The modern Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, also known as the Mormon Church, was a church headquartered in Salt Lake City until the nuclear strike that destroyed much of the city. At its height before World War III, the church reported 18 million members. In the years following the cease fire, the church struggled gather much more than a million members worldwide.
The Optimum Movement declared the Mormons to be non-optimum, and hunted them as if for sport, forcing the church into hiding. It took them until nearly 2095 for them to become organized enough to gather and begin their efforts to emigrate from Earth. Members had taken to space, in professions which gave them access to orbitals, Lunar ship yards, mining operations and refineries, anything that would give them foothold to form a network to get their people to safety.
In the Earth Year 2095, one of their leaders obtained the rights to a colony ship, hull DY-597, being constructed from a recovered Typhoon class submarine that had been sunk in the Atlantic off the coast of Florida half a century earlier, it required a lot of work. The new design of the DY-500 made for an effective transport. Many of the people who worked on the construction of the ECS Moroni in a Lunar orbit space dock, were church members. They had gathered to ensure the work was done well, so the first ship to go would make the crossing intact.
The ECS Moroni was given to Bishop Joseph M. Smith to shepherd as its captain. Aboard he brought 500 souls to sleep the journey, and 5 crew to guard them in their sleep. With them he gathered the embryonic flocks of sheep, goats, herd cattle and horses to build their farms. Among the supplies were fowl to grow and produce the eggs, and dogs to guard and herd the flocks. Corn and other feed grains were set in to plant, and the vats of algae and plankton were laid in to clean the air and produce food for the journey. Then in 2103, Bishop Smith ordered the pilot to set his course and their journey across the stars to their prophesied home.
The Bishop knew he and his crew would not sleep away their journey, but faith sustained them as they whiled away the dark night of space in prayer. His crew kept his charges safe, and every man woman and child aboard the ECS Moroni awoke in 2123, to a new sunrise, and new purpose to set their hands to create. Before landing the Moroni, they orbited Vega IX seven times. The Bishop saw on the first rotation where he knew they would lay their heads and call home, but he studied the land and had to be sure, for when they landed they would not be able to lift off again for the stars. The landing zone he chose, was in the Valley of God, west of a great lake he named "Lake Eden" for the four life giving rivers that turned the valley green with life. The landing was on the plain of Gideon, and the fort built from the ship he named Gideon's Redoubt. His flock had slept, and were vigorous in their works. Bishop Smith, had worked for twenty years, his was a as a father's guidance. As the father of his flock, he was honored and given the respect of father.
Gideon's Redoubt became the new home of the Mormon church, and to it, would gather the flocks aboard many more colony ships over the century to come. New friends, would join them, and become as family.
"Then, in 2409, the world was attacked and conquered by a new evil. The Borg destroyed what they had created on Vega IX, but it did not destroy the church. Though many were lost, the prophets are returning and will guide the flock as it gathers on Vega IX, and from the freed slaves of the enemy, a great host will rise to the glory of god." - Bishop Stephen P. Brigham
In the time following the loss of East Gideon, the wide spread bastions of the Mormon church which had spread to dozens of worlds accepted the survivors who had called Vega IX home. The largest of the communities, which had been established again on Earth dedicated to rebuilding Salt Lake City, North America in the 23rd century as a symbol to stand against the hatred of the then defeated Optimum Movement, once again became the official head of the LDS Church.
History[]
The church was founded as the Church of Christ in western New York, in 1830 by Joseph Smith during the Second Great Awakening. Under Smith's leadership, the church's headquarters moved successively to Ohio, Missouri, and Illinois. After Smith's 1844 death and a resultant succession crisis, the majority of his followers sided with Brigham Young, who led the church to its current headquarters in Salt Lake City. Young and his successors continued the church's growth, first throughout the Intermountain West, and then as a national and international organization.
Church theology includes the Christian doctrine of salvation through Jesus Christ, and his substitutionary atonement on behalf of mankind. The church has an open canon of four scriptural texts: the Bible, the Book of Mormon, the Doctrine and Covenants (D&C), and the Pearl of Great Price. Other than the Bible, the majority of the church canon consists of material the church's members believe to have been revealed by God to Joseph Smith, including commentary and exegesis about the Bible, texts described as lost parts of the Bible, and other works believed to be written by ancient prophets, including the Book of Mormon. Because of doctrinal differences, many Christian groups consider the church to be distinct and separate from mainstream Christianity.
Members of the church, known as Latter-day Saints or Mormons, believe that the church president is a modern-day "prophet, seer, and revelator" and that Jesus Christ, under the direction of God the Father, leads the church by revealing his will and delegating his priesthood keys to its president. The president heads a hierarchical structure descending from areas to stakes and wards. The church has a volunteer clergy at the local and regional levels; wards are led by bishops, who are drawn from the membership of the wards themselves. Male members may be ordained to the priesthood, provided they are living the standards of the church. Women are not ordained to the priesthood, but occupy leadership roles in some church organizations.
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