Fanon:Ecclesiarchy

Union of the Insane, or more formally Ecclesiarchal Collective of Alexandros is the most recent Greek faction in the Fanon Time Paradox. It is also arguably the most powerful of all the households, arguably surpassing even the Scholars' Alliance of the old, from which it derived 3 of its core members.

The Beginnings
The Union of the Insane was created by the maverick action of Kallisto, who alongside Stratonike created a new beginning to escape what would eventually fall apart. Christopher's massive flirting and cheating was the direct reason for its creation, since Kallisto's reason (albeit somewhat warped) was to escape the noise that would keep Kallisto from... doing more even when Kallisto already essentially overachieved in her unnatural longevity.

Here was the place where academic monasticism that started with Stratonike taken to the highest level, where the members would strive to master skills and learn new ones, sometimes just for the sake of acquiring new skills. Here the friendly rivalry between Hypatia and Kallisto formed, not leaving a dent in their relationship yet pushing them to master 10 skills, something that was unheard of. Stratonike followed just behind, mastering 9 skills and standing alongside the other giants as the effective vanguard of Sunset Valley.

Romance Heresy
Main Article: Fanon:Time Paradox

The overtly monastic life of the Union of the Insane was rather quite similar to the old setting of the Scholars' Alliance, and not surprisingly enough with a largely similar set of sims, romance and fracturing was bound to happen. This was much more critical than the previous schism, since even the likes of Stratonike fell to the heretical allure of romance, as did Hyperia, a previous offender, and most of the sims except for Kallisto and Stephanophoros.

Kallisto's Codex
Later on, with the Romance Heresy, the power of the Union decreased significantly especially since a particularly experienced member Stratonike would leave the union. Seeing as in both splits romance was involved, Kallisto would make a codex, and specifically condemning romance as heresy, if not downright blasphemy.

The codex also establishes the official religion of the household and calls the household the first Ecclesiarchal Collective of Alexandros.

Operational Doctrines
Kallisto's codex states that the head of the household is first determined by skill, and the one with the most skill is deemed the head, although the head's decision may be challenged by subordinates, with subordinates having greater say with higher skills. The codex also calls for injunctions, where a collective whose skillset surpasses an initiating member(s) may call off an action. Also, the codex states that the main goal of the household itself is to learn skills, and apply them.

The Head
While the head is to be the member with the most skills and thus most respect, the head can be checked by members whose total set of skills surpass that of the head and his/her supporters. Considering Kallistrata's admittance, some say that Kallisto was essentially binding Hyperia, hopefully pressuring Hyperia to once again stay away from the pesky matters of romance.

Disciples
Those who are relatively unskilled are deemed disciples, and they are not eligible to propose changes to the codex themselves, although they may talk to a core member who may propose a change, and pass it if the core member and the disciple has enough skills and allies to outskill the opposition.

Core members
Although the codex loosely defines a core member to have a deep arsenal of skills, currently it has been accepted (by the 1st Meeting of the Enlightened) that 70 points in skills is the threshold for being a core member. Core members may propose change in the codex, and more importantly, have more influence in any decisions than a disciple, and really a force when it comes to injunctions.

Synhedrion and the Meris Sophiston
Codicil II-CXI.iv: "Although the faith is at the infant stages, it is inevitable that we have more followers than the members of the household. Henceforth Meris Sophiston is to be defined as a set of households officially and practically adherent to this faith. The Synhedrion then can be formed once there are enough households, and should be comprised of the heads of the households. Each head should apply for a certain branch of the Meris Sophiston, the Evangelical branch, specializing in conversion and thus require Missionaries, the Inquisitorial branch, specializing in resisting the allure of romance and hedonism and should be filled with celibates, and the Scholarly branch specializing in training the disciples."

Decision-making and arbitration in a household
Instead of a pure democracy with the concept of 1 vote per person, the decision making works in a different way: when a person votes for an option, the person gives his/her skillset into the pot per se, and the option with the greatest sum of skills will be carried out: each level in a skill is counted as 1 point, except for instruments and charisma, which are halved unless the person in question is a missionary.

Example of the meritocratic arbitration at work {C Option 1: There should be a Saturday service, as free time especially in rest days can be used in heretic ways. {C Option 2: No, for it can be used in developing skills.

