Preserving the Worlds for Future Generations

The first thing most sentients learn about the Church of the Living Worlds is, not surprisingly, their belief that the Worlds are a single, living entity. As new Worlds are gated, they believe, this composite life form grows and evolves. Furthermore, they see each part of a World, right down to the stones, air, and sentient beings, as a "cell" in the World's "body." In their view, all things are connected as parts of a living, breathing whole.

This core tenet has spawned an arsenal of corollary beliefs. For example, all preservers possess a profound respect for life and living creatures. As their nickname suggests, they take meticulous care of their Worlds' ecosystems. They consider the body sacred and have placed a strict taboo against artificial body modifications. Because of this, they harbor a hatred and revulsion for the immortals that runs far deeper than the prejudices of other Societies.

The Church is the only Society that routinely maintains bases of operation on Worlds they do not control. The reason is because the preservers have taken on the role of inter-World physicians; they administer Universal Technology to newly gated Worlds and often continue to monitor their ecosystems for decades, even centuries, after their initiation is complete. This ability of theirs to exist within the ranks of their supposed enemies is perhaps the greatest testament to their good will and benevolent nature.

The Past

Nearly one thousand years ago, the ancestors of the preservers were one of the few land-dwelling species of an aquatic World now known as Crucible. They relied on a collection of fairly crude P2 technologies for their industrial infrastructure. Believing that "out of sight is out of mind," they disposed of their many and varied waste products in Crucible's vast oceans.

In their arrogance, they thought their spattering of dry islands constituted the whole of their World. In reality, the aquatic life forms outnumbered their air-breathing cousins nearly one hundred to one. Seen from that perspective, it seems inevitable that at least one of those swimmers would be sentient. They call themselves "The Folk" and their ancestral homes had been devastated by decades of human pollution. In response, the Folk had begun exploring the shallower seas of Crucible, even venturing into human harbors.

The revelation that they were sharing their World with another sentient species, and that their thoughtless practices had destroyed that species' habitat, was the spark that touched off a firestorm of cultural change for the humans. Inspired by the Folk's intensely spiritual way of life, a religious backlash against the existing governments grew into a crushing tidal wave of reformation.

The theocracy took power in a matter of months and the Church of the Living World was born. Combining the Folk's knowledge of biotics and psionics with the humans' talent for research and invention lead to a scientific renaissance for both species. Together, they cleaned up their World over a span of two and a half centuries.

When the Freewalkers arrived on Crucible, it had become a pristine jewel even more vibrant than it was before the industrial age. Some scholars believe that it was from the Church's libraries that the Freewalkers learned how to make their Universal Antibody work, though this has never been proven. In any case, the preservers were the ones who stepped up to manage the Universal Tech outbreaks after the Freewalkers began spreading it. This is a vital function they still perform.

However, even enlightened civilizations are vulnerable to the creeping disease called Hatred. In the early years of the Union, a mass hysteria gripped the Church in reaction to the San: a bizarre subculture whose disregard for death clashed violently with the preservers' devotion to life. When a San assassin was implicated in the murder of a Church official, the Holy Crusaders declared all-out war. In a rampage that lasted just a few short months, and carried members of the other Societies along with it, San-haters slaughtered hundreds of thousands of farmers, merchants, women, and children.

In the aftermath of "The Great War," blame fell largely upon the shoulders of the Church's Crusaders. The central leadership wanted to issue a full apology for the war, but the military leadership maintained that the violence was a justified reaction to a political assassination. In the end, the schism tore the Church in two: the main Crucible Church (which remains the largest preserver sect) and the Crusaders who took a handful of Worlds and decided to govern themselves. Though other splinter groups have followed the Crusaders' lead, all still consider themselves preservers and share each other's goals more often than not.

The Present

The modern Church of the Living Worlds pursues its goals in two main ways. First, of course, is the Union of Sentients. Like all the Societies, the preservers maintain a pervasive presence on the Union floor. Favorite causes include nature conservation (big surprise), religious freedom, and pretty much anything involving the Universal Antibody. Church ambassadors can be recognized by the white robes or sashes they wear as a mark of office.

