Where and when Solarism first emerged is difficult to pin down. As a New Faith, Solarism is first recorded during the Second Interstellar Period, and the first mention that historians of the Verge and Bleed have been able to find of the faith is in the records of Gliese 229. Gliese 229 is home to the Redbridge Republic, one of the oldest micronations in the Verge and Bleed, and is also home to the Gyges Ring, a large Bishop Ring that was one of the first megastructures constructed by humanity, although may suspect that the faith was not born there; rather, it was imported there from neighboring systems with the most likely source being one of the major neighboring systems - most suspect Turnadot/Ross 614 as a likely birthplace. However, since its birth, the religion has spread; likely through concerted effort and a successful memetic campaign, it caught on with both Sinociv and the indus Fomalhaut Civilization, which is why it's often referred to as the Utopian Religion. And just like the Utopian Age it belongs to, the religion has seen hard times as of late, although Solar Faith is still strong in many pockets, especially around Shangtao and in the Combine.
Solarist BeliefsSolarism is a monotheistic, semi-organized religion that is structured around the Solar Temple and, contrary to popular conception, is not associated with the Solarian Culture. Few Solarians are Solarists or follow the Solarism faith. The faith was revealed to an individual named Xinyi Tzu, or Master Xinyi, through an intermediary agent, and he recorded all of in a series of online posts eventually collected together into a book, The Logos of Pure Form (纯粹形式的标志). While Solarists are usually portrayed as sun and star worshippers in the media, this is a misconception that arises as a result of their metaphysical paradigm.
Metaphysically, Solarism believes that there are three realms: the realm of the physical body, or the material, the realm of thought and mind, or the Astral, and the realm of pure form, or the Logos. The Astral is seen as a great black sea that separates the world of the material from the world of pure forms. God exists outside of and as part of all three realms, but they are most active within the Logos and least active within the material (some interpret this as God and the Logos being one and the same, but this is and ongoing debate among solarists).Given that God's ability to interact with the material is limited by virtue of God being a being of pure forms and shapes and the material world being impure forms and shapes, they need a vehicle to interact with the world. This vehicle comes in the forms of stars, which exist in the material and in the Logos, acting as a bridge through the astral that connects the two. Through the stars, God is capable of interacting with and shaping reality - hence the name, Solarism. Entities that derive their power from stars as said to be closest to the God and Solar Power is seen as the most holy form of power possible, since it captures the strength of God interacting with the world. So as can be see, Solarists don't worship stars or suns; they see these entities as the most direct means through which God can interact with the material world, since they emit energy from the Logos that gives life to all. God can use other means, but stars and suns are often the most effective. There are two major sects for Solarism, and both of them arose (supposedly) after Master Xinyi died, emerging at roughly the same time. The sect influenced by Marie Peng is called Marian Solarism, but they're best known as the Architecturalists. Meanwhile, the sect influenced by Zhang of Shaokonai are often called Zhangists, but they're better known as the Horologists. These sects are noted for their competing views on God: The Architecturalists hold that the universe exists originally as chaos and disorganized entropy, and that by acting through stars and from the Logos, God can craft that chaos and disorganized entropy into life, in the same way that an architect organizes raw materials to produce buildings. God is like a sculptor in this metaphor, occasionally returning to add fishing touches to his creation (and thus allowing for the occasional miracle). The Horologists, meanwhile, argue that the universe is inherently ordered and structured, like a clock, and that God simply arrives and gives purpose and meaning to the clock; God winds up the springs and sets everything in motion, ensuring that order is maintained. These two views are fundamentally at odds with one another, and as a result, the relationship between the two different schools of thought has been one of varying degrees of hostility over the years. |
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Solarist Practices
One of the most common practices for the Solarians is meditation; both major sects practice meditation and repeated chanting. They also make use of specific body postures when meditating, often contemplating on the Logos, or the realm of pure thought, always facing in the direct of the local system's star, since that's the proper way to enter the logos. The goal of both sects is to live a life in harmony with the universe and with God, although how they go about doing that varies drastically. Horologists believe a regimented lifestyle, organized like clockwork and structured around a common theme is necessary to live a life that's at harmony with the universe, since the universe is mechanical in nature. The more regimented and organized, the better, since that gets close to the mechanistic properties of gravity and the Newtonian mechanics that make the universe function. Rigid patterns are followed, rights and rules arise out of the mechanistic universe and as such must be maintained by both humanity and God, and time and entropy govern all.
