[X] The "Origen" of Souls.
-[X] "On The Creation of Souls" by Priest Evreaux Origen of Droma III has through scholarly debate and argument become the leading tome on this issue, and it has been adopted as of 273 M42, after lengthy and rather vicious debate, as the primary and most theologically correct interpretation. Indeed, in histories of the Church afterward, the works of this priest, nearly eighty years old by this point, would be deemed as the one always accepted even though Hipolyte of the Station's more permissive version reigned supreme in the first century of the Star Child Faith.
--[X] Key elements of this include a lengthy discussion of what makes something artificial. It highlights intent as the key element of artifice. A regular person born of an iron womb who then grew up as normal was not artificial, but a clone grown as a slave-soldier was, with Servitors occupying a slightly awkward grey area. Instead, the Five-Fold Criterion determines whether the Star-Child wills that an Artificial Life is Ensouled.
--[X] The five points are... 1) History, that is to say that in order to be a life, a life must be able to be lived, 2) Affinity, a life is not a life entirely divorced and divided from others, and thus a creature that cannot communicate and cannot befriend others cannot be said to have a soul, no matter how intelligent 3) Sapience, that is to say that, as beloved as they are, and as much as they may have souls, pet animals of the sort found on many worlds are not Ensouled in the same way as a person would be, though their lives should still be valued, for cruelty to those lesser than you is a sign of madness. 4) Capacity to Believe. A Soul may well reject the Star Child: Xenos that do so, as damned as they are and as much as those who do so and attack the Star Child's followers are to be killed, are still People, are still Beings With Souls. 5) An Understanding of Themselves. I think therefore I am, as said by the Great Ancient Philosopher Plotos the Great, conqueror of an entire Terran Kingdom, or so the records we have indicate.
--[X] Then we must ask, can the Motive Force within a Machine create Artificial Life with a Soul? The answer is yes, see the points beyond. But are Machine Spirits Souls? In most cases no, through the above criteria, though there are always exceptions. Instead they are what might be called Transient souls, lowercase, such as that which might define animals. Within the boundaries and will of the Omnissiah, though, these Machine Spirits when they die are recycled, and are thus to be Honored as part of the Cycle of the Omnissiah-and-Motive-Force, even when they do not count as Soul.
--[X] To create artificial life that followers most but not all of the Five Points is Hubris, and to do so with all Five Points with the intent of using them as a tool is not just Hubris but also Cruelty and Slavery. That is to say, a Servitor while awkward fits essentially none of the points, but an attempt to create a Sapient, History-having, Affinity-possessing, Believing being who through a lack of
Themselves can be controlled is simply an exercise in skirting the laws of Slavery.
--[X] Is there Artificial Life that is Anathema to the Star Child? In this, Origen rejects strongly the claim that to use the framing of Anathema is to stigmatize Souls. Instead, in the manner of the Ultra-Radical Traditionalist Crusaders faction that has grown more influential with the continued Conquests of Liberty enacted by the Faith, he claims that there are also non-Artificfial Souls that can become Anathema by the Paths they walk and by their deeds, such as someone who warps themselves into a monster under Chaos, a Soul born in the Star Child's light that nonetheless becomes something Inhuman--and Origen of Droma III is more skeptical of Xenos than many, thus this phrase--something not merely to be led away from Evil, as even someone who has worshiped Chaos but recognized Their Folly can, but instead to be destroyed.
--[X] So yes, there is Artificial Life that is Anathema to the Star Child, though it is still Ensouled, and must be Judged by its Deeds.
--[X] Finally, any and all of this may be ignored by the provision of a Miracle, by which even those beyond redemption can become something better through the will of the Star Child. Or through which a Soul may be accidentally created.
--[X] Addendum: Less orthodox is the addendum he added that claims that the Five's absolute knowledge of All Things mean that Souls must have always existed, and that therefore if a Machine is deemed to have a Soul it already existed and was granted by the Star Child. The Pre-History of souls is a controversial topic, as it calls into question the understanding of when, whether with Artificial or Natural Life, the Soul entered the body, which... well, let us say that there are at least a few verbal knife-fights following the ruling, and that by 278 M42, this final portion of the work is declared to be Not A Part of the Work, though it is not declared heresy, simply not canonized, leaving the debate to rage for centuries to come...
It's time for more Early Christian Theology, with our favorite weird fucker, Origen of Alexandria. Though by now the claims that he Castrated himself as part of some weird religious thing are kinda debated? But that's the traditional story, so let's go with that for this Not!Origen.
Also, he's both a Church Father IRL and ALSO has parts of his doctrine declared Anathema, ironically enough.
