Strangite

**Strangite** is one of the faiths practiced in After the End. Strangite is part of the Latter-Day Saints religious group, and is considered a Mormon heresy.

## Description

> "*The Strangites believe James Strang to be the lawful successor of Joseph Smith, and consider the historical leaders of the Mormon church to be heretics. Strangites allow the ordination of women into the priesthood and reject the notion of the trinity (believing that there is only one God, and that Jesus was born an ordinary mortal). Animal sacrifice is common, and devout farmers make an offering of the "Firstfruit" of the harvest.*"
> ― In-Game description of Strangite
>
>

## History

Strangites detached themselves from the other branch of the Latter-Day Saints long before the Event, and were reduced at a few hundreds before the Event. To this day their beliefs survive, and so does their religious head, but no Strangite ruler is known to exist.

## Holy Sites

* Rochester
* Michilimackinac
* La Moine
* Four Lakes
* Moks

## Rumors

### A Strang History

*This story of early Second Strangism is taken from a widely known tale in the surrounding area.*

After the Fall, the branch of Mormonism known as the Strangites had nearly vanished from the face of the Earth. Those who survived made a great trek, journeying from an unknown origin in the Midwest to Beaver Island in Lake Michigan, where they had once lived in centuries past.

When they arrived they were only seventeen in number, and mostly women. Though these women were priests, their offices barred them from offering the animal sacrifices they believed necessary to encourage their new home. In those days the island was sparsely inhabited and lawless. After much prayer, the highest of the priestesses approached one of the meager fishermen who lived on the island, and asked him to give their sacrifices.

The man, though sympathetic to the small community's plight, refused to do so, as he had no religion and did not believe in the Strangite's either.

"How can I give up what I do not have?" He asked her.

"It is not yours that you shall give, but our own. What you carry will not be yours, but still you will be strengthened by the labor of our burden." The priestess explained.

The fisherman wrestled with this for a long time, and decided that if the Strangite God existed, it would do no harm to curry its favor. He came to the colony some days later, and was dressed in the proper vestments and performed the proper rites. The Strangites had built an alter of iron and stone, and he stood upon it and slew a yearling calf. When he did this, the fisherman fell into a stupor.

In his dream he was drifting in a void of darkness. As he sank, he felt a cord upon his ankle and his wrists, alive with fire. It poured across him and smote the shadow, and he saw the Lord stand above him in radiance, dragging him from the night with a net of sinew, and below the Master's feet were all the nations of the Earth and all the beasts of the field, sea, and air. Around him was a multitude of angels, cherubim, and seraphim.

God told the fisherman this, "What you do shall be in my name, and in the name of my true church, and in the name of my beloved Son, and the prophets Smith and Strang and He that shall come after you. You shall make an inhabitation for my church, who have drawn you into my net as you drew fish from the sea. You will increase their number with your own, and drink the cup of life."

At this, the fisherman awoke, and told the people what he had seen. They rejoiced, for the Lord had not abandoned them, and had even given them the promise of a new prophet to follow. When they were done, the fisherman went to others of his folk, and told them what he had seen. His witness moved many to enjoin themselves with the Strangites, and their number was increased.

### Wise and Future King

In the years after the Fisherman died, Beaver Island was filling with Strangites. They eagerly awaited the prophet to come, but as yet saw no sign of the Lord's elect. Among them was a boy, who had been found abandoned in the forest by an unknown mother. From the youngest age, he showed a piercing intelligence, and was called Solomon because of it.

One day, when he was about seven, he became lost in the woods where he had been discovered years ago. The Strangites worried, and searched intently, discovering him at last on a forested mound. They called to him to come down, and he did. Yet they soon saw that in his hands were the Voree Plates, the lost sacred scripture of the Strangites. He told those assembled that an angel had led him to the hill, where the plates were nestled untarnished in the crook of a tree. By this the people knew that he was their new Prophet-King, and Solomon became the first of the office known in the region as "The Kings of the Long Lake".

### Earthly Matters

Solomon I reconstituted polygamy in the Church, and he and his successors spread the Strangites' influence far and and wide along the coasts of Lake Michigan, and even further beyond. Many of the Mormon remnants in Illinois and other enclaves, heard of the Strangites revelation and power, and submitted themselves to the community so obviously chosen by God. At the height of Strangite power in the late 24th Century, the Holy Kingdom controlled almost every island in Lake Michigan, much of the Upper Peninsula, Green Bay, the coastal borderlands of Illinois and Wisconsin, and half the Western Michigan seaboard. King Joseph II even received permission from the Catholics of Missouri to make a pilgrimage all the was to the holy site of Independence, where he is said to have sacrificed five hundred animals of various species in a great festival.

But the Prophet-Kings' power could not last forever. Repeated uprisings in the Kingdom of Michigan eventually removed forced the church off the mainland there, while Viking raids and increasing religious unrest elsewhere continued to sap their strength and pluck away territory after territory. The last blow came in 2459 when, after a slight against one of their dignitaries, the lords of Ontario sent a great fleet and army to crush the Strangite garrison at Mackinac. At the same time (it is unknown whether it was the work of conspiracy or coincidence) a Norse force from Superior swooped down and laid siege to the fortresses of Beaver Island while its reinforcements were occupied.

Mackinack fell after a bloody and intense two-week campaign, while King Oliver I held out for nine months. In the end, the Northmen breached the walls, and slaughtered the whole royal family. With this the Strangite kingdom on earth ended, and its people fled the Lake that had been their home for centuries. Despite having no longer possessing a secular leader, the Strangites continue to practice their faith in small, isolated communities. Mostly centered around the Great Lakes and the Heartland, some went journeyed all the way to their spiritual kin in Deseret, where the Latter Day Saints watch them with a wary eye.

## In-Game Features

The Prophet-President is the religious head of the faith, and exist even if not Landed. Strangite bishops may pay taxes to him instead of their liege. Priests can inherit titles and marry, and women may own temple holdings.

There is no opinion penalty against female rulers or heirs. Any man can have up to 4 wives, unless they are allowed to have concubines.

As of 2666, Mormonism has 24.8 moral authority.

A temple holder of the Strangite faith is called a Bishop.

## Trivia

* The Strangite Church of the Latter-Day Saints is a branch of the Latter-Day Saints that followed James Strang as the successor of the founder Joseph Smith.