HOME | DD

Description
"The greatest thing about the teachings of Reason is that they are true whether or not you believe in them." - Quotations from Saint Tsi-Tson, Thread 4, Line 18

Rationalism, or Scientism in some communities, is the most widespread religion in the galaxy. Originating from even before the days of the Second Empire, Rationalism became a true force under the reign of Emperor Lem I, the first emperor of the Second Empire of Man. As a consequence of being the largest religion in the galaxy, Rationalism has countless denominations, each with their own beliefs. With many denominations, with the Imperial Rationalist Church being the largest and most powerful, Rationalism's effect on galactic society is not to be underestimated.

There is no one doctrine of Rationalism, as there is no one Rationalist church. However, most denominations agree on some core teachings, and those that deviate from these teachings are not considered to be Rationalist by the Imperial Rationalist Church and most other church bodies. These core beliefs are that the universe was created by a prime mover, the deity known as the Watchmaker, in an event known as the Big Bang. The Watchmaker created a rational universe, one that obeys the Watchmaker's unalterable laws, and has not interfered with the universe since its creation. Therefore, all truth can be derived through observation and reason. However, most truth has already been found in ancient times, and because of the threat of "junk knowledge," it is the duty of the church to stand guard against those spreading "falsehood and irrationality." Any claims that conflict with that of the church, such as that of other deities or other "unfalsifiable" figures that interfere with the natural world, or even alternate theories on the nature of quantum mechanics, are dismissed as "heretical superstition."

Over the millennia, several beliefs have grown to be part of Rationalism. One is the belief in the troll, a fallen man who has given into his irrationality and makes it his life mission to attack the Church and its teachings, merely to amuse himself. While normally caricatured as a clearly evil creature, Rationalist churches actually teach that anybody can be a troll, and that trolls will often masquerade as the faithful or even as clergy. Who is a "troll" and who is a faithful critic of teachings gone astray is often in the eye of the beholder, and wars over whether or not some figure in the church is a "troll" has led from exile to holy wars. Some smaller Rationalist sects believe that trolls are actually supernatural figures opposed to the Watchmaker's grand design, although this is thoroughly rejected by the Imperial Church. Another is the belief in the "Unprovable Truths." While facially against the entire concept of Rationalism, the Unprovable Truths are those beliefs which are deemed necessary to continue with rational thought to begin with. These include rather obvious entries such as the belief that the universe is not a simulation akin to a hedonic engine, but includes other additions such as that machine intelligence will always attempt to destroy mankind.

While the Rationalists promote science, they are notably not scientists. The only requirement to be a Rationalist is a belief in the Watchmaker and the Big Bang, that the universe is rationally ordered, and that the universe can be understood through human reason. This does lead to reverence of scientists, but it has led to conflicts with scientists. These conflicts arise mostly out of verification. The Imperial Church is powerful enough to demand that any scientific knowledge be "verified" by them before it is placed into mass production in the Empire. At that point, a Church patent is issued. Scientists, as part of their practice, will come up with multiple theories for a certain phenomenon, some of which may contradict each other and the Rationalists' established canon. This is easily interpreted by the Church to be an attempt to obfuscate reason. The Imperial Church is also heavily interested in keeping a stranglehold over Imperial scientific development, and thus will often refuse to issue patents until they have ensured that they will profit from it.

Rationalism's origins are lost to history, but the legends of Rationalism's origins date back to the Ash Winter. Legend has it that the first Rationalists were those who maintained what remained of humanity's broken information networks during the Ash Winter. It is claimed that the core of Rationalism's beliefs originate from this time, such as the sayings of the Four Saints—Tsi-Tson, Tsi-Gan, Bih-Nai and Do-Kin. The oldest rituals of the Rationalist faith also have their roots in these documents, such as giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down as a showing of approval or disapproval in church settings, the revered place of bacon in the Church, and the adoption of a "username" by Church members to use in Church functions. The antiquity of these documents is partially where Rationalism claims to derive its truth value: Rationalism is founded on the wisdom of the ancient masters, who must have known enough to propel mankind from primitive superstition to enlightened reason. However, there is considerable debate on which sayings are legitimate, and which were made by primordial trolls to confuse mankind.

Most of these documents are copies of copies of copies of ancient electronic files, where the people prior to the Ash Winter discussed the knowledge of their preeminent thinkers openly. These documents are known as threads, and the most pertinent have been complied, according to source, by the early Rationalist Church into their holy scriptures: the Book of Ridat, the Book of Dwida, and the Book of Fesbu being the preeminent texts. The importance of these books, and whether apocrypha such as the Book of Achu and the Book of Dombal are canonical, are major points of doctrinal difference between the Rationalist churches. The Imperial Rationalist Church considers Ridat, Dwida and Fesbu to be the central three books in their faith, with other works being canonized or decanonized after consideration by the Church hierarchy. A few holy icons remain, albeit in a corrupted state: images of holy figures, with true sayings plastered upon them. It is believed that only the wisest and most revered thinkers received this honor. Compiling these images into a format that modern computers can read is seen as blasphemy, because it results in some information loss, so they are preserved only on ancient computers. It is believed that the Imperial Church has computers dating back to the Ash Winter itself, hidden in the Church Archives deep in Dondrukovskrad.

