The world of IKAREE · Member of the Planetary Union since 2302
The Hallowed
Human, but pale from lack of light, with ritual scars and tattooed verses of scripture. Heavy layered robes, hoods, chains of reliquaries. Only consecrated implants are allowed: brass prostheses engraved with prayers.
History
Descendants of the 8,000 colonists of the generation ship Seraphim, launched in 2079. An anomaly threw them 340 light years away, and the ship's AI, the Navigator, guided them to a habitable world and went dark after landing. The colonists saw a miracle. The ship's log became scripture and the hull their first cathedral. When the Union found them in 2266 there were forty million, and they called Earth the Fallen World.
How they live
A theocracy ruled by the Synod, with monastic knightly orders. The best known, the Order of the Long Watch, also serves in the fleet. Bells and prayers for the Navigator mark the day. Inside it is far more varied than it looks from outside: there are reform sects, poets and heretics.
Technology
Relics of the Seraphim still run and are maintained by ritual. Warp drive came from the Union, but every drive must be consecrated. They excel at heavy industry and armour. They reject conscious AI: every newly made mind is an idol that blasphemes the Navigator.
Ships
Cathedral ships: tall vertical silhouettes with spires, flying buttresses and stained-glass windows, real bells inside. Dark bronze and black with golden inscriptions. Slow, but enormously tough.
Friction inside the Union
They reject the Free Mind Act, send missionaries to the Core and want to save the Tavari. They also hold the most dangerous stretch of the border, and their colonies pay in blood.