And the household consists of: {C Chaplain: Lvl 10 Logic, Lvl 10 Handiness, Lvl 10 Painting, Lvl 9 Invention, Lvl 9 Martial Arts, Lvl 7 Cooking, Lvl 7 Mixology, Lvl 7, Writing, Lvl 6 Nectar Making, and Lvl 6 Charisma

Missionary: Lvl 10 Logic, Lvl 10 Handiness, Lvl 10 Charisma, Lvl 10 Guitar, {C Lvl 8 Handiness, Lvl 6 Writing Lvl 6 Cooking, Lvl 5 Writing, Lvl 5 Martial Arts

Sim C: Lvl 10 Fishing, Lvl 10 Gardening, Lvl 8 Handiness, Lvl 8 Guitar, Lvl 8 Drums, Lvl 7 Martial Arts, Lvl 7 Athletics, Lvl 6 Invention

Sim D: Lvl 9 Painting, Lvl 8 Athletics, Lvl 8 Charisma, Lvl 6 Logic, Lvl 5 Writing

Sim E: Lvl 10 Athletics, Lvl 6 Sculpting, Lvl 6 Writing, Lvl 6 Cooking

And say the Chaplain and Sim C picked option 1, and the others option 2. {C Then each option's pot has this many points:

Option 1: (10+10+10+9+9+7+7+7+6+(6/2)+10+10+(8/2)+(8/2)+7+7+6) 119 Points

Option 2: (10+10+10+10+8+6+6+5+5+9+(8/2)+6+5+10+6+6+6) 122 Points

and Option 2 prevails: however, this does point out that those with "partying" skills without other skills are heavily disadvantaged unless the said sim was a missionary, since Sim C had significant skill in instruments, and should Sim C be a missionary, Option 1 would have won out.

To prevent abuse of the system, a core member (or a set of disciples with a total skillset enough to surpass one) may request an appeal, where the synhedrion or the inquisitorial body will look on the codex and determine if the action is in direct violatio of the spirit of the codex, and strike the action null.

Religious Doctrine
The Codex praises several types of men: the like of Megas Alexandros, Pyrrhos, Dionysios I, Philippos, Turenne, Wallenstein and Gustavus Adolphus who were brilliant men, although some like Alexandros is bashed for the heretical attraction to "pleasures" such as alcohol and Woohoo. The second type of men that the codex praise are the likes of Da Vinci and the scientists/polymaths, studying and not caving into pressures of others. The last type of men are the uncorrupt monks, praised for rejecting such mundane corruptions such as alcohol, luxurious clothings, and Woohoo in many cases. In fact, the goal of the religion is to pursue activities to incorporate the best of the three into one person. There is a personified god, and it is worshipped by learning new skills or putting the skills into practice and creating useful products with it, as well as teaching others the skill, as well as purging romance and materialism from the ranks of believers and proselytizing to the foreigners, or xenoi.

Polemic Progressivism
Although the praise is there, the main doctrine revolves around the concept of polemic progressivism. It starts with 2 assumptions: Hence, the idea is first quite agnostically uninterventionist: There is (a) God(s), although the said God is not certain to intervene in the world, since there is no physical God, only a mental or metaphysical one, latter being able to intervene. Secondly, the notion also builds on the assumption on conflict: the said conflict leads to adaptation, and a successful adaption is progress. Thus, an ideally progressive world is a world where people are subjected to an urgent conflict, since that would force them to adapt. The name Polemic Progressivism derives from one such nearly ideal condition: a state of war, since people either adapt, or if they fail, die or become conquered subjects of the victor. However, a state of war is not ideal, because the concept is that progress is important, and if people die, some progress that might have materialized does not happen, which leads to the second aspect of Polemic Progressivism, the philosophy's disdain for material constraints (e.g. money.), and hence its partial rejection of capitalism.
 * 1) There is no perfection, only progress. The personification of perfection is defined as God.
 * 2) Conflict means unsatisfactory condition.

Polemic Progressivism rejects capitalism and peace because it lacks several aspects: a polemic progressive society would ensure survival of people, since death leads to loss of potential progress, as well as the capitalism's tendency (or, at least how Kallisto et al. saw it) to embrace the other end of the progress axis: entropic regression, cited by examples of people at peace: Romans, Abbasids, Chinese, etc, each cases leading to a state where a lax state of warfare led to luxury, and thus growing moral depravity, and more so, lack of progress since people are content and happy under the said status, and thus little conflict of a priority to resolve. Hence Polemic Progressivism embraces the initial premise of redistributive societies, without embracing the goal, since making people content materially leads to a lack of conflict, and thus no progress is made. This is also the reason why competitions are embraced by the Church members, since competition leads to adaptation, if the opponents are formidable to a point where conflict arises regarding the current state of training.

