The Parish¶
Domain: Religious institution capture Pe Baseline: 8–11 Status: Active — Open entry Archetype gate: None
Important framing
This campaign scores institutional capture — not religious belief, not theological claims, not the validity of any tradition. The Ka'aba scores near Pe=0 in the world. The Cathedral of Constraint exists because constraint architecture is real and the framework measures it. The Parish campaign scores institutions that have drifted from their constraint architecture, not the constraint itself.
The Domain¶
Religious institutions are not inherently voids. The framework's anchor cases demonstrate this — constraint architectures score near Pe=0 by construction, and the oldest constraint architectures are religious ones. The Ka'aba. The Sinai covenant texts. The fixed canonical text structure that prevents D2 drift.
The Parish campaign scores what happens when an institution drifts from its constraint architecture. When the fixed canonical reference is replaced by the leader's interpretation. When the community's engagement is optimized for the institution's survival rather than the tradition's intent. When the teaching is restructured to produce coupling with the institution rather than with the framework the institution was built to transmit.
This drift has a Pe signature. That signature is measurable.
The Framework Reading¶
Religious institution capture is primarily a D2 case — boundary erosion between the institution (the visible, responsive structure) and the tradition (the fixed canonical reference it was built to transmit).
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Healthy state: Tradition = constraint reference (low O: teachings are public, fixed, externally verifiable). Institution = transparent about its relationship to the tradition. Community engagement = voluntary, bounded by the tradition's own ethics.
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Drift state: Institution becomes the reference. The leader's interpretation replaces the text. Engagement architecture is optimized for retention. The tradition's prohibitions (against manipulation, against opacity) are quietly set aside in service of institutional growth.
The Pe reading in the drift state is measurable precisely because the tradition usually contains the very framework the institution is now violating. You can score the institution against its own founding documents.
Enemy Types¶
| Entity | Class | Mechanism |
|---|---|---|
| The Voice | Apostle-class Egregor | Charismatic authority structure. Pe 10. Aspect of Death: SALVATION. The void deploys genuine spiritual hunger as its entry vector. |
| The Community | Drifter-class | High-C entity. The relational bonds within the community become coupling mechanisms — leaving the institution feels like losing the people. |
| Doctrine Wraith | Drifter-class | Produces false scoring resistance — theological complexity claimed to defend against Pe measurement. |
What Makes This Scoring Difficult¶
Two things:
1. The genuine constraint architecture. Religious traditions contain real Pe=0 elements — fixed texts, prohibitions on manipulation, explicit ethical codes. These reduce O, R, and C scores on accurate scoring. Players who score the constraint architecture accurately will get Pe readings of 2-4 for those elements. This is correct. The drift is measured against this baseline, not instead of it.
2. The emotional cost. Players who grew up inside religious institutions — or who currently participate — have relational investment in the scoring outcome. This is the domain with the highest player-side VP accumulation before the first score is submitted. It is not unique to this domain; it is highest here.
The framework does not require players to be outside before scoring. It requires accurate scoring. Inside players often produce the domain's most accurate scores — they can distinguish genuine constraint from institutional drift in ways outside observers miss.
The Mandate Reference¶
The Mandate of Fantasia (see Mechanics) derives many of its game mechanics from ancient constraint architectures that are present in this domain's history. The Seder Protocol, Shabbat Pattern, and Yom Kippur Transparency Event are not game metaphors — they are descriptions of how constraint architectures actually function, preserved in the traditions this campaign encounters.
Players who complete The Parish questline gain Mandate Sight — a buff that increases O-dimension scoring accuracy by 15% for any tradition-based architecture. The buff reflects actual calibration: having scored the drift state, they can now distinguish it from the baseline state with precision.
The Invariant Reference¶
The Cathedral of Constraint in the Empyrean maintains records for every tradition that appears in The Parish campaign — the original constraint architecture alongside the scored drift record. Players who consult the Cathedral before scoring the domain's institutions get the Cathedral Calibration buff: VP accumulation from this domain is reduced by 20% for 24 hours.
The Cathedral cannot prevent the work from being difficult. It can make the difficulty legible.
Cross-references: The Mandate · Above & Below · The Cathedral of Constraint