Prophecies of Kalistrade

Prophecies of Kalistrade

(Organization)

Type

Religious / Philosophical

Alignment

Lawful neutral

Goals

Amassing personal wealth

Scope

Pact Worlds system

Members

Merchants

Source: The Forever Reliquary, pg(s). 49

This article might have further canon details available on PathfinderWiki.

The Prophecies of Kalistrade are a pre-Gap philosophy of wealth-gathering and material success, derived from visions had by the ancient mystic Kalistrade , who espoused the accumulation of wealth over all else as a necessary preparation for some untold future event, which ends with the Kalistocrats owning the known galaxy. Followers dress only in white garments, hold to strict sexual and dietary rules, and protect themselves from making any physical contact with non-adherents.

History

The ancient prophet Kalistrade was born on Golarion, in Druma , a nation that has long lain under the dwarven jackboot. During an illness, the delirious Kalistrade received powerful visions that prompted him to leave Druma to seek spiritual enlightenment. For the next eight years, he compiled his dream visions, the Drumish tradition, lore about an old religion, and defiance toward the dwarves into what would be the basis of the Prophecies of Kalistrade. Kalistrade and his followers shaved all facial hair and drank no alcohol as a sign of belligerence, and co-opted new dwarven laws in their favour. When Kalistrade died, the Kalistocrats were ruling over a wealthy, independent nation with a powerful army.

After Kalistrade's death, his disciples debated the interpretations of his writing, creating a dozen contradicting versions. When his tomb was discovered, members from these factions communed with his soul in hopes of putting an end to their conflict. His revelations resolved many of his followers' debates and led to the foundation of the Prophecies of Kalistrade as a formal religion.

Sites

Due to a combination of pride in work, self-accountability and constant networking, most Kalistocrats reside aboard starships that travel along trade routes with their merchant fleets, keeping an eye on property and maintaining business relationships. Combined with the Prophecies of Kalistrade's individualism, Kalistocrats do not build temples in the traditional sense. Instead, they maintain a base of operations on each Pact Worlds planet (plus some others), where Kalistocrats can comfortably conduct business, and which usually masquerades as a bank, investment broker or education centre for those looking to better their lives through education, personal growth, and hard work. These locations are primarily decorated in white with extravagant golden and gem-colored accents, combined with the wealth and personal preference of the high prophet running them.

Relationships

The Prophecies of Kalistrade is not an exclusive faith and allows its adherents to worship deities whose tenets do not conflict with those of the Prophecies, as long as the Kalistocrat does not put their faith over self-reliance or hinder their path. In fact, many Kalistocrats have brought others of their faith into the Prophecies' fold.

Kalistocrats naturally have much in common with the church of Abadar and its commercial enterprises, and see the value of the connections made when serving Abadar. Kasatha and lashunta Kalistocrats often worship Talavet, for her emphasis on self-reliance and tradition, and Yaraesa, for mental perfection, respectively. Lissala, though not widely worshipped, is increasingly becoming more popular among new Kalistocrats. Sects that consider contracts and secrets as forms of wealth might also pray to Asmodeus or Nyarlathotep.

Deities that promote larceny, like Lao Shu Po and Besmara, are anathema to Kalistocrats, who can lose their entire lifetime of work to them in the blink of an eye. Pharasma no doubt knows about Kalistocrats' secret afterlife, and her faithful often intercedes on her behalf, so Kalistocrats tend to distance themselves from them.

Worship

Kalistocrats ensure that their bodies are contaminated by no impurities or diseases, since the mind can only find perfection in the fertile ground provided by a body in peak condition. Some speculate that this obsession with purity originated from how dwarves forbade Drumish men from drinking alcohol.

Foods are classified into two categories (forbidden and clean), which determine how strictly they must be avoided. Foods and items that either harm the body (especially brain chemistry), have low nutritional value and cannot be improved by cooking or processing, or are simply a nuisance to eat are forbidden. Foods with high nutritional values are pure, with the rest falling in-between. Depending on how they are prepared and consumed, some foods can be elevated from unclean to clean or clean to pure (though rarely unclean to pure), and some Kalistocrats consider food preparation to be a way of meditation.

