Four Types of NUC Members
The process of conversion to a Wanderer establishes the first relationship between convert and Cult – the River Sage. From that point forward, the member’s represented and supported by their River Sage(s). Wanderers require minimal commitments, restrictions, and support of / from the Cult. Over time, the member may simultaneously belong to any number of Bodies who will take them (both Water and Rocks), and request any number of changes to their Sage(s), although neither membership in a Body nor changes of their Sage(s) is guaranteed. The only certainty is that a member will have at least one Sage at their side, and will, as long as they wish to participate, always have the option to remain attached to a River site as a Wanderer.
Once qualified for the honor, all members are encouraged to adorn Cult-related tattoos, either permanent or semi-permanent. With a successful conversion, the Cult’s icon may be place on the member’s body in a spot to symbolize how they intend to contribute. For example, a writer might place it near their dominate hand. Additional tattoos include: Tribe(s) / Communities(s) to which they belong, pilgrimages they’ve completed, rituals they’ve played a key role in, special awards they’ve received, or simply to note their intention to remain a permanent Wanderer with no ties to anything but the Novel Universe Cult and the River. Sages are the only members required to don a specific style of tattoo, consisting of an app-scannable, unique mark for the purpose of the member’s identification as a Sage by the membership. Ideally, the tattoo is placed either on a shoulder, wrist, or at the center of the sternum just below the collar bones. In tandem with NUC’s apps, these tattoos function as marks of authority while the Sages carry out their specific duties.
Wanderers:
After a successful conversion, a Candidate becomes a Wanderer, and may apply to become a Freeman, Civilian, or Citizen; but in the meantime, remains a Wanderer – a ward of the River. Unless physically inside a Body of Water, the status of Wanderer requires only that a member identify as such, as this is the default status of all Novel Universe Cult members. Wanderers are free to associate with each other in any number of ways, just so long as they do not violate the laws of any Cult Body or resident State government. However, there are no formal Bodies, organizing pillars, ritual practices, or social structures of any kind associated with Wanderers. Wanderers exist in isolation, symbols of the Spiral. They may seek assistance and support from their attached sites, but are not guaranteed to receive more than a minimum level. River Sages are encouraged, but not required, to take a personal interest in the Wanderers they are assigned to, as these relationships might, not only be advantageous for performing the Sage’s duties as the member’s representative, but also seminal for the Wanderer themselves, who may not have any other close Cult contacts.
Additionally, Wanderers may provide their time and effort to those River sites as volunteers, helping in a manual or professional capacity, but also may be hired by the site and paid for their work. The Cult encourages Wanderers to seek out Water and Rock Bodies to join, but also understands that some member’s greatest value to the Cult and wider world will be to remain a Wanderer – artist and artisan alike – impartial and detached, able to view the Novel Universe from that unique Mixture of both Love and Power.
Freemen:
Freemen represent Power on Earth, gathered first together as an Orphan Clade, and growing to become a Tribe. As is the nature of Power, Freemen seek to profit from the world, and generally define their own social structures to better reflect their goals, common culture, and sense of purpose. Above all, Freemen seek to consume their own, idiosyncratic novelty, with their common thread as an attempt to control their environment / society by defining what is “good / bad,” “right / wrong,” etc., while silencing alternatives that might interfere with obtaining their preferences. Freedom, tradition, honor, self-reliance, and knowing one’s place in the Power structure are often held in high esteem by Freemen.
As an organization without formal leadership, the closest analog the Novel Universe Cult has to a special class of person exempt from the law, such as a dictator or diplomat, is the temporary status of an Active Sage. However, this role carries no privilege to compromise law, but rather, affords specific access to restricted sites, be them virtual or physical. That being said, any Rock Body may, as part of its founding documents and style of governance, establish any number of regal or deplorable classes with a spectrum of required adherence to the Rock Body’s laws – such as a Tower’s king (limited adherence) or subject (total adherence), or the Square’s initiate (imposed adherence) or master (variable adherence). Violators of Rock laws are subject to corrective actions / punishments deemed appropriate by the Body’s founding documents, levied according to their standing as a member of the Body, say king versus subject. However, at the Cult level, no one is above the law. Therefore, outside persons within a Rock Body’s jurisdiction who violate their laws are subject to these corrective actions / punishments, levied according to the Body’s definition(s) of a visitor.
