Religion

All the peoples of Aideena share a common religion, called Faith and its members are The Faithful.

Faith is the only institution that truly crosses all lines of gender and lineage. It operates as a political entity completely independent of the Twelve Great Houses and Guild Brotherhood. Faith’s authority derives from divine edict of The Goddess, who empowered Her prophets to gather unto them the few to ensure the way to Salvation--deliverance from destruction, earthly difficulty and the penalty of sin--and lead all Aideena's peoples to that great reward. Faith centralizes its authority through military force coupled with judicial and legislative powers over the Twelve Great Houses and the Guild Brotherhood.

Faith is its own House, in many ways. Several families and clans whose associations stretch back thousands of years comprise various orders of priesthood. In contrast to the Houses and Brotherhood, Faith’s internal governance is not authoritarian. The Faithful govern themselves democratically with representative oversight.

The importance of religious service, at least historically, is as significant in Aideenan culture as procreation. Not only are marriages arranged within Faith’s membership, but also members are recruited from the general populace. It is not uncommon for secular families to offer their children into religious service, either as a political maneuver or for economic gain.

Its numerous temples for religious studies coexist as educational institutions with secular academies. These temples set the standard for education on Aideena.

Sexuality

In Aideenan society, social ethics encourages bisexuality. Men and women are at least culturally bisexual in their attitudes and precepts, if not in practice.

With procreation so highly valued, as well as marriage, sexual relations are well-defined.

Within a household, men in an Equerry are expected to father children by one women, preferably as many girls as possible. Husbands are encouraged to have sexual relations with one another as an alternative to sex outside the marriage with other women. In fact, the camaraderie that results from sexual relations among husbands in a stable is viewed as essential for the cohesion and stability of the household.

Women likewise are encouraged to build sexual relations with other women to save themselves for their husbands and avoid extramarital affairs with other men.

Race

Race factors into issues of gender. In Aideenan genetics, the same chromosome configuration which determines a person’s sex, male or female, also predetermines skin color.

Females are dark in complexion. The skin colour of women varies, in poetic terms, from a deep Mediterranean olive to dark Ethiopian mahogany.

"Caucasian-type" features are universally male. The complexion of men range from a light Mediterranean olive to pale Nordic.

The lighter one’s skin generally the more masculine one is perceived. Masculinity is equated with being lower in stature and status. Prejudicial attitudes that influence social and professional advancement, worthiness, physical beauty, wealth, education, dominance and subservience, family favor, and questions of what is more properly male or female are all tied to how light or dark is one's complexion, hair and eyes.

Temple-at-Delphi

One of the most sacred sites on Aideena, the monastic citadel is dedicated to the science and practice of prophecy and paranormal phenomenon. It is exclusively managed by the Order of the Oracle, and maintains a shrine that attracts pilgrims year round. Traditionally, all women journey to the Temple at least once in their lifetime to commune with the Sisters and receive a blessing (official psychic reading) on location.

Temple-at-Corinth

One of the first monastic citadels of Faith, The Temple is dedicated to fundamental priestly training, rigorous martial discipline and renowned for its traditional approach to Faith’s teachings. The Faithful trained at the facility are almost exclusively intended for service in the Order of the Knights Templar or the clergy. The Disciples of Paul maintain the most notorious and demanding athletic program as part of the Temple’s curriculum. It preserves ancient practices of linking extreme physical endurance with superior mental fortitude.

Temple-at-Attica

One of the principle and oldest monastic citadels of Faith on Aideena, the Temple is renowned as a center of academia and scholarly worship. The Faithful who are trained there are almost exclusively groomed for highly-placed legislative, administrative or educational positions.

SPR Band

Security Protocol Response (referred interchangeably as channels or bands): The high priority communications domain used by Faith and the Templar. SPR operates independent of the OmniNet communications network. Secured channels provide multi-band hyper-access audio, textual, and/or graphical information.

Twelve Great Houses, The

A fundamental institution of Aideena, the Twelve Great Houses share governmental responsibility with Faith and the Guild Brotherhood.

