Fanon:Ecclesiarchy

If you are looking for the general overview of the dominion, go look at this article.

Ecclesiarchy, or more formally Ecclesiarchal Collective of Alexandros, more commonly known as either the Church of Alexandros or formerly the Union of the Insane, is the most recent and perhaps the most powerful Greek faction in the Fanon Time Paradox. It is also arguably the most powerful of all the households, arguably surpassing even the Scholars' Alliance of the old, from which it derived 3 of its core members.

Despite all the structural features for political action and arbitration, the Church is more akin to a college than a stereotypical religious organization: For the most part, as long as there is no breach (or potential situation that is highly likely to induce such) of Church rules and the ever so decreasing Church gatherings under a Chaplain to recite catechisms, the Church made no move against a member, since the primary purpose of the Church is to use learning as an alternate to more profligate activities such as WooHoo and rampant parties. Kallisto originally planned for an inqusitiorial body, but such ideas were scrapped on the long run and never enforced: after all, Kallisto had UAVs to gather intelligence. In fact, the capture of Antigone was an exception rather than the norm, and Antigone once thought of making an appeal based on the fact that Antigone had not actively promoted WooHoo, until Thessalonike came in and offered an escape route for both Antigone and Achaia, the latter having little defense in the Platonic court.

The Beginnings
The Union of the Insane was created by the maverick action of Kallisto, who alongside Stratonike created a new beginning to escape what would eventually fall apart. Christopher's massive flirting and cheating was the direct reason for its creation, since Kallisto's reason (albeit somewhat warped) was to escape the noise that would keep Kallisto from... doing more even when Kallisto already essentially overachieved in her unnatural longevity.

Here was the place where academic monasticism that started with Stratonike taken to the highest level, where the members would strive to master skills and learn new ones, sometimes just for the sake of acquiring new skills. Here the friendly rivalry between Hypatia and Kallisto formed, not leaving a dent in their relationship yet pushing them to master 10 skills, something that was unheard of. Stratonike followed just behind, mastering 9 skills and standing alongside the other giants as the effective vanguard of Sunset Valley.

Romance Heresy
Main Article: Fanon:Time Paradox

The overtly monastic life of the Union of the Insane was rather quite similar to the old setting of the Scholars' Alliance, and not surprisingly enough with a largely similar set of sims, romance and fracturing was bound to happen. This was much more critical than the previous schism, since even the likes of Stratonike fell to the heretical allure of romance, as did Hypatia, a previous offender, and most of the sims except for Kallisto and Stephanophoros.

Kallisto's Codex
Later on, with the Romance Heresy, the power of the Union decreased significantly especially since a particularly experienced member Stratonike would leave the union. Seeing as in both splits romance was involved, Kallisto would make a codex, and specifically condemning romance as heresy, if not downright blasphemy.

The codex also establishes the official religion of the household and calls the household the first Ecclesiarchal Collective of Alexandros.

Operational Doctrines
Kallisto's codex states that the head of the household is first determined by skill, and the one with the most skill is deemed the head, although the head's decision may be challenged by subordinates, with subordinates having greater say with higher skills. The codex also calls for injunctions, where a collective whose skillset surpasses an initiating member(s) may call off an action. Also, the codex states that the main goal of the household itself is to learn skills, and apply them. There are 3 castes and one special position.
 * The Head: Essentially marking the head of the church, there are two types of head, the overall head who serves as the symbolic head (as well as a very powerful member) of the organization, and the local head, who serves as the effective leader in a neighborhood. The head is determined simply by the set of skills: the most skilled overall serves as the head, regardless of conditions and more so, willingness and attitude. Kallisto serves as the overall head, as well as the local head of Hekatonschoinos division, while Hypatia serves as the head of the Sunset Valley chapter.
 * Core members: they are the experienced sims, and is defined by having a total of 70 points in total skills, as well as 60 in technical/artistic fields. They are eligible to propose changes in operational methods and law itself, and due to their high grasp on skills, usually are very important in securing victories in any vote over matters.
 * Peripheral members: They are the less experienced sims. They either consists of the converts or disciples, and as peripheral members, they lack the authority to propose changes, although they may participate in votes, although due to the meritocratic nature of the vote, they usually are not very significant unless in numbers.
 * Specialist members: They are sims trained for specialist roles outside the normal Church things, such as intelligence gathering, report writing, or enforcing church rules, since most mainline sims are to be taught to invent, paint, or otherwise engage in skilled labor outside their normal careers. They are currently a subset of peripheral members, and too can progress to core membership once parameters are met.

Synhedrion and the Meris Sophiston
Codicil II-CXI.iv: "Although the faith is at the infant stages, it is inevitable that we have more followers than the members of the household. Henceforth Meris Sophiston is to be defined as a set of households officially and practically adherent to this faith. The Synhedrion then can be formed once there are enough households, and should be comprised of the heads of the households. Each head should apply for a certain branch of the Meris Sophiston, the Evangelical branch, specializing in conversion and thus require Missionaries, the Inquisitorial branch, specializing in resisting the allure of romance and hedonism and should be filled with celibates, and the Scholarly branch specializing in training the disciples."

Decision-making and arbitration in a household
Instead of a pure democracy with the concept of 1 vote per person, the decision making works in a different way: when a person votes for an option, the person gives his/her skillset into the pot per se, and the option with the greatest sum of skills will be carried out: each level in a skill is counted as 1 point, except for instruments and charisma, which are halved unless the person in question is a missionary.

Example of the meritocratic arbitration at work {C {C Option 1: There should be a Saturday service, as free time especially in rest days can be used in heretic ways. {C {C Option 2: No, for it can be used in developing skills.