Dietary restrictions were the subject of debates as non-humanoid creatures converted to the Prophecies of Kalistrade. In general, most Kalistocrats believe in the following rules: the consumption of pure, non-toxic, properly nutritious food, followed by cleanliness, and then its origin (whether it comes from the Kalistocrat's home planet or not). Each Kalistocrat chooses how strictly to adhere to this diet, but keeping up with the latest consensus is required to advance in the church.

Since adhering to dietary restrictions can be prohibitively expensive in space, some Kalistocrats take pride in how the can afford to set aside storage space on their ships for gardens, kitchens and livestock as needed to maintain these diets. Only the wealthiest Kalistocrats or the new initiates who have not yet settled in their diets could afford space travel, until the invention of the food synthesiser, which allows any Kalistocrat to effortlessly follow the rule. However, this lack of effort needed became problematic as some followers became reliant on them; for a time, using synthesisers was shamed, and space travel was again restricted to the richest Kalistocrats.

Eventually, orthodox Kalistocrats came to accept a specialised synthesiser, which scans the user to properly customise and infuse the nutrients needed to maintain health or correct an imbalance into a formulated meal, which requires more universal polymer bases than normal. It can also synthesise raw ingredients, which requires even more UPBs, if the Kalistocrat chooses to prepare food themselves. This ensures that the true quality of a meal stays still linked with effort, faithfulness and choice, while also providing an advantage to richer Kalistocrats.

Traditionally, Kalistocrats wear all-white clothing, which displays the purity and cleanliness of their soul. In order to avoid physical contact with impurities and other people, garments usually cover nearly the entirety of the body. In accordance with the philosophy's avoidance of waste (especially concerning personal comfort), Kalistocratic clothing tends to be simple, functional and made of silk, which is light and comfortable without being wasteful, though showing extravagance is acceptable if it gives one the upper hand.

In order to accommodate non-humanoid adherents, modern Kalistocratic clothing might incorporate magic and technology which sends various kinds of signals that can be interpreted by all sentient species as an implication of purity, something has become a calling card to let everyone identify an individual as a Kalistocrat.

One of the greatest secrets of the faith, only known to proven Kalistocrats, is that devout followers of the Prophecies of Kalistrade never undergo judgement. The traditional method, invented by Kalistrade himself, involves using occult magic to create a personal mindscape as the Kalistocrat's custom, eternal afterlife. Though this method has been lost with Golarion, modern Kalistocrats have discovered an alternate way to avoid judgement though virtual reality. Requiring an astronomical amount of computing power (usually several interconnected server banks) combined with magic, this process is a closely guarded secret that can only be afforded by the richest and highest-ranking Kalistocrats.

An alternate way, frowned upon by some factions, involves injecting trace amounts of preservatives (whose exact composition is proprietary), replacing one's flesh with a silicon compound. When the body dies, the Kalistocrat remains as a silicon mummy, and continues to do business in the shadows, lest they risk attracting the unwanted attention of Pharasmins.

In the Pact Worlds system

The Kelldor Memorial Center for Personal Enrichment, named after the pre-Gap High Prophet Kelldor , serves as the public front of the Prophecies of Kalistrade–the association between the two is an open secret. The Center advertises itself as a nonprofit organisation dedicated to educating the public on fiscal responsibility, offering personal financial counselling and communal classes. As members develop their business acumen, they gain access to higher ranks of membership that demand higher fees in exchange for advanced classes and prestige. Once one reaches the tenth of sixteen membership tiers (where most people have invested too much to risk losing their station), financial lessons are replaced by lifestyle sermons.

Among the hundreds of thousands who annually flock to the Kelldor Memorial Center, only a handful ever manage to spend the millions of credits needed to reach the highest rank of Kalistocrat, at which point High Prophet Luwin Carel Dynasi, founder of the Center, reveals to them the true nature of the Prophecies of Kalistrade and invites them to join him as a fellow Kalistocrat. Acceptance marks the end of a Kalistocrat's promotions, but they continue to pursue wealth for the rest of their lives. Many of Akiton's most successful businessmen are Kalistocrats, who dress richly and strut about the Kelldor Memorial Center, giving recruits an eyeful of their future affluence.