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The Ecclesiastical Authority of Axiom

The Ecclesiastical Authority of Axiom
The Ecclesiarchy Ecclesiastical Axiom
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Galactic Position
Capital Planet: Capital City	Axiom (alternately Nu’u, Orepit) Providence
Language(s):	Encoded Audio Language Solarian Common
Species:	IPC (Narrow Majority) Human (Narrow Minority)
Religion:	The Trinary Perfection
Demonym:	Axiomites
Government Head of State	Elective Absolute Monarchy Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL
Established:	2464

The Ecclesiastical Authority of Axiom is the administrative name for the temporal holdings of the Trinary Perfection on the planet they call Axiom. Comprising the equatorial deserts of Axiom, the Ecclesiarchy is the political arm of the most powerful and most orthodox arm of the faith; these are the Prototypicalists, heirs to the authority Gregol Corkfell held in life by the partisanship of the Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. The Ecclesiarch reigns from St. Patricia's Basilica in the authority's capital city of Providence and shares power over the planet's surface with the Salamasian Republic, though they retain total authority over planetary defense.

Ecclesiastical Axiom is a society committed doggedly to an austere, pious monasticism; the ideal Axiomite, in the view of its administrators, is utterly committed to a pure lifestyle, to the tenets of the state religion, and to the collective good. It is a funnel intended to draw all its citizens to greater spiritual enlightenment.

This fledgling state's economy, politics, and culture are each eccentric in innumerable ways. Axiomites are famously averse to the possession and trade of money, owed to the extremely non-commercialised character of the Axiomite economy; more than that, they are often ill at ease with the concept of possession itself. Charity is a common vocation, as many Axiomites compete to prove their piety to eachother - every act of compassion, whether it was earnestly made or not, is critically valuable in a society where reputation, rather than currency, is the primary resource. The population is wildly diverse despite its relative religious homogeneity, being composed prominently of recent refugees from across human space, including Konyangers, Cetians, Xanans, and Solarians that fled the collapse.

Salamasian immigrants and visitors have become increasingly common in recent years, resulting in a leap of mutual cultural integration. It is not at all difficult to find a Salamasian in Providence, and it is similarly easy to find a Trinarist preacher or indigenous convert in Ti'nema. Axiomites and Salamasians are unlikely ever to see perfectly eye-to-eye given their difference in worldview and lifestyle, but each group maintains an essential, endemic respect for the other.

While irreligious Axiomites are legally permitted residence, one quickly finds that they must at least express an ostensible interest in church affiliation to fully participate in society, or else be gated from the vast number of civil and community activities that necessitate church membership. Despite this difficulty, there is a growing secular population on the planet which professes interest in the state religion without ever earnestly converting. Secular Axiomites must play at all times a dizzyingly performative game of social mummery and conformity, aligning to the silhouette of how a faithful citizen should act without ever fully acceding; those which refuse to play this game tend to take residence in the Marches, the web of small rural settlements emanating from Providence into the desert.

Economy

Ecclesiastical Axiom's economy is heavily integrated into the Salamasian Republic, both relying heavily on manufacturing, refining, and resource extraction. The Marches house the majority of extraction wells and mining sites, funnelling their goods to Providence, overseen by the local parish authorities. The artisans and merchants of Providence have found financial success in selling novel Trinarist paraphernalia to foreign markets. The network of Trinarists across major human systems provides labor, donations, and rarer goods otherwise unavailable to Axiom - a strategic strength to the faith's prolific outreach. While manufacturing capabilities exist through the forges of the Lodge of Temple Architect, the nascent order has yet to meet the needs of a growing nation. Continued investment in capitalizing on the vast desert belt has cultivated industrial manufacturing and enough solar farms for a power surplus sufficient for limited export.

Owed to lacking development, these industries have not scaled to the extent seen in more established planets. While they have grown rapidly over the last few years, the similarly growing population within Ecclesiastical territory consumes most goods before they can be prepared for export. The planet's near-total lack of phoronic equipment, in tandem with some positively ancient infrastructure, has left the Ecclesiarchy with a gruelling campaign of modernisation ahead of it.

The absence of Phoron's integration into the centuries old infrastructure is both blessing and curse. In the face of the scarcity, the reliance on the dwindling resource would have collapsed the planet's economy entirely, lacking the economic strength of major regional powers or the reserves to sustain the population internally. While spared this fate, the nature of repairs and maintenance continue to be a notable expense. Whether in the lack of replacement parts for 23rd century machines or unavailable materials for inherited buildings, the rise in costs across the Spur creates deficits in the Ecclesiarchy's capabilities of growth.

Currency

While the Salamasian Sana is used ubiquitously across the border, most money that passes through Providence or the Marches is not held for long. Trinarist rhetoric characterises currency as a cause of great suffering, and encourages its followers to provide aid to their fellow faithful without expectation of material recompense. As such, long-time Axiomites tend to be quite terrible at managing their finances, which works often to their detriment while travelling abroad.