Rationalism was a minor religion throughout most of the Solar Federation era and beyond. It was practiced by a few monks in the Sol System, guarding the ancient computers in orbit around Earth, but most other people worshiped other gods, or believed in no god at all. Rationalism did spread throughout the galaxy with mankind, and the Rationalists were often the source for historical knowledge and great patrons of education. It was only after the rise of Lem I that Rationalism became a major galactic religion. When he was still Chancellor of the Confederation, Lem I implanted secret codes the Confederation's machine armies to make them turn on their Architectist generals at an opportune time. After he succeeded in launching this coup and proclaiming the Second Empire, Lem I went about destroying all vestiges of the Architectist religion. Believing that all of mankind needed to be uplifted, he turned to the teachings of Rationalism—which he had learned as a child—to create a new galactic faith. He established the Imperial Rationalist Church, which replaced the Architectist temples throughout the galaxy. Religious education became mandatory under Lem I's New Order program, and the Imperial Church gained a tremendous amount of power.

During the hedonic engine era, the Imperial Church entered into a state of dormancy, as even the faithful believed that mankind had reached its end state and no longer needed to pursue the mysteries of the universe. However, after the War of the Cog Lords, the Rationalist Church came back in force, protecting what few repositories of knowledge remained from both the Cog Lords and technophobic humans. The Church issued an edict against all machine intelligences, and placed itself as the guardian of all scientific knowledge. After all, they could not risk the rise of another Grand Cogitator. Even the oldest and most basic technological and scientific knowledge had to pass through the Church's hands before they could be used. To this day, the Church has technological knowledge dating from the days of the Second Empire that they keep to themselves, and refuse to verify for various reasons. After the establishment of the Third Empire, the Imperial Church became its official religion. However, some churches refused to obey Imperial rule, and formed their own churches. These "heretical" churches often operate outside of Imperial territory, particularly in the Consortium. However, the Imperial Church remains the most powerful, to the point that it has its own armies and fleets separate from those of the Imperial government. It is also considered a corporation by Consortium authorities, and the Church actively markets "exclusive" knowledge throughout the galaxy.

Description
"The greatest thing about the teachings of Reason is that they are true whether or not you believe in them." - Quotations from Saint Tsi-Tson, Thread 4, Line 18

Rationalism, or Scientism in some communities, is the most widespread religion in the galaxy. Originating from even before the days of the Second Empire, Rationalism became a true force under the reign of Emperor Lem I, the first emperor of the Second Empire of Man. As a consequence of being the largest religion in the galaxy, Rationalism has countless denominations, each with their own beliefs. With many denominations, with the Imperial Rationalist Church being the largest and most powerful, Rationalism's effect on galactic society is not to be underestimated.

There is no one doctrine of Rationalism, as there is no one Rationalist church. However, most denominations agree on some core teachings, and those that deviate from these teachings are not considered to be Rationalist by the Imperial Rationalist Church and most other church bodies. These core beliefs are that the universe was created by a prime mover, the deity known as the Watchmaker, in an event known as the Big Bang. The Watchmaker created a rational universe, one that obeys the Watchmaker's unalterable laws, and has not interfered with the universe since its creation. Therefore, all truth can be derived through observation and reason. However, most truth has already been found in ancient times, and because of the threat of "junk knowledge," it is the duty of the church to stand guard against those spreading "falsehood and irrationality." Any claims that conflict with that of the church, such as that of other deities or other "unfalsifiable" figures that interfere with the natural world, or even alternate theories on the nature of quantum mechanics, are dismissed as "heretical superstition."

Over the millennia, several beliefs have grown to be part of Rationalism. One is the belief in the troll, a fallen man who has given into his irrationality and makes it his life mission to attack the Church and its teachings, merely to amuse himself. While normally caricatured as a clearly evil creature, Rationalist churches actually teach that anybody can be a troll, and that trolls will often masquerade as the faithful or even as clergy. Who is a "troll" and who is a faithful critic of teachings gone astray is often in the eye of the beholder, and wars over whether or not some figure in the church is a "troll" has led from exile to holy wars. Some smaller Rationalist sects believe that trolls are actually supernatural figures opposed to the Watchmaker's grand design, although this is thoroughly rejected by the Imperial Church. Another is the belief in the "Unprovable Truths." While facially against the entire concept of Rationalism, the Unprovable Truths are those beliefs which are deemed necessary to continue with rational thought to begin with. These include rather obvious entries such as the belief that the universe is not a simulation akin to a hedonic engine, but includes other additions such as that machine intelligence will always attempt to destroy mankind.

