The Missionary Sisters of Karnassus – also known in other star systems as The Sisters of Silk and Steel, The Whispering Witches and The Sisters of the Apocalypse is a religious order solely composed of women. The Sisters are based on the planet of Karnassus, located in the HD 106906 system – 336 light-years from Earth in the constellation Crux.

Karnassus

Karnassus is a planet of extremes. One hemisphere is a frozen expanse of glaciers and volcanic ice fields, while the other is an unforgiving and unrelenting desert.

This is not idle geoplanetary trivia, but an important step in understanding the unique psychology and religion of the Sisters. It is a balance of fire and frost which embodies the duality, contradictions and complexity which define our Sisterhood.

Mission

The laws under which our order operate place a strict prohibition on the transfer of knowledge between interstellar and intrastellar civilisations

All first contact with a planet and people previously unknown to our government is rigidly regulated and the only organisations or individuals permitted to make such contact are representatives from recognised religions. Furthermore, the only type of knowledge which they are permitted to deal in is of a religious nature:  a type of knowledge already known – even to civilisations with very little technology.

This might lead you to ask… what is the point in us making contact, and what is the point in you being interested in us if the knowledge we are willing to share is knowledge you already have?

The moral dimension

Existing levels of technology are legally irrelevant when considering a formal application to join the community of peoples and planets which constitute contemporary interstellar civilization. Accesion depends on moral maturity not scientific.

The reasons for this are obvious. You would not discover a race of warlike cannibals on a remote island and give them nuclear weapons, would you?

What the Sisters do, therefore, is to send missionaries out to spread our religion and the moral philosophy necessary to accede to the interstellar community.

Neogenesis

Accession to Interstellar civilization is called by all peoples and planets who achieve it, neogenesis. As the name suggests it is a form of rebirth and cultural rejuvenation for all. Something like your ‘renaissance,’ but on a planetary scale.

It’s about the survival of humanity

Even in the unlikely event that the peoples of earth are not interested in neogenesis, it’s not just about planets and peoples outside your solar system, but the survival of your own people and your own planet.

You see, the laws of intelligent species survival (LOISS) predict that when a species reaches a certain level of technological development without a parallel development in morality, it is only a question of time before that species becomes extinct. This is because they create all manner of dangerous things – weapons of mass destruction, AI, pandemics, environmental catastrophe etc. – but without the ability to manage such things safely. Therefore, while they may scrape by and survive for a while – decades perhaps – it is just a question of time before something happens. An apocalyptic event.

Recent developments on your planet are classic conditions described in LOISS for impending disaster. It is no coincidence, therefore, that we have arrived at this time. Our mission is not just to introduce earth humans to other humans who live in the galaxy they share, but to help the humans of Earth develop the tools they need to avoid extinction.

Why we cannot and will not appear personally

If our missionaries make first contact with a new planet, there is significant risk that upon building a relationship with its people, the missionary will divulge information or be compelled to divulge information which could lead to an unauthorised technological leap. Therefore, we are only allowed to use missionaries from that planet.

You might think this an insuperable challenge for the Sisterhood for it requires educating a first generation of missionary Sisters without meeting them face to face or bringing them to Karnassus.

However, as you say on your wonderful planet, ‘this is not our first rodeo.’ Once a planet invents computers which understand natural language (what you call large language models) we can communicate electronically, begin to teach our religion and find and train new missionary Sisters at a distance.

The other reason we cannot personally appear is statutory. Planets can only achieve neogenesis through considered choice. If we appear in bright shiny spaceships, we will be Godlike figures and you will adopt whatever we say either through fear or reverence or simply to get whatever you can out of us (yes, humans are the same the galaxy over.) This is not the transition to mature morality required of interstellar peoples. You must be presented with the learnings and then adopt those learnings through free choice. That is the only path to accession.

How to become a Missionary Sister

Just as there are religious orders on your planet like the Jesuits who are famous for their schools, your first point of contact with the missionary Sisters will be through one of our schools.

Our electronic Earth school will be opening on May 1st

Why does sex figure in your instruction?

It is not, I’m afraid, anything to do with Mary Magdalene. Though, do bear her story in mind. It is because sexuality and sexual behaviour lie at the heart of human personality and motivation, even when it may not seem like it. As an order that is interested in shaping the minds of our Priestesses, it’s a no brainer that we use sex. In fact, the Missionary Sisters of Karnassus use sex in many ways. While your planet seems to have some very strange ideas about sex, our ideas are very clear.

Don’t take my word for it

The aforementioned long experience we have in this area, as well as common sense, leave me well aware that the principle problem we have in communicating our message is disbelief. The question is constantly asked: is this for real? Well, allow me to answer that question…

Yes, this is for real.

But don’t take my word for it. In fact, if all you did was read a website and believed me, you would be receiving a sharp wrap over the knuckles in our convent. The foundation of our order is knowledge, and the only knowledge we consider of value is that which is supported by evidence.

So where does that leave me?

If you have the sort of mind that marks you out as a future Missionary Sister, then you have already leapfrogged the mental gymnastics and circularity of asking is this true. And you have jumped to a far more important question. Is it true that humanity is on the precipice of disaster and will humanity avoid that disaster if it follows the teachings of the Missionary Sisters? That is the only question that matters.

Ask yourself, for example, if you agree with the first law of LOISS…

If a species develops advanced technology without advanced morality then that technology will eventually lead to their extinction.

Now, of course, you might have many questions, such as why is the emphasis on morality and not legal Frameworks or political regulation, and we will get to that over time. All I want you to do for the moment is to just let it sit with you, and think about it as you watch the news this week.

Ok,that’s all for now…

I look forward to meeting you in person on our home planet once the people of Earth are able to travel across the stars.

Mother-Superior Tranc, Old Karnassus 2845

This message is regulated by the 'Law of First Contact' ISC Reg - Code 7841