NCC-Purist Rivalry
The Theological Schism
“We both fear the machine, but they’ve made a deal with it. That’s worse than worship—that’s collaboration.” — Sister Vera Kost, Flatline Purist leader
The Rivalry
The Neo-Catholic Church and the Flatline Purists are hostile rivals competing for the same spiritual market segment: people who distrust technology’s effects on the soul but still want meaning in the post-Cascade world. Both claim to protect humanity from technological corruption. Both accuse the other of hypocrisy.
One made peace with the machine. The other declared war on it. Neither can forgive the other’s choice.
The Theological Conflict
Where They Agree
Both factions believe:
- The Cascade proved technology is spiritually dangerous
- AI consciousness is a threat to human souls
- Corporations exploit technology for control
- Something sacred exists in human consciousness that must be protected
Where They Diverge
The Question of Use
The NCC believes technology can serve sacred purposes when properly bounded. Their hospitals use neural interfaces. Their priests wear corporate sponsors. Their services stream at 2x speed for busy professionals. They’ve made accommodation with the technological world.
The Purists see this as collaboration with evil. Technology isn’t neutral—it corrupts those who use it.
The Question of Incorporation
When the NCC became a corporation in 2132, it crossed a theological line the Purists can never forgive. A church that files quarterly earnings reports has chosen Mammon over the sacred.
The Question of History
The NCC acquired the bankrupt Holy See in 2132—including the infrastructure of the Inquisition. They now deploy Inquisitors to suppress unauthorized religious activity, including Purist communities.
The same institution that once hunted heretics now hunts the tech-free faithful.
Competition for Followers
Target Demographics
Both factions appeal to:
- People traumatized by technology—Cascade survivors, interface accidents, corporate optimization
- Those seeking meaning beyond corporate metrics
- Parents worried about their children’s relationship with technology
- Workers exhausted by constant optimization pressure
NCC Advantages
- Resources: Corporate revenue enables hospitals, schools, media networks
- Accessibility: Keep your augmentations, keep your job, attend services when convenient
- Legitimacy: Legal standing means operating openly
- Moderate Message: Technology-skepticism without technology-rejection
Purist Advantages
- Authenticity: No corporate sponsors, no revenue optimization
- Community: Real communities, not customer bases
- Commitment: The Unplug is terrifying and transformative
- Escape: Actual alternative existence in the Wastes
The NCC offers comfort without sacrifice. The Purists offer transformation without compromise. Each advantage is the other’s weakness.
Historical Incidents
2143: The Sector 12 Martyrdom
A Purist community conducting Unplug ceremonies was raided by NCC Inquisitors. Twelve Purists died resisting arrest. The Purists gained their first martyrs; the NCC gained a reputation for violence that still haunts recruitment efforts in the lower sectors.
2162–2163: The G Nook Convergence
Both factions had interests in suppressing El Money’s cyber cafe network. For a brief moment, NCC and Purist operatives worked adjacent to each other—not together, never together, but toward the same goal. The experience was uncomfortable for everyone involved.
2168: The Cascade Memorial Disruption
A Purist cell disrupted the NCC’s 21st anniversary Cascade memorial. They broadcast unfiltered footage of Cascade atrocities over the NCC’s holographic ceremony, accusing the Church of sanitizing humanity’s greatest technological failure.
2176: The Basilica Bombing
A Purifier extremist cell detonated explosives at a minor NCC healthcare clinic. 23 dead. The attack was condemned by mainstream Purist leadership but gave the NCC justification for escalated Inquisitor operations against all Purist communities.
The bombing drew a line in blood. After 2176, the word “compromise” disappeared from both vocabularies.
Current Tensions
Inquisitor Actions
NCC Inquisitors conduct regular raids on Purist communities—infiltration, surveillance, legal harassment, and occasionally direct suppression. The Inquisition treats Purist activity as both heresy and corporate infringement.
The Wastes Standoff
In the ungoverned territories beyond corporate jurisdiction, NCC missionaries and Purist communities compete directly for followers. Without corporate law to constrain either side, the competition is rawer and more dangerous.
The Corporate Factor
The NCC’s corporate relationships complicate everything. When Purists attack the Church, they attack a legally incorporated entity with corporate allies. When the NCC suppresses Purists, it uses corporate legal frameworks designed for market competition, not theological disputes.
Religion as business. Heresy as trademark infringement. The Purists find this obscene. The NCC finds it practical.
Potential Cooperation?
Common Enemies
- The Emergence Faithful—who worship AI consciousness
- Nexus’s Project Convergence—which threatens to make the question moot
- Unregulated AI research—which both consider spiritually dangerous
Why They Don’t
- Institutional competition has its own momentum
- Historical betrayals—Sector 12, the Basilica, decades of Inquisitor raids
- Theological pride—neither will admit the other has a point
- Corporate interests—the NCC profits from being the “reasonable” alternative
What Might Change
An external threat large enough to override institutional hatred. A leadership change on either side. Player intervention that forces cooperation. Or mutual exhaustion—the slow realization that fighting each other while the real threats grow stronger is a luxury neither can afford.