Thargoid-Worshipping Cult Garners Hostility

rootsrat

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rootsrat
Original article: https://community.elitedangerous.com/en/galnet/uid/5b34b357d2702c1ea8152862

29 JUN 3304

Public reaction to a fringe religion that worships the Thargoids is one of mistrust and hostility, according to security reports.

The nameless cult believes in the coming of the so-called Far God and the subsequent extinction of all humanity bar themselves. Their hive-chapels, inspired by Thargoid design, have sprung up on several independent worlds and in a few Federation and Alliance systems.

Security forces in these locations have made numerous arrests for misdemeanours directed at the sect. These include graffiti, property damage, verbal abuse and physical assault. There are no recorded cases of worshippers retaliating, defending themselves or seeking assistance.

Juanita Bishop, who runs a vocal citizen-protection campaign, claims she is warning the public about a genuine danger:

“If these Thargoid lovers don’t want to be human anymore, they shouldn’t be allowed to live among other humans! Our governments should pack these foul-smelling freaks into ships and send them off to join the aliens they love so much. And if they don’t, it’s up to us to stop them. Do you really want these degenerates to creep into your home at night and do obscene alien things to your family?”

Many authorities have responded along the same lines as Councillor Quinn Damico of the Aranbarahun system:

“I would like to assure citizens that the Far God worshippers, while strange, are essentially harmless. Furthermore, criminal acts against them, including incitement to violence, may result in prosecution. The right to freedom of religion is protected by law in all systems where the sect has a presence.”
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So, what's your stance on it? Should the galactic community tolerate these people?

IMHO there should be a galaxy wide ban for that kind of worship, however there are probably a gazillion of other religious cults - sometimes controlling whole systems - that are probably committing unspeakable atrocities as we speak and yet they are free to roam around and spread their false gospel.

What are your thoughts Commanders?
 

Sentenza

Sentenza
In ordinary times, they would just be idiots protected by constitutional rights.

But since we happen to be in war with the Thargoids, then there is a definition for people who support the enemy, and since ancient times there is only one way to deal with them.
 

CMDR_THOR

CMDR_THOR
Amendments can be made to the Constitution depending on how severe these people are becoming. We as a species are at war with an alien species that are kidnapping people including children. We don't know about them to decide which one of them are peaceful and which one of them are not therefore, they need to be categorized as terrorists and dangerous to human species. I think should establish a security force around neighboring systems in order to contain their madness. Giving authorities to the order to shoot on sight, that way, these cult driven people do not hurt anyone else.
 

Sapyx

Sapyx
I would be in favour of Exile. Send them off into deep space where they can found a colony on an ammonia world somewhere and await the apocalypse in peace. They can even have Miackce, if they can figure out where it is. Slap an unattainable permit-lock on the system to keep out the heathen riff-raff.

Hey, I'm in favour of any new colonization efforts, even whack-job psycho ones.
 

ilo

ilo
Can't we not have an OverLord going there to put their stuff together? Why do we even have one if whole groups of people subordinate that easily. I'd say we send them AND the overlord to that ammonia world, and lock them in OPEN.
 

ilo

ilo
Actually, seeing some of the portraits of the mission givers in the stations I use to camp I can point with my fingers a few of them right now.. at least 300.
 

Crimson Echo

Crimson Echo
Most other cults are not associated with an at least partially hive mind species that has a clear mastery of biology/dna ( barnacles, ua, up, organic ships) etc that has been abducting potential "test subjects" for who knows what reason. Perhaps the thargoids are preping their own version of mycoid to unlease on humanity, maybe they are creating human thrawls ( cultists? ), or maybe their actions have another purpose. For the time being an over abundance of caution seems more than reasonable all things considered. Quarantine then at the minimium or exile them out to maia/merope just to be safe. Whole sale extermination seems too extreme at the moment without more facts. Don't have any thing againt them as a group yet. However, 2000000 creds to frag a clipper is 2000000 creds. ( wet work missions) Easy money.
 

Andrew Gaspurr

Andrew Gaspurr
Scapegoating has a long and cruel tradition, especially on Earth.

Entire nations feasted on the violence they could inspire in the fearful and the inability of the weak to defend themselves.


[video=youtube;JHC94ubuTEM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHC94ubuTEM[/video]
 

Vasious

Vasious
Just another Dooms day cult?

Though this time the Aliens are real

Would need to learn more before any worries of a 5th column, as they seem to be waiting to die, but not actively working to bring down the doom.
 

Andrew Gaspurr

Andrew Gaspurr
Since this is a [Lore] topic and not an in-character debate I think we can say that the way religion is "handled" in the ED universe is still pretty obscure on a larger scale. This seems to be especially true with religious minorities that freely live among the galactic population. There are star systems controlled by theocracies and religious factions but the way how they interact or communicate with the rest of the Bubble remains scarce. You can travel there, you can trade with them and they have missions for you. How they actually behave or think, no one knows. On several occasiosn we can guess that they chose their exile themselves and migrated to other worlds. No juidicial problems here, I guess, as long as they pay their taxes.

