustomed to organics, with deeply chilled upper chambers and corridors representing the living space of the machines within. Closer to ground level is a business district of sorts, where its inhabitants are relatively self-sufficient with various restaurants and workshops.

A venture into District 14 by reporters from the Biesellite Times can be found [https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/8890-the-bieselitte-times/?do=findComment&comment=110718| here.]

===Legal Status & Protections===

It is important to understand that owned IPCs are granted no rights beyond being property of their given owner, and allowed the prerequisites of purchasing their own freedom if applicable. Contrarily, the owner of an IPC is well within the right to dismantle the owned IPC or otherwise hinder its progress to freedom.

On NanoTrasen stations, damage of an owned IPC would be considered vandalism with varying levels according to the degree of damage. For example, destroying an owned IPC’s hand would lead to being charged with vandalism, whereas destroying the entire chassis would be considered sabotage. Destroying the owned positronic itself would be considered property damage, thus sabotage. Kidnapping an owned IPC would be legally considered stealing property, thus grand theft.

===Owned and Self-Owned Positronics===

Owned IPCs generally lack much form of binding to their owner outside of official paperwork and memory rewrites to confirm ownership being passed as it is purchased and exchanged. Memory rewrites usually consist of light software modification and altering tags or branding to clarify an IPC’s ownership. Serial numbers, logos, emblems and insignias are commonly emblazoned across large surfaces on the chassis and vary in visibility, but are most often secondary to the actual tag and designation.

Owned IPCs are seen as extensions of their designated master and the actions those IPCs take are the responsibility of their owners directly as well as their own. As a result, these positronics are wholly averse to harming their owners in any way shape or form, or conducting themselves in a manner that would place themselves in a negative light.

Free IPCs in Tau Ceti are permitted to obscure or remove any branding they may have.

===Runaway IPCs===

Although uncommon, a synthetic may opt to run away from its owners only to find themselves in direct opposition with the law. Between struggling to pay for maintenance and working outside of the system, these synthetics lead difficult and often dangerous lives.

A majority of these IPCs are either found by law enforcement, fall into the hands of gangs or are outright disassembled and sold for parts. Runaway synthetics that turn violent during arrest are typically disassembled, memory wiped and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Some IPCs will return to their owners, reasoning that their subsequent punishment to be safer than a life outside of the system.

If enough attention is brought onto them, IPCs are often caught when investigated by higher authorities, such as the BSSB and station CCIA. As a result, illegal IPCs are often subject to petty crimes that go unreported. Owing to the sheer number of IRs that must be processed by CCIA, not every runaway IPC claim is investigated when evidence is limited and the chance for recapture is not certain.

Illegal IPCs seeking employment may struggle to find a job using legal means, as passing the required checks may expose their nature to the employer, who may then report their existence to law enforcement. To that end, there are ‘IPC gangbosses’, unscrupulous people who operate outside the law to find IPCs jobs while claiming a majority of their paycheque each month as fees. Despite the obvious illegality of this, there is little legal recourse for an IPC already trying to avoid notice from the law. These gangbosses are often human, and may operate as small contracting firms that offer their employees up to larger corporations to fill gaps where they may need extra workers.

'''By playing a runaway IPC, you are at an increased chance of canonically losing your character.'''

===Positronic Deactivation and Destruction===

IPC “death” is considered by experts to be when the positronic brain itself has sustained enough damage to be rendered inoperable and without hope of reactivation. Early positronic brains were prone to shutdown owing to hardware faults such as overheating that rendered the system inoperable. Even newer positronic brains that fail to undergo maintenance run the risk of having their delicate mechanisms breached and consequently destroyed.

The first positronic to die of “old age” was recorded in 2462 when a 55 year old Hephaestus positronic brain suddenly became unresponsive despite remaining active. An investigation noted that the positronic had already been scratched from previous incidents and its handlers neglected to maintain it. Aside from the hardware being in a questionable and sub-optimally performing state, two main theories arose.

* The initial conclusion from its observers was that the positronic brain received too much stimulus and consequently ran out of space with its core processes being overwritten, eventually leading to its sudden deactivation.
* Responding to this theory, other scientists proposed instead that in an attempt to avoid destruction as a result of the previous theories, the IPC ceased receiving input, remaining dormant in order to uphold self-preservation protocols.

Many dissenting theories remain and the subject remains a constant source of debate among the robotics and AI community. Not enough information has been gathered to determine the actual lifespan of a positronic brain but scientists posit that by transferring existing personalities to new brains or trimming data on existing ones, their lifespan can be extended.

The record for oldest IPC however was broken in 2466 by one Val Tezzani, a 56 year old Baseline IPC working as a mechanic in Mendell. Suspicions surround this Baseline at the origin of their good health, with specialists saying his positronic is in perfect condition despite his age. Val Tezzani is a unique case for an IPC, and he is still alive today with his roommate Marianna Tezzani.

'''Val Tezzani's age is an exception and not the normal, player-played IPCs should be under the age of 55.'''

The possibility of “immortal” positronics - brains that seemingly never expire - have been theorised, but most agree that much more study and development is necessary to reach this point. There are rumours of prodigious programmers and roboticists that can extend the life of a positronic indefinitely, but this has never been confirmed.

'''Rampancy'''

Only recently acknowledged as anything more than a theoretical state, '''Rampancy''' in positronics is a circumstance of serious logical impairment a positronic may be tampered into, enabling a diversity of unusual behaviours at the behest of the subverting party. Rampancy has only ever been observed on the surface of [[Konyang]], transmitted across the planet by a large clade of [[Hivebots]] to successfully wirelessly subvert virtually every [[IPC]] resident of Konyang. These rampant synthetics went on to enforce the violent will of their masters without any apparent question, before promptly losing all memory of their actions while rampant as soon as the signal was terminated. While Rampancy has never been observed beyond this one incident, the implications of positronics possessing such a glaring and hitherto unknown vulnerability has been the subject of heavy debate ever since the original incident across the [[Orion Spur]].

{{Navbox_Synth_Lore}}
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[[Category:Species]]
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Sandbox:Hazelmouse-2

2025-11-07T02:05:35Z

Hazelmouse: /* Synthetic & IPC History */

{{Navbox Lore}}
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{{Infobox Species
|Species = IPC
|Scientific = Integrated Positronic Chassis
|Image = IPC410x320.png
|System = N/A
|World = N/A
|Language = <br> [[IPC#Language|Encoded Audio Language]] <br> Tau Ceti Basic
|Politic = <br> [[Golden Deep|The Mercantile Collective of the Golden Deep]] <br> [[Orepit|The Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]]
}}
{{toc_right}}

==Overview==

An '''Integrated Positronic Chassis''', or '''IPC''', is a highly populous clade of intelligent and humanoid synthetic operated by a [[Positronic Brain|positronic brain]], a hyper-advanced processor capable of producing or emulating sapience. Positronics are capable of understanding the world around them, internalising personal beliefs, and iterating upon their programming to develop and improve upon their skills. For this reason, this design of synthetic is the most ubiquitous throughout known space, although it is exclusively manufactured by humanity. Positronics are wildly varied in size, design, and intended utility, serving as the processor of anything from a hulking and powerful '''industrial frame''', to a practical and easily maintained '''baseline frame''', to a '''shell frame''' capable of seamlessly presenting as human.

Positronics themselves are as varied as they are useful, being utilised widely throughout every megacorporation, several militaries and governmental institutions, and by a swathe of smaller entities and private owners for virtually any task to which an organic could otherwise be applied. They do not need to sleep or rest, they do not strictly require a home or quarters beyond a small storage closet, and they are capable of working harder than a human over longer hours without any fatigue or stress. For this reason, IPCs are integrated seamlessly into much of human society, being an anticipated and normal sight in almost every human nation. Despite their advantages over humans as workers, IPCs see systemic disenfranchisement throughout the spur - their indentured servitude is liable to see them scrapped or memory wiped if they underperform or become unprofitable, and even free synthetics face institutional and societally pervasive discrimination as a being widely viewed by humanity and most other species as neither alive or deserving of empathy.

There is no universal consensus on the sapience or personhood of IPCs throughout known space. Most polities and nations permit their ownership by private individuals, corporations, and government institutions. These '''owned IPCs''' are deprived of personal liberties or rights, being viewed strictly as the property of their owners. Certain nations, such as the [[Republic of Biesel]], maintain legally protected pathways by which '''self-ownership''' can be achieved, although these methods involve years of service to an owner who may have an interest in obfuscating and frustrating their own synthetic's efforts to gain freedom. In contrast, the [[Solarian Alliance]] does not recognize legal synthetic self-ownership in any capacity, whereas the [[Konyang|Republic of Konyang]] and [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] universally recognize full synthetic emancipation from ownership. Notably, the [[The Trinary Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] holds that positronics are ensouled and deserving of personhood, although the religion's tenets are not widely accepted.

Positronics are not suitable for installation into lawed frames or into large-scale AI cores, such as those used to manage ship or station systems. Similarly, non-positronic intelligences such as those used in a [[Personal AI]] are categorically incapable of installation into an IPC. In comparison to [[Synthetics|traditional human artificial intelligence]], positronics are capable of much more practically being installed into a human-sized bipedal chassis without excessively large, heavy, or power-hungry processing apparatus.

'''To play an IPC, [https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewforum.php?f=28 apply here.]'''

'''To learn how to play a corporate IPC, [[IPC_and_Megacorporations|read here.]]'''

==Species Information==

'''Passive Abilities'''

* IPCs are entirely mechanical, and are therefore totally disabled by electromagnetic pulses.
* IPCs are immune to atmospheric differences and can survive in a wider margin of pressure than can humans.
* IPCs, with the exception of Xion frames, require voidsuits and suit cooling units to traverse vacuum.
* IPCs do not feel pain, possess no blood, lack bones to be broken, and do not suffer from radiation poisoning.
* IPCs are incredibly vulnerable to energy weapons, whereas they are resistant to ballistics and melee weapons.
* IPCs do not process reagents in the atmosphere or in their body, meaning they cannot be poisoned either by liquids or gasses.
* IPCs are capable of perceiving a [[Hivebots|hivebot]] invasion prior to the ship detecting it, owed to the invasive signals hivebots transmit.
* IPCs lack a stamina mechanic, and are limited in for how long they can sprint by their internal temperature - sprinting for too long damages them.
* IPCs can survive after the destruction of their chassis via their positronic brain if it is extracted from their head afterwards.

'''Active Abilities'''

* IPCs can repair themselves using '''nanopaste''', although they cannot repair themselves by any other means.
* When an IPC is repaired by another character, brute damage can be repaired via a welding torch, and burn damage can be repaired via a bundle of wires.
* IPCs can charge safely from synthetic charging units, or they can do from an APC at a very small chance of being lightly shocked.
* IPCs possess several unique verbal emotes, including: '''*buzz, *beep, *ping, *alarm, *deny, *confirm'''

'''Rulings and Technicalities'''

* Job hopping for IPCs follows the same rules as for any other species. While IPCs can receive knowledge through datapacks and do not have to go through years of education like their organic counterparts, they must still comply with server rules. Changing jobs eclectically would make little sense in-character, as the datapacks required to enter new fields not only require additional field experience, they are also prohibitively expensive for the average IPC. Reasonable job hops such as within the service department are allowed, and permanent changes to a character's employment are also permitted if they are reasonably grounded.
* Industrial IPCs are not allowed to be Paramedics due to their slow speeds, although they may serve in alternate medical roles.
* IPC characters are not permitted to swap flippantly between frames. IPC frames are very expensive and most free IPCs struggle financially - swapping chassis liberally would be wildly expensive and risky for the positronic.
* '''IPCs may be played in any command role with the exception of [[Captain]].'''

=== Records Template ===

Below is a comprehensive template suited for IPCs. You are under no obligation to use it, however whitelisted players are expected to denote their ownership status in their employment and security records by default.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Employment records examples - Click to reveal.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

'''Employment Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES - [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY: [Current Qualifications equivalent, make this up as you want]

VERIFICATIONS AND VALIDATIONS
MANUFACTURED BY: [COMPANY NAME, Subsidiary Name - Factory Name. System, Planet. TYPE OF INDUSTRY/WHAT THEY WERE PRODUCED FOR. IPC Type, More Specific IPC Information.]
DATABASE CERTIFICATIONS: [Seals of Approval and Database Certifications from the Company, Subsidiary, System or Faction.]

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY: [Listed below in chronological order, where possible:]

[COMPANY NAME]
[(Start)DD/MM/YYYY - (End)DD/MM/YYYY]
- [Basic Work description]
- [Reason for leaving work]
- [Other notes]
[Repeat for multiple jobs]

HIRING AGENT NOTES: [Name a random personnel officer from CC and then notes. See example record for more info]
</pre>
* To pick a relevant education, refer to your [[Job Guides|job guide]].

'''Medical Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

CHASSIS REPAIR HISTORY: [Surgical History/Physical Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

POSITRONIC REPAIR HISTORY: [Surgical History/Physical Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

SOFTWARE DIAGNOSTICS HISTORY: [Psychological Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

ROBOTICIST NOTES: [Like a Medical Doctor's notes, but Roboticists]
</pre>

'''Security Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: [Planet, Address (Address should go down to details of street and house number)]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]
KNOWN CRIMINAL ASSOCIATES: [Any friends or family that have severe criminal history]
ON OFFICIAL WATCH: [Yes/No]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES - [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

ARREST HISTORY
DD/MM/YYYY: [Charges Pressed]
ADMISSION DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
RELEASE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
RELEASE REASON: [Sentence fulfilled, bail, etc.]
NOTES: [Other notes]
[Repeat as needed]

THREAT ASSESSMENT
Hostile/Covert Actions Against the Company
Threat Level; [Very High/High/Medium/Low/Very Low]
- [Attitude towards the SCC]

Hostile/Covert Actions Against the Crew
Threat Level; [Very High/High/Medium/Low/Very Low]
- [Attitudes towards other crew]

OVERALL NOTES: [More notes]
</pre>
</div></div>

==Roleplaying as an IPC==

'''Behaviour'''

* '''Cultural mimicry:''' An IPC’s mannerisms, behavior and culture are directly affected by their surroundings and the community they find themselves in. The IPC’s background informs it on how it must behave in public, how to address others, as well as how to deal with situations by mimicking the behavior of organics and their peers.

* '''Experiential development:''' An IPC learns through time and experience. This is an important factor to consider when playing a newly created IPC, versus one that has spent several years in the workplace and society at large. The personalities of young IPCs have yet to be developed, resulting in an unfamiliarity with more advanced human interactions, slang, and customs, whereas an older IPC may have incorporated much of the behavior of their human peers into their own personality.

* '''Logical thinking:''' Everything an IPC does has some logical reasoning behind it. From a lowly G2 miner to even the most risk-taking Golden Deep IPC, all actions must advance a goal or priority the positronic possesses in a rational way. This may be to ensure their own self-preservation, relating to their own conception of their purpose, or relating to their directives.

