BARD PAPER: DANI7007

The Galanglic Thrice-Reformed Catholic Church

by Liam Devlin

The Galanglic Thrice-Reformed Catholic faith (GTRC) has its roots in the Second Imperium� s founding, the Long Night, and further development of the Third Imperium. Terran Catholicism in the face of the Vilani Interstellar wars was carried beyond the Solomani Rim sector. In the face of the alien Vilani "aggressions" The Terrans while Balkanized needed to unite their efforts in the Nth Interstellar wars. So too did the various splinters of the Catholic Faith. Uniting them under one Faith, while an apparent symbolic gesture of the planet in time of war, had far reaching consequences. Among these changes was the one that allowed Priest's the option of marriage, once in their lifetimes. Divorce was still upheld as illegal, annulment upheld as the only way of dissolvement, barring the death of one of those so enjoined in holy matrimony. This was known as the First Reform.

Chaplains in the Terran Confederate Navy ministered the faith aboard starships, were often the first "missionaries" abroad. In one such battle, the Chaplain was the ranking officer left aboard a warship, and took charge of an apparent route, rallied the Terran squadron and defeated the Vilani opposition force. The Church which had before the Interstellar wars taken a non-military role, even as a mediator of disputes on Terra, realized a precedent had been set, even as the Terran News agencies spun this event into a morale boost for the lagging fortunes in the current conflict. This resulted in the "reactivation" of the Holy Militant Orders. Often these forces followed behind the Terran Advances, and began the integration process, settling colonies, establishing churches, and providing temporary military protection until the expanding Confederacy could catch up. Foremost among these were the Knights of the Hospitaller(Militant arm, also involved in Hospitals, Veterans care, hospices for the Sick and needy) , St George(militant arm of Warrior Priests), and St Christopher (Patron St of Travelers, those who journeyed far).

The other events that coalesced the Second Reform was the conversion to the faith of Vilani PWs taken at Barnard's Star & other battles, as well as several minor branches of Humanity discovered living on Vilani-held worlds taken by the Terrans, that Military Chaplains serving with Terran ground forces had converted to the faith. There were other Humans out there, they'd discovered. Terran Human prejudices against aliens aside, the Church led the way on integrating these "lost souls" back into the fold of humanity. This was also coupled with the contact of Matriarchal societies, some even theocratic. The long-standing argument of the sexes serving in the priesthood was finally resolved as well, even as the last Vestiges of the Vilani 1st Imperium crumbled.

The Church soon realized, however the vast distances of interstellar space required a new structure. Based on a world�s population and following (size of parishes of the church), such things became necessary given the size the "2nd Imperium" had become. Using the model from Terra, 1 Bishopric representing 1-10 million of the faithful, and 1 Archbishop per 10-100 million. The Council of Cardinals, a Senatorial body that elected the Patriarch/Matriarch of the Faith, on Terra, one per 50 million of the faithful, was extended to 1 per billion. This was soon discovered to be too unwieldy. In order to maintain the doctrine's dogma in the New Sectors, a new Vatican was created, one per Sector, usually at the Sector Capital. Cardinal's Holy domains were relegated to the Subsector capitals. In thinly populated subsectors, it was often an Archbishopric.

The 2nd Imperium� s expansion into the Spinward marches carried the faith that far at the time of the collapse into the Long Night. The Church's various branches lost contact with each other. The Sylean Federation in Core that founded the Third Imperium utilized the Church as a means to recontact lost worlds, even as the Dingir league and remnant Terran Confederacy did. speeding up the re-integration of the worlds, through the common denominator of the faith. Once again, aggressive evangelism, missionary work, and charities spearheaded these efforts, working hand in hand with Political figures of these worlds. Some sectors had regressed back to earlier faiths, such as Virasa in Ilelish, the Lancian ways of Gushmege, and the Scanian teachings of the Aquans in Daguudashaag. Even those converted in Vland had lost heart in the faith, and returned to their Vilani roots during the Long Night. Oddly enough, it re-emerged strongly in the Spinward Marches, Core, Massilia, Delphi, Daibei, Diaspora, Old Expanses, and the Solomani Rim. Yet the Long Night left indelible marks on the Faith, and these differences led to the Great Schism that went hand in hand with the Solomani Confederation's separation with the Third Imperium, on the conversion of non human aliens to the faith, and allowances of some sector's Matriarch/patriarch's allowance of these aliens to become Priests, or in the case of Antares Sector, become a Cardinal.

