Holy Particle Congregation
The Holy Particle Congregation was a pseudo-religious and later religious organization first formed by scientists and semioticians in [] TEC as a means of communicating the dangers of radioactive waste storage sites to future civilizations. They later became a highly religious and politically-active group that worshiped an ionization detector called the Holy God-Machine. Their actions eventually led to the passing of the Interstellar Travel Act.
History
The prevalence of nuclear material use during the Scientific Era meant that there was a significant number of radioactive waste disposal sites scattered around the galaxy. While many propositions were made as to how this waste would be removed, none but remote storage were considered suitable. Considering the long-term repercussions of this storage, as well as the fact that a number of radioactive materials remained dangerous for millennia after use, contemporary scientists decided to develop a method of communicating the danger of these sites to far-removed intelligent life that may find them by accident. Because there was a very low likelihood of the languages of the time remaining intact for such a long period, and the fact the universal translation technology was only usable for known languages, it was decided that a congregation would be formed made up of council members with the purpose of communicating the dangers of radioactive waste sites. New council members would be elected by existing members when a member dies or becomes unable to perform the required tasks of the congregation.
What began as a method of communicating dangers (and remained that way for some time) slowly evolved into a more fanatical religion with aspirations far exceeding that of communication. Ironically, in fact, the fanaticism seen in the latter years of the congregation mostly preached of the superior position that council members held in their knowledge of dangers. This was due to the fact that knowledge of nuclear waste sites became more mythical as time went on. The contemporary council, which was significantly distant from the original, made the decision to stop preaching of the dangers of the "unholy" waste sites. Instead they leveraged the mythical nature of the sites to enforce a viewpoint. This viewpoint relied on the collective belief that those who do not follow the wisdom of the congregation are constantly in danger of finding themselves in an unholy place. These sites became understood by followers as inescapable places, the occupation of which is a fate worse than death.
For this time, the Congregation became primarily a politically-motivated group, influencing interstellar commerce to benefit themselves, and they remained protected from harm during this time with the veil of religion. Due to the advanced nature of nuclear research at the time, however, the Congregation had limited influence. What power they had in interstellar politics mostly pertained to devout beliefs in the exclusivity of safety that followers believed the Congregation gave. While followers of this belief were plentiful, they were not enought to considerably alter the landscape of interstellar commerce.
The structure of the Holy Particle Congregation made its most significant change in [] TEC, when Kanos Maloy, a member of the Congregation council, proposed a crusade to wipe out the galaxy's supply of ionization detectors. This proposition was made as a political move meant to increase the Congregation's influence by making the detection of radiation exclusive to the Congregation. This conflict, which came to be known as the Particle Wars, lasted several decades, with several billion losses. In the end, the strategy of the Congregation managed to outweigh the power of the Interstellar Planetary Coherence, and all known ionization detectors were confiscated or destroyed. Crippled by the inability to detect dangerous waste sites, the IPC was forced to concede power over known space to the Congregation-backed Kammakan of Houses, an event called the Great Transition.
Following the Great Transition, the Congregation moved away from the active political world and shifted its focus to retaining its power (this is to say they were not seeking any more power, only waging wars and fighting to keep the power they had at their peak). This behavior eventually brought them into a much more religious role. Where previously the council members would have an awareness of the lies they were telling to keep their standing, a steady shift in mentality eventually lead to the council believing in the religion they preached. This transition was epitomized with the rise of the God-Machine, a deified sentient ionization detector, superseding the three pillars.
The slow power gain of the congregation eventually led to the Interstellar Travel Act, a decision made by the collective interstellar government to completely restrict all transportation (and eventually all communication) outside of planet-local. This was spawned out of a fear of both people and information becoming corrupted by the waste sites.
Beliefs
Earlier in the Congregation's history there were no deities worshiped. Instead followers would worship the three pillars of the Congregation: the Particle (radiation), the Detector (ionization detectors), and the Council.
Later in it's history, followers of the Congregation would worship the Holy God-Machine.