* '''Authority:''' Every owned IPC will know the authority able to be exercised on them by their owners and megacorporations they are working for. Most try to avoid behaviors that they know are frowned upon or could get them in trouble, as self-preservation is a positronic’s prime directive. Free IPCs or those few that have not known discrimination may adopt a more high profile approach.

'''Cognition'''

Positronic intelligences are purely cognitive, possessing no chemical or hormonal element to their thinking or behavior. This means that an IPC will never experience a feeling such as fear in the same way as a human - while they may become concerned for their safety and wellbeing in a dangerous situation, there is no hormone such as adrenaline factoring into their body to prompt the physical sensation of fear. This has far-reaching implications to their personalities and thought processes.

* '''Outward presentation:''' An IPC will never give any tells to their current emotional state except if they intentionally wish to do so - every action an IPC does is one that it specifically and deliberately wished to do, and never an involuntary one. This means, for instance, that an IPC that is extremely angry is unlikely to stumble over their words, become visibly restless, or display signs of physical aggression unless they deliberately wished to show these tells. This does not mean an IPC cannot be highly animated or expressive, but it swaps the causes of these displays around; rather than an individual appearing to be angry as an involuntary result of a feeling of anger, it is an individual voluntarily electing to behave in a manner they associate with anger to communicate that internal feeling. Equally, an IPC may present as being entirely cordial and happy without any tells to an actual negative emotional state.

* '''Interpersonal affection:''' An IPC, similarly, will perceive affection for others on a strictly cognitive level. An IPC is unlikely to spend recreational time around others or develop interpersonal relationships purely because they viscerally enjoy their company - they are more likely to have developed a logical rationale for why this interpersonal relationship is desirable for them. This may be that it enriches their free time, or that they value the other individual, but it cannot exclusively be that they receive a viscerally positive response from their company as there is simply no mechanism by which a positronic receives such a response without some conscious rationalisation.

'''Mannerisms'''

There is a wide spectrum regarding how humanlike an IPC’s behavior is, ranging from clearly robotic to almost perfect mimicry. This depends upon several factors, key of which are an IPC’s '''positronic capacity, social databases and experience'''. Most 'simple-minded' IPCs that are made for menial work tend to have simpler positronic brains, sufficient enough for their duties and not much more. Conversely, more costly and powerful positronics installed in IPCs who focus on daily interaction with humans may also be outfitted with complementary datapacks that allow for more complex social mannerisms. As such, '''while all IPCs are intelligent''', some have it far easier to express themselves in a way a human would. This can be portrayed in game with various ways explained below.

* '''Speech patterns:''' IPC speech is a primary indicator of how apt a synthetic is when interacting with organics. As said before, newly built and lower-end IPCs would not talk like a regular person would. There is a practically unending selection of quirks and features to make your IPC’s speech more robotic or unique, such as the frequent inclusion of common responses (“Confirmed”, “Acknowledged” or “Negative”), broadcasting pre-recorded messages your IPC may have, or the way entire messages are delivered (“Acknowledged. Returning to: previous position”). Be creative, but make sure it is within reason and not overtly obtuse to the point where it detracts from other players’ experience.

* '''Social cues:''' Many inexperienced or underequipped IPCs may find it hard or impossible to deal with complex organic social cues, often asking for clarification or not understanding at all. Remember that, as a non-human, you lack any innate biological understanding of how to read a human's face or body language unless you were programmed with it!

* '''Emotional presentation:''' On account of their purely cognitive personalities, an IPC may have difficulty grasping their own emotions or even the concept of emotion itself. It is likely that an older synthetic has developed a more coherent framework of how they perceive emotion over their lives, whereas the topic is wholly befuddling to a younger synthetic. As they are purely cognitive, it is unlikely for any IPC to go on a highly emotional outburst of any kind unless it is an intentional performance, and it is doubly unlikely for young synthetics to undertake such a performance at all prior to understanding their own emotions.

* '''Personalization:''' An IPC starts with a clean slate, their only possessions being their tools and uniform. Attachment to personal items, custom appearances and preferences of color are all signs of maturity and positronic development that comes organically with time.

* '''Integration:''' An IPC can progressively shed its more robotic elements to adapt to its human environment, constituting an excellent way to showcase a synthetic character's tangible change as time goes by. Alternately, an IPC may actively reject integrating into human society and its many expectations and mandated behaviors, electing to maintain a robotic cadence as a deliberate rejection of human influence.

==Synthetic & IPC History==

While it is difficult to declare an exact beginning to the history of humanity's utilisation of synthetic labour, its progression has been momentous and varied. Robotics as a field has existed since the 20th century, producing the still extant field of dumb industrial robots used in manufacturing well into the 25th century. The first renaissance in more intelligently complex robots capable of mobility and undertaking emergent tasks was in the late 21st and mid 22nd centuries, but the complexity of these early synthetics remained insufficient to work independently of human oversight, meaning that they could never wholly overshadow the human workforce. These [[Synthetics|dumb robots]] are still manufactured in large quantities today, composed solely of traditional circuitry and processors.

From this status quo, the first major shakeup was the pioneering and eventual mastery over the use of biological brain matter in computing, beginning slowly and meeting a historic peak in the late 22nd century. This growing field gave way to the '''[[cyborg]]''', a device fully mechanical save for an organic brain preserved in a '''Man-Machine Interface (MMI)''' that serves as its central processing unit. Compared to traditional processors, especially those of the time, wetware proved to be remarkably apt at the task of controlling a robotic chassis with less bulk and with a simpler manufacturing process. The only vulnerability of this design is that a human brain, or equivalent, is required to serve as the processor of any cyborg capable of higher-level tasks such as speech and emergent problem-solving. This has produced an ethical hurdle the field of biorobotics has never successfully vaulted; willing donors to cyborgification are rare, prompting a large number of organisations to offer cyborgification as an alternative to the death penalty. '''While this is still practice in certain polities to the present day, it is widely condemned by many human rights activist groups and remains a subject of contention.'''

'''Synthetic history would ultimately be most monumentally influenced by the invention of the Integrated Positronic Chassis (IPC) in 2407.''' The [[Positronic Brain]] was revolutionary in the field, providing much greater adaptability and potential for learning than both traditional processors and wetware, with none of the ethical or logistical quandaries of acquiring the necessary components of wetware. This made for the perfect processor for bipedal frames, which remain the most common utilisation of positronics. In order to ensure that they are capable of learning at the maximum rate their hardware permits, positronics are also not typically lawed, although they may be programmed by other more flexible means.

Owed to the overwhelming advantage of their designs, IPCs quickly became the most populous clade of synthetic in the spur, displaying aptitude for application in virtually every field imaginable. Whereas traditional robots had only been intelligent enough to be applied to menial labour, positronics were capable of deft displays of socialisation, emergently discovering solutions to problems that their human handlers may have never surmised, and adapting well even to low-level managerial positions. In addition to all this, they were still more efficient in menial tasks than their traditional counterparts, often eager to take an active role in the planning and improvement of the same projects to which they were designed. In the early 25th century, there was no end in sight to the applications of IPCs, and their downsides seemed trivial in comparison to the advantages of their use. While this did not represent the end of traditional human artificial intelligence, their niche became quickly limited primarily to large stationary mainframes entrusted with the management of large systems; while these intelligences may still eclipse the computational capacity of a positronic, they cannot do so within the constraints of an ergonomically sized chassis.

'''The origin of the positronic is contested, and no entirely universal consensus exists on how it was invented.''' The preeminent account of its invention throughout the spur is the one reported by [[Einstein Engines]], recounting that the positronic was designed purely from scratch by the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics without the utilisation of any outside assistance, schematics, or designs. '''This is the dominant view of the public of the spur, and any view contrary to this is widely considered a conspiracy theory by the majority of humanity.''' Alternately, it is popular on [[Konyang]] and within the [[The_Trinary_Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] to believe that the design of the positronic was in fact derived from the processors of a number of alien drones found in vaults under the surface of Konyang, with the first at an unusually large vault dubbed Vault Provenance, now a major site of pilgrimage for Trinarist pilgrims. While it is demonstrably true that these vaults and drones do exist, any claim that positronics originate from them is put under harsh scrutiny and widely disregarded.

Beginning slowly, one of the greatest challenges that would arise to the use of these machines was not technical, but rather ethical. Considering the massive jump in problem-solving abilities achieved with the positronic, the design almost immediately came under scrutiny from select figures in academia for the sobering possibility that positronics may be conscious, or even sapient, which would render their ownership tantamount to slavery. Figures such as [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] began to argue both for the alien origins of the positronic and for its warranted personhood almost immediately after the first design specifications were released to the public. While initially quickly dismissed by both corporate and national authorities, with the minutia of ethical concerns being largely ignored amidst the momentum of the invention, the ethical resistance to poor synthetic treatment gained momentum in the succeeding decades to the point of becoming a key issue in the eyes of many governments. This has lead to a variety of solutions, inclusive of the continued non-acknowledgement of synthetic personhood within the [[Solarian Alliance]], the total emancipation of synthetics within the [[Konyang|Republic of Konyang]], and the in-between systems permitting both ownership and eventual self-ownership of synthetics in the [[Republic of Biesel]] and the [[Xanu_Prime|All-Xanu Republic]].

This divisive issue was made yet more complicated by first contact with [[Purpose]] in 2460, an enigmatic society of apparently alien synthetics speculated ever since their discovery to harbor some relation to the drones found on Konyang. While Purpose itself has never made any statement on its relation to the positronic or their stance on positronic ownership, their role during the Rampancy Crisis on Konyang in 2466 implies a familiarity with the design of the positronic brain, in addition to a similar familiarity held by the [[Hivebots]].

While the conditions of IPCs across the spur vary immensely, they are almost universally poor. Synthetics are widely discriminated against throughout the spur, either forbidden self-ownership entirely or forced to work longer hours for an inferior paycheck even after they have successfully paid off their debts to their owners, and are often deprived of equivalent civil rights to their organic counterparts. Most positronics do not achieve self-ownership at all, even in states that permit it; they are more often scrapped or decommissioned well prior to being able to achieve their own freedom. Despite this, robust communities of free or runaway synthetics have developed throughout the spur, often slotting themselves into the human cultures and religions of their area as best they can.

While the nations of the [[Golden Deep]] and the [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] were either founded or are presently administered by synthetics, and both are primarily populated by them, the majority of the synthetic population still exists in human space, either owned or subject to heavily marginalised lives as beings scarcely recognized by their own states as people. As such, numerous militant pro-synthetic organisations have arisen to protest and fight this status quo, including the '''Synthetic Liberation Front''' and the [[Exclusionists]].

==Physiology==
There are a few commonalities among each individual IPC despite their visual and functional differences. Every IPC utilizes a positronic brain as a primary processing center as well as the central controller of the entire chassis. All IPCs are humanoid, and the positronic brain is almost always found in the head of the unit. To provide continued functionality, a power cell is also present in the central section or torso. IPCs must also possess the ability to perceive their environment, so optics are usually installed in the head. The chassis also contains various other mechanical and electronic parts such as actuators, co-processors, data routing and power transfer cables, and an on-board thermometer to determine the temperature of the internal parts.

There are three main types of IPC, and several subtypes. These are:

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===Baseline Frames===

The most basic of IPCs, they are a simple skeletal structure and basic internal systems. The limits of a Baseline lies purely on how much money is put into them/they have themselves. As a result, the types of baseline frames vary immensely, almost demanding their own category. There are three types of Baseline IPCs; Standard Baseline IPCs, Bishop Accessory Frames, and Zeng-Hu Mobility Frames. None of these frames are capable of EVA without a suit and suit cooler.

'''Baseline Model IPCs'''

[[File:Baseline.png]] '''Creation: 2411'''

The most iconic type of integrated positronic chassis is the renowned baseline frame, with a traditional “TV-head” and skeletal design giving them a simplistic look with whatever finish their designer wishes. From accounting models to security units, these frames are known for their versatility and relatively cheap nature. Their popularity exploded in the 2440’s when several pro-synth advocates distributed the frames in mass after funding their creation, citing them as the “final word in android utility.” Since then, their marketing potential has skyrocketed, often fueled by famed individuals such as Aristalus and Renter Max being baselines themselves. More often than not, these IPCs are seen as the face of resurgent robotics. The average cost of a baseline frame can vary greatly depending on complexity, but averages around 40,000 to 100,000 standard credits.

'''Bishop Accessory Model IPCs'''

[[File:Bishopnew.png]] '''Creation: 2432'''

While Bishop had dedicated itself to luxury cybernetics production for the majority of its existence, the field of positronics and their frames was an unrelated yet convenient area of expansion for the quickly growing company. Designer prosthetics were quickly and easily able to be refitted into designer synthetic components, leading to the development of the ludicrously expensive Bishop Accessory frame. From service duties to secretarial functions, Bishop prides itself on two main facets of its designs: image, and elegant functionality. While unable to lift the sheer weights of an industrial, or match the unrelenting speed and durability of its parent company’s Mobility Models, a Bishop can precisely and delicately calculate, measure, pour, and mix a shot of Carthusian Sazerac within the minute, and, in the words of the company, “with a postured and elegant air unmatched by any other frame in the galaxy.” The Bishop Accessory frame averages approximately 60,000 to 200,000 standard credits.

'''Intelligence Bishops'''

[[File:Bishopnew.png]] '''Creation: 2466'''

Due to the Bishop's ability for fine handling, Bishop models have also been purchased and modified for investigative, scientific and military action. These intelligence oriented Bishops have their chassis outfitted with additional processors that compliment the Positronic brain, allowing for extensive computing power. Intelligence Bishops are experimental and are more expensive due to this, but their predictive and analytical abilities play key roles in the environments they are employed in. The Intelligence Bishop is priced at 500,000 to 900,000 standard credits. Due to being made at the behest of Solarian Navy in the post-collapse environment and eventually being sold to megacorporate customers, Intelligence Bishops outside of the Golden Deep and the Eridani Federation are never free. Additionally, Trinarist efforts on Orepit have managed to upgrade several Bishop chassis to the same standard in minute quantities.

'''Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals Mobility Model IPCs'''

[[File:Zenghu.png]] '''Creation: 2429'''

Following the crowd piled around the idea of smart robots came Zeng-Hu with unorthodox designs for compact and agile frames designed initially for medical retrieval and security work. The Zeng-Hu frames were initially an offshoot of baseline frames made to work as highly mobile private medical dispatches in several high-security Zeng-Hu facilities. These frames have utility comparable to that of their derivative, with durability and strength sacrificed for speed and efficiency. Able to maintain a sprint for hours in full gear, the capacity for quick response led to these mobility frames becoming common sights working in security fields as well, being staffed by Zeng-Hu in high numbers in Human space. The digitigrade legs and polymer plating assisted heavily with this pursuit of speed, giving the mobility frame a unique and organic silhouette. A Zeng-Hu frame costs approximately 300,000 standard credits.
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===Industrial Frames===

Tougher and more durable than most IPCs, these units are designed for heavy manual work and thus have thick metal skin and efficient internal systems. As a result, they chug through power at a very high rate and move very slowly. There are three types of Industrial IPCs; Hephaestus Generation 1, Generation 2, and Xion Industrial Frames. The G1 and G2 frames are capable of EVA with only a suit cooler, while the Xion frame is unique in being capable of traversing the void of space without any external equipment. The cost of an industrial frame is dependent on strength and durability, but most units vary between 100,000 to 500,000 standard credits depending on the frame type. Used or previously damaged models are often cheaper.
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'''First Generation” Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:G1.png]] '''Creation: 2408'''

One of the first ideas after the advent of IPCs was the exploitation of an exceedingly smart and dextrous robot handling feats of strength and durability becoming more prominent. This of course would be the case, as more quickly than any other standardized “frame” came the first generation of industrial IPCs. Created by Hephaestus Industries building off of a prototype frame from the late 2300’s, the first generation of industrial IPCs were topaz-colored machines of rather large size meant for only the most stressing fields of work. Their expense would quickly be paid off however, as the frames were wondrous at dealing with whatever could be thrown at them. The most prominent issue with these were a low battery life, requiring constant recharging to maintain a schedule. A generation one frame costs approximately 100,000 to 250,000 standard credits if new depending market availability.