Should a Freeman persist in breaking their Body’s laws, despite previous corrective actions, and the membership feels the individual will not or cannot come into line with the group’s standards, the ultimate consequence is revocation of the offender’s membership in the group. At this point, the member is banished and recategorized, from the Rock Body’s perspective, as a Wanderer. Any path for returning is optional for the Body to decide, and banishment of the individual member may be permanent without appeal to the Rock’s membership.
Citizens and Civilians:
Citizens and Civilians represent Love on Earth, gathered first together as an Orphan Sphere of Civilians, and growing to become a Community of Citizens. As is the nature of Love, Citizens and Civilians generally align their social structures to reflect the Concert Hall. Unlike Wanderers, Freemen, and Civilians, who are generally “free” to do as they please, Citizens are bound to each other through a transparent government, sustainable livelihood, and equal opportunity to express their appropriate preferences, either privately or publicly, as defined by their Community’s Constitution. In a Community, no voice is raised above another, no hand expected to do more than they’re capable of. Above all, Citizens and Civilians seek to enhance and evolve their relationships with each other through intentionally vulnerable participation. The common thread among all Citizens is a faithful simulation of the Concert Hall’s Complete Information. For this reason, special guidelines apply, such as the use of a neural-democracy or the imposition of a physical boundary to isolate a Community. Accountability, connectivity, transparency, and compassion are key motivators for Citizens and their Communities.
Orphan Spheres are the initial Body of Water, a loose group of members, known as Civilians, virtually / physically formed around a Primary Organizing Pillar with a limited formal charter approved by their River Sage(s). Civilians enjoy only the partial rights and responsibilities of Citizens. Should an Orphan Sphere coalesce in purpose and membership, they may work by themselves or with other Spheres through the River Sages to become a Community with a formal Constitution, location, and ties to the River. Once a Community is formed, those members of the contributing Spheres are now considered Citizens of the Community.
This singular distinction of membership within Water Bodies between Civilians and Citizens is due to the nature of Communities, existing as a fixed location with a boarder. The status of “Citizen” is based on both membership in a Community Sphere and one’s current occupation of a Community’s physical location, symbolizing the enclosed nature of the Concert Hall. Unless they belong to a Community, Orphan Spheres, along with all other NUC Bodies, may physically exist as places of residence, but aren’t required to do so. Should a Citizen be physically outside their Community, and not belong to or identify with a Rock Body(s), they are temporarily considered a Civilian of their Community Sphere, able to function in ways that are not allowed by Citizens, but are by Civilians – engaging in economic activities (Power), for instance.
Just as all Signature-Frequency Sets in the Concert Hall are directly connected with each other in a single environment, the primary characteristic of Community citizenship is cohabitation. Anyone physically inside a Community is either a temporary visitor (Civilian) or permanent member (Citizen) of that Body. This distinction is implicit to the function of the Body’s neural-democracy – only Citizens vote in their Community – and in this way, residents who remain long-term have an outsized impact on shaping their Community’s laws, whereas those who migrate between Bodies have less impact. Although members are free to come and go, Communities are designed and intended to be permanent, allowing for deeper connections between members – the primary aspect of the Concert Hall.
Just as the process of Complete Information is required to enter the Concert Hall in the beyond-life, consent by the Community is required for any outside Cult member (excluding Active Sages performing their duties) to enter any Water Body. Additionally, as long as one is a member of any Community Sphere, they are a tacit member (Civilian) of all Water Bodies, having proven their desire and capacity for Love. The exception to this is when a specific Body rejects, by vote of that Body, the member’s privilege to enter. This, of course, would have no effect on entering other Water Bodies who’ve not carried out such a vote of denial.