And the household consists of: {C {C Chaplain: Lvl 10 Logic, Lvl 10 Handiness, Lvl 10 Painting, Lvl 9 Invention, Lvl 9 Martial Arts, Lvl 7 Cooking, Lvl 7 Mixology, Lvl 7, Writing, Lvl 6 Nectar Making, and Lvl 6 Charisma

Missionary: Lvl 10 Logic, Lvl 10 Handiness, Lvl 10 Charisma, Lvl 10 Guitar, {C {C Lvl 8 Handiness, Lvl 6 Writing Lvl 6 Cooking, Lvl 5 Writing, Lvl 5 Martial Arts

Sim C: Lvl 10 Fishing, Lvl 10 Gardening, Lvl 8 Handiness, Lvl 8 Guitar, Lvl 8 Drums, Lvl 7 Martial Arts, Lvl 7 Athletics, Lvl 6 Invention

Sim D: Lvl 9 Painting, Lvl 8 Athletics, Lvl 8 Charisma, Lvl 6 Logic, Lvl 5 Writing

Sim E: Lvl 10 Athletics, Lvl 6 Sculpting, Lvl 6 Writing, Lvl 6 Cooking

And say the Chaplain and Sim C picked option 1, and the others option 2. {C {C Then each option's pot has this many points:

Option 1: (10+10+10+9+9+7+7+7+6+(6/2)+10+10+(8/2)+(8/2)+7+7+6) 119 Points

Option 2: (10+10+10+10+8+6+6+5+5+9+(8/2)+6+5+10+6+6+6) 122 Points

and Option 2 prevails: however, this does point out that those with "partying" skills without other skills are heavily disadvantaged unless the said sim was a missionary, since Sim C had significant skill in instruments, and should Sim C be a missionary, Option 1 would have won out.

To prevent abuse of the system, a core member (or a set of disciples with a total skillset enough to surpass one) may request an appeal, where the synhedrion or the inquisitorial body will look on the codex and determine if the action is in direct violatio of the spirit of the codex, and strike the action null.

Religious Doctrine
The Codex praises several types of men: the like of Megas Alexandros, Pyrrhos, Dionysios I, Philippos, Turenne, Wallenstein and Gustavus Adolphus who were brilliant men, although some like Alexandros is bashed for the heretical attraction to "pleasures" such as alcohol and Woohoo. The second type of men that the codex praise are the likes of Da Vinci and the scientists/polymaths, studying and not caving into pressures of others. The last type of men are the uncorrupt monks, praised for rejecting such mundane corruptions such as alcohol, luxurious clothings, and Woohoo in many cases. In fact, the goal of the religion is to pursue activities to incorporate the best of the three into one person. There is a personified god, and it is worshipped by learning new skills or putting the skills into practice and creating useful products with it, as well as teaching others the skill, as well as purging romance and materialism from the ranks of believers and proselytizing to the foreigners, or xenoi.

Polemic Progressivism
"Devils are needed to unite men and push them onwards. If we must be the devils to push mankind forward, so be it." Although the praise is there, the main doctrine revolves around the concept of polemic progressivism. It starts with 2 assumptions: Hence, the idea is first quite agnostically uninterventionist: There is (a) God(s), although the said God is not certain to intervene in the world, since there is no physical God, only a mental or metaphysical one, latter being able to intervene. Secondly, the notion also builds on the assumption on conflict: the said conflict leads to adaptation, and a successful adaption is progress. Thus, an ideally progressive world is a world where people are subjected to an urgent conflict, since that would force them to adapt. The name Polemic Progressivism derives from one such nearly ideal condition: a state of war, since people either adapt, or if they fail, die or become conquered subjects of the victor. However, a state of war is not ideal, because the concept is that progress is important, and if people die, some progress that might have materialized does not happen, which leads to the second aspect of Polemic Progressivism, the philosophy's disdain for material constraints (e.g. money.), and hence its partial rejection of capitalism.
 * 1) Perfection is not attainable given the data, only progress. The personification of such theoretical perfection is defined as God.
 * 2) Conflict means unsatisfactory condition.

Polemic Progressivism rejects capitalism and peace because it lacks several aspects: a polemic progressive society would ensure survival of people, since death leads to loss of potential progress, as well as the capitalism's tendency (or, at least how Kallisto et al. saw it) to embrace the other end of the progress axis: entropic regression, cited by examples of people at peace: Romans, Abbasids, Chinese, etc, each cases leading to a state where a lax state of warfare led to luxury, and thus growing moral depravity, and more so, lack of progress since people are content and happy under the said status, and thus little conflict of a priority to resolve. Hence Polemic Progressivism embraces the initial premise of redistributive societies, without embracing the goal, since making people content materially leads to a lack of conflict, and thus no progress is made. This is also the reason why competitions are embraced by the Church members, since competition leads to adaptation, if the opponents are formidable to a point where conflict arises regarding the current state of training.

Given the belief that conflict begets progress, the Polemic Progressivism encourages tackling of issues by deliberately committing heinous acts to unite men to force change. One example is the pet overpopulation: by deliberately creating an bio-industrial complex using stray pets as sources for the organic raw material, this would force the citizens of neighboring states, most notably SimNation, to change their ways to reduce pet population in pounds and streets that are in constant threat of being captured, ground, and rendered into material for Ecclesiarchy's reach towards an stable and commercially viable artificial wombs as well as other biological products. Obviously, this approach has generated much negative sentiments in SimNation.

Religious Household Organization

 * Chaplain: All Households adhering to the faith is to have a Chaplain that should be near or at the top of the household in terms of skills. The Chaplain's primary role is to chant catechisms glorifying pursuit of skills, while demonizing romance. A Chaplain is recommended to have mastered Logic, since being able to pass down skills will considerably help with the tenure as a Chaplain. Kallisto is the Chaplain of the Union of the Insane. In case that the household is an initiate household, the household can have a Lochagos in lieu of an chaplain: the Lochagos was specifically created to be a lower substitutional class of the Chaplain.
 * Missionary: One is required for an household's application to be listed in the Evangelic branch of the Meris Sophiston. A Missionary's role is to spread the word, and as such is the exception to the general indifference to Charisma. Missionaries are allowed breaks on academic development, although a Missionary should have a wide array of skills before taking on the role. Eurydike is currently the only missionary of the Union of the Insane, although Lysistrata is training to take the role. This field has been changed quite a bit: the creation of the Specialist class creates a potential for expansion of the missionary ranks, since the missionary work is an available choice in the Specialist class, while before the introduction a Missionary was pretty much required to be a core member to have any say in church matters.
 * Inquisitor: although not required, having an Inquisitor is highly recommended, since it is the role of the Inquisitor to screen the household for any traces of heresy, Woohoo, Romance, or excessive partying for the sake of partying. Inquisitor should be very skilled, at least near the skill level of the Chaplain, and should have not engaged in romances whatsoever. Kallistrata is the Inquisitor of the Union of the Insane.
 * Lochagos: serving as a deacon of sorts, they are the leaders of initiate households. Lochagos are mostly more experienced peripheral members promised training by the core members as a process for their own status as core members, and in some way, operate as a sort of a lower level Chaplain. Epaphroditos is one such Lochagos of the Initiate household, and Tiffany Dennis is a probable candidate for the status of Lochagos in the Mathetai household. Given the lack of a qualified member in the Twinbrook Chapter, David Pollair serves as a self-appointed Lochagos, although Kallisto has not officially approved of the position yet.
 * Chapter Serfs: They are bondsmen, bound to an Ecclesiarchal Chapter as servants. Like their Warhammer 40k counterparts, they are tasked with functions such as reading the news, maintaining equipment, and other things. Despite this, this task is not limited to the Chapter Serf given that unlike the Warhammer counterparts number of Chapter Serfs are small compared to actual full members. Like any member of the Ecclesiarchy, they are granted access to advanced facilities and skill training and are well treated by full members. However, Serfs are not barred from seeking full membership, although many of them have flaws deemed fatal by the Ecclesiarchy (such as the Hopeless Romantic trait on Jessica)