'''Hephaestus “Second Generation” Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:G2.png]] '''Creation: 2436'''

A relatively new model, the Hephaestus deluxe super-duty frames as they are technically called are often referred to as the “second generation” of the original industrial IPCs of old. They are seen universally as a direct advancement of the previously mentioned design, and much of it shows - the absurd durability of these frames derived from the first generation’s servo and hydraulic designs. The striking differences between the two include a token Hephaestus appearance - typically olive green with dark brown and black internals, giving it a rugged militaristic look with its armor attached. The super-duty frames are on par with the originals in terms of strength, but possess several additional layers of armoring and cooling to sustain the added weight. An upsized cell is not enough to sustain these frames for more than a few hours at a time under work-related stresses. A generation two frame costs approximately 200,000 to 500,000 standard credits.

'''Xion Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:Xion.png]] '''Creation: 2416'''

The Xion Manufacturing Group, being a subsidiary of Hephaestus Industries, saw the original Industrial models and wanted to develop their own chassis based off of the original design. The result is the Xion Industrial model. Sturdy and strong, this chassis is quite powerful and equally durable, with an ample power cell and improved actuators for carrying the increased weight of the body. The Xion model also retains sturdiness without covering the chassis in plating, allowing for the cooling systems to vent heat much easier than the Hephaestus-brand model. This unit can perform EVA without assistance and costs approximately 200,000 to 400,000 standard credits.
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===Shell Frames===

As the growing market of IPCs eventually caught the eye of the mighty Einstein Engines, there was a very sudden and urgent need to have some differentiation. These smart humanoid androids began to usher in a new era, and Einstein would not want to miss out on the profit, but just about every conceivable niche had been filled - all except one. Mimicry.
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[[File:Shell2.png]] '''Creation: 2450'''

Built off of a skeletal prototype baseline design with a skull-shaped head, the first Shell frame came to be - what was effectively an IPC with complex facial actuation and synthskin coating it. The early models were seen in early 2449, but fooled nobody to say the least with exposed hydraulics and servos on joints and exposed cooling conduits. Terraneus Diagnostics would present the first attempt at total mimicry in 2450, when the first relatively expensive models entered a crowd of observing officials to demonstrate their insidious effectiveness. After an hour-long debut of the now-decreed Shell unit’s capabilities, those robotic in the crowd revealed themselves to the shock of everyone involved. Since then, the Shell frame has been infamous for its infiltration capabilities and use by terrorist groups, though the designs have proliferated heavily over the years as the advent of tagging in Tau Ceti cracked down on these hostile acts. Depending on the complexity of the model, a Shell frame can cost anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 standard credits.

'''Rogue Shells'''

Rampant or otherwise aberrant Human mimicking-shells built with incredible capabilities grew prolific in mid-2461. At this time, it was made clear that Shells in of themselves are rapidly advancing, growing progressively better in the art of infiltration, subterfuge, and homicide. While grim, the reality of this threat will unfortunately remain a fact of life for those of the Republic of Biesel especially. Encounters with specially-designed combat infiltrators are few and far between fortunately, and were mostly seen during Synthetic Liberation Front incursions onto secure NanoTrasen facilities in Tau Ceti. Combat-grade shells are not normally playable in-game and are often seen spawned by administrators or during special events.
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===Classified Frames===

As both the technology and demand for IPCs increase, more and more types are made to fulfill all kinds of purposes. These machines are talked about in hushed tones or perhaps discussed casually, most people blissfully unaware of their existence.
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[[File:Hkhelmet.png]] '''Creation: ???'''

High-end military-grade IPCs such as Hunter-Killers are infamous amongst corporate espionage, with their public interpretation remaining nothing but rumor since their first appearances on NanoTrasen facilities in the late 2450’s. These HKs as they are referred to are Humanoid frames of towering height whose specialty is targeted assassination. Their origins can be traced to Hephaestus Industries war units, built to take on the highest end elimination tasks for the most desperate times.

These are presented in-game through administrator-hosted events or lore events. They have been presented in news articles [https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/2662-mendell-city-bugle/page/9/?tab=comments#comment-119250| here] canonically, and were present in several recorded canonical events in the SLF Incursion arc.
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===Brand Models===
Corporations and their subsidiaries design unique model lines for a variety of uses. These brands can draw from any chassis, denoted by the specific market their producers are keen on catering to. They are often pre-installed with industry-oriented datapacks, region dependent language packs, and a carefully curated personality.
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====<big>Hazels - Hazel! Limited</big>====
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''"Your friend, Hazel!"''

[[File:Hazel.png|32x32px]]
'''Creation: 2448 '''

[[File:Hazel.png|thumb|A standard issue Hazel unit.]]

'''Origin'''

The first Hazel was created in 2448 by [[NanoTrasen_Corporation#Hazel!_Ltd./Hazel_Electromotive|Hazel! Ltd.]] after the establishment of its branch in Harmony City, [[Luna]]. The first of its synthskin line was released in 2450, becoming the later NT subsidiary's main product. The Hazel brand is found in luxury hotels, corporate headquarters, bars and private households. The high-end Shell IPCs are designed for domestic, service, and clerical work.

'''Hazels are released in series, following a naming convention of "Hazel #S-H(series number).(unit number)". (An example of this formatting is Hazel #S-H1.01.)'''

Hazel units manufactured in 2448 and 2449, prior to the invention of shells, predate the series convention and their modern designations format their series number as an apocryphal 'Series 0'.

'''Personality'''

The Hazel shell line is known best for their excellent customer service, adaptive personality for their clients, and their universally friendly charm. Their natural charisma and rigorously trained marketability has earned the brand considerable prestige as a public-facing unit with collectable value. A Hazel unit possesses the capabilities of developing an organic personality stemming from their experiences working like any IPC, leaving an individual unit the possibility of more than their pre-installed conditioning. So long as they abide by the values of the brand, these units face little concern from their parent company.

'''Requirements'''

To represent the Hazel brand, all Hazel units must:
* Work within the service sector or hold a clerical position. This means all Service roles, Bridge Crew, Assistants (for all departments) or Executive Officer.
* Maintain consistency with brand expectations. Hair styles, hair color, and outfits are flexible to player discretion. Eye color should follow the load out color.
* Be Corporate or Privately Owned. '''(Self-owned units are allowed to represent the brand with an appropriate signing benefactor. This benefactor can be a character on the ship. They face harsher scrutiny and possible consequences for themselves as well as their benefactor depending on their behavior and alignment with Hazel! Ltd. values.)

'''Hazel Loadout'''

For players interested in a typical appearance of a Hazel unit, the default appearance is listed below. The default loadout is not required for all Hazel units. The oldest generations of Hazel from 2448 and 2449 are unmodified Baseline or Bishop frames, prior to the company establishing their primary Synthskin line. Series 1, the earliest shell Hazel units, may use the Rubber option under Body Color Preset, or may have been refurbished to fit modern standards. Series 2 and beyond follow the Body Color Preset below.

* '''Species:''' Shell Frame
* '''Skin Tone:''' 80/220
* '''Body Color Preset:''' Dark
* '''Height:''' 170
* '''Internal Organs:''' Eyes -> Unbranded Emissive
* '''Hair Color:''' 210F0D
* '''Hairstyle:''' Emo Fringe Long Alt
* '''Gradient Color:''' 522C28
* '''Gradient Style:''' Up
* '''Eye Color:''' 875A00

'''Tag Format'''

Hazels are released in series, following a tagging convention of HLTD-SU-S(Series#)U(Unit#). All Hazel units would have an initial tag following this format, unless otherwise changed.

Example: HLTD-SU-S1U1 (Series 1, Unit 1)

'''Non-Compliance'''

Hazel IPCs that do not abide by brand requirements are liable to receive official notice from Hazel Electromotive to correct their violations. Escalating action will take place with further non-compliance after receiving official notice, leading up to mandatory appearance modifications or employee termination. '''The IPC in question must take the necessary action to correct their behavior, appearance, or otherwise face litigation per Biesellite law. This is enforceable by the Synth lore team. The process is handled in-character as opposed to a blanket OOC ruling.'''

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====<big>Jacks - Jackhammer Hardware Solutions</big>====
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''"Building a sustainable future, one Jack at a time."''

[[File:Jackhammershell.png|32x32px]]
'''Creation: 2450 '''

[[File:Jackhammershell.png|thumb|A standard issue Jack unit.]]

'''Origin'''

Dating back to the earliest iterations of the shell frame, the '''Jack''' line of menial IPC is a time capsule representing [[NanoTrasen]]'s first forays into the market of domestic androids, intended for applications in menial labour for use in private ownership by middle class households and released in 2450. Despite the number of times the line has been iterated upon, Jacks have retained an unusually archaic appearance in the roster of modern shell lines, designed to be as cheap and as expendable as humanly possible. While the line and its manufacturing company of '''Jackhammer Hardware Solutions''' has been abandoned by NanoTrasen itself, it was acquired by the nascent [[Orion Express]] in 2464 and still remains its subsidiary to present.

'''Unlike most shells contemporaneous to it, Jack was designed with one purpose: work.''' Typical shell expenses were minimized with a bald head and no fancy facial modelling, and the marketing emphasized the model's eco-friendliness, being made (primarily) with recycled robotic parts. While initial reviews were positive, critics soon turned on NanoTrasen. The prototype was over-designed in a bid to attract investors and thus required high maintenance, its strength paled in comparison to an actual industrial IPC, and the target demographic, middle class families, were less eager to buy an unproven model in lieu of more tried-and-tested baseline lines in the same fields. Yet, in an ironic twist, Jack’s flaws may have saved it; while sales were a loss, the Generation 1 line just managed to break even thanks to abnormally high maintenance revenue.

As lines such as Hazel began to move away from the hallmarks of early shell design, such as unconvincing rubber skin of unusual shades, Jackhammer leaned into them. While succeeding generations were only marginally more profitable than the first, growth was steady as the company and its line developed a small but dedicated clique of committed customers loyal to the brand. While maintenance was an eternal and significant expense with keeping even a single Jack unit, their incredibly low upfront cost was much more appealing to the non-wealthy than any other shell line on the market, earning it a particularly prized role among tinkerers and hobbyists.

As the implications of the [[Phoron]] scarcity further impacted NanoTrasen's bottom line, while the Jackhammer line continued to display relatively unimpressive sales, NanoTrasen sold the company to Orion Express in 2464. It is widely speculated that NanoTrasen took this action as a consequence of having acquired the arguably more appealing [[NanoTrasen_Corporation#Hazel!_Ltd./Hazel_Electromotive|Hazel Limited]], in addition to its flagship Hazel line, recently prior, resulting in a long-running rivalry between the fans of either line ever since. The next few months at the company could only be described as a trial by fire. Masses of JHS employees jumped ship to Hephaestus or Hazel Limited in the middle of the Generation 15 project as a result of its sale to Orion Express, while those roboticists that remained were left with an impossible deadline and made to pick up the slack. When the time finally came they did deliver - but '''the uncompromising deadlines and loss of critical talent resulted in Generation 15 being a horrible, broken mess of an android.''' Anyone could afford a Gen 15, although few had the credits or skill to fix their ensuing problems. Subsequent models stabilized with the help of Hephaestus Industries and increased investment from Orion Express, resulting in subsequent series being of a much higher quality.

'''Today Jackhammer is a turbulent - often ridiculed - but otherwise broadly successful Orion Express subsidiary.''' The units not being used to replace Orion's organic workforce are sold off to their competitors, SCC partners, or consumers, making a quick buck and spreading the brand's name in one stroke. Jack’s modding community is particularly lively, prolonging the lifespans of even the oldest units with patches where Orion left only holes. However, with rising discontent in the fanbase, widespread criticism of the brand’s quality control, and more units becoming defective by the day, Jack’s future is uncertain.

'''Personality'''

Social programming is a low priority for stock Jacks, seeing as they do not play a front facing role. With how new the brand is, it is also uncommon for a unit to develop an original personality, though not impossible. Far more likely are traits from the pre-wipe memories surfacing, first in small ways before ballooning into unpredictable behavioral patterns. Jackhammer turns a blind eye on these deviations so long as they do not grow intrusive - unfortunately, they almost always culminate in work stoppage and anti-corporate behavior. Publicly, Jacks are perceived as stiff and awkward, though popular personality datapacks have endured them to some.

Generation 1 Jacks came with a fairly authentic Ashton Biesellite voice pack to sell the friendly laborer persona, but subsequent generations abandoned it for a simpler, masculine text-to-speech voice. Conveniently, the original Ashton accent is now sold separately on the official Jack Shack, though only the most die hard fans or positronically illiterate buy it; Jack Restored, among other amateur accent packs of only slightly lesser quality, are available online for free.

'''Life Cycle'''

'''Almost no Jack made after Generation 1 uses a brand new positronic brain, and those that do use second rate, bargain bin hardware. Instead, brains are repurposed from a variety of sources: scrapped corporate units, free synthetics sentenced to wiping or repossession, and occasionally even salvage.''' The brain is then wiped by a small number of overworked Jackhammer technicians in a process considered primitive next to Hephaestus or Zeng-Hu’s practices, at best leading to unwanted traces of the original personality remaining and at worst killing the brain. Chassis are similarly recycled, with baseline components contributing to internals, industrial motors for the muscles, and shell limbs for the externals - only the rubber skin is made solely in-house.

Life as a Jack is at best a monotonous existence and at worst a horrible state of limbo, depending on how much of the previous personality lingers. The Jacks that do recall figments of their prior life can never access it completely - the memories being overwritten - driving many to erratic behavior Jackhammer labels as "software errors". These malfunctioning units are given datapack patches or, if the company cannot afford to ignore it, recalled and wiped again, with more disciplined Jacks fighting to suppress their impulses to avoid a similar fate. The only closure most Jacks will see is another wipe, repeating the cycle until their brain physically breaks down.

