A Glossary of ChoM Terms

I'm currently working on evaluating a new software development package for our uses, but here's a glossary of ChoM terms that lays out a decent (and disturbing) skeleton of what it means to rise through the Church and the Fidelis. Which can be described as one part Masonic, another part Scientology, and a sprinkling of Mormonism on top.

ChoM

An abbreviation for the “Church of Mowen”

Kemer Kurtarkisi

First Prophet of The Way, and redeemer of all Mowen from the wasteful, destructive hedonism of the Colserans, our great enemy.

After the vile betrayal and murder of Kemer by his own son, his body was rescued and secured within the Arx Vitae, whose ancient technology  prevents the corruption of his flesh. This allowed the clone lines of Kemer to be developed.

The Prophets

Clones of the First Prophet, Kemer, created by the Ministry of Life to lead the church in perpetuity and judge which of its members are worthy of Ascension. Though they do not share Kemer's knowledge, they do share his basic personality, and are raised in a manner designed to replicate his major life experiences.

Mowen

A ChoM term for any combined group of men and women. Very often this term is used by ChoM members as a substitute for “Humanity”, either singly or plural. When "Humanity" is used, it is to refer to both the "Mowen" and the "Colserans", as the Church believes that all humanoid life originates from Terra due to the efforts of the Demiurge.

The Way

A collection of various dietary, behavioral, and technological strictures intended to protect the Guided against the known surveillance and mental manipulation techniques of the Colserans.

The Unguided

Any human who is not a member of the Church of Mowen in some capacity.

The Guided

Technically, any ChoM member is a “Guided”, meaning that they have been shown The Way and are at least attempting to follow it. In practice, however, this label is rarely used to refer to any but low-level members who have not yet joined the Fidelis. Higher Fidelis ranks will often use the phrase "Mere Guided" for these low-level members instead.

The Fidelis

A membership organization within the Church of Mowen, from which all of its leaders and upper-level functionaries are drawn.

Membership in the Fidelis is not required of any ChoM member, nor will the church ever ask a person to join the Fidelis' ranks. Instead candidates must approach, of their own volition, existing Fidelis members to gain any information on the organization, and must approach a Prophet for permission to be considered for admission by the local Fidelis council.

The Path

“The Path” represents a progressive series of “Steps” and “States” that will lead a member from a "Mere Guided" to higher and higher levels of power, responsibility, and spiritual enlightenment within the Fidelis and ChoM itself.

Knowledge of the Path is an open secret to all within ChoM, but no Fidelis member may relate the details of a particular Step or State to anyone outside the Fidelis, or to a Fidelis member who has not already reached that step or state. The penalty for which is death by ritual flaying.

Auditing

A technological form of spiritual counseling which is used to determine and record the mental and meta-physical “State” of a Fidelis member.

Usually performed by specially trained and modified HiBorgs, the subject’s vital signs, appearance, reaction to auditory and video stimuli, confessions, and everything else within roughly 3 meters of the Auditor is analyzed,  recorded, and stored for later reference.

Due to this ongoing process of mental and physical examination, the Fidelis will always have a very good picture of each member’s thoughts and feelings over time. The exceedingly precise information gained from a member’s Audits can be used to sort them into appropriate jobs and sub-organizations, spot traitors and Colseran agents, reward loyal followers with “a dream come true”, or to cajole, castigate, defame, and blackmail those who fail to do as they are told.

Thetanists

A term for those Fidelis members who use the powers and positions granted to them for monetary gain. Punishable by conversion into a LoBorg.

Elron

A false Prophet.

Steps & States

A level or degree of accomplishment within the Fidelis. There are 42 total steps in the Fidelis, which are divided into five “States”, or collections of related Steps.

The requirements for completing a particular Step will include specific study and service requirements, an "Offering", an “Act of Conviction”, and Audits at the inception, median, and completion points of the process to confirm the member’s State.

The completion of all of a State’s steps gives a member the right to be addressed using the name of that state as an honorific.

An outline of The Path.

The Chosen

A new Fidelis member. So called because they “Chose” to inquire about, and then join the Fidelis without any outside urging.

By joining the Fidelis, the Chosen have automatically completed both the first Step, and the first State, of The Path.

The Unveiled

The second of the five States on The Path, the Unveiling consists of 22 distinct steps. Each of which is designed to peel away part of the cultural and political assumptions that the Chosen Mowen has internalized during their upbringing, and which blind them to the reality of power.

A fully Unveiled Fidelis is thus immune to any Colseran attempts to sway their thinking using trigger-memes such as “Fairness”,  “Equality”, “Patriotism”, “Family”, “Justice”, and other such "Null-Thought" concepts. Making them ready for   assignment into one of the Fidelis Ministries.

The Commended

The third of the five States on The Path, the Commending consists of 12 distinct steps designed to train an Unveiled in the many arts of power and manipulation. So that a Commended  might win to The Way the minds of the Veiled masses, whose naiveté might otherwise cause them to fall under the sway of the Colserans or an Elron.

The Exalted

As a Commended proves their worth through their service to The Path and The Way, they may be invited by a Prophet to start on the first Step of the secretive fourth State: That of the Exalted.

Seeing the eventual return of the Demiurge, and its presumable destruction of all mankind, as inevitable; the Exalted seek to make themselves worthy of its rapture. This is done by undergoing a series of mental, genetic, and other technological preparations to make themselves as similar as possible to the human that the Demiurge loved most: Ænoch.

The Ascended

The end of The Path, and the aim of every exalted. The Ascended will be those who the Demiurge chooses to rapture unto itself when it awakens and destroys all or most of "Humanity". According to ChoM doctrine, no Prophet will be allowed to ascend.



Thoughts?