Abbey of the Paradigm

**The War ends. A pact between Burescha and Sudra have resulted in the annihilation of the Sunni-Muslim faith and its supplanting with *The Paradigm*.**

## Overview

The Abbey of the Paradigm is a esoteric religion that has taken over Sudra. It institutes a fair, but strict theocracy revolving around the ***The Code***. Enforcing a strict aversion from the supernatural and arcane, the Abbey is a figure that plots against those of witchcraft and sorcery. The Abbey is a adamant supporter of technological innovation, as an influence of the past Sudran government's technocratic nature.

*The collective noun for the religion practiced by The Abbey is **The Paradigm***.

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## Religion

As one could guess, the religion of the Abbey plays an important role. The 'religion' of the Abbey is an ideology and philosophy that has been elevated to belief that one can interpret it as religious. The ideology of the Abbey is ***The*** ***Code***, which could be likened as a Torah to the Abbey. The main ***Precepts***  of ***The Code*** are as follows:

* Death is the prize for those practice with witches and sorcerers; and their foul art.
* The religions of others should be tolerated; ***The Code*** may be practiced with other religions as long as the religion in question does not break the ***First Precept***.

* Obey the Paradans; they seek your protection, not theirs.

These are not the only Precepts; only the ones which the Abbey preaches upon most. More contexts and guidelines are called the ***Analects***. An important fact to remember is that the Abbey does not preach from ***The Code*** as a Christian priest would preach from the Scripture; they preach from the mind, formulating a Sermon according to daily happenings. Something consistent however is that the Abbey maintains a theme of their Sermons; the theme can be supplanted by other Subjects that are subordinate to the Theme.

### Rituals

The Abbey does engage in rituals; some rituals will be explained below. Keep in mind such rituals need not always take place in a house of worship, some rituals can be carried out outside.

* **Pi's End**

Pi's End is a ritual that is engaged in when new Paradans are being sworn in; Paradans are required during the procedure to swear to uphold and follow ***The Code*** in its entirety. It's name comes from the mathematical concept of pi; and its ending is an analog to the beginning of a new life of piety for a Paradan.

* **Evaluation**

Evaluations are Rituals undertaken by the Abbey that are initiated when the Abbey has suspected arcane activity in an area. Typically, the Abbey will issue Agents to the area that will routinely spy on it, recording activity for a duration of a month.

* **Sermon**

Sermons are rituals that are the most often carried out; its required number is minimal and is a Ritual many followers of the Abbey know of. Such a Ritual is simple in execution for only one Paradan has to speak and deliver message.

### Concepts

The Abbey teaches that there are only two primordial locations that are beyond the reach of the universe, and reached only through the process of death.

#### The Wind

The Wind in Abbey belief is an infinite plane with no land or seas, only the howl of a constant wind which direction twists and changes to a weak breeze to a strong gust. The Wind can be interpreted as a 'Heaven' by some, certain scholars speculating it to be so, as The Wind is composed of the souls of the deceased, strengthening based on the frequency of death. The Wind are also thought to be the origin of luck, blowing in favor of the party that shall win, although the 'luck' is not like destiny and is not certain.

#### The Void

The Void in Abbey belief is thought to be an endless sea with no light or land, and the force which causes corruption and the straying from one's goals and traditional ways. The Void is the embodiment of all that is perceived as detrimental to the existence of Humanity, and the ideas which change with Humanity consequently change in The Void. The sea of the Void entombs the thinking counterpart of the soul, whether righteous or wicked. An outbreak of evil is often symbolized as the Void 'seeping' into the material plane, and those who are deemed wicked by the Abbey are often said to have waded through the The Void.

#### The Material World

The Abbey accepts the theories which are said to have created Arcadia, but the Abbey additionally states that these forces were influenced by a cataclysmic event on another world, where the the combined Wind output and outreach of the Void influenced the creation of Arcadia. Therefore, the Abbey's doctrine regarding the cosmos itself is one of constant rebirth and death. Such a belief is native to the Neo-Buddhist teachings of before, which has been incorporated into the Paradigm.

### Constant Concepts

In the esoteric and borderline occultist crevices of the Paradigm, scholars speak of the Constant Concepts, entities that predate the creation of Humanity and all its knowledge, which are beyond the minds of Humans and are extremely neutral towards the happening of Arcadius and the cosmos as a whole. The Paradigm scholars speculate that these concepts have counterparts in nature. The list below explains the three major Constant Concepts.

 Verdai
 Opeai

"*The creation of the universe warranted the fabrication of the first manifestations of 'life'. These beings are not material, and cannot be touched, or spoken to for their thought cycles are not human-like at all. It is known that these primordial forms of life were sentient by their worldly birth, and were aware of each other's respective existences. We named them the Constant Concepts. We shan't communicate for them, for we will be disappointed greatly by their great neutrality. These beings take reign over the forces of nature, and we know the names of the one's which are most important.* **Izopautser, it which controls the miniscule***.* **Verdai, carrier of the burden of life***.* **Opeai, the one who conceived the first thought***." -*Analects, Abstracts 3:14.

### The Paradan and his Orders

1. The Enlightened: A committee that oversees Abbey operations and release daily Edicts.
2. Everyman General: The leader of the Everymen. He shares his power and rank with the Paradan Elect.
3. Paradan Elect: Identical occupation as the Everyman General, but oversees the Paradans.
4. Everymen: described below.
5. Paradans and -auns: Lowest ranking and most common.

### Paradans

Paradans of the Abbey can be described most accurately as militant priests who are dedicated to the ideology imposed by ***The Code*** and the ***Analects***. Churches of the Abbey are staffed almost entirely of Paradans and its ranks, and usually a few members of the Parauns, their female counterpart (elaborated later). Paradans are often armed with handguns and, the supplementary weaponry of their Church's 'armory'. Typically, they undergo surgery to implant magnetic joints on their temples to secure their masks, which serve as protection from identification and ballistic weapons. Uniforms also incorporate protective layers of carbon fabric to protect from stabbings and bullets. Paradans have authority over others of lower rank.

### Parauns

Parauns are the female counterpart of the Paradans, and were creaed later than the Paradans themselves. Officially, Parauns serve the Order of Blue and are relegated to medical roles.

### Everymen

The Everymen are the 'elite' of the Paradans and can be distinguished by their difference of sleeve pattern and slight differences in the masks they wear. Everymen are charged with the internal policing of the Abbey and the confronting of those who have strayed from ***The Code***, and in addition to internal policing, inspect overseas Churches to verify their practices and correspondance with the latest Edicts.

## In Sudra and other countries

### Sudra

The Abbey of the Paradigm is a powerful institution in Sudra, a formerly technocratically run society. It uses the infrastructure of its predecessors to its advantage and to further its cause against the divine. Such is so that the Abbey could be defined as the ruling 'party' of the country, more or less.

### Burescha

The Abbey maintains a sizable presence in the city of Trotskin, having modest popularity with the populace due to branch-specific denouncing of Islam, along with concentrated televangelism and radio broadcast efforts.

### Alexia-Gruzia

In Alexia-Gruzia, the Abbey maintains a Church in San Bethania, with average turnout rates. Recently, numerous violent attacks have taken place around or inside the Church complex, the most recent Polscian nationalist attack causing the deaths of all 21 Paradans (Parauns included), and the High Paradan, Nomura Kryzier.

### Belka

The Belkan Abbey presence is small in nature due to decreased proselyzation attempts as a result of resource allocation to more important countries such as Burescha and Alexandra.

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