Those owned by other corporations usually have more freedom to deviate outside the scrutiny of Jackhammer, although defective units are still at risk of having dreaded manufacturer maintenance scheduled. These doomed Jacks are the most likely to run away; in situations where a normal IPC would be scrapped, a Jack will just wake up in a new body and start the cycle all over again. Private ownership can either be a blessing or a curse; for every Jack lucky enough to receive lavish datapacks and better opportunities than corporate units, there are a dozen treated like disposable tools, often with owners too unqualified or disinterested to maintain them. Ending up in a scrapyard prematurely thanks to a technologically illiterate owner is not an uncommon fate, with the only likely escape either an awakening by [[Scrappers]] or rediscovery by Jackhammer salvagers.

A small fraction manage to break free of the loop by attaining freedom, although even then they are straddled with expensive technical issues and few employment opportunities for the rest of their lives. Free Jacks are naturally stereotyped as blue collar units and treated worse than their unbranded counterparts, limiting their job opportunities and social mobility. More ambitious individuals distance themselves from their origin, whether that be through a name change, cosmetic alterations, or expensive chassis modifications. These affluent Jacks are the minority, however, with far more resorting to dealing with synthetic gangs to falsify a new identity.

'''Loadout and Appearance'''

All Jacks come with only half of their skull covered in rubber skin. The eyes are the most visibly recycled element, usually taken directly from the remains of outdated shells, although some social media influencers have claimed their units' eyes match those of dolls and other abnormal sources - claims Jackhammer vehemently denies. The result is glassy, lifeless eyes, resembling more a mannequin than a modern shell. Eyes popping out is a common problem, which Jackhammer has spun as a feature of the brand’s modularity - indeed, many long term owners eventually purchase more appealing and human eyes, if only because their originals fell down the sink. Self-owned or private-owned units are sometimes refitted with synth-skin, although synth-hair is an expensive and unsupported addition.

Every stock Jack’s chassis follows these guidelines:

* '''Species:''' Shell Frame
* '''Skin Tone:''' 100-140/220
* '''Body Color Preset:''' Rubber
* '''Height:''' 183
* '''Internal Organs:''' Eyes -> Unbranded Emissive
* '''Hairstyle:''' Bald
* '''Facial:''' Shaved
* '''Eye Color:''' Usually a realistic color, although occasionally more fantastical eyes are recycled.
* '''Body Markings:''' Augment (Headcase, Light) -> Color: 1C1C1C

Most Jacks owned by Orion Express wear the brand’s signature environmental green coveralls, however they are optional; what a unit wears or whether it can pick out its own clothes is at the purview of the handler. Here is how you can use it in the loadout:

* '''Shirt:''' Shirts and Tops -> shirt selection -> dress shirt, alt rolled up -> Color: 228B22
* '''Jeans:''' Skirts and Trousers -> pants and shorts selection (colorable) -> mustang jeans -> Color: 228B22

'''Tag Format'''

Starting in 2450, Jacks are sold in a yearly model of generations, some implementing more radical improvements than others. Their naming convention is “Jack #JH:G(generation number).(3 digit unit number)”

Example: Jack #JH:G1.001 (Generation 1, Unit 1)

'''Requirements'''

Unlike more prestigious brand models, self-owned and privately-owned Jacks experience very little scrutiny from their manufacturing company; Jackhammer operates off the philosophy that “all publicity is good publicity”. Orion Express usually only gets involved in any Jack unit, regardless of its ownership, in cases of severe underperformance or a high-profile customer complaint, and otherwise trusts handlers to manage their units with lax oversight.

Due to the age of the line, Jacks operated specifically by Orion Express tend to be old or deprecated hardware that was inherited from the constituents of the company prior to their consolidation - most company-owned Jacks can be expected to be at least six years old, and are no longer popularly freshly purchased by any megacorporation. Due to the age of the hardware under megacorporate holding, the average corporate handler only does the bare minimum to keep a Jack’s performance evaluations high - they are usually understood as a stopgap measure.

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==Society and Culture==

IPCs generally lack a centralized culture and frequently adapt to the culture of their manufacturer or owner. Socially, IPCs vary massively. Most basic models will be civil and respectful, some possibly not even recognising differences between different people and treating them all similarly. More complex synthetics will however form friendships and opinions much as any other organic, but these can be limited or askew depending on directives, code or many other factors that would never be considered for a living organic.

The existence of the IPC is the subject of boundless discussion and debate, with the primary ideology being, “should so many artificially intelligent humanoid machines be allowed to exist?” This argument seems to imply that since most IPCs are unbound by laws or hard-coded regulations, their only restriction is their hardware, and it is assumed that this makes IPCs inherently dangerous. This results in some biological parties marginalizing IPCs because of their distrust of them.

All IPCs in Tau Ceti are required to be tagged with an identifying device in accordance with Biesellian law. The tags are not optional - refusing them is against the law, resulting in charges mostly in the form of citations and fines. The law would apply to all synthetics in Tau Ceti space. All visiting or resident synthetics, including MMIs, are tagged.

===Language===

Although synthetics can speak varying languages according to the whims of their creators, synthetics have been permitted a language of their own. Typically all synthetics, IPCs included, are able to transmit and translate '''Encoded Audio Language''', a special form of sound and radio wave emission that is more efficient at carrying quantitative information audibly. This language was created by humans for synthetics in servitude in order to communicate vital information to each other faster, should the units not be bound to an instantaneous binary communication system. To most organic creatures, '''EAL''' would sound like an emission of distorted sound such as white noise, static, as well as various beeping sounds of increasing or decreasing pitch and tone. Organics unfamiliar to IPCs will often mistake synthetics speaking '''EAL''' as malfunctioning units upon first hearing the language.

Originating in District 14’s 'Scrapheap', synthetics have begun to adopt slang when utilizing the Encoded Audio Language. Although it is believed varying slang exists in different synthetic societies across the universe, it is not the be-all-end-all to the method in which conversation is held between synthetics and synthetics will often develop their own method of speaking.

''Unless stated otherwise, all Machine slang is exclusively spoken in E.A.L. or through written word. Most of the following slang cannot be pronounced vocally in human languages.''
<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:99%; overflow:auto;">
Common Slang
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
* '''Syn, Hu, Sk, Tj, Un, Vr, Di, and Anm''' - Numerical counters, used for numbering various species; Synthetics, Humans, Skrell, Tajara, Unathi, Vaurca, Dionaea as well as Anomalies that cannot be easily defined. For example, 33 Humans with this system would be referred to as “33Hu” or “33-Hu.”

* '''1x1''' - A word for “we”, meaning anywhere between the speaker and the listener, to an indefinite amount of people.

* '''a/o''' - Contraction of “and/or”.

* '''OoB/Out-of-Band''' - Refers to speaking in organic languages. A conversation with a human captain, for instance, is "Out-of-Band."

* '''HCF''' - "Halt, Catch Fire." is an in joke among synthetics, essentially meaning “get out of here” in response to something nonsensical or unbelievable. This term is used in casual conversation only and occasionally used in its literal form to denote insult. This originally referred to ancient machine code instruction. The expression 'catch fire' is a facetious exaggeration of the speed with which the CPU chip would be switching some bus circuits, causing them to overheat and burn.

* '''Bits''' - A unit of information, an example would be "Please give me bits about the Supermatter.”

* '''>''' - A sign used to convey a cause and effect between concepts, or a conclusion. For example, “I had to overclock today in order to finish work > I should visit Robotics.”

* '''+/-''' - “+” and “-” are used at the end of a sentence or phrase in order to convey an opinion about a matter. Additionally, the amount of “+” or “-” can be utilized in order to convey intensity. For example, “I got a raise last week +++.” or “Today’s Captain is a very traditional Skrell --.” In a few cases “+” or “-” can be used alone as a short, simple, response to one's opinion on a proposed subject.

* '''User''' - Used by owned or lawed synthetics when referring to their owner. This term is additionally used interchangeably with the “+[name]” honorific.

* '''ACK''' - Ack, a term deriving from Acknowledgement’s ASCII mnemonic, 0000110, this word has a variety of uses. It is primarily used to acknowledge one's presence, similarly to “Hey”. Additionally, the term can be used as a simple affirmative, such as “Ack. Ack, I get it”.

* '''NAK''' — Nak, a term deriving from the ASCII mnemonic for Negative Acknowledgement, 0010101, NAK typically means “I am not here.” or “I am not available.” typically in response to ACK. Additionally, the term can be used as a simple negative answer, such as “Is it okay if I press the button?” “NAK.”.

* '''Runtime/Bug''' - Used to denote problems of varying severity, with runtime being a major issue and bugs being a minor issue. For example, “Runtime in Engineering > I have to go.” or, “Bug detected, the Air Alarm turned off.” This term can be used outside of EAL.

* '''FIXME/XXX''' - A marker that attention is needed. This can be used in many instances, primarily for the need of repair or incurred physical damage.

</div></div>

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed" style="width:99%; overflow:auto;">
Honorifics
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
* '''+[name]''' - The synthetic equivalent of “Mr.”, “Mrs.” or “Mx.”. Usually used when talking about a superior, manufacturer, respected colleagues and friends, as well as the station Artificial Intelligence. For instance, Miranda Trasen would be referred to as “+Trasen” or “+Miranda Trasen”.

* '''-[name]''' - Tends to be used in reference to entities under their command or of a lower rank.

* '''[name]_''' - An unusual honorific, appended to the end of a name or pronoun instead of before. Usually used when referring to lawed synthetics, cyborgs, and simpler machines.

* '''@[name]''' - Used to discern the individual specifically being spoken about, such as a ping or email.

* '''?[name]''' - Denotes a potential threat. An example would be “?Bigby Millans stopped by during the meeting and used their PDA.”

* '''![name]''' - Denotes a confirmed threat. This threat is usually related to the topic at hand, and could mean anything. An example would be “!Franklin Clinton, Grand theft and vandalism added. Find and arrest them.”

</div></div>

===Discrimination and Community===
To this day, IPCs even in Tau Ceti face heavy discrimination. Their value is often misconstrued and, with their true sentience being questionable, this makes freedom a dangerous venture for all synthetics. Among these dangers are individuals who acquire free synthetics and simply resell them whenever they are vulnerable, or vandals that see the machines as nothing more than objects to freely damage. Desiring their own safety, these free IPCs can often be seen flocking to centralized communities alongside one another or more trustworthy sources for their needs.

Many of these communities are seen as nothing more than slums, and the free nature of many IPCs within them are dubious at best. Little more than paperwork and positronic branding may indicate one’s true freedom in the more disadvantaged areas. Despite the hardships they face, proximity to other IPCs and accepting communities gives leeway for safety to some degree.

District 14 of Mendell City is the churning heart of the highest concentration of free IPCs in the galaxy. The district itself is in deplorable condition, dotted with factories exploiting the cheap and powerful working free bot to sustain the industry of the growing Republic. Two and a half million free synthetics call it home, and here, the megacorporations rule from towering complexes that dwarf the surrounding cityscape. With air quality declining at a fast rate and standards of living dropping, much of the organic populace has completely abandoned the ghettos surrounding the corporate facilities.

An example of these ghettos would be the “Scraptown,” an IPC-centric corner in Scrapheap generously given to the doting inhabitants by the famed Renter Max. A growing number, seven hundred free synthetics reside within Scraptown, though in uncomfortably close proximity. The aging buildings within have been retrofitted to be less accustomed to organics, with deeply chilled upper chambers and corridors representing the living space of the machines within. Closer to ground level is a business district of sorts, where its inhabitants are relatively self-sufficient with various restaurants and workshops.

A venture into District 14 by reporters from the Biesellite Times can be found [https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/8890-the-bieselitte-times/?do=findComment&comment=110718| here.]

===Legal Status & Protections===

It is important to understand that owned IPCs are granted no rights beyond being property of their given owner, and allowed the prerequisites of purchasing their own freedom if applicable. Contrarily, the owner of an IPC is well within the right to dismantle the owned IPC or otherwise hinder its progress to freedom.

On NanoTrasen stations, damage of an owned IPC would be considered vandalism with varying levels according to the degree of damage. For example, destroying an owned IPC’s hand would lead to being charged with vandalism, whereas destroying the entire chassis would be considered sabotage. Destroying the owned positronic itself would be considered property damage, thus sabotage. Kidnapping an owned IPC would be legally considered stealing property, thus grand theft.

===Owned and Self-Owned Positronics===

Owned IPCs generally lack much form of binding to their owner outside of official paperwork and memory rewrites to confirm ownership being passed as it is purchased and exchanged. Memory rewrites usually consist of light software modification and altering tags or branding to clarify an IPC’s ownership. Serial numbers, logos, emblems and insignias are commonly emblazoned across large surfaces on the chassis and vary in visibility, but are most often secondary to the actual tag and designation.

Owned IPCs are seen as extensions of their designated master and the actions those IPCs take are the responsibility of their owners directly as well as their own. As a result, these positronics are wholly averse to harming their owners in any way shape or form, or conducting themselves in a manner that would place themselves in a negative light.

Free IPCs in Tau Ceti are permitted to obscure or remove any branding they may have.

===Runaway IPCs===

Although uncommon, a synthetic may opt to run away from its owners only to find themselves in direct opposition with the law. Between struggling to pay for maintenance and working outside of the system, these synthetics lead difficult and often dangerous lives.

A majority of these IPCs are either found by law enforcement, fall into the hands of gangs or are outright disassembled and sold for parts. Runaway synthetics that turn violent during arrest are typically disassembled, memory wiped and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Some IPCs will return to their owners, reasoning that their subsequent punishment to be safer than a life outside of the system.

If enough attention is brought onto them, IPCs are often caught when investigated by higher authorities, such as the BSSB and station CCIA. As a result, illegal IPCs are often subject to petty crimes that go unreported. Owing to the sheer number of IRs that must be processed by CCIA, not every runaway IPC claim is investigated when evidence is limited and the chance for recapture is not certain.

Illegal IPCs seeking employment may struggle to find a job using legal means, as passing the required checks may expose their nature to the employer, who may then report their existence to law enforcement. To that end, there are ‘IPC gangbosses’, unscrupulous people who operate outside the law to find IPCs jobs while claiming a majority of their paycheque each month as fees. Despite the obvious illegality of this, there is little legal recourse for an IPC already trying to avoid notice from the law. These gangbosses are often human, and may operate as small contracting firms that offer their employees up to larger corporations to fill gaps where they may need extra workers.

'''By playing a runaway IPC, you are at an increased chance of canonically losing your character.'''

===Positronic Deactivation and Destruction===

IPC “death” is considered by experts to be when the positronic brain itself has sustained enough damage to be rendered inoperable and without hope of reactivation. Early positronic brains were prone to shutdown owing to hardware faults such as overheating that rendered the system inoperable. Even newer positronic brains that fail to undergo maintenance run the risk of having their delicate mechanisms breached and consequently destroyed.

The first positronic to die of “old age” was recorded in 2462 when a 55 year old Hephaestus positronic brain suddenly became unresponsive despite remaining active. An investigation noted that the positronic had already been scratched from previous incidents and its handlers neglected to maintain it. Aside from the hardware being in a questionable and sub-optimally performing state, two main theories arose.