Religious Organization

 * Chaplain: All Households adhering to the faith is to have a Chaplain that should be near or at the top of the household in terms of skills. The Chaplain's primary role is to chant catechisms glorifying pursuit of skills, while demonizing romance. A Chaplain is recommended to have mastered Logic, since being able to pass down skills will considerably help with the tenure as a Chaplain. Kallisto is the Chaplain of the Union of the Insane. In case that the household is an initiate household, the household can have a Lochagos in lieu of an chaplain.


 * Missionary: One is required for an household's application to be listed in the Evangelic branch of the Meris Sophiston. A Missionary's role is to spread the word, and as such is the exception to the general indifference to Charisma. Missionaries are allowed breaks on academic development, although a Missionary should have a wide array of skills before taking on the role. Eurydike is the Missionary of the Union of the Insane.


 * Inquisitor: although not required, having an Inquisitor is highly recommended, since it is the role of the Inquisitor to screen the household for any traces of heresy, Woohoo, Romance, or excessive partying for the sake of partying. Inquisitor should be very skilled, at least near the skill level of the Chaplain, and should have not engaged in romances whatsoever. Kallistrata is the Inquisitor of the Union of the Insane.

Passages
The codex itself is divided into several books, each book having a specific trait:

Book I: Declaration and the premise of the religion.

Book II: Role models and recorded history of places as they know it.

Book III: Condemnation and enumeration of heresy, starting from romance to luxury not directed towards skill learning

Book IV: Praise of virtues, exhortation to faithful

Book V and VII: Quotations and prophecy

Book VI: Geography and musings regarding socioeconomic development of regions

Book VIII: Kallisto's history and observations

Book IX: Amendments

Codicil III-XXXI-xiv: "Heresy grows from romances: a moment of laxity towards romance will generate chaos, and a lifetime of turmoil. Henceforth it is our duty to stay away from the blasphemous activities that will please only the dark powers, as well as to lead others away from that, leading them towards the light of academic monasticism."

Codicil IV-XCVI-xx: "Chastity and celibacy are great virtues, and combined with polymathy, makes good man. Religion is certainly not mandatory, though a presense of it does not make a man any lesser: It is perfectly permissible for a nonbeliever of Alexandreian faith to be a good man, but it is also possible for an adherent of the Alexandreian faith to be just as good. The heretics bash our Alexandreian faith: We shall perservere: it is our duty, our birthright, and our priviledge, our rights. All remember, heresy grows from romances."

Codicil VII-XXV-iii: "Praise Megas Alexandros: Even though it was the Barbaros Augustus that created the image of Megas Alexandros, we shall always honor Alexandros' ingenuity and ambitions. Keep in mind, Alexandros had his heretical streak: be vigilant about it and keep the heretical thoughts of Woohoo and alcohol out of your mind. Help out the partying clubs if you gain from it, but do not assist them just because one requested it: for helping out such camps will help spread heresy."

Codicil VII-C-x: "And one day shall come a champion who will fight and cleanse the world of heresy."

Codicil VIII-II-xx: "There is a void: that void seeks only to consume, destroying what little structure most households have: We've seen enough: We know it and have engraved it in our souls: The great void that is romance tears households apart: How can any of us keep doing these even when untold households fell apart because of it?"

Codicil VIII-III-ii to v: "The dark voice keeps calling for the victims: when it clutches one: the victim feels euphoric, only to find that it was meaningless, only to see the ruins of the household left by the madness of romance. iii ) I am no stranger to deaths of households: Scholars' Alliance was my home: but when the foul corruption of romance had a grip on that forsaken house, I did not hesistate to establish a new household in time of need: by my hand my beloved household declined. iv): Scholars' Alliance's secrets lie solely within me, and so shall it dissipate with me: whether I am victorious in my crusade to destroy romance or fall trying, there will be no end to the crusade of penance. v) Such is the testimony of Kallisto Syrakosia, Chaplain of the 1st Chapter of Meris Sophiston, Defender of households, Champion of chastity, bane of illusory pleasures, and the disciple to Megas Alexandros."



Reformation
After the enactment of the reformation, the household immediately went through a wholescale reformation, starting from the house itself. They started afresh, fully extending the barrack-style organization for the bedrooms themselves, devoting most space to housing skill related items. The surface, or F1 consists of the mess hall, the kitchen atrium, the main hall with its bars for mixology practice, as well as the gymnasion complete with a pool and martial arts equipments. B1 floor consists of the main skill room, housing multiple invention tables, easels, sculpting tools, chemistry lab and the nectar maker. B2 floor consists of the Chapel itself, as well as the library and the Childrens' section, while the B3 floor is the actual living quarters, complete with a secondary pool and the conference chamber.