Passages
The codex itself is divided into several books, each book having a specific trait:

Book I: Declaration and the premise of the religion.

Book II: Role models and recorded history of places as they know it.

Book III: Condemnation and enumeration of heresy, starting from romance to luxury not directed towards skill learning

Book IV: Praise of virtues, exhortation to faithful

Book V and VII: Quotations and prophecy

Book VI: Geography and musings regarding socioeconomic development of regions

Book VIII: Kallisto's history and observations

Book IX: Amendments

Codicil III-XXXI-xiv: "Heresy grows from romances: a moment of laxity towards romance will generate chaos, and a lifetime of turmoil. Henceforth it is our duty to stay away from the blasphemous activities that will please only the dark powers, as well as to lead others away from that, leading them towards the light of academic monasticism."

Codicil IV-XCVI-xx: "Chastity and celibacy are great virtues, and combined with polymathy, makes good man. Religion is certainly not mandatory, though a presense of it does not make a man any lesser: It is perfectly permissible for a nonbeliever of Alexandreian faith to be a good man, but it is also possible for an adherent of the Alexandreian faith to be just as good. The heretics bash our Alexandreian faith: We shall perservere: it is our duty, our birthright, and our priviledge, our rights. All remember, heresy grows from romances."

Codicil VII-XXV-iii: "Praise Megas Alexandros: Even though it was the Barbaros Augustus that created the image of Megas Alexandros, we shall always honor Alexandros' ingenuity and ambitions. Keep in mind, Alexandros had his heretical streak: be vigilant about it and keep the heretical thoughts of Woohoo and alcohol out of your mind. Help out the partying clubs if you gain from it, but do not assist them just because one requested it: for helping out such camps will help spread heresy."

Codicil VII-C-x: "And one day shall come a champion who will fight and cleanse the world of heresy."

Codicil VIII-II-xx: "There is a void: that void seeks only to consume, destroying what little structure most households have: We've seen enough: We know it and have engraved it in our souls: The great void that is romance tears households apart: How can any of us keep doing these even when untold households fell apart because of it?"

Codicil VIII-III-ii to v: "The dark voice keeps calling for the victims: when it clutches one: the victim feels euphoric, only to find that it was meaningless, only to see the ruins of the household left by the madness of romance. iii ) I am no stranger to deaths of households: Scholars' Alliance was my home: but when the foul corruption of romance had a grip on that forsaken house, I did not hesistate to establish a new household in time of need: by my hand my beloved household declined. iv): Scholars' Alliance's secrets lie solely within me, and so shall it dissipate with me: whether I am victorious in my crusade to destroy romance or fall trying, there will be no end to the crusade of penance. v) Such is the testimony of Kallisto Syrakosia, Chaplain of the 1st Chapter of Meris Sophiston, Defender of households, Champion of chastity, bane of illusory pleasures, and the disciple to Megas Alexandros."

Codicil IX-II-iii to vii: "The Codex of the Meris Sophiston is now written so that all chapters under its jurisdiction is responsible for all maintenance of equipments around their living quarters. As any entity cannot exert force any more than it is able to maintain itself, all members of the church shall be handymen/women, maintaining equipment as a commune: equipments are to households is as what organs are to organisms. Failure to maintain equipment is like asserting that one can triumph against a foe while one can't take care of itself, which makes absolutely no sense. So take heed and maintain your equipments. Such rituals will save you from the evils of romance. Knowledge is power, and chastity a beacon to the lost. Guard both well."

Codicil III-VI-i to iii: "Burn the Atavistic Desires. Hate the Romance. Attack the status quo."

Codicil VIII-I-i to xi: "On The first day there was the group. And it was called Beauty 4. That was originally a profligate group, but I had not known better. However, a glimpse of salvation was from Stratonike, who I later had to save. Stratonike gave me a goal, and while I was still in the dark I gained something. It was the power of artificial life, and it is by which we shall run this glorious revolution."



Reformation
After the enactment of the reformation, the household immediately went through a wholescale reformation, starting from the house itself. They started afresh, fully extending the barrack-style organization for the bedrooms themselves, devoting most space to housing skill related items. The surface, or F1 consists of the mess hall, the kitchen atrium, the main hall with its bars for mixology practice, as well as the gymnasion complete with a pool and martial arts equipments. B1 floor consists of the main skill room, housing multiple invention tables, easels, sculpting tools, chemistry lab and the nectar maker. B2 floor consists of the Chapel itself, as well as the library and the Childrens' section, while the B3 floor is the actual living quarters, complete with a secondary pool and the conference chamber.

With the codex implemented, Kallisto Syrakosia took the role of the Chaplain, and scheduled to have a service every sunday. Eurydike on the other hand was chosen to be the emissary considering her Charisma skills, something that the other members lacked. Kallistrata was not yet given a religious role, although Kallistrata is considered for a role as an Inquisitor to stomp out romance before it causes any problems. Hypatia is currently the Canoness, although alongside Eurydike she's put on a watch by Kallisto and Kallistrata due to their involvement in romantic affairs. However, even with the reformation, they weren't completely ascetic: they simply had too much wealth, and they decided to use the wealth to host parties and establish structures in hopes of getting converts.

