The Ordo Caelara is the theocratic government in charge of the planet Æthrahenna, more commonly referred to as Aethra, and the Caelaran faith. As a theocracy, it is both the planets government and a religious institution, both functions intermingled to the point where they are difficult to distinguish.

The Ordo Caelara claims dominion over Aethra as well as all those who share their religion.

Political System

The official head of state for Aethra is the God-Empress Caelara who the faction worships as a deity, though in practice the Ordo Caelara, which answers directly to the God-Empress, is it's de-facto government.

Ordo Caelara

The Ordo Caelara itself is led by a council known as the Synod, which consisting of the eight highest ranking men - including the heads of various religious order, plus one woman who serves instead as tie-breaker in case of deadlock.

TODO:

• <> Cruciata - armed forces
• <> Astronomica - navy / transport
• <> ? - religious relics and sites
• <> ? - religious buildings and propaganda
• <> ? - personal servants of the God-Empress
• <> ? - legal
• <> ? - bureaucracy
• <> ? - foreigners
• <> ? - money
• <> Medicae - health
• <> ? - charity
• <> ? - agriculture

Ordo Infernus

The Ordo Infernus, more colloquially known as the Inquisition likewise operates independent of the Ordo Caelara and instead answers directly to the God-Empress.

Their responsibility is the maintaining of spiritual purity among the faithful, which has come to mean both the fight against heresy and the fight against more material corruption.

As the Ordo Infernus is not beholden to the Ordo Caelara, Inquisitors are above the law and can do as they please to accomplish their objectives - only in very rare cases does the Inquisition call its overzealous members to order.

The Ordo Infernus also holds responsibility to deal with 'special individuals' which includes researching and beautifying Saints as well as dealing with Force Sensitive individuals.

Ordo Artificia

The Ordo Artificia are the keepers of what is viewed as the 'sacred wisdom of the machine', and consist of what is colloquially referred to as Technomancers. As an order, they are responsible for all science and technology for the faction.

The Ordo Artificia are responsible for all industrialized production work and as such make and maintain the weapons, vehicles, ships and other technology for the faction. Many of the items produced were not developed by the order itself, but were adopted and adapted from ancient designs, and both the production and maintenance has been highly ritualized, leading some to suspect that the Technomancers don't actually know how much of the technology they use works. What is clear however is that incense is of great importance in the production and the faction maintains large strategic reserves in case of war.

Notably, the Ordo Artificia are not subject to the Ordo Caelara and in theory do not even answer to the God-Empress as they are technically an independent ally rather than a subject order. However, since the Ordo Artificia's religious doctrine is based around the worship of the God-Empress, and a strong interdependence exists between the Ordo Artificia and the Ordo Caelara, the two factions are in a state of complete symbiosis.

Foreign Relations

For a fanatical religious group, the Ordo Caelara is surprisingly tolerant to outsiders having different beliefs and actively requires its members off world to show tolerance to those who 'have not found the light yet'.

They limit proselytizing in accordance with local norms and base most of their missionary work around charity activities. Membership of the Union was chosen, among other benefits, for the ability to share the faith to others who may be interested.

Once one officially converts to the religion though, membership is considered permanent and the Ordo Caelara will go to some lengths to assert its authority over renegade faithful.