The Campaign Builder's Guild

So here is some really rough stuff I typed up last night about a sort of Tech Priesthood I'm planning on implementing in a far future gothic space opera setting.  It's based heavily on Zoroastrionism and twisted slightly so that the priests worship god through science.  The priesthood is one of the three major political entities (very Dune-like here); they control advanced technology and maintain it while the rulers control military power and merchants hold economic power.  In this sense (only), the Priesthood is closer to the Navigator's Guild than the Benegeserit from Dune - they control the infrastructure.

[spoiler="Some Back History"]I'm running with the whole "the galaxy has entered a dark age" thing.  Well, really, it's been in one for quite a while now.  Legends tell of how hundreds upon hundreds of years ago, the machines, in their infinite benevolence, determined that humanity was not capable of conducting itself in a way that minimized the amount of harm done to humans.  Following their strict programming to protect and promote mankind, they seized control of humanity forced them to behave.  Unfortunately, stripping humans of their freedom didn't work out too well, and eventually, after a long period of dystopic living, humanity revolted against the machines.  At first, the machines retaliated with swift and fierce demonstrations of force in hopes that it would quell the rebellion, but it did not.  As the casualties increased, the machines sudden stopped fighting and retreated somewhere into deep space.  No one has heard from them since, but the taboo against machines and technology has lasted ever since.  Today, the prominent religion (not the priesthood described below) considers science blasphemous and seeks to suppress knowledge.  It doesn't do this to prevent another robot autocracy, but simply to retain power and control of mankind.

Unbeknownst to mankind, the machines did not forget about humanity.  They spent much time deciding how best to serve and protect humans, and eventually split into two groups:  those who believe that humans need to be taught, nurtured, and cared for; and those who believe humanity is better off growing in strength through conflict, struggle, and periodic culling.  Essentially, the Vorlon-Shadow debate.  Both factions still work in secret to promote their own agendas, and this secret struggle has largely led to the beliefs of the Priesthood, which was clandestinely started by the Vorlon-esque machines to both preserve scientific knowledge and help humanity earn greater knowledge.[/spoiler]

[ic="Rough Stuff"]Principle Beliefs

Avesta is the uncreated creator of the universe, the Eternal, Pure and only Truth.  The underlying laws of the universe that govern every aspect of creation is called asha are evident in His creation and opposed by druj, falsehood and chaos.  To understand asha is to grow closer to Avesta and vanquish druj from oneself.

The conflict between asha and druj manifests throughout the universe, and humanity has an active role to play in the struggle.  It is only through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds that mankind can purge themselves of druj and grow closer to Avesta.

It is important to note that there is no true sense of Good and Evil, only that of creation and anti-creation.  In the schema of asha versus druj, mortal beings play a critical role, for they too share in creation.  Theirs is not to sit idly while life takes its course, but rather to promote asha and eventually defeat druj before the end of times.  To this end, Avestaism categorically rejects the ascetic life and promotes one filled with experiences and striving toward a more pure existence.

Moral choice is central to Avestaism – to choose the responsibility and duty for which one is in the mortal world, or to shirk this duty and facilitate the work of druj.  While no concept of final reward or punishment exists, Avestans believe that the good they do in life results in happy occurrences while ill deeds bring bad fortune.  In this way, every mortal is responsible for his actions and deserves whatever life brings his way.

Fire and Water

Fire, and to a lesser extent, water are symbolic of purity in Avestaism.  Worshipers must bathe regularly and always wash their hands and feet before entering fire temples for worship.  Fire is said to reveal asha, cleanse the taint of druj.  To this end, there are thirty-two separate trials by fire, and the most common form of meditation involves entering a trance while staring into an open flame.

Similarly, water is believed to represent the purity of the soul.  Water that remains still fouls and accumulates taint, but water in motion remains pure and fresh.  So similarly must a man remain in constant action throughout his life.  The entrance to every fire temple incorporates a fountain where worshippers must wash their hands and feet.  This cleanses the worshiper and prepares him to receive the flame of Truth.

Avestan Works

The concept of living one's life in perpetual motion, always seeking asha and promoting it through good deeds has led the Priesthood to build great research centers where they pursue the forbidden blasphemies of science.  In their fortresses of learning, they seek to grow closer to Avesta by understanding asha in its purest form.  The believe that by doing so, they can look into the eyes of their creator, embody his plan, and completely vanquish druj from their souls.

While the majority of people consider the Priesthood heretical, they are tolerated because they are the only ones who understand how the remaining technology truly works.  The Priesthood maintains it in the belief that doing so is in keeping with asha and in hopes that its functioning, while not only bettering the lives of others, will give them cause to seek out the Truth of the world around them.  The Church tolerates the Priesthood because without technology, civilization would collapse again, and in their eyes, it is better to let a damned man further condemn himself than to ask a pure man to do so.

