One benefit of the uchronian genre (especially future history stories) is the opportunity to explore divergent religious movements, though like divergent ideologies it's unfortunately an underexplored avenue*. From the earliest concept of this TL I wanted to include some strain of revolutionary religious weirdness, and an evolution of Theosophy seemed like the natural choice. Aside from allowing me to have a new religious movement become the dominant faith in a global superpower the ability to claim that all religions contain versions of the truth nicely complements the Cosmicist emphasis on a vast and universal wealth of human knowledge to draw on. It also gives me the opportunity to have a massive triple goddess statue combining Ultima Ayesha, Shakti and Wusheng Laomu in the center of the High Monastery of Leng. I saw it in a dream and had to bring it into the timeline but my process is at least partially based on very strange dreams so it works.
More notes on religious weirdness:
*Shout out to @Napoleon53 and the AFC! It's unleashed hell on earth but it's a fascinating addition to the genre nonetheless 😂
**Basically the continent is divided into three major geographic partitions: Lesser Antarctica (the Antarctic Archipelago of New Nantucket, Caprona and Dakkar) and Greater Antarctica (divided in turn into Atlantic and Indic halves based on the ocean they border). Dakkar is considered an outlier in its region and is closer to its Indic neighbors in rates of religiosity. In the Protonga RC it varies based on which island you're on.
***They're intense, sure, but most of the stuff actively meant to seem threatening is rooted in deliberate praxis of psyops to unsettle their enemies. Ironically the Church of Christ, Lightbearer is not that, being a sincere expression of religious faith with a lot of misconceptions in the broader world.
More notes on religious weirdness:
- Given settlement patterns and early history the most religious section of the ARC from the transportation period to the "present" is (as previously mentioned) in the Indic portion** of East Antarctica. There's some minor concern in the more secular regions that Zoranism has coopted Ultima Ayesha for their own use (and that the ARC uses a central symbol of the movement in its flag), but even as a secularized philosophical movement Zoranism is still common in the rest of the continent, the figure of Ultima Ayesha predates her adoption by the faith, and the symbol is used as a metaphorical aspiration for the state's fervent pursuit of knowledge (and space expansion).
- Among their many doctrinal differences with the pure faith the Tsalal do not have Nameless Priests or monasteries, with their priestly caste composed entirely of Gyrovagues, but also ones with vastly more temporal authority (within Symzonia) than their counterparts enjoy in the wider continent. This suits the semi-nomadic nature of the Hetmanates.
- The dominant strain of Antarctic Hinduism is a Shaktist analogue of Nayaa Rasta as a little nod to the excellent Clive-Less World TL, though it lacks its inspiration's focus on not treating illnesses (in the original version a bid to ensure karmic reward and punishment, I guess?) and favors a broad social welfare system. There's also a high degree of syncretism in Indic Greater Antarctica in general, with plenty of Zoranist, Nayaa Rasta and Yiguandao believers also subscribing at least in part to one or both of the other major faiths.
- The Abrahamic faiths would get little if any focus in the novel proper, if only for the sake of being overutilized, though it would suit the Kyriarchy's perception that the Cosmicists are all evil lunatics*** if the dominant Christian tradition was something like the Church of Lucifer from the Lucifer's Star series, i.e. a Gnostic sort of faith that regarded Jesus as a reformed and redeemed Lucifer making up for his sins and fall from grace. It would give me an excuse to have a Christian denomination where my fan favorite Infancy Gospel of Thomas could be an integral part of the canon and I could probably fold in some Yazidist flavor in the bargain since Antarctica becomes a homeland for all sorts of persecuted and dispossessed groups trickling down from the blasted and bigoted north 🤔
- Public preaching is allowed if you have a permit and stick to designated spaces, churches and other religious buildings are subject to the same tax regimen as every other business, and denominational school/government prayer is verboten (though most schools have a small window blocked out for private prayer and meditation).
*Shout out to @Napoleon53 and the AFC! It's unleashed hell on earth but it's a fascinating addition to the genre nonetheless 😂
**Basically the continent is divided into three major geographic partitions: Lesser Antarctica (the Antarctic Archipelago of New Nantucket, Caprona and Dakkar) and Greater Antarctica (divided in turn into Atlantic and Indic halves based on the ocean they border). Dakkar is considered an outlier in its region and is closer to its Indic neighbors in rates of religiosity. In the Protonga RC it varies based on which island you're on.
***They're intense, sure, but most of the stuff actively meant to seem threatening is rooted in deliberate praxis of psyops to unsettle their enemies. Ironically the Church of Christ, Lightbearer is not that, being a sincere expression of religious faith with a lot of misconceptions in the broader world.
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