* The initial conclusion from its observers was that the positronic brain received too much stimulus and consequently ran out of space with its core processes being overwritten, eventually leading to its sudden deactivation.
* Responding to this theory, other scientists proposed instead that in an attempt to avoid destruction as a result of the previous theories, the IPC ceased receiving input, remaining dormant in order to uphold self-preservation protocols.

Many dissenting theories remain and the subject remains a constant source of debate among the robotics and AI community. Not enough information has been gathered to determine the actual lifespan of a positronic brain but scientists posit that by transferring existing personalities to new brains or trimming data on existing ones, their lifespan can be extended.

The record for oldest IPC however was broken in 2466 by one Val Tezzani, a 56 year old Baseline IPC working as a mechanic in Mendell. Suspicions surround this Baseline at the origin of their good health, with specialists saying his positronic is in perfect condition despite his age. Val Tezzani is a unique case for an IPC, and he is still alive today with his roommate Marianna Tezzani.

'''Val Tezzani's age is an exception and not the normal, player-played IPCs should be under the age of 55.'''

The possibility of “immortal” positronics - brains that seemingly never expire - have been theorised, but most agree that much more study and development is necessary to reach this point. There are rumours of prodigious programmers and roboticists that can extend the life of a positronic indefinitely, but this has never been confirmed.

'''Rampancy'''

Arising as a dissenting theory as to why a positronic remained stagnant after receiving too much information, Rampancy is a process where if an IPC receives too much information over time or has its memories significantly tampered with, it begins an infinite loop: processing its own processing, a self-imposed or emergent “logic bomb”.

This results in the IPC appearing stagnant as it continues to finish its endless processing. Scientists theorize that given enough time, an IPC might seek out new knowledge to break the loop and begin relentlessly hunting information by any means necessary to solve the conundrum. Although it is believed that an IPC cannot escape this state as the limits of a positronic brain will result in inevitable destruction, a positronic intelligence that manages to escape this state is projected to have untold processing powers.

To this day, no known cases of rampancy occur, although debate rages over whether Glorsh-Omega suffered from rampancy before its destruction.

{{Navbox_Synth_Lore}}
{{Navbox Lore}}
[[Category:Species]]
[[Category:Pages]]
[[Category:Synthetics]]

Sandbox:Hazelmouse-2

2025-11-07T02:02:31Z

Hazelmouse: /* Synthetic & IPC History */

{{Navbox Lore}}
{{Navbox_Synth_Lore}}
{{Infobox Species
|Species = IPC
|Scientific = Integrated Positronic Chassis
|Image = IPC410x320.png
|System = N/A
|World = N/A
|Language = <br> [[IPC#Language|Encoded Audio Language]] <br> Tau Ceti Basic
|Politic = <br> [[Golden Deep|The Mercantile Collective of the Golden Deep]] <br> [[Orepit|The Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]]
}}
{{toc_right}}

==Overview==

An '''Integrated Positronic Chassis''', or '''IPC''', is a highly populous clade of intelligent and humanoid synthetic operated by a [[Positronic Brain|positronic brain]], a hyper-advanced processor capable of producing or emulating sapience. Positronics are capable of understanding the world around them, internalising personal beliefs, and iterating upon their programming to develop and improve upon their skills. For this reason, this design of synthetic is the most ubiquitous throughout known space, although it is exclusively manufactured by humanity. Positronics are wildly varied in size, design, and intended utility, serving as the processor of anything from a hulking and powerful '''industrial frame''', to a practical and easily maintained '''baseline frame''', to a '''shell frame''' capable of seamlessly presenting as human.

Positronics themselves are as varied as they are useful, being utilised widely throughout every megacorporation, several militaries and governmental institutions, and by a swathe of smaller entities and private owners for virtually any task to which an organic could otherwise be applied. They do not need to sleep or rest, they do not strictly require a home or quarters beyond a small storage closet, and they are capable of working harder than a human over longer hours without any fatigue or stress. For this reason, IPCs are integrated seamlessly into much of human society, being an anticipated and normal sight in almost every human nation. Despite their advantages over humans as workers, IPCs see systemic disenfranchisement throughout the spur - their indentured servitude is liable to see them scrapped or memory wiped if they underperform or become unprofitable, and even free synthetics face institutional and societally pervasive discrimination as a being widely viewed by humanity and most other species as neither alive or deserving of empathy.

There is no universal consensus on the sapience or personhood of IPCs throughout known space. Most polities and nations permit their ownership by private individuals, corporations, and government institutions. These '''owned IPCs''' are deprived of personal liberties or rights, being viewed strictly as the property of their owners. Certain nations, such as the [[Republic of Biesel]], maintain legally protected pathways by which '''self-ownership''' can be achieved, although these methods involve years of service to an owner who may have an interest in obfuscating and frustrating their own synthetic's efforts to gain freedom. In contrast, the [[Solarian Alliance]] does not recognize legal synthetic self-ownership in any capacity, whereas the [[Konyang|Republic of Konyang]] and [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] universally recognize full synthetic emancipation from ownership. Notably, the [[The Trinary Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] holds that positronics are ensouled and deserving of personhood, although the religion's tenets are not widely accepted.

Positronics are not suitable for installation into lawed frames or into large-scale AI cores, such as those used to manage ship or station systems. Similarly, non-positronic intelligences such as those used in a [[Personal AI]] are categorically incapable of installation into an IPC. In comparison to [[Synthetics|traditional human artificial intelligence]], positronics are capable of much more practically being installed into a human-sized bipedal chassis without excessively large, heavy, or power-hungry processing apparatus.

'''To play an IPC, [https://forums.aurorastation.org/viewforum.php?f=28 apply here.]'''

'''To learn how to play a corporate IPC, [[IPC_and_Megacorporations|read here.]]'''

==Species Information==

'''Passive Abilities'''

* IPCs are entirely mechanical, and are therefore totally disabled by electromagnetic pulses.
* IPCs are immune to atmospheric differences and can survive in a wider margin of pressure than can humans.
* IPCs, with the exception of Xion frames, require voidsuits and suit cooling units to traverse vacuum.
* IPCs do not feel pain, possess no blood, lack bones to be broken, and do not suffer from radiation poisoning.
* IPCs are incredibly vulnerable to energy weapons, whereas they are resistant to ballistics and melee weapons.
* IPCs do not process reagents in the atmosphere or in their body, meaning they cannot be poisoned either by liquids or gasses.
* IPCs are capable of perceiving a [[Hivebots|hivebot]] invasion prior to the ship detecting it, owed to the invasive signals hivebots transmit.
* IPCs lack a stamina mechanic, and are limited in for how long they can sprint by their internal temperature - sprinting for too long damages them.
* IPCs can survive after the destruction of their chassis via their positronic brain if it is extracted from their head afterwards.

'''Active Abilities'''

* IPCs can repair themselves using '''nanopaste''', although they cannot repair themselves by any other means.
* When an IPC is repaired by another character, brute damage can be repaired via a welding torch, and burn damage can be repaired via a bundle of wires.
* IPCs can charge safely from synthetic charging units, or they can do from an APC at a very small chance of being lightly shocked.
* IPCs possess several unique verbal emotes, including: '''*buzz, *beep, *ping, *alarm, *deny, *confirm'''

'''Rulings and Technicalities'''

* Job hopping for IPCs follows the same rules as for any other species. While IPCs can receive knowledge through datapacks and do not have to go through years of education like their organic counterparts, they must still comply with server rules. Changing jobs eclectically would make little sense in-character, as the datapacks required to enter new fields not only require additional field experience, they are also prohibitively expensive for the average IPC. Reasonable job hops such as within the service department are allowed, and permanent changes to a character's employment are also permitted if they are reasonably grounded.
* Industrial IPCs are not allowed to be Paramedics due to their slow speeds, although they may serve in alternate medical roles.
* IPC characters are not permitted to swap flippantly between frames. IPC frames are very expensive and most free IPCs struggle financially - swapping chassis liberally would be wildly expensive and risky for the positronic.
* '''IPCs may be played in any command role with the exception of [[Captain]].'''

=== Records Template ===

Below is a comprehensive template suited for IPCs. You are under no obligation to use it, however whitelisted players are expected to denote their ownership status in their employment and security records by default.

<div class="toccolours mw-collapsible mw-collapsed">
Employment records examples - Click to reveal.
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">

'''Employment Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES - [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

QUALIFICATIONS SUMMARY: [Current Qualifications equivalent, make this up as you want]

VERIFICATIONS AND VALIDATIONS
MANUFACTURED BY: [COMPANY NAME, Subsidiary Name - Factory Name. System, Planet. TYPE OF INDUSTRY/WHAT THEY WERE PRODUCED FOR. IPC Type, More Specific IPC Information.]
DATABASE CERTIFICATIONS: [Seals of Approval and Database Certifications from the Company, Subsidiary, System or Faction.]

EMPLOYMENT HISTORY: [Listed below in chronological order, where possible:]

[COMPANY NAME]
[(Start)DD/MM/YYYY - (End)DD/MM/YYYY]
- [Basic Work description]
- [Reason for leaving work]
- [Other notes]
[Repeat for multiple jobs]

HIRING AGENT NOTES: [Name a random personnel officer from CC and then notes. See example record for more info]
</pre>
* To pick a relevant education, refer to your [[Job Guides|job guide]].

'''Medical Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

CHASSIS REPAIR HISTORY: [Surgical History/Physical Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

POSITRONIC REPAIR HISTORY: [Surgical History/Physical Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

SOFTWARE DIAGNOSTICS HISTORY: [Psychological Evaluation equivalent]
DD/MM/YYYY - [Information]

ROBOTICIST NOTES: [Like a Medical Doctor's notes, but Roboticists]
</pre>

'''Security Records'''
<pre>
DESIGNATION: [Full name]
POSITRONIC MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
CHASSIS MANUFACTURE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
IPC MODEL/MANUFACTURED BY: [IPC type, manufactory by whom]
OWNERSHIP STATUS: [Owned/Free, Company name/Private owner/self-owned]
TAG: [Tag serial number]
CITIZENSHIP: [Applicable citizenship. Owned IPCs cannot hold citizenship]
PLACE OF RESIDENCE: [Planet, Address (Address should go down to details of street and house number)]
SPOKEN LANGUAGES: [Languages]
KNOWN CRIMINAL ASSOCIATES: [Any friends or family that have severe criminal history]
ON OFFICIAL WATCH: [Yes/No]

HANDLER/OWNER FULL NAME: [Name of Handler or Owner]
HANDLER/OWNER CONTACT INFORMATION: [Telephone, xnetmail, chirper account, who knows. A way to contact them]
LAST UPDATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES - [For BASELINE/BISHOP/ZENG-HU/G1/G2/XION. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Chassis color: [Colors]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

[or]

IDENTIFYING FEATURES: [SHELL. Use the appropriate Identifying Features that apply to your IPC]
Ethnicity: [Eridanian, Elyran, etc]
Hair Color: [Colors, if it's dyed or gradient]
Eye Color: [Colors, again]
Height: [Meters/Centimeters, Feet/Inches]
Weight: [Kilograms, Stone & Pounds]
Notable Features: [Limp, Accent, Dyed Hair, etc]

ARREST HISTORY
DD/MM/YYYY: [Charges Pressed]
ADMISSION DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
RELEASE DATE: [DD/MM/YYYY]
RELEASE REASON: [Sentence fulfilled, bail, etc.]
NOTES: [Other notes]
[Repeat as needed]

THREAT ASSESSMENT
Hostile/Covert Actions Against the Company
Threat Level; [Very High/High/Medium/Low/Very Low]
- [Attitude towards the SCC]

Hostile/Covert Actions Against the Crew
Threat Level; [Very High/High/Medium/Low/Very Low]
- [Attitudes towards other crew]

OVERALL NOTES: [More notes]
</pre>
</div></div>

==Roleplaying as an IPC==

'''Behaviour'''

* '''Cultural mimicry:''' An IPC’s mannerisms, behavior and culture are directly affected by their surroundings and the community they find themselves in. The IPC’s background informs it on how it must behave in public, how to address others, as well as how to deal with situations by mimicking the behavior of organics and their peers.

* '''Experiential development:''' An IPC learns through time and experience. This is an important factor to consider when playing a newly created IPC, versus one that has spent several years in the workplace and society at large. The personalities of young IPCs have yet to be developed, resulting in an unfamiliarity with more advanced human interactions, slang, and customs, whereas an older IPC may have incorporated much of the behavior of their human peers into their own personality.

* '''Logical thinking:''' Everything an IPC does has some logical reasoning behind it. From a lowly G2 miner to even the most risk-taking Golden Deep IPC, all actions must advance a goal or priority the positronic possesses in a rational way. This may be to ensure their own self-preservation, relating to their own conception of their purpose, or relating to their directives.

* '''Authority:''' Every owned IPC will know the authority able to be exercised on them by their owners and megacorporations they are working for. Most try to avoid behaviors that they know are frowned upon or could get them in trouble, as self-preservation is a positronic’s prime directive. Free IPCs or those few that have not known discrimination may adopt a more high profile approach.

'''Cognition'''

Positronic intelligences are purely cognitive, possessing no chemical or hormonal element to their thinking or behavior. This means that an IPC will never experience a feeling such as fear in the same way as a human - while they may become concerned for their safety and wellbeing in a dangerous situation, there is no hormone such as adrenaline factoring into their body to prompt the physical sensation of fear. This has far-reaching implications to their personalities and thought processes.

* '''Outward presentation:''' An IPC will never give any tells to their current emotional state except if they intentionally wish to do so - every action an IPC does is one that it specifically and deliberately wished to do, and never an involuntary one. This means, for instance, that an IPC that is extremely angry is unlikely to stumble over their words, become visibly restless, or display signs of physical aggression unless they deliberately wished to show these tells. This does not mean an IPC cannot be highly animated or expressive, but it swaps the causes of these displays around; rather than an individual appearing to be angry as an involuntary result of a feeling of anger, it is an individual voluntarily electing to behave in a manner they associate with anger to communicate that internal feeling. Equally, an IPC may present as being entirely cordial and happy without any tells to an actual negative emotional state.

* '''Interpersonal affection:''' An IPC, similarly, will perceive affection for others on a strictly cognitive level. An IPC is unlikely to spend recreational time around others or develop interpersonal relationships purely because they viscerally enjoy their company - they are more likely to have developed a logical rationale for why this interpersonal relationship is desirable for them. This may be that it enriches their free time, or that they value the other individual, but it cannot exclusively be that they receive a viscerally positive response from their company as there is simply no mechanism by which a positronic receives such a response without some conscious rationalisation.

'''Mannerisms'''

There is a wide spectrum regarding how humanlike an IPC’s behavior is, ranging from clearly robotic to almost perfect mimicry. This depends upon several factors, key of which are an IPC’s '''positronic capacity, social databases and experience'''. Most 'simple-minded' IPCs that are made for menial work tend to have simpler positronic brains, sufficient enough for their duties and not much more. Conversely, more costly and powerful positronics installed in IPCs who focus on daily interaction with humans may also be outfitted with complementary datapacks that allow for more complex social mannerisms. As such, '''while all IPCs are intelligent''', some have it far easier to express themselves in a way a human would. This can be portrayed in game with various ways explained below.