Later on, Kallisto pushed for the concept of Initiates households: young Initiates would be sent off with a more experienced disciple, in return the Lochagos (the experienced disciple leading the others) would be promised a membership in the main caste. Hypatia was against it, because Kallisto was obviously wanting to get Eunike and Demetrios off so Kallisto can get Lysistrata in, but Hypatia's objection was overidden: Eurydike and Antigone did not vote against Kallisto (and Kallistrata)'s position, and so Epaphroditos (who was essentially Kallisto's pet then) offered to be the Lochagos, and Kallisto funded the construction of another Naos-Stratopedon for them to live in. Having made room, Lysistrata moved in as if it was almost planned, and Stratonike eventually took up Kallisto's offer and moved in.

However, Hypatia's resentment gradually recedes with her quick reestablishment of friendship with Stratonike and Lysistrata: the bond that was in the first Union was once again established, and both Stratonike and Lysistrata found Kallistrata a nice new addition to the household, since Kallistrata supplied the Union with the best nectar they ever seen. Stratonike and Lysistrata both benefited from the propagation of logic mastery: the tutors, Hypatia, Kallisto, and Kallistrata having all mastered the Skill Professor Challenge, allowed them to quickly close the gap, and in case of Lysistrata, qualify her to join the Core members caste.

Monetary Status
The Union of the Insane has a strong financial base: first, they own just about all businesses in the region, and maintains the Amphitheatron which also generates a small revenue, as well as the most lucrative business, the Playcourt Lounge built by Kallistrata before her affiliation with the Union of the Insane, as well as the nectary Oinopolis, built by Kallisto despite the current antagonization of the name Oinopolis since it means "Wine city" and alcohol is heresy. Secondly, the members having mastered many skills also practice their trade for quite a sum, Kallistrata sculpting for free as well as her contribution to the Nectar making school, being the creator of the best nectar in the neighborhood called the Nectar of the Throne of Pella. Thirdly, Hypatia is the #1 when it comes to salary, earning more than 1k per hour, resulting in near 15k per week. Lastly and most importantly is the Tiberium, easily accessible since the Union developed the seed tiberium and sprayed them on less occupied places.

In terms of larger economics, the Church is mercantilistic, preferring to minimize reliance on purchases whenever they can: for one, the sculpting industry is geared up to produce a limited number of the Necteaux, a critical component in the Nectar industry largely managed by Kallistrata. In fact, most of their income is generated by selling handicrafts and other crafted goods rather than jobs, although jobs are significant source of income in the Sunset Valley Chapter. They are also an primary patron of the refining industry, and it is the primary exception to the mercantilist rule of the Church.

Localization and Amendments
Eventually, however, the Union of the Insane stands as two separate households: the Sunset Valley Chapter, consisting of Eurydike, Hypatia, and Lysistrata and the Hekatonschoinos Chapter, made up of Kallisto, Kallistrata, Stratonike, Antigone, and Chrysanthema, as well as the Initiate division household consisting of Demetrios, Epaphroditos, Eunike, and with their migration to Hekatonschoinos, joined by Kallistrata's Mathetai including Immanuel Ames.

With the growing of the church members and the growing skills, the likes of Thornton and Epaphroditos now demanded some say in the church matters, and Kallisto was more than willing to accomodate their demand for representation. With that, Kallisto ordered the 2nd Council to form, discussing representation of the lesser members with some skills, and came up with the first amendment to the Codex, later to be codified in the Codex itself in the 9th book of the codex: in fact, the 9th book would be specifically reserved for amendments: a lesser member or the disciples weren't barred from calling for action in the first place, but with the 2nd Council, the right of the disciples to call for new action would be specifically enumerated, although they are still barred from making changes to the codex itself without a core member sponsor. With it came the further division of the disciple class itself, dividing them further to the youth disciples without any political representation, youth disciples defined as all childs and teens who have not yet taken the oath of allegiance and met the 40 point technical skill threshold and the regular disciples, teens having met both requirements and the adults.

The second aspect of the 2nd Council was the nature of the Church itself: it was planned as a separate community for those devoted to academic pursuits with disdain for romance (despite Kallisto's earlier declaration against romance at Sunset Valley), but now started to go towards the path of influencing the larger community as a whole, and the role of Missionary grew much more important, to a point where Antigone was training to be one.

With the other amendments came the darker side of the new philosophy/religion: it also hinted at the creation of an inquistorial body to patrol and root out heresy (i.e. romance). In Sunset Valley, such thoughts are unthinkable since the religion is not one embraced or supported by the majority, no, not even a significant portion of the population. But such was not the case with Hekatonschoinos: it was exclusively settled to be that one city without romance, and as such, Kallisto and the likeminded had no intention of letting heresy bloom right in front of their own capital world. "No way, Jose," declares Kallisto. "We aren't going to stand there and let those stupid heretics spread heresy and destroy households, cause chaos, and prevent successful development."

Internationalism and Klerouchiai
The Hekatonschoinos chapter eventually paid a visit to China: the initial reason was to purchase cookbooks native to China, but soon Stratonike took an ell when given an inch. Stratonike already possessed a level 2 visa when Stratonike paid a long-awaited visit to China where Stratonike died of (and rose again from) a meteor. Immediately did Stratonike took the children to visit the marketplace, and the children ate dim sums, a most welcome thing as they were hungry from the trip. Stratonike then purchased the cookbooks and immediately took the tasks assigned by the locals, mostly menial tasks. However, all changed when Stratonike was given the task to find the Pangu's axe: Stratonike disarmed traps, dived in wells, and stepped on invisible activation panels and eventually acquired the Pangu's axe. With the power, Stratonike smashed rocks at will, and eventually gained the level 3 Visa. However, the truly important part was that in the process of getting the quest itself, Stratonike was to befriend plenty of the locals, some of them impressed by the new religion.