Citizens who violate their Body’s laws are not subject to corrective action or punishment, but instead, provided the time and assistance to adjust their behavior. If the citizenry feels (expressed through neural-democracy) that an individual will not or cannot follow the Body’s laws, the ultimate consequence is an alteration of citizenship. At this point, the member is removed from the Body, and recategorized as either a Civilian (membership suspension) or Wanderer (membership revocation). This change in status affects only the Body’s view of the member, not necessarily the wider Cult, as the member may still be a Citizen, Civilian, or Freemen of another Body. For outcast members, conditions of their return will be established based upon the reason(s) for their removal, and they will remain outside the Body until those conditions are met. Whereas Civilians automatically return upon compliance, Wanderers must additionally resubmit a request to rejoin the Body, reversing the revocation of their membership through a neural-democratic vote of the citizenry. For the purpose of influencing this vote, after compliance, Wanderers will be guaranteed sufficient indirect (not necessarily direct) access to the citizenry, such as digital (social media) or physical (letters) correspondence. Should it be established that the Wanderer is threatening / harassing a Citizen(s) through this process, this right will be suspended, temporarily or permanently.
River Sages:
What’s worse, an army crossing the battlefield without a leader, or, as the war rages, squabbling four-star generals arguing over who’s in-charge? The cliché born of Cesar’s Gallic victories was “divide and conquer,” while President Lincoln famously pointed out the perils of a “house divided.” The historical argument in favor of a single voice to lead the people through difficult times is long – right or wrong, decisions must be decisive, the leader’s confidence, unwavering. Most successful corporations have some version of this, but how can a cult with no actual cult leader – no general to command the troops – effectively operate?
Our neural-democracy, propelled by the tools of technology, frees us from the stochastic effectiveness of any individual, be they constructive or destructive. We do not place our faith in the deliverance of the divine hero – the “strongman” or wise ruler – but in ourselves. We are not a hive-mind – quite the opposite. We are the wisdom of the crowd, and from our novel form of governance emerges the mind of a new kind of leader – the People’s voice in action. The effectiveness of our form of governance relies on two aspects: factual information and widespread participation. Neither are guaranteed, nor easily implemented, but instead, must be shepherded with transparency, integrity, and expertise – the duty of our clergy.
As a single Body comprised of transitory experts, the River’s sole function is to balance Love (Water) and Power (Rocks), with the administration of the Novel Universe Cult falling to our clergy – the River Sages. Sages not only manage the daily operations of the Cult, but also address potential internal corruption and conflict – both an emergent “mind,” but also an “immune system,” geared for the protection and regulation of the Cult, our Bodies, and the veracity of our information. Metaphorically, the River underlies the Novel Universe Cult’s “brain,” like the ever-working unconscious mind, constructing and proposing relevant, timely, useful information (truth) to the conscious mind – the Cult’s membership. By evaluating and reacting to the River’s efforts, NUC expresses itself as the singular voice of Saint TJ.
The position of Sage is considered a lifelong appointment, but can be effectively lost through “retirement.” No longer considered Sages other than rhetorically, Retired Sages (RS) are members who have either been removed from the clergy for cause, for personal reasons, or simply because they no longer wish to participate. Retired Sages may return to their duties only through a River ISD nomination and confirmation by the Cult’s membership – the same process any member must go through to become a Sage.
