Pilgrims

There is no unified pilgrim government. What we know as the Pilgrims today is a loose association of privateers, nomads, and scavengers. There have been no official estimates of Pilgrim populations conducted by any government this is due to their decentralized society and poor diplomatic relations with most worlds. “Their population could be as low as 1 million or as high as 1 trillion there would be no way of knowing” –Dr. Edward Walsh. The major unifying factor or the pilgrims is their religion which began as an amalgam of different sects of Protestant Christianity and over the years has splintered into several sects.

Origin:
After Kaiser Hanz Wilhelm II banned religious practices under the Treaty of Point Null most religious organizations fled to space. Some joined the expeditions to colonize new solar systems, some colonized asteroids and uninhabited moons in sol itself, some still began to build homes of their own in space on the Lagrange points of various bodies. The early pilgrims tried all three. They began as a small fleet of Protestant Christian colony ships, twenty in total, the largest of which was their flagship the Pilgrim. Over the course of the next 20 years the pilgrims were driven off every world they settled and home they built. Rev. Peter Grigori transformed the pilgrims into what we know them as today when in 2123 he received a revelation from God to chisel his new commandments into the hull of each spacecraft. These new commandments laid out the basis for a new nomadic Pilgrim society.

Religion:
While the Pilgrims are all still considered Protestant Christian some of their teachings would be unrecognizable to the Protestant Christian of Old Earth. Currently, there are 30 cataloged sects of the Pilgrim religion but they each generally follow the same tenants and worship fanatically. Some sects even go as far as to convert the inside of their ships into ornate cathedrals with materials like gold and marble. Other sects tattoo their bodies and endure pain to show their devotion to God. And others sects raid shipping lanes, boarding ships and forcing survivors to convert or die. Even other sects are hardcore pacifists who would not lift a finger in anger to save their own lives.

Society:
Pilgrim society is broken up into flocks. Pilgrims are nomadic and decentralized by nature so most flocks are governed independently according to the rules and tenants of their specific sect. A flock ac range anywhere from 1 to 1000 ships. The current number of flocks is unknown even to most Pilgrims however it is speculated to be upwards of 1000 the very least. Most flocks are a mixed bag. As Pilgrims have no permanent settlements, nearly everything they own is either stolen, traded for, or craft built. Flocks, even those of radically different sects, rarely come into conflict with each other although tension and even violence is not unheard of (see Incident hK6g-23806432-2193).

Pilgrim families are quite large averaging 12 children per family. They typically marry young and for life.

Battle Tactics:
The Pilgrims focus on massive numbers combined with aggressive tactics, using converted civilian spacecraft and vehicles and being willing to kamikaze their enemies if it looks like they're about to be taken down anyways. If there was a chance at capture of a vestal pilgrims will organize boarding parties.

Diplomacy:
Due to the Pilgrims varied history, and the actions of some of the more radical sects the Pilgrims are usually not on good terms with any foreign power. Some of their worst enemies are the Teutonic Orthodox Church and the Tiānese.