American (US) Religion is a borderline conspiracy on so many levels, Before the US was even founded you seem to get these theories regarding the were "lost" ten Israelite tribes went, developing into this meme each New World discovery is followed this idea the native haplo-group might actually be "le ten tribes". Which lead to Mormon beliefs that the ten tribes actually fleed to South America and became the Aztecs, and later Mexicans. (Which partly true but for different reasons, a lot of Iberian Jews fleed to South America, due to their history of usery, and respective exiles, for the past few centuries.)
JWs also base the foundation of their doctrines on incoherent theories regarding the Assyrian conquest of Israel, insisting that Jerusalem was seized in 607 BC instead of 587 BC, as basis for Christ's "Prophetic return in 1914", counting 2,520 years from 607 BC as the "gentile times" until Christ whould return as king in 1914 AD, which post-hoc is currently marked by him throwing Satan out from heaven to earth thus triggering WW1.
Barrowing the same excuse as the Adventists when 1844 passed, claiming Christ returned via "Parousia" or invisible presrence at 1844, with his physical return coming in some theoretical time later. Charles Tazes Russell took this and claimed that the Parousia came in 1844, yet his explicitly physical return whould come in 1914.
By 1914 no physical sign of course actually came, and following Russell's death in 1914, and Rutherford's legal takeover of Watchtower, the "Parousia" date shifted to 1914, the date of physical return was placed at 1925. Watchtower has burned though a dozen dates regarding the Christ's physical reign, but the "Parousia" date of 1914 has reminded for more than a century.
Both Mormons and JWs also take a lot from Freemasonry. Recently I visited my father (He's aware of a some of this, but kinda of takes weird pseudo deistic approach where he accepts things beth-sarim ( A home Rutherford built to house "old patriarchal figures" like Moses or David, which whould be apparently resurrected to prefigure Christ's Earthly reign, in this time delayed to 1945 ) but says it doesn't matter because, he when to bethel and was the best time of his life, so God must behind atleast Modern Watchtower somehow or other.
This really just reminds of certain Christians that believe Jesus's miracles were illusions or fabricated in the gospels later, but it's fine because it was just a device to attract followers to Jesus's moral philosophy. Apparently God was just using Jesus, or this case Russell and Rutherford as false prophets as an esoteric way to just say "be nice to people". This was the same thing Thomas Jefferson believed, He compiled an entire New Testament were he removes all instances of miracles, just to leave the sayings of Jesus, and again it turns out he was also a mason.
Anyway I was helping do some contacting for a house that was he commissioned to get ready for sale, and in one of drawers some left a Freemasonry Bible, and he let me take it with me. I already heard regarding theories regarding Russell being a Mason, and currently hasn't been any evidence of him being in any registry, however even he wasn't one, was clearly influenced by it to a certain extent.
Mainly his fixation with Pyramidology (Which was also used by British Israelists, think "Black Hebrew Israelites", but even eariler, honsetly some British are so kikeish I whouldn't be surprised) which overlaps Illuminati imagery used by Masons, and his use of the rendering "Jehovah" which also used by Masons due to the belief it some esoteric power, which is likely you see certain founding fathers use the Jehovah in their personal letters as a lot of them were Masons.
Anyway the Mason Bible was a Red letter KJV with certain "additions", eventually I plan to scan it but for now I'll just list certain things of "interest".
The first two pages are an two page illustration of Solomon and Hiram buildimg a temple, then following a single description suggesting Hiram King of Tyre was the a possible "First Master Mason" weather this is literal or figurative, i'm too autistic to ascertain, as it sits some where in between.
Then followed records of various "Officer's X" groups marked by a lodge number and positions listed as such:
-Worshipful Master
-Senior Warden
-Junior Warden
-Treasurer
-Secretary
-Chaplain
-Senior Deacon
-Junior Deacon
-Marshall
-Senior Steward
-Junior Stewart
-Tyler
Afterward is the Officers chapter of O.E.S ( Order of the eastern star ) which lists the following positions.
-Worthy Matron
-Worthy Patron
-Associate Matron
-Associate Patron
-Secretary
-Treasurer
-Conductress
-Associate Conductress
-Chaplain
-Marshall
-Organist
-Adah
-Ruth
-Esther
-Martha
-Electa
-Warder
-Sentinel
Next is two pages dedicated to "Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite Record" listing the dates when Brother X:
-Initiated Entered Apprentice
-Passed Followchraft
-Raised Master Mason
Next two pages is list of Masonic Presidents and an illustration of George Washington in Masonic attire. Then a single page On "Freemasonry and the Holy Bible", followed by pages detailing the interworkings of Blue Lodge Masonry, Order of the Eastern Star Masonry and Scottish Rites Masonry.
