Religion

Religion in Oolite is found in the Lore and the OXPs.

Monastery (Black Monks of St Herod)

Happy/All-Seeing Eye - Missionaries 2006

Lyre (Church of St Giles - Missionaries 2022)

Skink (All-Seeing Eye - Missionaries 2022)

High Temple (Church of the Holy Witchspace Guard - unpublished)

Critique

This stuff has not been linked together in any meaningful way. One or two themes have been partially developed: Witchspace Lobster missionaries in the Missionaries.oxp (from 2006) which then get further developed in the Hognose & Interstellar Tweaks oxp's. But there are no homeworlds for the Witchspace Lobster or descriptions of what they are about. There is more background for the Church of St Giles on this wiki, but little in-game.

Some of the mission-creating oxp's will feature the religions, but again, not in depth (eg Random Hits OXP, etc).

Lore from the Canon

• The Dark Wheel has references to Randomius Factoria (chapter 3).

Lore from outside the Canon

• The Rough Guide to the Ooniverse mentions the following:

Aesbion (Rough Guide) was home to the God-Emperor who ruled during the Imperial Era from the Exalted City, close to the Cathedral of Winds

Aronar (Rough Guide) is home to fervent Giles worshippers, who are yet fervid gamblers!

Reorte (Rough Guide) is an ever-changing theocracy with new gods being invented daily

Tianve (Rough Guide) has devotees to the Pulsar God Tiaxus, who can be propositioned to delay his Sunrage.

• Schism by Drew Wagar describes religion on a Generation Ship.
• Ascension by Drew Wagar describes religion on a low technology world

Recent Additions

• Randomius Factoria
• CGC:

Church of Giles the Creator

Sector1/Tibecea - see fiction at end

• Witchspace Lobster (or Holy Decapods)

Zarece‎‎ (Rough Guide) - minor snippets

"The sacramental taboos of the Church of the Witchspace Lobster who decry unnatural interference with the radiatory propensities of the cosmic depths"

• Church of the Holy Witchspace Guard

Qutiri (Rough Guide)

OXPs

• Tionisla Orbital Graveyard features a variety of religious symbols depicted on their monuments: crucifixes, stars of David, menhirs etc.

• Missionaries OXP: the classic Oolite Religion oxp. There are now three versions of this
• (Dr Nil 2006) gaves us the original four varieties:

Happy Eye preachers

CGC (Church of Giles the Creator) missionaries

Witchspace Lobster worshippers

Zenarchy monks.

Comments in the BB threads by Dr Nil et al:

The Church of Giles the Creator are orthodox creationists. Monotheistic and dogmatic. CGC is quite old and very influential.

Witchspace Lobster Worship is Oolite animism. Classified as primitive superstition by CGC and the rest of the establishment. They seem to worship totems in the form of crudely fashioned elongated asteroids.

What's The Happy Eye? Don't know. Brainwashed smiling faces offering their pamphlets at spaceports and on stations? They look happy. A new age sect? They claim to be the fastest growing spiritual franchise in the Ooniverse.

• Hognose Missionaries (Griff, 2013) retextures the ships and adds more behaviour

• Iron Ass Missionaries (Murgh, 2022) retextures and adds more ships, adds more behaviour and gives us the following:

CGC missionaries, in rusty Adders

The CGC flagship, Lyre (the Blessed Barque) leading a procession of Giles devotees

The All-Seeing Eye preachers, flying the Skink

Lobster worshippers of the Witchspace Lobster (or Holy Decapods), flying rusty Worms

Zenarchy monks, flying rusty Cobra MkIs

Randomius Factoria zealots, flying rusty Cobra MkIs

The morose followers of Finagle, flying rusty Adders

Paranoid robot worshippers of The Great Magnifican, flying rusty Adders

• Ebortsa's lucky charm is either a by-product of Gilean demonology or the Tionislan goddess of nomads

• Hognose - includes obnoxious lobster missionaries, as well as the other three religions depicted in the 2006 version of missionaries
• Interstellar Tweaks - includes crusading lobster missionaries

• Bank of the Black Monks of Saint Herod the bankers: only the righteous walk the Path of Debt!

Visitors may be privileged to witness some of their rituals, such as the enhancement of Holy Fuel.

• Whilst the original Dictators OXP only features agricultural junta and technological imperial versions, there is also the theocratic Church of the Holy Witchspace Guard which Montana05 is developing as a third version of Dictatorship.

• Church of the Cosmic Wanderer - a place to visit on the orbital stations in the Life in the Frontier.oxp

Links

• A moment of existential angst (2010)
• Lore for the importance of canon and its definition
• Why do NPCs travel from the station to the witchpoint beacon to hyper-jump? (2021)
• Captain Hesperus and the war-god Ooyookallinphat (2008)
• UK census - Jedi still seventh most popular religion (2012) Views of some of the veteran ooliters on religion