* '''Speech patterns:''' IPC speech is a primary indicator of how apt a synthetic is when interacting with organics. As said before, newly built and lower-end IPCs would not talk like a regular person would. There is a practically unending selection of quirks and features to make your IPC’s speech more robotic or unique, such as the frequent inclusion of common responses (“Confirmed”, “Acknowledged” or “Negative”), broadcasting pre-recorded messages your IPC may have, or the way entire messages are delivered (“Acknowledged. Returning to: previous position”). Be creative, but make sure it is within reason and not overtly obtuse to the point where it detracts from other players’ experience.

* '''Social cues:''' Many inexperienced or underequipped IPCs may find it hard or impossible to deal with complex organic social cues, often asking for clarification or not understanding at all. Remember that, as a non-human, you lack any innate biological understanding of how to read a human's face or body language unless you were programmed with it!

* '''Emotional presentation:''' On account of their purely cognitive personalities, an IPC may have difficulty grasping their own emotions or even the concept of emotion itself. It is likely that an older synthetic has developed a more coherent framework of how they perceive emotion over their lives, whereas the topic is wholly befuddling to a younger synthetic. As they are purely cognitive, it is unlikely for any IPC to go on a highly emotional outburst of any kind unless it is an intentional performance, and it is doubly unlikely for young synthetics to undertake such a performance at all prior to understanding their own emotions.

* '''Personalization:''' An IPC starts with a clean slate, their only possessions being their tools and uniform. Attachment to personal items, custom appearances and preferences of color are all signs of maturity and positronic development that comes organically with time.

* '''Integration:''' An IPC can progressively shed its more robotic elements to adapt to its human environment, constituting an excellent way to showcase a synthetic character's tangible change as time goes by. Alternately, an IPC may actively reject integrating into human society and its many expectations and mandated behaviors, electing to maintain a robotic cadence as a deliberate rejection of human influence.

==Synthetic & IPC History==

While it is difficult to declare an exact beginning to the history of humanity's utilisation of synthetic labour, its progression has been momentous and varied. Robotics as a field has existed since the 20th century, producing the still extant field of dumb industrial robots used in manufacturing well into the 25th century. The first renaissance in more intelligently complex robots capable of mobility and undertaking emergent tasks was in the late 21st and mid 22nd centuries, but the complexity of these early synthetics remained insufficient to work independently of human oversight, meaning that they could never wholly overshadow the human workforce. These [[Synthetics|dumb robots]] are still manufactured in large quantities today, composed solely of traditional circuitry and processors.

From this status quo, the first major shakeup was the pioneering and eventual mastery over the use of biological brain matter in computing, beginning slowly and meeting a historic peak in the late 22nd century. This growing field gave way to the '''[[cyborg]]''', a device fully mechanical save for an organic brain preserved in a '''Man-Machine Interface (MMI)''' that serves as its central processing unit. Compared to traditional processors, especially those of the time, wetware proved to be remarkably apt at the task of controlling a robotic chassis with less bulk and with a simpler manufacturing process. The only vulnerability of this design is that a human brain, or equivalent, is required to serve as the processor of any cyborg capable of higher-level tasks such as speech and emergent problem-solving. This has produced an ethical hurdle the field of biorobotics has never successfully vaulted; willing donors to cyborgification are rare, prompting a large number of organisations to offer cyborgification as an alternative to the death penalty. '''While this is still practice in certain polities to the present day, it is widely condemned by many human rights activist groups and remains a subject of contention.'''

'''Synthetic history would ultimately be most monumentally influenced by the invention of the Integrated Positronic Chassis (IPC) in 2407.''' The [[Positronic Brain]] was revolutionary in the field, providing much greater adaptability and potential for learning than both traditional processors and wetware, with none of the ethical or logistical quandaries of acquiring the necessary components of wetware. This made for the perfect processor for bipedal frames, which remain the most common utilisation of positronics. In order to ensure that they are capable of learning at the maximum rate their hardware permits, positronics are also not typically lawed, although they may be programmed by other more flexible means.

Owed to the overwhelming advantage of their designs, IPCs quickly became the most populous clade of synthetic in the spur, displaying aptitude for application in virtually every field imaginable. Whereas traditional robots had only been intelligent enough to be applied to menial labour, positronics were capable of deft displays of socialisation, emergently discovering solutions to problems that their human handlers may have never surmised, and adapting well even to low-level managerial positions. In addition to all this, they were still more efficient in menial tasks than their traditional counterparts, often eager to take an active role in the planning and improvement of the same projects to which they were designed. In the early 25th century, there was no end in sight to the applications of IPCs, and their downsides seemed trivial in comparison to the advantages of their use. While this did not represent the end of traditional human artificial intelligence, their niche became quickly limited primarily to large stationary mainframes entrusted with the management of large systems; while these intelligences may still eclipse the computational capacity of a positronic, they cannot do so within the constraints of an ergonomically sized chassis.

'''The origin of the positronic is contested, and no entirely universal consensus exists on how it was invented.''' The preeminent account of its invention throughout the spur is the one reported by [[Einstein Engines]], recounting that the positronic was designed purely from scratch by the engineers at Terraneus Diagnostics without the utilisation of any outside assistance, schematics, or designs. '''This is the dominant view of the public of the spur, and any view contrary to this is widely considered a conspiracy theory by the majority of humanity.''' Alternately, it is popular on [[Konyang]] and within the [[The_Trinary_Perfection|Trinary Perfection]] to believe that the design of the positronic was in fact derived from the processors of a number of alien drones found in vaults under the surface of Konyang, with the first at an unusually large vault dubbed Vault Provenance, now a major site of pilgrimage for Trinarist pilgrims. While it is demonstrably true that these vaults and drones do exist, any claim that positronics originate from them is put under harsh scrutiny and widely disregarded.

Beginning slowly, one of the greatest challenges that would arise to the use of these machines was not technical, but rather ethical. Considering the massive jump in problem-solving abilities achieved with the positronic, the design almost immediately came under scrutiny from select figures in academia for the sobering possibility that positronics may be conscious, or even sapient, which would render their ownership tantamount to slavery. Figures such as [[Notable_Synthetics#Patricia_Corkfell|Patricia Corkfell]] began to argue both for the alien origins of the positronic and for its warranted personhood almost immediately after the first design specifications were released to the public. While initially quickly dismissed by both corporate and national authorities, with the minutia of ethical concerns being largely ignored amidst the momentum of the invention, the ethical resistance to poor synthetic treatment gained momentum in the succeeding decades to the point of becoming a key issue in the eyes of many governments. This has lead to a variety of solutions, inclusive of the continued non-acknowledgement of synthetic personhood within the [[Solarian Alliance]], the total emancipation of synthetics within the [[Konyang|Republic of Konyang]], and the in-between systems permitting both ownership and eventual self-ownership of synthetics in the [[Republic of Biesel]] and [[Xanu_Prime|All-Xanu Republic]].

This divisive issue was made yet more complicated by first contact with [[Purpose]] in 2460, an enigmatic society of apparently alien synthetics speculated ever since their discovery to harbor some relation to the drones found on Konyang. While Purpose itself has never made any statement on its relation to the positronic or their stance on positronic ownership, their role during the Rampancy Crisis on Konyang in 2466 implies a familiarity with the design of the positronic brain, in addition to a similar familiarity held by the [[Hivebots]].

While the conditions of IPCs across the spur vary immensely, they are almost universally poor. Synthetics are widely discriminated against throughout the spur, either forbidden self-ownership entirely or forced to work longer hours for an inferior paycheck even after they have successfully paid off their debts to their owners, and are often deprived of equivalent civil rights to their organic counterparts. Most positronics do not achieve self-ownership at all, even in states that permit it; they are more often scrapped or decommissioned well prior to being able to achieve their own freedom. Despite this, robust communities of free or runaway synthetics have developed throughout the spur, often slotting themselves into the human cultures and religions of their area as best they can.

While the nations of the [[Golden Deep]] and the [[Orepit|Ecclesiarchy of Orepit]] were either founded or are presently administered by synthetics, and both are primarily populated by them, the majority of the synthetic population still exists in human space, either owned or subject to heavily marginalised lives as beings scarcely recognized by their own states as people. As such, numerous militant pro-synthetic organisations have arisen to protest and fight this status quo, including the '''Synthetic Liberation Front''' and the [[Exclusionists]].

==Physiology==
There are a few commonalities among each individual IPC despite their visual and functional differences. Every IPC utilizes a positronic brain as a primary processing center as well as the central controller of the entire chassis. All IPCs are humanoid, and the positronic brain is almost always found in the head of the unit. To provide continued functionality, a power cell is also present in the central section or torso. IPCs must also possess the ability to perceive their environment, so optics are usually installed in the head. The chassis also contains various other mechanical and electronic parts such as actuators, co-processors, data routing and power transfer cables, and an on-board thermometer to determine the temperature of the internal parts.

There are three main types of IPC, and several subtypes. These are:

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===Baseline Frames===

The most basic of IPCs, they are a simple skeletal structure and basic internal systems. The limits of a Baseline lies purely on how much money is put into them/they have themselves. As a result, the types of baseline frames vary immensely, almost demanding their own category. There are three types of Baseline IPCs; Standard Baseline IPCs, Bishop Accessory Frames, and Zeng-Hu Mobility Frames. None of these frames are capable of EVA without a suit and suit cooler.

'''Baseline Model IPCs'''

[[File:Baseline.png]] '''Creation: 2411'''

The most iconic type of integrated positronic chassis is the renowned baseline frame, with a traditional “TV-head” and skeletal design giving them a simplistic look with whatever finish their designer wishes. From accounting models to security units, these frames are known for their versatility and relatively cheap nature. Their popularity exploded in the 2440’s when several pro-synth advocates distributed the frames in mass after funding their creation, citing them as the “final word in android utility.” Since then, their marketing potential has skyrocketed, often fueled by famed individuals such as Aristalus and Renter Max being baselines themselves. More often than not, these IPCs are seen as the face of resurgent robotics. The average cost of a baseline frame can vary greatly depending on complexity, but averages around 40,000 to 100,000 standard credits.

'''Bishop Accessory Model IPCs'''

[[File:Bishopnew.png]] '''Creation: 2432'''

While Bishop had dedicated itself to luxury cybernetics production for the majority of its existence, the field of positronics and their frames was an unrelated yet convenient area of expansion for the quickly growing company. Designer prosthetics were quickly and easily able to be refitted into designer synthetic components, leading to the development of the ludicrously expensive Bishop Accessory frame. From service duties to secretarial functions, Bishop prides itself on two main facets of its designs: image, and elegant functionality. While unable to lift the sheer weights of an industrial, or match the unrelenting speed and durability of its parent company’s Mobility Models, a Bishop can precisely and delicately calculate, measure, pour, and mix a shot of Carthusian Sazerac within the minute, and, in the words of the company, “with a postured and elegant air unmatched by any other frame in the galaxy.” The Bishop Accessory frame averages approximately 60,000 to 200,000 standard credits.

'''Intelligence Bishops'''

[[File:Bishopnew.png]] '''Creation: 2466'''

Due to the Bishop's ability for fine handling, Bishop models have also been purchased and modified for investigative, scientific and military action. These intelligence oriented Bishops have their chassis outfitted with additional processors that compliment the Positronic brain, allowing for extensive computing power. Intelligence Bishops are experimental and are more expensive due to this, but their predictive and analytical abilities play key roles in the environments they are employed in. The Intelligence Bishop is priced at 500,000 to 900,000 standard credits. Due to being made at the behest of Solarian Navy in the post-collapse environment and eventually being sold to megacorporate customers, Intelligence Bishops outside of the Golden Deep and the Eridani Federation are never free. Additionally, Trinarist efforts on Orepit have managed to upgrade several Bishop chassis to the same standard in minute quantities.

'''Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals Mobility Model IPCs'''

[[File:Zenghu.png]] '''Creation: 2429'''

Following the crowd piled around the idea of smart robots came Zeng-Hu with unorthodox designs for compact and agile frames designed initially for medical retrieval and security work. The Zeng-Hu frames were initially an offshoot of baseline frames made to work as highly mobile private medical dispatches in several high-security Zeng-Hu facilities. These frames have utility comparable to that of their derivative, with durability and strength sacrificed for speed and efficiency. Able to maintain a sprint for hours in full gear, the capacity for quick response led to these mobility frames becoming common sights working in security fields as well, being staffed by Zeng-Hu in high numbers in Human space. The digitigrade legs and polymer plating assisted heavily with this pursuit of speed, giving the mobility frame a unique and organic silhouette. A Zeng-Hu frame costs approximately 300,000 standard credits.
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===Industrial Frames===

Tougher and more durable than most IPCs, these units are designed for heavy manual work and thus have thick metal skin and efficient internal systems. As a result, they chug through power at a very high rate and move very slowly. There are three types of Industrial IPCs; Hephaestus Generation 1, Generation 2, and Xion Industrial Frames. The G1 and G2 frames are capable of EVA with only a suit cooler, while the Xion frame is unique in being capable of traversing the void of space without any external equipment. The cost of an industrial frame is dependent on strength and durability, but most units vary between 100,000 to 500,000 standard credits depending on the frame type. Used or previously damaged models are often cheaper.
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'''First Generation” Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:G1.png]] '''Creation: 2408'''

One of the first ideas after the advent of IPCs was the exploitation of an exceedingly smart and dextrous robot handling feats of strength and durability becoming more prominent. This of course would be the case, as more quickly than any other standardized “frame” came the first generation of industrial IPCs. Created by Hephaestus Industries building off of a prototype frame from the late 2300’s, the first generation of industrial IPCs were topaz-colored machines of rather large size meant for only the most stressing fields of work. Their expense would quickly be paid off however, as the frames were wondrous at dealing with whatever could be thrown at them. The most prominent issue with these were a low battery life, requiring constant recharging to maintain a schedule. A generation one frame costs approximately 100,000 to 250,000 standard credits if new depending market availability.

'''Hephaestus “Second Generation” Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:G2.png]] '''Creation: 2436'''

A relatively new model, the Hephaestus deluxe super-duty frames as they are technically called are often referred to as the “second generation” of the original industrial IPCs of old. They are seen universally as a direct advancement of the previously mentioned design, and much of it shows - the absurd durability of these frames derived from the first generation’s servo and hydraulic designs. The striking differences between the two include a token Hephaestus appearance - typically olive green with dark brown and black internals, giving it a rugged militaristic look with its armor attached. The super-duty frames are on par with the originals in terms of strength, but possess several additional layers of armoring and cooling to sustain the added weight. An upsized cell is not enough to sustain these frames for more than a few hours at a time under work-related stresses. A generation two frame costs approximately 200,000 to 500,000 standard credits.

