Orassian Divine Tribunal

Official flag of the Orassian Divine Tribunal. Courtesy of da\_numbah-1.

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> "*If only we could stay... Why must we be exiles?*"
> ― High Priest Sok D'Kara, while evacuating the last group from Orassia
>
>

## Overview

The Orassian Divine Tribunal is an interstellar spiritualist nation, that fled a global catactlysm on their homeworld, Orassia.

They worship a supreme and benevolent being, Oras. According to Orassians themselves, He saved them from the calamity that threatened their very existence through Prophet J'Kir Sakir that lived approximately 150 years ago.

## Homeworld

The global state of the Orassian Divine Tribunal first formed on Orassia about 130 years ago.

It is a rocky and dry world, that has an average temperature of 19°C.

With the planet mostly being covered with plains and hills, water occupying less than 40% of the surface, and almost no trees growing there, the amount of rainfall still supports shrubs and grasses.

## Government

The Orassian government is formed around their faith in Oras, and while most of the work in forming the Tribunal can be credited to the Prophet, multiple number of Saints also contributed in reforming and refining the laws, and structure of the government.

Here, the Orassian Divine Tribunal has two governmental bodies that stand out: the Church and the Tribunal. They are intimately intertwined, one cannot exist without the other. The Tribunal is formed by the High Priesthood, who also form the Church with the lower Priesthood beneath them.

The political hierarchy of Orassian government can be divided as such:

### **The Tribunal**

The primary governing body of the empire.

* *Functions:* enacts and enforces laws; generally governs Orassian life, how they should live according to the teachings of the Prophet.

* *Responsibilities:* preservation of the Faith, its values, and the Orassian nation.

### **The High Priesthood**

The Tribunal itself is comprised of High Priests. Every year, an election is held to elevate a Priest. The position itself is considered to be of prestige and respect among Orassians.

* *Functions:* votes whether the law or decision is passed; acts as a jury in criminal court.

* *Responsibilities:* each High Priest has a personal responsibility to their flock (just like a governor); forwards the will of the Tribunal to the people.

All responsibilities of the Priest are also included.

### **The Cardinal**

    The Cardinal is elected from the available High Priests to act as a representative. The term length is 20 years. Other than that, it's essentially the same as the High Priest. Many elected still prefer to be called High Priest, despite being a Cardinal. They are usually addressed as such when the Tribunal is voting on a decision.

* *Functions:* acts as the voice of reason when the decision or law is voted on; acts as a representative of the Tribunal in interstellar relations.

* *Responsibilities:* fairly represent the views of the Tribunal and the High Priests across the galaxy.

### **The Priesthood**

Locally appointed Priests. From the available pool of Priests, people elect a High Priest.

* *Functions:* provides cultural services, rituals, and spiritual guidance.

* *Responsibilities:* hold a sermon every week; provide psychological help; preach the word of Oras.

## Law

The Orassian Law consists of primarily two things: the Constitution of the ODT and the Divine Law.

## Military

The Orassian military doctrine is based primarily on defensive strategies and counter-offensives, letting the enemy suffer attrition through either the environmental effects of the field/plane/expanse of battle, the defensive structures erected in their space, or strategically placed fleets. That said, they're a little short on the offensive side.

### Navy

The Orassian navy heavily leans towards picket-class ships and interceptor corvettes with a healthy mix of long-range artillery destroyers and cruisers to wear the attackers down. The main weakness (or strength, depending on who you ask) lies in breaking that distance, as by the time when the enemy approaches the artillery, their fleets would have already suffered enough attrition to lose the ability to fight. However, if they move faster than the incurring losses to their ships' subsystems, or use the environment to their strengths in the same way the Orassians do, the artillery can be put at a disadvantage.

Their Interceptor-class corvettes are outfitted with swarmer computers and advanced thrusters to effectively intercept incoming enemy vessels. The Vigilance-class on the other hand act as picket ships to protect larger ships from incoming projectiles/missiles.