Next is pages of a question and answer section, of note to me is a paragraph about the "ineffable name" Jehovah (God has yet to strike me down) and how it forms the core mystery of Masonry and according the practices of the Jews they refuse to say it out loud ( This whould continue, the millerites, Adventists and especially John Kellogg whould later take Judaizing to such an extent as instituting a Sabbath and Advocating Circumcision as means of "temperance", making infant Circumcision the default medical practice in America despite the lack of any tangible hygienic benefits unless someone refuses to wash their foreskin. )
After this follows the old testament
Then a Hebrew calendar
Then the new testament
Followed a dictionary of Bible terms and a concordance.
It's aslo evident that Joseph Smith was a Mason and is found in their registry, with Mormon worship like X Mirroring masonry rites. Also a lot of Mormon Imagery is taken from the Freemasonry, including the Illuminati which is part of Desaret headstone found at the big pointy monument in Washington DC. There's also the beehive imagery but as far as I'm aware that's unique to Mormonism.
Also the NOI shares 1914 with Watchtower, as the date that "Yakubian" or White Control ended, which is amusing as that's the date Witnesses currently believe Satan was hurled down to earth.
I'm currently also illustrating a comic which is a schizophrenic parallel to this, and other subjects like Autism, micro evolution between haplo-groups, and forms of government and extrapolictical activities such as Agorism and Jacques Ellul's works regarding "technique".
This might be developed into a TTRPG at some point, but I don't know yet.
I've been writing the settings for a comic I'll eventually make into a comic and a maybe TTRPG with focuses on Volunteerism and Parallels to second great awakening religious movements.
As a primer, earth has frozen over centuries ago, and most humanity (which is composted of cyclop-like creatures with one eye in the front and one in the rear) has migrated to mars, excluding two remnant races.
The first race lives on top the Earth's frozen surface living much like real world inuit, having developed hydrotropic rear eyes with allow them to see through water clearly while swimming and fishing. Their religion is contemporary mirror of ancient horning cults, and focuses on a single shaman called a "Mono" , who opts to be "horned" (The rear eye is gored out, causing horns to grow out) , as they believe horns enable communication with the gods.
The other Race lives under the earths surface getting warmth from underground the magma flows, and has developed Thermotropic Rear Pupils allowing for heat sensitive vision. They mostly adheres to an deististic sect of "Monitism" ( an monotheistic religion developed from horning cults like that of the surface dwell, which slowly shifted from "Mono" referring to shamans, to later a single god at the rejection of other gods, much like Elohim ) which with rejects the Mono as a singular God and instead regards the Mono as the whole of all male horned Monites, thus deserving to subjugate the entire earth.
Polianity is an religion split-off from monotheistic Monitism Started by Poli, which rejects horning as a means of communication with Mono. Adcording to Boel 's Gospel, Poli was a unhorned Monite Maiden whom God sent to reject the ritual horning of Male Monite infants and instead teach the use of hymn to comiunicate with God. Boel is based on Paul and Marcion, being a former Monite Prophet, all of which by ritual were required to have both the front and rear eye removed, in belief blindness whould allow mental visions from Mono. Null frustrated at his inability to communicate with God, either with horns or by his blindness, Hears about Poli's Minstery and initially grows jealous. He has her arrested and begins questioning her, at which she replys in hymn, afterwards he then quotes parts of her hymn in follow-up and for those few seconds he can feel God talk back to him. Insteadly he breaks out again in hymn and God responds saying " In your prophethood you were Null, as my hymn singer you are now Boel" and the his horns feel out and eyes restored. He later followed Poli and wrote a gospel of her life.
Boel's Gospel does not explicitly name or identify which God he refers, leading to an early split between Polians who identify God with the Monite "Mono", and those who identify God as being separate from Mono, either seeing Mono as non-existent or as a petty demigod. The initial group of Mono worshipping Polians whould eventually grow to form to the "Orthodox", by using earthly states to persecute the latter group of Polians.
Years later the "Pyramid Society" whould make of use ancient Monite idols and symbols, like the "one eye" (effectively identical to real world symbol Illuminati, but the eye in this is context is appropriated as the fictional "ancient symbol for mono" ) as a shared icon of between worship monites and polians. Many Monite members managed to convince Polians, to perform horning on male infants for non-religious purposes. This being the default enforced practice within the Martian state as many early founders where also members of the the "Pyramid Society".
