The lights fade... cue music: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IjFLw17KDCk&NR=1
Aah yes, the New Church of Texas. The people of the New Church emerged from the Austin Vault, they did... yes, it was several generations ago. After so long living underground in a Vault, generation after generation surviving in the sunless rooms and corridors since the Bomb was dropped and civilization ended, their religion changed from what it was once was into something new.
So they emerged into the still radioactive Wastelands around the former state of Texas with this firebrand bastardisation of Christianity. With their remnant technology and a working GECK (Garden of Eden Creation Kit), they formed the nation called God's Republic of Texas and grew strong. Ever have their preachers spread the word of their religion with a holy book in hand and a shotgun cradled under under the arm, bringing many settlements and townships into the fold.
The New Church brings unity but it is harsh and it preaches that mutants, ghouls and other radiation changed life is an aberration that must be cleansed from the earth. But it teaches hard work and discipline and the people of Texas have prospered and tamed the savage Wastelands around Austin.
Twenty years ago, someone special emerged in God's Republic of Texas. She was a visionary, a healer, a miracle worker. People began to call her a Living Saint and the New Church took notice. Miracles and divine intervention are a part of their teaching. Here was someone who claimed that divine mantle; and the people believed in her.
The Elder Fathers called the New Church Assembly and brought Helena before them in chains for the Trial of Witchcraft. Their hearts were filled with doubts. After the sacramental wine was passed around, they called Helena to judgement as a witch. But their eyes dimmed and the world grew blurry and it was as though a nimbus of light was around Helena. Then she began to speak a powerful sermon on the holy scriptures and doubts were dispelled. Helena was declared a Living Saint.
Since then, she has founded her own Convent. Her fortified Abbey lies in the remote regions of Texas, guarded by the fanatical Holy Orders. These are open only to female recruits. Women are often repressed in the Wastelands, especially in the traditionalist society of Texas under the New Church where women have little hope of personal growth or advancement. So every year, many flock to the Abbey on pilgrimmage and a portion stay to serve the Saint.
The New Church has prospered with the Saint's help. Recruitment is better than it has ever been. The New Church has reached unrivalled peak of popularity with the people and God's Republic of Texas expands every year, pushing back the howling Wastelands. It is uncanny how Saint Helena knows so much. She is clearly the vessel for the Lord's work to be done.
But things have changed. The New Church has changed. And doubt fills the heart of many preachers and local Fathers.
Under the ever persuasive counsel of Saint Helena, new sacraments have been taught. These ones involve the use of the sacred powder, through which one attains heightened spiritual awareness. Yes, truly one dances with the angels themselves in holy rapture during the sacraments. This is how our Living Saint must live every day. How glorious to be so close to the Lord! Why, some priests hold mass five times a day now!
All is well in God's own Republic. Yet there are mutters. Mutters that perhaps the Church has lost it's way. It has grown fat and rich. Is it still pure and true?
And now there is new talk amongst the people. It is spreading like wildfire, this buzz, these swirling rumours. It is everywhere, in markets, in streets, in houses and in the many churches. They say that the Lord has delivered us a new visionary. There is a new Prophet who has been touched with Divine Power! And she is walking amongst the people preaching the Holy Word. People call her the Messenger.
Her sermons are electric and the people are on fire with a new hope. What is this the Messenger speaks of? Humility? Purity of life? Renunciation of worldly wealth? Everyone wants to see her and hear her.
But she is like a wisp of fog in the morning light, gone before the day begins. The Elder Fathers have tasked the Lone Star Guardians to track her down. The leader of the Guardians, High Marshal Hodges, is a canny hunter. Hardened by years enforcing the laws of God's Republic in the dusty tumbleweed towns of Texas, he has risen to now lead the Lone Star Guardians. He knows his craft. They will find this so called Messenger. And they will bring her before the Elder Fathers and the New Church Assembly for trial and judgement, as was done with Saint Helena before her.
So God's Republic has come into a time of inner turmoil and in this, there is a great hidden danger. For the people believe. And when a people truly believe, to change that which is the fabric of their belief is to dance on the edge of a volcano. Even a Living Saint must take pause and seek counsel in deep prayer, gathering her cronies and advisors to her, lest the adoration of the teeming masses turn against her.
Who can say where this will lead? If the Lone Star Guardians cannot find the Messenger and she continues to preach her idealism to the people, the more foolish amongst them may come to doubt the wisdom of their Church. And the great fortified doors of the Abbey would have to close and all the fighting sisters of the Holy Orders recalled to man the gun turrets. Perhaps this Messenger is not Divinely touched, but a heretic witch who preaches lies and must be burned. Yes, that is perhaps how Saint Helena will speak to the New Church Assembly. The Elder Fathers will support her. They can no longer afford not to. They will declare the Messenger a witch that must be burned.
Then it would be civil war, would it not? And woe to the people then... woe, woe, woe! The suffering... the violence... the bloodshed... Some things never change. War never changes. The Angels will weep tears of blood for Texas in such dark days.
But perhaps from civil war, there could be rebirth. No more with the special powder bought in New Reno. No more with the endless donations to the local Church used only to buy comforts for the priest. No more with the Penance Tithe sent to the Abbey. Then this would be Texas Reformed, my brother, and it would be a new dawn for this great land!
You see, the Messenger needs no sacramental wine, no special ceremonies, no vast network of informants to know the secrets of people's hearts. She bears the Stigmata truly. The people have seen the wounds appear on her hands and the tears of blood weep from her eyes. Her eyes shine with the devout faith coming from her heart. She is but a simple peasant girl touched by the divine.
You see, brother, she can hear the inner thoughts of those around her clearly in her mind. She has heard these voices since she came into womanhood. Her telepathy is the gift of the Lord to her, and it is much stronger than the feeble talent of Saint Helena. May the Lord give her the strength to lead the people back to the true path of their New Church to become Texas Reformed.
And may the Lord hold back the enemies of Texas while this drama plays out: the Godless Tribals of the Manitou Tribes to the east, the Cursed Ghouls of Kansas Free State to the north, the brutal Mexican Raiders to the west and the amoral, hedonist Harlequins of New Orleans to the south.
(All taken from implemented mod content.)