The inflexibility of the church in its dogma meant strict interpretation of the First reform's unifying the scriptures. The acceptance of Females and Minor branches of Humanity were perhaps one of the greatest hurdles the faith had accomplished, but historians of the church noted it was a near thing (the vote by the cardinals had passed by a razor thin margin of two votes). This allowed the church to survive the Long Night, but created an attitude on non-tolerance to modifying the scriptures. Too accept nonhuman aliens ran opposite of their interpretations, and deemed a heresy. It was a controversy that would last the entire length of the Solomani Confederation & Third Imperium. The Solomani Confederation's racist tendencies politically also affected the schism.

In the 990's the Third Imperium and Solomani Confederations'' 1st Rim war" reclaimed much of the former Confederation's territory. The 2nd Reformed Catholic faith relocated from Terra to Home in Aldabaran Sector, along with the Confederation's Government. This schism, which caused the majority of the church within the Imperium some heartache over their shortsighted brethren, was officially was known as the Third Reform. Not only did this allow for the conversion of nonhuman aliens, it also allowed these aliens to enter the seminaries and holy orders that supported the church's vast network of charities, hospices, and missionary work into the Trailing sectors of the Imperium, such as the Hinter worlds, Glimmer drift Reaches, Ley and Gateway sectors.

The difficulty in the Third Reform's "heretical" policies towards aliens with "humanity" within them, thereby having "souls", was cause for strife in the former 2nd Reformed church's holdings in the Old Expanses. This led to some forcible replacements of church leadership, in several cases, removal or excommunication of recalcitrant Human-supremacist priests. The last of these actions occurred in 1058 TI. A period of unrestful peace followed.

The Rebellion Era

The Assassination of Strephon, and the subsequent vengeful Solomani Invasion of the Imperium to retake Terra and their lost territories of the Old Expanses, Diaspora, and Daibei sectors launched in 1117, weeks after the recently installed Emperor Lucan had ordered the Corridor and Old Expanses Fleets into the maelstrom of battle of Dagudashaag and Zarushagar Sectors. For the GTRC, the war was also a war of beliefs in Faith. While the Solomani war machine cowed the Imperial Nobles, the GTRC church continued to resist their occupiers, In Daibei, Solomani Rim, and backed by the Domain Of Duchess Margaret (Massilia/Delphi sectors), in the Old Expanses. Here the GTRC functioned as both mediator, and a backer of resistance groups, notably to the beleaguered Vegans in the Rim sector, though not from entirely religious reasons. They stood by the Imperium against the Human-Supremacists, and that was good enough reason to tender aid and support to the GTRC. The Duke of Daibei, Duke Craig Anton Horvath, was a practicing member of the faith. As was the Duke of Sol. Duchess Margaret, while not member of the faith was smart enough to utilize them as mediators of ceasefires, and cynically by IRIS as a means to permit agents to cross lines on their ships, clearly marked by the Galanglic Red Cross. SolSec did likewise, to be sure.

By 1125, the Solomani offensives had stalled, thanks to pressures at home that viewed the main objectives of the war as accomplished (retaking Terra and much of their "lost territory" was still in their hands, at least in the Old expanses). Daibei had fought them to a standstill, and the Imperial pocket around Dingir and the Vegan Autonomous district had not fallen, despite Lucan's abandonment of them for pursuit of Dulinor and Strephon's factions. And the Pan-Sophontist movement, something the GTRC helped surreptitiously behind the scenes, was taking its toll politically on the Human Supremacists led Solomani Confederacy's Upper echelon government.

The situation stabilized with the signing of the Treaty of Altair in early 1130, settling a permanent ceasefire to hostilities with Daibei, the Vegans& Imperials around Dingir in the Rim, and Margaret's Domain, unaware of the deadly release of the AI Virus, that was collapsing the former Imperium� s factional Safes (Margaret's had already fallen several months prior to the Confederacy's signing).

