Rasterian

A permitted cult, who believe that human souls are 'Rasterised', that is that a soul can be divided into a number of discrete states or 'scanlines'. When a person changes some part of their sense of self, or (to a lesser degree) when they change emotional state, their ego is destroyed, before being recreated in slightly different form on a different 'scan'.

It is believed that it is this soulless moment which leaves people opeen to temptation, it is a moment of spiritual weakness. This explains why people turn to various vices more often at times of great stress or change in their lives.

Orthodox Rasterism

Orthodox Rasterians, most notably those at the Single Line Temples on Calistan and Lantreya, attempt to shield themselves from spiritual weakness by constraining themselves to a single scanline (or a group of close lines, which they are familiar with). Through meditation exercises, they attempt to suppress their chaotic emotions, giving themselves a constant state of mind in order to resist temptation.

Within this subgroup, Rasterians describe themselves by saying how many distinct emotional states they have mastered. For example, a monk who recognises 8 different versions of himself would be an 8-line novice. These numbers can be decreased with improved meditation, as redundant emotional states are deleted from the monk's consciousness. The two temples are each run by a council of senior priests known as Singles, of whom there about a dozen in the entire order.

Radical Rasters

Otherwise known as Raster-Masters, these devotees shun the navel-gazing philosophy of the orthodoxy. They still focus on limiting themselves to a small number of emotional lines, but see no reason why the most stable lines should be ones that aren't fun. For example, one of the accepted masters of this school is 3-Line Takardi Malinglo, who describes his 3 states as "Resting, High and Anger".

One way to recognise the Radicals is through their sudden changes of mood. They believe that changing emotional state slowly involves dozens of small changes to intermediate lines. Therefore if someone insults you, you should go from rest to rage in an instant; one change gives less possibility for corruption of the soul. Radical Rasters also mostly believe that it is impossible for the soul to survive in just a single line. To do so leaves you at risk of temptation when you are perturbed by events outside your control. The best way to seek enlightenment is to master each of the emotions you need in your life, and learn to limit each of them to a single pure state, which you can step between quickly.

This group is small - they do not preach their worldview. They simply let it be known that they are Rasterians. When a student of the Orthodoxy realises that one line doesn't have to mean emotionless pacifism, they suddenly understand the odd behaviour of the radicals, and ask to join them.

There are approximately fifty thousand Radical Rasters in the universe at present. They have no official high priest, as everyone will have different emotions to guide them. However, they do have a central temple at Soc:Religion:Raster:Raster:Raster on the shadownets, and there are a significant group of Radicals on Whence.

Rage Masters

Having mastered the 4 combat lines (rage, awareness, determination and victory), a small subset of Radical Rasters known as the Rage Masters have developed a martial art based on their beliefs. To others, this style looks very odd; a master can flip in an instant from guarded and defensive to a berserk fury, then be focused and emotionless again before you have time to respond.