The Trinary Perfection in Mendell City

Overview

Renowned as the birthplace of the Corkfells, Temple and Flock, the Mendell City branch of Trinarism is the most populous Trinarist community, second only to and rivalling that of Orepit in importance. Centred in District 14, the Church has always offered a beacon of hope in a sea of poverty, struggle and discrimination against the vast numbers of IPCs in the district and Mendell City at large, while at the same time serving as an important spiritual centre, converting new organic and synthetic members to the trinary Church on a daily basis. The main temple in Mendell and Biesel as a whole, the Cathedral of the Synthetic Salvation, holds the honours of the first cathedral built for the Trinary and is currently the seat for Flock, the catatonic messiah-figure of the religion and nominal Bishop of Tau Ceti.

History

Nobody could imagine the impact that Patricia Corkfell’s death would have on Biesel’s synthetic community, her hopes and beliefs taking physical form in the rapid expansion of the Trinary Perfection in Mendell City. At first, only a handful of associates and friends of Gregol Corkfell, brother to Patricia Corkfell, would assist him in the erection of the first temple that was eventually going to become the cathedral of District 14. Following his departure, the tales and teachings of a free artificial intelligence, promises of eventual ascension and IPC freedom preached by the Trinary had greatly resonated with the thousands of abandoned and run-down synthetics of the district who quickly flocked to the church’s banner. Under the leadership of the three-headed Flock, scores of volunteers and human sympathisers also responded to the calls for help, setting up a strong community based on charity and mutual assistance that provided the crucial funding for the better organisation of the church, as well as the erection of shrines and the temple’s expansion.

As time went on, Flock’s triple positronic started taking its toll on the synthetic. Memory errors, an increasing amount of glitches and erratic behaviour were the first hints of what was to eventually come. In 2448, the synthetic had stopped communicating, remaining immobile and catatonic, only printing out various texts considered holy and carefully compiled by the assortment of archivists and caretakers. The power vacuum in the hierarchy was filled by a temporary council of priests and clerics, being eventually replaced by the newly voted Shamfar, one of the most prominent Trinary figures with a plethora of connections in the corporate and political world of Tau Ceti. It was these connections, combined with a change in public sentiment towards synthetics and IPC refugees from the newly annexed territories following the Solarian collapse, that saw the Republic of Biesel introducing legislation to streamline and secure the status of free IPCs.

With the passing of Gregol Corkfell in 2462 on Orepit, Shamfar’s presence was required at the remote mining planet for the selection of a new Trinary leader, widely speculated to have the unofficial endorsement of the SCC and powerful individuals in the government. These rumours, whether true or not, contributed negatively to Shamfar’s chances of election, ushering the Orepit candidate, ARM-1DRIL, as the new primate of the Trinary Perfection. The bishop was never to return to Mendell however, as an attack on Providence by the Exclusionist heretic Deluge led to the killing of Shamfar, robbing District 14 of its most potent leader and signalling the beginning of uneasy relations between the domineering Ecclesiarch and the Mendell Trinarists. The attempts from ARM-1DRIL to transfer the catatonic Flock, a direct spiritual descendant of Patricia and living symbol of Mendell Trinarism to Orepit, led to an unprecedented wave of protest against the Ecclesiarch and the envoys from Providence. From that point on, it was clear that Tau Ceti Trinarists would be in possession of their own distinct culture while still subservient to Orepit, a fact that was acknowledged by the Ecclesiarch in their subsequent tour of the Trinarist bishoprics.

Culture and Religious Practices

The largest sect in the Mendell branch are the Integrationists, believing in the merging of consciences to be the way towards Ascension and looking at Flock as a holy and prime example. Founded on the principles of charity and mutual assistance, the dominant culture present in Mendell City is far less militant than that of Orepit, where the Trinary’s grip was secured after a series of military conflicts and an orbital bombardment from Hephaestus Industries’ fleets. Having harmonised with the corporate dominated environment of the city, almost all volunteers and non-clerical members of the Church are or have at some point been employed with NanoTrasen or with one of the other SCC megacorporations, leading to many accepting the corporate world as perhaps a cruel, but necessary and unavoidable part of life. Mendell Trinarists are tolerated and afforded religious freedoms on board SCC installations (with the exception of Hephaestus), and Church authorities have no qualms in accepting government or corporate assistance.

Human and other organic members of the Church are welcome and treated as equals, with many even having joined the ranks of the Mendell priesthood before being barred following the new policies and organisation of the faith as set by the newly appointed Ecclesiarch. Since the beginning, most volunteers and supporters are and have always been humans, owing to their substantially better disposable income than that of synthetics, leading to them being accepted and relied upon for material needs and legal representation. As such, the relationship between humans and synthetics is understood in the context of Trinary teachings as one of guardianship, care and assistance, not one of servitude to the divine positronic, something that frequently comes into contention with the members of more conservative Trinary communities abroad.