Not only that, Stratonike used the visa to acquire a vacation house, and by doing so, paved the way for the religion to seep into China. In Hekatonschoinos, the practice of Klerouchiai was already implemented even before China: the huge influx of immigration made it practical to establish Klerouchiai, and the Kang family and the Kagawa family became the first Klerouchoi families, and their allegiances belonged to the Church. The Klerouchiai system however was much more difficult to implement in Sunset Valley: first, land was much less plentiful and population density was high, thus reducing potential gain and more so, the gain-vs-cost was much less favorable in Sunset Valley than it is in Hekatonschoinos, and thus Hypatia and the Sunset Valley chapter members initially did not implement such policies.

Militarism
Sooner or later, Antigone established a power base of her own: Antigone befriended several locals, and with them created a populist branch of the above church, the sect being much more lenient on social issues such as romance. Kallisto feared apostasy, and to keep Antigone in line, sent Tessa Swanson to spy on Antigone. Of course, due to her non-Greek heritage, alongside an unusually stylish dress scheme and a relatively large bust, Antigone did not believe that Tessa was of the Church. Without Antigone having reservations, Tessa was free to spy on Antigone, although Antigone's boyfriend was not caught in Tessa's sight, and no encouragement of heresy at least as of the moment. And so Tessa reported back to the main headquarters at Hekatonschoinos, and Kallisto lowered her guard against Antigone, although Kallisto ordered Tessa to stay and gather some more information. However, Kallisto had other sources of information that verified Antigone's boyfriend. Kallisto however did not blame Tessa: Kallisto still had uses for her (and her sister and cousin)

Meanwhile, Kallisto and her developing hunger for power gotten her to embrace militarism: although they lacked the facility to do it in a state manner, they could however use quasi-military means to subjugate towns, and they decided to test that by giving orders to the clones that inflitrated Bridgeport to occupy the town by quasi-military means. So the clones decided to gather means to frighten the town into submission so that the Church power may reign supreme there, meaning no romance, and more so luxury for its own sake, and the first excise tax to be collected by the Church.

Kallisto was not satisfied with the progress: Bridgeport subjugation was delayed constantly, and the heresy in Appaloosa Plain was still not contained and captured. However, Kallistrata's eventful landing in the third timeline changed things up a bit: Kallisto was more than eager to explore the new frontier, and deployed an updated clone of Kallistrata named Arete to take hold of Sunset Valley, while making preparations to benefit and recruit from the chaotic ethnic conflict in the third timeline Hekatonschoinos. In fact, Antigone's stance of staying low almost worked until Tessa "betrayed" the Church by selling information (that was false to begin with unknown to Tessa) to the heretic group at Appaloosa Plains. Kallisto and Kallistrata took personal control of the Two Swansons, and with them went personally to Appaloosa Plains while generating false rumors that they might visit Sunset Valley, conveniently picked up by Cycl0n3 Sw0rd, who was now a part of the Church. Having taken control of the two, the third of the Swansons, Rachel Swanson (now Rachel oi Lugos) was just as easy to add to the collection. Aneirin was quite stunned by the psychic aura emanating from Kallisto and Kallistrata, and Kallisto frankly said to him, "Your wife? Unfortunately, she's now to become an agent of the Church against romance and other heresy." Aneirin was of course not amused, until Kallisto saw through him and said, "well, I believe you got a greater beef against Cocolitanos. Become our ally. We shall grant you the skills and means to take down your hated enemy." Aneirin knew that he would not be getting Rachel back and the fact that such conditions were actually quite generous, so Aneirin agreed to Kallisto's proposition, with an counteroffer: He would be allowed to take down or assault Kallisto whenever he wished. Kallisto accepted his demand, and Aneirin shut tight while Kallisto used the Swansons to pinpoint the location of the heretic party/recruitment drive, and proceeding to capture both Achaia and Antigone.

Although aggression was not a part of the Sunset Valley Chapter, which just received Hypatia's children back and caught in a swirl of changes ranging from breakup of families to the complete negation of the Altos and the Landgraabs as a major presence in the political overview of the Sunset Valley, they also implemented several war practices: deeming chess to be inadequate to their needs, Hypatia came up with a wargame for the Sunset Valley chapter to play with (and eventually carried over to the Hekatonschoinos chapter once it paid a visit to Sunset Valley.)

Main Article: Hypatia's Wargame



Popularity surge and Promotions
One day, Hector Smith invited the Sunset Valley Chapter Sims just 2 days before Hekatonschoinos Chapter paid a visit. However, ill fated was the party, as in the middle of the party, Artie Page was to die and to be taken away by the Grim Reaper. Little did many know that Artie would not stay this way. After Artie passed away (and Lysistrata and Eurydike afflicted with a huge negative moodlet, with Cycl0n3 Sw0rd immune granted by the Inappropriate trait), Eurydike was solicited by the Science department that she and Hypatia lead, reporting to them the ability to restore the dead. Eurydike at once got the urns of the dead, and immediately proceeded to the Science Center turning Artie into a playable ghost. But Hypatia saw this as a opportunity to reverse the lack of popularity of the Church, and with her supply of death fishes and life fruits, manufactured several units of ambrosia, restoring not only Artie to life, but also Yumi and Boyd as well. This had several impact: first, the ability to restore people to life was out of reach of most sims, but due to their massive supply of simoleons, the cost required was a pittance to the Church. Secondly, the ability to raise the dead and restore their youth was immensely popular with the old sims, and once the sensational news spread throughout the neighborhood especially through those who were revived, the elderly suddenly found themselves all too eager to throw support for the Church. Thirdly, the revival of Yumi Sekemoto and Boyd Wainwright had a profound impact on their families: Leighton and Sam were both boyfriends of Lysistrata and Hypatia respectively. With the revival, they swore allegiance to the Church, and the dying relationship between Lysistrata and Leighton suddenly revived, while the stronger relationship between Hypatia and Sam grew even stronger. Boyd's revival was also critical to the political picture: it was the critical event that led to the defection of Blair from the opposition movement, striking a killer blow to the detained Achaia and Antigone. All of this was aided by the media efforts of Cycl0n3 Sw0rd, who benefited from the Church ownership of the media.