The primary artillery unit in space combat for the Orassians is J'Kir's Wisdom-class destroyer. Specialising heavily in artillery, the vessel is outfitted with a variety of long-range kinetic and energy weaponry capable in tearing down the hull of enemy ships. The other class of destroyers they possess is Oro's Protection-class, heavily specialised to be picket ships with a healthy mix of strike-craft to focus on protecting the cruisers.

The secondary artillery unit in the line of defence and rudimentary offence is the Spear of Oras-class cruiser. Having the largest variety of weapons installed, it employs torpedoes to pierce the enemy's shields and shred the armour, along with a balanced mix of anti-shield kinetic launchers and anti-armour plasma launchers.

### Ground Forces

The ground forces of the Orassians are based on ranged infantry, trained to fight primarily in trenches to inflict attrition to the enemy forces. Their artillery unit, the Ultan, uses powerful short-range laser beams to annihilate the enemy as they approach the trenches.

Since the foundation of the D'Karan Monastery and the Paladin Academy--a space habitat in orbit of Prophet's Promise--a special infantry unit, the Paladin, became available to the Orassian military. The unit is trained to timely deploy wide energy barriers to shield the infantry as they advance towards the enemy, as well as rudimentary psionics to aid in combat. Since its inception, the unit enabled the Orassians to counter-attack in an unprecedented momentum

### Defensive Structures

To make up for the shortcomings of their J'Kir's Wisdom-class destroyers, the Orassians use defensive platforms scattered throughout their space to make way to the hull for the destroyers' weapons to deal significant damage. Outfitted either with advanced lasers or mass-drivers, they're able to be efficiently retrofitted to adapt to a particular enemy's layout.

### Strategic Use of Environment

The Orassians prefer to take stronger positions in star lanes' choke points, especially when black holes, pulsars and neutron stars are present in the system. Their on-board computers are particularly well-equipped to navigate the gravitational waves of a black hole or a neutron star, and their ship hulls are made from advanced materials that mitigate the effects of radiation bursts from a pulsar, including ion storms, done to the vessel.[1]

## Orassian Faith

### **Divine Principles of Oras**

The entirety of Orassian Faith is based on worshipping a single divine entity - Oras. The structure of worship is based on several Divine Principles, taught from a young age in Orassian schools and expanded upon further in education. According to ancient scriptures of the Prophet J'Kir Sakir, Oras Himself gave those principles to the people, to guide at the time the yet-to-be united nation.

These symbolise ultimate ideals that are being endorsed by the Church and the Tribunal.

Although a fanatic pursuit of one is discouraged, instead a balanced approach to many is what keeps an individual straight on the path to greatness.

#### ***Principle of Devotion***

An ideal of dedication and commitment. To follow the principle, one is to devote themselves to a worthy cause they aspire to. The cause can be anything: family, religion, science, service to the state, protection of the weak, charity, etc.

Step too far, and it becomes an unhealthy obsession and fanaticism.

Debatably, it is thought to be the most important one, despite all of them being equally important.

#### ***Principle of Acceptance***

An ideal of inclusion and understanding. To follow the principle one is to express an understanding of other people's views and how they arrived at them, thus acknowledging the differences and similarities between perspectives.

By tradition, the one accepting another's perspective is to invite the them into their home where they're most vulnerable.

However, you wouldn't want to invite a person holding ulterior, malicious motives. This is where a line is drawn.

#### ***Principle of Patience***

An ideal of forbearance and tolerance. To follow this principle, one must express tolerance of the others' differences, exercise restraint in indulgences, and be patient in general.

Sometimes action is necessary to get things done, where restraint not only won't help -- it will act against the one following it.

#### ***Principle of Courage***

An ideal of bravery. To follow the principle, one must confront their fears and overcome them, or exercise courage in the face of adversity.

Courage, however, should not be confused with foolhardiness.

#### ***Principle of Protection***

An ideal of guardianship and aegis. To follow this principle, one must take the role of a guardian regardless of the situation (whether it's family, children, an organisation, a partner, etc.) and demonstrate their commitment towards protecting.

Go too far, and the protected's personal growth and freedom will be stemmed. Being overprotective can be a hindrance in this case.

## History

WIP