Each House is named for one of the Aes’ir Daughters who supposedly mothered Humanity. These ancestral matriarchies are comprised of a collection of Clans, which are in turn a collection of Families.

A Matron governs each familial household. A Matriarch governs a collective of households. A Dame Matriarch heads a House.

Property and wealth are passed to daughters. Wealthy or poor, regardless of geography, which House and which family/clan within a House one belongs to is everything. It predetermines loyalty and obligation, and is the only source of division on Aideena , other than gender.

The Houses are the alpha, the beta, the eta, the iota, the kappa, the psi, the rho, the tau, the theta, the xi, the zeta, and the omega.

Templar

(Order of the Knights Templar )

The largest priestly order of Faith, and one of the oldest, the Templar are charged with enforcing civil law and maintaining order under the provisions of religious doctrine.

They are the supreme military force on Aideena. In ancient times, the Order was a knighthood that maintained strict codes of chivalry and ethics. Many of its traditions have survived, however, the Order does not enjoy the autonomy it once had within Faith.

Taeson

The term is commonly used for any make and model of unsanctioned or illegally manufactured kinetic energy hand weapon. Such black market weapons are distinguished by their singular lethality. They are also notorious for being unreliable.

It is not uncommon for a taeson to self-destruct upon firing or fail after a few uses. To acquire a taeson that functions reliability is thus highly prized as a collectible and heirloom. They are branded and personified by their owner, whose ownership assumes signature status.

Profile: Seneca

The accident changed her life.

In the flash-ignition of plasma, when the drive of the flying barge exploded over open ocean, Seneca lost nearly her entire family. She too might have died had not her mother sacrificed the only life preserver to save her favored pre-adolescent daughter.

Seneca emerged from the experience with a new appreciation of the preciousness and frailty of life. Haunted by her mother’s sacrifice and the fact she alone survived the crash, Seneca set her mind to making the most of herself.

She traveled widely.

Over seven years she journeyed to places a maiden of her wealth and position would never dream of venturing. Seneca spent months providing relief aide in the ghettos of the Juda-Hon. She toiled on the plantations of Tar Iota Daafar. She joined the nomadic caravans of the desert-clans. She prospected precious metals in off-world Free Townships.

And Seneca recorded her experiences.

She wrote of the peoples she encountered. She spoke freely of the ever-widening disparate conditions and attitudes across Aideena.

Almost immediately Seneca’s publications became the subject of examination and debate at all levels of society.

Like the flash-ignition of plasma, Seneca’s writings sparked a fire in the minds of the privileged and the common alike. Her observations and sentiments flew in the face of convention. She was only nineteen and omegaMarat Seneca was being anointed the voice of her generation.

Paul Sebastian xiDuang

Azcoyotitec faded in his memory like a distant mystical dream.

The communal plantation of his ancestors nestled in a mist-covered playground. Sebastian xi Duang pleasured his youth among overgrown jungles, lagoons, and green rolling hills.

However, the fields barely yielded enough to support the struggling farming community. Centuries of pollutants building in the air and soil ravaged once rich fertile lands. The matron mother of his clan decided on the only course that would stay foreclosure within the xi family order and loss of heritable rights. In exchange for the yearly stipend Faith offered, the clan would give up twenty-two of its children to priestly indenture.

Sebastian was the youngest of eight in his household, male, and too small to be of any real help in the fields. He was chosen.

Though he did not want to leave Azcoyotitec, leave his parents, leave everything he knew, Sebastian understood his obligation to the clan. Indenture to Faith would put food on the table until he reached maturity or until the plantation’s fortunes reversed. Sebastian’s mother escorted her son to Temple-at-Corinth herself and presented him to the Brethren.

Sebastian was seven.

He saw his parents only once thereafter. At thirteen he was inducted into the Disciple of Paul. His mother, her husbands and several of his clan journeyed to Corinth to attend the public ceremony.

It was a strange haunting experience. He did not know these peasants who were so pleased and proud of him. He saw nothing of himself in the strangers.

Sebastian xi Duang never saw them or his homeland again.