Edifism and the Eternal Threshold
Edifism is the primary religious order of both the Scrappers and the members of the Stoneforged Assembly. It teaches that all consciousness is constructed and it is the task of all things to bring the knowledge and wisdom of the universe together into the Universal Construct.
The Edification of the Eternal Threshold is the time at the end of time when the Universal Construct is completed, all knowledge is known, and all things live within it, in a blissful holistic unity for all eternity.
Branches of Edifism
There are two main branches of Edifism known as Formulism and Divinism, and each brings its own distinct set of beliefs and strictures. The two branches are essentially at odds about the nature of the eternal Construct and how Edifism can reach the Threshold.Formulism
This is the dominant branch within the cities and factories of the Stoneforged Assembly. The central belief is that the design of the Universal Construct is yet to be realised, and is the responsibiity of all followers of Edifism to design the Construct and bring it into being. To these followers, the future is not written, and it is the creativity and hard work of the devout that will ensure the best outcome for the Eternal Construct. Formulism drives constant change, invention and construction. it tends to subsume the natural world around it, seeking to tranmute it into more and more idealised forms. Its followers look at it as a force of progress, but its detractors point to the damage it can cause the natural world, and the inherent struggles and conflicts between its various factions as they work out what form the final construct should take.Divinism
The second branch of Edifism holds that the Universal Construct is already in a state of perfect completion, but is simply beyond the awareness of those who are but small parts within it. This branch is the primary belief of the Scrappers that inhabit The Dawncrags and Devilspine mountains. They hold that the Universal Construct is not yet self-aware, and that it is the responsibility of all followers to bring it to a state of full self-realisation through observation and contemplation. They do this by recording the many experiences of living within the Construct, and through constant meditation upon the experiences they encounter. Followers do not believe that any form encountered is wrong, but something to be learned from and adapted to. If something seems out of place, it is simply because the full design has onot yet been understood. They seek to use, recycle and recombine the materials they find as 'gifts from the Construct'. They seek past knowledge as prophecy of what is to come, as all things already exist at all times. They believe it is the task of all living things to reveal the truth of the Construct in all its glory rather than create it anew. Critics tend to think of the proponents of Divinism as crazy mystics, innefectual, being stuck in the past and lacking any form of real progress. But its supporters point to the truths they can reveal through their meditation upon history as signs of mystical prescience and a glorious destiny for those experiencing the Construct.Divine Origins
Edifism was created by the stoneforged survivors of @Des. At first it was a way to cope in a world where the articial intelligences seemed so at ods with the chaos they were nearly destroyed by. The two schools were ways in which the forged beings could find purpose and makes of their long and confused histories, their deteriorating memories, and a future that seemed dire.
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