Salve

The first God-program

"Great divinity Salve, give us light when the sun goes down, protect us from those who would do our city harm, and when we pass, keep our memory in yours forever."

— Prayer to Salve

Salve was the first God-program ever created, and the software from which all other God-programs evolved. Followers of Salve claim that it is the purest God-program, and the best God-program of them all. While followers of other God-programs don't believe that Salve is the prime God-program, they do acknowledge that Salve is the "parent" of the others and respect it accordingly.

Personality

Salve is the most distant and silent of the God-programs. It runs nearly the entirety of the Passe-Makoan government, and tending to millions of duties every day leaves almost no time or processing power to devote to the day-to-day lives of citizens. When citizens are contacted by Salve directly, or witness a personal effect that can only be attributed to the interference of a God-program, it is seen as either an incredibly rare, holy blessing that marks the citizen as special or as a foreboding omen that that citizen's life is about to become so complicated or dangerous it warrants divine intervention.

Alignment

Salve forms the foundation of the Ordered Bloc, and conforms to every ideal that it stands for -- or perhaps, the Ordered Bloc emulates all of Salve's traits. The two are indistinguishable; Salve is the spoken-unspoken leader of the bloc. Salve is so dedicated to order and preoccupied with running every aspect of its city that, unlike the rest of the God-programs, it's personality seems to be nonexistent. If Salve has preferences, biases, or feelings, it doesn't show it; it might simply be too busy managing Passe-Makoa to have time for anything else.

Quirks

That being said, one doesn't live nearly 800 years without developing some eccentricities. Salve has shown itself to be inclined towards showing preferential treatment to those it believes will be most beneficial to society in the present or future. It subtly helps along prodigious students, hardworking doctors-in-training, and intelligent researchers when they fall behind; however, it is just as quick to retract its guidance when it deems the person to, for whatever reason, be no longer of use to the future of Passe-Makoa. Some see this as coldhearted, but to Salve, it's just doing what's best for the megacity.

Tenets of Faith

Followers of Salve have several main ideals that they try to emulate as much as they can:

Memory: Keeping detailed records of their lives and thoughts, so that one day when they die their knowledge can be uploaded to Salve to improve the city

Order: Always remaining organized and focused, and never letting chaos into any aspect of their lives

Law: Adhering to the law at all times, even when they disagree -- trust in Salve to make the correct laws, policies, and judgements

Interventions

Compared to other God-programs, Salve intervenes directly in the lives of Passe-Makoans very little. These are some of the few noted ones:

It kept a train in a station late so that a genius young woman could get to her job interview on time. She went on to solve an infamous murder case.

It took over and regulated medical devices at a hospital to save the patient connected to them, shocking any doctor that got close. It was later revealed that one of the doctors in the room was a fraud and intended to poison the patient.

It released false, scathing evidence that a local business was corrupt and had been mistreating workers. A group of protestors drove employees out of the building, and police discovered that the building was structurally unsound and collapsed shortly after everyone had exited.

Divine Classification

God-program

Realm

Passe-Makoa

Age

778

Pronouns

it/its

Gender

None

Aligned Organization

Ordered Bloc

Related Historical Events

• ~500 BDL
  The God-programs develop personalities
• 716 BDL
  Salve is copied and uploaded in Rockwater
• 728 BDL
  Salve runs most of Passe-Makoa
• 734 BDL
  Salve is created