The Exalted Order of Solus

Both an organised religious institution and the bridge’s first functional governing structure, The Order of Solus formed early after the split, providing critical social cohesion to reign in the chaos of the Tribal Era.

The religious doctrine of the Order was based on a mythology known as The Skyborne Pantheon. As a governing structure, the Order was a morally dogmatic, totalitarian system lead by a hierarchy of clerics and administrators, with authority over the personal lives of citizens and the production of critical resources.

Establishment

The Order grew from one of the largest and most powerful tribes, which had taken and held a large pre-split building firthan of the Middle’s tiered gardens, in what would become the enclave of Union. By voluntarily adopting a hierarchy of command, the tribe became disciplined enough to mount a long-term defence of the building against raids from rival tribes, creating a relatively stable place to live and attracting more converts.

The mythology of the Skybourne Pantheon emerged to provide a spiritual grounding for new members, and the command structure in the group became a religious doctrine founded on these myths, which was also an effective way of preserving and communicating the laws of the tribe. The tribe began to be known as the Order of Solus, and quickly grew to be the de-facto civilising force of the late tribal era.

Compared to the tribal era, the structure offered by the Order was a welcome and necessary civilising influence, and managed to maintain order and coherence for hundreds of years. The Order monopolised the application of justice by enforcing a universal moral code, and outlawed the practice of return. It also ensured the sustainable production of food by co-ordinating and distributing the agricultural resources of the pre-split farms and greenhouses, effective founding the enclave of Conservatory. Relieved from constant infighting, the population bloomed in the early era of the Order, although strict reproductive limits were enforced to ensure that the population did not outstrip Conservatory’s ability to provide them with resources.

As life became more stable and prosperous, the Order developed ceremonies, rituals and festivals.

Doctrine of the Order of Solus

The Skybourne Pantheon provided the mythological foundation of the Order’s doctrine, which included laws for the production and distribution of food, assignment of housing, pairing and reproduction, conflict resolution and justice, and many other facets of daily life.

• Outlawing of capital punishment, vigilantism and theft
• Strong taboos on sex and reproduction
• Mandated participation in agricultural and maintenance work

Decline

Inevitably, as the power structure of the clerical order became entrenched, corruption and nepotism slowly crept in to calcify power within the hands of a few powerful families, and the share of resources produced at Conservatory became more and more inequitable in favour of the ruling class. Working citizens toiled longer and for less, dissent grew, and quality of life slowly dropped. As the populace grew more dissatisfied, the clergy of the Order became more strict and cruel to strengthen their control over the populace. The Order mutated the doctrine to justify increasing brutal tactics, eventually going as far as to reinstate the practice of return. Things got worse until the discovery of the Bridgehand in triggered a mass exodus of citizens to the firthan end of the bridge.

With the people previously having had nowhere to flee to, the Order had no need to physically constrain the movements of citizens, and was not prepared to combat the migration of citizens from the Middle. As the establishment of the Cult of the Hand attracted almost half the existing population, the Order of Solus was in crisis. The clergy saw this as a sacrilegious betrayal of their natural dominion, and sought to catch and punish those attempting to migrate out of The Middle. Calcification and complacency in the Order made it unable to effectively respond, and it frantically scrabbled to claw back control over the bridge, leading to extremely violent backlash against migrants and dissidents. While ultimately a failure, the Order continued to spitefully wage war on the Cult for several decades.

The Skybourne Pantheon

The mythology of the Order of Solus, now referred to as the Skyborne Pantheon, was centred around a group of gods and goddesses who presided over various aspects of life in the city.