Second, the Church uses its many Houses of Life, not only as ecological research facilities, but also as recruiting stations and embassies. Virtually every World initiated in the last two hundred years has a House of Life somewhere on its soil, usually in or near its gatetown. From these safe havens, preserver "custodians" crank out propaganda extolling the virtues of "natural living," usually under the pretense of raising public awareness of ecological issues. Combined with skilled lobbying, this allows the Church to exert significant influence on non-Church Worlds.

As you would expect, Worlds the Church actually does control are paragons of ecological management. Many of the Worlds recruited within the last few centuries are in various states of terraforming: complex and expensive projects designed to repair their damaged ecosystems. Virtually all others are globe-spanning nature preserves: lush gardens, savage jungles, rolling plains... even deserts and tundra are cared for like the flourishing ecologies they are. Despite heavy governmental control of these places, Church Worlds attract hundreds of millions of tourists every year.

Of course, all this requires a lot of administrative effort on the part of local governments. Laws concerning pollution, waste disposal, and the use of natural resources are complex and the penalties for breaking them are remarkably severe. On the other hand, religious convictions prevent the vast majority of preservers from even contemplating such heretical actions, so criminal laws rarely have to be enforced on natives. Plus, preservers tend to avoid industrial technologies that would lead to pollution problems in the first place.

The Faithful

The average, everyday preserver leads a quiet life of humble means and introspection. The pace of life is slow, especially when compared to the busy worker bees of the Consortium or frenetic social climbers among the immortals. Many work in medical fields from health care to biogenic research to custodianship at a House of Life. Others make their faith a life's work, either serving the Church as part of the theocratic government or exploring the deeper mysteries of the Living Worlds through ascetic meditation. In any event, connections with the community are always strong, since all preservers know they are just a single cell in the body of a greater life form.

Biogenically engineered creatures are often used in place of industrial technology, especially on Worlds with no magic above level three. However, these beings are never used exploitatively; rather, they exist in a symbiotic relationship with their creators, always gaining as much in service as they give to others. Preservers consider them friends, not servants or tools.

Various fads in mysticism make their way through Church culture every few years, ranging from psionic arts to nature magic. Because of this, even "common" preservers are at least familiar with one or more mystical skills. Techniques that provide connections to nature are stunningly common, especially psionic empathy and sympathetic atavism or totem worship. Though pacifism is quite fashionable in the Crucible Church's ranks, members of more militant sects easily turn their powers to military applications.

Knights Mortis

One such sect takes that traditional preserver aversion to industrial technologies to an extreme. The Knights Mortis claim that all Physics- and Biotics-based technologies are inherently dangerous and promote a cold, exploitive view of the natural world. Though they have never declared independence like the Crusaders have, they do control the local governments of a few hundred Worlds. In each case, they've drafted laws outlawing the use and importing of all "unclean" technologies. Instead, they rely on high-level magic and psionics to provide for their citizens. They believe these techniques foster "a healthy connection to, and respect for, Nature and all its children."

However, the Knights' activities are not limited to local governance and political lobbying. They have also been known to launch military attacks against other Worlds, and even other Societies, who they believe threaten their way of life. Usually, this means the Knights have found smuggled technology on one of their Worlds and traced it back to the "heathen" World. On a few occasions, attacks have been provoked by nothing more than outspoken opposition to Mortis ideals, though the Knighthood always claims such actions were taken by splinter groups and vigilantes not under their control. The truth, as always, has been difficult to discern.

The Children of Dust

This more scholarly faction takes issue with the Church's ceaseless efforts to preserve wilderness and save threatened species. Based on what they call "the crushing weight of scientific evidence," they believe that extinction is a normal and essential part of the natural order. In their view, the Church's conservation efforts are, in reality, directly opposed to the healthy growth of the Worlds they're trying to protect. Though most pundits will admit their ideas have merit, the Children have yet to gather any strong support within the theocracy.

At the local level, however, things are different; the Children have managed to scrape together controlling influence on a few dozen preserver Worlds. The primary effect is that programs aimed at preventing extinctions and deforestation are repealed. In the words of the Children themselves, Nature is allowed to run its course. Two side effects include an increase in tourism (more areas are opened to visitation and there are fewer "litter laws" to scare off non-preservers) and backlash from other Church Worlds (especially when a rare plant or animal disappears forever). This backlash even extends to the citizens of these Worlds, as other preservers begin treating them as "puppy killers."