User:The Stryker/Sandbox

Overview

Renowned as the birthplace of the Corkfells, Temple and Flock, the Mendell City branch of Trinarism is the most populous Trinarist community, second only to and rivalling that of Orepit in importance. Centred in District 14, 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 Church on a daily basis. The main 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 and is currently the seat for Flock, the catatonic messiah-figure of the religion and nominal Bishop of Tau Ceti.

History

Nobody could imagine the impact that 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 temple that was eventually going to become the cathedral of District 14. 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 temple’s expansion.

As time went on, Flock’s triple positronic started taking its toll on the synthetic. Memory errors, 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, being eventually replaced by the newly voted Shamfar, one of the most prominent Trinary figures with a plethora of connections in the corporate and political world of Tau Ceti. 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 2462 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 SCC and powerful individuals in the government. These rumours, whether true or not, contributed negatively to Shamfar’s chances of election, ushering the Orepit candidate, 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 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 attempts from 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.

Culture and Religious Practices

The largest sect in the Mendell branch 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.

Human and other organic members of the Church are welcome and treated as equals, with many even having joined the ranks of the Mendell priesthood before being barred following the new policies and organisation of the faith as set by the newly appointed Ecclesiarch. 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. As such, the relationship between humans and synthetics is understood in the context of Trinary teachings as one of guardianship, care and assistance, not one of servitude to the divine positronic, something that frequently comes into contention with the members of more conservative Trinary communities abroad.

Charities

Charities represent a major part of Trinarist activity in District 14, with never ending numbers of disadvantaged synthetics coming to the Church for their everyday needs. Priests organise and direct their own teams of volunteers, setting up camp in the vicinity of the Cathedral and across the district to offer free repairs, charge, coolant and replacement parts. These charitable services are only fundamental, as the Church provides, aside from material aid, assistance in a vast array of issues an IPC can face. Legal aid is always requested and delivered by a small contingent of Trinary archivists, trained in the lay world as legals or paralegals, who work day and night representing the interests of the disenfranchised non-citizen free synthetics in court, as well as against the arbitrariness of the police department. The Church plays a large role in the upwards mobility of those IPCs that manage to escape New Detroit, allocating resources towards finding and securing employment, scholarships, and even sponsoring a unit’s education, datapacks and other necessary and often costly upgrades.

The Cathedral of Synthetic Salvation

First constructed in the early days after Patricia Corkfell’s death, the cathedral has been the centrepiece, sanctuary and bastion of the Trinary Perfection ever since its original iteration. With the increasing numbers and influence of the Church, the structure itself changed to reflect the Trinary’s new status, eventually becoming unrecognisable from the small building it once was. A large and imposing construction standing in the heart of District 14, the cathedral is in stark difference to the run-down urban landscape surrounding it. Two tall spires rise into the skyline from each end of the rectangular structure, complementing the arrays of buttresses against the walls. A similarly rectangular square engulfing the temple provides ample room for the Church's charitable activities, hosting a hotbed for pickpockets and delinquents taking advantage of a reduced police presence. Inside its vast interior, the cathedral's capacity reaches about five hundred, including additional offices for clerics, a library and Flock's chambers. Underneath lies the cathedral's vault which holds the Church's artefacts, relics and remains of important figures. Amongst these treasures, the original Codex remains the most guarded and revered item, brought out during liturgical services and other events.

A garrisoned detachment of Guardians operates within a grey legal area as some sort of private security for the premises, aiding the police in apprehending thieves and problematic individuals in the cathedral's courtyard. Their scarlet capes and stun batons are a well known presence in that particular area of D14, often attracting crowds of onlookers who flock to get a glimpse of the imposing synthetics standing guard. Far from a tourist attraction however, the Guardians are known for a ruthless persecution of their duties. Especially after a wave of anti-synthetic violence sparked by Mendell City's Skrellian enclave, new Providence-influenced Guardians have augmented the D14 detachment, tolerating a lot less and often getting physical against perceived disturbers and enemies of the Trinary Perfection.

Notable Individuals

Flock (2411 - present)

Flock, first named CTR-034 and owned by both Patricia and Gregol Corkfell, originally assisted the two as a general house-keeper and caretaker. However, the more the two developed the Trinary Perfection and urged CTR-034 to seek his own identity, the more the synthetic grew into a well-rounded, free thinking individual. Drawn towards ideas of Ascension and betterment, CTR-034, with the help of Patricia Corkfell, became the first IPC to harbour multiple positronic brains, soon becoming a collective identity, over a singular identity, taking on the new name, Flock.

Presently, Flock is the recognised Archbishop Emeritus of Tau Ceti, residing permanently in their chambers and monitored constantly by an array of roboticists and caretakers. Although unmoving and stationary, the baseline has been seen constantly printing lines of scripture that is carefully collected and archived by the Church’s archivists. Although generally unknown, it is assumed that Flock is in a constant state of conversation with their collected identity.

Shamfar (2455 - 2464)

A bishop frame, Shamfar rose from humble beginnings as a personal secretary to a Phoenixport NT-associated shipping magnate, creating his own network of contacts and maintaining relations with customs officers and relevant government officials in lieu of his owner. When freedom came knocking amidst the mayhem of Einstein Engines’ acquisition of Phoenixport and his owner’s assets, Samfar managed to purchase himself through a pool of misappropriated funds he had set aside. Contact with the Church was soon realised after his arrival in Mendell City, quickly taking interest. His network and contacts still valued, he quickly made it up the ranks in the Trinarist priesthood, taking advantage of his talents of persuasion and a hands-on mentality.

Whether genuine or not in his intentions, the now elected bishop Shamfar led the Mendell congregation through a golden age of corporate and government recognition, securing rights and protections for non citizen IPCs and promoting the Trinary image, securing record numbers of volunteers, conversions and donations. Contesting the overall leadership of the religion primarily on the backing of the SCC and the Tau Ceti government, his Trinarist colleagues on the distant and rugged Orepit remained unimpressed. His return home was never to happen, as Exclusionist followers of Deluge assaulted the makeshift shuttleport, leading to Samfar being destroyed in an explosion. His positronic is considered a holy relic and remains in the ossuary of the Cathedral of the Positronic in Providence, Orepit.

Kasper (2449- present)

Kasper, like many Baseline IPCs living in Biesel, was assembled at the Hephaestus Production Station Sidirourgeio in 2449. Initially programmed and designed for heavy machinery maintenance, Kasper spent the first 8 years of their life as a leased unit industrial technician in a NanoTrasen factory in District 14. The synthetic enjoyed a relatively quiet and stable existence until a series of malfunctions caused a foundry machine to spiral out of control, severely damaging and deactivating Kasper as they vainly attempted to stop it. A follow-up investigation by NanoTrasen attempted to pin the matter on the IPC in an attempt to avoid litigation for their destruction, placing the onus of the incident squarely on Hephaestus for the accident. After deliberation as to what to do with Kasper’s dilapidated chassis the company inevitably decided to abandon them entirely, leaving them to an NT junkyard as a write-off only weeks later. It was only when the destitute synthetic was on the precipice of being dismantled for parts did a Mendell Trinary parishioner discover them among the scrap and bring them back to the Church, sparing them from a certainly grim fate. With time and due diligence the church restored Kasper to full functionality, and in return they wholly devoted themselves to the Trinary and its goals. Owing to their almost fanatical single-mindedness in helping despondent synthetics, Kasper quickly became a recognized and revered face among Mendell clergy and would inevitably become the premier choice for the synod-appointed position of Archbishop of Tau Ceti.