While the Rationalists promote science, they are notably not scientists. The only requirement to be a Rationalist is a belief in the Watchmaker and the Big Bang, that the universe is rationally ordered, and that the universe can be understood through human reason. This does lead to reverence of scientists, but it has led to conflicts with scientists. These conflicts arise mostly out of verification. The Imperial Church is powerful enough to demand that any scientific knowledge be "verified" by them before it is placed into mass production in the Empire. At that point, a Church patent is issued. Scientists, as part of their practice, will come up with multiple theories for a certain phenomenon, some of which may contradict each other and the Rationalists' established canon. This is easily interpreted by the Church to be an attempt to obfuscate reason. The Imperial Church is also heavily interested in keeping a stranglehold over Imperial scientific development, and thus will often refuse to issue patents until they have ensured that they will profit from it.

Rationalism's origins are lost to history, but the legends of Rationalism's origins date back to the Ash Winter. Legend has it that the first Rationalists were those who maintained what remained of humanity's broken information networks during the Ash Winter. It is claimed that the core of Rationalism's beliefs originate from this time, such as the sayings of the Four Saints—Tsi-Tson, Tsi-Gan, Bih-Nai and Do-Kin. The oldest rituals of the Rationalist faith also have their roots in these documents, such as giving a thumbs up or a thumbs down as a showing of approval or disapproval in church settings, the revered place of bacon in the Church, and the adoption of a "username" by Church members to use in Church functions. The antiquity of these documents is partially where Rationalism claims to derive its truth value: Rationalism is founded on the wisdom of the ancient masters, who must have known enough to propel mankind from primitive superstition to enlightened reason. However, there is considerable debate on which sayings are legitimate, and which were made by primordial trolls to confuse mankind.

Most of these documents are copies of copies of copies of ancient electronic files, where the people prior to the Ash Winter discussed the knowledge of their preeminent thinkers openly. These documents are known as threads, and the most pertinent have been complied, according to source, by the early Rationalist Church into their holy scriptures: the Book of Ridat, the Book of Dwida, and the Book of Fesbu being the preeminent texts. The importance of these books, and whether apocrypha such as the Book of Achu and the Book of Dombal are canonical, are major points of doctrinal difference between the Rationalist churches. The Imperial Rationalist Church considers Ridat, Dwida and Fesbu to be the central three books in their faith, with other works being canonized or decanonized after consideration by the Church hierarchy. A few holy icons remain, albeit in a corrupted state: images of holy figures, with true sayings plastered upon them. It is believed that only the wisest and most revered thinkers received this honor. Compiling these images into a format that modern computers can read is seen as blasphemy, because it results in some information loss, so they are preserved only on ancient computers. It is believed that the Imperial Church has computers dating back to the Ash Winter itself, hidden in the Church Archives deep in Dondrukovskrad.

Rationalism was a minor religion throughout most of the Solar Federation era and beyond. It was practiced by a few monks in the Sol System, guarding the ancient computers in orbit around Earth, but most other people worshiped other gods, or believed in no god at all. Rationalism did spread throughout the galaxy with mankind, and the Rationalists were often the source for historical knowledge and great patrons of education. It was only after the rise of Lem I that Rationalism became a major galactic religion. When he was still Chancellor of the Confederation, Lem I implanted secret codes the Confederation's machine armies to make them turn on their Architectist generals at an opportune time. After he succeeded in launching this coup and proclaiming the Second Empire, Lem I went about destroying all vestiges of the Architectist religion. Believing that all of mankind needed to be uplifted, he turned to the teachings of Rationalism—which he had learned as a child—to create a new galactic faith. He established the Imperial Rationalist Church, which replaced the Architectist temples throughout the galaxy. Religious education became mandatory under Lem I's New Order program, and the Imperial Church gained a tremendous amount of power.

During the hedonic engine era, the Imperial Church entered into a state of dormancy, as even the faithful believed that mankind had reached its end state and no longer needed to pursue the mysteries of the universe. However, after the War of the Cog Lords, the Rationalist Church came back in force, protecting what few repositories of knowledge remained from both the Cog Lords and technophobic humans. The Church issued an edict against all machine intelligences, and placed itself as the guardian of all scientific knowledge. After all, they could not risk the rise of another Grand Cogitator. Even the oldest and most basic technological and scientific knowledge had to pass through the Church's hands before they could be used. To this day, the Church has technological knowledge dating from the days of the Second Empire that they keep to themselves, and refuse to verify for various reasons. After the establishment of the Third Empire, the Imperial Church became its official religion. However, some churches refused to obey Imperial rule, and formed their own churches. These "heretical" churches often operate outside of Imperial territory, particularly in the Consortium. However, the Imperial Church remains the most powerful, to the point that it has its own armies and fleets separate from those of the Imperial government. It is also considered a corporation by Consortium authorities, and the Church actively markets "exclusive" knowledge throughout the galaxy.