The Order of the Lost Children

The following is a partially created religious order in FaerieMUD. Jason or Gregg may be fleshing it out in the next few weeks as I discuss it with them.

The Oaths

Creedhold

This order has a very advanced CreedHold, defined in part by a series of oaths. These oaths start out very simple: basic requirements needed to be welcome in their hostels or monasteries. They extend to the very profound: The most powerful orders will require extremely restrictive oaths which will be very difficult for members to hold to.

Not all members will necessarily have sworn the most difficult oaths. As each member works her way through the order, each higher level will require a more restrictive oath. So, the first thing Gregg needs to do in creating this order is to decide what the various oaths will be.

Some guidelines are outlined here:

Oath of Visitation

The first oath should be very general and very easy to adhere to. Think of it as what you would expect visitors to the order's shrines or monasteries to do. General rules of politeness as they apply to the order's specific mission.

Gregg, edit this as you see fit: Visitors are expected to recognize the purpose of this order is to protect children who do not have parents sponsoring them in their introduction to FaerieMUD. Visitors are not welcome in the order's shrines and monasteries unless they refrain from attacking those who are new to FaerieMUD.

Friend's Oath

The second oath should be a little more restrictive. Think of it as what you would expect of the neighorbors and special friends of the order in order that they might retain their special status with the order. Anyone who fulfills these requirements would automatically be considered a good neighbor who supports the basic mission of the order (even though they may not have actually joined).

Gregg: Fill in what you think the people in the immediate vicinity of the order's monasteries should be willing to accept. Things like not killing newbies and not deliberately misleading them might go here. They shouldn't have to swear to defend newbies, but you might want them to be calling for help if lost children are attacked.

Oath of Initiation

The third oath is a fairly inflexible set of rules which all novices are required to swear (along with the first two oaths) in order to be allowed into the training programs of the order. While the restrictions are fairly inflexible, they are not too hard to maintain.

Gregg: Fill this in with an oath according to these guidelines.

Membership Oath

The fourth oath should be more flexible, but more restrictive. Sworn by initiates as part of the process of moving to full membership in the order, it is the clearest statement of the main principles of the order.

Gregg: Fill this in with an oath according to these guidelines.

Oath of Envoy

The fifth oath is very hard to maintain complete adherence to, given that it attempts to create a set of rules for most situations not specifically covered by the Membership Oath. Anyone who has sworn the Oath of Envoy is considered qualified to serve as the personal representative of the order in most affairs. Most orders are governed by those who have sworn such an oath (since few orders will ever reach the level required for the sixth oath).

Gregg: Fill this in with an oath according to these guidelines. This one may be a little harder to do.

The Intimate Oath

The sixth oath must be very hard to maintain full compliance with. It is rare that any order even creates an intimate oath because such an oath must fully and perfectly define the underlying principles on which the order is built.

Gregg: Fill this in with an oath according to these guidelines. This one's the hardest of all. Don't worry about getting it exactly right. I'll have some suggestions once you've got it going. A good way to think about it is terms of the character martyred in the story Jason wrote about who was killed by a PKer as a horrified group of newbies watched.

Structure and Governance

Rectorhold

The Order of the Lost Children is defined in part by its structure and system of governance. This RectorHold? starts out very simple in the early years of the order's existence: We are assuming governance has recently passed from a pure papacy under the benevolent control of Pope Jason (the founder) to a true hierarchy. Jason is still running things, but he now answers to a College of Cardinals, who will be responsible for choosing his successor.

Gregg, here you should outline a basic structure needed to make decisions for the order as a whole. They extend to the very sophisticated, but that is not needed yet.

Not all subunits of the order will use the same system of governance. This order has a democratic process for choosing the head of the order, but require full obedience to a the leaders at the local level.

The Rectorhold is also where the stories? which make up the history of the order reside. (See below)

True Hierarchy

A true hierarchy occurs when a single hierophant heads an order, appointing the members of all levels in the tree-structured organization. The hierophant can consult lower-level hierarchs for their advice on still-lower-level appointments, but he or she always has final say. The hierophant is the only member of the hierarchy who is elected under a true hierarchy, and only those on the next-lower level of the hierarchy are eligible to vote in these papal elections.