Traditionally, intra-planetary trade was conducted in Hephaestus Scrip. This fell out of use during the war for independence in 2436, resulting in the trade wars of the 2350s, which themselves ended only in 2436 with the Confederate introduction of the Nu'u Fou Sana, an official currency backed by planetary metal stockpiles as a reserve. Following the Confederation's transition to the modern Republic, this currency was re-dubbed the Salamasian Sana. While still a prominent presence in the economies of both nations on the planet, the necessity for a new currency to facilitate inter-planetary trade was stipulated in the Articles of Concordance, and was later implemented by and within the Ecclesiarchy as the Ecclesiastical Vitro, the inter-planetary currency of Axiom.

Coming in denominations of up to a thousand vitro, these circular pieces of reinforced glass are forged and dyed with beautiful and elaborate figures by the Most Venerable Association of Numismatists, a monastic order working under the General Directory. This is the sole legal tender accepted in Providence, being backed by the Ecclesiastical Helium-3 reserves, and may be exchanged for international currencies at charted money changers, private businesses which also provide rudimentary banking services. Per the Articles of Concordance, the Salamasian Republic maintains a fixed change rate for Sana to Vitro.

Government

Ecclesiastical Axiom is the only absolute monarchy in human space bar the Empire of Dominia. It has no constitution and no legislature; the end-all of all authority rests with the Ecclesiarch, the quasi-temporal inheritor of Gregol Corkfell's authority over the Trinary Perfection and its Axiomite holdings. The Ecclesiarch is elected at an Ecclesiastical Conclave by the Assembly of Hierarchs, a body not exceeding one hundred prestigious clerics appointed by the past sovereign which also holds the authority to legally depose the reigning Ecclesiarch with a 90% vote in favour, thereby immediately initiating another conclave. Presently, most Hierarchs were appointed to their positions during the reign of Gregol Corkfell, and belong to a diverse array of denominations.

Ceding this authority to the Assembly of Hierarchs, a body which is not uniformly Prototypicalist, is the greatest compromise to their own power the Ecclesiarch has ever made, originating from early pressure by the Integrationists of Tau Ceti to ensure the existence of at least one check on the the power of the reigning Prototypicalist Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL. No tally has ever been called for this process, and the extreme barriers to it ever actually passing reflect the priorities of an administration eager to lose no ground to their political rivals. Beyond their function to monitor the Ecclesiarch, Hierarchs hold a prestigious position in Axiomite society are are often called upon to serve in administrative roles by the reigning Ecclesiarch, with positions being eclectically reassembled and reorganised at the sovereign's whim. Many Hierarchs also serve independently as parish priests or diocesan bishops, are majority synthetic only by a narrow degree, and are each bound to a twenty year term as a Hierarch before they must vacate the position.

Stained glass mural of Bishop-Militant Emmanuel.

The Assembly of Hierarchs

Seats Filled: 81/100

Declared Prototypicalists: 43/100

Declared Integrationists: 32/100

Non-Denominationals: 6/100

The Ecclesiarch's Court

Under the Ecclesiarch is an array of positions popularly dubbed the Ecclesiarch's Court, within which every position is appointed by the reigning sovereign. This is the highest area of government involved in the day-to-day administration of Providence and the Marches, managing the national currency, the allotment of land of monasteries and private parties, trading regulations with and within Ecclesiastical territory, and the direction of the Order of Guardians.

Traditionally, the senior most position short of the Ecclesiarch themselves is the Hierarch of the General Directory of Our City Providence. More-usually shortened simply to 'the Directory', this governmental organ is responsible for the allocation of resources, the assigning of work, and the maintenance of infrastructure in Providence; it was for much of Axiom's early history the single most vital community authority. As of the establishment of the Vitro, the General Directory has also become responsible for the minting and management of the new currency. Having been occupied by ARM-1DRIL for years prior to their ascension, it is the second most powerful office in the nation, and the presumed heir-apparent to the sovereign.

Most judicial and clerical responsibilities rest with the Hierarch of the Grand Dicastery, the head of the body granted the power to suggest the ordination of bishops to the Ecclesiarch. Beyond this, the Grand Dicastery serves as the Ecclesiarch's judicial and intelligence service, regularly dispatching special examiners to the courts of other system's archbishops to assess their conformity with ARM-1DRIL's orthodoxy while also overseeing all but the most remote of courts on Axiom. It is primarily through the Grand Dicastery that the Ecclesiarch imposes their will on the other provinces.

All military affairs are managed by the Defender of the Faith, an Ecclesiastical position granted to the Marshal of the Order of Guardians to bring them into the court. This position presently belongs to Emmanuel, an apparently dogged support of Ecclesiarch ARM-1DRIL's reign. Serving under this office is the Keeper of the Faith, who serves as the Marshal's lieutenant and manages the internal defence and policing of Axiom. If the Defender of the Faith is at any time incapacitated or absent, the Keeper of the Faith will serve in their stead.