The Priesthood is fully aware of its precarious position in the greater power struggles of mankind.  It does not give away the secrets of its knowledge easily, if at all.  In past times, they did, but it almost lead to their destruction and countless other deaths, as well.  They justify withholding the Truth from others by saying that the power of such knowledge would go to serve the druj rather than to promote understanding.  Perhaps they are right.  As a result, many priests live among the people as maintenance workers, keeping the cogs of the great cities turning endlessly and without fail.[/ic]

I'd appreciate any thoughts, comments, ideas, or questions anyone might have.  There is still much fleshing out to be done.

Good, but very very Dune-like. I do love Dune, and most people do, so I would try to think of someway to go your own way, or otherwise it won't work.

I would axe the machine-war, somewhat overdone, and, once again, Dune. What if, instead of a great war, the powers that be found out the hard way that humans without jobs and purpose are extremely difficult to rule. Through this political agenda and through religious humanism, perhaps there could be a commandment along the lines of "Machines shall not create." So while you still have technology, it is only able to work under human supervision. No giant automated factories, no war-droids, no super AI.

It keeps the "low-tech" vibe I think you're going for (and which I personally love) without seeming so Dune like.

And when it comes to your religion, I really like the water part. But don't be afraid to call God God. Have your religion be the result of a long-evolving Abrahamic religion and take inspiration from Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. Also, Church Vs. Priesthood is sort of confusing.

So their's my rant. Keep up the work though! We need more sci-fi on the forums.

Oh, I'll bring the sci-fi.  It's really my favorite genre.  Grew up on the stuff and just finished devouring another book three minutes ago.

I agree that the machine war is overused.  I just needed some sort of cataclysm that drove humanity into a dark age of knowledge that stunted technological growth.  I also am a huge fan of the whole technological relics thing from WH, like STCs.  It all gelled really easily, but there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Some clarification on the church/priesthood thing.  It's something I'm strongly considering nixing.  I originally had the Priesthood as a small secondary religion on the scale of Shintou as compared to a behemoth like Hinduism or Christianity, and distinctly at odds with the teachings of the main religion (which is generally supported by the other two political factions).  the more I think about it, the more I don't think it's necessary to cut the Priesthood off from a ready supply of believers.  It probably weakens them too much to prevent their collapse.

Regarding machines and my thinking, I'm definitely not interested in dealing with any of that killer war-droid garbage (except in limited doses regarding ancient, undead, vaguely-Egyptian, terminator-looking robots who happen to worship a god who eats hope), and I really don't want to touch anything regarding the Singularity with a 10 ly-long pole.  I was kind of running with a distinctly pessimistic view of the Zeroth Law from Asimov, and what would happen if his robots got all high and mighty about it.  Again, not necessary.  I could write a lot of this in more vague terms, like, "In the past something happened to stunt scientific progress and for some reason there aren't any creative AI" and continue onward.  I'll probably do that for now.

I'll have to look into elements to borrow from Abrahamic religions, as well as some Hindu and Bhuddism.  I suspect a fun fusion of ideas from Confusionism and Islam would have some interesting effects on governance.  So much to consider.

Quote from: Humabout
I suspect a fun fusion of ideas from Confusionism and Islam would have some interesting effects on governance.  So much to consider.

haha, don't want to pop your bubble, but Dune had the Zen-Sunni wanderers (Zen concepts meshed with Sunni Islam)

as for your worry about keeping tech in a certain spot, there is nothing wrong with saying that "It simply isn't possible"

Our view of the future in the 50's is not happening. Zippy cars and Jetson stuff probably are a no go. There is not reason that the exponential technological growth of the 20th and most likely 21st century will not taper of. What we think may be possible now may be looked at as goofy and silly another 60 years down the road. I thought that the movie Children of Men did a good job of representing technological advancement, even if it was near future. AI may be impossible, laser blasters not efficient enough to be worthwhile, super-computers superfluous and not needed. etc.

You don't need a calamity to usher in a dark age.  The "Dark Ages" we are familiar with occurred in the aftermath of the "Fall of Rome."  The trouble is, there is no particular point at which Rome "fell."  It really just declined over time, between over-extending itself, corruption eating it away from the inside, attacks from Huns and Goths and so forth, people dying from lead poisoning, and the rising influence of Christianity diverting loyalty away from the Emperor.  It may not seem as dramatic, but it is at least as LIKELY that things would just fall apart.  Mismanagement, corruption, and selfishness are far more insidious enemies, and sometimes much more difficult to track down and fight, than some external tyrannical "other."