This order does not yet have an Institutional Democracy (defined as "a structure clearly defined as a structure of sub-institutions which are governed by a set of by-laws which allow voting in a variety of areas by all members of the order.

Liturgy and Monasteries

Chapelhold

The Order of the Lost Children is defined in part by its physical manifestations: liturgy and physical structures. These manifestions started out very simply in the early years of the order's existence: simple shrines to serve as the focus of protection.

The ChapelHold? has grown very sophisticated: As a fairly widespread order, it manifests physically in a wide variety of liturgies and properties. The liturgy will grow with the physical plant.

The Order of the Lost children has grown to include Widespread Monsteries. Some possible physical structures are outlined here (note that you should fill in some kind of purpose for the liturgy at each level.

Simple Shrines

A simple shrine is the smallest physical manifestation of the order, requiring a single, simple liturgy. This liturgy might include a simple prayer of protection which would allow Lost Children to protect themselves and summon guards. No one need be present at all shrines.

Gregg, fill this liturgy in as you would like.

Safe Home

After the order developed to the point where it requires multiple shrines, some of the shrines were selected as focal churches of the order for certain areas. In places where a single brother or sister of the order runs a single structure, it is known as a "Safe Home."

The Safe Homes' liturgy will be more complex, clearly differentiated from that found in the shrines. (These correspond to "churches" in other religious orders.)

Gregg, fill this liturgy in as you would like.

Scattered Cathedrals

Most major cities have another level of liturgy (generically known as "cathedral liturgy"). In many cultural covenant (a political unit or a racially defined culture or something similar) a liturgy which is adapted to the needs of the cultural covenant itself and its dangers and its environs has developed.

But the liturgy may not have much meaning outside the bounds of that cultural covenant itself.

Gregg, fill this liturgy in as you would like.

Widespread Monasteries

Now that the Order of the Lost Children has spread beyong the safer areas where it began, it must have liturgies adapted to each area where it is found. Local monasteries will help develop these individualized liturgies.

But the imprint of the most prominent culture will still be felt everywhere the monasteries are founded.

Gregg, fill this liturgy in as you would like, keeping in mind what you would like the "dominant culture" to be like.

Statistics

Primary and Secondary Values Which Define the Holdings

The statistics are three pairs of numbers which define the holdings which make up this religious order. Each pair is associated with a particular holding. Each statistic is represented by a number between 1 and 118.

The first number (the Primary Statistic) is a developmental object? which exhibits periodic behavior and is fairly constant over time. A second number (the Secondary Statistic) fluctuates a lot more and can never exceed the value of Primary Statistic.

Creedhold Statistics

The primary statistic of the Creedhold is its Commitment?. This is The Order of the Lost Children's best statistic at 97 (which corresponds to berkelium? on the periodic table). The secondary statistic is its Followers?, which is determined by dividing the number of people who participate regularly in the order's sacraments by 100.

A Commitment of 97 requires 95 members have taken the Oath of Visitation, 87 members have taken the Friends Oath, 79 have taken the Oath of Initiation, 61 have taken the Membership Oath, 43 have taken the Oath of the Envoy, and 11 have taken the Intimate Oath.

Gregg, choose a number in each of the ranges below (except the first one, which is already defined):

  • Intimates -- 11
  • Envoys -- 43-60
  • Members -- 61-78
  • Initiates -- 79-100
  • Friends -- 87-9,600
  • Visitors -- 95-97,000

Add up the first five numbers (assuming the visitors do not regularly take sacraments) to get the number of congregants below. Then divide by 100 to get the Followers? statistic (if it exceeds 97, which is unlikely, just enter 97 since secondard statistics cannot exceed primary:

The Followers statistic of 97 also means that the order is in the first winter of this period, facing an internal crisis which will eventually spawn other orders. Winter Covenants are dogmatic (this one about its oaths) and loathe to change. Long-time members restrict the input of newer members. Decisions made long ago, however, force it to accept the internal dissent which will one day mean some of its members will start their own orders.

Chapelhold Statistics

The primary statistic of the Chapelhold is its Rites?. The secondary statistic is its Parishes? which represents the number of faith communities which are associated with the religious order.