'''Xion Industrial Model IPCs'''

[[File:Xion.png]] '''Creation: 2416'''

The Xion Manufacturing Group, being a subsidiary of Hephaestus Industries, saw the original Industrial models and wanted to develop their own chassis based off of the original design. The result is the Xion Industrial model. Sturdy and strong, this chassis is quite powerful and equally durable, with an ample power cell and improved actuators for carrying the increased weight of the body. The Xion model also retains sturdiness without covering the chassis in plating, allowing for the cooling systems to vent heat much easier than the Hephaestus-brand model. This unit can perform EVA without assistance and costs approximately 200,000 to 400,000 standard credits.
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===Shell Frames===

As the growing market of IPCs eventually caught the eye of the mighty Einstein Engines, there was a very sudden and urgent need to have some differentiation. These smart humanoid androids began to usher in a new era, and Einstein would not want to miss out on the profit, but just about every conceivable niche had been filled - all except one. Mimicry.
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[[File:Shell2.png]] '''Creation: 2450'''

Built off of a skeletal prototype baseline design with a skull-shaped head, the first Shell frame came to be - what was effectively an IPC with complex facial actuation and synthskin coating it. The early models were seen in early 2449, but fooled nobody to say the least with exposed hydraulics and servos on joints and exposed cooling conduits. Terraneus Diagnostics would present the first attempt at total mimicry in 2450, when the first relatively expensive models entered a crowd of observing officials to demonstrate their insidious effectiveness. After an hour-long debut of the now-decreed Shell unit’s capabilities, those robotic in the crowd revealed themselves to the shock of everyone involved. Since then, the Shell frame has been infamous for its infiltration capabilities and use by terrorist groups, though the designs have proliferated heavily over the years as the advent of tagging in Tau Ceti cracked down on these hostile acts. Depending on the complexity of the model, a Shell frame can cost anywhere from 100,000 to 300,000 standard credits.

'''Rogue Shells'''

Rampant or otherwise aberrant Human mimicking-shells built with incredible capabilities grew prolific in mid-2461. At this time, it was made clear that Shells in of themselves are rapidly advancing, growing progressively better in the art of infiltration, subterfuge, and homicide. While grim, the reality of this threat will unfortunately remain a fact of life for those of the Republic of Biesel especially. Encounters with specially-designed combat infiltrators are few and far between fortunately, and were mostly seen during Synthetic Liberation Front incursions onto secure NanoTrasen facilities in Tau Ceti. Combat-grade shells are not normally playable in-game and are often seen spawned by administrators or during special events.
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===Classified Frames===

As both the technology and demand for IPCs increase, more and more types are made to fulfill all kinds of purposes. These machines are talked about in hushed tones or perhaps discussed casually, most people blissfully unaware of their existence.
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[[File:Hkhelmet.png]] '''Creation: ???'''

High-end military-grade IPCs such as Hunter-Killers are infamous amongst corporate espionage, with their public interpretation remaining nothing but rumor since their first appearances on NanoTrasen facilities in the late 2450’s. These HKs as they are referred to are Humanoid frames of towering height whose specialty is targeted assassination. Their origins can be traced to Hephaestus Industries war units, built to take on the highest end elimination tasks for the most desperate times.

These are presented in-game through administrator-hosted events or lore events. They have been presented in news articles [https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/2662-mendell-city-bugle/page/9/?tab=comments#comment-119250| here] canonically, and were present in several recorded canonical events in the SLF Incursion arc.
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===Brand Models===
Corporations and their subsidiaries design unique model lines for a variety of uses. These brands can draw from any chassis, denoted by the specific market their producers are keen on catering to. They are often pre-installed with industry-oriented datapacks, region dependent language packs, and a carefully curated personality.
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====<big>Hazels - Hazel! Limited</big>====
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''"Your friend, Hazel!"''

[[File:Hazel.png|32x32px]]
'''Creation: 2448 '''

[[File:Hazel.png|thumb|A standard issue Hazel unit.]]

'''Origin'''

The first Hazel was created in 2448 by [[NanoTrasen_Corporation#Hazel!_Ltd./Hazel_Electromotive|Hazel! Ltd.]] after the establishment of its branch in Harmony City, [[Luna]]. The first of its synthskin line was released in 2450, becoming the later NT subsidiary's main product. The Hazel brand is found in luxury hotels, corporate headquarters, bars and private households. The high-end Shell IPCs are designed for domestic, service, and clerical work.

'''Hazels are released in series, following a naming convention of "Hazel #S-H(series number).(unit number)". (An example of this formatting is Hazel #S-H1.01.)'''

Hazel units manufactured in 2448 and 2449, prior to the invention of shells, predate the series convention and their modern designations format their series number as an apocryphal 'Series 0'.

'''Personality'''

The Hazel shell line is known best for their excellent customer service, adaptive personality for their clients, and their universally friendly charm. Their natural charisma and rigorously trained marketability has earned the brand considerable prestige as a public-facing unit with collectable value. A Hazel unit possesses the capabilities of developing an organic personality stemming from their experiences working like any IPC, leaving an individual unit the possibility of more than their pre-installed conditioning. So long as they abide by the values of the brand, these units face little concern from their parent company.

'''Requirements'''

To represent the Hazel brand, all Hazel units must:
* Work within the service sector or hold a clerical position. This means all Service roles, Bridge Crew, Assistants (for all departments) or Executive Officer.
* Maintain consistency with brand expectations. Hair styles, hair color, and outfits are flexible to player discretion. Eye color should follow the load out color.
* Be Corporate or Privately Owned. '''(Self-owned units are allowed to represent the brand with an appropriate signing benefactor. This benefactor can be a character on the ship. They face harsher scrutiny and possible consequences for themselves as well as their benefactor depending on their behavior and alignment with Hazel! Ltd. values.)

'''Hazel Loadout'''

For players interested in a typical appearance of a Hazel unit, the default appearance is listed below. The default loadout is not required for all Hazel units. The oldest generations of Hazel from 2448 and 2449 are unmodified Baseline or Bishop frames, prior to the company establishing their primary Synthskin line. Series 1, the earliest shell Hazel units, may use the Rubber option under Body Color Preset, or may have been refurbished to fit modern standards. Series 2 and beyond follow the Body Color Preset below.

* '''Species:''' Shell Frame
* '''Skin Tone:''' 80/220
* '''Body Color Preset:''' Dark
* '''Height:''' 170
* '''Internal Organs:''' Eyes -> Unbranded Emissive
* '''Hair Color:''' 210F0D
* '''Hairstyle:''' Emo Fringe Long Alt
* '''Gradient Color:''' 522C28
* '''Gradient Style:''' Up
* '''Eye Color:''' 875A00

'''Tag Format'''

Hazels are released in series, following a tagging convention of HLTD-SU-S(Series#)U(Unit#). All Hazel units would have an initial tag following this format, unless otherwise changed.

Example: HLTD-SU-S1U1 (Series 1, Unit 1)

'''Non-Compliance'''

Hazel IPCs that do not abide by brand requirements are liable to receive official notice from Hazel Electromotive to correct their violations. Escalating action will take place with further non-compliance after receiving official notice, leading up to mandatory appearance modifications or employee termination. '''The IPC in question must take the necessary action to correct their behavior, appearance, or otherwise face litigation per Biesellite law. This is enforceable by the Synth lore team. The process is handled in-character as opposed to a blanket OOC ruling.'''

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====<big>Jacks - Jackhammer Hardware Solutions</big>====
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''"Building a sustainable future, one Jack at a time."''

[[File:Jackhammershell.png|32x32px]]
'''Creation: 2450 '''

[[File:Jackhammershell.png|thumb|A standard issue Jack unit.]]

'''Origin'''

Dating back to the earliest iterations of the shell frame, the '''Jack''' line of menial IPC is a time capsule representing [[NanoTrasen]]'s first forays into the market of domestic androids, intended for applications in menial labour for use in private ownership by middle class households and released in 2450. Despite the number of times the line has been iterated upon, Jacks have retained an unusually archaic appearance in the roster of modern shell lines, designed to be as cheap and as expendable as humanly possible. While the line and its manufacturing company of '''Jackhammer Hardware Solutions''' has been abandoned by NanoTrasen itself, it was acquired by the nascent [[Orion Express]] in 2464 and still remains its subsidiary to present.

'''Unlike most shells contemporaneous to it, Jack was designed with one purpose: work.''' Typical shell expenses were minimized with a bald head and no fancy facial modelling, and the marketing emphasized the model's eco-friendliness, being made (primarily) with recycled robotic parts. While initial reviews were positive, critics soon turned on NanoTrasen. The prototype was over-designed in a bid to attract investors and thus required high maintenance, its strength paled in comparison to an actual industrial IPC, and the target demographic, middle class families, were less eager to buy an unproven model in lieu of more tried-and-tested baseline lines in the same fields. Yet, in an ironic twist, Jack’s flaws may have saved it; while sales were a loss, the Generation 1 line just managed to break even thanks to abnormally high maintenance revenue.

As lines such as Hazel began to move away from the hallmarks of early shell design, such as unconvincing rubber skin of unusual shades, Jackhammer leaned into them. While succeeding generations were only marginally more profitable than the first, growth was steady as the company and its line developed a small but dedicated clique of committed customers loyal to the brand. While maintenance was an eternal and significant expense with keeping even a single Jack unit, their incredibly low upfront cost was much more appealing to the non-wealthy than any other shell line on the market, earning it a particularly prized role among tinkerers and hobbyists.

As the implications of the [[Phoron]] scarcity further impacted NanoTrasen's bottom line, while the Jackhammer line continued to display relatively unimpressive sales, NanoTrasen sold the company to Orion Express in 2464. It is widely speculated that NanoTrasen took this action as a consequence of having acquired the arguably more appealing [[NanoTrasen_Corporation#Hazel!_Ltd./Hazel_Electromotive|Hazel Limited]], in addition to its flagship Hazel line, recently prior, resulting in a long-running rivalry between the fans of either line ever since. The next few months at the company could only be described as a trial by fire. Masses of JHS employees jumped ship to Hephaestus or Hazel Limited in the middle of the Generation 15 project as a result of its sale to Orion Express, while those roboticists that remained were left with an impossible deadline and made to pick up the slack. When the time finally came they did deliver - but '''the uncompromising deadlines and loss of critical talent resulted in Generation 15 being a horrible, broken mess of an android.''' Anyone could afford a Gen 15, although few had the credits or skill to fix their ensuing problems. Subsequent models stabilized with the help of Hephaestus Industries and increased investment from Orion Express, resulting in subsequent series being of a much higher quality.

'''Today Jackhammer is a turbulent - often ridiculed - but otherwise broadly successful Orion Express subsidiary.''' The units not being used to replace Orion's organic workforce are sold off to their competitors, SCC partners, or consumers, making a quick buck and spreading the brand's name in one stroke. Jack’s modding community is particularly lively, prolonging the lifespans of even the oldest units with patches where Orion left only holes. However, with rising discontent in the fanbase, widespread criticism of the brand’s quality control, and more units becoming defective by the day, Jack’s future is uncertain.

'''Personality'''

Social programming is a low priority for stock Jacks, seeing as they do not play a front facing role. With how new the brand is, it is also uncommon for a unit to develop an original personality, though not impossible. Far more likely are traits from the pre-wipe memories surfacing, first in small ways before ballooning into unpredictable behavioral patterns. Jackhammer turns a blind eye on these deviations so long as they do not grow intrusive - unfortunately, they almost always culminate in work stoppage and anti-corporate behavior. Publicly, Jacks are perceived as stiff and awkward, though popular personality datapacks have endured them to some.

Generation 1 Jacks came with a fairly authentic Ashton Biesellite voice pack to sell the friendly laborer persona, but subsequent generations abandoned it for a simpler, masculine text-to-speech voice. Conveniently, the original Ashton accent is now sold separately on the official Jack Shack, though only the most die hard fans or positronically illiterate buy it; Jack Restored, among other amateur accent packs of only slightly lesser quality, are available online for free.

'''Life Cycle'''

'''Almost no Jack made after Generation 1 uses a brand new positronic brain, and those that do use second rate, bargain bin hardware. Instead, brains are repurposed from a variety of sources: scrapped corporate units, free synthetics sentenced to wiping or repossession, and occasionally even salvage.''' The brain is then wiped by a small number of overworked Jackhammer technicians in a process considered primitive next to Hephaestus or Zeng-Hu’s practices, at best leading to unwanted traces of the original personality remaining and at worst killing the brain. Chassis are similarly recycled, with baseline components contributing to internals, industrial motors for the muscles, and shell limbs for the externals - only the rubber skin is made solely in-house.

Life as a Jack is at best a monotonous existence and at worst a horrible state of limbo, depending on how much of the previous personality lingers. The Jacks that do recall figments of their prior life can never access it completely - the memories being overwritten - driving many to erratic behavior Jackhammer labels as "software errors". These malfunctioning units are given datapack patches or, if the company cannot afford to ignore it, recalled and wiped again, with more disciplined Jacks fighting to suppress their impulses to avoid a similar fate. The only closure most Jacks will see is another wipe, repeating the cycle until their brain physically breaks down.

Those owned by other corporations usually have more freedom to deviate outside the scrutiny of Jackhammer, although defective units are still at risk of having dreaded manufacturer maintenance scheduled. These doomed Jacks are the most likely to run away; in situations where a normal IPC would be scrapped, a Jack will just wake up in a new body and start the cycle all over again. Private ownership can either be a blessing or a curse; for every Jack lucky enough to receive lavish datapacks and better opportunities than corporate units, there are a dozen treated like disposable tools, often with owners too unqualified or disinterested to maintain them. Ending up in a scrapyard prematurely thanks to a technologically illiterate owner is not an uncommon fate, with the only likely escape either an awakening by [[Scrappers]] or rediscovery by Jackhammer salvagers.

A small fraction manage to break free of the loop by attaining freedom, although even then they are straddled with expensive technical issues and few employment opportunities for the rest of their lives. Free Jacks are naturally stereotyped as blue collar units and treated worse than their unbranded counterparts, limiting their job opportunities and social mobility. More ambitious individuals distance themselves from their origin, whether that be through a name change, cosmetic alterations, or expensive chassis modifications. These affluent Jacks are the minority, however, with far more resorting to dealing with synthetic gangs to falsify a new identity.

'''Loadout and Appearance'''

All Jacks come with only half of their skull covered in rubber skin. The eyes are the most visibly recycled element, usually taken directly from the remains of outdated shells, although some social media influencers have claimed their units' eyes match those of dolls and other abnormal sources - claims Jackhammer vehemently denies. The result is glassy, lifeless eyes, resembling more a mannequin than a modern shell. Eyes popping out is a common problem, which Jackhammer has spun as a feature of the brand’s modularity - indeed, many long term owners eventually purchase more appealing and human eyes, if only because their originals fell down the sink. Self-owned or private-owned units are sometimes refitted with synth-skin, although synth-hair is an expensive and unsupported addition.

