Great Rethinkers

The Great Rethinkers are a loose, malleable canon of writers, preachers, annalists, and philosophers who are regarded as teachers and exemplars by some significant number of members of the Repentant faith. There is no official prescription in the Repentant faith on who is or is not considered a Great Rethinker, only informal and historical guidelines that sects and members are free to disregard. No rethinker is accepted by all, and no initiate supports every rethinker's work. As a group their teachings are known as the Words of the Great Rethinkers.

Some Great Rethinkers are proven historical figures, some are undeniably mythical, or if they did exist they certainly did not live the lives described. Most fall in a grey area in between these two, with their historicity hotly debated amongst those so inclined.

## The Crusader of Contrition

> “And after the slaughter was complete, the High Emperor visited each of the Exarchs for their blessing, and the blessing of the new sector he had baptized in blood. Each received him. Each blessed him, calling him savior, paragon, corrector. Each save the last. When the High Emperor came to the Tenth Exarch, he was met with silence. The High Emperor asked not for forgiveness, but for a blessing, a blessing for the crimes he had committed, and the last Exarch would not give it to him.
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> And so the seeds of the True Church were planted.”--*The Records 1:15*
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The Crusader of Contrition, aka the Last Exarch, is one of the most enduringly popular of the semi-legendary figures of the supposed pre-Scream movement. In the stories, they were a loyal High Church Exarch to the first Emperox, but after the alien genocide could no longer support the High Church or the Imperial system, and exiled themselves. Gathering a group of like-minded individuals called 'the Faithful' they made a great Vigil of Repentance around the sector, weeping for the blood shed and prostrating themselves towards the surviving aliens.

That this timeline does not seem to coincide with the officially recognized sequence of the war and the founding of The Empire and the High Church is considered by some an argument against its veracity, but meaningless to the innumerate others who look to the Crusader of Contrition as a saint and exemplar of human repentance.

One of several disciples of the Last Exarch, Tai Mo (born Xia Tai Ju) is known for several philosophical and historical texts that influenced the growth of the Repentant faith and The Church of Humanity Repentant.

## Endarch Tai Mo

One of several supposed disciples of the Crusader of Contrition, aka 'the faithful', Tai Mo (born Xia Tai Ju) is known as the author of several philosophical and historical texts that influenced the growth of the Repentant faith and The Church of Humanity, Repentant.

Born to wealthy family in House Lyra, Xia Tai Ju was surrounded by art, philosophy, and the macabre throughout his upbringing. A popular scene in religious art is of Tai Mo and his mother standing over a coffin, the young philosopher asking the body where its soul had gone. Although the details have been lost to time (Tai Mo was not an autobiographer), towards the end of his adolescence Tai Mo was forced to leave home. it was at this point that he joined the retinue of the recently enlightened Crusader.

Those who believe in the veracity of the Crusader and the faithful believe that only a fragment of Tai Mo's body of work has survived to this day, carefully preserved throughout history and past the scream by the pre-Church movements. Those who disregard said veracity often argue that Tai Mo was invented by a Lyran member of the pre-Church movements who wished to insert a member of their own house into the legends surrounding the Crusader of Contrition.

## Rethinker Lyra Jirad Kordun

Rethinker Kordun, formally a philosopher of House Lyra, was the first person to openly question and discuss Synths having Souls.

At the time still a relatively new advancement, House Cygnus had gifted Synths to many of the Major and Minor houses, supposedly as a gift, though many believe it was a way to cement power, and assure the throne to House Cygnus moving forward. Rethinker Kordun, at the time a revered and popular philosopher amongst house Lyra, was given a synth to act as their assistant. It was during this time Rethinker Kordun began to question, as philosophers tend to, the nature of their new assistant. These questions would later become known as the three questions.

### Kordun's Three Questions

The first question Rethinker Kordun found themselves asking were:

*Are synths capable of learning?*

Rethinker Kordun had noted that the simple tasks they'd ask of their synth, to fetch a book, to copy some pages, began to offer unexpected results. The more time the synth spent in their service, the more it seemed to learn. Rethinker Kordun would ask for one book, and be presented with three all on similar topics. Rethinker Kordun might ask for their synth to copy a chapter from a book, only to be presented with a copy, plus cross referencing and additional citations. These events led to the second question

*Are synths conscious?*

It is generally understood that no matter how convincing, Virtual Intelligence is not conscious. So the perceived knowledge was that synths were not conscious. But Rethinker Kordun noting their synths ability to understand beyond a given command, and outside of parameters they themselves had set, began to question this. During their research and musings they came to learn of the Church of Humanity, Repentant. At the time still a relatively small but growing group. Their readings on the topics of consciousness as set forth by the Church, and the idea of the soul being linked to consciousness, led them to the final and most important question.

