He gathered the page containing the scribbled notes for his sermon from the side table and nestled it in the worn folds of the Credo book. Then he exited his small office and proceeded up the wooden stairs to the dais of the temple.
He wore a benevolent smile as the congregation came into view.
The pews were about half-filled. Alastair remembered back to his youth when the temple was always full. There would be dozens standing along the sidewalls, jockeying for position. Only the most devout remained. Faith in the Credo could offer solace and peace but not square meals or a roof over your head. And the recycled narrative of history was no match for the exciting new challenges faced by the railroad, or the adventures awaiting a young mule on uncharted trails.
Alastair located the five new faces they had recruited. Three were in the front, and two others had taken their place near the back. It was to these that he must focus his gaze. It was these that he must win over.
“Welcome!” Alastair said. He waved and smiled at some of the Adherent stalwarts and let them chat a while. Better to allow them some comfort before beginning. Perhaps then their ears would be more welcoming to his sermon.
Eventually he raised his hands, and a hush fell over the crowd. “Hello, I am Alastair Henneson. Welcome to today’s sermon, everyone. It’s a cold day, but I hope, like me, our coming together warms your heart. Today I would like to talk to you about our roots. I will be speaking of one of our fondest lessons in the Credo. Today I will discuss the founding of the temple of Adherents and the story of novation.”
Most of the crowd nodded dutifully. Surely some would be disappointed, even bored, but without an introduction to their foundational Credo elements, the new members of the congregation would be lost.
“As many of you know, Seeville was reborn thanks to three brave souls. It has been said that Ursula Okafor, Tucker Kelemen and Kostas Lechky came from a great sanctuary in the west. They were rich with knowledge and unsullied by the scourges of the Detonation.
“It may be hard to believe, but at the time of Seeville’s rebirth, it was a cesspool of crime and violence. Retcher attacks were frequent as ignorant tribesman unwittingly and irresponsibly tinkered with Old World devices. And speaking of tribes, bandit tribes within the city limits were greater in number than written laws in our Hall of Records.
“So as the story goes, Kostas Lechky aligned the tribes and formed the founding principles of government. Tucker Kelemen began some of the first trips to the bike towers, and helped clear the roads for riding. These milestones gave us peace, identity, and commerce. But it wasn’t nearly enough. The people’s minds were still sick from the Detonation. So it was that Ursula Okafor instituted the temple of Adherents and the Credo.
“But it didn’t happen all at once. Okafor spent months writing the Credo, working with Tucker and Kostas to ensure it was written with a holistic vision for Seeville in mind. Through research and careful examination of Old World records they established the three fears, and the founding tenets of the Credo to combat those fears. As we know the three fears are…” Alastair put a finger up and gestured for the crowd to respond.
“Competition,” they answered in unison.
“Exactly. As shown in the story of Ben and the Bike Thieves, competition leads to escalation, which destroys more than it creates. According to records from the Old World, this led to much of the destruction incurred during the Detonation. We must cooperate, not compete.”
Alastair put two fingers up and gestured again.
“Recklessness,” they answered.
Alastair nodded. “Yes. In the Old World, too often risks were taken where the consequences were not fully understood. We must be prudent in all endeavors, as is shown in the story of Susannah and the Red Cliffs.”
Alastair put three fingers up.
“Obsession,” they answered.
Alastair nodded again. “Yes, and just as important. As we all know, the infatuation with gadgets, machines, and devices is a vain path. Moderation is one of the most important Credo tenets, if in fact abstention is not an option. This is exemplified in the story of Lilly and the Fire Brand.”
He looked to some of the new faces, making sure to engage them, making sure he wasn’t losing them. “Today I’m not going to recount Lilly’s story, or Susannah’s or Ben’s. Each of them teaches an important lesson, but at the same time they don’t address what we should fear most. They don’t address where the three fears intersect. This intersection is what Ursula Okafor feared most, and what she fought to protect us from. The obsession over tinkering, the reckless risk-taking and fierce competition—these three fears come together in novation, a term we all know well today.”
The congregation was nodding reflexively.
“But you should know that back in Okafor’s time, this term wasn’t well-known. In fact it was coined by Okafor. It was derived from the Old World term, innovation.”
One of the new faces laughed and then caught herself. Some other new recruits showed increased attention at the mention of the word.
“I apologize for using this untidy word, but it’s true. This expletive, this allegory for irresponsibility, used to have profound meaning in the Old World. It was on the tip of every tongue, on the mind of every ambitious merchant. The creation of many of the tools they used to destroy themselves with was born of this process they called… innovation.”
“And now, of course, we know that novation is damnation.”
“Novation is damnation,” the congregation repeated back to Alastair.
“And how have we not succumbed to novation? How have we avoided these trappings when the Old World could not? Today it may seem obvious—like the sun rising in the east, like the number of fingers on your hand—but it wasn’t always this way. Far from it. It has been forged into belief and habit over generations, and this forge of wisdom was built by Ursula Okafor.”
“You see, Okafor could, at times, be persistent.” Alastair paused and smiled. Much of the congregation smiled in return, tuning in to Alastair’s deliberate understatement.
“In the first year she printed, copied, and posted the stories of the three fears throughout the city. Some were read, some were not. Unfortunately, the reality was most were used to start fires. After much diligence, at the end of the year she had the help of only two men. Only two believed in her, only two believed in the importance of these fears.”
“In the second year these three devoted servants doubled their efforts, again posting the three fears throughout the city. They also built the first temple, and Okafor gave dissertations and sermons like I’m giving now. Few came, and most ridiculed her, but in the end they did gain a few dozen followers. It was in that year that Okafor made a bold prediction. She predicted that unless the people listened to her, the great Detonation would come again. Her words fell on deaf ears.”
“In the third year, Okafor stenciled ‘novation is damnation’ on the front of all of her tunics. Then she added the three fears to her back. Elements of the Credo were sewn into her pants, even. She would walk through the city dressed in words from our Credo, preaching about novation. Again, few listened. Some of her followers left to pursue other endeavors. Many thought she was crazed.”
“And so it was on the fourth year as well.”
“But then, in the fifth year, something happened. One of the old tribal leaders had been foraging in the lands to the east and found an untouched stockpile of Old World gadgets. He brought this cache back to Seeville, only to trigger an explosion that destroyed half a city block, killing hundreds and drawing a host of retchers. People searched for blame. People looked for answers. People looked within themselves. And then they remembered the woman dressed in words, Ursula Okafor. They remembered she was the one who had foretold this accident.”