Asterism is the faith of the Divine Principality. It has been split into two since the preaching of Logos Kantel, 1000 years before the start of PARTIZAN, but has a several-thousand-year history prior to that schism.
Received Asterism
Received Asterism is "the most widely practiced faith in the galaxy, and one of the earliest major organizations in the Divine Principality. It was created at the beginning of the Miraculous Millennium, over 3000 years ago," by Aram Nideo, as a way of ensuring that the Principality as a whole would continue existing indefinitely. Received Asterism "teaches that the Divines reflect the best aspects of the state itself. The Divine Strength, in other words, is like a living flag of the Principality's own strength. Organized as a central church, led by a religious leader named a “Cycle,” whose will is enacted across the Principality by their many “Songs,” who rule worlds, star systems, or sometimes entire constellations."[1]
Received Asterist missionaries are known as "Verses".[2]
As of the Road to PALISADE, Celadon Shore was the Cycle and head of Received Asterism.[3] According to Arbitrage, they are corrupt.[4]
Progressive Asterism
Progressive Asterism is the smaller of the two main branches of Asterism. Created in a response to the teachings of the prophet Logos Kantel 1000 years ago, in order to prevent a larger schism in the Principality, it "teaches that Divines are true embodiments of their names, and that the citizens and states of the Principality should look to them as guiding stars. The Divine Strength, in other words, is a reflection of strength itself, or maybe "god's strength," and we should aspire to make our strength look like the divine's. Unlike Received Asterism, there is no single central church, but hundreds of smaller sects, schools, and cults, each devoted to individual Divines, grouped sub-pantheons, or otherwise adjusted beliefs."[1]
Example sects include the Disciples of Logos, the Shepherd’s Crook, and the Knights of Order.
New Asterism
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Spoiler warning! This section contains major spoilers for PALISADE. Tread carefully! |
The New Asterism is a form of Asterism meant to join the branches of Received and Progressive Asterism. It follows the teachings of someone who appears to be Gur Sevraq. "The New Asterism claims that to be a citizen of the Principality is to have an obligation to "better the world," in the sense that one invests in property or in the way that a settler “rehabilitates” or “improves” the places they claim by violence."[5] Insists "that fields be gardens",[6] in the most destructive and colonial way possible. It is prominent on Palisade and represented by the Temple of the Threshold.