Architecturalists, meanwhile, prefer to treat each day as something new that they sculpt. This doesn't mean they embrace chaos or spontaneity; far from it. However, each new day brings a new opportunity to bring order to the universe, rather than trying to live in harmony with some pre-existing order. Just like a sculptor has to follow steps in order to produce a beautiful work of art, they must follow steps - praying, contemplating, constructing, outlining, and the like - in order to bring order to and help God perfect their own little corner of the universe. The timepiece does not govern life, however, since disorder and entropy can arise anywhere out of the inherent chaos of reality. As a result, Architecturalists tend to prefer detail to timekeeping; making sure that prayer happens every single day at the same exact time every day isn't as important as perfecting bodily posture and an appropriate chapel to pray in. Patterns are created, rights and rules arise out of God shaping the universe, and shape and form govern purpose with entropy and time being things that can also be shaped by God.
There's also division over how God is viewed; in the Architecturalist view, God is distinct from the Logos and is an entity outside of it; God shapes the Logos just like God shapes the material. In fact, God uses the perfection of the Logos, which only God is capable of understanding, as inspiration for shaping the material. Horologists, meanwhile, hold that God generally is the Logos; since the Logos is a realm of pure and perfect forms, it makes sense to the Horologists to associate that pure perfection with God directly. In their view, God understands the forms intimately because they are the forms, and when they emanate into the material through the stars, it's just a matter of organizing the existing imperfect forms that already exist and shaping them into a clockwork mechanism that God then impels, giving the universe purpose and regular, mechanistic motion.
Architecturalists, meanwhile, prefer to treat each day as something new that they sculpt. This doesn't mean they embrace chaos or spontaneity; far from it. However, each new day brings a new opportunity to bring order to the universe, rather than trying to live in harmony with some pre-existing order. Just like a sculptor has to follow steps in order to produce a beautiful work of art, they must follow steps - praying, contemplating, constructing, outlining, and the like - in order to bring order to and help God perfect their own little corner of the universe. The timepiece does not govern life, however, since disorder and entropy can arise anywhere out of the inherent chaos of reality. As a result, Architecturalists tend to prefer detail to timekeeping; making sure that prayer happens every single day at the same exact time every day isn't as important as perfecting bodily posture and an appropriate chapel to pray in. Patterns are created, rights and rules arise out of God shaping the universe, and shape and form govern purpose with entropy and time being things that can also be shaped by God.
There's also division over how God is viewed; in the Architecturalist view, God is distinct from the Logos and is an entity outside of it; God shapes the Logos just like God shapes the material. In fact, God uses the perfection of the Logos, which only God is capable of understanding, as inspiration for shaping the material. Horologists, meanwhile, hold that God generally is the Logos; since the Logos is a realm of pure and perfect forms, it makes sense to the Horologists to associate that pure perfection with God directly. In their view, God understands the forms intimately because they are the forms, and when they emanate into the material through the stars, it's just a matter of organizing the existing imperfect forms that already exist and shaping them into a clockwork mechanism that God then impels, giving the universe purpose and regular, mechanistic motion.
