The Church of Brotherly Kindness was founded in 785. The first
leader of the church was an honorable psion, Garaath, who saw the coming of
the Psionic Supressions of 800. Garaath had a staunch belief that if he
showed kindness to others, they would be obligated by their nature to return
this kindness. He referred to this as the Eternal Circle.
During the 15 years between Garaath's premonision and the Psionic
Supressions, Garaath began recording his beliefs and sharing them with
others. Slowly Garaath gained a following, but when the Psionic Supressions
erupted, this small group wasn't enough to protect Garaath from the attack
of anti-psionic mobs. The story here is somewhat fuzzy. Some records state
that Garaath was killed by the attacks, while others state that he placed
himself in a state of suspended animation. All accounts agree, however,
that Garaath was never seen again.
The religion nearly died out, and but for a core group of believers,
it would have. The small group of believers slowly recovered from their
defeat and quickly developed an active mission program. The writings of
Garaath were collected and published as the Words of Kindness. Many others
joined the faith, and by 1100, the church had more than 1,000,000. The
Final War and resulting Collapse devastated the church, and the only known
surviving group is the group that settled on Helios.
The key religous beliefs is brotherly kindness. "Brotherly kindness
is best displayed in helping someone better themselves." The Church of
Brotherly Kindness(CBK) has one main tennent, "If your brother is hurtung or
suffering and you refuse to help him, you have not only hurt your brother,
but you have denied your own nature." Many of the teachings of CBK center
around this idea of helping your brother. The church teaches that your
brother is anyone in need. The help offered may be any number of things,
but will always be offered without any desire for retribution.
A popular parable of the church tells of Jonruii, the patorn saint
of Merchants in CBK, who sacrificed his early delivery bonus to aid another
starship in distress. As the story goes, the starship he helped happeded to
be a wealthy nobleman who attempted rewarded the merchant with double the
credits of his bonus. The merchant graciously refused the reward explaining
the nature of his faith to the Nobleman who was soon converted. (Reference
Jonruii 5-6.)
As with many religions, The Church of Brotherly Kindness has many
writings that tell of the future return of the Church's deity, the Brother
of Kindness. The CBK on Helios believes these prophesies refer
figurativelty to the Coalition returning to the stars to deliver kindness
and justice to the oppressed of the Wilds.
Key passages from the Words of Kindness:
"Be kinder to your brother than you would be to the Brother of Kindness." -
Dunroth 3:6
"When the Brother of Kindnesss returns he will restore the balance of peace
and equality and kindness." - Jonruii 1:12
"The benefit you bestow on your neighbor will follow the Eternal Circle and
return upon you twicefold." - II Garaath 6:36
"In serving each other, we become free." - IV Garaath 2:19
"If ye wish to be kindly treated, deluge others with manifestations of your
kindness." - VII Garaath 15:22