Even before the festive mood even fully set in, the Hekatonschoinos Chapter gave a surprise visit to Sunset Valley, and with the coincidental timing, the Church was celebrated for the time being. This also compounded with another boon to the Church: Chrysanthema was to advance to adulthood just a day after the visit, and Chrysanthema became a young adult. Even better, Chrysanthema had fulfilled all the parameters required to get Core membership, and Chrysanthema's birthday was very festive indeed, with plenty of sims joining in the festivities. When Esomena and Pyrrha joined Chrysanthema as both Young Adults and Core Members, Chrysanthema, Pyrrha, and Esomena were charged with the stewardship of Sunset Valley, and the Big 6 banded once again to go nomadic... or so it seemed until Kallisto decided to stick to Hekatonschoinos no matter the cost.

And the initial affinity of the Ecclesiarchy for international presense was only advanced by the official creation of the Papal State which was made possible with Eurydike taking up the political career. In fact, as soon as the Papal State was formed, the two proponents of colonization, Stratonike and Kallistrata, immediately made plans (with their influences in international realms, particularly Stratonike) for apoikiai, Stratonike focusing on East Asia starting with China and Kallistrata the Arab world starting with Egypt. Stratonike was able to use her massive influence garnered from her expertise in the Chinese (and East Asian in general) culture to get the Chinese to open up to a future Greek apoikia which Stratonike dubbed Attaleia-Stratonikeioplis, and Kallistrata used a more underhanded approach, forcing a stalemate in the Egyptian civil war to a point where Kallistrata was able to win a position of arbitrator, and thus winning for the Ecclesiarchy the ruined Alexandreia in its entirety.

Everyday Life of an Ecclesiarchal member
A fully initiated member of the Church is expected to move into one of the Naos-Stratopedon (first introduced by Kallisto, the second by Esomena) type of structure as soon as possible, but if that is not viable, one may request a waiver, and in turn be given the resposibility of developing skill on his/her own. However, those who do live in the Naos-Stratopedon are given very spartan sleeping quarters (a 4x3 room with a bed and a light with counters.). However, this is not to say that the lives of the adherents boring: to the contrary, a Naos-Stratopedon is noted by housing a huge number of skill items, and thus entertainment as well as development is never out of reach of a resident of the said type of building.

However, an adherent is expected to live a strict life, and romance is not allowed in any circumstances. On top, children and teens are expected to attend an extracurricular activity as well as an secondary skill school, and for teens, proms are strictly banned ever since the incident involving Esomena and Bradley.

Core Members


They are the core members, noted by high skills requiring mastery of at least one skill and significant proficiency at logic, invention, and/or handiness. All current core members are level 5 celebrities, although that is not required: in fact, even a noncelebrity can be a core member given that they have the aptitude. A secondary unifying traits of the core members that is also not required is the fact that they have minimal bust size: out of the 8 historical core members, 7 of them have completely flat chest, and one has less than average bust size. Lysistrata, despite not meeting the definition, stays here in this segment because Lysistrata was accepted as one before the adoption of the codex. The core membership in itself is reminiscent of the master craftsmen class of the guild system, as they controlled most of the administrative matters and policies, and they are the ones that run the guild effectively without resistance asides from internal dissidence. Even there the core members are often divided into higher ones (e.g. Kallistrata) and lower ones (e.g. Lysistrata), so the core membership may include a slightly journeymen aspect, since likes of Lysistrata are quite learned but not yet experienced enough and thus have not made a landmark achievement yet.

After the enactment of Kallisto's codex, the definition was now set to having 70 or more points in skills, and at least 60 points of that on technical skills (that is, not musical or charisma). The names in bold font are those who are defined as one with the new definition.

And the core members above Antigone are referred to as the Big 6.
 * Kallisto Syrakosia, the co-founder
 * Stratonike Attalida, the co-founder (Former, Rejoined)
 * Lysistrata Amphipolita, an invited founding member (Former, Rejoined)
 * Eurydike Alkmaionida, an invited founding member
 * Hypatia Pydnaia, a refugee member, considered core by skill level.
 * Kallistrata Pellaia, a slightly warped clone of Kallisto.
 * Antigone Syrakosia, Kallisto's clone (Promoted, later removed by charge of heresy)
 * Chrysanthema Pellaia Kinnamomona, Kallistrata's resident disciple. (Promoted)
 * Pyrrha Edessaia, Stratonike's resident disciple. (Promoted)
 * Esomena Protogena, Kallisto's resident disciple. (Promoted)

Peripheral Members
They are the part of the disciple class, not having the skill set to break the threshold to be admitted to the core member class. The Peripheral members are largely an parallel to the journeymen and more so the apprentice class of the old guild system, journeymen usually applying to older, more experienced members and apprentices young ones. Although even most of the experienced members have not yet fully completed education, there are some cases (such as Epaphroditos and Chrysanthema, latter joining the ranks of the core members) who are qualified enough to tutor less skilled members. They do not have the ability to propose changes like the guild system of the old, although unlike the old guild system, the older ones are allowed to vote with their skills when the core members propose changes (refer to the decision making section.), although more often than not such priviledges are underexercized due to the usually secret nature in which the core members propose changes. In fact, with Thessalonike's assistance to Antigone and Achaia, most of the minor members have simply left, and so many of them are in an ambiguous state, save for Hypatia's offspring, one of them a Lochagos, and the Mathetai.
 * Demetrios Pydnaios: Hypatia's stepson, sent off to the Initiate Division household.
 * Eunike Pydnaia: Demetrios' imaginary friend turned real, sent off to the Initiate Division household.
 * Epaphroditos Pydnaios: Hypatia's simbot, sent off to the Initiate Division household as a Lochagos.
 * Stephanophoros Syrakosios, Kallisto's 5th simbot. (Former)
 * Thornton Wolff, a convert
 * Immanuel Ames, taken in due to his ties with Kallistrata
 * Tiffany Dennis, taken in due to her ties with Kallistrata, along with Immanuel and the two below.
 * Liam Awlaki
 * Shirley Anley
 * Morgana Wolff, although her status is disputed.
 * Nicole Swanson, taken in due to her relationship with Tessa
 * Cycl0n3 Sw0rd, taken in via friendship with Hypatia
 * Tessa Swanson, training to be an intelligence officer.