With the codex implemented, Kallisto Syrakosia took the role of the Chaplain, and scheduled to have a service every sunday. Eurydike on the other hand was chosen to be the emissary considering her Charisma skills, something that the other members lacked. Kallistrata was not yet given a religious role, although Kallistrata is considered for a role as an Inquisitor to stomp out romance before it causes any problems. Hypatia is currently the Canoness, although alongside Eurydike she's put on a watch by Kallisto and Kallistrata due to their involvement in romantic affairs. However, even with the reformation, they weren't completely ascetic: they simply had too much wealth, and they decided to use the wealth to host parties and establish structures in hopes of getting converts.

Later on, Kallisto pushed for the concept of Initiates households: young Initiates would be sent off with a more experienced disciple, in return the Lochagos (the experienced disciple leading the others) would be promised a membership in the main caste. Hypatia was against it, because Kallisto was obviously wanting to get Eunike and Demetrios off so Kallisto can get Lysistrata in, but Hypatia's objection was overidden: Eurydike and Antigone did not vote against Kallisto (and Kallistrata)'s position, and so Epaphroditos (who was essentially Kallisto's pet then) offered to be the Lochagos, and Kallisto funded the construction of another Naos-Strapedon for them to live in. Having made room, Lysistrata moved in as if it was almost planned, and Stratonike eventually took up Kallisto's offer and moved in.

However, Hypatia's resentment gradually recedes with her quick reestablishment of friendship with Stratonike and Lysistrata: the bond that was in the first Union was once again established, and both Stratonike and Lysistrata found Kallistrata a nice new addition to the household, since Kallistrata supplied the Union with the best nectar they ever seen. Stratonike and Lysistrata both benefited from the propagation of logic mastery: the tutors, Hypatia, Kallisto, and Kallistrata having all mastered the Skill Professor Challenge, allowed them to quickly close the gap, and in case of Lysistrata, qualify her to join the Core members caste.

Monetary Status
The Union of the Insane has a strong financial base: first, they own just about all businesses in the region, and maintains the Amphitheatron which also generates a small revenue, as well as the most lucrative business, the Playcourt Lounge built by Kallistrata before her affiliation with the Union of the Insane, as well as the nectary Oinopolis, built by Kallisto despite the current antagonization of the name Oinopolis since it means "Wine city" and alcohol is heresy. Secondly, the members having mastered many skills also practice their trade for quite a sum, Kallistrata sculpting for free as well as her contribution to the Nectar making school, being the creator of the best nectar in the neighborhood called the Nectar of the Throne of Pella. Thirdly, Hypatia is the #1 when it comes to salary, earning more than 1k per hour, resulting in near 15k per week. Lastly and most importantly is the Tiberium, easily accessible since the Union developed the seed tiberium and sprayed them on less occupied places.

Localization and Amendments
Eventually, however, the Union of the Insane stands as two separate households: the Sunset Valley Chapter, consisting of Eurydike, Hypatia, and Lysistrata and the Hekatonschoinos Chapter, made up of Kallisto, Kallistrata, Stratonike, Antigone, and Chrysanthema, as well as the Initiate division household consisting of Demetrios, Epaphroditos, Eunike, and with their migration to Hekatonschoinos, joined by Kallistrata's Mathetai including Immanuel Ames.

With the growing of the church members and the growing skills, the likes of Thornton and Epaphroditos now demanded some say in the church matters, and Kallisto was more than willing to accomodate their demand for representation. With that, Kallisto ordered the 2nd Council to form, discussing representation of the lesser members with some skills, and came up with the first amendment to the Codex, later to be codified in the Codex itself in the 9th book of the codex: in fact, the 9th book would be specifically reserved for amendments: a lesser member or the disciples weren't barred from calling for action in the first place, but with the 2nd Council, the right of the disciples to call for new action would be specifically enumerated, although they are still barred from making changes to the codex itself without a core member sponsor. With it came the further division of the disciple class itself, dividing them further to the youth disciples without any political representation, youth disciples defined as all childs and teens who have not yet taken the oath of allegiance and met the 40 point technical skill threshold and the regular disciples, teens having met both requirements and the adults.