All functional aspects of the Cult’s administration are broken down into “cases,” discrete tasks to be accomplished by Active Sages (AS). Cases are assigned by the River’s administrative body (Inactive Sages) to an AS, primarily based on relevant expertise, and may be handled either individually, or in concert with other Sages. Cases range widely in scope, timing, and repetition – some are simple, some complex, some are hard, others easy, some happen over-and-over, some only once. A relatively simple tasks might be answering messages on behalf of NUC, or approving a periodic transfer of supplies from one Cult Body to another; more complicated cases are things like resolving disputes between NUC Bodies, amplifying / evaluating information for membership consideration, or negotiating contracts with outside organizations. The only limit to the number of Sages assigned to any single case, or cases assigned to any single Sage, simultaneously, is a function of the Sage(s) involved and difficulty of the case(s).
Active Sages are not intended to be direct representatives of individuals / institutions involved in a case, such as a US Congressperson directly representing their constituency, but rather, indirect representatives, such as a court’s impartial jury, representing the will of the People. For instance, Sage Noa, belonging to the Whistling Hills Community, should not be an AS for any cases related to Whistling Hills Community, however, he may be asked for his input. Although it may be impossible to find a Sage with absolutely no tangential connections to a given case, Sages with primary or secondary interests should be excluded, like Noa’s brother, Sage Mica from Dancing River Community. It is preferable for an AS to be the one with the least conflicts of interest, but it is also understood that sometimes, in light of the Sage’s experience and / or expertise, the best AS will be the one with more entanglements than another.
Active Sages are those Sages currently engaged in a case(s), and do not participate in the Cult’s administrative body throughout the duration of the case, unless circumstances warrant, such as an insufficient number of Inactive Sages (IS) for the River’s neural-democracy to adequately function. In such circumstances, Active Sages will be temporarily “inactivated” for the sole purpose of performing the duties of an IS. Inactive Sages, Sages “on call,” are all expected to participate in their duties as administrators, in other words, weigh in on all River neural-democratic votes. This segregation allows one portion of the River (IS) to act like the right hemisphere of the brain, or “stage,” able to comprehend the “bigger picture” with the distance and perspective to direct the River; while the other (AS), as the left hemisphere, or “spotlight,” able to act decisively with the capacity and focus to complete the job at hand. Any given Sage will serve either role as they are activated or inactivated. Furthermore, within the River, no formal structure of seniority or authority exists, but instead, relies on our Sages experience and expertise, expressed through our neural-democracy.
As it is Power’s inclination to control its environment, special consideration is given to the composition of the River in order that the Sages are not corrupted by Power’s biases, and a balance between Sage categories is maintained. Whatever threat Power might pose unchallenged, it cannot, however, be totally siloed away, and in the Novel Universe Cult, will always be valued for its unique contributions. To this end, Sages are categorized based upon affiliation, and each category fitted to some proportion of the River’s total, active body. “Power Sages” are those Freemen River Sages who belong mostly or totally to Rock Bodies, whereas “Love Sages,” the same, only as Citizen / Civilian River Sages. “Mixture Sages” are those River Sages who belong to a balance of both Water and Rock Bodies simultaneously, whereas “Wandering Sages” are River Sage Wanderers who do not belong to a single Body other than their River site(s).
Whenever possible, Wandering and Mixture Sages constitute a majority of the River’s total population of Active and Inactive Sages. Whatever proportion of the River remains is ideally split evenly between Love and Power Sages. When this cannot be done precisely, the smaller portion will be filled by Power Sages, thus limiting Power’s potential to unduly influence the River, as is the nature of Power to exercise control. While maintaining the rights of individual Sages to flexibly affiliate between Love and Power, temporary retirement may be used to maintain the River’s proper proportions by adding or removing Love or Power Sages as needed, and such Sages do not require reconfirmation to return to their duties. In such circumstances, priority will be placed upon those Sages needed to carry out the current slate of cases / missions before the River, with extensive expertise and tenure playing the key roles in deciding who remains.
To easily identify these foundational categories of affiliation, both a season and color are assigned to each category: Power, blue winter; Mixture, green spring; Love, red summer; and Wandering, brown autumn. This color motif extends to the membership of the Cult, who are encouraged to use such styles in any tattoos, art, or other visual media the members may produce.
