Congregation of the Enlightened

Content Warning: Discriminatory religion

Livonia

This article is focused on Livonia, the religious planet that reviles psionics.

Congregation of the Enlightened is a religious group that believes any interaction with metadimensional space is an affront to their goddess, the Great Mother. Though their doctrine is discriminatory against psions, their reasoning provides answers few other groups can provide. The smaller and more isolated a community, the more likely they'll follow the Congregation.

Origins

Congregation of the Enlightened is a sect of the Church of the Great Mother, similar to Mother of the Stars and numerous others. When the once-lethal Metadimensional Extraversion Syndrome began to be controlled as Psionics, some began to see it as a gift from the Mother Herself. Seeing the pain and death MES caused, the Congregation came to see it as a curse.

How can anyone see how easily MES kills our children and think it a gift from the Great Mother? It can only be a curse. Retribution for our grievous sins.

— CotE Preacher

Following the catastrophe of The Scream, the Congregation based on Livonia concluded the disaster was punishment. They drafted plans and put forth legislation with the goal ot atone for humanity's past sins and prevent such disasters in the future. The shell-shocked populace did little to object as anti-psion measures were put into law.
Though Livonia isn't officially a theocracy, it's expected that all politicians are members and perform expected observances. High-ranking Congregation members have significant sway over politics, while political talking points and planetary laws closely align with the church.

Beliefs

The ideals of the Livonian Congregation have spread throughout the sector. Their core belief is that Metadimensional Space belongs to the Great Mother, and interacting with it is an affront to the goddess. This explains the Metadimensional Storms that destroy entire ships, MES that can kill adolescents, and why the Scream targeted only psions and psitech.

They discourage interstellar travel and fund efforts to develop alternative means of such travel that don't rely on metadimensional space.

They instruct psions to isolate themselves, suppress their abilities, and remain celibate to prevent passing down cursed genetics.

They value productive action to demonstrate atonement, such as establishing laws and spaces that prohibit psionics and promote alternatives.

The official messaging condemns all forms of violence and aggression, preferring conversation and diplomacy to further their message.

Though they see MES as a curse, they only blame the afflicted individual for what they do with that curse. Psionics is a choice, not MES.

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Subsets

Different regions have their own means of following doctrine, but two main subsets have become most popular:

Alien Fanatics

Livonia also has the largest amount of excavated ruins of a long-extinct alien civilization. A sizeable population now seeks to relate these ruins with their religion. A common belief among this group is that a Scream-like event led to the aliens' extinction, and the ruins contain warnings we should obey.
The main branch tends to ignore this subset, or offer non-committal responses about encouraging academic curiosity.

Violent Instigators

Despite the official condemnation of violent action, many members and sometimes even preachers either advocate for or participate in violence against psions. This has taken the form of aggressive protests, harassment and abuse of psionic individuals, and most tragically, several murders.
The main branch condemns the violent action, but hasn't disowned or taken other action against the churches themselves.

Timeline

2261

Established as a sect of the Church

2684

Established as planetary religion of Livionia

3042

Headquarters on Livonia officially selected

Information

Alternative Names

CotE
The Congregation

Parent Organization

Church of the Great Mother

Location

Livonia

Tenets

The Great Mother will only return to us once we have atoned for our sins.

MES is a curse that must be managed. Using it as psionics is a deadly sin.

The metadimension belongs to the Great Mother, and is not a tool to be used.

The Livonians can get away with non-violence because their government is already on their side. The rest of us aren't so lucky. We've made the point that individual choices psions make endanger us all. If our government won't listen, what else can we do?

— Devalian Congregation member