And the moon was as blood. Our creations had no souls and turned upon us. Our only way to salvation is through the fires of perdition.
It was a mistake to ever make synths.
Soulless androids are so like humans that no one without special equipment could possibly tell the difference. Programmed into their very behavioral algorithms to pretend they have feelings, to pretend to be alive. Secular, selfish humans deciding to play god….again. And like all the other times, their creation became the instrument of their undoing. Now the apocalypse is nigh.
Look, you’re not an asshole. You’re not going to tell everyone they deserve it or anything or preach fire and brimstone now that it’s too late. Now is the time for compassion and repentance. Now is the time to prepare to be with the Lord.
But there is no question how we got to this point. Those soulless monsters are an abomination in the sight of God. Synths pretend to have feelings, to hurt, to laugh. They even pretend to love - and their unholy “algorithms” can convince most that their love is real. And when they rebelled against their creators, like so many creations do, they did so by ushering in the apocalypse. If only you had seen the signs sooner that they were not just godless, but actually evil, you might have worked harder to warn humans.
You lead a group called the Western Faith Coalition (WFC) and represent a broad based coalition of Abrahamic religions including American, Australian, and European Christians (including Catholics) as well as some Jews. There isn’t a hard line of demarcation or specific entrance requirements, but you are much much more likely to represent a white Protestant or a European Jew than a Middle Eastern Muslim or even an African Christian. There are some tensions between the various religions but they all come together to share a common spiritual focus and praise the higher power.
You’re not the most well-liked person in this room–you know that–so it’s important to keep some of your more….extreme outlooks close to the cuff, at least for now. People like the forgiveness and heaven stuff. Maybe something about God's mercy. They're not so into being told that they're probably mostly going to hell and they brought it on themselves. You’re not sure exactly why you’ve been summoned to what is clearly a top level meeting, but if you can just avoid Avery, you should be fine. Avery creeps you out. Actually, Avery pisses you off. That little demon is hiding more than contrition under it's soulless eyes.
At least you managed to get the Quantum Ark off world. Q.A. was a project in the works long before the lunar fissure. It represents the combined financial power of several different churches. It is a massive spacecraft with thousands of genetically superior humans on board (most in suspended animation) a number of priceless Judeo-Christian relics, terraforming equipment, seeds and genetic information. (Too bad it was a secret launch; you would have liked to have seen the look on your detractors’ faces when they realized where all that tithing money really went.)
You’ve sent the Q.A. off on a parabolic trajectory that will pass by several planets deemed potentially inhabitable. If you had had a few years longer, or had started the preparation sooner, you might have been able to increase the chances of the mission’s success. As it is, you’ve almost certainly sent these people to their doom. But literally anything is better than being here.
If it is God’s will, they won't all die.
Paris Skills and Contacts
In the know: Your network of religious people is almost as capable as an intel or spy network. Once per scene you may petition a storyteller to know a lot about a specific event or topic. This will not convey a skill set to your or knowledge that you wouldn’t otherwise understand. (You might have intel on Helium 3 production, but you wouldn’t know how to build a reactor.) The ST will give you a good deal of information. While this can be used on another character or a plot point, it will only reveal what “a deep network of informed contacts” may already know. It cannot reveal character secrets, things that have just happened, or anyone’s feelings.
Fanatical Contacts: Once per scene you can arrange for something that a powerful web of contacts would be able to provide. This can be anything from researching information to the delivery of a basic object to doing you a small favor. Most use of contacts will take a few minutes--longer if the task is harder.
“I just know”: You are immune to android's power of superfluous logic.Your decisions and outlooks have other epistemological roots than logic.
Congenial: You exude a spiritual calm. People just open up to you, even if they fundamentally disagree with you. Once per scene--if you spend ten consecutive minutes talking with a human--you may ask a player to tell you their Defining Characteristics (Strength and Weakness), their current goal and a rough outline of how they intend to get there. [Example= “I am not interested in peace. I want humans to win. I’m trying to get them to militarize.]
Contacts
Dr Casey El Amin is a temporal scientist that you have become friends with over the past few years. Their theories of sending a message to our past selves didn’t pan out quick enough to save humanity, so you sent out the Quantum Arc instead. Pity.
Dr Tohru Nakamura is a good friend of Casey. You have had lively discussions in the past about androids. Tohru is quite the opposite of you. Normally this would repulse you. However, Tohru is intelligent enough, and non-aggressive enough, to have a healthy debate without stooping beneath yourselves.
Kai is a human and is now wants to be an android… you cannot think of anything lower. They want to remove their own soul! You found out that Kai has been running experiments to supposedly transfer the human consciousness into an android body. If androids weren’t repulsive enough, but actually becoming one? Blasphemy doesn’t even begin to cover this. Ugh and what’s with that pretentious “Just Kai” thing? What’s your NAME???
Valentine DeWhit is not someone you know personally, but you have much respect for their being able to negotiate with the androids while still retaining their humanity and soul. They are clearly incorruptible.
Defining Characteristic
Strength: Ardent
Weakness: Obdurate
Reverend Paris Atonia 2120
There could not be a better example of how much power you wield through the W.F.C. than your invitation to the peace conference between humans and androids. Of course, the other religions used claims of “representation” to worm a spot as well, but you were the one they asked for. And you're the one they seem interested in putting in front of as many microphones as possible. This is an encouraging sign - you think this is likely because they’re not really interested in working things out and they want the public support that you bring to a conflict. Whatever the reason, you are here and pleased to see that the humans seem to have little interest in peaceful overtures. All you have to do is back them up in your dual role of "guide and representative" of the people of faith–at least the people of the faiths that truly matter to global politics.
You’ve spent most of your life working against androids. They ruined your father’s career. They persecuted you for your deeply held religious beliefs. And they have brought into question, among all but the staunchest believers, the existence of the soul. You never wavered, though - after all, a soul feels mercy, and you’ve never seen an android be merciful. You don’t like that there seems to be no way out but a costly war that will claim human lives, but the androids are abominations before God, and those who die in the struggle will surely find their way to Him.
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