Which in the current Martian State exists multiple "Watchtower" satellites which monitor mar's surface and emit low frequencies, which communicate with either in a Peer to Peer network similar to torrenting, with each one super seeding the it's local and leeched camera feeds , acting like rhizomes bound under technique. These low frequency signals actually make police and military ineffective, as Horns are extremely to these signal, allowing mental influence over it's Horned Male population, however those with "oblong" pupils either narrow or wide pupils experience sensory torment from these frequencies to the extent of handicapping mental functioning ( Wide pupils are a parallel to polytropic ADHD, and Narrow pupils are a parallel to monotropic Autism. Felix gauteri realized to the extent State capitalism handicaps those who underwise whould be self-functioning, While Jacques Ellul realizes that distinctions between state Capitalism and state Communism, are in praxis are mostly aesthetic, and it's the technicians of each state not any ideology ultimately determine how the state functions. Capitalist countries become more socialist and communist countries become more capitalist, entirely dependent on whether with technique reaps the peak numerical yield. Felix gauteri is limited in the sense he focuses only on state capitalism and reverts to incoherent Marxist definitions of "means of production", Jacques Ellul realizes Marx's errors, and shifts his on how technique is the dominant force in all systems. In this way I hope to focus how technique penetrates all systems by which the state enforces on the "oblong". Being violated by constant propaganda and sensory input by state systems to the point of disfunction and then being told i would be unable to function without state interference and welfare, thus justifying the state)
Likewise the Prime Watchtower, which oversees each Watchtower satellite, has a head monarch which is democratically in voted in called the "mono" ( Technique demands that state be God and Statism monotheistic to the extent that no matter of life exists outside the state, just vote or appeal to the state to bear it's sword in your favor, when in reality the state can only serve technique, despite even the individual wishes of the monarch or even his technicians. Horning which existed as a misguided to communicate with God, now is co-opted as a means for the state to communicate as God. ) However this monarch is following by the "Poli" (again co-opting old earth religion, Mono is God and Poli is his interpeter and messenger, The Monarch is God and the Council his interpeter and messengers, and form the "mono-poli" in a in universe religious sense and literal meta sense a monopoly. Also read Raymond Franz's work, a former governing body of the JW religion and Watchtower Corporation, which a great example about how technique dominates even in democratic councils of genuine brothers, and Really the shift from Nhorr's effective monarchy over the Watchtower to a Ggoverning body mirrors government system under Technique as well)
The Mono and the Poli council live in the prime Watchtower a floating 3 level pyramid with an giant dome camrea at the bottom able to monitor half of mars at a time, the "dark side" of mars is really that which half is not currently monitored. In the top level is the Mono, at the mid is the Poli and the bottom is docking for 666 sub watchtowers. (as incompleteness, the mark of the beast to buy and sell only is needed when due incompletness, till God's kingdom comes, Voluntetyism is the ideal system in the meantime, however once it comes (7 days 77 times of forgiveness) it will bring a completeness which puts the members of God's kingdom at odds with all systems of exchange, whether capitalist or communist, as they are redundant. Also Mormon imagery which shares the Illuminati and rites with Masons, focuses on beehives which are structures built entirely of 6 sided hexagons, just one off from 7 or completeness, in a sense 666 sub watchtowers is to say that the state by nature is a structure built from incomplete parts (likewise in gameplay the Poli council use multiple D6s for each council member with a target set number between 1-6 to determine whether they vote yes or no on a law, if the majority meets the target number and votes yes then the law is passed and will be enforced by lawmen, and they also use D6 except each check now determines whether the individual lawman attacks or falls. The point between under technique, the individual votes or attacks of any one statesman has little effect in the end.)
Outside of the Martian state exists the "agora belt", a ring of Meteorites between Mars and Jupiter, which can be homesteaded by players with lands being arranged again like a hives, in a two sided hexagon grid, with the individual gravity of each hex of land determineed by adding up the number of adjacent hexs. The side of grid facing the sun is the light side visible to Watchtower cameras and the dark side is hard see essentially essentially dependtant on various pupil attributes, but it is unseen. There are some pre-set factions which already inhabit the agora mirroring SEK3's market models, including the black market found in "neo-cospaia" which focuses on Illegal/extralegal media and medicinal trade and the red market found in "neo-desaret" with is functionally just another state mirrored after early Mormons attempts of succession. Likewise both the Martian state and Neo-desaret share partial origins in the "pyramid society" borrow imagery, like how both real world US and Desaret share partial origins in masons.
Their is also an Oblong covenant community "pupilpolis" which is mirrored after a few autistic nationalist groups I was a part of online, before I learned about Voluntarism, Agorism and Ellul. These could exist but whould unfortunately need to be under minarchy or fund a private army, to survive the surrounding states. Technique unfortunately demands a violence monopoly. Plus most were either state socialist, with at most an awarenes of Felix gauteri, but limited to only to combating state capitalism.
On character creation, each character with have strength, speed, endurance, and luck as basic attributes which can as a modifier depending on the check. There also attributes which de determine the shape of the front and rear pupil, called "FP" and "RP" ranging from -7 to 7. A 0 in FP/RP is non-oblong, a perfectly circular pupil, A 7 is a Narrow pupil much like a cat, focused on one thing and a -7 is a Wide Pupil like a rabbit focused on all things at once. The person who developed the monotropic theory of autism later became a lesbian pooner irl, but it sets a decent model for analogies and machaics.