Oracularity of Noerm

Government

The Oracularity of Noerm is structured as a unitary theocratic republic. It is typically classified as a semi-liberal mixed-market democracy, with low to moderate levels of corruption.

The governing body of the state is called the Oracular Conclave. It is comprised of hundreds of representatives elected by eligible voters from across the Oracularity, who vote via psionic ballot at elections. Members of the conclave elect a Listener from among their number, who is both the Head of State and Head of Government. The Conclave deliberates on policy proposals via psionics, directly sharing opinions and feelings until a telepathic consensus is reached. Local and planetary governors are elected and generally autonomous, but can be overruled at any time by the Conclave.

The Oracular Conclave and the Listener are advised on spiritual matters by the Chief Medium, who is elected by mystics and oracles belonging to registered spiritual organisations. The Chief Medium is both the supreme religious authority of the state, and responsible for advocating for state mystics and the use of divination in government policy. Another important position within the Conclave is that of the Grand Vessel, who is responsible for the construction and maintenance of automated production facilities. As befitting their role, they are afforded the largest bio-tank in Noermer society.

History

The Noerm spent most of their history in the deep underground aquifers and seas of their homeworld. With the aid of geothermal vents, they were able to develop metalworking and advanced technology. It wouldn't be until the 1700s CE that the first steam-powered mobile exploration units were created. Unlike the modern bio-tanks of today, these early vehicles were gigantic in comparison. Although bulky, they still allowed the Noerm to explore the surface of their world. The discovery of fire and the ease of construction on the surface drove their society to create smaller and more efficient surface-dwelling units. By the 1900s CE, most Noerm lived on the surface in mobile bio-tanks.

The mass migration to the surface caused political upheaval, allowing a nascent religious movement of astrologists to gain a large following. Claiming to have developed ritualistic methods based on astronomy to predict the future, 'Spirit Mediums' became popular fixtures in royal courts and democratic cabinets alike. As more Noerm lived permanently in their hermetically-sealed mobile bio-tanks, they became dependent on the fluids inside for survival. Effectively, the species had locked itself out of its original environment. The freedom afforded by the mobile bio-tanks was considered a worthy trade-off.

Research into ever better bio-tanks had the side effect of faster advances in robotics technology. Although the fragile bio-tanks precluded many types of work, simple robots were capable of carrying out manual labour on behalf of their tankbound masters. Additionally, the fragility and slow movement of the bio-tanks meant that warfare became nearly impossible to pursue. By the early 2000s CE, war had essentially been eliminated as a concept on Noerm.

With warfare a distant memory and manual labour performed by robots, intellectual pursuits became the most popular pastime. Spirit Mediums became fully legitimised, developing formalised pattern recognition and astronomical anomaly analysis methods.. It is now believed that these Spirit Mediums were at least in part psionic, as it is now known the Noermer species is highly receptive to the Shroud. By the mid-2000s CE, the planet was unified with the aid of the Spirit Mediums and their leaders, the High Astrologists. A secular government would rule Noerm, advised in matters spiritual and mundane by mystics.

Technology continued to advance across Noerm, and in the early 2200s CE, Noermer scientists developed the first hyper drive, allowing the species to expand into the stars.

Demographics

The population of the Oracularity is mostly Noermer, but unlike most other religious societies, has a substantial population of synthetic. Owing to the particulars of the Noermer history and economy, robotic workers are not entirely viewed with suspicion and mistrust. Rather, they are considered a key part of the workforce, filling in the manual labour gaps that Noermers cannot. However, artificial intelligence is strictly regulated by the government, allowed only for the military and research purposes.

Life expectancy is high in the Oracularity, particularly for Noermers. A lack of dangerous work and the protective environment of their bio-tanks means virtually all Noermers survive to old age, though life expectancy for xenos is slightly lower. Educational attainment is divided along class lines, with poorer citizens receiving public education and richer citizens higher quality private. Xenos are permitted to migrate to the Oracularity, though synthetics are prohibited from staying long-term.

Economy

The Oracularity of Noerm is a small, post-industrial, market economy. The primary sector of the economy is virtually entirely automated, operated by remote machinery and synthetic workers. Most of the Noermer population works in the services sector of the economy, though some also participate in industrial manufacturing. The largest single sector in the Noermer economy is that of production oversight, specialists trained in operating and maintaining the autonomous machinery that powers much of the economy.

A fairly unique sector of the economy is that of prediction and divination. While divining the future is considered a religious act, the rationalisation of the practice in the post-atomic age led to the practice exploding commercially. Individuals can purchase auguries from licensed practitioners, and many corporations have entire departments dedicated to predicting future business cycles.

Society

At its core, the Noermer society revolves around the Cycle. The Cycle is a 13-standard year period foretold by the most powerful High Astrologists in advance, based on stellar patterns and anomaly analysis. Despite skepticism, detailed analysis has concluded that there is a correlation between the predicted Cycle and real-world events. Some believe that the propaganda power of the High Astrologists is enough to shift behaviour patterns in accordance with a Cycle, while others argue that the collective belief in a given Cycle directly affects the psionic aura given off by the Noermer population and directly affect realspace. More recently, some psionic researchers have concluded that it is the power of major Shroud entities on the Noermer population that determine a given Cycle.

Outside of a Cycle determining overall societal growth and shrinkage, divination is critically important in day-to-day life. While divination is at the core of Noermer religion, it has been greatly secularised since its earliest days. The Oracularity itself employs an entire department of official oracles, who analyse government policy propsals to divine their chances of success or failure.

As Noermers themselves are reliant on their (relatively) fragile mobile bio-tanks to live, they are quite welcoming to xenos who can aid them in performing tasks ill-suited to their condition. Some religious Noermer believe that as xenos hail from the stars, the very things used in divination practices, they are themselves divine (or at least descended from the divine). While this is not a particularly common philosophy, it speaks to the overall Noermer viewpoint of tolerance and acceptance of xenos.

Military

The Oracularity of Noerm has a rather unique military compared to others across the galaxy. Due to the inability of the species' complex bio-tanks to perform arduous maneuvers or resist gunfire, Noemers do not have a regular army. Instead, they rely entirely on drones and combat androids to fight for them. Small cohorts of officers remain well behind the lines to control the robotic units, but these are fractions the size of even small militaries. The Oracular navy is similar, as starships only have a small crew of officers to oversee the automated processes that maintain the ships.