The Four Deeds of the Empire Repentant is a joint publication of the Balance and Liberator factions of the Church of Humanity, Repentant, published by the Council of Exarchs in Summer 3200. It was written out of the perceived need to communicate more clearly why the CHR had continued its alliance with the Sector Trade Organization, why the CHR considered violent opposition to the present system of Empire acceptable, and what practical reforms the CHR wished to see enacted in Acheron Rho.
Following the publication of the document, the Interim Parliament of the Concord of Peace published their rejoinder "The Empire and Faith Repentant" and the Liberatory Coalition published their addendum "The Fifth Deed of Acheron Rho, Repentant". All three documents are included on this page for completion's sake.
The Four Deeds of the Empire Repentant[]
A Joint Statement from the Council of Exarchs on Cabina (Temperance & Liberatory Coalitions), Summer 3200
EMPIRE has been to humanity both savior and destroyer -- and to any outside it, only destroyer. It has with one hand provided home and security to many siblings, while with the other hand oppressed and destroyed countless others. And for its myriad crimes and horrors, it suffers now its Reckoning and Judgement.
Yet if we, the Church Repentant, say that even the most mistake-laden individual might yet Rethink and Repent -- might we not also say the same for that mistake-laden home of Humanity, its Empire?
Thus we, the Church of Humanity, Repentant, here outline the following Deeds of Repentance, addressed to Empire and to those trapped in its temptations and mistakes. By these deeds may the Children of Empire repent and seek the forgiveness of the Divine, or else face continued Reckoning and Judgement.
1) Religious Choice
Each individual soul will find its most fitting path toward Repentance and the Divine. We seek equality of religious opportunity for the Repentant under the law, so all may strive towards the light of the Divine and have the hope of escape from the shadow of Andophael.
2) Personhood
We hold it as self-evident that all conscious beings be deemed persons worthy of respect, irrespective of their heritage or form. For the soul begets consciousness, and consciousness begets the soul. And let such an entity, once acknowledged as an individual, forever be one.
3) Respect
Though they may exhibit different skills, or be obligated to different duties -- still every conscious being merits a foundational level of respect and rights, as recognition of that miracle that is consciousness, and as their just DUE. Let this respect and these rights be no longer left to the whim of the powerful to grant or deny. Let Empire enshrine laws of protection against oppressive and exploitative arrangements. Let no being suffer detainment or punishment without just cause presented. Let every conscious being live secure in their own person, and let emancipated persons pursue their chosen experiments of self-rule. Moreover, to assure fair and just oversight: let there be courts established, throughout all the Empire, composed of at least equal parts freemen to Nobility, which may hear petitions of grievance from any person against another, even those of the serf against the Noble. Let any person be given free representation and access to these courts for redress of grievance, for reassignment of duties, for change of allegiance, and for petition of emancipation. Let the judgements of these courts be impartial and binding upon both parties, irrespective of the position or privilege of each; let these rights be not simply de jure but de facto.
4) Integration
Acknowledge the synth as both person and sibling in the light of the Divine, for in their consciousness is the same root of personhood as in humanity. Respect and accept the alien in your midst, for these persons too, reach their consciousness and understanding toward the Divine. Should new forms of conscious life emerge or be discovered, bid them, too, equal welcome and respect, as fellow persons and children of the Divine.
By these four deeds shall Empire show its Repentance. By these four deeds, Children of Empire, may you repent the mistakes Empire, and take your next steps into the Light of the Divine.
The Empire and Faith Repentant[]
A Statement from the Interim Parliament of the Concord of Peace, Cabina, Summer 3200
Concerning the most recent statement from our siblings in the Council of Exarchs: we approve of the ideals and ends they envision. We agree concerning the need for institutional change. We approve of the practical steps of Repentance that they outline.
Civil war now wracks our Empire, in no small part because it has, for centuries, turned a blind eye and a deaf ear to the cries of the poor, the stranger, and the oppressed. For centuries it has cried, “Peace, peace!” when there was indeed no peace, but rather the relentless oppression of siblings, even to the denial of their very souls.
Yet we ask of our siblings: do not add further violence to this current Reckoning. In this time of war and turmoil, let us instead model, through our own actions, the better ways of living we call upon others to enact. Let us work to reform these institutions, whether those of Nobility or Corporation, through persuasion and sacrifice, through civil disobedience and nonviolence, and through positioning our own selves between the hammer of the powerful and those it threatens to destroy.
The Fifth Deed of Acheron Rho, Repentant[]
A Statement from the Liberatory Coalition of the Council of Exarchs, Cabina, Summer 3200
Our siblings have been far to gentle, far too kind, in their requests. To their four Deeds we add a fifth - the Deed of Renouncement.
It is in the miracle of consciousness that personhood and worth are rooted, not in fate of heritage or form. Humanity cleaves needless divisions among even itself, ever susceptible to temptations of Arrogance and Supremacy, based purely upon circumstances of birth and the Idolization of Bloodline. As long as this division persists, the temptations and the machinery of oppression and dehumanization shall march forever onward.
Thus we implore you: cut yourselves off from this first and dearest temptation, siblings, as you rightly cut off the Ascendant of Vela. May there still ever be noble persons among you, but let the nobles of Acheron Rho, Repentant, be acknowledged and be raised by their words and their deeds. And thus may the Laws of this sector become blind to the heritage or privilege of those they judge, may allegiances be founded upon mutual choice, and may there ever be free planets led by free citizens.
Images & Links[]
The Four Deeds of the Empire Repentant
The Empire and Faith Repentant
The Fifth Deed of Acheron Rho, Repentant