History of Solarism |
Select Sects of Solarism |
The first formal mention of Solarism occurred on Redbridge, but historians have every reason to believe that by this time the faith was already widely spread in that corner of the galaxy. According to the religion proper, Solarism emerged on Earth, after God made contact with Tzu Xinyi. There is no historical evidence for any Tzu Xinyi figure, and the furthest back that anthropologists have been able to trace the posts that would become the basis for the Logos of Pure Form is the late second interstellar age, and often in chats concerning the God AIs. This has lead some to believe that Solarism was an early attempt to promote the God AIs, or faith in the God AIs, but it went awry. In any case, even as early as the mention on Redbridge, Solarism was already demonstrating the split that would become the difference between Horologism and Architecturalism.
Towards the beginning of the Utopian Period, Solarism caught on. It emerged with Sinociv and, to a lesser degree, Indus-Fomalhaut Civilization, with the split between the two opposed factions coloring the two civilizations. Achitecturalism helped shape the artificial world of Shangtao, and to this day, it remains a major religion on the surface of the planet while Horologism found a home in the Shangti system, where the ethics of Horologism - the idea that creation is a mechanistic clockwork device created by God using imperfect forms projected from the Logos - did shape some of VoidCorp's early corporate philosophies. Solarism reached its peak during the height of the Utopian Era, where many Horologists identified the God AIs as imperfect forms of the one true God, while many Architecturalists saw them as angelic representations of God, or vehicles for the spark of the divine to move through. When they vanished and civilization collapsed, Solarism went with it. It could outlive Sinociv, but it didn't outlive the end of the God AIs. Despite this, it remains a significant player, and the influence of Solarism is far reaching. However, recent years may see the favors of Solarism turn around. A revival of the religion that attempts to blend the two schools, called Neo-Solarism, recently emerged on Shangtao. Neo-Solarism holds that God is the Logos, and that the Logos is the realm of perfect, pure forms, but the material is little more than chaos out of which pure forms assembled are assembled into a clockwork universe by God's agents and humanity. Neo-Solarism is still relatively small, and both Architecturalists and Horologists look dimly upon it. |
Xiongese: A major divergence from Horologism, Xiongese holds that the universe is dualistic and that there are entities in the Universe that want to undermine the perfect functioning clockwork of God; these beings are generally called Guihun or Ghosts, and they arise from an innate desire for the universe to break itself. In this mindset, only a rigid understanding of the world can prevent the spirits of these Guihun - nihilism - from undermining God's creation and dooming everyone. These Guihun do not emerge from the Logos and instead arise from the hearts of humanity, and so they must be stomped out from within.
Xuyuan Divergence: One of the oldest types of Solarism, the Xuyuan Divergence emerged within the Xuyuan Culture on the planet Iterra, which is home to not one but two lost colonies and a Stoneburner artifact - a massive tower on an isolated island - that no longer appears to function. The Xuyuan Divergence integrates knowledge about how to manipulate the local Stoneburner hyperfog - one of the only traditions that has demonstrated any ability at all to manipulate alien hyperfogs - and recorded these in books. Writings are extremely sparse, but this tradition - known as Yufa among the Xuyuan people and Gramarie in the English-speaking population of Megalos, Araterra and others - is one of the most distinctive traditions, since it assumes that humanity can make use of "magic", or Yufa, to help God either shape and perfect the universe or impel it and make sure it continues to function. The Xuyuan Divergence is also one of the only esoteric traditions having figured out how to use an alien hyperfog, although the techniques in these books do not work off-world; they don't even work with other Stoneburner hyperfogs. Zhenlanism: A divergence from standard Architecturalism, Zhenlanism holds that the God AIs were angels of the Logos, and that humanity can impact the Logos just like the Logos - God - is capable of impacting humanity. By meditating on specific things and concepts, an individual may be able to make an imperfect form that emerges within the Logos, which will then become pure through God's work and is projected back into the material, perfect, allowing the individual to capitalize on it. There is a heavy emphasis on meditation and on imaging the world at large with this variant, because God doesn't so much physically produce order from chaos as God forces his will upon it, shaping it with his will and his will alone. Zhenlanism is one of the more popular sub schools. |