Instead of a leader, CEO, or even a fixed governing council, the Novel Universe Cult uses scientific principles based on neural networks to simulate the function of a brain – a single mind emerging from its countless parts. In order to create the River’s singular voice in real time – the instincts and drive of that battlefield general in-charge – NUC uses technology in tandem with our neural-democracy to nimbly aggregate and quickly unify the multitude of Inactive Sages. This unified operation of IS members is imbued with full administrative powers, covering things like: the creation of an ISD, ability to certify / clarify information, Sage nominations, Sage assignment to or removal from cases, oversight of cases, conditions of a case’s success, compensation for our clergy, and so on.
Joining our professional clergy requires passion, training, evaluation, and confirmation. Once qualified, an Ionotropic Sage Declaration nominates the member for the Cult’s consideration. After the ISD’s time-frame successfully closes, the final step is for the Cult to vote, neural-democratically, and confirm the member as a River Sage. The total number of Sages in the Cult has more to do with the technical qualifications and contributions of individuals, rather than some predetermined need to fill a number of “job openings.” In comparison to other institutions, religious or secular, NUC may appear to have more “cooks in the kitchen” than is necessary, but that is because of our unique way of activating and inactivating our clergy, and the important role each state of activation independently plays in the River’s overall function. Financially compensated for their expert services, the clergy is designed to fulfill the wide variety of administrative responsibilities associated with any institution, including, but not limited to, logistical, welfare, and policing of policy.
As the Cult’s professional clergy, River Sages are paid both a yearly salary and hourly rate, although these compensations may be returned to the Cult as donations, should the Sages so desire. For instance, a Love Sage would likely have no desire or need for money, and would therefore donate their entire income to the Cult. Salaries reflect such things as: experience in their field of expertise, tenure as a Sage, and value of their ongoing participation in the River. The hourly wages Sages earn are standardized to the job at hand, and not reflective of the involved Sage(s) or their tenure. These wages are based on two factors: the urgency / difficulty of a particular case, and level / availability of expertise required for the case. For example, a critical case requiring a PhD with a specialized, rare skill set has a rate higher than a case with no time limit, requiring nothing more than basic communication skills and common sense. As with all aspects of NUC, in general, these amounts are publicly known to the membership. Salaries are typically not intended to function as one’s primary income. However, Sages who spend a majority of their working life as an AS may expect that the combination of these dual incomes constitutes a living wage.
In a singular governing body with an all-encompassing scope of authority, there’s a propensity for cliques to form among participants, corruption to erode the effectiveness of its operations, and general malfeasance to arise from every corner of the institution – with all the apples in the same barrel, rot spreads quickly. To keep this in check, and protect the River’s health by preventing these conditions from taking root, a team of Inspectors General (IG) is temporarily convened with the unlimited authority to investigate the River.
Two types of IG teams exist. One, a Case Inspectors General team is constituted by NUC’s membership, voicing a desire, through the passage of law, for a specific subject (case / mission) to be looked into – for example, the suspected corrupted use of an ISD to disband a particular Tribe, or nepotism associated with certain converts. And two, a Health Inspector’s General team is randomly assigned in its timing, nature, and subject(s). An example assignment might be an audit of the most recently delegated cases to see if there is any inappropriate bias present.
IG members cannot be Sages or direct family members (spouses, siblings, parents, children) of the Sages under audit, as this would be a conflict of interest. Instead, IG members are semi-randomly chosen from Wanderers, Freemen, Citizens, and Civilians. Ideally, the cohort is a mixture of inside versus outside perspectives – those with valuable, relevant life experience with the issue at hand, and those with no such background. At the conclusion of an investigation, all information from the IG’s findings is made public to the Cult, and reforms submitted directly as issues (not proposals) to be immediately voted on. This process is intended for the transparent, direct, ongoing regulation of the River by the Cult’s membership.