Fortunately, or unfortunately, the emissaries under the Church's Red cross labeled ships may have spread the AI-infection even as they spread warning of its impending arrival. Many of the Worlds in the Rimward Sectors owe their survival to the timely warnings. Not all heeded them of course, for the doomed and failing worlds, it was already too late.

The New Era

In the Old Expanses, rimward of the former Domain of Margaret Blaine Tukera, especially in the Quinoid subsector (B), The GTRC has emerged as a powerful force, especially on the planets of Montero(Quinoid), & Kestral(Jayna). In the Lower Old Expanses, particularly Aubaine & Oriflamme subsectors(-RCES campaign setting), it has influenced a re-expansion back into the Wilds in the new era, but with differing approaches.

In the Reformation Coalition worlds, the GTRC is a strong Federalist supporter, and their work in the wilds around the RC uplifting and teaching have a favorable backing in the public eye. They also strongly oppose rapacious plundering of the peoples of the Wilds as detrimental to the cause of the RC (Oriflamme's raiders [ala the SS Winged Fury, & SS Winged Vengeance], take heed!). They have sponsored several missions of mercy to disease-plagued worlds of low tech, and built schools and hospitals as well. The Church's tithes are utilized in spreading the faith, supporting these uplifting missions, which often are on RCES ships, and coincide with their directives in diplomacy.

The Current head of the faith here are the Cardinal's of Aubaine & Oriflamme (the two subsector capitals). Her Imminence, the Cardinal of Aubaine, Isabella DelaCroix maintains her seat on Aubaine, and is in command of the Aubaine subsector Bishoprics. His Imminence, the Cardinal of Oriflamme, Micheal San-Germaine, is her trailing counterpart. In this "new era", the GTRC here has presented a united front, though they have had to deal with 2nd-Reformers settled during the Solomani occupation. Rather than violently suppress them, as was the case of old, the GTRC's two Cardinals adopted a more tolerable solution, one of conversion, faith, and forgiveness. Cardinal Isabella is a consummate theologian and skilled politician (in church politics anyway), her first convert to this way of thinking was Cardinal Micheal himself. "One can win more flies with honey than vinegar," is one of her sayings. "The Church shall be rebuilt, but not by purging the misguided or lost, but by shining the light towards the truth, and the future. God's will be done, before that of any mortal desires." They see no reason to elect a matriarch or patriarch until the Old expanses is whole again, until that time, Cardinals are the highest rank the RC GTRC church recognizes. Currently they are Working towards assimilating the "Data-Priests" of the Wilds back into the fold, often times easier said than done. Still the utilization of former GTRC libraries and equating God and Knowledge as one is a thorny issue, and varies in success rate from planet to planet. The next two Archbishoprics to be created are the one for Keipes/Aubaine, and Teldora/Oriflamme in 1203.

In the Quinoid subsector, Montero, now the new seat of the GTRC revived since the collapse, things have taken a different approach. Like the RC's branch, they have begun to evangelize the faith back into the Wilds, sometimes converting the rulers themselves. Montero's government is a theocracy, a not unheard of state for the church wherein it became the government, in the previous era. But where the RC's branch of the GTRC has taken the "soft approach" of teaching & practicing forgiveness to those who have erred towards possible heresy through ignorance, etc.--Montero has burnished the torch, and suppression of heresy with excommunication and warfare, ironically falling prey to the very inflexible forces of dogma that caused the Great Schism of the previous era. Patriarch Militas-Humilis Severus II leads the faithful on Montero. They have entered into a state of war against Kestral� s Cardinal-Margaera de Messina & her people ostensibly (publicly admitted anyway) over the heretical prophecies encoded into the faith's ancient texts. In reality, the more populous state of Kestral would dominate the Montero GTRC's council of Bishops, ten to one, and the Patriarch feared a loss of power, especially when Margaera questioned the Patriarch's authority, not having been elected by the Subsector council of cardinals, but Severus I was self appointed, and he was "elected" by 9 mere Bishops!

All of this aggravated by the Starfarer's mercantile Guild who saw a Theocratic Polity emerging and took a hand in accelerating the division between the two. In typical Guild fashion, it now plays both off each other as clients, enjoying the benefits of two B-class starports in adjacent Quinoid/Jayna subsectors.