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The Ecclesiastical Authority of Axiom
| The Ecclesiastical Authority of Axiom | |
| The Ecclesiarchy Ecclesiastical Axiom | |
 Flag |
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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 have 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. Imports have remained a persistent necessity, with both nations benefitting from notable trade agreements with Konyang and their adjacent frontier systems. While Axiomite exports have traditionally been comprised primarily of raw minerals extracted from the planet's vast mines and cave systems, recent developments have seen it enter the markets for artisanal goods manufactured by its vast monastic class, the prices of which have skyrocketed due to their novelty and scarcity. The Ecclesiarchy is also in the early stages of developing the infrastructure to extract the deposits of Helium-3 in the planet's mantle.
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.
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 as a collective whole.
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 Hierarch of the Exchequer. 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.
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. 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: DALØS
Hierarch of the Grand Dicastery: Bishop Prosecutor-OTEP
Hierarch of the Exchequer: Priestess-Archivist Cybel
Defender of the Faith: Bishop-Militant Emmanuel
Keeper of the Faith: Priest-Militant Donora
Law and Order
The Providence Gazette
City of Providence
Providence serves as the capital of the Ecclesiarchy of Axiom. Founded in 2419, the humble encampment once known as Edena Landing has grown into a fully fledged city worthy of being the Trinary’s seat in the galaxy. In the center of it stands St. Patricia's Basilica, a grandiose structure based on the defunct administration center that once housed colonial leadership in the early 2300s.
Mistnight
The Marches
History
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.
Saint Laish’s Parish
So-named for Saint Laish the Technician, venerated by the Lodge of Temple Architect.
Hallow Ground Parish
So-named for the pitted earth within which the Order of Pitters makes its residence.
Humans in the Ecclesiarchy
Axiomite Monasteries
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.
Sodality of Our Lady Corkfell