*Do synths have souls?*

What is a soul? What is the nature of the soul? What are the ethical and philosophical ramifications of humanity creating beings with a soul? With that one question, Rethinker Kordun took on the mantle of Rethinker, and left their position within the House of Lyra, an act they assumed they would have been forced to take, as they set to work writing the book: *Synths and the Soul: A question of consciousness.*

## Humble High Exarch Alyssa

The Humble High Exarch Alyssa (3025-3112), also known as Alyssa the Humble, was a High Exarch of the Concord of the Church of Humanity, Repentant from the year 3095 up to 3110, when she abdicated to spend the remainder of her life in holy contemplation. During her years as High Exarch, she did much to promote repentance through poverty. The Vow of the Humble Soul, still taken by many of the Repentant followers today, is named after her.

### Early life

Alyssa the Humble was born on Haqani, the House Vela homeword. She was brought up in a prosperous city as daughter to a family of merchants, and from her earliest youth she was taught the ways of the Imperial Church. The alien ruins on the planet, she confessed many years later, had always drawn her, even though she was never allowed near them.

As she grew older, the injustices of the world around her began to wear on her. She had always been taught to be generous to the less fortunate, but saw little of that in her family's circles. After years of personal conflict, Alyssa left her home, her church, and her name at age 24, to join the Church of Humanity, Repentant, where she felt she could truly make a change.

### Life as Alyssa the Humble

Alyssa stayed on Haqani for a while, living in the poorer areas, far away from her familial territory. Amidst the alien ruins that criss-crossed the district, she led a frugal life in a shelter run by the church, where she volunteered to help the disposed in return for bed and board. She went above and beyond to help those in needed, sharing even the meagre meals for herself with those who sought shelter, quickly earning her the name "Alyssa the Humble". For many years she toiled in the shelter. During her final four years on Haqani, she was directly involved in the management of the shelter.

In 3059, Alyssa relocated to Cabina, homeworld of the CHR, because she could do more closer to the source. There, she quickly rose in esteem, and became a teacher, all the while still actively doing what she could for those who needed help. Her name became known in the upper echelons of the CHR, but still she lived humbly, passing on gifts and salary to those she felt needed it more. Her following grew over the years, and many a preacher left Cabina to spread what Alyssa had taught them.

### Election to High Exarch of the Concord

In 3095, Alyssa was elected as a High Exarch of the Concord, at the age of seventy. She soon became the most prominent and influential of the 22 High Exarchs of the Concord. At this age, her body demanded that she slowed her many activities, but even with the duties of a High Exarch on her shoulders, Alyssa never completely stopped her efforts to personally help the less fortunate. In 3097, she visited the shelter on Haqani again, and worked for two full days along with the other volunteers before returning home.

During her time as High Exarch, Alyssa frequently voiced her concern about the High Church of Messiah-as-Emperor. The most often cited example of this her unofficial title, "the Humble High Exarch", which mirrored the title of the Imperial Church's "High Exarch".

### Retirement

In 3110, Alyssa the Humble stepped down, rather unexpectedly, to follow a new spiritual calling. She spent the last two years of her life in holy seclusion, on the border of alien territory on Cabina, where she spent her days meditating and writing her *Edict on Poverty*, a text still disseminated today, in which she discusses the virtues of poverty as a path of repentance for humanities sins. After her passing, in 3112, the Church of Humanity, Repentant, declared a week-long period of mourning, scheduled for three months-standard hence. Soon after, the CHR officially sanctioned the Vow of the Humble Soul, which is still taken today by Repentant siblings who wish to emulate Alyssa's lifestyle.

## Reverend Doctor Octavia Lemed Mariam

*Main article: Reverend Doctor Octavia Lemed Mariam*
Reverend Dr. Octavia Lemed Mariam (born February 4, 2908) was an Echonian doctor, religious scholar, and political activist and is considered the founder of the Students of God’s Empire. Her sermons and writings on ethics and religion are widely influential on her homeplanet Echo as well as within the Repentant faith.

Apart from her religious writings, Mariam is known for her activism on the rights of serfs, for speaking out against political corruption and persecution, and for encouraging peaceful and nonviolent protest. She was arrested in 2947 on Echo by Conséc but was released soon after, following demonstrations by local Echonians and social activists across the system. After her release she continued to speak publicly about atrocities committed by Empress Aquila Alejandra Ari, often known as the Blood Eagle, and wrote books outlining her religious philosophy. On April 27th, 2950 she was shot and killed by a Conséc assassin.

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