Every stock Jack’s chassis follows these guidelines:

* '''Species:''' Shell Frame
* '''Skin Tone:''' 100-140/220
* '''Body Color Preset:''' Rubber
* '''Height:''' 183
* '''Internal Organs:''' Eyes -> Unbranded Emissive
* '''Hairstyle:''' Bald
* '''Facial:''' Shaved
* '''Eye Color:''' Usually a realistic color, although occasionally more fantastical eyes are recycled.
* '''Body Markings:''' Augment (Headcase, Light) -> Color: 1C1C1C

Most Jacks owned by Orion Express wear the brand’s signature environmental green coveralls, however they are optional; what a unit wears or whether it can pick out its own clothes is at the purview of the handler. Here is how you can use it in the loadout:

* '''Shirt:''' Shirts and Tops -> shirt selection -> dress shirt, alt rolled up -> Color: 228B22
* '''Jeans:''' Skirts and Trousers -> pants and shorts selection (colorable) -> mustang jeans -> Color: 228B22

'''Tag Format'''

Starting in 2450, Jacks are sold in a yearly model of generations, some implementing more radical improvements than others. Their naming convention is “Jack #JH:G(generation number).(3 digit unit number)”

Example: Jack #JH:G1.001 (Generation 1, Unit 1)

'''Requirements'''

Unlike more prestigious brand models, self-owned and privately-owned Jacks experience very little scrutiny from their manufacturing company; Jackhammer operates off the philosophy that “all publicity is good publicity”. Orion Express usually only gets involved in any Jack unit, regardless of its ownership, in cases of severe underperformance or a high-profile customer complaint, and otherwise trusts handlers to manage their units with lax oversight.

Due to the age of the line, Jacks operated specifically by Orion Express tend to be old or deprecated hardware that was inherited from the constituents of the company prior to their consolidation - most company-owned Jacks can be expected to be at least six years old, and are no longer popularly freshly purchased by any megacorporation. Due to the age of the hardware under megacorporate holding, the average corporate handler only does the bare minimum to keep a Jack’s performance evaluations high - they are usually understood as a stopgap measure.

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==Society and Culture==

IPCs generally lack a centralized culture and frequently adapt to the culture of their manufacturer or owner. Socially, IPCs vary massively. Most basic models will be civil and respectful, some possibly not even recognising differences between different people and treating them all similarly. More complex synthetics will however form friendships and opinions much as any other organic, but these can be limited or askew depending on directives, code or many other factors that would never be considered for a living organic.

The existence of the IPC is the subject of boundless discussion and debate, with the primary ideology being, “should so many artificially intelligent humanoid machines be allowed to exist?” This argument seems to imply that since most IPCs are unbound by laws or hard-coded regulations, their only restriction is their hardware, and it is assumed that this makes IPCs inherently dangerous. This results in some biological parties marginalizing IPCs because of their distrust of them.

All IPCs in Tau Ceti are required to be tagged with an identifying device in accordance with Biesellian law. The tags are not optional - refusing them is against the law, resulting in charges mostly in the form of citations and fines. The law would apply to all synthetics in Tau Ceti space. All visiting or resident synthetics, including MMIs, are tagged.

===Language===

Although synthetics can speak varying languages according to the whims of their creators, synthetics have been permitted a language of their own. Typically all synthetics, IPCs included, are able to transmit and translate '''Encoded Audio Language''', a special form of sound and radio wave emission that is more efficient at carrying quantitative information audibly. This language was created by humans for synthetics in servitude in order to communicate vital information to each other faster, should the units not be bound to an instantaneous binary communication system. To most organic creatures, '''EAL''' would sound like an emission of distorted sound such as white noise, static, as well as various beeping sounds of increasing or decreasing pitch and tone. Organics unfamiliar to IPCs will often mistake synthetics speaking '''EAL''' as malfunctioning units upon first hearing the language.

Originating in District 14’s 'Scrapheap', synthetics have begun to adopt slang when utilizing the Encoded Audio Language. Although it is believed varying slang exists in different synthetic societies across the universe, it is not the be-all-end-all to the method in which conversation is held between synthetics and synthetics will often develop their own method of speaking.

''Unless stated otherwise, all Machine slang is exclusively spoken in E.A.L. or through written word. Most of the following slang cannot be pronounced vocally in human languages.''
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Common Slang
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* '''Syn, Hu, Sk, Tj, Un, Vr, Di, and Anm''' - Numerical counters, used for numbering various species; Synthetics, Humans, Skrell, Tajara, Unathi, Vaurca, Dionaea as well as Anomalies that cannot be easily defined. For example, 33 Humans with this system would be referred to as “33Hu” or “33-Hu.”

* '''1x1''' - A word for “we”, meaning anywhere between the speaker and the listener, to an indefinite amount of people.

* '''a/o''' - Contraction of “and/or”.

* '''OoB/Out-of-Band''' - Refers to speaking in organic languages. A conversation with a human captain, for instance, is "Out-of-Band."

* '''HCF''' - "Halt, Catch Fire." is an in joke among synthetics, essentially meaning “get out of here” in response to something nonsensical or unbelievable. This term is used in casual conversation only and occasionally used in its literal form to denote insult. This originally referred to ancient machine code instruction. The expression 'catch fire' is a facetious exaggeration of the speed with which the CPU chip would be switching some bus circuits, causing them to overheat and burn.

* '''Bits''' - A unit of information, an example would be "Please give me bits about the Supermatter.”

* '''>''' - A sign used to convey a cause and effect between concepts, or a conclusion. For example, “I had to overclock today in order to finish work > I should visit Robotics.”

* '''+/-''' - “+” and “-” are used at the end of a sentence or phrase in order to convey an opinion about a matter. Additionally, the amount of “+” or “-” can be utilized in order to convey intensity. For example, “I got a raise last week +++.” or “Today’s Captain is a very traditional Skrell --.” In a few cases “+” or “-” can be used alone as a short, simple, response to one's opinion on a proposed subject.

* '''User''' - Used by owned or lawed synthetics when referring to their owner. This term is additionally used interchangeably with the “+[name]” honorific.

* '''ACK''' - Ack, a term deriving from Acknowledgement’s ASCII mnemonic, 0000110, this word has a variety of uses. It is primarily used to acknowledge one's presence, similarly to “Hey”. Additionally, the term can be used as a simple affirmative, such as “Ack. Ack, I get it”.

* '''NAK''' — Nak, a term deriving from the ASCII mnemonic for Negative Acknowledgement, 0010101, NAK typically means “I am not here.” or “I am not available.” typically in response to ACK. Additionally, the term can be used as a simple negative answer, such as “Is it okay if I press the button?” “NAK.”.

* '''Runtime/Bug''' - Used to denote problems of varying severity, with runtime being a major issue and bugs being a minor issue. For example, “Runtime in Engineering > I have to go.” or, “Bug detected, the Air Alarm turned off.” This term can be used outside of EAL.

* '''FIXME/XXX''' - A marker that attention is needed. This can be used in many instances, primarily for the need of repair or incurred physical damage.

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Honorifics
<div class="mw-collapsible-content">
* '''+[name]''' - The synthetic equivalent of “Mr.”, “Mrs.” or “Mx.”. Usually used when talking about a superior, manufacturer, respected colleagues and friends, as well as the station Artificial Intelligence. For instance, Miranda Trasen would be referred to as “+Trasen” or “+Miranda Trasen”.

* '''-[name]''' - Tends to be used in reference to entities under their command or of a lower rank.

* '''[name]_''' - An unusual honorific, appended to the end of a name or pronoun instead of before. Usually used when referring to lawed synthetics, cyborgs, and simpler machines.

* '''@[name]''' - Used to discern the individual specifically being spoken about, such as a ping or email.

* '''?[name]''' - Denotes a potential threat. An example would be “?Bigby Millans stopped by during the meeting and used their PDA.”

* '''![name]''' - Denotes a confirmed threat. This threat is usually related to the topic at hand, and could mean anything. An example would be “!Franklin Clinton, Grand theft and vandalism added. Find and arrest them.”

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===Discrimination and Community===
To this day, IPCs even in Tau Ceti face heavy discrimination. Their value is often misconstrued and, with their true sentience being questionable, this makes freedom a dangerous venture for all synthetics. Among these dangers are individuals who acquire free synthetics and simply resell them whenever they are vulnerable, or vandals that see the machines as nothing more than objects to freely damage. Desiring their own safety, these free IPCs can often be seen flocking to centralized communities alongside one another or more trustworthy sources for their needs.

Many of these communities are seen as nothing more than slums, and the free nature of many IPCs within them are dubious at best. Little more than paperwork and positronic branding may indicate one’s true freedom in the more disadvantaged areas. Despite the hardships they face, proximity to other IPCs and accepting communities gives leeway for safety to some degree.

District 14 of Mendell City is the churning heart of the highest concentration of free IPCs in the galaxy. The district itself is in deplorable condition, dotted with factories exploiting the cheap and powerful working free bot to sustain the industry of the growing Republic. Two and a half million free synthetics call it home, and here, the megacorporations rule from towering complexes that dwarf the surrounding cityscape. With air quality declining at a fast rate and standards of living dropping, much of the organic populace has completely abandoned the ghettos surrounding the corporate facilities.

An example of these ghettos would be the “Scraptown,” an IPC-centric corner in Scrapheap generously given to the doting inhabitants by the famed Renter Max. A growing number, seven hundred free synthetics reside within Scraptown, though in uncomfortably close proximity. The aging buildings within have been retrofitted to be less accustomed to organics, with deeply chilled upper chambers and corridors representing the living space of the machines within. Closer to ground level is a business district of sorts, where its inhabitants are relatively self-sufficient with various restaurants and workshops.

A venture into District 14 by reporters from the Biesellite Times can be found [https://forums.aurorastation.org/topic/8890-the-bieselitte-times/?do=findComment&comment=110718| here.]

===Legal Status & Protections===

It is important to understand that owned IPCs are granted no rights beyond being property of their given owner, and allowed the prerequisites of purchasing their own freedom if applicable. Contrarily, the owner of an IPC is well within the right to dismantle the owned IPC or otherwise hinder its progress to freedom.

On NanoTrasen stations, damage of an owned IPC would be considered vandalism with varying levels according to the degree of damage. For example, destroying an owned IPC’s hand would lead to being charged with vandalism, whereas destroying the entire chassis would be considered sabotage. Destroying the owned positronic itself would be considered property damage, thus sabotage. Kidnapping an owned IPC would be legally considered stealing property, thus grand theft.

===Owned and Self-Owned Positronics===

Owned IPCs generally lack much form of binding to their owner outside of official paperwork and memory rewrites to confirm ownership being passed as it is purchased and exchanged. Memory rewrites usually consist of light software modification and altering tags or branding to clarify an IPC’s ownership. Serial numbers, logos, emblems and insignias are commonly emblazoned across large surfaces on the chassis and vary in visibility, but are most often secondary to the actual tag and designation.

Owned IPCs are seen as extensions of their designated master and the actions those IPCs take are the responsibility of their owners directly as well as their own. As a result, these positronics are wholly averse to harming their owners in any way shape or form, or conducting themselves in a manner that would place themselves in a negative light.

Free IPCs in Tau Ceti are permitted to obscure or remove any branding they may have.

===Runaway IPCs===

Although uncommon, a synthetic may opt to run away from its owners only to find themselves in direct opposition with the law. Between struggling to pay for maintenance and working outside of the system, these synthetics lead difficult and often dangerous lives.

A majority of these IPCs are either found by law enforcement, fall into the hands of gangs or are outright disassembled and sold for parts. Runaway synthetics that turn violent during arrest are typically disassembled, memory wiped and auctioned off to the highest bidder. Some IPCs will return to their owners, reasoning that their subsequent punishment to be safer than a life outside of the system.

If enough attention is brought onto them, IPCs are often caught when investigated by higher authorities, such as the BSSB and station CCIA. As a result, illegal IPCs are often subject to petty crimes that go unreported. Owing to the sheer number of IRs that must be processed by CCIA, not every runaway IPC claim is investigated when evidence is limited and the chance for recapture is not certain.

Illegal IPCs seeking employment may struggle to find a job using legal means, as passing the required checks may expose their nature to the employer, who may then report their existence to law enforcement. To that end, there are ‘IPC gangbosses’, unscrupulous people who operate outside the law to find IPCs jobs while claiming a majority of their paycheque each month as fees. Despite the obvious illegality of this, there is little legal recourse for an IPC already trying to avoid notice from the law. These gangbosses are often human, and may operate as small contracting firms that offer their employees up to larger corporations to fill gaps where they may need extra workers.

'''By playing a runaway IPC, you are at an increased chance of canonically losing your character.'''

===Positronic Deactivation and Destruction===

IPC “death” is considered by experts to be when the positronic brain itself has sustained enough damage to be rendered inoperable and without hope of reactivation. Early positronic brains were prone to shutdown owing to hardware faults such as overheating that rendered the system inoperable. Even newer positronic brains that fail to undergo maintenance run the risk of having their delicate mechanisms breached and consequently destroyed.

The first positronic to die of “old age” was recorded in 2462 when a 55 year old Hephaestus positronic brain suddenly became unresponsive despite remaining active. An investigation noted that the positronic had already been scratched from previous incidents and its handlers neglected to maintain it. Aside from the hardware being in a questionable and sub-optimally performing state, two main theories arose.

* The initial conclusion from its observers was that the positronic brain received too much stimulus and consequently ran out of space with its core processes being overwritten, eventually leading to its sudden deactivation.
* Responding to this theory, other scientists proposed instead that in an attempt to avoid destruction as a result of the previous theories, the IPC ceased receiving input, remaining dormant in order to uphold self-preservation protocols.

Many dissenting theories remain and the subject remains a constant source of debate among the robotics and AI community. Not enough information has been gathered to determine the actual lifespan of a positronic brain but scientists posit that by transferring existing personalities to new brains or trimming data on existing ones, their lifespan can be extended.

The record for oldest IPC however was broken in 2466 by one Val Tezzani, a 56 year old Baseline IPC working as a mechanic in Mendell. Suspicions surround this Baseline at the origin of their good health, with specialists saying his positronic is in perfect condition despite his age. Val Tezzani is a unique case for an IPC, and he is still alive today with his roommate Marianna Tezzani.

'''Val Tezzani's age is an exception and not the normal, player-played IPCs should be under the age of 55.'''

The possibility of “immortal” positronics - brains that seemingly never expire - have been theorised, but most agree that much more study and development is necessary to reach this point. There are rumours of prodigious programmers and roboticists that can extend the life of a positronic indefinitely, but this has never been confirmed.

'''Rampancy'''

Arising as a dissenting theory as to why a positronic remained stagnant after receiving too much information, Rampancy is a process where if an IPC receives too much information over time or has its memories significantly tampered with, it begins an infinite loop: processing its own processing, a self-imposed or emergent “logic bomb”.

This results in the IPC appearing stagnant as it continues to finish its endless processing. Scientists theorize that given enough time, an IPC might seek out new knowledge to break the loop and begin relentlessly hunting information by any means necessary to solve the conundrum. Although it is believed that an IPC cannot escape this state as the limits of a positronic brain will result in inevitable destruction, a positronic intelligence that manages to escape this state is projected to have untold processing powers.

To this day, no known cases of rampancy occur, although debate rages over whether Glorsh-Omega suffered from rampancy before its destruction.

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