Chapter Serfs
They are members of the Ecclesiarchy, although they are disenfranchised (as of the moment) when decision-making is taking place. In addition, Chapter Serfs are often drawn from downtrodden non-Greek populations. Despite that, the Chapter serfs are subject to education and training alongside their enfranchised brethren of the peripheral membership. Because of this, they tend to be much better educated than their Philoi or Klerouchoi counterparts.
 * Jessica Tesla, taken in by the Big 6.
 * Ptolemais Amphipolita, Lysistrata's simbot. Status unknown after Esomena's Sunset Valley purge. An exception given that the idea of serfs were created after Ptolemais's creation.
 * Cycl0n3 Sw0rd, promoted via aspiration
 * Caleb Laughlin
 * Lindsey McLenden

Affiliated Sims
Although these sims are not a part of the Church, they are listed as either the Philoi, the friends of the Church, or the Klerouchoi, the working immigrants given a plot of land (in Hekatonschoinos) in exchange for allegiance.

Philoi: Klerouchoi
 * Attalid Dynasty, Philetairos connected to all the core Hekatonschoinos sims, and the rest connected to Stratonike, a family member.
 * Choi Family
 * Kang Family
 * Silver Lilies
 * Al-Dar
 * Mathetai Mouson
 * Libuoi
 * Hugo's Orphanage
 * Hadi

Worlds and Administration
Unlike the roles of Chaplain, Missionaries and etc, there are religious administrative roles as well, excluding the more secular roles such as that of treasurers and librarians. On the top is the Pope, and in this case, Kallisto who is the founder of the Church itself. In terms of administrative power on specific region, the Pope is no more powerful than an Archbishop who is in charge of a (Arch)Diocese, usually consisting of a neighborhood. In terms of executive, legislative and judicial powers, the Pope and the Grand Inquisitor were the most important figures when it came to judicial powers. With executive powers, although there were some central authority, the local Archbishop was usually the most important when it came to executive power, since central authority had little power to intervene due to lack of manpower and agents. As noted before, the core members or the elect was the the legislative body, and hence it was pretty much an attractive reason for an adherent to learn skill, or in some cases, a very skilled sim join the church due to the nature of the Church. Due to the small scale, there are no smaller subdivisions such as a regular diocese and roles of Bishops, since such divisions would be so small that it may be family sized.

Government Types
Ecclesiarchal government can be classified into 5 tiers.
 * 1) Patris, or Homeland: This is where Ecclesiarchal rule of a territory is completely uncontested. Heptanomis is the sole Patris-class township.
 * 2) Hyparcheia, or the Hyparchy: They are the Ecclesiarchy's most settled, developed, and loyal of acquired territories. Often under the effective leadership of an Ecclesiarchal chapter, Hyparcheia offers many facilities to disseminate Ecclesiarchal culture, as well as to enforce Ecclesiarchal order in the form of Klerouchiai. Sunset Valley is classified as a Hyparcheia-class township.
 * 3) Emphrouria ē Symmachia (Garrisoned or Allied state): The territories classified with this type of government typically consist of recent acquisition by the Papal State, and as such, Ecclesiarchal control and culture is not yet permeated through the said territory. They are usually headed by a local power, either voluntarily allied to the Ecclesiarchy (as is the case with Twinbrook's unofficial chapter), or theoretically an extension of the (more formal) military authority that was first established in the Diallege Enchorios stage which comes with an inclusion of civil functions.
 * 4) Autonomia (Autonomous Allied state): A simple allied state: although it accepts the Papal State as its suzerain, the Autonomia is free to pursue policies it wishes, as long as such policies are not against Papal State's interests. No current neighborhood is classified in this category of government.
 * 5) Diallage Enchorios (Regional Pacification): Some sense of order must be placed before any significant government and cultural dissemination can occur. As such, an temporary authority, usually enforced by Papal paramilitary, must be placed to establish some sense of stability and normalcy. This occurs after a conquest of territory. Sunlit Tides currently belong to this classification.

Diplomacy
Diplomatically, the Romaioi were initially considered nominally hostile. However, as the time progressed, the potential problem with Cato had largely neutralized: Cato was a good friend of Hypatia, and with the exception of Lysistrata, to whom Cato has a nominally hostile relation (-11), there are no Romaioi who are hostile to any core member. In fact, Cato surprisingly set an precedent for Roman amity with the Greek Church, and Ivlia also succesfully befriended the recently admitted Core member Chrysanthema. The Roomates are considered reliable friends of the Church, although Cycl0n3's admittance to the Church had slightly lessened the importance of the Roomates household. The Sekemotos were also regarded as friends of the Sunset Valley Chapter, although the Hekatonschoinos Chapter generally views them with suspicion, although the Sunset Valley Chapter is now quite closely knit to the point where none of the core members bear any hostilities toward one another. The Attalids continue to be deemed as friends and allies of the Church, Philetairos et al an welcome presence in any Church meetings and activities.

Machine Cult
Given the pro-technology stance of the Ecclesiarchy, it was only a matter of time before the actual cult of the machine was born. Invoking the machine spirit, which is believed to be the driving force behind machines, a job of a Cultist of the Machine was to ease the pain of the machines, appeasing the spirit. Kallistrata is one of the leaders of the new cult, although Hypatia is the leading member, given Hypatia's extreme level of prosthetics that exceed that of Kallistrata. In fact, the Machine Cult is one of the active factor in the Ecclesiarchal desire for recruits, such as the dash for Yuri Kang, who was quite skilled in machine work.

The Machine Cult is organized around the Kyrios Mechanon, or the Machine Lord, currently filled by Hypatia. Behind the Lord are the Hierophantai, a rank currently held by Kallistrata, and succeeding that are the Magoi, and then the Mechanepoietai, and lastly the Douloi, or the servants. Helle, the Deutarchon, holds a position in the new machine cult as a Mechanepoietes, given her lack of experience repairing or tinkering in the field.

Reputation
Given the anti-WooHoo stance of the Ecclesiarchy (and emphasized by Ezekiel Gretchyn in Moonlight Falls), the vast majority of the sims in SimNation, especially the celebrities, the socialites, and the partiers, despise the Ecclesiarchy, or at least have some sort of phobia associated with the Ecclesiarchy. However, this is not universal, and even in the SimNation Ecclesiarchy has its share of fans. To most, Esomena tends to be the least odious of the bunch, and viewing Esomena in a positive manner does not generate social stigma as say praising Kallisto.