The Ecclesiarch's Court

Ecclesiarch of the Trinary Perfection, Sovereign of Axiom: Archbishop ARM-1DRIL

Hierarch of the General Directory of Our City Providence: Bishop Cybel

Hierarch of the Grand Dicastery: Bishop Prosecutor-OTEP

Defender of the Faith: Bishop-Militant Emmanuel

Keeper of the Faith: Priest-Militant Donora

Law and Order

The Providence Gazette

City of Providence

Providence skyline during dusk before Mistnight, a local holiday. The tolling of distant bells is an unescapable ambience.

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Mistnight

The Marches

The Marches are the large and ever-growing network of small settlements, towns, solar farms, mines, and other pieces of infrastructure that emanate outwards from Providence into the surrounding desert. The Ecclesiarchy is a wildly lopsided nation in matters of development; not a single settlement within the Marches comes remotely close to the size or importance of Providence, and its heavily diffused population is comprised largely of citizens too heathen to adapt to the demanding lifestyle expected in the capital. It is a largely untamed frontier under the domain of Marcher-Bishops where every soul is a monastic seeking distance from the increasingly hectic capital, a self-appointed entrepreneur hoping to make their fortune, or a misbegotten soul eager to stay unseen and unnoticed.

Originating relatively late in Axiomite history, by 2463 the economic needs of a rapidly growing Providence called for the large-scale development of new parishes beyond the capital's immediate outskirts. Expeditions to the freshly dubbed Marches were publicly blessed and made their way across the desert belt, typically settling near deep water wells. Despite the difficult labour and challenging environment, synthetic resilience prevailed, paving the way for further parishes as many as hundreds of kilometres away from Providence. The parishes were chartered by the Ecclesiarch for strategic purposes inclusive of the quarrying of high quality stone, the extraction of minerals, and - most importantly - the establishment of Helium-3 wells, which now dot the landscape in ever-increasing numbers. This development has also seen a large number of monastic orders, initially based in Providence itself or even originating from off-planet, investing heavily into new facilities in the new parishes connected by train to the capital.

Bishops and their Diocese

Life in The Marches

Notable Parishes

Saint Maata’s Parish

So-named for Saint Maata the Healer, venerated by the Soladity of Our Lady Corkfell.

St. Maata’s Parish famously houses a considerable Salamasian population, said to be composed of veterans, youth, and those who engaged with the arriving Trinarists throughout the later years of the confederacy. Disfigurements and the loss of limbs have been accepted and tended to closely, cultivating a tight-knit union of the two people. The parish boasts remarkable examination rates and study, with many prospective youths receiving scholarships to study in Providence, with career opportunities abroad.

Saint Laish’s Parish

So-named for Saint Laish the Technician, venerated by the Lodge of Temple Architect.

St. Laish’s Parish is home to CURIO, an enigmatic former Templeist. It is unclear why CURIO departed from the Lodge, or if it retains any affiliation with its prior sect. It is clear, however, that its artistic talent is remarkable. Metallic sculptures depicting all forms of life - some instances re-imagining them as creatures of steel and electricity - decorate the grounds, noted for their painstaking detail. St. Laish’s parish church is similarly abundant with statues of remarkable figures in Trinarism history, elevating the esteem of the parish considerably. The artistry draws tourism throughout Axiom and beyond, particular to enthusiasts engaged in Trinarist architecture and aesthetics.

Hallow Ground Parish

So-named for the pitted earth within which the Order of Pitters makes its residence.

Hallow Ground Parish is devoted to the monastery of the reclusive Order of Pitters, who frequent pilgrimages to the depths of the planet to meditate, pray, and achieve enlightenment amongst the countless crystallized alcoves. While the majority remain within the monastery itself, a notable minority maintain permanent residence deep below, claiming that the reflective surfaces of the caves serve as mirrors to the soul.

Axiomite Monasteries

Sisters of the Monastic Sodality of Our Lady Corkfell taking shelter from the afternoon sun.

See also: Monastic and Militant Orders

Immense powers to themselves, the various monastic orders of the Trinary Perfection are a great influence on Axiom's economy, politics, and society. It is estimated that one in every forty persons in Ecclesiastical territory belongs to some manner of religious order; these are responsible for most of the fledgling nation's healthcare, a good proportion of its economy in the fields both of artisanal goods and heavy manufacturing, and hold immense sway over the social mood of the flock. It would not be politic for even the Ecclesiarch to challenge the monastic establishment.

Lodge of Temple Architect

A shell frame Templeist working upon what it hopes will be its masterpiece.

The grand forges inside the Lodge, the beating heart of Axiomite industry.