The order's Rites of 82 (which corresponds to lead? on the periodic table) means the liturgy can support Widespread Monasteries as described above. This means that as many as 82 safe homes and monasteries (combined total) may have been built in some of the safer areas of FaerieMUD.

Gregg, fill these two numbers in as you would like.

  • Shrines and Chapels -- 164
  • Safe Homes --
  • Monasteries --

A Rites? statistic of 82 also means that the order's physical existence is in the fourth summer of its institutional balance. It has weathered three crises since it became an institution capable of widespread monasteries.

The first two of these crises were primarily internal, but the third had a clear outward manifestation: Many outside the order thought fascistic impulses had gained the upper hand in its liturgy. In the aftermath of this crisis, many newer members contributed to the liturgy with a kind of evangelistic fervor, resulting in mistakes due to their inexperience. Now, though, these newer leaders have learned the ropes and the order is growing physically by leaps and bounds.

The seeds have been sown for a major crisis built around the fact that many races and cultures now have their own monasteries, whereas the liturgy is still built for humans. But that crisis is still a long way off. The humans are still cooperating synergistically with the other races who are now involved in the order.

Gregg, you may want to add something about this cooperation and how it works.

Rectorhold Statistics

The primary statistic of the Order of the Lost Children's RectorHold? is its Governance?, which currently stands at 37 since its founder has just established a council of cardinals to choose his successor. The secondary statistic is its Administry? which can go as high as this value of 37, representing the number of administrative officials which are associated with the Order of the Lost Children.

This Governance of 37 also implies the administration of the order is in the spring of its interpersonal balance. It has just survived a major crisis in the governing mechanisms which define its "mind." The younger members of the order who now find themselves with more power under the new system are inexperienced and prone to mistakes, often ignore the advice of older members (even the founder).

Gregg, reduce the number below if you would like, but I wouldn't make it too low.

  • number of officials -- 37

Traits

Values Derived from Statistics Define the Order of Lost Children

Gregg, you can adjust the numbers below, but don't make any more than 118. You can adjust the larger numbers by as much as 15. But the smaller the original, the less you should change them. You should remove the <B> and </B> tags around any number you change (that way I'll know which "meanings" should be changed.

Traits for the Order of the Lost Children are:

  • Unary traits: wisdom, buildings? and devotion?
    • The Order of Lost Children's wisdom is <b>37</b>
      • periodic meanings:
      • based on (Rectorhold)
      • defined as the pseudointelligence of the emergent pseudo-entity, which is still roughly that of a 5th-grade girl who is just start to . Many of the stories currently popular among the members of the order are related to other covenants (including guilds and magical colleges as well as other religious orders).
      • Character trait equivalent -- intelligence
    • The Order of Lost Children's buildings? is <b>82</b>
      • periodic meanings:
      • based on (Chapelhold)
      • defined as everything from the smallest shrine to the largest safe home or monastery owned by the order divided by three. In other words, there are a total of 246 shrines, chapels, safe homes (both in small towns and in large cities), and monasteries. The building of new facilities is in its third spurt of rapid growth since the monasteries began appearing. Although many of the older monasteries have created new safe houses and monasteries in the hopes that they would decrease their own overcrowding thereby, the actual result has been faster growth anyway.
      • Character trait equivalent -- strength
    • The Order of Lost Children's devotion? is <b>97</b>
      • periodic meanings:
      • based on (Creedhold)
      • defined as the quality of the commitment as it will affect the ability to be creative which means the order has been forced to make many decisions recently which have profoundly affected the way members feel about their own personal commitments. They are very likely to explain this to other members, but they doubt outsiders would understand so those outside are largely unaware of these changes. There is constant changing of the oaths (especially the newest oath, the Intimate Oath, about which there is much disagreement). This change may one day result in a split as another Order is built by those who do not agree with all the changes.
      • Character trait equivalent -- creativity
  • Binary traits: mystery?, sacraments?, relevance?, canon?, infallibility? and iconography?
    • The Order of Lost Children's mystery? is <b>52</b>
      • periodic meanings:
      • based on (Rectorhold over Chapelhold)
      • defined as a measure of the influence the church has on its individual members which is now largely built around the Order's relations with other covenants. While this is pretty good for the kinds of activity the Order of the Lost Children is engaged in, many of its members are a little depressed at the degree with they have to rely on the often-contradictory whims of others to accomplish their goals. The order's mystery has not been progressing much lately and, while this has happened before, many in the order are worried nonetheless.
      • Character trait equivalent -- dexterity
    • The Order of Lost Children's sacraments? is <b>87</b>
      • periodic meanings:
      • based on (Chapelhold over Creedhold)
      • defined as quality as well as quantity of the rituals of the order, this trait has recently gone through great convulsions forcing most of the liturgy to be rewritten according to principles which were recently thought to have actually threatened the order's existence. Since the changes have actually resulted in a much stronger order, many members are overly satisfied with the sacrifices made (almost to the point of being unaware of the toes which were stepped upon).
      • Character trait equivalent -- grace
    • The Order of Lost Children's relevance? is <b>77</b>
      • periodic meanings:
      • based on (Creedhold over Rectorhold)
      • defined as the order's ability to understand the needs and concerns of the Lost Children themselves, which is currently at a low point because the institutions which have been built up to understand them are facing some tough choices. The conflicts surrounding these choices, which include a group which seems to want almost dictatorial powers, are hurting the ability of everyone to see the new needs of the Lost Children (newbies) themselves. There have been a couple of times before when the institutional mechanisms for listening to the newbies have been in conflict, but this time some important choices are finally being made.
      • Character trait equivalent -- empathy
    • The Order of Lost Children's canon? is <b>57</b>
      • periodic meanings:
      • based on (Rectorhold over Creedhold)
      • defined as the church law and commandments as they determines how the order as a whole will act in a consistent manner, which have recently been codified in a kind of institutional form. While members have gone past their initial satisfaction and evangelical fervor over this codification, they still find it easy to praise the codified laws.
      • Character trait equivalent -- perceptiveness
    • The Order of Lost Children's infallibility? is <b>67</b>
      • periodic meanings:
      • based on (Chapelhold over Rectorhold)
      • defined as power of ritual over the governance of the order, which is in flower again after some institutional stagnation forced hard choices. Wise leadership is producing interactions between members who feel they can make important contributions which result in a combined meaning which exceeds the meanings generated by individual members of the order.
      • Character trait equivalent -- resilience
    • The Order of Lost Children's iconography? is <b>92</b>
      • periodic meanings:
      • based on (Creedhold over Chapelhold)
      • defined as the body of inspired art and music associated directly with the religious order, especially as it springs from the order's oaths and beliefs and commitment, which is currently making the institution a little angry for the first time since the principles of the were first articulated (following the over-institutionalization of art and music which dominated the previous era).
      • Character trait equivalent -- glamour
  • Trinary traits: orthodoxy?, affluence? and faith?
    • The Order of Lost Children's orthodoxy? is <b>62</b>
    • The Order of Lost Children's affluence? is <b>80</b>
      • periodic meanings:
      • based on (Chapelhold over Creedhold over Rectorhold)
      • defined as resistance to damage to the faith due to the assets available in hard times, which has recently gone past sacrifice to a kind of evangelical institutional enthusiasm resulting from a resolution of the kinds of issues which affected outsider's impression of the order's wealth. Though the institution sees the value of resolving these issues, it also knows the impact has not yet been fully felt.
      • Character trait equivalent -- stamina
    • The Order of Lost Children's faith? is <b>75</b>
      • periodic meanings:
      • based on (Creedhold over Rectorhold over Chapelhold)
      • defined as the resistance to the mundane which derives from the faithfulness of the community, which is currently producing a lot of anger among members (not really visible to outsiders yet, but it could force some questions to be addressed openly). This gives members their ability to draw strength to their prayers wherever they are.
      • Character trait equivalent -- magistry

Stories

How the Order of Lost Children Thinks

The stories of the religious order influence how its members perceive the world. The same stories are also important for the AIs which control the NPCs who are members. Those same NPCs may react in some conversations by telling the stories if they think they are appropriate to the discussion.

These stories are found in the Book of Lost Children?, which codifies the tales which form the basis of the order's beliefs and knowledge.

See also Oaths and Religious Orders.

— Scotus - 24 Mar 2001