This however gets completely turned upside down as the academic level goes up: Engineers and scientists generally adore the Big 6, and in the academia of the universities, students and faculty alike, Big 6 tend to be viewed much more positively. Hypatia in particular has a huge crowd of fans in the university setting, especially since Hypatia's the only sane one amongst the Big 6, and some even go as far as to worship Hypatia as a diehard celebrity fan worships the celebrity. Stratonike and Kallisto also gets a great portion of the fans as well, and amongst the technological nerds, Stratonike is pretty much a saint matron of sorts. Eurydike, Lysistrata, and Kallistrata gets a smaller portion, although Lysistrata has a niche in the Medical field, and Eurydike in the Communication field. The adoration for the Big 6 grows as their social aptitude decreases, and amongst the singles with no interest or successes in having a love interest, the perception of the Big 6 is amongst the stars.

So to sum it up, with Lysistrata and Eurydike taking a niche and spreading out, the positive views generally are amongst the science and technology nerd groups, alongside a good portion of the professors. However, in the university the positive view is far more global, with negative opinions generally a pocket concentrated on the jocks and the socialites.

The University Fad
With pressues mounting on the Sims University, it was eventually led to open the doors to the members of the Papal State, and none came earlier than the Big 6 themselves. Given the immense fame of the Big 6, they were instantly recognized by the students, and given the general academic nature, were celebrated. Needless to say, the Big 6 came largely to observe, although they would be enrolled as standard students (albeit with full scholarship). and be enrolled in a standard condition like all others. Of course, the Big 6 always wanted to appeal to the students, and none were more receptive than the Nerds, who adored the Big 6 for their love of trivia as well as support of the subculture.

As stated above, Hypatia was basically an idol to begin with, much more universal than others given the lack of the Insane trait. As an artsy one to boot, Hypatia found support not only within the nerd segment, but also the Rebel segment, although Hypatia's influence was weak among the Jocks. Ironically, it was Stratonike who appealed to the Jocks, as it was Stratonike that brimmed with physical prowess envied by the Jocks. As for Kallisto and Kallistrata, they went straight into the Nerd society, and Kallistrata was able to build enough support to secure a position among the game development industry. The most shocking thing was that all of the social class buildup took place in 4 days, leaving many to believe that the Big 6 may pretty much take over the University given enough time.

When the Hekatonschoinos chapter actually enrolled in the Sim University (many of the faculty members deemed it redundant), their fame immediately drawn the attention of the enrolled students and professors around. Given their vast experiences, the faculty found them quite the material (although the Ecclesiarchy sims really learned almost nothing) that enriched the university environment. Meanwhile, the Ecclesiarchy also exploited the idea of social groups, and most of them quickly advanced through the Nerd social grouping, which results in Kallistrata's new career as a Game Designer.

Naval Era


Having heard of the ubiquity of the naval technologies at Isla Paradiso, the Hekatonschoinos chapter decides to visit there much as they have done so in their journey to Sunlit Tides. The concept of the houseboats were the ones that pleased the Ecclesiarchy the most, although the lack of large dock facilities to house large houseboats was most disappointing to the Ecclesiarchy, which was most interested in building large capital ships to further add prestige to the Papal State. However, now that they had the blueprints, they decided (along with an error that prevents further modification to the old) that it was time to make Hekatonschoinos from the scratch, implementing the naval technologies to the fullest.

Trivia

 * The Union of the Insane always had a Water sign majority, Hypatia, Kallisto and Eurydike (along with Antigone before the warping, and later on Kallistrata) were of the water signs, and never had a fire-sign sim. In fact, before the split and the adoption of Demetrios there were no air sign sims either. With the Church as a whole, the division is as following: Water sign Sims: Kallisto, Hypatia, Eurydike, Kallistrata, Epaphroditos, Chrysanthema, Pyrrha, Thornton, Immanuel, Shirley, Liam, Tessa, Nicole, Cycl0n3 Sw0rd, Jessica, and Aristophanes; Earth Sign sims: Lysistrata, Stratonike, Antigone, Esomena, Morgana, Tiffany, Rachel ; Air Sign sims: Demetrios, Eunike; and no fire sign sims. This does not include the Promachoi or the Twinbrook Chapter.
 * The characters whose birth is on places associated with Ancient Macedonia is born on the region of Central Macedonia: Hypatia in Pydna, Lysistrata in Amphipolis (modern Amfipoli), Kallistrata in Pella, and Pyrrha in Edessa.
 * Given the presense of modern Greek characters in the Big 6, the Ecclesiarchy has a negative opinion of Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, or Vardarska Banovina.
 * While most houses only need one stereo to get the sound across, the old house of the Union of the Insane required two stereos with the connect speakers to the house upgrade to get the sound to all corners of the house. This issue is not present in the new Chapel-Barrack style house.
 * The Order of WooHooium Hunter characters draw inspiration from various Space Marine chapters/legions: Lykos Argaia inspired by the Space Wolves chapter (reflected most in slob and justice-loving nature), Pygma Siderita Iron Hands (her name literally means Fist of Iron, as well as her prosthetics), Sideris Galeotida the Salamanders (dark skin + crafting), Nyx Korakida Raven Guard, and Krateia Antigonida influenced by the Ultramarines (The Blue and Yellow coloring theme, as well as her position as the de facto leader)
 * By skill, the Union of the Insane Member rank by skill is as follows, data from January 16th:
 * 1) Kallisto Syrakosia, 141 points
 * 2) Kallistrata Pellaia, 140 points
 * 3) Stratonike Attalida, 136 points
 * 4) Hypatia Pydnaia, 134 points
 * 5) Eurydike Alkmaionida, 126 points
 * 6) Antigone Syrakosia, 113 points
 * 7) Lysistrata Amphipolita, 112 points
 * 8) Chrysanthema Pellaia Kinnamomona, 73 points
 * Given the creation of a sim based on the author's brother, one might ask if there is an author avatar inside the Ecclesiarchy. The answer is yes and no, given that the doctrines are indeed based on the author's views as well, although there isn't one sim that could be pointed as an author avatar given their immense amount of skills that would vastly dwarf that of the author himself, although the traits generally are derived from the author: most notably Computer Whiz, Loner, Unflirty, and Frugal.