Way of the Biocosm

The Way of the Biocosm is a new-age religious movement that considers the Manifold itself to be a single living organism, called the Biocosm. The nested cube layers are the limbs and organs of the Biocosm, and individuals within the Manifold existing to fulfill some greater purpose related to the continued survival of the Biocosm in the manner of blood cells or symbiotic bacteria.

Structure

While the faith itself has only existed for less than a century and it's total following is limited, small Biocosmist covens have spread throughout the Manifold as a result of the ease of air travel between populated cubes. Each coven serves as an independent cell, with occasional, covert conclaves being held between the leaders of various covens to address liturgical disputes and organizational issues which affect the whole of the religion.

Assets

Biocosmists often build small monasteries in isolated cubes both as a means of communing with the Biocosm in it's most primal form and as a means of preserving their faith against persecution (especially by Voxelia and the Church of the Unexpected).

History

Biocosmism arose as a sect of Unexpector scholars who had emigrated to the then-nascent Manifold Conservation Society. These early forebears of the syncretic Biocosmist faith were avid worshippers of Lyvianne's cult within the Church of the Unexpected, a system of beliefs which made them apt to see patterns in the natural ebbs and flows of nature. This, combined with consistent interactions with MCS biologists and explorers working to catalogue the strange vistas and wildlife of the Manifold, let the forebears to the belief that, perhaps, the universe was as strange as it was because of some external, sentient force that didn't quite match the preconceptions of the Unexpector faith. In 9913, an anonymous group of early Biocosmists gathered in the first coven to pen the Codex Biocosmia, the religious text of the Biocosmists; upon this work being published back in Voxelia, word of the new faith spread, and the religion took on a life of it's own from there, spreading as far as Petalcap Vale and the Rostran Archipelago Confederacy along the airship trade routes.

Cosmological Views

As the name implies, Biocosmists believe that the Manifold itself (the "Biocosm") is a living universe possessed of an innate spark of divinity - a genius loci. In the world view of the Biocosmists, each cube layer is like an organ or limb of the Biocosm, giving each particular cube layer a unique place and function within the unified whole. Furthermore, Biocosmists believe that plants, animals, and even sentient peoples are either already a part of the Biocosm (as in free-floating cells) or symbiotic creatures who reside within it. Biocosmists find vindication for their faith in the notion that, while all cubes within the Manifold exist in separate fourth and fifth dimensions, all of them are actually coexistent within the same three dimensions (i.e. they all "overlap"), speaking to the 'oneness' of the Biocosm and all living things within it.

Tenets of Faith

As the blood or symbiotes of a greater living being, Biocosmists seek to commune with the Biocosm to serve the greater purpose of that being. In this context, Biocosmists are to be firm advocates for peace, conservation, exploration, and nature research. For followers of the the Way of the Biocosm, needlessly polluting the environment or scarring up the landscape is considered to be a heinous sin.

Sects

Many Biocosmists, though by no means all, are somewhat anti-technology in outlook, perceiving weapons, refined chemicals, and complex machinery to be unnecessary impediments to communion with the Biocosm. Radical Biocosmists actively reject technologies, even going so far as to state that the Biocosm will provide for people what they need in order to fulfill their role within the greater organism - even if the needs of the Biocosm require that some people die of exposure or preventable medical issues. Moderate Biocosmists, on the other hand, reject this stance, instead considering their duty to be collective action in the studied best interest of the Biocosm and it's inhabitants as a whole.