The second aspect of the 2nd Council was the nature of the Church itself: it was planned as a separate community for those devoted to academic pursuits with disdain for romance (despite Kallisto's earlier declaration against romance at Sunset Valley), but now started to go towards the path of influencing the larger community as a whole, and the role of Missionary grew much more important, to a point where Antigone was training to be one.

With the other amendments came the darker side of the new philosophy/religion: it also hinted at the creation of an inquistorial body to patrol and root out heresy (i.e. romance). In Sunset Valley, such thoughts are unthinkable since the religion is not one embraced or supported by the majority, no, not even a significant portion of the population. But such was not the case with Hekatonschoinos: it was exclusively settled to be that one city without romance, and as such, Kallisto and the likeminded had no intention of letting heresy bloom right in front of their own capital world. "No way, Jose," declares Kallisto. "We aren't going to stand there and let those stupid heretics spread heresy and destroy households, cause chaos, and prevent successful development."

Internationalism
The Hekatonschoinos chapter eventually paid a visit to China: the initial reason was to purchase cookbooks native to China, but soon Stratonike took an ell when given an inch. Stratonike already possessed a level 2 visa when Stratonike paid a long-awaited visit to China where Stratonike died of (and rose again from) a meteor. Immediately did Stratonike took the children to visit the marketplace, and the children ate dim sums, a most welcome thing as they were hungry from the trip. Stratonike then purchased the cookbooks and immediately took the tasks assigned by the locals, mostly menial tasks. However, all changed when Stratonike was given the task to find the Pangu's axe: Stratonike disarmed traps, dived in wells, and stepped on invisible activation panels and eventually acquired the Pangu's axe. With the power, Stratonike smashed rocks at will, and eventually gained the level 3 Visa. However, the truly important part was that in the process of getting the quest itself, Stratonike was to befriend plenty of the locals, some of them impressed by the new religion.

Not only that, Stratonike used the visa to acquire a vacation house, and by doing so, paved the way for the religion to seep into China.

Core Members


They are the core members, noted by high skills requiring mastery of at least one skill and significant proficiency at logic, invention, and/or handiness. They are all level 5 celebrities, although they do not stress that. A secondary unifying traits of the core members that are not required is the fact that they have minimal bust size. Lysistrata, despite not meeting the definition, stays here in this segment because Lysistrata was accepted as one before the adoption of the codex.

After the enactment of Kallisto's codex, the definition was now set to having 70 or more points in skills, and at least 60 points of that on technical skills (that is, not musical or charisma). The names in bold font are those who are defined as one with the new definition.


 * Kallisto Syrakosia, the co-founder
 * Stratonike Attalida, the co-founder (Former, Rejoined)
 * Lysistrata Amphipolita, an invited founding member (Former, Rejoined)
 * Eurydike Alkmaionida, an invited founding member
 * Hypatia Pydnaia, a refugee member, considered core by skill level.
 * Kallistrata Pellaia, a slightly warped clone of Kallisto.
 * Antigone Syrakosia, Kallisto's clone (Promoted)

Peripheral Members
They are the part of the disciple class, not having the skill set to break the threshold to be admitted to the core member class.
 * Demetrios Pydnaios: Hyperia's stepson, sent off to the Initiate Division household.
 * Eunike Pydnaia: Demetrios' imaginary friend turned real, sent off to the Initiate Division household.
 * Epaphroditos Pydnaios: Hyperia's simbot, sent off to the Initiate Division household as a Lochagos.
 * Stephanophoros Syrakousia, Kallisto's 5th simbot. (Former)
 * Chrysanthema Pellaia Kinnamomona, Kallistrata's current resident disciple.

Trivia

 * The Union of the Insane always had a Water sign majority, Hyperia, Kallisto and Eurydike (along with Antigone before the warping, and later on Kallistrata) were of the water signs, and never had a fire-sign sim. In fact, before the split and the adoption of Demetrios there were no air sign sims either.
 * While most houses only need one stereo to get the sound across, the old house of the Union of the Insane required two stereos with the connect speakers to the house upgrade to get the sound to all corners of the house. This issue is not present in the new Chapel-Barrack style house.
 * By skill, the Union of the Insane Member rank by skill is as follows, data from December 5th:
 * 1) Kallisto Syrakosia, 137 points
 * 2) Kallistrata Pellaia, 135 points
 * 3) Hypatia Pydnaia, 133 points
 * 4) Stratonike Attalida, 126 points
 * 5) Eurydike Alkmaionida, 114 points
 * 6) Antigone Syrakosia, 113 points
 * 7) Lysistrata Amphipolita, 96 points