Codex Biocosmia

The cosmos - the Biocosm and all we animolecules belonging to her - are alive.

— Anonymous member of the first coven

The Codex Biocosmia is the foundational religious text of the Way of the Biocosm, a religious faith started by former Unexpectors of the Lyviannite tradition in the mid-9910's AR.

Purpose

The first true Biocosmist coven penned the Codex Biocosmia to solidify the tenets of the faith in the face of potential persecution or division - a motivation manifesting a high degree of foresight on the part of the authors - as well as to condense these tenets into a form which would be easily digestible by prospective spiritual seekers.

Document Structure

Clauses

The Codex Biocosmia assumes that the reader might not have the same deep grounding in Unexpector thought as the authors did, though it is geared toward a human-majority audience. References to the former religion are expounded upon in footnotes and endnotes so that the reader is not left confused. The first part of the Codex discusses Lyvianne and the tenets of her cult, drawing the reader towards the conclusion that the goddess can be viewed as a nature deity capable of being worshipped independently from the rest of the Gods of Irony. The text then equates the imagery of her, as a humanoid goddess, being a mere metaphor for the truth: that the Manifold, reframed as the Biocosm, is a living, multicellular system like any animal or plant, and that each individual is a part of that greater organism. Finally, the last half of the book is dedicated to extrapolating the tenets of the new Biocosmist moral foundation as implied by statements made earlier in the book, including preservation of the natural world, advocacy for peace and equality, and eschewing needless consumption of resources.

Publication Status

Sales of the Codex Biocosmia have slowed and book distribution has shifted from active to passive methods of spread (being left in hotel room dressers, secreting copies in packages of trade goods, etc), but the tome remains in circulation even in places where the powers-that-be wish to suppress it.

Historical Details

Background

The Way of the Biocosm originally grew out of the cult of Lyvianne, Goddess of Misfortune, of the House of the Unexpected. Unlike her counterpart Veldrin Vance, God of Coincidence, who teaches that one should always be on the lookout for coincidences masquerading as evidence, Lyvianne teaches that there is an underlying reason to the percieved disorder of the cosmos. Some Lyviannites later served on the research mission which was the origin of the Manifold Conservation Society, where ecological research with an eye towards long-term habitation of distant cubes was taking place.

Seal of the Unexpected by BCGR_Wurth

It was in this context that the teachings of Lyvianne would be gradually morphed by constant deep study of nature and an increasing zeal to protect the Manifold from its own inhabitants, infusing this branch of the faith with vitalist and Epicyclist notions which ran contrary to the Linearist notions of the wider Unexpector faith. Because the promulgators of this new, heretical branch of Unexpector philosophy were also well-educated men and women of letters, they sought to put their beliefs into writing - as they had for their scientific discoveries - to enlighten their fellows back in Voxelia. This was the origin of the Codex Biocosmia and, with it, the origin of the Way of the Biocosm itself.

Public Reaction

The Epicyclist overtones of the Codex Biocosmia as applied to the cult of Lyvianne sent shockwaves through the Church of the Unexpected, who regarded the text as nothing less than condensed heresy. Nevertheless, the book made the rounds in various 'underground' circles, especially in places such as the Manifold Conservation Society and Craterhold where there was little in the way of institutional resistance to foreign religious ideas. This initial period saw the greatest growth in the number of adherents to the faith in its entire history, as the initial burst of controversy ironically led to a great deal of free publicity.

Epicyclism Logo by BCGR_Wurth

Legacy

As of the year 10,000 AR, the Codex Biocosmia remains the seminal work of Biocosmist religious apologia, though some of the criticisms it held for other contemporary religious movements come across as dated in modern contexts. While the persecution of Biocosmists by Unexpectors has reduced in intensity since those days, as Voxelia has more pressing concerns, the discovery of a copy of the book in certain contexts can still cause trouble for the owner. Certain texts added to the Way of the Biocosm's religious cannon have sought to expand upon the tenets put forth in the Codex, but, as the religion is maintained by dispersed covens, no one can say for certain which of these texts is more legitimate than the other; only the Codex is universally accepted as cannon among Biocosmists.
The cover image of the original Codex Biocosmia would go on to become the de facto symbol of the religion itself. According to the records of the first coven, the logo was meant to portray both the dual nature of the biocosm (autumn leaf colors for plants and fleshy red and pink hues for animals) and the combination of several organic elements into a single whole. In settings where the symbol must be scrawled without color (i.e. when chiseled into a stone surface), the outlines of the six hemispheres are traced instead of filled.

Biocosmism by BCGR_Wurth

Type

Manuscript, Religious

Medium

Paper

Authoring Date

9917

Signatories (Organizations)

• Way of the Biocosm