Fiction:The Monoculian Theocracy

'I know there is a Spode, for he would not have gifted us this vast universe if he did not exist.' -Captian Qutex, when being questioned by an atheist

The Monoculian Theocratic Republic is a small empire located in the Mirus galaxy, known for its zealous and scientific endeavors.

Vulan
See 'Planet:Vulan'

Government
The empire is governed on three levels: Federal, Local, and Moral. The federal government is ruled by the council of priests located inside the historic Basilica of Jehario, founded by the eponymous first leader of the Monoculian Spodist Church. The leader of the Monoculian empire is elected from a pool of bishops, and chosen by other bishops and priests, known as the Y'lei and Y'qli. Elections occur when the previous Papal President dies, is overthrown, or resigns. The federal government has power over laws in regards to the whole nation, and also leads the entirety of Monoculian Spodism.

Geological History
The star system in which Vulan inhabits was formed roughly 9 billion years after the creation of the universe. Vulan had formed around 700 million years afterwards from spacedust from stars prior clumping together and forming solid rocky masses. The planet stayed as a hadean wasteland filled with molten rock for the first few billion years until enough cooling had occurred for oceans to appear. At first, the seas were a mixture of sulfuric acid, water, and other materials, but as time went on sulfuric acid replaced the others in commodity. Continents started to form around the planet's 3 billionth year of existence, and stayed mostly unicellular until the universe reached its 14 billionth year of existence.

The first complex creatures to appear on the planet were small sea dwelling creatures, named Takaorium piscis by evolutionary scientists, were similar in shape and structure to Pikaia on Earth. These first creatures are assumed to have a omnivorous diet, consisting of various microbial life forms with features similar to members of both kingdom Animalia and Plantae. The Takaorium later evolved into more complicated sea dwelling creatures. Meanwhile, the continents on the planet shifted positions, sunk, and grew at an immense speed of ~5 inches a year.

Land life started to appear ~500 million years after the Takaorium were first spotted in the geological records, and by that time the flora and fauna of the ocean was very diverse. Thus, the first land dwelling creatures stayed as mostly amphibious creatures until enough fauna appeared on the surface for life to move further inland. At this point, Vulan's lands consisted of scattered islands in an archipelago shape, formed mostly by volcanoes and the formerly unstable tectonic plates.

1st-10th Century: Before Jehario
The earliest traces of a civilized Monoculian species can be found around the first century A.D., with the first major buildings being constructed around 36 A.D.. The Monoculians were a generally peaceful people, and most empires formed during this time collapsed from either economic failure, plague, famine, or a mix of the three. There was not much unity until one day a man named Jehario lead a pilgrim group to the land that they dubbed 'Y'hico'(translated as 'The Holiest of Grounds') and founded what would later become the unified Monoculian nation. Referred to as the Diji-hians, these Monoculians formed the first organized religion on Vulan. It revolved around the worship of an entity now identified as Spode, with its original piece of cannon resting inside a highly-protected scroll inside the Basilica.

11th-20th Century: The Spread of Spodism
Promoting peace, just punishment, equality for all Monoculians, and communion on Tuesdays with free Gajoob tacos, the religion of Spodism spread rapidly across the old world. Various nations started to form around temples of Spodism, creating a sense of unity unseen by the Monoculians. The spread of Spodism, however, took the religion out of the control of the priests at the Basilica very quickly. This lead to various temples inventing their own cannons alongside the original scrolls, which in turn lead to many different sects of Spodism appearing across the planet, with wars justified by personal canons being very common. Eventually, the sects got so out of hand by the 13th century that the original temple itself was in chaos.

To stop this problem, one of the Y'lei in the Basilica decided to establish a permanent, unbreakable hierarchy supposedly designed by Spode itself. This man was named Illija, and he established himself as the first 'Papal President' of a new empire. As all good presidents do, his first orders were to silence his colleagues and launch an attack on all the surrounding lands to unify the followers of Spode on Vulan under one magistrate. His authoritative way of leading lead to half of the empire's leaders leaving the Basilica to form their own temple with their own leaders. This half would go on to found what is known today as Orscottism.

Religion
As stated above, the Monoculians are a devoutly religious race, but they do not share the same beliefs about Spode. There are three main sects of Monoculian Spodism, each with radically different viewpoints:

-Jeharian Spodism is the most dominant form of Monoculian Spodism, and also the sect that leads the nation. Their beliefs are different from mainstream Spodism in the fact that they reject Nirvana and instead have a dualistic belief system. When a sentient creature dies, they will stay in the reincarnation cycle until they accept Spode as the one true god, in which they enter an angelic plane of existence known as Y'yjia, where they will stay unti the next universe comes and they become reincarnated as saints. If they openly deny Spode or accept an infidelic god, they will be sent to Ôch'tian, a hellish dimension where their souls will be punished until they rejoin the reincarnation cycle in the next world. The Jeharians accept evolution as part of Spode's great plan, and believe all creatures can achieve salvation in Monoculian Spodism.

-Orscott Spodism is the second most popular sect of the religion, and the most xenophobic. Most, if not all, of their adherents, live on the island of Jihania. They do not believe in cyclic damnation and salvation, but believe that only the Monoculians can achieve salvation and enter Nirvana. They believe evolution is a corrupting force in the universe, and that Jehario is the father of the pure bloodline that gets into Nirvana. As such, having relations with the outside world is highly frowned upon. As stated by reverend Qilic XXXVIII: "Every creature that does not share our race is not worthy of life. The spacefarers that are weaker than us are animals, and those that are superior are demons. They do not deserve to live".

-Secularist Spodism is the least popular denomination of Monoculian Spodism, and is frowned upon by most other Spodists. They are the 'Other' group; they believe in everything from reincarnation to eternal oblivion to pantheism to a giant wheel of cheese controling the universe.

Space Travel
{The following sections are a mind dump. None of this is canon yet.} Space exploration is done via FTL technologies, but hyperspace gates are used for communication between the ship and for easy refueling, and also for easy access between a ship and a colony without requiring a second trip back.

Sex
The Monoculians are sexless, but require partners to mate. This is done via the release of pheromones: if a mate finds their partner stronger than they are, they will release pheromones triggering the production of ova in themselves and spermatozoa in their partner. The reverse is done if they find their partner is weaker than they are. Sex occurs when both partners create the gametes needed, in which genetic material is exchanged and the weaker partner takes the role of laying and incubating eggs, with the stronger tasked with protecting the other and providing food. Incubation in Monoculians generally lasts 50-70 days in healthy eggs.