Standard Operating Procedure (Church)

Church of the Absolute Standard Operating Procedure

For all Church faithful

• Any person within the Church, regardless of on-duty status or level of consecration, who is found guilty of a red paragraph crime; or who is found by Church authorities to have committed the mortal sins of Abomination, Apostasy, Sacrilege, Simony, or Heresy; will be immediately excommunicated from the Church by order of Augustine herself.

• All faithful within the Church, regardless of on-duty status or level of consecration, are expected to behave in ways that honor and uphold the Church's core tenants of charity, humility, compassion, and understanding. Those found to have acted contrary to those principles, or to have sullied the good name of the Church, must be subjected to the Rite of Penance.

• Repeated violations of church principles or flagrant unprofessionalism can lead to the demotion of a Prime to a Vector; a Vector to a Scalar; the removal of a Scalar's cruciform, and in extreme cases excommunication for the crime of Heresy.

• Religious penalties levied within the Church for crimes or dereliction of duty are in addition to legal penalties issued by the Marshals for the same offenses. Capital and Exceptional crimes will result in immediate excommunication.

For on-duty Church personnel

• Vector armor or equivalently protective equipment must be worn in the bioreactor chamber at all times while the bioreactor is running, or while cleaning and servicing it. Caution should be exercised in cases of a biomass spill. Failure to take adequate precautions against biomatter exposure is punishable by the Rite of Penance.

• The Bioprinter is core to Church operations and is to be kept adequately stocked at all times with materials either retrieved from the salvage beacon or acquired elsewhere.

• The salvage beacon is a piece of church property but is to be treated as a public area. Salvage is a first-come-first-serve basis under salvaging rights. The Church may not bar the area off to any colonist without a Marshal placed legal injunction.

• The Chapel is considered a public service, but disruptive individuals or suspected spies may be escorted out by Divisors or other capable Vectors at the discretion of Church personnel.

• Divisor Vectors are not authorized to enforce colony law, despite their training and equipment. They should respond reactively to material threats to the Church and its faithful, as well as aid Primes in enforcing Church punishment in the case of resistance.

• All Vectors other than Vinculum are expected to adhere strictly to their Rite and Ban, and to seek out clarification on their Rite and Ban from Primes and more senior Vectors of the same Path. Failure to adhere is punishable by the Rite of Penance or expulsion from the Path.

• Devout upgrades should be offered only to known Vectors who intend to use the upgrade to directly serve the Church. Those using or installing Devout upgrades for their own purposes, or for the purposes of other factions, can be punished for misappropriation of Church resources with the Rite of Penance. Sale of Devout upgrades is excommunicable Simony.

• In the event of a hivemind outbreak within the colony, all baptized members of the Church are expected to do everything in their power to destroy the infestation. Refusal to do so is punishable by the Rite of Penance or demotion.'

• Charity is a core principle of Church doctrine, but there is a line between "being charitable" and "being exploited". Medical treatment and garden produce is to be made available to all, including heathens and including outsiders at the discretion of Church personnel. Basic self-defense equipment is to be provided to all faithful, and to heathens at the discretion of Church personnel. The Church's biogenerator and solar arrays should be used to augment colony power when needed. It is forbidden to charge for these services, though donations in cash or in materials may be requested to offset their cost. Other church products, including advanced weaponry, pouches, and material for export may be sold for a modest profit, or provided for free at the discretion of Church personnel.

• The Church is tasked with seeing to the spiritual needs of the people of Nadezhda. While not all Vectors are expected to be skilled preachers or theologians, all are expected to offer support to all, even heathens, in a place of spiritual crisis or uncertainty. Failure to do so is punishable by the Rite of Penance.

• Deconstructing or selling cruciforms, church prosthetics, or other items summoned by litany from the lower colonies is excommunicable Simony unless in cases of dire and immediate need.

Primes of the Church

• The weapons in the Prime's armory are to be deployed only in cases of dire need-- in situations where the lives of the faithful or the safety of the colony as a whole are at dire risk, or on crusades against the hivemind, SolFed, or deep maintenance breaches. Issuing weapons from the armory under other circumstances is considered a waste of sacred resources and can be punished by demotion from Prime. Sale of weapons from the Prime's armory is considered Simony and punishable by excommunication.

• The sacred church relics stored in the Prime's office, including Joyuese and the healing staff, are not to be lent out to those outside the Church. Doing so is excommunicable Apostasy.

• Primes are responsible for their flock's adherence to church tenets, general conduct, lawfulness, Path bans and rites, adherence to SOP, and accurate representation of Church dogma, in descending order of priority. Ensuring good behavior and adherence to SOP among the Church is their responsibility. Primes found to be allowing for repeated sin or violations of Church policy can be demoted or even excommunicated on suspicion of Heresy.

Clerical Punishments

• The Rite of Penance is a standardized punishment for venial sin and violations of SOP. A Prime, or more senior Vector in absence of a Prime, reads the Litany of Atonement over the offender, causing severe, debilitating, but physically harmless pain. For repeat offenses, the Litany of Atonement is repeated until the offender is incapacitated from pain.

• Alternative versions of the Rite of Penance include whipping, fasting, enforced prayer, and hard labor. They may be offered to an offender as an alternative to the standard version at the discretion of the administering Prime or Vector, but should be no less severe or unpleasant.

• Demotions are fairly standard bureaucratic affairs, involving turning a Prime into a Vector, a Vector into a Scalar, or an offender into a Fractal via removal of cruciform. This should always be faxed to Church administration. To remove a cruciform, it must first be deactivated via litany, before surgical removal by qualified Church personnel. The deactivated cruciform should be kept secure until retrieved by Church administration.

• Excommunication is the harshest Church punishment, done only for very specific sins. They are:
  • Abomination: The unsanctioned modification of a cruciform; cruciform modifications produced by the Numericals are sanctioned.
  • Apostasy: The unsanctioned transfer of Church technological secrets, especially working cruciforms, to another organization. Absolutist design disks are sanctioned.
  • Sacrilege: The knowing installation of a cruciform onto a nonbeliever or excommunicated person.
  • Simony: To profit from the sale of cruciform installations, repairs, concentrations, and other core religious services of the faith. Selling church products, like guns or clothing or medkits, or charging a reasonable wage for one’s labor, are both permitted.
  • Heresy: Knowingly advocating for mortal sin, or denying the religious authority of the Prophet.

• There is also the special case:
  • Lawlessness: Conviction of an exceptional offense or higher as a Vector or Prime. As part of an agreement between the factions of Nadezhda, such a person is to be automatically excommunicated. Reversing an excommunication due to lawlessness requires the conviction first be overturned; it is otherwise non-negotiable. Augustine refuses, categorically, to consider reversing excommunication due to lawlessness. Lawlessness encompasses a number of offenses, such as murder and rape, that were once considered separate mortal sins.

Excommunication requires faxing the Church for approval. The excommunicated must have their cruciform removed and may not have another installed, or be considered part of the Church, without Augustine herself first lifting the sentence.