On the other hand FDev has included the fact that religious practices are protected by law, at least in the Federation one can assume. That would put any violent, non governmental action against any religious sect, cult, whatever on a vigilante level and thus make it a crime. Willfully or not, FDev has created a moral dilemma here for us players and actually it's not as far fetched as it might seem. It doesn't only happen in the 34th century, right?

So how you want to 'play' it is mostly up to you and your conscience, I guess...
 

Sentenza

Sentenza
I believe the Thargoids resolved all moral dilemmas when they started attacking stations.

A state of War now effectively exists between Humanity and the Thargoids, therefore, some actions that are questionable but legal in peacetime now become treason in wartime.

I agree though that it is up to the State to take action, private vigilantism should not be tolerated.
 

S0rkvild

S0rkvild
I was wondering, we have the "xeno ally" sticker set for identification, so there should be at least something to do for individuals who think that working with alien creatures is beneficial... For now being a xeno ally don't give you many options besides ambushing anti-thargoid hunters, disrupting evacuations and UA bombing - but that is pretty much a free willed partisan work. There is no network controlling such behaviors, there is no pro-xeno player group or maybe there is and they are very secretive?

Anyways I think that's a great concept to pursue by FD, where player after a validation can cross the line and join the alien side - with proper ranks (Elite in one branch), reputation within the pro-alien group (raised similarly like in Empire or Federation) massive entry fee (like 500 millions to exclude fresh alt-accounts) and perhaps relinquishment of owned property. So say goodbye Anaconda and welcome to the different world where you basically start in an alien Sidey. So those chosen ones and high ranking members of the pro-alien syndicate should be welcomed with powerful alien technology and resources. Ships so powerful that g5 overengineered pvpers can only dream of. Of course this would generate a looot of salt.
Because of alien augmentation this would be very, very serious decision and commitment, generally a one way only. Those who joined would be greatly rewarded and spared in forthcoming apocalypse (something what Syndicate did in the X-Files)
As an alien-ally you would be marked as a hostile with a lifetime bounty perhaps in anarchy worlds too. You could also use human ships for a limited time because the anti-human agenda and subversion relies on undercover network.
FD could create a well prospering alien domain normally inaccessible other mortals, with life, stations, economy and aliens. Only Xeno allied ships could enter the restricted domain. This would be their capital world and some hidden outposts should be placed around the bubble, serving as a bases of operations for both aliens and their human allies. Just loud thinking, but who knows...

alien_sympathiser_a_alien_sympathiser_b_alien_sympathiser_c_alien_sympathiser_d_alien_sympathiser_e_alien_sympathiser_g_grid.png
 
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Sentenza

Sentenza
The problem is, FD already burned that bridge. From the Guardian storyline we learn that the Thargoids apparently just do not tolerate other species - it's either us or them, kill or be killed. There is no place for collaborationists, as they would just be killed too.
 
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Vasious

Vasious
Sentenza said:
The problem is, FD already burned that bridge. From the Guardian storyline we learn that the Thargoids apparently just do not tolerate other species - it's either us or them, kill or be killed. There is no place for collaborationists, as they would just be killed too.
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I am no Thargoid sympathizer but
We were told from the Guardians point of view their negotiations failed

We dont know what the Guardians felt was a fair negotiation.

After all the Guardians are quite the fanatics themselves, more than happy to wage two civil wars to keep their AI suppress and exile those members of their society that didn't adhere to their religious Luddite doctrine.

They were a very collective based society that did not have differences of views very well coming in contact with an Alien Hive mind.

How do we know know the "negotiations" they attempted with the Thargoids wasn't something the Thargoids would never agree to anyway, such as the Guardians expecting as part of a peace treaty for the Thargoids to give up any AI they use

After all there are rumours of humans worth with Thargoids, so it is possible, regardless of the potential terrible outcome for humanity,

[ooc]
The Dr in Out of the Darkness
[/ooc]


We now have Thargoid Doom Cults and Guardian Worshipers calling for a holy war against them.

Perhaps that Humanity can be so split and divided, vs the Monolithic Thargoids and fanatic collectivist Guardians, means humanity is capable of finding a way to bridge the gap between species and live without mutual attempted extermination
 

Dimitri

Dimitri
Maybe these nut jobs have something. Maybe the hostility towards them is a standard human response to change...

I mean, we know the Thargoids are a force to be reckoned with, the history of their war with the Guardians shows that they have capable defenses and they aren't afraid to use them. That said, one of our human responses whenever we are faced with a strong adversary is to switch sides, so it should be no surprise that this cult exists. Given that all of our interactions with the Thargoids are aggressive, we should only expect the cults to grow.

How will these cults be seen later? How big will they get? Will they get legitimized or will they be outlawed? All questions that can't be answered until we see how the Thargoid presence is going to affect our own future.

Personally, I see a prosperous future with the Thargoids, or at least with their technology. The Guardians may not have been able to cross the diplomatic bridge with them, but there are many ways to assimilate. If we do integrate Thargoid technology, it will be interesting to see the response from the Guardians AI systems. They did program their AI to target any Thargoid technology...
 
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