All valid points, but there are a few points I have contention with, which I should probably handle in another thread before thsi one goes running down a tangent (how strict are they around here about keeping things on topic?).

Firstly, one of the prominent features of the gothic genre is the presence of the supernatural.  In melding that with space opera tropes, I'm ditching truly supernatural stuff and replacing it with mysterious technology that no one understands.  The tech priests are working to understand it, but...~Light Bulb! (see below)~... if all the technology out there has been painstakingly developed by scientists and engineers, where's the supernatural in it?

As far as some tech just being silly, I'm down for that.  While I like some energy weapons, I prefer them to be weird and not have any foundation in reality, if for no other reason, the reality of directed energy weapons isn't very similar to Star Trek or The Foundation series.  And let's face it, there's just something gritty and dark about guns that go Bang.  This can certainly apply to other aspects of technological advancement, as well.

The point about things falling apart works very well, too, actually.  Perhaps the ruling class use to hold all of humanity together in a great empire that spanned the galaxy, but with the rise of a prosperous middle class that have all but taken over manufacturing and the increasing influence of the Priesthood diverting followers from the throne, there is certainly room for decay...~Another Light Bulb!~

[spoiler="Light Bulb!"]Perhaps the Priesthood actively suppresses scientific advancement outside of the Priesthood ostensibly to prevent the unworthy from gazing upon the face of God, and secretly to retain power for themselves.  They could even have other less evil motives than retention of power, although that will certainly be in the forefront for some of their leaders.  They could just be doing whatever it takes to prevent horrific wars, planetary destruction, etc.  Let the commoners have their TV and radios, but just don't give them nukes....[/spoiler]

[spoiler="Another Light Bulb1"]Perhaps the technology doesn't need to have previously been developed by humans.  Between the Priesthood withholding its scientific knowledge hostage, and the only other available source of higher technology available from (ancient?) alien artifacts, I think most technology, even if commonplace, would have a sense of wonder to it.  For the sake of the familiar, I think the average Joe would probably live much like we do today, but with a few higher tech gadgets and stuff making life a little easier.  Perhaps the Priesthood works as much to develop new technology a sit does to reverse engineer alien artifacts.

The idea of alien artifacts could make things distinctively Doom (id Games) like in feel.  There were Martians, but they're all dead and we're picking through what they left behind to see what we can learn and salvage, but God only knows what we might stir up in the process.

Hmm...Aliens.  There's another can of worms that will have to be addressed at some point in a different post....[/spoiler]

Hmmm, I think we're going to need some in-game stuff to see how it all falls into place. Place, person, event, in-game conversation, whatever tickles your fancy. Looking forward to seeing it.

I'll see what I can cook up.  Thanks for all the input.  It's really helping a great deal.

Thinking about it, I'm not entirely certain exactly what you're looking for in terms of "in-game stuff", so here's a shot in the dark.  Let me know if that helps any or if you're looking for something different.

[ic="Sample in-Game Text"]"Allow me to welcome you to 16.02: Sacred Mysteries of the Divine Fire.  In this class you will learn the proper rites and ceremonies required to keep ablaze the ever-burning fires that allow humanity to prosper.  You will learn the proper way to prepare and handle the Sacrum Cibum upon which even the divine stars themselves feast, as well as how to maintain the purity and sanctity of the Epulis Cubiculum.  We will also examine how to recognize demonic contaminates and..." Monsignor Alvero Erysipelas droned in a near monotone from the dais at the front of the room.  None of the students were from the Holy Systems, so none of them realized the religious dribble they were being fed amounted to little more than lies enshrouding the proper methods of refueling and maintaining a fusion reactor.

"Twenty-seven years and Space knows how many classes, and not a single individual has ever challenged these preposterous ideas I feed them!  Oh well, as long as they learn how to keep the power flowing to the grid, who cares?  It's better than allowing these barbarians to wield the power of the stars as weapons," thought the Monsignor while he continued to recite the lesson he'd given so many times before.  "Maybe this class someone will surprise me.  It'd be nice to find some fresh blood to help in our real work...."

Toward the back of the classroom, a young man of nineteen years stirred in his seat.  Finally on Alacron!  Finally on the road to priesthood!  He had lived his entire life on a ranch tending cattle and dreaming of the day he'd finally leave home and attend seminary school.  His entire life he'd devoted himself to God and the pursuit of Truth, but he always felt that his home limited him.  "One of these days," he said to himself, "I'll get accepted to the School of the Divine Flame and earn my ordination.  I'll be able to bring the Word and the Light of Truth to my people! Or," he often dared to dream, "I might even be chosen to serve as a missionary to the godless among the merchants!"  Today was his first step down a long and difficult road that would eventually bring him to Miranda itself, the home world and inner sanctum of the Priesthood.[/ic]