Stormriders | Stormfarers

Stormriders

Religion never dies. It simply adapts. Including all variants, there must be tens of thousands of religions that parts of humanity believe in. Flying into space and reaching other places, did not change that. It did, however, birth a new religion of sorts: The Stormriders. To them, the Hypersea is not just a dimension filled with dark energy that we can temporarily access. No, to them it is a part of divinity, while Hyperstorms are a sign of God's wrath and a punishment of humanity's hubris.   An important note to make here is that Stormriders are not a separate religion so to speak. It is more of an additional religious belief that people of various religions believe in. They work it into their own beliefs, refer to their own holy texts, plus overall they still stick to their other ideological differences.
Believer Percentage
Estimated around two percent of humanity
Membership Count
Unknown, assumed tens of thousands
Belief Level
Ranging from superstitious to fanaticism

From Superstition to Fanaticism

If you were to ask people whether they consider themselves to be Stormriders, you will not get a lot of affirmative answers. Querying about whether they believe in Hypersea being divine, however, leads to far more careful answers. It can be considered superstition by some standards.   Sure, few really believe that black cats bring bad fortune, or that a Hypersea Storm is the wrath of God. Yet at the same time, they'd rather not risk it. This is also why most larger ships have at least one active Stormrider on board. No harm, no foul, so why risk bad luck if you can risk good luck? They're generally considered harmless ship mascots.   There's also people who fully believe. They will visit a Stormrider to pray before they travel into space and financially support the organization. It is estimated about two percent of humanity are active believers.
And then we have the actual Stormriders, an organization that keeps in touch with each other. They strive to be everywhere, to preach occasionally, to guide ships and observe Hyperstorms. Some call them the largest possible espionage network, as they are present on many ships, ranging from military to pirate. Others note that Stormriders simply share their spread, no actual details. As such they do not see any harm in having a Stormrider on board, even during military operations.   Of course there's also some fanatics, believing the Hypersea to be a sacred place that we taint with our presence. To them, any Hyperspace trips should come with begging God for forgiveness. They rage at Stormfarers for daring to face rough weather, rather than accept it as a sign of divine rage that must be hid from. Usually their bark is worse than their bite, but it is still recommended for Stormfarers to avoid them.

Comments

Please Login in order to comment!